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Latest Technology news, comment and analysis from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice
Site URL: www.theguardian.com/uk/technology
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Global ransomware payments plunge by a third amid crackdown
Published: February 5, 2025 13:00
Money stolen falls from record $1.25bn to $813m as more victims refuse to pay off criminal gangsRansomware payments fell by more than a third last year to $813m (£650m) as victims refused to pay cybercriminals and law enforcement cracked down on gangs,…
‘I can’t order 100 pieces of junk for $15?’: How Trump’s tariff will hit fast-fashion devotees
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/04/temu-shein-trump-tariffs-china
Published: February 5, 2025 12:50
The 10% levy on goods imported from China closes a loophole used by Temu and Shein. Experts say it may only tighten their grip on AmericansVivi Armacost loves Temu. She uses the Chinese online marketplace to buy crafting supplies for her purse-making…
Google owner drops promise not to use AI for weapons
Published: February 5, 2025 10:00
Alphabet guidelines no longer refer to not pursuing technologies that could ‘cause or are likely to cause overall harm’The Google owner, Alphabet, has dropped its pledge not to use artificial intelligence for purposes such as developing weapons and…
Activists critical of Italian PM may have had their phones targeted by Paragon spyware, says WhatsApp
Published: February 5, 2025 09:00
Messaging app announces that 90 people, residing in two dozen countries, may have had their devices hacked The Italian founder of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, who has been a vocal critic of Italy’s alleged complicity in abuses suffered by migrants…
OnePlus 13 review: the rapid Android with a gorgeous fabric back
Published: February 5, 2025 07:00
New smartphone has 2025’s fastest Qualcomm chip, two-day battery life, great camera and standout designOnePlus is trying to prove you don’t need a Samsung or a Google to have a top-tier premium Android in 2025, and mostly succeeds.The OnePlus 13 is the…
How the world’s richest man laid waste to the US government
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/trump-elon-musk-federal-government
Published: February 4, 2025 19:52
Elon Musk has achieved astonishing power in Trump’s administration – and spent the weekend wielding it Since declaring his support for Donald Trump in July of last year and subsequently spending more than $250m on his re-election effort, Elon Musk has…
China unveils US tariffs and Google investigation in response to Trump levies
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/trump-china-tariffs
Published: February 4, 2025 16:01
Tariffs on coal, LNG, crude oil and other goods announced after US imposes levy on importsUS China tariffs – live updatesBusiness live – latest coverageDonald Trump has fired the opening salvo of his trade war, imposing tariffs on China on Tuesday that…
Does AI need all that money? (Tech giants say yes)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/04/ai-doomers-play-rfk-jr-seed-oils
Published: February 4, 2025 14:00
Meta and Microsoft commit to tens of billions to build out AI infrastructure, having lavished tens of billions alreadyHello, and welcome to TechScape. It’s been another wild few days in Elon Musk news. Stay tuned for our coverage. In personal news, I…
DeepSeek banned from Australian government devices over national security concerns
Published: February 4, 2025 11:30
Home affairs minister Tony Burke says decision follows advice from intelligence agencies and is not impacted by AI chatbot’s country of origin, ChinaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDeepSeek will be banned from all federal…
The 15 best PlayStation 5 games to play in 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/feb/04/the-15-best-playstation-5-games-to-play-in-2025
Published: February 4, 2025 10:00
From an intergalactic puzzle-solving beetle to a search for the Tusk of Ganesh, developers have put Sony’s impressive console to astoundingly imaginative useIf you’re just discovering PlayStation 5 a few years after its debut, you’ve arrived at a great…
'I'm a bit lost now': Daisy the AI bot speaks to scammer – video
Published: February 4, 2025 09:04
