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Nobody could accuse the British Government of lacking enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). According to its newly published AI Opportunities Action Plan, the technology’s blossoming will remake the British economy, boost productivity, smooth bureaucracy, and transform the quality of state services such as healthcare.

Through this, the government wants the UK to become an AI superpower, consolidating its position as the world’s third largest AI market, behind the US and China, the report said.

Part of the initiative is a £14 billion investment ($18 billion) by Vantage Data Centres, Nscale, and Kyndryl to build new data center infrastructure, on top of the £25 billion in AI investment announced at the International Investment Summit last October.

Its deeper theme is that the UK should be able to produce as well as consume AI technology, because receiving technology from others is a recipe for dependence.

“There is barely an aspect of our society that will remain untouched by this force of change,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer in his report foreword.

“This government will not sit back passively and wait for change to come. It is our responsibility to harness it and make it work for working people,” he said.

AI Growth Zones (AIGZs)

Many of the 13,250 jobs the reports says will be created in the near term will be in “AI growth zones”, the first of which will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, also the HQ for the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

That’s significant because all of the data centers housing AI will consume huge amounts of power, at least 100MW to start with and eventually 500MW. Unfortunately, while Culham is the home of research into nuclear energy, there is no power station onsite, which explains why the report proposes a new AI Energy Council to fill the gap.

Cooling the new data centers could also be an issue in a potential drought zone, despite Thames Water promising to build a new reservoir nearby.

Additional requirements

National Data Library: AI, of course, needs data – lots of it. That’s becoming harder to source. The Report’s answer is a National Data Library, “underpinned by strong privacy-preserving safeguards.” The deeper detail of this has yet to be announced, but issues of privacy and copyright lurk.

Public compute: The UK needs another supercomputer, somewhere. This is despite the new government ditching plans as recently as October to build precisely this type of computer at Edinburgh University. The UK’s other supercomputer centers include Bristol (Isambard AI), and Cambridge (Dawn).

People: The plan proposed working out how many people the UK needs and then developing plans to fill gaps. That includes importing skills by exploring “how the existing immigration system can be used to attract graduates from universities producing some of the world’s top AI talent.”

Regulatory oversight: AI has yet to grapple with its daunting ethical concerns. The report’s answer is to turn the UK’s AI Safety Institute (AISI) into a statutory body with the power to intervene where it thinks fit.

White hot

The idea of a bold national plan for AI echoes that of another Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who in a famous 1963 speech proposed overhauling the UK through the “white heat of technology”.

This parallel isn’t necessarily happy; although the UK embraced Wilson’s white heat in pockets, it failed to capitalize on the wider opportunities offered by that era’s early development of computing and software. That was despite having plenty of clever people in the field, a decent education system, and big companies willing to invest.

The new plan is also uncomfortably similar to the recent Conservative administration’s championing of everything AI under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right down to his rhetoric about matching AI superpowers AI and China. 

One difference is that the report’s vision was authored by industry figure Matt Clifford, an entrepreneur and investor appointed as the administration’s AI adviser after Labour’s election win in July.

He authored the plan’s 50 recommendations, all of which the government plans to implement. That suggests that the UK’s AI overhaul is not being driven as a pet project by politicians alone. Another backer is Demis Hassabis, co-winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his AI-aided work on protein folding.

Making not taking

In many ways, the challenges faced by the UK in enabling AI – indeed, all future computing projects – mirror what every country faces. Energy and cooling are problems, and tooling up to fill infrastructure and skills gaps is competitive and resource intensive.

One reason Wilson’s 1960’s plan struggled was that the state and public services ignored the computing innovation going on around them. However, given that AI is already being experimented with in the NHS, perhaps attitudes have changed.

But what will really count is that private companies can make money out of AI in the UK in the long run. Governments plans and infrastructure are helpful and set the mood, but only go so far.

“While the focus on investing in infrastructure such as computing power and a national data library is welcome,” said Dr Pia Huesch, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) research fellow, “the UK Government must not forget the risks posed by AI technologies or the international partnerships that are needed to secure long-term benefit from AI technologies.”

Kde bylo možné v uplynulém roce nejlépe vydělat a jaké investice nejvíce ztrácely? Co čekat v roce 2025 od nemovitostí, akcií, dluhopisů, zlata a dalších investic?

Odškodnění pro zaměstnance, který dostával za stejnou práci nižší mzdu, se určí podle výše mzdy nejlépe odměňovaného zaměstnance vykonávajícího stejnou práci. Je přitom lhostejné, že nižší mzdu měli i jiní zaměstnanci na stejné pozici.

Nedílnou součástí prakticky všech procesorů je modul pro operace s plovoucí řádovou čárkou. Na platformě IBM PC se jednalo o řadu matematických koprocesorů označovaných čísly 8087, 80287, 80387 a (nepřesně) 80487.

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Blood-donation not-for-profit OneBlood confirms that donors' personal information was stolen in a ransomware attack last summer. [...]

This is what happens when you publish PoCs immediately, hm?

"Several cloud deployments" are already compromised following the disclosure of the maximum-severity vulnerability in Aviatrix Controller, researchers say.…

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Path of Exile 2 developers confirmed that a hacked admin account allowed a threat actor to change the password and access at least 66 accounts, finally explaining how PoE 2 accounts have been breached since November. [...]

Microsoft plans to force-install its new Outlook client on Windows 10 computers in conjunction with a new security update being released Feb. 11, according to Bleeping Computer.

The change affects Microsoft 365 users and the new Outlook client will run alongside the classic Outlook app. It will not change a user’s default settings or any configurations.

Microsoft says that while it’s not possible for Windows 10 users to block the installation, it is possible to remove the application afterwards.

