US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice

Pledge to invest billions in UK paused, with Washington citing lack of progress on trade barriers across pond

The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.

The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit, has been put on ice by Washington.

Published: December 15, 2025, 7:37 pm

Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan

Liz Kendall faces pressure from campaigners as she tells parliament there is no clear consensus on issue

A campaign fronted by popstars including Elton John and Dua Lipa to protect artists’ works from being mined to train AI models without consent has received a boost after almost every respondent to a government consultation backed their case.

Ninety-five per cent of the more than 10,000 people who had their say over how music, novels, films and other works should be protected from copyright infringements by tech companies called for copyright to be strengthened and a requirement for licensing in all cases or no change to copyright law.

Published: December 16, 2025, 5:00 am

Google AI summaries are ruining the livelihoods of recipe writers: ‘It’s an extinction event’

AI Mode is mangling recipes by merging instructions from multiple creators – and causing them huge dips in ad traffic

This past March, when Google began rolling out its AI Mode search capability, it began offering AI-generated recipes. The recipes were not all that intelligent. The AI had taken elements of similar recipes from multiple creators and Frankensteined them into something barely recognizable. In one memorable case, the Google AI failed to distinguish comments on a Reddit thread from legitimate recipe sites and advised users to cook with non-toxic glue.

Over the past few years, bloggers who have not secured their sites behind a paywall have seen their carefully developed and tested recipes show up, often without attribution and in a bastardized form, in ChatGPT replies. They have seen dumbed-down versions of their recipes in AI-assembled cookbooks available for digital downloads on Etsy or on AI-built websites that bear a superficial resemblance to an old-school human-written blog. Their photos and videos, meanwhile, are repurposed in Facebook posts and Pinterest pins that link back to this digital slop.

Published: December 15, 2025, 3:00 pm

Water levels across the Great Lakes are falling – just as US data centers move in

Region struggling with drought now threatened by energy-hungry facilities – but some residents are fighting back

The sign outside Tom Hermes’s farmyard in Perkins Township in Ohio, a short drive south of the shores of Lake Erie, proudly claims that his family have farmed the land here since 1900. Today, he raises 130 head of cattle and grows corn, wheat, grass and soybeans on 1,200 acres of land.

For his family, his animals and wider business, water is life.

Published: December 16, 2025, 1:00 pm

The US supreme court’s TikTok ruling is a scandal | Evelyn Douek and Jameel Jaffer

The decision means TikTok now operates under the threat that it could be forced offline with a stroke of Trump’s pen

Judicial opinions allowing the government to suppress speech in the name of national security rarely stand the test of time. But time has been unusually unkind to the US supreme court decision that upheld the law banning TikTok, the short-form video platform. The court issued its ruling less than a year ago, but it is already obvious that the deference the court gave to the government’s national security arguments was spectacularly misplaced. The principal effect of the court’s ruling has been to give our own government enormous power over the policies of a speech platform used by tens of millions of Americans every day – a result that is an affront to the first amendment and a national security risk in its own right.

Congress passed the TikTok ban in 2023 citing concerns that the Chinese government might be able to access information about TikTok’s American users or covertly manipulate content on the platform in ways that threatened US interests. The ban was designed to prevent Americans from using TikTok starting in January 2025 unless TikTok’s China-based corporate owner, ByteDance Inc, sold its US subsidiary before then.

Evelyn Douek is an assistant professor at Stanford Law School

Jameel Jaffer is inaugural director of the Knight first amendment institute at Columbia University

Published: December 15, 2025, 11:00 am

Why universal basic income still can’t meet the challenges of an AI economy

Andrew Yang’s revived pitch suits the automation debate, but UBI can’t fix inequalities concentrated tech wealth drives

Universal basic income (UBI) is back, like a space zombie in a sci-fi movie, resurrected from policy oblivion, hungry for policymakers’ attention: brains!

Andrew Yang, whose “Yang Gang” enthusiasm briefly shook up the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 promoting a “Freedom Dividend” to save workers from automation – $1,000 a month for every American adult – is again the main carrier of the bug: offering UBI to save the nation when robots eat all our jobs.

Published: December 15, 2025, 12:00 pm

UK Treasury drawing up new rules to police cryptocurrency markets

Rachel Reeves wants to protect consumers by bringing digital money and assets into the ‘regulatory perimeter’

Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in a similar way to other financial products under legislation coming into force in 2027.

The Treasury is drawing up rules that will require crypto companies to meet a set of standards overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Published: December 15, 2025, 12:01 am

Musicians are deeply concerned about AI. So why are the major labels embracing it?

