Demis Hassabis on our AI future: ‘It’ll be 10 times bigger than the Industrial Revolution – and maybe 10 times faster’

The head of Google’s DeepMind says artificial intelligence could usher in an era of ‘incredible productivity’ and ‘radical abundance’. But who will it benefit? And why does he wish the tech giants had moved more slowly?If you have a mental image of a Nobel prizewinner, Demis Hassabis probably doesn’t fit it. Relatively young (he’s 49), mixed race (his father is Greek-Cypriot, his mother Chinese-Singaporean), state-educated, he didn’t exactly look out of place receiving his medal from the king of Sweden in December, amid a sea of grey-haired men, but it was “very surreal”, he admits. “I’m really bad at enjoying the moment. I’ve won prizes in the past, and I’m always thinking , ‘What’s the next thing?’ But this one was really special

‘The BBC feels very samey and boring’: the over-50s who prefer YouTube

UK viewers over the age of 55 watched almost twice as much YouTube last year as they did in 2023, with 42% of them watching on a TV, according to a survey by the communications regulator Ofcom.Here, six people over 50 describe why they prefer YouTube and how it compares with the broadcast TV they grew up with.YouTube is full of hidden gems and many videos are made by ordinary people. There’s so much more on offer in one place than other streaming services or broadcast channels. Also, some streaming channels can be difficult to navigate to find what you want

AI chatbots are becoming popular alternatives to therapy. But they may worsen mental health crises, experts warn

In 2023, a Belgian man reportedly ended his life after developing eco-anxiety and confiding in an AI chatbot over six weeks about the future of the planet. Without those conversations, his widow reportedly told the Belgian outlet La Libre, “he would still be here”.In April this year, a 35-year-old Florida man was shot and killed by police in another chatbot-related incident: his father later told media that the man had come to believe an entity named Juliet was trapped inside ChatGPT, and then killed by OpenAI. When the man, who reportedly struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, was confronted by police, he allegedly charged at them with a knife.The wide availability of chatbots in the past few years has apparently led some to believe there is a ghost in the machine – one that is conscious, capable of loving and being loved

Big tech has spent $155bn on AI this year. It’s about to spend hundreds of billions more

The US’s largest companies have spent 2025 locked in a competition to spend more money than one another, lavishing $155bn on the development of artificial intelligence, more than the US government has spent on education, training, employment and social services in the 2025 fiscal year so far.Based on the most recent financial disclosures of Silicon Valley’s biggest players, the race is about to accelerate to hundreds of billions in a single year.Over the past two weeks, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, Google’s parent, have shared their quarterly public financial reports. Each disclosed that their year-to-date capital expenditure, a figure that refers to the money companies spend to acquire or upgrade tangible assets, already totals tens of billions.Capex, as the term is abbreviated, is a proxy for technology companies’ spending on AI because the technology requires gargantuan investments in physical infrastructure, namely data centers, which require large amounts of power, water and expensive semiconductor chips

Airbnb guest says images were altered in false £12,000 damage claim

Airbnb has apologised to a woman after an apartment host falsely claimed she had caused thousands of pounds’ worth of damage and used images she says were digitally manipulated to back up his allegations.The London-based academic was refunded almost £4,300, and an internal review of how the case was dealt with has been launched at the short-term accommodation rental company.The incident highlights how cheap and easily available artificial intelligence software is now being used to manipulate images to give false evidence of what has happened in consumer complaints, according to one security expert.The woman, who is based in London, had booked the one-bedroom apartment in New York’s Manhattan for two-and-a-half months earlier this year to stay in while she was studying, but she decided to leave early after feeling unsafe in the area.Shortly after she left, the host told Airbnb that she had caused more than £12,000 worth of damage, and submitted pictures of an apparently cracked coffee table as part of his case

Jury orders Tesla to pay more than $200m to plaintiffs in deadly 2019 Autopilot crash

A Florida jury ordered Tesla to pay more than $200m to victims of a deadly crash involving its Autopilot driver assist technology.Friday’s verdict is a hit for Elon Musk’s car company, as it opens the door to other costly lawsuits and could potentially strike a blow to Tesla’s reputation for safety at a critical time for the company.And the decision has been closely eyed by other car companies, as they work to develop cars that increasingly drive themselves.The federal jury in Miami held that Tesla bore significant responsibility for the crash because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars.The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months