The name Geof frey Hinton was little known outside the tech industry until last week, when the so-called “godfather of AI” gave an interview after leaving Google in which he warned that machine learning is leading us into uncharted territory. So is now the time to get properly frightened about the capabilities unleashed by machine learning? Technology writer John Naughton in this week’s big story says an unequivocal yes as he explores a worrying near future, and what prompted Hinton to speak out. Our technology correspondents, Dan Milmo and Alex Hern, also report on efforts by the US, UK and EU to pause and evaluate this galloping tech revolution.
Britain spent last weekend watching avidly or determinedly avoiding the exuberant display of ancient ceremony around the coronation of King Charles III. Our coverage takes a fondly amused look at all the pageantry, personalities and gold braid with Rachel Cooke, while columnist Nesrine Malik unpicks the game of divide and rule, display and disguise through which the institution hangs on to popular support. We also visit Belize to find out how arguments about reparations for slavery are linked to its relationship to the British crown.