Companies such as Udio, Suno and Klay will let you use AI to make new music based on existing artists’ work. It could mean more royalties – but many are worried

This was the year that AI-generated music went from jokey curiosity to mainstream force. Velvet Sundown, a wholly AI act, generated millions of streams; AI-created tracks topped Spotify’s viral chart and one of the US Billboard country charts; AI “artist” Xania Monet “signed” a record deal. BBC Introducing is usually a platform for flesh-and-blood artists trying to make it big, but an AI-generated song by Papi Lamour was recently played on the West Midlands show. And jumping up the UK Top 20 this month is I Run, a track by dance act Haven, who have been accused of using AI to imitate British vocalist Jorja Smith (Haven claim they simply asked the AI for “soulful vocal samples”, and did not respond to an earlier request to comment).

The worry is that AI will eventually absorb all creative works in history and spew out endless slop that will replace human-made art and drive artists into penury. Those worries are being deepened by how the major labels, once fearful of the technology, are now embracing it – and heralding a future in which ordinary listeners have a hand in co-creating music with their favourite musicians.

Published: December 16, 2025, 10:00 am

He wrote the world’s most successful video games – now what? Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser on life after Grand Theft Auto

He rewrote the rule book with Rockstar then left it all behind. Now Dan Houser is back with a storytelling-focused studio to take on AI-obsessed tech bros and Mexican beauty queens

There are only a handful of video game makers who have had as profound an effect on the industry as Dan Houser. The co-founder of Rockstar Games, and its lead writer, worked on all the GTA titles since the groundbreaking third instalment, as well as both Red Dead Redemption adventures. But then, in 2019, he took an extended break from the company which ended with his official departure. Now he’s back with a new studio and a range of projects, and 12 years after we last interviewed him, he’s ready to talk about what comes next.

“Finishing those big projects and thinking about doing another one is really intense,” he says about his decision to go. “I’d been in full production mode every single day from the very start of each project to the very end, for 20 years. I stayed so long because I loved the games. It was a real privilege to be there, but it was probably the right time to leave. I turned 45 just after Red Dead 2 came out. I thought, well, it’s probably a good time to try working on some other stuff.”

Published: December 15, 2025, 12:35 pm

‘Our industry has been strip-mined’: video game workers protest at The Game Awards

Outside the lavish event, workers called out the ‘greed’ in the industry that has left games ‘being sold for parts to make a few people a lot of money’

It’s the night of the 2025 Game Awards, a major industry event where the best games of the year are crowned and major publishers reveal forthcoming projects. In the shadow of the Peacock theater in Los Angeles and next to a giant, demonic statue promoting new game Divinity, which would be announced on stage later that evening, stands a collection of people in bright red shirts. Many are holding signs: a tombstone honouring the “death” of The Game Awards’ Future Class talent development programme; a bold, black-and-red graphic that reads “We’re Done Playing”; and “wanted” posters for Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick and Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer. This is a protest.

The protesters, who were almost denied entry to the public space outside the Peacock theater (“they knew we were coming,” one jokes), are from United Videogame Workers (UVW), an industry-wide, direct-join union for North America that is part of the Communications Workers of America. “We are out here today to raise awareness of the plight of the game worker,” says Anna C Webster, chair of the freelancing committee, in the hot Los Angeles sun. “Our industry has been strip-mined for resources by these corporate overlords, and we figured the best place to raise awareness of what’s happening in the games industry is at the culmination, the final boss, as it were: The Game Awards.”

Published: December 15, 2025, 10:00 am

New antibiotics hailed as ‘turning point’ in treating drug-resistant gonorrhoea

First new treatments for sexually transmitted disease in decades approved by US Food and Drug Administration as number of cases worldwide surge to 82m

The first new treatments for gonorrhoea in decades could be a “huge turning point” in efforts to combat the rise of superbug strains of the bacteria, researchers have said.

Gonorrhoea is on the rise around the world, with more than 82m infections globally each year and particularly high rates in Africa and countries in the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific region, which reaches from Mongolia and China to New Zealand. Cases in England are at a record high, and rates in Europe were three times higher in 2023 than in 2014.

