1. \u2018There\u2019s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?\u2019: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind AI Illustration: The Guardian<\/p>\n
double quotation markYour natural inclination is to always want to build the safest technology that takes no risks with people. But in a way that isn\u2019t giving people credit for the risks they want to take themselves.<\/p>\n
Since 2017, Iason Gabriel has worked at the tech giant, trying to anticipate \u2013 and think through \u2013 the impact of AI. But as commercial and geopolitical pressures escalate, Robert P Baird asked if ethicists make any difference?<\/p>\n
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n 2. David Sedaris on his Duolingo obsession: \u2018\u201cToday is the last day,\u201d I told myself \u2013 but I was powerless to stop\u2019 Illustration: Jonny Glover\/The Guardian<\/p>\n double quotation markThis turned me into the person whom, since the turn of this latest century, I have most hated: one who moves about while staring down at a device. On the busy sidewalk, at the airport, everywhere a person should be paying the utmost attention to those around them, I suddenly was not.<\/p>\n David Sedaris wrote about his decision to combine his need to top the leader table with his\u00a0 daily step count \u2013 which is how he found himself walking 10 miles a day while reading out sentences in Japanese, German, Spanish and French.<\/p>\n Read more<\/a><\/p>\n 3. \u2018A sanitised view of America\u2019: inside Trump\u2019s campaign to erase US history from national parksYellowstone national park. Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n America\u2019s national parks are the closest thing the country has to sacred lands. What many may not realise, however, is that US history \u2013 not just nature \u2013 is at the heart of the visitor experience at most of the 433 parks, historic sites and monuments.<\/p>\n But over the past year and a half, this history has been under attack, with critics saying the Trump administration has been trying to reconstruct a version of US history they prefer by removing and altering scores of signs on public lands. Amy Qin\u00a0and\u00a0Fl\u00e1vio Pessoa told looked into the story as part of our Deleted data <\/a>series.<\/p>\n Read more<\/a><\/p>\n 4. It\u2019s a love story \u2013 or is it? The surprising conflict and chaos in Taylor Swift\u2019s songs about commitmentCover girl \u2026 Taylor Swift\u2019s Love Story, The Life of a Showgirl and The Tortured Poets Department. Composite: Republic Records\/ Beth Garrabrant<\/p>\n A pop superstar widely perceived as a romantic has in fact mostly written love songs troubled by strife, ghosts and delusion. Ahead of her wedding, BD McClay stripped away the gossip to see what Swift-as-songwriter has spent 20 years telling us.<\/p>\n Read more<\/a><\/p>\n 5. \u2018We\u2019re up against forces that have all the money in the world\u2019: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentresErin Brockovich at her home in Los Angeles. Photograph: Jessica Pons\/The Guardian<\/p>\n double quotation markWhat I\u2019m seeing now is that councils, having heard community responses, are trying to hit pause and they\u2019re getting sued [by the developers] for $100m-plus.<\/p>\n In 1993, Erin Brockovich squeezed a $333m settlement from a Californian energy company in a scandal over contaminated water. Three decades later, she has a new target in her sights \u2013 and it\u2019s global. Zoe Williams interviewed her about the campaign against AI datacentres.<\/p>\n