** Rok 2025 se rozběhl a slibuje spoustu zajímavých premiér ** Očekáváme ještě větší důraz na AI a také na výdrž telefonů ** Novým trendem by po letech měly být znovu velmi tenké telefony

Anketu na téma počtu monitorů u počítače jsme na Živě měli už skoro před čtyřmi lety . Od té doby se ale situace na vašich domácích nebo pracovních stolech mohla změnit. Přišly lepší technologie, rozmohly se miniLED a OLED modely, máme rychlejší displeje, vyšší rozlišení nebo různé poměry stran. ...

Scumbags stole API keys, then started a hacking-as-a-service biz, it is claimed

Microsoft has sued a group of unnamed cybercriminals who developed tools to bypass safety guardrails in its generative AI tools. The tools were used to create harmful content, and access to the tools were sold as a service to other miscreants.…

PDF bereme jako standard pro textové formuláře a oskenované dokumenty. Tedy statický formát, který zachycuje záměrně neměnnou podobu dokumentu. No ale teď v něm můžete hrát Tetris nebo dokonce Doom v ASCII artu. Stojí za tím Thomas Rinsma , v civilním životě lead security analyst ve firmě Codean , ...

Apple recently addressed a macOS vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass System Integrity Protection (SIP) and install malicious kernel drivers by loading third-party kernel extensions. [...]

Threat actors are exploiting a critical remote command execution vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-50603, in Aviatrix Controller instances to install backdoors and crypto miners. [...]

It's fixed, mostly, after Europeans had a manic Monday

Microsoft's multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Azure and Microsoft 365 (M365) was offline for four hours during Monday's busy start for European subscribers.…

**Složky ve Windows si nepojmenujete libovolně. **Seznam rezervovaných názvů existuje kvůli kompatibilitě. **Kořeny této záležitosti sahají až do 70. let.

On the day the UK government confirms an AI future for the country (we’ll see how that goes), Apple’s App Store pricing model has gone on trial in London.

Apple is accused of overcharging consumers for software sold via the App Store in a £1.5 billion class-action lawsuit bought by Rachael Kent-Aitken on behalf of 20 million UK consumers. (That equates to about $1.8 billion in US dollars.)

She’s chasing down Cupertino, claiming it is abusing its market dominance by levying up to a 30% fee on download sales, calling the levy “excessive and unfair.”

The trial began today before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. The lawyers at Hausfeld represent Kent-Aitken in the case, the costs of which appear to be underwritten (if that’s the appropriate word) by Vannin Capital.

What is Apple accused of?

The accusation is that Apple abused its dominant position by:

• Imposing restrictive terms that require app developers to distribute exclusively via the App Store using Apple’s payments system.
• Charging excessive and unfair prices in the form of commission payments, which are ultimately paid by the device users.

Apple, of course, calls the claims “meritless,” pointing to the fact that the vast majority of developers do not pay a 30% levy on software sales, that those who offer apps at no charge (around 80% of all available apps) pay no levy at all, and that the fee is intended to see the costs of running the store borne by those who generate the most cash from selling software through it. 

In related news, the European Commission has begun fresh scrutiny of the core technology fee Apple charges some developers in Europe in response to the Digital Markets Act.

Senior Apple leaders head to court

Apple appears ready to field an all-star cast of witnesses during the trial with around three days of witness time booked. What is known is that Apple will field some witnesses who will travel from the US, with both Apple Fellow and App Store leader Phil Schiller and Apple Senior Vice President for Software Craig Federighi named in a pre-trial note (pages 24/25). Apple’s newly-appointed Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh will also be forced to give evidence.

The company will also be told to share unredacted versions of some documents used during the European Commission trial against it; there are three days in which Apple has secured witness time for the case, according to one document, though it is not known if that is definite at this stage. Apple witness statements should begin Wednesday afternoon, though it is not known if the witnesses Apple plans to bring will remain the same. 

Apple has previously said: “We believe this lawsuit is meritless and welcome the opportunity to discuss with the court our unwavering commitment to consumers and the many benefits the App Store has delivered to the UK’s innovation economy.” 

It’s worth noting that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the UK in December. While there he met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and hosted an event at Apple’s Battersea HQ with King Charles.

Apple now supports 550,000 UK jobs through direct employment, its supply chain, and the iOS app economy. 

Is it all about legality — or profitability?

In the end, and as I’ve pointed out before, even some of the company’s critics levy similar fees on sales through their platforms, which means it isn’t a matter of fee/no fee, but a question of how much fee is legitimate for Apple’s storefront, or any storefront, to charge. Even big brick-and-mortar grocery stores charge for shelf placement, after all. 

“The commissions charged by the App Store are very much in the mainstream of those charged by all other digital marketplaces,” Apple said when the case began. “In fact, 85% of apps on the App Store are free and developers pay Apple nothing. And for the vast majority of developers who do pay Apple a commission because they are selling a digital good or service, they are eligible for a commission rate of 15%.”

What happens next?

The litigant at one point claimed Apple made $15 billion in App Store sales on costs of around $100 million, though those costs seem to ignore research and development, OS development, security, payments, and associated investments Apple makes in its ecosystem.

Kent’s lawyer, Hausfeld partner Lesley Hannah, at one point said: “Apple has created a captive market where people who own Apple devices are reliant on it for the provision of both apps and payment processing services for digital purchases.”

Apple will likely argue that the market is larger than just iOS apps (think online services and other mobile platforms) and observe that it is not dominant in the device market. That matters, because it means consumers do have choice and most consumers choose different platforms. (Kent is also involved in similar action against Google.)

Right or wrong, it’s hard to avoid that in general the direction of travel when it comes to App Store encounters in court means the current business model now seems tarnished. Perhaps Apple could introduce a different model in time?

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