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The Latest Articles by John Naughton

Elon Musk is not America’s new king. But he might be its new Thomas Cromwell

The billionaire was indispensable to Trump’s campaign and now has a senior job. He is about to become dangerously useful

The Guardian - UK · Nov 16, 2024

The images of Spain’s floods weren’t created by AI. The trouble is, people think they were

The rapid growth of ‘AI slop’ – content created by artificial tools – is starting to warp our perception of what is, or could be, real

The Guardian - UK · Nov 9, 2024

Better, faster, stronger? Tech titans’ obsession with turbocharged computer power could be our downfall

First there was Moore’s law, now the Nvidia boss has upped the ante. It’s all fuelling a dangerous conviction that everything can be solved by technology

The Guardian - UK · Nov 2, 2024

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Our perverse respect for immense wealth allows Musk and Zuckerberg to run riot

The megalomaniacs who control X and Facebook are only able to pollute the public sphere and undermine democracy because of our deference to money

The Guardian - UK · Oct 26, 2024

As Silicon Valley eyes US election, Elon Musk is not the only tech bro to worry about

The owner of X is just one of many who may prefer Donald Trump to greater regulation under the Democrats, writes John Naughton

The Guardian - UK · Oct 20, 2024

The podcast Kill List doesn’t reflect badly on the internet – it reflects badly on us

A gripping audio series about a killer-for-hire scam on the dark web is a reminder of how technology holds up a mirror to human nature

The Guardian - UK · Oct 19, 2024

Nobel winner Geoffrey Hinton is the ‘godfather of AI’. Here’s an offer he shouldn’t refuse…

The computer scientist’s dogged belief in the potential of neural networks helped unlock machine learning. But he’d be wise to remember the experience of a fellow laureate

The Guardian - UK · Oct 12, 2024

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The blogosphere is in full bloom. The rest of the internet has wilted

As blogging pioneer Dave Winer’s site turns 30, it’s a reminder that good writing and thinking has flourished beyond the reach of social media

The Guardian - UK · Oct 5, 2024

It’s useful that the latest AI can ‘think’, but we need to know its reasoning

OpenAI o1, AKA Strawberry, appears to be a significant advance, but its ‘chain of thought’ should be made public knowledge

The Guardian - UK · Sep 28, 2024

The Art of Uncertainty by David Spiegelhalter review – a search for sense in probability and chance

In this timely book, the distinguished statistician shows how simple arithmetic can impose order on the risks that are an integral part of life

The Guardian - UK · Sep 22, 2024

Apple’s new AirPods will make America hear again, but no thanks to the regulator

The tech firm’s federal approval to turn its earbuds into hearing aids is one in the eye for the monopolistic US healthcare agency

The Guardian - UK · Sep 21, 2024

By showing Musk’s X the red card, has Brazil scored a goal for all democracies?

A Brazilian justice ordering the platform to be blocked until it complies with state laws is a first among non-autocratic nations

The Guardian - UK · Sep 15, 2024

Telegram chief’s arrest sends a clear message: tech titans are not above the law

The detainment of the murky messaging service’s founder in France shows the online moguls can no longer act with impunity

The Guardian - UK · Sep 7, 2024

Can you judge the tech bros by their bookshelves?

A list of book choices by the Silicon Valley titans offers little more than a blank page with respect to real insights into their mindset

The Guardian - UK · Aug 31, 2024

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The Guardian - UK · Aug 24, 2024

AI cheating is overwhelming the education system – but teachers shouldn’t despair

With adjustments to the way we teach students to think about writing, we can shift the emphasis from product to process

The Guardian - UK · Aug 17, 2024

If Google’s monopoly is broken, it will be good for consumers – and the company too

The tech giant pays billions so that its search engine is the default on our screens, but a US judge has ruled this illegal. Perhaps now we will see innovation

The Guardian - UK · Aug 10, 2024

What opposition to delivery drones shows about big tech’s disrespect for democracy

An abandoned Australian ‘experiment’ shows that the public can successfully object to what companies and politicians claim is inevitable progress

The Guardian - UK · Aug 3, 2024

Silicon Valley’s Trump supporters are dicing with the death of democracy

In 2016, some said comparisons between the rises of Trump and Hitler were misguided. But as tech’s titans donate millions, worrying new parallels emerge

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The Guardian - UK · Jul 27, 2024

My new iPhone symbolises stagnation, not innovation – and a similar fate awaits AI

Development of ChatGPT and its ilk will plateau, just like it did for smartphones, and then what are we left with? More ho-hum consumer tech

The Guardian - UK · Jul 20, 2024

Google’s wrong answer to the threat of AI – stop indexing content

The search engine’s response to the rise of ChatGPT and its ilk is to take an extremely selective approach to what it considers worthy of attention

The Guardian - UK · Jul 13, 2024

Smartphones are bad for kids – we don’t need to call on scientific data to know it

Jonathan Haidt’s claims about the effects of devices on children’s wellbeing have been criticised for lacking proof, but they tell us what we need to know

The Guardian - UK · Jul 6, 2024

Microsoft’s climbdown over its creepy Recall feature shows its AI strategy is far from intelligent

The tech company’s new Windows machines can take constant screenshots of users’ every action – quelle surprise, it’s a privacy minefield

The Guardian - UK · Jun 29, 2024

Closing the Stanford Internet Observatory will edge the US towards the end of democracy

The organisation responsible for monitoring digital falsehoods is reportedly being wound down after pressure from Republicans and conspiracy theorists

The Guardian - UK · Jun 15, 2024

How’s this for a bombshell – the US must make AI its next Manhattan Project

A new essay on the rise of superintelligent machines pivots from being a warning to humanity to a rallying cry for an industrial complex to bolster American military defence

The Guardian - UK · Jun 8, 2024

Look before you scan – the QR code scammers are phishing for business

The proliferation of Quick Response codes has created a cybersecurity nightmare, but public vigilance can help

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