‘If you’re building Frankenstein, stop’: JD Vance dismisses calls for AI regulation

16 September 2026 at 11:42

US vice-president’s comments come as former Anthropic researcher revisits recent claim AI could destroy humanity

The US vice-president has dismissed calls for global regulation of AI safety risks, telling companies creating the most advanced models: “If you’re building Frankenstein, stop.”

In remarks addressed towards Dario Amodei, the co-founder of Anthropic who has called on Washington DC to coordinate control of AI systems, including with China, JD Vance said: “If you’re gonna create Frankenstein, don’t come to the government and say we need regulation.”

Burning Man at 40: the once anarchic desert festival faces a midlife crisis

The Guardian - Technology

By: Lois Beckett

14 September 2026 at 21:16

The subversive bacchanal for San Francisco’s eccentric underground is ageing out amid an influx of the super-rich

Burning Man, the infamous arts festival in the Nevada desert, turned 40 this year, and it’s showing some distinct signs of middle age.

It’s not just the tech billionaires who show up to party, the chartered flights straight to the desert or the HBO documentary about behind-the-scenes power struggles. The tens of thousands of people who assemble each year to create a tent city in the wilderness appear to be growing older, and it doesn’t seem that they’re being replaced by as many younger “burners”, as festival participants are called.

‘We’re not going to back down’: tiny Dorset B&B stands up to Airbnb’s legal bid to ‘monopolise’ letters ‘bnb’

The Guardian - Technology

By: Amelia Hill

14 September 2026 at 09:27

Three little letters - bnb-side’s name is a play on the local b-side arts festival, but Silicon Valley colossus sees threat to global brand

In one corner is bnb-side, a six-room bed and breakfast on the Isle of Portland – a tiny wedge of limestone tied by a narrow ribbon of shingle to the Dorset coast – that was created to help secure the future of the rock’s much-loved arts festival, b-side.

On the other is Airbnb, the San Francisco-based booking colossus. The battle between them is over the three little letters they share.

Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored – podcast

The Guardian - Technology

By: Written by Jill Lepore and read by Laurel Lefkow. Produced by Nicola Alexandrou. The executive producer was Danielle Stephens

14 September 2026 at 05:00

Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen?

By Jill Lepore. Read by Laurel Lefkow

Read the text version here

Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod

Adapted from The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, published by Allen Lane on 25 August. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com

AI Hysteria: Take a Deep Breath and Ask, “Who Benefits from Apocalyptic Claims?”

Science and Culture Today

By: Science &#38 · Culture

11 September 2026 at 20:54

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit and posted at X last Tuesday, to over 25 million views, that “No other human activity poses this level of danger.”

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