MPs urge Whitehall to prioritise AI training as digital gap widens October 22, 2025 The government must urgently upskill civil servants to make effective use of AI, MPs have warned. In a new report published on Wednesday, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that gaps in digital advancements among government departments are leading to service backlogs, inefficiencies, and poorer outcomes for citizens. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, PAC chair, argued: [...]
UK SMEs brace for inflation strain as confidence slips October 22, 2025 Small business (SME) optimism is faltering as sticky inflation, labour shortages and rising borrowing costs pile pressure on firms already stretched by thin margins and political uncertainty. Small business confidence dipped in September, with recent Opinium polling suggesting that UK entrepreneurs are increasingly uneasy about the months ahead. The latest figures from the National Federation [...]
Google ‘disappointed’ by CMA’s Android and Chrome ruling October 22, 2025 Google has criticised the UK competition watchdog’s decision to give its mobile platform “strategic market status” under sweeping new digital regulation. The Big Tech giant dubbed the move “disproportionate”, arguing that it risks undermining innovation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed on Wednesday that Google’s mobile services, including Android, the Play Store, Chrome and [...]
Apple hit with new antitrust complaint amid Big Tech scrutiny October 22, 2025 Apple has been hit with a new antitrust complaint in Brussels in the latest blow to the tech giant as global regulators tighten their grip on Big Tech. The joint complaint, filed on Wednesday, alleges that Apple’s App Store rules and device terms of service violate the new digital competition regime. It has been filed [...]
Netflix shares fall as Brazil tax hit ends earnings streak October 22, 2025 Netflix’s shares dipped almost seven per cent in the wake of last night’s financial report, after the streaming giant’s strong run of quarterly earnings came to an end following a $619m (£464.8m) tax charge in Brazil dragged on third-quarter profits. The streaming giant reported a 17 per cent uptick in revenue to $11.2bn, broadly in [...]
Google boss Pichai admits OpenAI won the first round October 20, 2025 Google chief Sundar Pichai confirmed the intense internal pressure within the Magnificent Seven firm, widely reported as a ‘code red’, that followed the late 2022 launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, admitting that the smaller rival deserved credit for launching its chatbot first. Speaking at Salesforce’s annual tech conference in San Francisco, Dreamforce, tech heavyweight Pichai spoke [...]
I tried a self-driving taxi ahead of Waymo’s UK debut October 17, 2025 When Waymo announced this week that London will host its first European fleet with autonomous taxis hitting the capital’s streets from next year, I thought it was the perfect time to test one out. It’s an unusual feeling, sitting in a car with no one in the driver’s seat, watching it turn, brake and steer [...]
Salesforce: Trust is ‘critical’ when it comes to AI October 16, 2025 Trust has become key when it comes to businesses using AI. As Salesforce’s Brent Hayward, head of competitive intelligence, told City AM: “I don’t think there’s any more valuable thing. If you’re in the business of working with other businesses or customers, then trust… It is the foundational level”. Hawyard insisted that this trust ‘layer’ [...]
Anthropic boss ‘concerned’ about AI’s impact on jobs October 16, 2025 Anthropic boss and co-founder Dario Amodei has warned that the rapid advance of AI could upend the workforce “faster and more broadly than anything we’ve seen before”, even as his company embraces the technology to transform how it operates. Speaking on stage at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Amodei announced that AI tools were [...]
The company using AI to keep workers away from NHS waiting rooms October 16, 2025 Simplyhealth has pledged to be a solution to the UK’s productivity crisis, linking rising corporate sick leave, which costs Britain’s economy an estimated £150bn annually, to the NHS’s long backlog of treatments. The health insurer is turning to agentic AI to scale its services, hoping to keep employees healthy and at their desks rather than [...]
