Internet-safe iPhone for children goes on sale for £99 a month

A neutered iPhone, stripped of web browsers and social media apps, is going on sale to parents worried about their children’s phone use, but the “peace and freedom” its creators promise will come at a steep price.The pared-back version of the top-selling handset, which will not allow internet searches, gaming or downloads of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media, is being offered in the UK for £99 a month by a US company that wants children to “reconnect with real life, not just reduce screen time”.At more than double the price of a typical two-year iPhone contract, Sage Mobile, an iPhone 16 handset loaded with custom software, will be a pricey way to avoid online harms. But it reflects growing parental dilemmas over the best way to start their children’s digital lives.Research has shown children with problematic smartphone use are twice as likely to experience anxiety and almost three times as likely to experience depression compared with those whose use did not resemble addiction

WeTransfer says user content will not be used to train AI after backlash

The popular filesharing service WeTransfer has said user content will not be used to train artificial intelligence after a change in its service terms had triggered a public backlash.The company, which is regularly used by creative professionals to transfer their work online, had suggested in new terms that uploaded files could be used to “improve machine learning models”.The clause had previously said the service had a right to “reproduce, modify, distribute and publicly display” content, and the updated version caused confusion among users.A WeTransfer spokesperson said user content had never been used, even internally, to test or develop AI models and that “no specific kind of AI” was being considered for use by the Dutch company.The firm said: “There’s no change in how WeTransfer handles your content in practice

Apple inks $500m deal for rare earth magnets with US mining firm

Apple has signed a $500m deal with a US firm for rare earth magnets, essential for manufacturing electronics, after China curbed exports of the scarce, vital materials.The backing from one of the world’s most valuable companies comes after MP Materials, which operates the only US rare earths mine, last week agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal with the US Department of Defense that will see the Pentagon become its largest shareholder. Both deals are aimed at mitigating supply chain risks after China limited the outgoing supply of rare earths earlier this year in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.The deal, announced on Tuesday, guarantees Apple a steady flow of rare earth magnets free from China – by far the world’s largest producer. For Apple, the cost to support US magnet production pales in comparison to the long-term risk that it could lose access entirely to the critical components, analysts said

Nothing Phone 3 review: a quirky, slick Android alternative

The Phone 3 is London-based Nothing’s latest attempt to get people to ditch Samsung or Apple phones for something a bit different, a little quirky and more fun.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.As the firm’s first high-end Android in several years, it has most of what you’d expect a flagship phone to have

Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot melts down – and then wins a military contract

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, saw its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok go Nazi. Then its CEO resigned. In the past three years of Musk’s ownership of the social network, it feels like X has weathered at least one public crisis per week, more often multiple.Last week, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, saw its flagship chatbot Grok declare itself a super-Nazi, referring to itself as “MechaHitler”

AI chatbot ‘MechaHitler’ could be making content considered violent extremism, expert witness tells X v eSafety case

The chatbot embedded in Elon Musk’s X that referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and made antisemitic comments last week could be considered terrorism or violent extremism content, an Australian tribunal has heard.But an expert witness for X has argued a large language model cannot be ascribed intent, only the user.xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, last week apologised for the comments made by its Grok chatbot over a 16-hour period, which it attributed to “deprecated code” that made Grok susceptible to existing X user posts, “including when such posts contained extremist views”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe outburst came into focus at an administrative review tribunal hearing on Tuesday where X is challenging a notice issued by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in March last year asking the platform to explain how it is taking action against terrorism and violent extremism (TVE) material.X’s expert witness, RMIT economics professor Chris Berg, provided evidence to the case that it was an error to assume a large language model can produce such content, because it is the intent of the user prompting the large language model that is critical in defining what can be considered terrorism and violent extremism content