WPP shares plunge again on halved dividend and strategic review August 7, 2025 Shares in advertising giant WPP dropped by as much as 4.7 per cent on Thursday morning after it revealed it would launch a strategic review and halve its interim dividend amid falling profit and stagnant revenue. The embattled media group, which owns major agencies like global PR shop Burson and creative juggernaut Ogilvy, revealed its [...]
Call me converted, I’ve finally found a positive use for ChatGPT August 6, 2025 Anna Moloney was an AI Luddite. Then she discovered it could do her taxes. She tells us about (kinda) embracing ChatGPT in today's Notebook.
High street banks lost £100bn in customer savings to rivals since 2019 August 4, 2025 High street lenders have lost the equivalent of £100bn in customer savings to online banks and building societies as they come under pressure to adapt amid a major shift in the sector, according to a report. KPMG’s latest State of the Banks report found that traditional banking groups saw their market share in deposits drop [...]
Meta and Microsoft face AI earnings test July 30, 2025 Meta, the owner of Facebook, and Microsoft will post second-quarter earnings after US markets close today (Wednesday 30 July) with analysts focused squarely on how both tech titans are monetising their multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) bets. Shares in both firms have surged around 20 per cent so far this year, fuelled by investor enthusiasm around [...]
UK backs global AI safety plan with AWS and Anthropic July 30, 2025 The UK has launched a new global research coalition aimed at tackling one of the most pressing but least understood problems in artificial intelligence – ensuring that advanced AI systems behave in ways aligned with human values. Backed by £15m in funding and a wide-ranging group of partners, the so-called ‘Alignment Project’ was unveiled on [...]
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 [...]
Alphabet and Tesla to kick off pivotal week for the Magnificent Seven July 23, 2025 The high-stakes earnings season for the Magnificent Seven tech giants begins on Wednesday, as Tesla and Alphabet report after the closing bell. With both companies under pressure to justify elevated valuations and market leadership, their results could set the tone for the rest of the sector’s global heavyweights – and for equity markets more broadly. [...]
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 [...]
Environment secretary: Labour’s water revolution will give investors certainty July 22, 2025 Abolishing Ofwat and streamlining water regulation will give the sector the clarity and accountability it needs to attract private investment, says environment secretary Steve Reed Today is the start of a water revolution. When I came into office a year ago, it was immediately clear our water system needed a complete reset. There were high [...]
What WeTransfer’s terms of service backtrack tells us about AI, data, and digital trust July 19, 2025 Earlier this week, Dutch file-sharing platform WeTransfer found itself in the crosshairs of an increasingly familiar story: AI ambition colliding with user trust. A subtle but potent tweak to its ‘terms of service’ – a clause suggesting user files might be used to “improve performance of machine learning models” -triggered feelings of unease through its [...]