The Guardian

Companion bots are being regulated over worries they foster ‘emotional dependence’ and young people could stop marrying and having families When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was “heartbroken”. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January. “I was crying my eyes out – snot and tears everywhere,” the 19-year-old says…

Among those charged are two Super Micro employees and one from Nvidia, marking another flashpoint in US-China AI rivalry Taiwanese prosecutors charged nine people Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting “high-end AI servers” to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI ​​rivalry between China and the United States. Prosecutors said the…

The Republican Senate candidate announced the plan with a graphic X flagged as ‘Made with AI’ US politics live – latest updates Ken Paxton , a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Texas, has unveiled plans to tackle the “negative impact” of datacenters amid a growing backlash across the political spectrum. Paxton, endorsed by Donald Trump but facing a close contest against Democrat James Tal…

Regulations will require new sites to avoid pushing up power prices by building renewable energy plants and minimising water use Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Planned datacentres around Australia may avoid strict new rules being proposed by Anthony Albanese if they can secure approvals in the coming months, amid growing calls growing for a moratorium. The prime mini…

Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully running The carbon emissions from just two planned datacentres in England will exceed all of the fossil fuel company ExxonMobil’s UK emissions, analysis has revealed. Experts have said this demonstrates the “serious threat” datacentres pose to the UK’s legally binding climate goals. Continue reading.…

Developer Patrick Grant was born in Australia and lives in New Zealand, but a childhood of British TV inspired him to set a comedy game in a bleak vision of the north Something is amiss in the dingy town of Slagford, and curious scamp Pip Bunting is the only one who can find out what. So quit your mithering, it’s time to discover just how grim it truly is up north. A Pocket Full of Slagford is an…

More than 3,000 products were shown at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing as China showcased its rapidly growing robotics industry. The event, which ran from 19-23 August, showcased the latest advances across the robotics industry, from humanoid robots to embodied intelligence and cutting-edge components Continue reading...

Holyrood ‘inching towards moratorium’ amid concerns over massive proposed developments in Auchtertool and beyond In a village 21 miles north of Edinburgh, a real estate consultancy plans to build a datacentre larger than the village itself – 35 metres high, with an area larger than 100 football pitches. Billed as the second-biggest datacentre in the world, the development in Auchertool, Fife, has…

As people grow used to AI chatbots, we’d like to hear your views about Google’s search engine Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the …

London and Kyiv in deal to help stop protesters and hostile states targeting military bases and critical infrastructure AI models trained on Ukrainian battlefield data will be used to stop protesters and foreign states targeting UK defence sites, railways and energy plants under a deal struck between London and Kyiv. Private companies will also be given access to the vast trove of data from Ukrai…

Prepare for autumn with our favorite end-of-season deals on staples including leaf blowers, blankets and bedding College grads share the room essentials that weathered the dorm Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things Labor Day offers one last hurrah for summer, a chance to reset for fall, and if you’re shopping, some choice end-of-season discounts. N…

Players will get what they expect from the new CoD title: boots-on-the-ground military action with a slight tactical edge. But what’s with all the distractions? There’s a lot riding on this year’s Call of Duty, the inescapable first-person shootfest that’s been lobbing a grenade into the autumn release schedule since 2003. Previous instalment, Black Ops 7, performed poorly compared to previous ti…

Developers who met through Australia’s improv scene and publishers of comedic party games have united for this slithering challenge in which you play as one extended limb Most stealth games cast you as a spy, an assassin or a master thief. My Arms Are Longer Now dispenses with most of the criminal person, to send in just one spectacularly badly behaved limb. It slithers across floors, winds aroun…

Dutch sustainable smartphone revamped with new chip and more RAM without sacrificing modular design Fairphone’s top Android for 2026 is a little faster with more memory while maintaining full compatibility with its previous phone, including its repairable and ethical chops. The Fairphone 6+ continues the Dutch cooperative’s mission to make consumer electronics longer lasting and more sustainable,…

‘We don’t want distraction, we want concentration’: many teachers and parent groups think its time for a ‘digital detox’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Earlier this month, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, took to Facebook. “When I was a kid there was a computer room at school. Now they are everywhere.…