Chip makers and tech investors such as Samsung and SoftBank plunge as potential interest rate hikes spook marketsBusiness news – live updatesLarry Elliott: the global economy is muddling through. But a storm is comingAn accelerating sell-off of AI-linked shares has hit global markets, as fears over rising inflation and future interest rate hikes spooked traders already wary of the heavily indebted sector.South Korea’s benchmark Kospi 200 index, which is heavily skewed towards the companies that make memory chips, fell more than 8% overnight to a six-month closing low, triggering circuit breakers that brought trading to a halt at various points. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 14:33 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

In the final part of our series on the country, Poles tell how wages have soared – along with the cost of livingWill military spending help or hinder Poland’s growth story?Poland’s push for EU energy resilience amid Russian aggressionAbove the rain-soaked streets of Warsaw, the observation deck of the Varso tower overlooks Joseph Stalin’s gift to Poland that has divided opinion for decades.For some, the Soviet-era Palace of Culture and Science is a drunk confectioner’s nightmare; standing as a relic of oppression that should have been demolished. For others, it is an icon on the skyline and a monumental warning from history. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 05:56 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Article in Atlantic claims The Blue Fighter was artificially generated, days after it won Caine prize for African writersThe Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using AI to write a prize-winning short story after an article in the Atlantic said software had flagged it as almost completely AI-generated.Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter was announced as the winner of the prestigious Caine prize for African writers on 6 October. Five days later, The Atlantic published an article by the author and journalist Vauhini Vara titled: “Yet Another Literary prize winner Seems to Be AI.” Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 19:01 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Pledge spanning five years from world’s most valuable firm comes as concerns about AI agents have risenThe $5.5tn (£4.1tn) US chipmaker Nvidia is donating $250m worth of computing power to the UK to support AI safety research.The donation from the world’s most valuable company comes as the UK government confirmed its AI Security Institute (AISI), which tests advance AI models, will be able to examine cutting-edge technology developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google before they are released. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 10:10 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

International delegates agree leap second no longer tenable, but first leap hour not likely to happen for thousands of yearsAfter decades of discussion, quibbling and worrying about clocks in computer systems, the world’s official timekeepers have voted to replace what many viewed as a tiresome correction: the leap second. It’s time, they say, for the leap hour.Delegates from 69 countries cast their votes on Thursday at a conference in France of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which ensures the world sticks to the same standards of time, weight, distance and more. Continue reading...

15 Oct 2026 16:16 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

The Meta boss looked traumatised when he sipped stout on the Cheeky Pint podcast. An hour later, his glass was still half fullName: Guinness.Age: Arthur Guinness began brewing porter in the 1770s. Guinness draft was first poured in 1959. Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 15:33 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

From the FBI to local police departments, US authorities are increasingly warning of would-be terrorists using chatbots to plan attacks and anti-AI extremist threats In May 2025, a 25-year-old man detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic, killing himself and injuring four others. For many, it was a wake-up call about the threats to reproductive care facilities. For the FBI, though, it was also a sign of what the agency had feared for years: bad actors were using generative AI to plan and execute terror plots.The suspect used an unnamed generative AI tool that failed to detect his request for bomb-making instructions, law enforcement officers wrote in a previously unreported document reviewed by the Guardian. The privacy of his conversation with the AI chatbot hindered alerting police that someone was looking up how to make a bomb, according to the memo.How extremists could use AI to devise attacks and recruit new membersHow AI could be used to disseminate and produce everything from deepfakes to election misinformation and child sexual abuse material (CSAM)How people seeking information on how to make weaponry or bombs could use AI to circumvent police detectionHow to ensure that officers could take advantage of AI tools in policing, for things like social media monitoring, while managing public concern over the use of these toolsMonitoring social media for opposition to AI and potential extremist attacks on datacenters Continue reading...

14 Oct 2026 10:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN