1,149 tacks
Why we're so sure our phones are listening to us
It has, almost certainly, happened to you. You have a conversation in person, you mention something specific, and minutes later, there’s an ad for it on your phone. For the past decade, most of us have come to the same conclusion: Our phones must be listening. But are they, really? I wanted to dig into the “phone listening” theory — where it came from, what the official research says, and what’s actually happening every time you load an ad on the internet. What I learned is that creepy ads are just the tip of the iceberg, powered by a system auctioning off our location, identity, and behaviors to countless companies vying for our attention… and others looking for something else.
‘I feel like I’m at war’: are we losing the battle against machine-made music?
Despite outcry from musicians, AI slop is creeping into the charts as record labels scramble to adapt to a new normal where hits can be made at the click of a button.
Longing for a Time Before Smartphones - YouTube
Gen Z has romanticized the technology of the ’90s—or the era’s lack of it. Young long for a time when people were looking at each other instead of their phones. But could that nostalgia for a smartphone-free society actually help guide the future?
Zuckerberg pushes ‘superintelligent’ AI for all as Meta drops open-source model
Meta CEO presents utopian vision of AI in 6,000-word essay amid Silicon Valley debate over government regulation Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy essay on Monday detailing his views on artificial intelligence and announced several plans for how Meta would develop the technology in the future.
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.
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