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OpenAI Reveals ChatGPT User Data Showing Signs of Mental Health Struggles

OpenAI has shared new insights into how some ChatGPT users may be exhibiting signs of mental health crises, including possible psychosis, mania, or suicidal thoughts.

According to the company’s latest data, around 0.07% of weekly active users display indications of severe psychological distress. Although this represents a small fraction, with ChatGPT’s user base surpassing 800 million weekly users, the numbers could translate into hundreds of thousands of affected individuals.

OpenAI emphasized that these cases are “extremely rare” and said it has developed specific protocols to identify and respond to such sensitive interactions responsibly. The firm has assembled a global advisory network of more than 170 mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and primary care experts across 60 countries, to help guide its approach.

These specialists have collaborated with OpenAI to create structured, supportive responses designed to encourage users to seek help offline and connect with trusted resources when signs of crisis emerge.

However, mental health experts have cautioned that even small percentages can represent a significant public health concern.

“While 0.07% may sound minor, in a user base of this size, that’s a large number of people potentially in distress,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who researches technology’s effects on young adults.

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Robots Poised to Transform Elderly Care Amid UK’s Growing Workforce Crisis

In a quiet lab in north-west London, three black robotic hands move gracefully across an engineering bench — each with four fingers and a thumb bending in perfect synchrony. They don’t resemble the menacing claws of science fiction; instead, they are built to serve.

“We’re not creating the Terminator,” laughs Rich Walker, director of Shadow Robot, the company behind these lifelike mechanical hands. With his calm demeanor and long hair, Walker seems more like an idealist than a roboticist — but his mission is deeply practical.

Shadow Robot’s goal is to design machines that can ease one of the UK’s most urgent challenges: the growing shortage of social care workers. “We want to build a robot that truly helps people — one that can clean, cook, and even assist with personal care,” Walker explains.

The problem is pressing. According to Skills for Care, there are more than 131,000 vacancies for adult care workers in England. Meanwhile, Age UK reports that nearly two million people over 65 are living with unmet care needs. With one in four Britons projected to be over 65 by 2050, the strain on the care system could become overwhelming.

In response, the UK government pledged £34 million to develop robotic care technology, predicting that within two decades, autonomous systems will be commonplace in everyday life — reshaping the way people live, work, and age.

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Turing AI Chief Dismisses Misconduct Claims Amid Leadership Turmoil

Turing AI Institute Chair Refutes Allegations of Mismanagement and Toxic Culture

Dr. Doug Gurr, Chair of the Alan Turing Institute, has dismissed allegations of a “toxic internal culture” and misuse of public funds, saying an independent investigation found “no substance” to the claims.

In August, whistleblowers alleged that the UK’s national artificial intelligence (AI) body was mismanaged, failing its mission and facing potential collapse after former technology secretary Peter Kyle reportedly threatened to withdraw £100 million in government funding.

Speaking to the BBC, Dr. Gurr acknowledged the challenges the institute faced during its transition but maintained that all concerns had been thoroughly reviewed.

“Every single one of those [claims] has been independently investigated, and we’ve not found any substance,” he said, declining to name the third-party investigator involved.

Despite the controversy, the institute has seen significant leadership turnover, with several senior directors, including the chief technology officer and CEO, stepping down.

The Charity Commission continues to investigate the matter, though Dr. Gurr expressed confidence in the organisation’s direction. “I love this job,” he said. “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and remain focused on advancing the UK’s leadership in AI research and innovation.

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Covid 2020: How the Pandemic Sank the Cruise Ship Industry

When Covid-19 swept across the globe in early 2020, industries everywhere ground to a halt — from air travel to retail. Among the hardest hit was the cruise ship sector, once a thriving symbol of leisure and global travel.

As infections spread and ports closed, cruise lines suspended operations, leaving massive vessels stranded at sea. What began as a temporary pause quickly turned into an existential crisis. By March, operators faced mounting financial losses and were forced to make difficult decisions — including scrapping their aging ships to stay afloat.

Much of this dismantling took place in shipbreaking yards across the developing world. In Turkey’s Aliağa Ship Breaking Yard — one of the largest globally — once-luxurious cruise liners were stripped for parts, their gleaming decks reduced to twisted metal.

Reuters photographer Umit Bektas captured this haunting transformation, revealing a striking image of the pandemic’s economic toll. “These ships showed how deeply Covid affected business,” he said. “It wasn’t just people in hospitals — it was industries collapsing.”

