Silicon Valley

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Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored – podcast

Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen?By Jill Lepore. Read by Laurel LefkowRead the text version hereSupport the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpodAdapted from The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, […]

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Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored

Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen?One of the stranger things about this dizzying, headlong moment in time is that it doesn’t have much of a past. Everything is about the future of

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San Francisco-area estate sells for $70m in sign of AI-fueled wealth explosion

New owner is said to be involved in AI industry, as new class of multimillionaires is entering the real estate raceA luxury Lake Como-inspired estate in the San Francisco Bay Area has sold to a buyer “in the AI world” for a record $70m, in the latest sign of a new tech wealth boom that’s

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‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley

As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable themIn April, Gil Durán was permanently banned from Elon Musk’s X for posting just two words. Durán was responding to a post from the

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China’s tech advances are causing chaos from Silicon Valley to the White House

New AI models, advanced robots and specialty computer chips are unsettling markets and the US tech industryOver the past month, a series of advancements in China’s artificial intelligence, chip manufacturing and robotics technologies have rattled financial markets, caused divisions among US tech moguls and left the Trump administration scrambling to respond.Silicon Valley has long pointed

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How AI may drive union-resistant tech workers to the bargaining table

Tech workers are increasingly unionizing, trading Silicon Valley’s myth of exceptionalism for collective bargaining to contest the corporate deployment of artificial intelligenceFor decades, the technology industry was a fortress that labor unions couldn’t breach. Tech workers already had cushy compensation packages, dream benefits like unlimited vacation and free lunch, and a flat corporate hierarchy that

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‘Absolutely bananas’: San Francisco homes sell for $1m above asking price amid AI boom

Report finds widespread overbidding as rapid AI growth generates increased wealth in city where housing is scarceSan Francisco’s AI boom has buyers spending unprecedented amounts of money on homes – much more than sellers are asking for.A new analysis from real-estate brokerage Compass, found that in the first half of 2026, more than 140 homes

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Silicon Valley donations make Colorado Democratic primary one of state’s most expensive

Manny Rutinel’s House campaign draws millions from big tech as pro- and anti-AI factions spar over regulationPolitical groups funded by top tech executives have been homing in on one local race in Colorado, as the state’s Democratic primary vote gets under way on Tuesday. Democrat Manny Rutinel, who’s running in the competitive eighth congressional district

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As the US and China surge ahead, is Europe sleepwalking into AI disaster?

A burgeoning genre of fictional AI doomsday scenarios says lagging behind on the technology could threaten the continent’s sovereigntyIt’s 2031 and the US and China are about to tear Europe into pieces.The US ploughed vast sums into datacentres and the EU did not. China built robots and Europe did not. American companies “restructured” their workflows

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Will it take a ‘Chernobyl-scale disaster’ for us to regulate cyber weapons of mass destruction? | Stuart Russell

Unrestrained development of unsafe AI systems is leading to intolerable risksStuart Russell is a computer scientist known for his contributions to AI and a new Guardian US columnistThe AI company Anthropic has been making major headlines recently. Its trillion-dollar IPO plan and its blood feud with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth have attracted much attention,

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