Case attracts widespread attention as example of China balancing enthusiastic adoption of AI with job securityA court in China has ruled in favour of a worker whose company replaced him with artificial intelligence (AI), awarding him more than £28,000 in compensation.The worker, whose surname is Zhou, joined a tech company in the eastern city of Hangzhou in 2022 as a quality assurance supervisor overseeing large language models used in AI products. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 14:58 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Industry body says energy consumption driven by AI up 15% globally in two years as it warns of societal backlashDatacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research.The proportion of electricity used by vast warehouses stacked with microchips to power AI and the internet has risen 15% worldwide in the past two years as annual global investment in datacentres approaches $1tn (£740bn) – nearly 1% of the global economy, according to the International Data Center Authority (IDCA). Continue reading...

13 May 2026 10:48 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

The ‘meme stock’ company is remembered for Reddit traders sending its share price into orbit but its move on the auction site looks less likely to take offGameStop’s $55.5bn bid for eBay rejected as ‘neither credible nor attractive’“Neither credible nor attractive.” No, not a line from a junior minister’s resignation letter on Tuesday. It was eBay’s succinct appraisal of the bizarre $55.5bn (£41bn) takeover offer from video games retailer GameStop, an affair that offers light distraction from the sight of UK 10-year gilt yields at 5%-plus.To recap: GameStop is the “meme stock” company that became famous a few years ago when amateur traders on a Reddit forum piled in furiously in an attempt to burn the short-sellers who were betting on the struggling retailer’s demise. Surprisingly, the Redditers succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The squeeze drove up GameStop’s share price hundredfold, inflicting hell on serious hedge funds and making the company’s chief executive, Ryan Cohen, an anti-establishment hero. Continue reading...

12 May 2026 16:57 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Removing Starmer solves the problem of an unpopular leader, but without a coherent alternative agenda his successor won’t fare much betterLabour has spent much of the past year paralysed by competing fears. MPs’ dread of facing voters with Keir Starmer as prime minister has been kept in check by their recoil from the process of replacing him. They know the prime minister is an electoral liability; they know that the electorate takes a dim view of chaotic, regicidal parties that showcase disunity and factional rancour when they are supposed to be running the country.Impatience with Starmer’s leadership has, until now, been neutralised by reluctance to gamble on a contest that might replace him with someone worse. Last week’s local and devolved ballots changed the calculus. Labour MPs now have indisputable evidence that they are cruising towards nationwide electoral oblivion. A growing number think the trajectory will not change if the leader stays the same.The future starts with us: Gordon Brown in conversation. On Thursday 10 September, join Hugh Muir and Gordon Brown to discuss the intricate connections between global instability and civic decline, as explored in Brown’s new book, The Future Starts With Us. Book tickets here or at guardian.liveRafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

13 May 2026 05:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

It is nearly 10 years since the US president made a state visit to China, and Iran, Taiwan, trade, AI and drugs look set to dominateDonald Trump’s state visit to China this week – the first by the US president in nearly a decade – comes amid a time of geopolitical upheaval, a new and intractable conflict in the Middle East, and a sometimes rocky relationship between the world’s two major superpowers.There is much for Trump and Xi Jinping to discuss, but a few key issues are likely to dominate the agenda. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 06:24 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

In a case of ‘oh dear diary’, the OpenAI president Greg Brockman is having to read extracts from his musings about Elon Musk in court. It’s a terrifying reminder that what’s divulged to AI really isn’t privateThe hottest new read of 2026 may well be The Secret Diary of Greg Brockman, Aged 38¾. It’s got everything: feuding billionaires, scheming CEOs and a perhaps somewhat unreliable narrator. You won’t find it in the library, but you can watch Brockman, a co-founder and president of OpenAI, being forced to read the juiciest bits out loud in court.Before you ask ChatGPT to explain, here’s the backstory: Elon Musk is in a legal battle with Brockman and the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Musk, a former board member of OpenAI, is accusing the men of violating the AI firm’s founding agreement by turning it into a for-profit entity. Meanwhile, Altman et al are arguing Musk is just upset he’s not in control of the company and wants to bring down his competition. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 10:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

No wonder they are upset by the slogan ‘tax the rich’. Despite their wealth increasing 81% since 2020, they need our emotional support now more than everWon’t anyone think of the poor, poor, billionaires? Their endless money can buy them political power, but it can’t buy them love. Instead of being worshipped by the hoi polloi, titans of industry are denounced! Despised! Disrespected! Insert another D-word of your own!Thankfully, class solidarity is strong among the super-rich. Steve Roth bravely brought attention to the plight of his fellow billionaires during a recent earnings call. “I consider the phrase ‘tax the rich’ … spit out with anger and contempt by politicians … to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs,” the Vornado Realty Trust CEO said. Continue reading...

12 May 2026 15:05 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN