Future of work

Libraries lead UK government push to improve digital inclusion and AI confidence

Libraries Connected, supported by a £310,400 grant from the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund administered by the Department for Science, Industry and Technology (DSIT), is launching Innovating in Trusted Spaces: Libraries Advancing the Digital Inclusion Action Plan.

The programme will run from November 2025 to March 2026 across 121 library branches in Newcastle, Northumberland, Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire, targeting older people, low-income families and individuals with disabilities to ensure they are not left behind amid rapid digital and AI-driven change.

Public libraries are already a leading provider of free internet access and basic digital skills support, offering tens of thousands of public computers and learning opportunities each year. However, only around 27 percent of UK adults currently feel confident in recognising AI-generated content online, underscoring the need for improved digital and media literacy.

The project will create and test a new digital inclusion guide for library staff, focusing on the benefits and risks of AI tools, misinformation and emerging technologies, as well as building a national network of practice for sharing insights.

Partners in the programme include Good Things Foundation and WSA Community, which will help co-design materials and evaluate the initiative’s impact to inform future digital inclusion efforts across communities.

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UK sets course for comprehensive crypto regulation

The UK government has announced plans to bring cryptoassets firmly within the regulatory perimeter, aiming to support innovation while strengthening consumer protection and attracting long-term investment into the sector.

From 2027, cryptoasset firms will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under rules similar to those governing traditional financial products, such as stocks and shares. The move is intended to provide legal clarity and increase confidence among consumers and businesses.

Ministers say that proportionate regulation will support innovation, ensure competitive markets, and strengthen the UK’s position as a global hub for digital assets. Enhanced oversight will boost transparency, aid sanctions enforcement, and help detect and tackle illicit activity.

The initiative forms part of a broader strategy to shape global crypto standards, including ongoing cooperation with the United States through the Transatlantic Taskforce, as the UK seeks to secure its role in the future of digital finance.

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Streaming platforms face pressure over AI-generated music

Musicians are raising the alarm over AI-generated tracks appearing on their profiles without consent, presenting fraudulent work as their own. British folk artist Emily Portman discovered an AI-generated album, Orca, on Spotify and Apple Music, which copied her folk style and lyrics.

Fans initially congratulated her on a release she had not made since 2022.

Australian musician Paul Bender reported a similar experience, with four ‘bizarrely bad’ AI tracks appearing under his band, The Sweet Enoughs. Both artists said that weak distributor security allows scammers to easily upload content, calling it ‘the easiest scam in the world.’

A petition launched by Bender garnered tens of thousands of signatures, urging platforms to strengthen their protections.

AI-generated music has become increasingly sophisticated, making it nearly impossible for listeners to distinguish from genuine tracks. While revenues from such fraudulent streams are low individually, bots and repeated listening can significantly increase payouts.

Industry representatives note that the primary motive is to collect royalties from unsuspecting users.

Despite the threat of impersonation, Portman is continuing her creative work, emphasising human collaboration and authentic artistry. Spotify and Apple Music have pledged to collaborate with distributors to enhance the detection and prevention of AI-generated fraud.

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Russia rejects crypto as money but expands legal recognition

Russian lawmakers have reiterated that cryptocurrencies will not be recognised as money, maintaining a strict ban on their use for domestic payments while allowing limited application as investment assets.

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, emphasised that all payments within Russia must be conducted in rubles, echoing the central bank’s long-standing stance against the use of cryptocurrencies in internal settlements.

At the same time, legislative proposals point to a more nuanced legal approach. A bill submitted by United Russia lawmaker Igor Antropenko seeks to recognise cryptocurrencies as marital property, classifying digital assets acquired during marriage as jointly owned in divorce proceedings.

The proposal reflects the growing adoption of cryptocurrency in Russia, where digital assets are increasingly used for investment and savings. It also aligns family law with broader regulatory shifts that permit the use of crypto in foreign trade under an experimental framework.

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AI generated podcasts flood platforms and disrupt the audio industry

Podcasts generated by AI are rapidly reshaping the audio industry, with automated shows flooding platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Advances in voice cloning and speech synthesis have enabled the production to large volumes of content at minimal cost, allowing AI hosts to compete directly with human creators in an already crowded market.

Some established podcasters are experimenting cautiously, using cloned voices for translation, post-production edits or emergency replacements. Others have embraced full automation, launching synthetic personalities designed to deliver commentary, biographies and niche updates at speed.

Studios, such as Los Angeles-based Inception Point AI, have scaled the model to scale, producing hundreds of thousands of episodes by targeting micro-audiences and trending searches instead of premium advertising slots.

The rapid expansion is fuelling concern across the industry, where trust and human connection remain central to listener loyalty.

Researchers and networks warn that large-scale automation risks devaluing premium content, while creators and audiences question how far AI voices can replace authenticity without undermining the medium itself.

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Zoom launches AI Companion 3.0 with expanded features

Zoom has unveiled AI Companion 3.0, its latest AI assistant, which extends functionality beyond meetings with a new web interface, workflow tools, and agentic search. Select features are now accessible to free Zoom Workplace Basic users, while full access is available via a paid add-on.

