A rights-centred AI blueprint highlights the growing use of AI in analysing citizen submissions during public participation, promising efficiency but raising questions about fairness, transparency and human rights. Experts caution that poorly designed AI could silence minority voices, deepen inequalities and weaken trust in democratic decision-making.
The European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) provides detailed guidance for governments, civil society organisations and technology developers on how to implement AI responsibly. Recommendations include conducting human rights impact assessments, involving marginalised communities from the design stage, testing AI accuracy across demographics, and ensuring meaningful human oversight at every stage.
Transparency and accountability are key pillars of the framework, providing guidance on publishing assessments, documenting AI decision-making processes, and mitigating bias. Experts stress that efficiency gains should never come at the expense of inclusiveness, and that AI tools must be monitored and updated continually to reflect community feedback and rights considerations.
The blueprint also emphasises collaboration and sustainability, urging multistakeholder governance, civil society co-design, and ongoing training for public servants and developers. By prioritising rights, transparency and community engagement, AI in public participation can enhance citizen voices rather than undermining them, but only if implemented deliberately and inclusively.
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Hospitals in Lincolnshire, UK, are introducing AI to assist doctors in identifying fractures and dislocations, with the aim to speeding up treatment and improving patient care. The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust will launch a two-year NHS England pilot later this month.
AI software will provide near-instant annotated X-rays alongside standard scans, highlighting potential issues for clinicians to review. Patients under the age of two, as well as those undergoing chest, spine, skull, facial or soft tissue imaging, will not be included in the pilot.
Consultants emphasise that AI is an additional tool, not a replacement, and clinicians will retain the final say on diagnosis and treatment. Early trials in northern Europe suggest the technology can help meet rising demand, and the trust is monitoring its impact closely.
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A new survey by YouGov and Udemy reveals that while workers across the US, UK, India and Brazil see AI as a significant economic force, many believe their own jobs are unlikely to be affected.
Over 4,500 adults were polled, highlighting a clear gap between concern for the broader economy and personal job security.
In the UK, 70% of respondents expressed concern about AI’s impact on the economy, but only 39% worried about its effects on their own occupation.
Similarly, in the US, 72% feared wider economic effects, while 47% concerned about personal job loss. Experts suggest this reflects a psychological blind spot similar to early reactions to the internet.
The survey also highlighted a perceived AI skills gap, particularly in the UK, where 55% of workers had received no AI training. Many employees acknowledged awareness of AI’s rise but lacked motivation to develop skills immediately, a phenomenon researchers describe as an ‘awareness action gap’.
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Researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan have utilised AI to investigate the intricate world of gut bacteria and their chemical signals.
Their system, VBayesMM, utilises a Bayesian neural network to identify genuine connections between bacteria and human health that traditional methods often overlook.
The human gut contains roughly 100 trillion bacterial cells, which interact with human metabolism, immunity and brain function through thousands of chemical compounds called metabolites.
Using AI, scientists can map which bacteria influence specific metabolites, offering hope for personalised treatment strategies for conditions such as obesity, sleep disorders and cancer.
VBayesMM stands out by recognising uncertainty in its predictions, offering more reliable insights than conventional models.
Researchers plan to expand the system to analyse larger and more diverse datasets, aiming to identify bacterial targets for therapies or dietary interventions that could improve patient outcomes.
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Meta is expanding its robotics ambitions by appointing Li-Chen Miller, previously head of its smart glasses portfolio, as the first product manager for Reality Labs’ robotics division. Her transfer marks a significant shift in Meta’s hardware priorities following the launch of its latest augmented reality devices.
The company is reportedly developing a humanoid assistant known internally as Metabotwithin the same organisation that oversees its AR and VR platforms. Former Cruise executive Marc Whitten leads the robotics group, supported by veteran engineer Ning Li and renowned MIT roboticist Sangbae Kim.
Miller’s move emphasises Meta’s aim to merge its AI expertise with physical robotics. The new team collaborates with the firm’s Superintelligence Lab, which is building a ‘world model’ capable of powering dextrous motion and real-time reasoning.
Analysts see the strategy as Meta’s attempt to future-proof its ecosystem and diversify Reality Labs, which continues to post heavy losses. The company’s growing investment in humanoid design could bring home-use robots closer to reality, blending social AI with the firm’s long-term vision for the metaverse.
