Techlaw

SpaceX to list on US stock market at historic $1.77tn valuation

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 12.06.2026

Initial public offering for aerospace and AI company made Musk the world’s first trillionaire as share prices jumpedSpaceX made the biggest stock market debut in history on Friday after nearly two and a half decades as a private company. Public trading began around midday with a starting share price of $150, which quickly jumped by a double digit percentage and sent the company’s valuation above $2tn. The company’s initial public offering made the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, the world’s first trillionaire.“It is certainly hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public with the largest IPO ever,” Musk said in an address at SpaceX’s headquarters. He reiterated the company’s mission to “make humanity multiplanetary” and “take the fiction out of science fiction”. Continue reading...

Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

A zero-day vulnerability affecting Oracle's PeopleSoft products is being exploited by a ShinyHunters campaign targeting schools and universities.

CIO interview: Damian Leach, Vistra

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

CIO Damian Leach discusses Vistra’s digital platform, which he says will harness artificial intelligence in its financial professional services offering

Freshworks Refresh 2026: pivot to AI-driven employee experience

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

Freshworks is pivoting to AI-driven employee experience, launching its AI Agent Studio, MCP Gateway and AI dashboards

Labour MP Jess Asato launches legal action over Grok deepfakes

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

After xAI’s Grok chatbot was used to create sexualised images and videos of her, Labour MP Jess Asato is taking legal action against the company in a bid to hold the firm accountable for the harms associated with its design choices

‘Don’t break the business’: Lessons from Ann Summers’ ESB transformation

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

Ann Summers’ technology and supply chain director Jeannette Copeland talks through lessons learned during the retailer’s recent ESB overhaul

Frontier AI models could be an adversary's force multiplier

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 12.06.2026

The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers if Anthropic’s Claude Mythos frontier AI model is a benefit or barrier to achieving resilient enterprise IT security, and how security leaders need to adapt.

Pokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zones

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 12.06.2026

Location scans from the globally popular augmented reality game have helped train AI to recognise and interpret physical spacesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn AI model trained on data collected from users of Pokémon Go will potentially help military drones find their location in war zones.Pokémon Go, a 2016 augmented reality mobile game, allowed players to find and catch Pokémon in the real world using the cameras on their mobile phones, and exploded in popularity. In 2018, the company reported having more than 800m downloads worldwide. Continue reading...

Canadian mother sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT led her daughter to kill herself

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 11.06.2026

Suit filed in US alleges chatbot told Alice Carrier, 24, ‘maybe this is just the end’ as she struggled with suicidal thoughtsA Canadian mother sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in US court on Thursday, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to kill herself. The lawsuit is the latest in a slew accusing the company of failing to address dangerous conversations between users and the company’s chatbot.Kristie Carrier said in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco state court that her daughter, Alice, told ChatGPT about her suicidal ideations more than a dozen times leading up to her death but that OpenAI’s safety systems never flagged the conversations for human review or terminated them. Continue reading...

The Guardian view on the analogue resurgence: the shock of the old | Editorial

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 11.06.2026

Long-abandoned formats such as cassettes and VHS tapes are finding new life as consumers seek a digital detoxTen years after the last video recorder manufacturer ceased production, the first straight-to-video movie for two decades – This Is How the World Ends – was released this month. The resurgence of vinyl began long ago; sales are at their highest level for over 30 years. But record buyers enthuse about the warmth of their sound and the generous visual expanse of album covers. In contrast, the new movie is shot in HD; the director acknowledges that those watching it on video will see a cropped, fuzzier image. The point of the exercise – beyond creating a buzz – lies not in the inherent qualities of VHS, but the effect of its rarity on the viewer.When everything is available in high definition with one swipe of your screen, cumbersome physical formats that must be hunted down appear both nostalgically inviting and strikingly fresh. Last year, Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl was released in multiple physical formats, including cassette and CD – technically digital, but also enjoying a revival thanks to its retro feel. The title track of her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, mocked a lover’s attachment to his typewriter, notoriously favoured by hipsters. Continue reading...

Musk’s xAI fired engineer for raising concerns about Grok chatbot, lawsuit claims

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 11.06.2026

Former xAI engineer Devin Kim alleges he was illegally fired for trying to implement safety mechanisms for the chatbotA former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI who now heads a thinktank focused on AI safety filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired from the SpaceX subsidiary for raising concerns about the risks artificial intelligence poses to humanity.Devin Kim claims in the lawsuit filed in California state court on Tuesday that his efforts to place guardrails on the development of the chatbot Grok made him a target for company leadership. Continue reading...

AI absolutism is breaking our brains. The apocalyptic future we’re being sold isn’t inevitable

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 11.06.2026

Nor is the dreamy promise that this tech will unlock boundless potential and productivityEverything we hear about artificial intelligence is conflicting, and hearing about it feels inescapable. AI is terrible. AI is wonderful. It will break the world. It will transform the future. It’s essential to embrace it. It’s a moral imperative to abstain from using it.Already, AI is projected to generate nearly unfathomable amounts of revenue. In the last quarter of 2025, it represented nearly 60% of the growth in the US economy. Already, pundits and economists wring their hands about what calamity will befall us if and when the AI bubble bursts. Continue reading...

Established enterprise patching models dead in the water, says report

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 11.06.2026

Vulnerability discovery and exploitation was surging dramatically even before Anthropic decided to unleash its frontier Mythos model. As such, an Action1 report finds old approaches to patching are no longer fit for purpose

AI Summit London: AI’s role in UK defence

Published in Oracle fixes PeopleSoft flaw exploited by ShinyHunters on 11.06.2026

AI innovation moves quickly, unlike the speed of innovation in the military. How can AI be used to improve the UK armed forces?

Crackdown on tech platforms will go ahead despite US intervention, says No 10

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 09.06.2026

US embassy came out against UK’s proposed under-16 social media ban, which would affect American firmsWhite House displeasure over the prospect of an under-16 social media ban will not deter the UK from cracking down on tech platforms, the British government has said.The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, told the Guardian she was not concerned “in the slightest” by the Trump administration’s intervention in the debate over restrictions, after the US embassy in London posted a notice warning against a ban. Continue reading...

Palantir to sue Sadiq Khan over blocked £50m Met police contract

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 09.06.2026

US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor’s intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rulesPalantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police.The Met had planned to use Palantir’s software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK’s largest police force and the mayor’s office. Continue reading...