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6 articles in uk news

AI deepfakes of real doctors spreading health misinformation on social media

Hundreds of videos on TikTok and elsewhere impersonate experts to sell supplements with unproven effects TikTok and other social media platforms are hosting AI-generated deepfake videos of doctors whose words have been manipulated to help sell supplements and spread health misinformation. The factchecking organisation Full Fact has uncovered hundreds of such videos featuring impersonated versions of doctors and influencers directing viewers to Wellness Nest, a US-based supplements firm. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Dec 5

HealthUK newsUS news

Home Office admits facial recognition tech issue with black and Asian subjects

Calls for review after technology found to return more false positives for ‘some demographic groups’ on certain settings UK politics live – latest updates Ministers are facing calls for stronger safeguards on the use of facial recognition technology after the Home Office admitted it is more likely to incorrectly identify black and Asian people than their white counterparts on some settings. Following the latest testing conducted by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) of the technology’s application within the police national database, the Home Office said it was “more likely to incorrectly include some demographic groups in its search results”. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Dec 5

Facial recognitionPoliceHome Office

‘A step-change’: tech firms battle for undersea dominance with submarine drones

As navies seek to counter submarines and protect cables, startups and big defence companies fight to lead market Flying drones used during the Ukraine war have changed land battle tactics for ever. Now the same thing appears to be happening under the sea. Navies around the world are racing to add autonomous submarines. The UK’s Royal Navy is planning a fleet of underwater uncrewed vehicles (UUVs) which will, for the first time, take a leading role in tracking submarines and protecting undersea cables and pipelines. Australia has committed to spending $1.7bn (£1.3bn) on “Ghost Shark” submarines to counter Chinese submarines. The huge US Navy is spending billions on several UUV projects, including one already in use that can be launched from nuclear submarines. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Nov 28

Technology sectorBusinessDefence policy

One in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, NSPCC finds

Harms include threats to release intimate pictures as charity warns against parents sharing photos or details of children online Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, with harms ranging from threatening to release intimate pictures to revealing details about someone’s personal life. The NSPCC child protection charity also found that one in five parents know a child who has experienced online blackmail, while two in five said they rarely or never talked to their children about the subject. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Nov 28

Internet safetyChildrenYoung people

How Amazon turned our capitalist era of free markets into the age of technofeudalism | Yanis Varoufakis

Amazon Web Services owns the basic infrastructure for other businesses to operate online, turning even governments into its serfs. But now some people are fighting back For the past six years, every Black Friday – that made-up carnival of consumption – Amazon workers and their allies have mobilised across the world in coordinated strikes and protests . At first glance, these disputes look like the standard struggle between a giant capitalist employer and the people who keep it running. But Amazon is no ordinary corporation. It is the clearest expression of what I call technofeudalism: a new economic order in which platforms behave like lords owning the fiefs that have replaced markets. To appreciate Amazon’s extraordinary power, we must recall the system it is helping to bury. Capitalism relied on markets and profit. Firms invested in productive capital, hired workers, produced commodities and lived or died by profit and loss. But the emerging order is one in which the most powerful capitalist firms have exited that market altogether. They own the digital infrastructure that everyone else must use to trade, work, communicate and live. Yanis Varoufakis is the leader of MeRA25 and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Nov 27

AmazonSurveillanceWorkers' rights

UK firms can win a significant chunk of the AI chip market | John Browne

Britain’s legacy in chip design is world-class, and we could supply up to 5% of global demand if we get our act together The UK is in a uniquely promising position, far too little understood, to play a lucrative role in the coming era of artificial intelligence – but only if it also grabs the opportunity to start making millions of computer chips. AI requires vast numbers of chips and we could supply up to 5% of world demand if we get our national act together. Lord Browne is the co-chair of the Council for Science and Technology . He is the chair of BeyondNetZero and was the chief executive of BP from 1995 to 2007 Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Nov 13

Artificial intelligence (AI)Technology sectorComputing