Blurs

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world, but behind the promises of technological progress lies a rapidly expanding demand for land, electricity and water.  Across Britain, communities are beginning to question whether the price of the AI revolution is being paid by the wrong people. A technological revolution with a physical footprint Artificial intelligence increasingly appears to exist everywhere and nowhere. It writes articles, generates images, analyses medical information, assists scientific research and influences decisions across business, government and everyday life.  Much of this activity takes place behind screens, creating the impression that the digital revolution has relatively little physical presence. But AI has a substantial physical footprint. Behind every sophisticated AI model sits an enormous network of computer processors, storage equipment, cooling systems, electricity infrastructure and buildings.  These facilities are known as data cent...

There are bookmakers that advertise on television, betting apps that sit on millions of smartphones and casinos that spend billions trying to attract customers. Then there is Starlizard. The London-based company operates largely away from public view. Its business is built around something considerably less glamorous than advertising: enormous quantities of sporting data, statistical modelling, probability and the ability to act on tiny discrepancies in betting markets. At its centre is billionaire businessman and professional gambler Tony Bloom, the owner of Brighton & Hove Albion. Starlizard has become one of the most interesting examples of what happens when gambling is treated less like a game of chance and more like quantitative finance. And recent High Court proceedings have provided an unusually detailed glimpse inside an organisation that has historically been extremely reluctant to reveal how it operates. Who is Starlizard? Starlizard was established in 2006 and is based i...

For generations, the relationship between an employee and their employer was relatively simple. You arrived at work. You did your job. Your manager judged the quality of your work. That model is rapidly changing. Modern workplaces can generate enormous quantities of information about employees — sometimes without them fully appreciating how much data is being collected. Email systems can record communications. Access-control systems can log movements. Cameras can monitor physical spaces. Software can measure activity on company computers. AI can analyse meetings, messages and documents. And increasingly, employers can use algorithms to turn all of that information into assessments of how people work. The result is a new form of workplace surveillance that is far more sophisticated than the traditional security camera. The workplace is becoming measurable Almost everything an employee does digitally can potentially leave a record. Logging into a computer. Opening a document. Sending an ...

For more than a century, cameras have been relatively easy to recognise. A CCTV camera hangs from a ceiling. A photographer raises a camera to their eye. A smartphone is held in front of someone's face. Artificial intelligence is beginning to change that. A new generation of AI-powered glasses can contain miniature cameras, microphones, speakers and increasingly sophisticated software while looking remarkably similar to ordinary spectacles. The wearer can photograph or record what is happening around them without necessarily reaching for a phone. That creates a new and uncomfortable question: What happens to public privacy when the camera becomes almost invisible? A camera disguised as ordinary eyewear AI glasses are not simply cameras mounted onto spectacles. Modern devices can combine cameras and microphones with an AI assistant capable of interpreting what the wearer sees and hears. Depending on the device and software, this can include answering questions about objects, transla...