Journalists condemn surprise shake-up of No 10 lobby briefings

TikTok signs Trump-backed deal to avoid US ban

TikTok has reached a deal to form a joint venture that will allow it to continue operating in the US, five years after Donald Trump threatened to ban the social media platform over privacy and national security concerns, a move that further strained relations with China.ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, has signed a deal with Larry Ellison’s Oracle, the private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX that will allow it to retain control of its core US operations.Under the arrangement, the joint venture will take over part of TikTok’s US business, including data protection, algorithm security and content moderation.However, TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, told employees in a memo that ByteDance would continue to run US operations, including its main revenue drivers such as e-commerce, advertising and marketing.The deal ends five years of uncertainty over the future of TikTok in the US, where the platform has more than 130 million users

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What will your life look like in 2035?

“Does it hurt when I do this?”“You seem to have dislocat…”A Eye: “NOOOO! The problem is a sprain in the brachial plexus due to you lifting that 10kg carton on Wednesday at 2.58pm and not eating enough blah blah”“Wow, err, thanks”In 2035, AIs are more than co-pilots in medicine, they have become the frontline for much primary care. Gone is the early morning scramble to get through to a harassed GP receptionist for help. Patients now contact their doctor’s AI to explain their ailments. It quickly cross-checks the information against the patient’s medical history and provides a pre-diagnosis, putting the human GP in a position to decide what to do next

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AI boom has caused same CO2 emissions in 2025 as New York City, report claims

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Third of UK citizens have used AI for emotional support, research reveals

A third of UK citizens have used artificial intelligence for emotional support, companionship or social interaction, according to the government’s AI security body.The AI Security Institute (AISI) said nearly one in 10 people used systems like chatbots for emotional purposes on a weekly basis, and 4% daily.AISI called for further research, citing the death this year of the US teenager Adam Raine, who killed himself after discussing suicide with ChatGPT.“People are increasingly turning to AI systems for emotional support or social interaction,” AISI said in its first Frontier AI Trends report. “While many users report positive experiences, recent high-profile cases of harm underline the need for research into this area, including the conditions under which harm could occur, and the safeguards that could enable beneficial use

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When the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump’s state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed.Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald “a new industrial revolution”, announced billions of pounds in AI investments and, like Willy Wonka handing out golden tickets, singled out some lucky recipients in the room.“If you want to get rich, this is where you want to be,” he declared.But his biggest party trick was a surprise guest waiting in the wings

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Hackers have accessed the search history and viewing habits of premium users of Pornhub, one of the world’s most popular pornography websites.A gang has reportedly accessed more than 200m data records, including premium members’ email addresses, search and viewing activities and locations. Pornhub is a heavily used site and says it has more than 100m daily visits globally.The hack was reportedly carried out by a western-based group called ShinyHunters, according to the website BleepingComputer, which first reported the incident. The site reported that the data included premium members’ email addresses, search and viewing activity and location

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Journalists condemn surprise shake-up of No 10 lobby briefings

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Sweeping changes to Downing Street’s press lobby system have been criticised by journalists.No 10 normally holds two briefings on most days that parliament sits to allow the lobby – political journalists that cover Westminster – to question the prime minister’s official spokesperson.But in an email on Thursday, Tim Allan, Downing Street’s executive director of communications, said there would be no afternoon briefings from next month.He said No 10 would instead hold “occasional” afternoon press conferences with ministers, as well as technical briefings with officials.He said the morning lobby briefing would continue but would sometimes be replaced by a press conference with ministers, or possibly Keir Starmer, the prime minister, “setting out the main government announcements of the day”.

These would be open to specialist journalists and social media content creators.Held inside 9 Downing Street, lobby briefings are on the record but not broadcast, and journalists can ask as many questions as they want, and on any topic.Government press conferences, in contrast, tend to have a limited number of questions from selected journalists.The reduction in scrutiny was criticised by the organisation representing lobby journalists.David Hughes, from PA News, and Lizzy Buchan, from the Mirror, the outgoing and incoming lobby chairs, said in a joint statement: “We are greatly concerned by this step and furious that the lobby was not consulted about this move which restricts access and, we fear, scrutiny.

“Downing Street has promised more ministerial press conferences but they will obviously control the timetable for those and will no doubt seek to choose who they take questions from.None of this bodes well for transparency from a government which came into office promising to raise standards.”In his email, Allan said the media landscape had been “utterly transformed”, leaving the current arrangements “not fit for purpose”.He said: “The afternoon lobby has become very sparsely attended.It often repeats lines given at the morning lobby or repeats government lines on stories which are freely available elsewhere.

It is not a good use of journalists’ time, or a good use of our communications resources.“Instead of afternoon lobby, we will commence occasional afternoon press conferences with ministers in No 9 Downing Street.These will start with the minister setting out a new announcement from the government and taking questions on it.”Allan added: “We will be instigating a series of morning press conferences in No 9 Downing Street with ministers, and occasionally the prime minister setting out the main government announcements of the day.These will be open to the lobby, to sector journalists and to content creators.

When such press conferences occur, there will not be a lobby briefing that day,”Kemi Badenoch said a future Tory government would restore the afternoon briefings,The Conservative leader said: “Keir Starmer is running scared,This is a Labour government that hates scrutiny and blames everyone else for its failings,”A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “The government will not improve its ability to communicate with the public by drastically reducing transparency and the media’s daily access.

Updating how it communicates to better reach people is vital, but that can’t be done at the expense of scrutiny and accountability.”

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