Published: December 16, 2025, 5:00 am

What’s worse for us, sugar or sweeteners? – podcast

We all know eating too much sugar is bad for our health – but would we be better off replacing it with artificial sweetener? It’s a question Science Weekly listener Marion posed recently and, as Madeleine Finlay tells Ian Sample, the answer is complicated. She explains what the science says about sugar v sweeteners with the help of Prof Havovi Chichger, from Anglia Ruskin University, and Prof Jim Krieger, from the University of Washington’s school of public health

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Published: December 16, 2025, 5:00 am

This is another ‘ozone layer’ moment. Now, we must urgently target methane | Mia Mottley

The oil and gas industry must be legally bound to cut methane emissions. With climate tipping points approaching, time is running out

• Mia Mottley is the prime minister of Barbados

The timing is brutal. Just as the world celebrates the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris climate agreement this month, new evidence shows that the world is crashing through the main defence that was constructed against climate catastrophe.

The three-year temperature average is – for the first time – set to exceed the Paris guardrail of 1.5C above preindustrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 will join 2023 and 2024 as the three warmest since the Industrial Revolution, reflecting the accelerating pace of the climate crisis.

Mia Mottley is the prime minister of Barbados

Published: December 16, 2025, 8:00 am

Jane Goodall Earth medal to recognise people working to improve the world

Organisers of award in honour of late primatologist hope it will inspire and encourage people to take action

Earth might be under pressure, but the Queen guitarist Sir Brian May is hopeful a new award from the science, music and arts festival he co-founded will encourage people to take action.

The Starmus Jane Goodall Earth medal will be given in honour of the British primatologist who died this year and will recognise those who champion life on Earth.

Published: December 16, 2025, 3:00 pm

Starwatch: shortest day in reach as astronomical winter begins

Winter solstice marks moment when Earth’s north pole is tilted as far away from the sun as possible

Astronomical winter begins this week for the northern hemisphere, with the winter solstice taking place on 21 December. This is the shortest day of the year, and therefore the longest night. It has been greeted with many cultural celebrations through the ages. Ancient Rome’s Saturnalia, for example, involved a week of feasting and gift-giving in which the masters served their slaves.

The winter solstice marks the moment when Earth’s north pole is tilted as far away from the sun as possible. This means that the sun appears at its most southerly position in the sky, and rises only to its lowest noon altitude, as seen from the northern hemisphere.

Published: December 15, 2025, 6:00 am

Tuesday briefing: What polar bear DNA tells us about a warming Arctic

In today’s newsletter: As species across the world struggle to keep pace with global warming, ​how ​do we report the rare glimmers of hope without downplaying the accelerating ecological ​crisis?

Good morning. Amid the constant drumbeat of bleak news about the planet’s environment and the accelerating climate emergency, the occasional bright spot still emerges. One example came last week, when researchers published the first statistical evidence that polar bears are changing their DNA in response to a warming Arctic.

But is it really good news that human activity – the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of habitats – is forcing animals to alter their genetic makeup? The picture, as ever, is complicated.

Donald Trump | Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a speech he made to supporters in Washington before they stormed the US Capitol in 2021, requesting at least $5bn in damages.

Australia | Australia’s national security agency Asio investigated one of the alleged Bondi shooters in 2019 over potential extremist links but decided he was not “a person of interest”, prime minister Anthony Albanese has revealed, despite two of the man’s associates being jailed.

International trade | The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.

Health | Resident doctors in England will go on strike as planned this Wednesday for five days, after they voted to reject the government’s latest offer to end the long running pay and jobs dispute.

Ukraine | Europe is ready to lead a “multinational force” in Ukraine as part of a US proposal for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, European leaders have said.

Published: December 16, 2025, 6:50 am

Don't call it a 'super flu' – but the NHS is right to be worried this winter | Devi Sridhar

An early flu season, a new variant and poor takeup of vaccines leave the already vulnerable health service in a dangerous position

• Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

You might be feeling stressed out seeing the headlines about “super flu” and comparing the current winter health challenges with 2020 and Covid. Amid all the noise, it’s difficult to know how bad this flu really is – and how much is political spin. I should start by saying “super flu” is not a scientific term or one used by any academics or clinicians I work with. It’s a colloquial phrase that’s been used by various NHS England bosses and taken up by Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Keir Starmer.

This year, a couple of factors have come together to make it a harder flu season for hospitals to manage. First, flu has arrived earlier than previous years. This isn’t unique to the UK: it’s the same picture across the US, Canada, Japan, Germany – basically the northern hemisphere going into winter. This is in the context of multiple viruses circulating such as Covid and rhinoviruses, which means patients could be fighting one or more viruses at the same time and are more susceptible to getting sicker from influenza.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Fit Forever: Wellness for midlife and beyond
On Wednesday 28 January 2026, join Annie Kelly, Devi Sridhar, Joel Snape and Mariella Frostrup, as they discuss how to enjoy longer and healthier lives, with expert advice and practical tips. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Published: December 15, 2025, 12:00 pm