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In a milestone for the European digital identity ecosystem, Banca Transilvania and payments-tech firm BPC have completed the first pilot in Romania using the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW) for a real-money transaction.
The initiative lets a cardholder authenticate a purchase using the wallet rather than a conventional one-time password or card reader.
The pilot forms part of a large-scale testbed led by the European Commission under the eIDAS 2 Regulation, which requires all EU banks to accept the wallet for strong customer authentication and KYC (know-your-customer) purposes by 2027.
Banca Transilvania’s Deputy CEO Retail Banking, Oana Ilaş, described the project as a historic step toward a unified European digital identities framework that enhances interoperability, inclusivity and banking access.
From a digital governance and payments policy perspective, this pilot is significant. It shows how national banking systems are beginning to integrate digital-ID wallets into card and account-based flows, potentially reducing reliance on legacy authentication mechanisms (such as SMS OTP or hardware tokens) that are vulnerable to fraud.
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Automation and AI could drastically reduce jobs at one of the UK’s largest online retailers. Buy It Direct, which employs over 800 staff, predicts more than 500 positions may be lost within three years, as AI and robotics take over office and warehouse roles.
Chief executive Nick Glynne cited rising national living wage and insurance contributions as factors accelerating the company’s shift towards automation.
The firm has already started outsourcing senior roles overseas, including accountants, managers and IT specialists, in response to higher domestic costs.
HM Treasury defended its policies, highlighting reforms in business rates and international trade deals, alongside a capped corporation tax at 25%.
Meanwhile, concerns are growing across the UK about AI replacing jobs, with graduates in fields such as graphic design and computer science facing increasing competition from technological advancements.
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Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have licensed their voices to ElevenLabs, an AI company, joining a growing number of celebrities who are embracing generative AI. McConaughey will allow his newsletter to be translated into Spanish using his voice, while Caine’s voice is available on ElevenLabs’ text-to-audio app and Iconic Marketplace. Both stressed that the technology is intended to amplify storytelling rather than replace human performers.
ElevenLabs offers a range of synthetic voices, including historical figures and performers like Liza Minnelli and Maya Angelou, while claiming a ‘performer-first’ approach focused on consent and creative authenticity. The move comes amid debate in Hollywood, with unions such as SAG-AFTRA warning AI could undermine human actors, and some artists, including Guillermo del Toro and Hayao Miyazaki, publicly rejecting AI-generated content.
Despite concerns, entertainment companies are investing heavily in AI. Netflix utilises it to enhance recommendations and content, while directors and CEOs argue that it fosters creativity and job opportunities. Critics, however, caution that early investments could form a volatile bubble and highlight risks of misuse, such as AI-generated endorsements or propaganda using celebrity likenesses.
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Scientists have successfully tracked a tsunami in real time using ripples in Earth’s atmosphere for the first time.
The breakthrough came after a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in July 2025, sending waves racing across the Pacific and triggering NASA’s newly upgraded Guardian monitoring system.
Guardian uses AI to detect disruptions in satellite navigation signals caused by atmospheric ripples above the ocean.
These signals revealed the formation and movement of tsunami waves, allowing alerts to be issued up to 40 minutes before they reached Hawaii, potentially giving communities vital time to respond.
Researchers say the innovation could transform global disaster monitoring by enabling earlier warnings for tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and even nuclear tests.
Although the system is still in development, scientists in Europe are working on similar models that could expand coverage and provide life-saving alerts to remote coastal regions.
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A US federal judge has ruled that a landmark copyright case against OpenAI can proceed, rejecting the company’s attempt to dismiss claims brought by authors and the Authors Guild.
The authors argue that ChatGPT’s summaries of copyrighted works, including George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, unlawfully replicate the original tone, plot, and characters, raising concerns about AI-generated content infringing on creative rights.
The Publishers Association (PA) welcomed the ruling, warning that generative AI could ‘devastate the market’ for books and other creative works by producing infringing content at scale.
It urged the UK government to strengthen transparency rules to protect authors and publishers, stressing that AI systems capable of reproducing an author’s style could undermine the value of original creation.
The case follows a £1.5bn settlement against Anthropic earlier this year for using pirated books to train its models and comes amid growing scrutiny of AI firms.
In Britain, Stability AI recently avoided a copyright ruling after a claim by Getty Images was dismissed on grounds of jurisdiction. Still, the PA stated that the outcome highlighted urgent gaps in UK copyright law regarding AI training and output.
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