‘We didn’t vote for ChatGPT’: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role

The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has come under fire after admitting that he regularly consults AI tools for a second opinion in his role running the country.Kristersson, whose Moderate party leads Sweden’s centre-right coalition government, said he used tools including ChatGPT and the French service LeChat. His colleagues also used AI in their daily work, he said.Kristersson told the Swedish business newspaper Dagens industri: “I use it myself quite often. If for nothing else than for a second opinion

Google says its new ‘world model’ could train AI robots in virtual warehouses

Google has outlined its latest step towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) with a new model that allows AI systems to interact with a convincing simulation of the real world.The Genie 3 “world model” could be used to train robots and autonomous vehicles as they engage with realistic recreations of environments such as warehouses, according to Google.The US technology company’s AI division, Google DeepMind, argues that world models are a key step to achieving AGI, a hypothetical level of AI where a system can carry out most tasks on a par with humans – rather than just individual tasks such as playing chess or translating languages – and potentially do someone’s job.DeepMind said such models would play an important role in the development of AI agents, or systems that carry out tasks autonomously.“We expect this technology to play a critical role as we push toward AGI, and agents play a greater role in the world,” DeepMind said

Should big tech be allowed to mine Australians’ text and data to train AI? The Productivity Commission is considering it

The Productivity Commission is examining whether technology firms should be exempted from copyright rules that stop companies from mining text and data to train artificial intelligence models.The PC, in its interim report into “harnessing data and the digital economy”, used copyright as a case study for how Australia’s existing regulatory framework could be adapted to manage the risks of artificial intelligence.A key recommendation from the interim report was that the federal government should conduct a sweeping review of regulations to plug potential gaps that could be exploited by “bad actors” using AI.Scott Farquhar, the co-founder of software company Atlassian, last week called for an “urgent” overhaul of Australia’s copyright rules, arguing they were out of step with other comparable countries.Farquhar said creating exemptions for text and data mining to train large language models “could unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment into Australia”

Dial N for nostalgia: landlines are back | Brief letters

Emma Brockes’ article threw open the door to landline memories (Worried about your child’s screentime? Get a landline, 31 July). When it rang, the enthusiasm that came with the conviction “it’s for me” v the reluctance when seemingly knowing “it’s not for me”. This was undoubtedly because the phone in a cold hallway meant no one wanted to leave the warmth and TV in the sitting room. Virginia RanscombeDerbyhaven, Isle of Man I can’t believe it has taken 40 years and a thinktank to realise the bleeding obvious about the sale of council housing (Right to buy in England ‘fuelled housing crisis and cost taxpayers £200bn’, 3 August). Wrong policy from the very beginning – and the fact it continued for so long is nothing short of scandalous

George Osborne says UK has been left behind in cryptocurrency boom

The UK has been left behind in the cryptocurrency boom and is in danger of missing a second wave of demand, according to the former chancellor George Osborne.Osborne, who has an advisory role at the crypto exchange firm Coinbase, said the country already missed out on the first generation of crypto because the formerly sceptical US had embraced digital currencies under Donald Trump.“What I see makes me anxious. Far from being an early adopter, we have allowed ourselves to be left behind,” wrote Osborne in a Financial Times opinion piece.Osborne said the UK was now about to miss a new surge in the crypto market: stablecoins

Tesla board awards $29bn of shares to Elon Musk

Tesla’s board has approved the award of $29bn (£22bn) worth of shares to its chief executive, Elon Musk, after a US court ruled against a previous pay deal for the world’s richest person.Musk will pay $2bn to buy 96m shares in the electric carmaker at the same price per share as a 10-year pay package agreed in 2018, which is stuck in legal limbo awaiting a court date for an appeal. The award was based on a recommendation from a “special committee” of the board.The announcement in a financial filing was accompanied by a shareholder letter from two members of the committee, Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s chair, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson.It described the award as a “good faith” payment to Musk after the previous pay deal, worth $56bn, was rescinded in 2024 by a judge in Delaware, where the company was incorporated until June that year