Artificial intelligence Archives | Page 2 of 595

Agentic Ready programme by Visa launched to prepare for AI-driven payments

Visa has launched Agentic Ready, a global programme preparing the payments ecosystem for AI agents to initiate transactions for consumers. The programme builds on Visa Intelligent Commerce, the company’s framework for secure, AI-driven payment experiences.

The first phase, launching in Europe, including the UK, focuses on issuer readiness. Participating banks and financial institutions can test and validate agent-initiated transactions in controlled production environments, ensuring they remain secure, reliable, and scalable.

Visa’s trust layer integrates tokenisation, identity verification, risk controls, and biometric authentication to maintain consumer consent and protection throughout transactions.

Controlled testing with selected merchants allows issuers to gain practical experience of agentic commerce in real-world settings. Early participants, including Barclays, HSBC UK, Revolut, and Banco Santander, help Visa test and refine safe AI-driven payments across channels.

The programme advances Visa’s vision of AI-driven commerce, enabling flexible payments while keeping consumers in control. Expansion beyond Europe is planned, leveraging lessons from the initial rollout to accelerate agentic commerce globally.

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YouTube enlists users to rate videos as AI slop in content quality push

YouTube has introduced a new pop-up survey asking viewers to rate whether videos feel like ‘AI slop’, with users able to score content on a scale from ‘not at all’ to ‘extremely’ sloppy.

The feature began appearing on 17 March 2026 and marks a shift in approach, with YouTube now enlisting its audience directly to help identify low-quality, AI-generated content.

The move adds a third layer of detection on top of YouTube’s existing automated and human review systems, both of which have struggled to keep pace with the flood of AI-generated uploads.

Research found that roughly 21% of the first 500 videos recommended to a brand-new YouTube account were identified as AI slop, with a further 33% falling into a broader category of repetitive, low-substance content.

Combating this was named a 2026 priority by YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in his annual letter to the platform.

The survey has not been without controversy.

Critics on social media have pointed out that viewer-labelled ‘slop’ data could be fed into Google’s Veo video generation models, potentially training future AI to avoid the very patterns humans flag as low quality, raising questions about whether YouTube is crowdsourcing content moderation or, inadvertently, AI improvement.

YouTube has not clarified how the feedback data will be used.

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Smart Ship Hub calls for careful approach to AI cameras on vessels

Digital vessel performance platform Smart Ship Hub is calling on the maritime industry to embrace AI-enabled camera systems as proactive safety tools, while insisting that their deployment must be underpinned by strong governance and genuine respect for seafarers’ working and living environments.

The company warns that, introduced without clarity or context, the technology risks being perceived as surveillance rather than safety enhancement.

Captain Nagpaul, Voyage Performance Specialist at Smart Ship Hub, outlined a broad range of operational applications for AI cameras at sea, from early fire detection and cargo monitoring during high-risk activities such as mooring operations, to improved situational awareness in areas of poor visibility and high vessel traffic.

The systems can also generate time-stamped visual records to support incident investigations and enable shore-based specialists to provide remote technical support through secure mobile applications.

Smart Ship Hub CEO Joy Basu argued that resisting the technology is not a viable strategy for the sector, noting that crew acceptance improves when workers see tangible benefits such as reduced workload and safer daily operations.

He described AI camera systems as powerful tools that enhance safety and strengthen the connection between ship and shore, but stressed they are not substitutes for professional experience and judgement.

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UNESCO promotes safe AI use and gender equality in Caribbean workshop

A regional workshop in Kingston has been organised by UNESCO to explore the relationship between AI, gender equality and online safety, reflecting wider efforts to support inclusive digital governance across the Caribbean.

Discussions examined the impact of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including harassment, impersonation and image-based abuse, which continue to affect women and girls disproportionately.

Generative AI was presented as both an opportunity and a risk, with concerns linked to bias, deepfakes, misinformation and non-consensual content.

More than 50 participants from government, civil society and youth organisations engaged in practical sessions aimed at strengthening awareness and digital skills. A participatory approach encouraged peer learning and critical thinking, aligning with UNESCO’s ethical AI principles.

‘Technology reflects the hands that build it and the society that feeds it data. If we are not careful, AI will not just mirror our existing inequalities; it will magnify them.‘

The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport of Jamaica.

‘The pursuit of equality must extend into every space where women live, work, and where they connect and express themselves – including the digital world,‘

For Eric Falt, Regional Director and Representative of UNESCO.

The initiative forms part of broader efforts to ensure that digital transformation supports inclusion rather than reinforcing existing disparities, while equipping stakeholders with tools for safe and responsible AI use.

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TikTok disinformation study raises concerns over AI content and EU regulation

A new study by Science Feedback indicates that TikTok has a higher proportion of misleading content than other major platforms operating in the EU.

The analysis covered France, Poland, Slovakia and Spain, assessing content across multiple thematic areas including health, politics and climate.

Findings suggest that approximately one in four posts on TikTok contained misleading elements, placing the platform ahead of competitors such as Facebook, YouTube and X. Health-related narratives were the most prominent category, reflecting broader patterns observed across digital ecosystems.

