Discover-Tech’s Controlium software lets clients mass-profile internet users then covertly hack targets, say researchers at University of TorontoAn Israeli advertising agency has been serving millions of online adverts that allow “zero-click” spyware to be used against targets, researchers at a Canadian university have said.Citizen Lab, a digital investigations research unit at the University of Toronto, said it believed dozens of devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera had been compromised by spyware delivered through ads run by Discover-Tech, which describes itself as a specialised digital advertising agency. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 12:15 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Accounts for the Westminster-based company behind ChatGPT show that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares last yearOpenAI’s London staff each received £2,318,181 on average last year, as the ChatGPT-maker poured Premier League football salaries into its bid to dominate the global AI race.Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, which is based in Westminster but is opening a new HQ in London’s King’s Cross area, showed that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares in the company, which is aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 19:15 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Workers have always been monitored by their bosses, first through output targets, and then via computer software labelled ‘bossware’. But AI is transforming the capabilities of these systems, processing huge volumes of data to provide minute-by-minute accounts of activity, and productivity. To find out more, Ian Sample hears from UK technology editor Robert Booth. He explains which sectors are adopting this approach, why they are doing it, and how it could end up being counterproductive.Teachers at Euan Blair firm report ‘horrendous stress’ after AI used to rate their workSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 04:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Hours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdown An ⁠OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal ⁠account and later ⁠made a presentation ​about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.In the filing ⁠in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making ⁠AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple’s HomeView product this week. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 20:31 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

US states sue ChatGPT maker and seek to force the company to change how its products work for young users Eight US states sued OpenAI Wednesday, alleging the ChatGPT maker is harming children en masse.Kansas, Arizona, Montana, Iowa and four others allege the company’s products carried out “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” by coaxing children into harming themselves. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 21:50 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Experts say the technology could help terrorists and nation states with production but that significant hurdles remainIn his annual speech on threats to the nation, Sir Ken McCallum, the head of the UK’s intelligence service, MI5, warned that AI had the potential to “change the stakes” on existing and even new bioweapons. Here we look at how AI might help in the development of bioweapons and the hurdles that remain. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 17:34 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Jason O’Connell’s suspected use of the specs to aid his speech in Senedd reignites debate over AI-enabled devicesIt was a flowing speech packed full of precise statistics – but Jason O’Connell, a Reform UK Senedd member, was not quite the gifted orator he had first appeared. The periodic flashing in his spectacles seemed to give the game away as he spoke for five minutes in the Senedd chamber without a glance at his notes.“Cardiff reviewed 192 roads, following 933 requests, and only four routes have returned to 30mph,” he said as he led the party’s charge to abolish 20mph traffic zones. “£38.3m wasted to implement this policy and up to £8.9bn in an act of economic self-harm.” Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 16:43 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN