News in pictures, Wednesday March 20, 2024
For more pictures from The Times follow us on Instagram.
Britain’s biggest publishing houses have written to dozens of technology companies, warning them that they must pay if they want to use content from books, journals and papers to build their artificial intelligence (AI) models. The Publishers Association said it was of “deep concern” to its members, who include Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Oxford…
Saturday was like the World Cup for teenagers. As one mother joked, “There was just no one on the streets.” The reason? It was the Fortnite “Big Bang” party, a virtual festival headlined by Eminem and organised to coincide with the end of the computer game’s season. It was the game’s biggest live event to…
The government’s latest announcement on mobile phones in schools is an “eye-catching initiative” that will have little impact on what happens in classrooms. Gillian Keegan became the latest education secretary to seize on the issue last autumn when she promised a crackdown on mobile phones in English schools during her party conference speech. Ministers have…
The policing chief for retail crime has called on Meta to force users of its Facebook Marketplace platform to verify their identity and location to thwart an epidemic of shoplifting. Chief Superintendent Alex Goss, head of retail crime at the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said that Meta and other online platforms needed to do…
Every author hopes to publish their book at a moment when the world will pay attention. Very few are better timed than Jonathan Haidt’s. In the weeks before I meet the New York University professor, new UK figures reveal a 53 per cent rise in emergency referrals to youth mental healthcare services in the past…
Hitler and Osama bin Laden chatbots created by a far-right platform have prompted concern that they could encourage radicalisation and violence. The US-based Gab network has developed AI chabot characters that enable users to interact with prominent political and historical figures. As well as the Nazi and al-Qaeda leaders, people can chat with Stalin, Queen…