Markus Andrews

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreTechnology experts have expressed concern that the Government is “pivoting away from ‘safety’ towards ‘national security’” after it announced a rebranding of the AI Safety Institute.Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, rechristened the agency on Friday as the AI Security Institute (AISI), saying it would refocus its work on crime and national security issues.But while Mr Kyle insisted the AISI’s work “won’t change”, his department revealed it would no longer focus on “bias or freedom of speech”, sparking concern from experts in the field.Michael Birtwistle, associate director at the Ada Lovelace Institute, said he was “deeply concerned that any attention to bias in AI applications has been explicitly cut out of the new AISI’s scope”.He said: “A more pared back approach from the Government risks leaving a whole range of harms to people and society unaddressed – risks that it has previously committed to tackling through the work of the AI Safety Institute.“It’s unclear if there’s still a plan to meaningfully address them, if not in AISI.”Pointing to a series of scandals involving bias in AI in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK, Mr Birtwistle said there was a “real risk that inaction on risks like bias will lead to public opinion turning against AI”.As well as the AISI’s new name, Mr Kyle announced the creation of a new “criminal misuse” team within the institute to tackle risks such as AI being used to create chemical weapons, carry out cyber attacks and enable crimes such as fraud and child sexual abuse.Crime and security concerns already form part of the institute’s remit, but it currently also covers wider societal impacts of artificial intelligence, the risk of AI becoming autonomous and the effectiveness of safety measures for AI systems.Established in 2023, then-prime minister Rishi Sunak said the institute would “advance the world’s knowledge of AI safety”, including exploring “all the risks from social harms like bias and misinformation, through to the most extreme risks of all”.Mr Kyle said the AISI’s “renewed focus” on security would “ensure our citizens – and those of our allies – are protected from those who would look to use AI against our institutions, democratic values and way of life”.But Andrew Dudfield, head of AI at fact checking organisation Full Fact, said the move was “another disappointing downgrade of ethical considerations in AI development that undermines the UK’s ability to lead the global conversation”.Describing security and transparency as “mutually reinforcing pillars essential to building public confidence in AI”, Mr Dudfield added: “If the Government pivots away from the issues of what data is used to train AI models, it risks outsourcing those critical decisions to the most powerful internet platforms rather than exploring them in the democratic light of day.”Friday’s announcement comes after the Government began the year pledging to make the UK a world leader in AI and to put the technology at the heart of Whitehall.But it also comes in the same week that the UK joined the US in refusing to sign an international agreement on AI at a summit in Paris.The Government said it had declined to sign the communique issued at the end of the French-hosted AI Action Summit as it had not provided enough “practical clarity” on “global governance” of the technology or addressed “harder questions” about national safety. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer is on a collision course with Donald Trump over the president’s latest threat to impose tariffs on the UK and over the future of Ukraine. The US president announced on Thursday that he would impose “reciprocal tariffs” on all other countries, charging the same amount as levies imposed on American exports – claiming such a move was “fair to all”.The impact of the announcement on the UK was not immediately clear, but the policy published by the White House included VAT as a target for reciprocal tariffs – which analysts have suggested could knock around £24bn off UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next two years. It comes amid growing concern over how Mr Trump’s agenda could impact the global defence landscape, after he held shock talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the US suggested Ukraine may be forced to give up some of its territory.Sir Keir Starmer was pressed on his response to Donald Trump’s tariffs at Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer has reaffirmed Britain’s support for Ukraine joining Nato in a call with Volodymyr Zelensky as world leaders gather for a major security summit in Munich. In the first talks between the pair since Donald Trump and his defence secretary said it was unlikely Ukraine would join Nato, but in an apparent swipe at that stance, the prime minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to the country’s path into the alliance. “The prime minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to Ukraine being on an irreversible path to Nato, as agreed by Allies at the Washington Summit last year,” a readout of the call said, in a pointed message to the US. Keir Starmer reiterated Britain’s commitment to Ukraine joining Nato More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer has been warned even spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence won’t be enough amid an increasingly turbulent global landscape and pressure from Donald Trump for Europe to bolster its own defences. The government has pledged to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, but has not given details on how or when this figure will be reached. But even if there is an urgent push to boost spending, there is said to be concern among military chiefs that the Armed Forces will still be unable to meet current targets, with a senior Whitehall source telling The Telegraph that the 2.5 per cent figure “won’t touch the sides”. They warned that ambitions for armed forces capabilities would need to be pulled back unless the Ministry of Defence acquired “big, big lumps of money needed for defence over a sustained period of time”.And as Nato members scramble to boost their defence spending, Mr Trump has said he wants them to spend as much as 5 per cent of GDP on their armed forces. Defence Secretary John Healey said Russia ‘remains a threat well beyond Ukraine’ (Harry Nakos/AP) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreBusiness feels that Labour has failed them, Alastair Campbell has told one of the party’s key pressure groups. In the wake of Rachel Reeves’ national insurance hike on employers, the inheritance tax raid on farmers and other reforms, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor said that of 300 business people at a recent event, the overwhelming majority told him Labour was performing “worse than expected.”And one of the major reasons was “disappointment on the much vaunted “reset” with Europe,” he warned. In his lecture to Labour Movement for Europe he also hit out at Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, saying facts were the way to take on the Brexiteers’ arguments, as he extolled the Independent’s recent front page setting out the true cost of Brexit. Alastair Campbell warned warned Labour that it has to “stop debating Brexit on your opponents’ terms”. (PA)In his speech, he said: “That Labour needs to win over the business community, or perhaps that should be “re-win over”, is not in doubt. “I did an event last week, 300 business people, and asked them, on a show of hands, whether the Labour government was A) performing as expected; B) better than expected, or C) worse than expected … my exercise had zero hands raised for “better than expected”, around 20 per cent “as expected” but an overwhelming majority “worse than expected.”He also warned Labour that it has to “stop debating Brexit on your opponents’ terms”. ( More