O2 has introduced “AI granny” Daisy for a short period to show what could be done with artificial intelligence to counter the scourge of scammers, who have become so ubiquitous. Daisy is not a real grandmother but an AI bot created by computer scientists…
‘Dear, did you say pastry?’: meet the ‘AI granny’ driving scammers up the wall
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/feb/04/ai-granny-scammers-phone-fraud
Published: February 4, 2025 07:00
Daisy’s dithering frustrates phone fraudsters and wastes time they could be using to scam real people‘He spent thousands’: how a bank team tries to rescue scam victimsAn elderly grandmother who chats about knitting patterns, recipes for scones and the…
Critic of Italy-Libya migration pact told he was target of Israeli spyware
Published: February 3, 2025 14:46
Husam El Gomati, who reports on links between Italian government and Libya’s coastguard, fears for his sourcesA Sweden-based Libyan activist who has been a vocal critic of Italy and its dealings in Libya was alerted by WhatsApp last week that he had been…
OpenAI launches ‘deep research’ tool that it says can match research analyst
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/03/openai-deep-research-agent-chatgpt-deepseek
Published: February 3, 2025 13:26
ChatGPT developer announces AI agent amid growing challenge from rivals such as China’s DeepSeekOpenAI has stepped up its development of artificial intelligence agents by announcing a new tool that crafts reports which it claims can match the output of a…
Keir Starmer scrapped email account in 2022 after Russian hacking, says report
Published: February 3, 2025 12:00
Then opposition leader’s address was ‘dangerously obvious’ and lacked two-factor authentication, book reportedly saysKeir Starmer stopped using a personal email account when he was opposition leader after being warned about a suspected hack by a Russian…
AI to revolutionise fundamental physics and ‘could show how universe will end’
Published: February 3, 2025 05:00
Exclusive: Cern’s next director general Mark Thomson says AI is paving the way for huge advances in particle physicsAdvanced artificial intelligence is to revolutionise fundamental physics and could open a window on to the fate of the universe, according…
Why can’t I stop looking at myself on video calls?
Published: February 2, 2025 14:01
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy can’t I stop looking at myself on video calls? It’s become obsessive, to the…
The AI business model is built on hype. That’s the real reason the tech bros fear DeepSeek | Kenan Malik
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/02/deepseek-ai-veil-of-mystique-tech-bros-fear
Published: February 2, 2025 08:00
While privacy fears are justified, the main beef Silicon Valley has is that China’s chatbot is democratising the technologyNo, it was not a “Sputnik moment”. The launch last month of DeepSeek R1, the Chinese generative AI or chatbot, created mayhem in the…
‘I lost 10 years of my life’: how UK betting giant’s unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked
Published: February 1, 2025 19:40
Sam found himself getting sucked deeper and deeper in to betting, sometimes risking £11,000 in a day. Now a judge has ruled he was unlawfully targetedAt 1.17pm on 15 August 2018, Sam* logged in to his online betting account and gambled five days’ worth of…
Was this the week DeepSeek started the slow unwinding of the AI bet?
Published: February 1, 2025 16:51
The cheap Chinese chatbot has stunned tech giants – and opened up the possibility that other countries, not just China, could now afford to enter the AI raceAt 2.16pm California time last Sunday, the US billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen called it.…
A man stalked a professor for six years. Then he used AI chatbots to lure strangers to her home
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/01/stalking-ai-chatbot-impersonator
Published: February 1, 2025 12:00
James Florence, 36, agreed to plead guilty after using victim’s information to guide chatbots in impersonationA man from Massachusetts has agreed to plead guilty to a seven-year cyberstalking campaign that included using artificial intelligence (AI)…
DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Grok … which is the best AI assistant? We put them to the test
Published: February 1, 2025 12:00
Chatbots we tested can write a mean sonnet and struggled with images of clocks, but vary in willingness to talk politicsChatGPT and its owners must have hoped it was a hallucination.But DeepSeek is very real. Continue reading...