Free users can generate meeting summaries, action item lists, and insights, albeit with usage limitations.

The updated AI Companion introduces agentic retrieval, enabling searches across meeting summaries, transcripts, and connected services, such as Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, with Gmail and Outlook support planned.

Users can automatically generate follow-up tasks and draft emails using a post-meeting template, while the Daily Reflection Report summarises tasks and updates to help prioritise work.

A new agentic writing mode allows drafting, editing, and refining business documents in a canvas-style interface, and AI-created content can be exported in multiple formats, including Markdown, PDF, Word, and Zoom Docs.

Additional tools include AI-based brainstorming and, for Custom AI Companion users, a deep research mode consolidating insights from multiple meetings and documents.

Basic plan users get limited access for up to three meetings per month, including automated summaries, in-meeting queries, and AI-generated notes. Up to 20 prompts are included via the side panel and web interface, while broader access requires a subscription priced at Rs 1,080 per month.

The new web interface also offers built-in prompts to guide users in exploring the assistant’s capabilities.

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Study warns that LLMs are vulnerable to minimal tampering

Researchers from Anthropic, the UK AI Security Institute and the Alan Turing Institute have shown that only a few hundred crafted samples can poison LLM models. The tests revealed that around 250 malicious entries could embed a backdoor that triggers gibberish responses when a specific phrase appears.

Models ranging from 600 million to 13 billion parameters (such as Pythia) were affected, highlighting the scale-independent nature of the weakness. A planted phrase such as ‘sudo’ caused output collapse, raising concerns about targeted disruption and the ease of manipulating widely trained systems.

Security specialists note that denial-of-service effects are worrying, yet deceptive outputs pose far greater risk. Prior studies already demonstrated that medical and safety-critical models can be destabilised by tiny quantities of misleading data, heightening the urgency for robust dataset controls.

Researchers warn that open ecosystems and scraped corpora make silent data poisoning increasingly feasible. Developers are urged to adopt stronger provenance checks and continuous auditing, as reliance on LLMs continues to expand for AI purposes across technical and everyday applications.

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Google boosts Translate with Gemini upgrades

Google is rolling out a major Translate upgrade powered by Gemini to improve text and speech translation. The update enhances contextual understanding so idioms, tone and intent are interpreted more naturally.

A beta feature for live headphone translation enables real-time speech-to-speech output. Gemini processes audio directly, preserving cadence and emphasis to improve conversations and lectures. Android users in the US, Mexico and India gain early access, with wider availability planned for 2026.

Translate is also gaining expanded language-learning tools for speaking practice and progress tracking. Additional language pairs, including English to German and Portuguese, broaden support for learners worldwide.

Google aims to reduce friction in global communication by focusing on meaning rather than literal phrasing. Engineers expect user feedback to shape the AI live translation beta across platforms.

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Universities back generative AI but guidance remains uneven

A majority of leading US research universities are encouraging the use of generative AI in teaching, according to a new study analysing institutional policies and guidance documents across higher education.

The research reviewed publicly available policies from 116 R1 universities and found that 63 percent explicitly support the use of generative AI, while 41 percent provide detailed classroom guidance. More than half of the institutions also address ethical considerations linked to AI adoption.

Most guidance focuses on writing-related activities, with far fewer references to coding or STEM applications. The study notes that while many universities promote experimentation, expectations placed on faculty can be demanding, often implying significant changes to teaching practices.

US researchers also found wide variation in how universities approach oversight. Some provide sample syllabus language and assignment design advice, while others discourage the use of AI-detection tools, citing concerns around reliability and academic trust.

The authors caution that policy statements may not reflect real classroom behaviour and say further research is needed to understand how generative AI is actually being used by educators and students in practice.

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How data centres affect electricity, prices, water consumption and jobs

Data centres have become critical infrastructure for modern economies, supporting services ranging from digital communications and online commerce to emergency response systems and financial transactions.

As AI expands, demand for cloud computing continues to accelerate, increasing the need for additional data centre capacity worldwide.

Concerns about environmental impact often focus on electricity and water use, yet recent data indicate that data centres are not primary drivers of higher power prices and consume far less water than many traditional industries.

Studies show that rising electricity costs are largely linked to grid upgrades, climate-related damage and fuel prices instead of large-scale computing facilities, while water use by data centres remains a small fraction of overall consumption.

Technological improvements have further reduced resource intensity. Operators have significantly improved water efficiency per unit of computing power, adopting closed-loop liquid cooling and advanced energy management systems.

In many regions, water is required only intermittently, with consumption levels lower than those in sectors such as clothing manufacturing, agriculture and automotive services.

Beyond digital services, data centres deliver tangible economic benefits to local communities. Large-scale investments generate construction activity, long-term technical employment and stable tax revenues, while infrastructure upgrades and skills programmes support regional development.

As cloud computing and AI continue to shape everyday life, data centres are increasingly positioned as both economic and technological anchors.

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