Ransomware ban won’t save councils or NHS without urgent cyber investment July 27, 2025 The UK government’s recent ban on ransomware payments by the public sector is a pivotal moment in cybercrime policy. While hailed as a decisive step, experts caution that without parallel investment in resilience, hospitals, councils, and schools remain dangerously exposed. Announced on 22 June, the policy prohibits pay-outs by NHS trusts, local authorities, and other [...]
UK hits Big Tech with online safety crackdown July 25, 2025 The UK’s biggest tech platforms are under new legal pressure from Friday as sweeping new child protection laws come into force, requiring firms to deploy strict age verification for harmful content – or face fines of up to £18m, or 10 per cent of global turnover. The new rules, part of the government’s long-trailed Online [...]
UK’s AI vision faces infrastructure reality check July 25, 2025 The UK government has set ambitions to become a global leader in AI research, safety and commercialisation. Over £2.5bn has been committed to compute infrastructure, with new supercomputers being built in Edinburgh and Bristol, and “AI Growth Zones” being launched across regions including Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. But a growing chorus of voices [...]
Chatbots are growing fast – but search still rules the web July 24, 2025 While chatbots like ChatGPT are seeing explosive growth, they are still a long way from overtaking traditional search engines – and Google remains firmly control of how people find information online. A recent report found that between April 2024 and March 2025, visits to AI chatbots surged by nearly 81 per cent year on year, [...]
BT profits fall but group insists it remains ‘on track’ July 24, 2025 Telecoms giant BT Group reported a 10 per cent drop in reported profit before tax on top of a three per cent decline in adjusted revenue, while reaffirming it is ‘on track’ to achieve full-year guidance. In a trading update for the three months to 30 June, the FTSE 100 company informed shareholders its reported [...]
Labour’s OpenAI deal lacks transparency July 24, 2025 The Labour government’s newly announced partnership with OpenAI has positioned the UK at the centre of a global discourse on the future of artificial intelligence in public services. The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed on Tuesday by tech secretary Peter Kyle and OpenAI chief Sam Altman, sets out a framework for collaboration across sectors like [...]
CMA targets Apple and Google’s market dominance to strengthen UK app market July 23, 2025 The UK’s competition watchdog has proposed a sweeping shake-up of the mobile app economy, with plans to designate Apple and Google as having “strategic market status” (SMS) – a move that could open the door to new rivals, lower development costs, and broadly loosen the tech giants’ tight grip on the mobile ecosystem. In a [...]
Natwest boosts AI strategy with AWS and Accenture July 23, 2025 Natwest Group has announced a five-year collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and consultancy Accenture to accelerate its bank-wide data and AI transformation, ahead of its half-year earnings release scheduled for July 25. The agreement forms part of the group’s broader strategy to simplify its operations and offer a more personalised customer experience. By consolidating data currently housed [...]
HPE: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s UK profit quadruples despite sales slump July 23, 2025 Profit at the UK arm of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) almost quadrupled during its latest financial year despite its sales being slashed by nearly £150m. The division of the US tech giant has posted a pre-tax profit of £97.6m for the 12 months to 31 October, 2024, according to new accounts filed with Companies House. The [...]
OpenAI: ChatGPT maker’s UK earnings skyrocket July 23, 2025 OpenAI has raked in millions of pounds since the launch of artificial intelligence (AI) service ChatGPT in the UK, it has been revealed. The UK division of the US tech giant ended last year with current assets of £56.2m which included £42.4m in the bank and a further £13.7m owed by debtors, according to new [...]