UK shops are about to get a four-second line to the police, powered by your face
UK shops are about to get a four-second line to the police, powered by your face

Walk into a shop with the wrong face on file, and the police could know within four seconds. That is the pitch, and the problem. A facial recognition system in more than 100 UK shops is about to start calling the police in real time. It will fire the m…

The UK just declared Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Oracle ‘critical’ to its financial system
The UK just declared Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Oracle ‘critical’ to its financial system

Britain’s banks run on four American clouds. The Treasury reckons two-thirds of UK firms lean on the same handful. Now the regulators are stepping in. The UK has named Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Oracle as “critical third parties” to its financial sy…

Britain’s public sector runs on US cloud, and that is now a billion-pound risk
Britain’s public sector runs on US cloud, and that is now a billion-pound risk

Britain’s public sector has become deeply reliant on a small number of US cloud giants, and analysts warn the concentration is now a strategic risk. Nearly all UK government organisations spend on hyperscale cloud, with the dependency running into bill…

Inside IBM’s hidden ‘Court 19’, where Wimbledon becomes a test lab for AI
Inside IBM’s hidden ‘Court 19’, where Wimbledon becomes a test lab for AI

A serve flashes on the Wimbledon scoreboard before the ball stops bouncing. That number comes from a partnership older than most players on court. IBM has been Wimbledon’s technology partner for 36 years, since it planted serve-speed radar behind the b…

UK tech secretary backs driverless cars as Burnham’s team gets cold feet
UK tech secretary backs driverless cars as Burnham’s team gets cold feet

Britain’s tech secretary backs driverless cars and British AI startups. The likely next prime minister’s team has doubts, and her own job is on the line. Liz Kendall wants Britain to back its own AI companies before someone else does. In a Sifted podca…

Cambridge’s Worldmodeldata raises £7M to turn video games into AI training data
Cambridge’s Worldmodeldata raises £7M to turn video games into AI training data

The last wave of AI learned to describe the world. The next needs to learn how the world pushes back. A Cambridge startup thinks the answer hides inside video games. Worldmodeldata has raised £7m (€8m) to turn gameplay into AI training data, Tech Fundi…

Thought Machine crosses $100M revenue and delays its London IPO to 2028
Thought Machine crosses $100M revenue and delays its London IPO to 2028

Most tech founders chase a bigger valuation. Thought Machine’s boss would rather talk about revenue, and he has just crossed a milestone worth boasting about. The London core-banking company has passed $100m in annual revenue for the first time, tech.e…

UK’s Cooper warns of an AI ‘Hiroshima’ and calls for global rules
UK’s Cooper warns of an AI ‘Hiroshima’ and calls for global rules

Britain’s foreign secretary has a stark analogy for artificial intelligence. Do not wait for its Hiroshima moment before writing the rules. Yvette Cooper will warn that AI could become the “greatest security challenge of the next decade,” according to …

UK parents warned against posting children’s photos publicly as AI abuse imagery surges
UK parents warned against posting children’s photos publicly as AI abuse imagery surges

Parents should stop publicly posting images of their children online because of the growth of AI-generated abuse imagery, the UK’s National Crime Agency has warned. The agency issued the advice alongside the Internet Watch Foundation, the charity respo…

NHS App will use AI to triage patients as part of £10bn tech overhaul
NHS App will use AI to triage patients as part of £10bn tech overhaul

The NHS will use AI inside its app to direct patients in England to the right services, the government has announced. The tool will assess symptoms and work out whether someone needs a GP appointment, a pharmacy visit, or a trip to A&E. The update …