ChatGPT to trial adverts for some users for the first time January 17, 2026 Online AI tool ChatGPT will begin to show users adverts for the first time, as it looks to recover from financial losses. Open AI, the bot’s developer, said it would start displaying adverts in the coming weeks based on what people ask ChatGPT as well as personal data the tool stores on users. Relevant ads [...]
Musk-Altman rift widens as judge approves court battle January 16, 2026 OpenAI and Microsoft have lost their final bid to avoid a courtroom battle with Elon Musk, with a US judge ruling that the Tesla and xAI founder can proceed to trial over claims that the start-up breached its original charitable mission. The case, set for a jury trial in late April at the District Court [...]
Big Tech wants to access your health records January 16, 2026 OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Health this month is set to capitalise a behavioural pattern that has already taken hold. Millions of people use AI chatbots to make sense of symptoms, test results and medical jargon, often even before speaking to a qualified clinician. The difference is that now, as of just last week, the technology [...]
Liz Kendall welcomes X’s Grok changes as Ofcom probe continues January 15, 2026 The government has welcomed new safety measures introduced by Elon Musk’s X to curb abuse linked to its Grok AI tool, as the UK’s online safety regulator presses ahead with a formal investigation into the platform. Tech secretary Liz Kendall said she “welcomed” X’s move to restrict Grok’s image generation capabilities, but stressed that regulators [...]
Sadiq Khan: AI could bring ‘mass unemployment’ to London January 15, 2026 Sadiq Khan has warned that AI could become a “weapon of mass destruction” for jobs across London unless the government takes proactive action to ease its impact on work. The London Mayor said AI’s impact on the capital city will be “nothing short of colossal” over the coming years. In a Mansion House speech to [...]
Bankers and bots: City lenders to face scrutiny on AI ambitions January 15, 2026 Banks have been tipped as a big winner of AI integration but face a major test in selling their tech narrative to investors. As City lenders gear up to report their 2025 financials, shareholders will be looking past balance sheets for progress on digital ambitions. “This may be the year the market makes up its [...]
Big Tech steps up energy hiring as grid creaks under AI pressure January 14, 2026 Big Tech is increasingly recruiting energy specialists as access to electricity becomes a central constraint on the expansion of AI infrastructure. Energy-related hiring at tech firms rose 34 per cent year on year in 2024, according to Workforce.ai data, and has remained around 30 per cent above pre-2022 levels. The increase reflects growing demand for [...]
NBA invests in Silicon Valley firm ahead of London game at the O2 January 14, 2026 The NBA has announced an investment in Silicon Valley firm Evergent Technologies on the eve of the US basketball league’s long-awaited return to London this weekend. The tech firm is a key cog in the competition’s successful NBA League Pass direct-to-consumer platform, which offers live streaming of games to subscribers in more than 185 countries. [...]
‘Ambition and delivery are not aligned’ – Starmer’s AI Action Plan, one year on January 14, 2026 Exactly a year ago, Keir Starmer, with the help of Matt Clifford, promised to “mainline AI into the veins” of the UK’s economy. The so-called AI Opportunities Action Plan, a 50-point blueprint unveiled in January 2025, was meant to turn that rhetoric into results, placing the UK on equal footings with the likes of China [...]
Monzo outage hits app as digital bank wobbles January 13, 2026 Monzo Bank’s customers were left frustrated after the online bank suffered a widespread app outage, temporarily knocking out key features while core banking services continued to work. Shortly after 3 pm on Tuesday, users across the UK began reporting problems accessing parts of the bank’s app, according to outage-tracking site DownDetector. Reports seemed to spike [...]