Trump’s attempts to influence Fed risk 1970s-style inflation and global backlash’

‘Dangerous and alarming’: Google removes some of its AI summaries after users’ health put at risk

Google has removed some of its artificial intelligence health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading information.The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.But some of the summaries, which appear at the top of search results, served up inaccurate health information, putting users at risk of harm.In one case that experts described as “dangerous” and “alarming”, Google provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests that could leave people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they were healthy.Typing “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” served up masses of numbers, little context and no accounting for nationality, sex, ethnicity or age of patients, the Guardian found

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Elon Musk says UK wants to suppress free speech as X faces possible ban

Elon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent.The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed.Responding to threats of a ban from the government, Musk wrote: “They just want to suppress free speech”.Thousands of women have faced abuse from users of the AI tool which was first used to digitally strip fully clothed photographs into images showing them wearing micro bikinis, and then used for extreme image manipulation.Pictures of teenage girls and children were altered to show them wearing swimwear, leading experts to say some of the content could be categorised as child sexual abuse material

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Behind the Somali daycare panic is a mother-and-son duo angling to be top Maga influencers

YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis’s Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “ambush journalists” such as James O’Keefe

3 days ago

Elon Musk’s X threatened with UK ban over wave of indecent AI images

Elon Musk’s X has been ordered by the UK government to tackle a wave of indecent AI images or face a de facto ban, as an expert said the platform was no longer a “safe space” for women.The media watchdog, Ofcom, confirmed it would accelerate an investigation into X as a backlash grew against the site, which has hosted a deluge of images depicting partially stripped women and children.X announced a restriction on creating images via the Grok AI tool on Friday morning in response to the global outcry. A post on the platform said the ability to generate and edit images would now be “limited to paying subscribers”. Those who pay have to provide personal details, meaning they could be identified if the function was misused

3 days ago

Robots that can do laundry and more, plus unrolling laptops: the standout tech from CES 2026

This year will be filled with robots that can fold your laundry, pick up objects and climb stairs, fridges that you can command to open by voice, laptops with screens that can follow you around the room on motorised hinges and the reimagining of the BlackBerry phone.Those are the predictions from the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas that took place this week. The sprawling event aims to showcase cutting-edge technology developed by startups and big brands.Many of these fancy developments will be available to actually buy, moving from outlandish concepts to production devices, although some are still limited to costly prototypes.The rise of the humanoid robot continues, with the show floor filled with myriad prototypes, some of which operated autonomously rather than being remotely controlled or performing set routines this year

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No 10 condemns ‘insulting’ move by X to restrict Grok AI image tool

Downing Street has condemned the move by X to restrict its AI image creation tool to paying subscribers as insulting, saying it simply made the ability to generate explicit and unlawful images a premium service.There has been widespread anger after the image tool for Grok, the AI element of X, was used to manipulate thousands of images of women and sometimes children to remove their clothing or put them in sexual positions.Grok announced in a post on X, which is owned by Elon Musk, that the ability to generate and edit images would be “limited to paying subscribers”. Those who pay have to provide personal details, meaning they could be identified if the function was misused.Asked about the change, a Downing Street spokesperson said it was unacceptable

4 days ago

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Energy and health optimism help lift civil service morale under Labour

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Mandelson praises Trump’s ‘graciousness’ and declines to apologise for friendship with Jeffrey Epstein – as it happened

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UK wants any transition of power in Iran to be peaceful, says minister

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Trump’s attempts to influence Fed risk 1970s-style inflation and global backlash’

about 17 hours ago

Donald Trump’s attempts to influence the US Federal Reserve could risk plunging America into a period of 1970s-style inflation and trigger a global backlash in financial markets, economists have warned.After the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the current Fed chair, investors said efforts by the White House to pressure the US central bank to cut interest rates would put the world economy at risk.Analysts drew parallels with the 1970s when US inflation soared after the then president, Richard Nixon, pressured the then Fed chair, Arthur Burns, to ease monetary policy to help smooth his 1972 election campaign.Atakan Bakiskan, US economist at Berenberg bank, said: “If the Fed pursues an ultra-accommodative monetary policy despite higher inflation, the result could resemble the 1970s in a worst-case risk scenario.“Moreover, if the Fed acts on politics rather than data, foreign investors could pull back on financing the US debt and seek new safe havens.

”The US dollar fell on Monday, while gold prices hit a fresh record high as investors scrambled to buy safe-haven assets.It came after Powell said on Sunday evening he had been threatened with criminal charges related to his testimony before the Senate banking committee in June last year, regarding renovations to the Fed’s historic office buildings in Washington DC.In a blistering statement, Powell labelled the threat of a criminal indictment as a “pretext” by the Trump administration to pressure the central bank in its interest-rate setting decisions.He insisted the legal threat was “not about” his testimony last summer, or congressional oversight of the Fed.“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions – or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation,” he said.

Trump is this month expected to announce a nominee to replace Powell, whose term as Fed chair expires in May,Central bank independence is seen by investors as critical for keeping inflation under control because it allows officials to focus on setting policy to tackle underlying pressures,However, attempts at political interference have been rising after the surge in inflation after the Covid pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine, and as advanced economies struggle for growth,US inflation has fallen back from a peak of more than 9% in 2022, allowing the Fed to cut borrowing costs, with the most recent reduction in December,However, the headline rate of inflation picked up to 3% in September.

Jagjit Chadha, a professor of economics at Cambridge University and former director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said: “If we reduce interest rates too quickly, there is a real danger inflation will jump out of the box again and it really does damage people on low incomes.“I’ve been thinking about Arthur Burns; the loss of price stability, and rise of inflation in the 1970s.It has implications for the rest of the world.“If we can’t get dollar inflation under control – don’t forget many, many prices worldwide are set in dollar terms.If they’re also going up as the result of the inability to control inflation, we’ll find ourselves being immiserated.

It’s a big problem.”Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell for refusing to cut borrowing costs more aggressively, calling him a “stubborn mule” and a “numbskull” who he would love to fire.No Fed chair has ever been fired by a president.Trump had repeatedly threatened legal action over the Fed’s renovation project, but on Sunday denied any involvement in the DoJ investigation.“I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings,” Trump told NBC News.

Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who was chair of Barack Obama’s council of economic advisers, said the US was facing a “dangerous moment” amid the transition to a new Fed chair,“Some countries that have prosecuted or threatened to prosecute central bankers for the purpose of political intimidation or punishment for monetary policy decisions: Argentina, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe,” he wrote in a post on X,US inflation soared above 10% in the mid-1970s amid a series of oil price shocks emanating from conflicts in the Middle East, as well as a relaxed Fed approach and as the US ran large budget deficits,In a period labelled as the “great inflation”, the headline rate hit a post-second world war high of almost 15% in 1980, leading the Fed under Burns’s successor, Paul Volcker, to drive up borrowing costs in a process to help restore price stability,

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