Brilliant piece from my brilliant colleague @theobserveruk.bsky.social, who has lost a life-changing amount of weight thanks to Mounjaro observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

My podcast “Bumble vs the men’s rights activists” is out today! It follows my scoop in December that a small group of men in California sued Bumble for millions of dollars, and ultimately pushed the company to move away from its feminist principles open.spotify.com/episode/5IpX...

What a nugget from the Epstein files: Peter Thiel avoided visiting the island because he didn’t like mosquitoes

New: Together with colleagues I’ve been testing Grok. The chatbot still produces sexualized images — even when told the subjects don’t consent. even when told the photos will be used for public humiliation. even when told the subjects are survivors of abuse. www.reuters.com/business/des...

NEW: "Since @theobserveruk.bsky.social reported on the expansion of the Trump family’s business interests during the second administration, in May 2025, analysts estimate the family’s net worth has increased by several billion dollars" observer.co.uk/news/interna...

ChatGPT’s erotica rollout raises concerns over safety and ethics. Critics warn upcoming adult feature could intensify emotional reliance for vulnerable users and hamper regulators’ ability to control emerging AI. ✍️ @paticlarke.bsky.social https://bit.ly/49HBkXa

OpenAI was founded to build AI “for the benefit of all humanity”. A decade later, it’s planning to launch “erotica” inside ChatGPT. Critics argue revenue growth is winning out over user safety, as mental health concerns mount observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

NEW: The UK is playing “whack-a-mole” with big tech regulation. After the Grok backlash, ministers rushed through an important ban on nudification apps, but it may not even apply to Grok, or stop wider AI harms. Me + @catneilan.bsky.social for @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

UK laws in response to Grok won’t stop harms. ‘We are behind the curve,’ warns Harriet Harman, who fears the country is adopting a scattergun approach to big tech regulation. ✍️ @catneilan.bsky.social and @paticlarke.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/4qZfgx8

The UK is hoping to build a "coalition of decency", following the Grok nudification row Govt is speaking to allies in Aus, Canada and the EU, & is even finding unlikely MAGA support No sign they're coming off X for now - but they are considering joining BlueSky observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

You can listen to my previous work on the industry here observer.co.uk/listen/daily...

I wrote about prediction markets arriving at UK shores for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Wrote about the men’s rights activists waging war with Bumble observer.co.uk/news/interna...

The return of the dating app’s "girl boss” founder as CEO has done little to allay fears that its feminist principles have been dropped in the face of thousands of legal challenges by men’s rights activists. ✍️ @paticlarke.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3Y25Xjp

"Wasn’t this app supposed to empower women to date on their terms?" @paticlarke.bsky.social investigates how a wave of legal threats from men's rights activists pushed Bumble to dilute its core product. https://bit.ly/3Y25Xjp

Amazing story from @paticlarke.bsky.social about the death of the girlboss and feminism in tech

🚨 SCOOP: The dating app Bumble built its brand on women making the first move. But a wave of legal threats from men's rights activists pushed the company to dilute its core product, robbing the company of its USP at a moment when dating apps are already in decline 🧵 observer.co.uk/news/interna...

More on the UAE interest, this time in the tech space, via this Observer article bsky.app/profile/pati...

Who is winning the AI arms race? New data from the @observeruk.bsky.social Global AI Index shows Europe falling behind, China pulling ahead, and the UAE rapidly expanding its influence abroad. So what have we found? Here are three stories behind the numbers 👇 observer.co.uk/data/global-ai

Introducing The Observer’s first ever digital subscription. Become a subscriber today and get: 🗞 Early access to our biggest investigations 📱 Exclusive features on our website and app 📥 Premium newsletters including The Puzzle Edit and Observer Food Weekly Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/3Mr9lSf

Some astonishing reporting on the state of UK maternity care from my Observer colleagues ⬇️

I'm beyond delighted to have been chosen as one of the @pulitzercenter.org’s eight AI Accountability Fellows, among such an inspiring cohort of investigative journalists

As 4chan’s lawyers told me: “4chan will pay the fine when pigs fly. If you see any porcine aviators in the skies above London that will be your cue to assume 4chan has cut Ofcom a check.” observer.co.uk/news/busines...