The tragedy of the cruise industry had been foreshadowed earlier that year when the Diamond Princess, a British-registered ship, became an early Covid hotspot. Quarantined off Japan for two weeks, more than 700 people aboard contracted the virus, and at least 14 died — turning the vessel into one of the first and most infamous symbols of the pandemic’s reach.

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The 5G Myth: Why Your Phone Isn’t Always on True 5G

Why Your Phone’s 5G Symbol Doesn’t Always Mean Real 5G

You might think that seeing the 5G icon on your smartphone guarantees lightning-fast internet speeds — but new findings suggest that’s not always true.

When 5G launched five years ago, it was marketed as a revolution in mobile connectivity — offering ultra-fast downloads, seamless streaming, and near-instant response times. Governments and telecom operators poured billions into 5G infrastructure. However, progress has been slower than expected, partly because 5G signals travel shorter distances and require many more masts to maintain coverage.

According to recent research by PolicyTracker, shared with BBC’s Morning Live, the 5G symbol can be misleading. Tests revealed that almost 40% of the time, phones displaying the 5G icon are actually connected to 4G networks. In other words, users may be paying for 5G service — but receiving 4G speeds.

While 5G technology theoretically supports download speeds up to 20,000 Mbps (enough to download several HD movies in seconds), real-world performance often falls far short.

Mobile operators are now introducing “standalone 5G”, a true 5G experience that doesn’t rely on older 4G infrastructure. However, accessing it typically requires specific devices and premium plans that come at a higher cost.

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Jobseekers Turn to Premium Tools Amid Slowing Market

Slow Job Market Drives Surge in Premium Job Platform Subscriptions

A slowing global job market is prompting jobseekers to invest in premium services and tools to boost their employment prospects.

In the United States, it now takes an unemployed worker an average of six months to secure a new job, up from five months last year, according to official statistics. Canada experienced a loss of 66,000 jobs in August, pushing its unemployment rate to 7.1%. Meanwhile, in the UK, job vacancies declined by 9,000 in the three months to September—a drop of 1.3%—marking the 39th consecutive period of declining openings.

For jobseekers like Kaycia Duncan, investing in premium services has become a key strategy. “I signed up to a premium jobs service as it allows me to talk directly to HR managers, and I’ve also got a graphic design subscription to create high-quality CVs and portfolios,” she said.

The trend is also reflected on LinkedIn, where premium subscriptions have surged. The platform reports that premium subscriber growth has risen nearly 50% over the past two years, and almost 40% of users have leveraged AI tools to enhance their profiles.

Analysts say these moves underscore the growing pressure on jobseekers to stand out in a competitive market, using technology and professional tools to gain an edge in securing employment.

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JLR Cyber Attack Becomes UK’s Costliest at £1.9bn

JLR Cyber Attack Becomes UK’s Costliest, Analysts Estimate £1.9bn Loss

The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been labelled the most economically damaging cyber incident in UK history, with analysts estimating losses of nearly £1.9 billion.

The assessment comes from the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), an independent non-profit body that tracks and analyses the financial impact of major cyber events. The organisation’s latest report reveals that the September 1 attack forced JLR to suspend production for five weeks, causing major disruption across its global supply chain.

According to CMC researchers, more than 5,000 businesses connected to JLR’s operations were affected, with the full recovery not expected until January 2026.

While JLR declined to comment on the findings, the automaker confirmed it has begun a phased restart of manufacturing operations.

The CMC has classified the incident as a Category 3 cyber event, denoting a significant national impact—though not at the highest severity level of Category 5.

Ciaran Martin, chair of the CMC’s technical committee, called the incident a wake-up call for UK industries:

“With a cost nearing £2 billion, this looks to be the single most financially damaging cyber attack ever to hit the UK. Every organisation should identify the networks that matter most and plan for how to recover if those systems are disrupted.”

This marks only the second official report released by the CMC, which bases its findings on public data, expert interviews, and victim surveys.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) also tracks cyber incidents, but unlike the CMC, it does not publicly disclose individual case assessments.

The JLR breach underscores growing concerns about cyber resilience in critical manufacturing sectors, as companies face increasingly sophisticated digital threats with potentially billion-pound consequences.

