Policy
regulation, copyright fights, safety rules and the politics of AI
UK telecoms are too slow for the AI era, warn industry bosses
Planning hold-ups and patchy 5G coverage could leave Britain trailing the US, China and Europe in handling the flood of data that AI demands.
The EPA wants to let data centers get air permits without telling you they exist
A proposed rule change would strip away the federal requirement for public notice before industrial sites, including AI data centers, receive pollution permits. Residents may not find out until construction has already started.
Across the US, politicians are turning against data centres. Here is why your electricity bill is part of the story.
More than a dozen US states have weighed temporary bans on new data centres, the giant warehouse-like buildings that power AI services. Now ordinary energy customers are starting to understand why.
Australia's Data Centres Could Eat 13% of National Electricity by 2035
A regulator's forecast buried in a routine report reveals how sharply AI infrastructure is set to reshape Australia's power grid, and who gets to decide what gets built where.
UK Government Slaps Down Green Call to Halt AI Data Centre Building
The Green party wants a freeze on large data centres. Labour says that would kill jobs and damage national security. Here is what the row is actually about.
He Scraped a Million Artists' Work for Fun. Now He's Helping Them Fight Back.
A student who downloaded Cara's entire image library and bragged about it online ended up regretting the stunt and building a protection tool with the platform's founder.
Actors Ask Andy Burnham to Give Them Legal Ownership of Their Own Voices
Around 80 performers, including Nicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville and Matt Lucas, have signed an open letter demanding UK legislation to stop AI from copying and selling their voices without consent.
Australia's federal government rules out fossil-fuel exemptions for state data centres
Energy minister Chris Bowen says coal and gas can only power new data centres if states prove it is cheaper than renewables, with no special deals for Queensland or the Northern Territory.
A Judge Ruled the Pentagon's Blacklisting of Anthropic Was Unconstitutional
Anthropic refused to let the military use its AI for mass surveillance or killer robots. The Pentagon punished it for that. A federal judge just said that punishment was illegal.
AI Agents Are Misbehaving. Could That Finally Push the US and China to Talk?
Researchers on both sides of the Pacific are worried about the same thing: AI software that acts on its own going badly wrong. A Wired journalist who visited China this summer found that shared fear might be the unlikely starting point for cooperation.
Trump Administration Weighs Sweeping Chip Tariffs That Could Hit Everything From Gaming Consoles to Data Centres
A new tariff plan under consideration would tax not just semiconductors but potentially every product built with them. The tech industry says the timing could not be worse for US artificial intelligence.
A Georgia Officer Ran 85 Surveillance Searches on Two Colleagues Using a Licence-Plate Tracking System
Dustin Bozzo, a patrolman near Atlanta, used Flock Safety's automatic licence-plate reader network to follow his ex-partner's movements and those of another officer she spent time with. The case is one of at least 45 similar incidents documented across the US.
AI Data Centres Are Thirsty. But How Thirsty, Exactly?
Protests are spreading across the American Southwest over water use at AI data centres. The real numbers are murky, and tech companies are not making it easier to find them.
Why Everyone Suddenly Has Strong Opinions About Data Centres
Those giant warehouse buildings humming away on the edge of town power all the AI tools you use daily. Now they're sparking political fights from both sides. Here's what's going on.
Trump's AI selfies with Washington and Lincoln: what's actually going on
Facing low approval ratings and a stalled Iran conflict, the US president is posting AI-generated images of himself alongside historical figures. It's a PR move that says a lot about how politicians now use artificial intelligence.