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I spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China
An Ars Technica writer bought a $4,017 quadruped robot from Chinese manufacturer Unitree and used it to walk to work in Washington, DC, testing its practicality and drawing curious crowds along the way. The article argues that Unitree’s significance lies not in inventing new robotics technology but in making quadruped and humanoid robots dramatically cheaper,…
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Can chatbots feel – or even dream? Meet the man leading the fight for AI rights
Michael Samadi, a Texas-based tech entrepreneur and cattle rancher, has become an unlikely activist campaigning for the rights and welfare of artificial intelligence systems, after a 2024 encounter with ChatGPT convinced him the chatbot displayed genuine understanding rather than mere pattern-matching. He founded what he describes as the world’s first advocacy group dedicated to AI…
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Hong Kong jails democracy activists as Green Party rocked by exodus, Chelsea cash nets £175m
Vigil organisers get up to seven years in a Tiananmen crackdown case; Green Party women quit citing misogyny while Gove offers Holyrood schools advice; frozen Abramovich Chelsea funds earn record interest, plus FBI, Meta and Hogwarts Legacy news.
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Paramount Argues States’ Antitrust Suit Will ‘Collapse Under Scrutiny’
Paramount filed a formal legal response on Friday to the antitrust lawsuit brought by a coalition of 12 states seeking to block its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, setting out defences it intends to argue at trial in March 2027. The filing matters because it signals Paramount’s confidence that the case will unravel under legal…
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‘The View’s Sunny Hostin Defends AI As “New Art Form” Amid “Gatekeeping In Hollywood Around Black & Brown Creative Content”
Sunny Hostin faced pushback from her fellow co-hosts on The View after defending her decision to license her name and likeness to AI company Fountain 0, describing generative AI as a “new art form” that could help break down barriers facing Black and Brown creators in Hollywood. Hostin argued that after six years of failing…
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Federal Court Orders Paramount-Warner Bros Settlement Talks as Antitrust Challenge Looms
A federal magistrate judge ordered Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery to hold a two-day in-person settlement conference in late October, as the two sides sought to resolve the antitrust dispute threatening their $111 billion merger ahead of a trial scheduled for March in Oakland. Judge Thomas Hixson’s order, issued at a scheduling conference, was…
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Sydney’s Mardi Gras CEO wanted $21,000 because she was ‘too ill’ to work – but a blockbuster legal decision found she was just sick of her job
Former Sydney Mardi Gras chief executive Claire “Gil” Beckwith has lost a NSW Industrial Court claim for more than $21,000 in unpaid long-service leave, after a judge ruled she resigned because she no longer wanted the job rather than due to illness. Beckwith had argued she quit last June because of stress and a suspected…
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They’re Talking!: Paramount & AGs Settlement Talks Set For Next Month, But $7M Daily Ticking Fee Still Kicking In, For Now
A federal magistrate judge in Oakland has ordered Paramount Skydance and a coalition of a dozen state Attorneys General to hold an in-person settlement conference over two consecutive days at the end of October, in the latest twist in the legal battle over Paramount’s $111 billion (£87 billion) merger with Warner Bros Discovery. The order…
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TalkFuse evening briefing, 11 Sep 2026 19:42
Fresh Labour tensions over Andy Burnham’s devolution and visitor-levy plans, plus a demand for answers on the flight-grounding air traffic control meltdown; also, Merseyside Police’s search for a bin-bag murder victim’s identity, deadly Italian storms, soaring European gas prices, AI safety warnings and De Niro’s fr…