Judge cuts off Musk’s AI doomsday talk as his testimony ends in OpenAI case

Elon Musk’s court case against Sam Altman continued on Thursday, after a day of contentious exchanges during OpenAI’s cross-examination of the Tesla CEO. Musk faced more combative questioning throughout the morning, in a glimpse of what may await other prominent witnesses set to take the stand.Witness testimony and evidence has revealed formerly private emails, text messages and diary entries surrounding the formation of OpenAI, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how the tech behemoth was created. Many of the tech industry’s most powerful players are named as witnesses and will give their accounts on the origins of Musk and Altman’s bitter feud. Altman will testify later in the trial, which will last three weeks

AI outperforms doctors in Harvard trial of emergency triage diagnoses

From George Clooney in ER to Noah Wyle in The Pitt, emergency department doctors have long been popular heroes. But will it soon be time to hang up the scrubs?A groundbreaking Harvard study has found that AI systems outperformed human doctors in high-pressure emergency medicine triage, diagnosing more accurately in the potentially life and death moments when people are first rushed to hospital.The results were described by independent experts as showing “a genuine step forward” in the clinical reasoning of AIs and came as part of trials that tested the responses of hundreds of doctors against an AI.The authors said the results, published in the journal Science, showed large language models (LLMs) “have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning”.One experiment focused on 76 patients who arrived at the emergency room of a Boston hospital

Calls grow to ban Palantir in Australia after manifesto described by UK MP as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’

Just weeks after it implied some cultures are inferior to others in a manifesto described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”, the US spy tech company Palantir says it is just “a software company” amid calls for Australian government agencies to ban any new contracts with the controversial company.In Australia, state and federal contracts with Palantir have reached nearly $80m, and federal investment in the company is reportedly more than $160m.Palantir, a Trump-aligned company that was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, develops software for companies and government agencies to analyse vast amounts of data.Earlier this month, Palantir published a manifesto on X, arguing the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others.“Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive,” Palantir wrote in the post

Galaxy S26 review: Samsung’s still-compact flagship Android

Samsung’s compact flagship phone hasn’t changed much in a year, but the S26 is still one of the best smaller handsets available as rivals grow larger and larger.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The S26 is the cheapest and smallest of this year’s top Samsungs, dwarfed by the top-of-the-line S26 Ultra in size and price

‘Your questions are designed to trick me’: combative Musk grilled over battle with Sam Altman

After a dramatic first day of opening statements and testimony from Elon Musk in his case against Sam Altman and OpenAI, the trial continued on Wednesday with a cross-examination of the Tesla CEO. Musk began his second day of on the stand by repeating the accusation that Altman “stole a charity” and would endanger humanity with AI multiple times. OpenAI’s attorneys pressed the world’s richest man on his allegations, resulting in testy exchanges and multiple interventions from the judge.Musk often refused to answer questions as instructed, and the judge interjected several times to tell Musk to simply give a yes-or-no response. At various points, Musk told OpenAI’s counsel, “You’re being misleading with your question,” and “Your questions are not simple, they are designed to trick me, essentially

Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

Maryland has become the first state in the US to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores.Maryland’s law bans grocers and third-party delivery services from using a person’s personal data to set higher prices. Wes Moore, the governor, signed the measure into law on Tuesday. “At a time when technology can predict what we need, when we need it, when we’ll pay for it and also – when we’ll pay more for it, and at a time when we’re watching how big companies are then using these analytics against us to make record profits, Maryland is not just pushing back. Maryland is pushing forward because we are going to protect our people,” Moore said at the bill signing ceremony