‘Are we dating the same guy?’: Women turn to Facebook to uncover cheating and violence
Published: February 1, 2025 07:00
Experts say use of groups to warn others about dangerous men is indictment on governments’ failure to keep women safe“Any info on Chris* please? Thanks.” The words in a Facebook post, above three pictures of a man. In the comments, a woman replies: “He was…
WhatsApp says journalists and civil society members were targets of Israeli spyware
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/31/whatsapp-israel-spyware
Published: January 31, 2025 14:16
Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spywareNearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, were targeted by…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fulfilled all my Nazi-punching fantasies | Dominik Diamond
Published: January 31, 2025 10:00
It’s bizarre that a game featuring Hitler and Mussolini on their rise to power feels comforting, but here at least it is entirely permitted – indeed encouraged – to beat up NazisI have played many games that have great openings. Final Fantasy VII puts you…
New technology could make fridges cheaper and more eco-friendly
Published: January 31, 2025 06:00
Using thermogalvanic technology as cooling mechanism may significantly reduce power usage, research says A novel use of technology could make refrigerators cheaper and more environmentally friendly, according to a report.Domestic refrigerators and freezers…
Apple reports sagging iPhone sales in China as first-quarter earnings barely beat Wall Street’s expectations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/30/apple-earnings
Published: January 30, 2025 22:09
Investors pay close attention to tech company’s foray into AI after Apple Intelligence’s glitches and inaccuraciesApple slightly beat analysts’ expectations in its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025 on Thursday. The iPhone-maker’s revenue rose by…
SoftBank ‘in talks’ to invest up to $25bn in OpenAI
Published: January 30, 2025 10:54
Reported move would make Japanese group largest financial backer of US startup behind ChatGPTBusiness live – latest updatesThe Japanese investment group SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest up to $25bn (£20bn) in OpenAI in a deal that would make it…
Meta agrees to pay Trump $25m for suspending accounts over Capitol riots
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/meta-trump-settlement-25-million
Published: January 30, 2025 01:47
Settlement originates from lawsuit by president against the platform, one of several filed after 6 January violenceMeta has agreed to pay $25m to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump. The suit originated in 2021 when Trump sued the social media company for…
Meta posts robust fourth-quarter earnings amid DeepSeek mania
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/facebook-meta-earnings-report
Published: January 30, 2025 00:41
Mark Zuckerberg tells analysts ‘this is going to be a really big year’ as company sees quarterly revenues of $48.39bnAfter an unprecedented delay, Meta reported earnings more than half an hour after market close on Wednesday. The company posted $48.39bn in…
Tesla sees disappointing fourth-quarter earnings amid declining car deliveries
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/tesla-earnings-weighed-vehicle-delivery-numbers
Published: January 30, 2025 00:32
Despite disappointing sales and delivery figures, the company’s stock price has doubled in the past year Tesla reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024 on Wednesday after US stock markets closed, capping a bruising year for the company’s sales but…
OpenAI ‘reviewing’ allegations that its AI models were used to make DeepSeek
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/openai-chatgpt-deepseek-china-us-ai-models
Published: January 29, 2025 17:41
ChatGPT creator warns Chinese startups are ‘constantly’ using its technology to develop competing productsOpenAI has warned that Chinese startups are “constantly” using its technology to develop competing products and said it is “reviewing” allegations…
What International AI Safety report says on jobs, climate, cyberwar and more
Published: January 29, 2025 13:45
Wide-ranging investigation says impact on work likely to be profound, but opinion on risk of human extinction variesThe International AI Safety report is a wide-ranging document that acknowledges an array of challenges posed by a technology that is…
DeepSeek advances could heighten safety risk, says ‘godfather’ of AI
Published: January 29, 2025 13:00
Yoshua Bengio says competition in field could mean danger, as international panel points to AI’s malicious potentialKey points of the International AI Safety reportThe potential for artificial intelligence systems to be used for malicious acts is…
Rise and shine with the seven best sunrise alarm clocks, tried and tested
https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2025/jan/29/best-sunrise-alarm-clocks
Published: January 29, 2025 12:00
Our reviewer sheds some light on adding brightness to your mornings with the best dawn simulation alarms, from Lumie and Philips to Hatch• The best sleep aids recommended by experts: from blue light-blockers to apps to help you napTo wake each day in…
‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley
Published: January 29, 2025 10:00
The industry’s liberal reputation is misleading. Its reactionary tendencies – celebrating wealth, power and traditional masculinity – have been clear since the dotcom mania of the 1990sAn influential Silicon Valley publication runs a cover story lamenting…