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UK Regulators Push Apple to Open App Store Access

Apple Faces Pressure to Open iPhone App Market in the UK

Apple could soon be required to permit rival app stores on iPhones in the United Kingdom, following a new ruling by the country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The move challenges Apple’s long-standing “closed ecosystem”, which restricts users to downloading apps solely through its official App Store.

Both Apple and Google have been formally designated by the CMA as holding “strategic market status” (SMS)—a classification acknowledging their dominant control over mobile platforms. This designation grants the regulator greater authority to impose conduct requirements aimed at promoting competition.

The ruling has provoked strong reactions from the tech giants. Apple warned that such measures could “weaken user privacy” and cause “delayed access to new features,” while Google criticized the decision as “disproportionate and unwarranted.”

Despite the backlash, the CMA emphasized that the move was not an accusation of wrongdoing but rather a step to ensure fair competition.

“The app economy contributes about 1.5% of the UK’s GDP and supports roughly 400,000 jobs,” said Will Hayter, CMA’s executive director for digital markets. “It’s vital these markets operate effectively for both businesses and consumers.”

With around 90–100% of UK mobile devices running on Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android, the CMA has described the two companies as maintaining an effective duopoly. Research from Uswitch shows that 48.5% of UK smartphone users own iPhones, while most of the remainder use Android devices.

The regulator is expected to outline specific remedies soon. Possible measures include allowing users to switch more easily between platforms, ensuring fair and transparent app rankings, and potentially requiring Apple to permit third-party app stores or direct app downloads from developers’ websites.

The decision mirrors a similar move by the European Union, which earlier fined Apple for anti-competitive behavior. If enforced, the UK ruling could mark one of the most significant shifts in Apple’s business model since the launch of the App Store in 2008.

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Lithium Rush Drains Chile’s Atacama Wetlands

Chile’s Atacama Desert Faces Growing Strain from Global Lithium Rush

In Chile’s Atacama Desert, once-thriving wetlands are turning to dust as the world’s hunger for lithium—a key ingredient in electric car batteries—continues to surge.

On the Vega de Tilopozo, what was once a lush expanse of green has become a cracked, arid plain. Raquel Celina Rodriguez, a lifelong resident, recalls when the area teemed with vegetation and wildlife. “Before, the Vega was all green. You couldn’t see the animals through the grass. Now everything is dry,” she says, watching llamas graze over the barren land.

Her family, like many others, once relied on the fertile wetlands to raise livestock. But as rainfall dwindled and groundwater receded, survival became harder. The situation worsened, Rodriguez explains, when lithium mining companies began extracting water from beneath the salt flats.

The Atacama holds some of the largest lithium reserves on Earth, essential for powering electric vehicles, smartphones, and renewable energy storage systems. With global demand for lithium skyrocketing, the environmental toll on local ecosystems has intensified.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global lithium consumption rose from 95,000 tonnes in 2021 to 205,000 tonnes by 2024, and is projected to exceed 900,000 tonnes by 2040—driven largely by the electric vehicle industry.

While the metal is critical to the world’s transition toward clean energy, local communities in northern Chile warn that the price is being paid by their land and livelihoods.

As the planet races to decarbonize, a growing question looms: Is the green revolution creating a new environmental crisis in its wake?

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Anti-Drone Tech Demand Soars as Security Risks Rise

Growing Demand for Anti-Drone Technology as Security Concerns Rise

In the northern Danish city of Aalborg, technology firm MyDefence is witnessing a surge in global interest for its advanced drone detection and jamming systems.

According to chief executive Dan Hermansen, the company’s customer base has shifted dramatically since early October. Previously serving mainly defence organizations, MyDefence now reports a spike in demand from civilian sectors—particularly critical infrastructure operators and large corporations seeking to safeguard their facilities from unauthorized drone activity.

The firm’s compact, box-shaped system is designed to detect signals between a drone and its operator, then disrupt that link by emitting a powerful radio frequency on the same channel. Instead of crashing, the drone is forced to perform a controlled landing or is repelled from the protected area. The system can also block GPS signals, preventing the drone from re-establishing contact.

Hermansen estimates that radio frequency jamming is effective against 80–90% of drones currently in operation.

However, he notes that the use of jamming equipment remains tightly regulated, typically reserved for military, police, and government agencies, given its potential to interfere with legitimate communications.

As drone use continues to grow for both commercial and personal applications, the demand for safe and legal counter-drone technologies like those from MyDefence is rapidly expanding worldwide.