AI helping ease the UK’s NHS burden

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...

A slew of tech earnings predict an expensive future for everyday electronics buyers, and big developments in the UK tech world Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian. Today, we examine how a slew of tech earnings predict an expensive future for everyday electronics buyers and two big developments in the UK tech world: Workers at Google DeepMind, headquartered in London, petitioned to unionize to stop their employer’s military work. And UK police are increasingly adopting live facial recognition, with considerable consequences. Continue reading...

UK staff of Google's AI research lab hope to block the use of the company's artificial intelligence models in military settings.

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

Exclusive: Worker pointed to Iran war and Pentagon’s Anthropic feud as indications the department is ‘not a responsible partner’ Workers developing Google’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week. In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of the lab’s UK-based staff. Continue reading...

Welcome to AI Insider’s The Week Ahead in AI. See the key developments and events we’re watching May 3- 9. Weekend AI News Briefs AI Facial Recognition Oversight Lagging Far Behind Technology, Watchdogs Warn According to The Guardian, Britain’s biometric watchdogs warned that the rapid expansion of AI-powered facial recognition technology by police and retailers is […]

People describe awkward and unnatural process as survey finds nearly half of job seekers have been interviewed by AI Nearly half (47%) of UK job seekers have had an AI interview, research from the hiring platform Greenhouse has found. In its survey of 2,950 active job seekers, including 1,132 UK-based workers, with additional respondents from the US, Germany, Australia and Ireland, it found that 30% of UK candidates had walked away from a hiring process because it included an AI interview. Continue reading...

The technology secretary spoke amid concerns the UK was struggling to make its own way in AI Britain must seize the initiative in AI or be left at the “mercy and whim” of a future shaped by the technology, Liz Kendall has warned. The UK’s technology secretary said the country must have greater control over the industry as she highlighted big tech’s grip over its development, with 70% of the world’s artificial intelligence computing power provided by US companies. Continue reading...