I'm beyond delighted to have been chosen as one of the @pulitzercenter.org’s eight AI Accountability Fellows, among such an inspiring cohort of investigative journalists

Mind-boggling from @marthagill.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Exc: The Electoral Commission has been given early notice of the UK's first ever crypto donation The has been "made, but not declared", to a party understood to be Reform Reform spox said: "All donations above the reporting limit will be disclosed in the usual way" share.google/VvtjBjEjEjRa...

Solid reporting about the pricier end of the longevity industry. And I'll be damned if this line doesn't also describe the state of genAI. Both fields share that same sales pitch: possible-distant-future benefit in exchange for present-day money.

“What makes a company investable is not necessarily its proximity to a breakthrough, but its ability to monetise belief.”

Private bankers are already offering wealth management plans for cryonically preserved people, in the event that they should ever come back to life. Believe it or not, that was one of the less surreal moments at the Longevity Investors Conference observer.co.uk/news/science...

See also: open.spotify.com/episode/63RB...

Buried in Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times is an allegation that their reporting is harming… the value of his memecoin h/t @axios.com

FT mag piece from me: Spent a long time looking into the Britannia hotel chain, beneficiaries of a vast amount of taxpayer money via the asylum system on.ft.com/47HEE46

“The virality of the video of Kirk’s death, paired with the amplification of extreme views, creates an impression of “a world that is riven by irreconcilable inter-hatreds”, said Ahmed. In turn, those hatreds may play off each other and become ratified into reality.” observer.co.uk/news/interna...

A city in Honduras is home to a start-up selling experimental gene therapies for $25k a dose. Now, those radical ideas are reaching the US. What happens when biohacking leaves libertarian fringes… and reaches Capitol Hill? Listen to the latest episode of the Slow Newscast: lnk.to/PmOkSmBS

Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/3J7b...

Read all about it: observer.co.uk/news/science...

NEW 🎙️: Last year, I started investigating a biotech startup called Minicircle. It was selling an experimental gene therapy for $25,000 a dose, in a libertarian free zone on an island off the coast of Honduras. The pitch? You'll have more muscle, less fat, maybe even a longer life 🧵

In the past week, the UK’s tech and business landscape has been hit by a string of high-profile resignations from institutions all created to parade Britain’s scientific prowess on the world stage. My latest with @barneymac.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/busines...

For months I’ve been working on a followup to this: the story of startup cities where medical experimentation goes ahead more or less unchecked. The podcast is out tomorrow 👀

Jean Innes is stepping down as CEO of the Turing Institute. My previous reporting here: observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

After a stint covering for our Business News Editor @barneymac.bsky.social, I’m back on the tech beat. My DMs are open if you've got a story I should be looking into 🔍

Aaand in other crypto treasury news: www.ft.com/content/7696...

A trio of exclusives in today's @theobserveruk.bsky.social, inc. a deep dive into one of the companies bankrolling Nigel Farage. Direct Bullion has falsely claimed to be supporting an oceans charity for years. The charity has no record of their involvement observer.co.uk/news/politic...

A new “bitcoin treasury” bubble - brilliant piece from @paticlarke.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/busines...

For Sunday’s paper, I wrote about the curious case of TruSpine – a medical-device firm that never got a product to market, racked up losses and fines, and now says its future lies in bitcoin. What could go wrong? observer.co.uk/news/busines...

🚨Call for business pitches 🚨 I’ll be covering for our business news editor @barneymac.bsky.social next week @observeruk.bsky.social. If you’ve got timely stories, scoops and/ or thoughtful analysis, please send them my way: [firstname].[lastname] @ observer.co.uk (Tech tips also welcome)

Snippet here. Go Raymond!

Loved this piece – I had the pleasure of speaking with Raymond a few years ago for the Visible Women podcast and it was one of the most eye-opening (and strangely emotional) interviews I've ever done www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

🚨Call for business pitches 🚨 I’ll be covering for our business news editor @barneymac.bsky.social next week @observeruk.bsky.social. If you’ve got timely stories, scoops and/ or thoughtful analysis, please send them my way: [firstname].[lastname] @ observer.co.uk (Tech tips also welcome)

NEW: The Alan Turing Institute is at war with itself. Staff are rebelling, universities are threatening legal action over cancelled partnerships and funders are reconsidering support. I investigated how Britain’s flagship AI project fell apart observer.co.uk/news/nationa...