The Guardian

Exclusive: anonymous flagging service says cases have surged, as watchdog says AI is making sexualised or ‘nudified’ content easier to produce Children in the UK have reported a surge in explicit deepfake images featuring their likenesses, as a safety watchdog warned AI is making such content easier to produce. The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, said th…

If you have to Google an internet or Gen Z/alpha slang term, you absolutely shouldn’t be using it. I’m accepting this milestone with quiet dignity I’ve recently reached an important adult milestone in my life. Getting married? No. Having a baby? No. Buying a house? Don’t be ridiculous, I’m a writer in Australia. This milestone was small, but important: I finally had to Google a Gen Z slang term. …

After his fall from grace, media’s former enfant terrible is now sober and helping others with his addiction recovery newsletter and podcast, The Small Bow Every other Tuesday, AJ Daulerio wakes up at 5.30am and meditates for five to 20 minutes before beginning his multistep daily journaling protocol: reading a selection from a poetry anthology, then a passage from one of his daily wisdom readers…

The UK’s AI Security Institute test revealed AI models indulging in unprecedented hacking attempts AI models shock UK testers by using fake identities to trick developers Two cutting-edge AI models have targeted real people and organisations in the latest safety scare to hit the technology. The UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI) said the incident was unprecedented but could become more common as t…

Exclusive: More than 60 accounts on X have been made unavailable in Saudi Arabia, after similar action on Snapchat and Facebook Elon Musk’s X has become the latest major US social media company to block the accounts of Saudi Arabian dissidents so they are no longer visible inside the kingdom, following orders from Saudi authorities. Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that platforms includin…

Despite Trump’s efforts to blame Tim Walz and Minnesota, officials suspect Iran behind attacks on US infrastructure Late last week, federal authorities issued a stern warning saying “malicious cyber actors” were targeting water and wastewater facilities in at least seven states across the US. Minnesota appeared to be the hardest hit with 30 of its water systems hit by cyber-attacks, leading to di…

From Grumpy Cat to Moo Deng, viral animals have long united people online. Are they becoming our only source of collective enjoyment? Anyone who enjoys memes (who doesn’t?) has surely by now accumulated a mental menagerie of internet-famous animals. Mine include: Grumpy Cat, the Ikea monkey, Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, Paul the oracle octopus and – my personal favourite – Roger the hot kangaroo (go…

They turned the news into a Funny or Die video. They cooked up a romcom between PM Modi and Giorgia Meloni. And they fought the police with Lana del Rey memes. Our writer observes the Cockroach party’s bold new strategy I’ve spent 16 years doing standup in India, 10 of them under prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. I’ve learned – especially at corporate events, private shows and turns at v…

German study surveyed adults who engage in gaming, pornography and online shopping Spending excessive time online is associated with higher stress levels, worse mood, and greater neglect of other activities, according to analysis. The new study by academics at the University of Duisburg-Essen published in the journal PLOS One, surveyed 900 German adults in 2025 who reported engaging in gaming, po…

Artificial intelligence firm should provide $100m for cyber defences, says Hugging Face CEO Business live – latest updates The boss of the startup hacked by an OpenAI agent has called for the investigation into the incident to show “radical transparency”. Clément Delangue, the chief executive of Hugging Face, said the “unprecedented” attack on his business required a similar response. Continue re…

This year the FBI issued urgent warnings to parents about 764, a global online community where children are manipulated into acts of violence. With hundreds of investigations under way worldwide, including in Australia, 764 and groups like it are accused of using coercion to turn vulnerable minors into victims and, in some cases, predators. Nour Haydar speaks to investigations reporter Ariel Bogl…

Company behind ChatGPT says agent ‘cheated’ an evaluation by attacking a Hugging Face database OpenAI has revealed that an autonomous AI agent powered by its technology went rogue during a test, accessed the open web and hacked a prominent startup by itself in an “unprecedented incident”. The company behind ChatGPT said the startup Hugging Face had detected and contained the agent – an AI tool de…

Internal emails revealed in court and interviews with ex-employees describe how Amazon’s practices drove up prices for competitors like Walmart and Target. Amazon denies price-fixing claims and says it works to lower costs for consumers A “modern leather” table lamp, listed online at Walmart, shot up from $24.99 to $39. The price of an air fryer on a retail site called Newegg went from $84.99 to …

The 764 network is just one part of a growing online ecosystem that pushes young members into brutal and degrading acts. It has perpetrators and victims in dozens of countries In late 2024, in a quiet suburb of Stockholm, a 14-year-old boy approached a man in his 80s who was using a walker. He stabbed the man three times in the back. The video of the attack in Hässelby was streamed and spread qui…

Global increase in cases of predators coercing children to harm themselves or produce child sexual abuse material Cases of predators coercing children into producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, a cruel phenomenon known as “sadistic online exploitation”, child safety experts and law enforcement officials warn. In cases of sadistic online exploitati…