Technology

World ‘may not have time’ to prepare for AI safety risks, says leading researcher
Posted on Sunday January 04, 2026

AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systemsThe world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency.David Dalrymple, a programme director and AI safety expert at the Aria agency, told the Guardian people should be concerned about the growing capability of the technology. Continue reading...

Battery electric cars will overtake diesels in Great Britain by 2030, analysis suggests
Posted on Sunday January 04, 2026

London predicted to be the first UK city to go diesel-free, largely because of the ultra-low emission zoneBattery electric cars are poised to overtake diesels on Great Britain’s roads by 2030, according to analysis that suggests London will be the first UK city to go diesel-free.The number of diesel cars on Great Britain’s roads in June had fallen to 9.9m in June last year, 21% below its peak of 12.4m vehicles, according to analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank focused on the transition to electric cars. Electric car sales are still growing rapidly, albeit more slowly than manufacturers had expected. Continue reading...

The cost of AI slop could cause a rethink that shakes the global economy in 2026
Posted on Sunday January 04, 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under wayThe US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. In 2026, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk.Ed Zitron, the foul-mouthed figurehead of AI scepticism, argues pretty convincingly that, as things stand, the “unit economics” of the entire industry – the cost of servicing the requests of a single customer against the price companies are able to charge them – just don’t add up. In typically colourful language, he calls them “dogshit”. Continue reading...

What happened after Tesla opened a diner in Los Angeles?
Posted on Saturday January 03, 2026

The novelty of eating at a diner owned by the richest person in the world seems to have worn off in just a few monthsLess than six months since it opened, Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner has the feel of a ghost town. Gone is the Optimus robot serving popcorn, gone are the carnivore-diet-inspired “Epic Bacon” strips, gone are the hours-long, hundred-person lines wrapped around the block. Even the restaurant’s all-star chef, Eric Greenspan, is gone. The Hollywood burger-and-fries shop seems like a shell of the bustling eatery it was when it opened in late July.On a balmy Friday afternoon in December, the parking lot for Tesla car charging was, at best, half full. Inside what the company describes as a “retro-futuristic” diner, a handful of people trickled in, ordering burgers and hotdogs or asking for merch. The upstairs deck, AKA “Skypad”, was vacant except for a pair of employees stringing holiday lights. More staff was busy at work, buffing fingerprints off the chrome walls and taking out the trash, than there were customers. The diner was spotless. Continue reading...

Reddit overtakes TikTok in UK thanks to search algorithms and gen Z
Posted on Saturday January 03, 2026

Platform is now Britain’s fourth most visited social media site as users seek out human-generated contentReddit, the online discussion platform, has overtaken TikTok as Britain’s fourth most visited social media service, as search algorithms and gen Z have dramatically transformed its prominence.The platform has undergone huge growth over the last two years, with an 88% increase in the proportion of UK internet users it reaches. Three in five Brits online now encounter the site, up from a third in 2023, according to Ofcom. Continue reading...

‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate?
Posted on Saturday January 03, 2026

Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worriedDuring a golden sunset in Memphis in May, Sharon Wilson pointed a thermal imaging camera at Elon Musk’s flagship datacentre to reveal a planetary threat her eyes could not. Free from pollution controls, the gas-fired turbines that power the world’s biggest AI supercomputer were pumping invisible fumes into the Tennessee sky.“It was jaw-dropping,” said Wilson, a former oil and gas worker from Texas who has documented methane releases for more than a decade and estimates xAI’s Colossus datacentre was spewing more of the planet-heating gas than a large power plant. “Just an unbelievable amount of pollution.” Continue reading...

Uber rewrites contracts with drivers to avoid paying UK’s new ‘taxi tax’
Posted on Friday January 02, 2026

Hailing app will now act as agent rather than supplier outside London, avoiding VAT requirement Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers.The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is payable on minicab fares and would have resulted in the whole Uber fare becoming subject to the 20% sales tax. Continue reading...

Readers reply: should we turn the internet off?
Posted on Sunday January 04, 2026

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders the online world – from what’s despicable to what’s indispensable• This week’s question: can you really fake it to make it?The internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy – from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Should we turn the internet off? Mees Visser, Groningen, the NetherlandsSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...