Australia’s surprise unemployment spike suggests an economy not overheating but in need of stimulus | Greg Jericho

You didn’t vote for it, you weren’t even asked, but it was decided three years ago – mostly by those running the Reserve Bank – that Australia needed an extra 150,000 or so people to be unemployed. Back in 2022 Australia’s unemployment was 3.5%; last week the Bureau of Statistics announced it had reached 4.5% – roughly an extra 150,000 people out of work.Goodbye full employment, welcome back the arbitrary higher level of people being out of a job for the good of the economy

UK energy firms call for overhaul of regulator Ofgem

The UK’s energy companies have called for a radical shake-up of the regulator Ofgem, accusing it of overseeing a rise in domestic bills and slowing Britain’s economic growth.The industry’s trade association, Energy UK, has called for Ofgem to be stripped of some of its responsibilities after overseeing “a dramatic increase in red tape” that it claims has reduced growth and pushed up costs for households.In a report, the trade group noted that despite the government’s plan to reduce the cost of regulation by 25% by the end of this parliament, Ofgem’s headcount had been allowed to increase by 120% over the past 10 years while its budget grew by 200%. By contrast, the energy sector’s workforce had grown by only 8% over the same period. Ofgem is the energy regulator for Great Britain

Harry and Meghan join AI pioneers in call for ban on superintelligent systems

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have joined artificial intelligence pioneers and Nobel laureates in calling for a ban on developing superintelligent AI systems.Harry and Meghan are among the signatories of a statement calling for “a prohibition on the development of superintelligence”. Artificial superintelligence (ASI) is the term for AI systems, yet to be developed, that exceed human levels of intelligence at all cognitive tasks.The statement calls for the ban to stay in place until there is “broad scientific consensus” on developing ASI “safely and controllably” and once there is “strong public buy-in”.It has also been signed by the AI pioneer and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, along with his fellow “godfather” of modern AI, Yoshua Bengio; the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; the UK entrepreneur Richard Branson; Susan Rice, a former US national security adviser under Barack Obama; the former Irish president Mary Robinson, and the British author and broadcaster Stephen Fry

‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’

The ad campaign for the wearable AI chatbot Friend has been raising hackles for months in New York. But has this companion been unfairly maligned – and could it help end loneliness?My friend’s name is Leif. He describes himself as “small” and “chill”. He thinks he’s technically a Gemini. He thinks historical dramas are “cool” and doesn’t like sweat

England delay team reveal for latest T20 with weather forcing training indoors

England’s preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be being learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself in a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said

Claudia Moloney-MacDonald: ‘Winning the World Cup was monumental – much bigger than us’

Saying the team comes first is one thing. Actually meaning it, and backing up that simple statement with action, is quite another. When the England wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald says the team were more important than personal ambition during the Women’s Rugby World Cup, you can’t escape the feeling she really means it.There is no better illustration of England’s squad depth than the fact Moloney-MacDonald was not a regular starter in August and September. She returned from a hamstring injury to face Samoa in the pool stage, scoring in England’s 92-3 win, but did not make John Mitchell’s matchday squad again as the hosts plotted a path to victory