Researchers describe disinformation as a persistent feature embedded within platform structures instead of an isolated occurrence.

The study also highlights a growing presence of AI-generated content, particularly in video formats, where synthetic material accounted for a significant share of misleading posts. Despite existing platform policies, most identified content lacked clear labelling.

The regulatory context remains under development.

While the Digital Services Act integrates voluntary commitments from the EU disinformation code, it does not impose mandatory requirements for identifying AI-generated material.

Ongoing debates therefore focus on transparency, accountability and the evolving responsibilities of digital platforms within the European information environment.

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Malaysia tightens rules on data centres

Malaysia has quietly restricted new data centre approvals to projects linked to AI, signalling a strategic shift in its digital economy. Authorities confirmed that non-AI development has been halted for nearly 2 years.

The policy reflects mounting pressure on energy and water resources as demand for data centres accelerates. Officials aim to ensure infrastructure supports high-value AI projects rather than lower-impact investments.

Rapid growth has positioned Malaysia as a key regional hub, attracting major global technology firms. Concerns remain over whether the country risks hosting infrastructure without building local innovation capacity.

Leaders say future efforts will focus on balancing investment with domestic benefits and energy sustainability. Plans include expanding power supply and strengthening national AI capabilities to secure long term gains.

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UK drops AI copyright opt-out plan amid growing industry divide

The UK Government has abandoned its previous preference for an AI copyright opt-out model, signalling a shift in policy following strong opposition from creative industries.

Ministers now acknowledge that there is no clear consensus on how AI developers should access copyrighted material.

Concerns from writers, artists and rights holders focused on the use of their work in training AI systems without permission.

Liz Kendall confirmed that extensive consultation exposed significant disagreement, prompting the government to step back from its earlier position that would have allowed the use of copyrighted content unless creators opted out.

A joint report from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport states that further evidence is required before any legislative change.

Policymakers in the UK will assess how copyright frameworks influence AI development, while also examining international regulation, licensing models and ongoing legal disputes.

Government strategy now centres on balancing innovation with fair compensation.

Officials emphasise that creators must retain control over how their work is used, while AI developers require access to high-quality data to remain competitive. Potential measures include labelling AI-generated content to reduce risks linked to disinformation and deepfakes.

No timeline has been set for reform, reflecting the complexity of aligning economic growth with intellectual property protection.

The debate unfolds alongside broader ambitions outlined by Rachel Reeves, who has identified AI as a central driver of future economic expansion, with the UK aiming to lead adoption across the G7.

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MIT develops method to detect overconfident AI

Researchers at MIT have introduced a new method to assess the reliability of large language models more accurately. Many LLMs can produce confident yet incorrect responses, posing risks in high-stakes applications such as healthcare or finance.

The team combined self-consistency checks with an ensemble approach, comparing a model’s outputs to similar LLMs. This total uncertainty (TU) metric more accurately identifies overconfident predictions and can flag hallucinations that simpler methods may miss.

Experiments on ten common tasks- including question-answering, translation, summarisation, and math reasoning- showed that TU outperformed individual uncertainty measures.

The ensemble approach relies on models from different developers to ensure diversity and credibility, offering a practical and energy-efficient way to gauge AI confidence.

Researchers suggest TU could also help reinforce correct answers during training, improving overall model performance. Future developments aim to enhance the metric’s accuracy for open-ended tasks and explore additional forms of uncertainty.

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Amazon upgrades Alexa with AI features

Amazon is rolling out an AI upgrade to its Alexa assistant, aiming to make interactions more conversational and responsive. The new version is designed to follow the context and respond more naturally.

The update comes as Amazon seeks to compete with advanced AI chatbots that have gained popularity in recent years. Critics have argued that smart speakers have fallen behind newer AI tools.

Users in the UK are expected to notice more personalised and proactive responses from the upgraded assistant. This will be based on user and customer personal data. The service will be included with Prime subscriptions or offered as a standalone monthly option.

Analysts say the update could help Amazon gather even more user data and improve engagement by picking up on customers’ habits through conversations. However, questions remain about whether the changes will drive revenue or revive interest in smart speakers.

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AI safety push sees Anthropic and OpenAI recruit explosives specialists

Anthropic and OpenAI are recruiting chemical and explosives experts to strengthen safeguards for their AI systems, reflecting growing concern about the potential misuse of advanced models.

Anthropic is seeking a policy specialist to design and monitor guardrails governing how its systems respond to prompts involving chemical weapons and explosives. The role includes assessing high-risk scenarios and responding to potential escalation signals in real time.

OpenAI is expanding its Preparedness team, hiring researchers and a threat modeller to identify and forecast risks linked to frontier AI systems. The positions focus on evaluating catastrophic risks and aligning technical, policy, and governance responses.

The recruitment drive comes amid heightened scrutiny of AI safety and national security implications. Anthropic is currently challenging a US government designation that labels it a supply-chain risk, while tensions have emerged over restrictions on the military use of AI systems.

At the same time, OpenAI has secured agreements to deploy its technology in classified environments under defined constraints. The parallel developments highlight how AI firms are balancing commercial expansion with increasing pressure to implement robust safety controls.

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