George Osborne joins OpenAI: ex-chancellor adds tech post to his CV
The former UK chancellor George Osborne is joining OpenAI to lead the ChatGPT developer’s relationships with governments around the world,He will head a division known internally as OpenAI for Countries, through which the San Francisco artificial intelligence startup works with governments on national-level AI rollouts,The former Conservative politician will add the role to his growing portfolio of positions which include: chair of the British Museum; adviser to the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase; and host of a podcast with the former Labour minister Ed Balls,Osborne is moving on from his role as senior managing director at Evercore, which acquired the investment bank Robey Warshaw in July where he was partner, and will be based in London rather than Silicon Valley,His hiring by OpenAI is the latest sign the big US tech firms are becoming increasingly focused on boosting AI adoption by national governments.
Microsoft, Google and Palantir have all been pushing hard to provide AI services to the British government, where Osborne was in office from 2010 to 2016 alongside Nick Clegg, who spent seven years working for Mark Zuckerberg at Meta.Rishi Sunak, one of Osborne’s successors as chancellor, announced in October he was taking an advisory role with one of OpenAI’s main rivals, Anthropic.Other roles Osborne has held since leaving government have included being editor of the Evening Standard between 2017 and 2020, and adviser to the US private equity firm BlackRock.OpenAI’s national-level projects have included involvement in building major AI infrastructure in places such as Norway and the United Arab Emirates as part of a $500bn “Stargate” datacentre initiative.OpenAI already has a memorandum of understanding with the UK government “to establish strategic partnerships that accelerate AI-driven economic growth and deliver opportunities to materially improve people’s lives” and a deal with Estonia to give all pupils and teachers access to a version of ChatGPT.
Osborne will be expected to create new nation-level AI infrastructure partnerships and expand those already announced in Argentina, Australia, Germany and South Korea.In a statement marking his appointment, Osborne said he believed OpenAI, which has been valued at about $500bn, was “the most exciting and promising company in the world right now”.“In my conversations with Sam Altman, Brad Lightcap [OpenAI’s chief executive and chief operating officer] and other senior colleagues, it’s clear they are exceptionally impressive leaders and that they care very deeply about their mission to ensure the power of artificial intelligence is developed responsibly, and the benefits are felt by all,” he said.“That’s exactly what the OpenAI for Countries initiative intends to achieve, helping societies around the world share the opportunity this powerful technology brings.”OpenAI has been hit by recent controversies over the impact of its chatbots.
It is defending several lawsuits from the families of young people who took their own lives after interacting with ChatGPT,They include the family of Adam Raine, 16, who killed himself in April after what his family’s lawyer claimed was “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”,Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said Osborne’s appointment “reflects a shared belief that AI is becoming critical infrastructure – and early decisions about how it’s built, governed, and deployed will shape economics and geopolitics for years to come”,He added: “Whether the world builds on democratic AI rails led by nations with aligned values designed to put this technology into the hands of people so they can fully participate in the opportunities of the intelligence age or the People’s Republic of China-imposed autocratic AI rails that will be used to concentrate the technology in the hands of the few – and at the expense of the many – will define what kind of a world we live in,”
Caesareans overtake natural vaginal births in England for first time, NHS data finds
Births through caesarean section have overtaken natural vaginal births in England for the first time, NHS data has revealed.Last year, 45% of births in England were through caesareans, 44% were through natural vaginal births and 11% were assisted with instruments such as forceps or ventouse, according to the data published on Tuesday.More than four in 10 caesareans, also known as C-sections, carried out by NHS England were elective, planned operations.For women under the age of 30, the most common method of delivery was natural vaginal birth, and for women aged 30 and over caesareans were the most common.For women aged 40 and over, 59% of births were through C-sections
Resident doctors in England begin five days of strike action
Resident doctors in England have begun five days of strike action after rejecting the government’s latest offer to resolve the long-running dispute over pay and jobs.The British Medical Association (BMA), and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, met on Tuesday in a final attempt to reach an agreement, but failed to do so.It means that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – will remain on strike until 7am on Monday.The latest offer from the government would have increased the number of training places to enable early career doctors to start training in their chosen medical speciality, but not increased their pay for the current financial year.Resident doctors, who make up about half of all NHS doctors, overwhelmingly rejected the offer in a BMA survey last week, with 83% voting against it on a 65% turnout
The Guardian’s Hope appeal raises more than £350,000 for charities
The Guardian’s Hope appeal has raised more than £350,000 for inspirational grassroots charities that bring divided communities together, promote tolerance and positive change, and tackle racism and hatred.The figure, raised in less than two weeks, includes more than £30,000 donated during the annual telethon last Saturday, when more than 40 journalists including John Crace, Polly Toynbee and Simon Hattenstone were on hand to take readers’ calls.The 2025 appeal is raising funds for five charities: Citizens UK, The Linking Network, Locality, Hope Unlimited and Who Is Your Neighbour?Against a backdrop of extremist violence and rhetoric, growing demonisation of migrants, harassment and abuse of charities, and the re-emergence of “1970s-style racism”, our partner charities are delivering practical projects designed to promote empathy, build trust and establish common values.Coverage to date has featured a Citizen’s UK “Walk of Hope” turning anger into community pride, Back on the Map’s work to revitalise a neighbourhood after far-right riots in 2024, and The Linking Network’s programme uniting primary schoolchildren from different faiths and backgrounds.“Thank you to the Guardian readers for your incredible generosity
Adults in England with eating disorders wait up to 700 days for treatment, report finds
Adults with eating disorders in England are waiting up to 700 days for vital treatment, according to a report.The stark figures were revealed in the first report of the National Audit of Eating Disorders (NAED), which looked at access to eating disorder services across the country.The audit, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and funded by NHS England, found there were more community teams to support children than there were for adults.On average, adults with eating disorders had to wait twice as long as children for an assessment, and more than 10 times as long for treatment, the report found.The eating disorder charity Beat said the “growing disparity” between child and adult services was “particularly worrying”
Wes Streeting and resident doctors urged to agree to mediation to end strikes
Exasperated NHS bosses have urged Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association to agree to independent mediation to end industrial action by resident doctors, who will begin their latest strike on Wednesday.The health secretary and the doctors union have been told to embrace the idea in order to urgently break the deadlock in their increasingly bitter dispute that health service bosses say is making patients “collateral damage”.An arbitrator could work to bridge the gap between them and resolve the 33-month-long dispute in England, the NHS Confederation, which represents hospital bosses, said.Thousands of resident – formerly junior – doctors in England will strike from 7am on Wednesday for five days in their 14th strike action since 2023.Hospitals have cancelled tens of thousands of tests and treatments to help them cope with the extra pressure they will be under until the strike ends at 7am next Monday 22 December
Striking resident doctors are digging in. History suggests this will go on and on
There are an array of numbers relating to the NHS that, it’s safe to assume, make Wes Streeting wince.Take, for example, the number of hospital tests and treatments people in England are waiting for – 7.42 million – and the number of people who need them – 6.24 million. Both have come down since Labour took power 17 months ago but still remain near worst-ever highs
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