I’m worried my boyfriend’s use of AI is affecting his ability to think for himself | Annalisa Barbieri

Overdependence on chatbots is a growing problem, and though your boyfriend’s ADHD may be a factor, he needs to find the root of his anxiety

My boyfriend of eight years, who is 44, has ADHD and runs his own business. He’s always struggled with admin and mundane tasks, but AI has revolutionised how he works. Now I’m worried he can’t seem to do anything without AI. He is a heavy ChatGPT user and uses it even when there’s a better non-AI alternative (eg he’ll ask it for train times rather than using Trainline, even though it’s less accurate). He just got his ChatGPT Wrapped and he’s in the top 0.3% of users worldwide.

I worry about his ability to think independently, as well as the environmental impact. I know it’s a useful tool for him at work, but he uses it for everything in life.

Published: February 22, 2026, 6:00 am

OpenAI considered alerting Canadian police about school shooting suspect months ago

Company behind ChatGPT last year flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account for ‘furtherance of violent activities’

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has said it considered alerting Canadian police last year about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.

OpenAI said last June the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities”.

Published: February 21, 2026, 3:18 am

The splinternet: how online shutdowns are getting cheaper and easier to impose

Iran has shown how plausible blackouts now are, with far-reaching consequences for the internet as we know it

During the height of Iran’s blackout in January, people could still access a platform that, in some senses, was like the internet.

Iranians could message family members on a government-monitored app and watch clips of Manchester United on a Farsi-language video-sharing site. They could read state news and use a local navigation service.

Published: February 21, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Slow this thing down’: Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution

After meeting with unspecified tech leaders, senator calls for urgent policy action as companies race to build ever more powerful systems

Bernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.

Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”.

Published: February 21, 2026, 4:26 am

Can a hair dryer really save your scalp from heat damage? I put Dyson’s Supersonic Nural to the test

With sensors that cool the air as it nears your head, this high-end tool promises gentler styling for sensitive scalps

• The best hair dryers for smooth, speedy styling at home

Tell most hair-care enthusiasts you want to upgrade your hair dryer, and I’d bet good money you’ll be asked, “Will you buy a Dyson?” That would have been a ludicrous question more than a decade ago when the brand specialised in vacuum cleaners, but not since it took the luxury hair-care market by storm in 2016 with its Supersonic hair dryer.

The Supersonic ripped up the hair-dryer rulebook, with its distinctive design, lightweight feel and quiet operation. Eight years after the original, Dyson launched the Supersonic Nural: an upgraded version with new tricks up its sleeve.

Published: February 22, 2026, 7:00 am

I’m worried my boyfriend’s use of AI is affecting his ability to think for himself | Annalisa Barbieri

Overdependence on chatbots is a growing problem, and though your boyfriend’s ADHD may be a factor, he needs to find the root of his anxiety

My boyfriend of eight years, who is 44, has ADHD and runs his own business. He’s always struggled with admin and mundane tasks, but AI has revolutionised how he works. Now I’m worried he can’t seem to do anything without AI. He is a heavy ChatGPT user and uses it even when there’s a better non-AI alternative (eg he’ll ask it for train times rather than using Trainline, even though it’s less accurate). He just got his ChatGPT Wrapped and he’s in the top 0.3% of users worldwide.

I worry about his ability to think independently, as well as the environmental impact. I know it’s a useful tool for him at work, but he uses it for everything in life.

Published: February 22, 2026, 6:00 am

US farmers are rejecting multimillion-dollar datacenter bids for their land: ‘I’m not for sale’

Families are navigating the tough choice between unimaginable riches and the identity that comes with land

When two men knocked on Ida Huddleston’s door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries.

According to Huddleston, the men’s client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company”, sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Published: February 21, 2026, 2:00 pm

Relooted: the South African video game where players take back artefacts from western museums

Creators say they’re offering Africans a ‘hopeful, utopian feeling’ of retrieving objects looted by colonial armies

A new South African video game lets players take back African artefacts held in western museums in a series of heists, amid a growing campaign to repatriate treasures looted by colonial armies.

Players of Relooted become South African sports scientist and parkour expert Nomali, as she leaps and dives through museums to retrieve 70 real objects. They include an Asante gold mask that was taken by the British army when it destroyed the Asante empire’s capital, Kumasi, and is now in the Wallace Collection in London. Another object is the skull of the Tanzanian king Mangi Meli, which was taken to Germany after its colonial regime executed him in 1900.

Published: February 21, 2026, 6:00 am

‘Reimagining matter’: Nobel laureate invents machine that harvests water from dry air

Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day

A Nobel laureate’s environmentally friendly invention that provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane or drought could be a life saver for vulnerable islands, its founder says.

The invention, by the chemist Prof Omar Yaghi, uses a type of science called reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water even in arid and desert conditions.

Published: February 21, 2026, 12:00 pm

Last chance for Australians to send message to the universe on Voyager project’s 50th anniversary

Following in the wake of the original Golden Records, a new deep-space delivery hopes to introduce a ‘mostly harmless’ humanity to alien life

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Do you have a message you want to shout out to the universe? Or whisper into the ear-equivalent of an alien?

In interstellar space, more than 20bn km from Earth, the Voyager spacecraft are whizzing along at more than 50,000 km/h.

Published: February 21, 2026, 7:00 pm