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We’re reading less. And it’s making us stupid – podcast
Books have never been trendier, but studies show that as more and more things compete for our frazzled attention spans, we’re reading less and less. This is a problem because reading has a wealth of cognitive benefits that we’re in danger of missing out on. To find out why declining literacy could affect everything from memory to IQ, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample. She also hears from Prof Falk Huettig, an experimental psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and author of The Perks of Being a Bookworm
Spotify to distinguish AI artists from real people – and stop recommending them
Music streaming platform creates ‘AI persona’ label that will appear on profiles and track listings in crackdown on fake performers Spotify is to label AI artists and exclude them from algorithm recommendations as part of a crackdown on fake performers.
AI-generated stories rated better quality than human-written ones, study finds
Researcher says simpler writing by AI is easier to read and digest, but this does not mean human authors are obsolete From Homer’s Odyssey to Agatha Christie’s crime fiction, humans have produced plenty of tales to grace the bookshelf. But research suggests artificial intelligence may now be providing some competition.
‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy.
Danish pupils will have to orally defend essays in attempt to combat AI cheating
Government introduces several measures, including monitoring of computers, for pupils aged 16 to 19 Europe live – latest updates Danish teenagers will have to make an oral defence of their written essays to combat AI cheating, the government has announced.
‘I’m not spying’: how Meta’s smartglasses have divided opinion
While some users say the wearables have changed their lives, critics voice fears over safety and privacy With more than 7m pairs reportedly sold in 2025, Meta’s Ray-Ban smartglasses are fast becoming one of the world’s most popular gadgets.
Smart glasses are deeply creepy. Why are celebrities like Kylie Jenner endorsing them?
The Guardian describes the potential dangers of smart glasses, particularly those developed by Meta. The author expresses concern about the potential for misuse, including the possibility of recording without consent and the potential for facial recognition technology to be used for surveillance.
Could AI be conscious?
Experts believe it’s at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications In January, the AI company Anthropic published a new constitution for Claude, its most advanced large language model (LLM), which contained the comment: “We are caught in a difficult position where we neither want to overstate the likelihood of Claude’s moral patienthood nor dismiss it out of hand.”
Book publishers sue Google for copyright infringement over Gemini AI training
Group of major publishers accuses the tech giant of ‘one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history’ A group of major publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted books to help build its Gemini artificial intelligence models, in “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history”. The case, filed in federal court in New York, has been brought by three publishers – Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier – and bestselling American author Scott Turow. Continue readi...
The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?
Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers
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