UK universities urged to reduce equity stakes in their spinouts


The UK university spinout ecosystem is flourishing, with 1,116 active companies as of January 2023. But to further facilitate this growth, British universities should cut down on their equity stakes, a spinout review commissioned by the government advises. Ac

Spotify’s new streaming payments spark controversy among musicians


Tech has waded into another feud with artists. After a week of wrangles about AI mimicry of pop stars and training models on copyrighted content, Spotify has sparked fresh controversy over a new royalty scheme. The streaming giant announced on Tuesday that its

EU pushes further for domestic production of green tech


Amid a global race for green tech sovereignty, the European Parliament on Tuesday passed the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) — a bill intended to boost the EU’s manufacturing output in the technologies needed for decarbonisation. Initially proposed by the Commi

UK-built satellite to help combat the climate crisis from space


Aiming to join Portugal and Spain as a member of the Atlantic Constellation project, the UK will help fund and build a new satellite designed to monitor and combat climate change. The Atlantic Constellation initiative will involve the development of a constell

Babbel’s new speech tools aim to boost foreign language confidence


Speaking a foreign language often comes with a fear of performance. What if you pronounce words wrong? What if your mind freezes? Undoubtedly, confidence in speaking a language other than your native one takes time to build, but the first step to getting the

Does Valencia’s four-day workweek trial mean we’re headed for a brave new world of work?


The Spanish city of Valencia was founded by veteran Roman soldiers, given land in return for their service in various campaigns. The land of the brave, its very name means valiance. Lucky soldiers. With 300 days of sunshine a year and average temperatures of 19 d

These AI agents could cut your workweek to just 3 days


Most of us would love a break from the 9-to-5 grind, evidenced by the recent hype over the four-day workweek. But a new startup from the UK promises to help you toil even less than that — while remaining just as productive.   The company is called T

AI hallucinations pose ‘direct threat’ to science, Oxford study warns


Large Language Models (LLMs) — such as those used in chatbots — have an alarming tendency to hallucinate. That is, to generate false content that they present as accurate. These AI hallucinations pose, among other risks, a direct threat to science and scient

Why security compliance is no longer a nice to have for UK startups


Security compliance (and particularly ISO 27001) is like the project in school you had the whole year to complete — and ended up starting in a panic the night before. Given the time, resources, and complexity of completing the certification, it’s one of the thing

UK won’t regulate AI anytime soon, minister says


The UK doesn’t plan on introducing AI regulation anytime soon — in contrast to the EU’s and China’s strict legislation efforts. During a Financial Times conference on Thursday, the country’s first minister for AI and intellectual property, Viscount Jonathan


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