AI facial recognition oversight lagging far behind technology, watchdogs warn

Despite a surge in AI experimentation, many agencies remain stuck in pilot projects, struggling to scale the technology. SAP expert offers approach.

While some are using AI to tailor programs better suited to their needs, others warn ‘it can be wrong, confidently so’ People have mixed feelings about AI. While many people regularly use it – 62% in the US and 69% in the UK – trust in the technology is low. In the US, only 26% of people have a positive view of AI, according to one NBC poll, and in the UK, 78% say they worry about negative outcomes from AI. So it is perhaps no surprise that readers’ responses to our callout about AI and fitness were varied. Some said they rely on AI to shape their workouts and diets while others said they refuse to use it at all because of its impact on the economy and the environment. And many were somewhere in between – they found it a useful tool, but were less than thrilled about the technology’s impact overall. Continue reading...

The software company said in February it would cut 7,000 jobs but, as it touts new technology, workers are still waiting to hear which roles will go Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they’re among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI, with workers criticising the wait as stressful and “ridiculous”. The comments come as its founder on Tuesday told investors an AI agent could learn a human’s job in just 15 minutes, according to the Australian Financial Review. Continue reading...

After Donald Trump announced a pause to the US operation in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's online propaganda machine was quick to declare victory. Explosive Media, one of the groups behind Lego-style videos mocking Trump, proclaimed it "TACO Tuesday", i.e. that the US President had “chickened out.” Meanwhile, Minecraft, the Minions, and Simpsons-style characters are joining the legions of copycats. Technology Correspondent Peter O’Brien looks at how these videos are actually made.

Gus O’Donnell calls for funding to teach new skills to people who lose their jobs as a result of the new technology

OpenAI has replaced GPT-5.3 Instant with a new foundation model, GPT-5.5 Instant, as the default engine powering ChatGPT. The company said the updated model significantly reduces hallucinations in high-stakes domains including law, medicine, and finance, while preserving the low-latency performance of its predecessor. Benchmark results show meaningful gains, with the new model scoring 81.2 on […]

OpenAI's newest default model for ChatGPT might not make stuff up as much. Hallucinations have been an ongoing problem for AI models, but OpenAI says its new GPT-5.5 Instant model has "significant improvements in factuality across the board." The company claims that, based on "internal evaluations," GPT-5.5 Instant produced "52.5% fewer hallucinated claims" than its Instant model for GPT-5.3 "on high-stakes prompts covering areas like medicine, law, and finance." GPT-5.5 Instant also "reduced inaccurate claims by 37.3% on especially challenging conversations users had flagged for factual errors." OpenAI also claims that GPT-5.5 Instant is … Read the full story at The Verge.

In today’s newsletter: With the use of facial recognition skyrocketing, there are calls for the rapid development of safeguards Good morning. Over the last couple of days, the Guardian has been reporting that facial recognition technology is being rolled out across the UK at a pace that appears to be outstripping the rules designed to govern it. Police forces are increasingly using live systems to scan members of the public in real time, while retailers are deploying similar tools to identify suspected shoplifters. Advocates of the technology argue that facial recognition is effective and here to stay. Critics warn it risks creating a system where people are monitored – and sometimes wrongly flagged – without clear safeguards. Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait of Hormuz. Delivery industry | More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action agai