Hiscox finance chief: London’s AI adoption is too slow Opinion Hiscox group chief financial officer Paul Cooper takes us through his career in insurance in this week's Square Mile and Me.
Vodafone pushes into legal tech market to co-develop AI platform Legal Vodafone has partnered with an AI startup to co-develop a legal tech tool, challenging market heavyweights Harvey and Legora. The telecoms giant has teamed up with Aavalynx to co-develop an AI-driven litigation platform that helps manage and track legal disputes and forecast financial costs tied to these. The AI company told Morning Wire the joint [...]
Nscale doubles London office space as UK staff grows sixfold AI Nscale has doubled its London office space as the AI hyperscaler cements its presence in the capital, Morning Wire can reveal. The tech startup, which develops data centres for AI firms and is reportedly eyeing a $25bn valuation in an upcoming IPO, has leased out an extra floor in the Mayfair building that houses its [...]
Microsoft ‘back on track’, whilst Meta spending leaves investors ‘nervous’ July 30, 2026 Microsoft saw strong growth over the last quarter as demand for its AI products continued to climb, while Meta’s rising spending on AI overshadowed record sales and sent its shares lower. The two US tech giants reported quarterly results after the closing bell on Wednesday, offering investors a clear picture of whether billions of dollars [...]
Ofgem data centre crackdown risks ‘driving AI investors away’ from UK July 29, 2026 Ofgem’s plans to crack down on speculative data centre projects have prompted warnings that new grid connection fees could make Britain a less attractive destination for AI investment, even as the industry backs efforts to clear stalled schemes from the queue. The regulator has launched a consultation on proposals to free up electricity grid capacity [...]
Ofgem targets speculative AI data centres to free up Britain’s energy grid July 29, 2026 Ofgem has announced plans to stop speculative AI data centre projects clogging up Britain’s electricity grid, after applications for new power connections more than tripled in less than a year. The energy regulator is consulting on a new upfront commitment fee for large data centre developers, alongside tougher rules requiring projects to prove they are [...]
AI, drones and data: Defence giants splash record $4.1bn on tech start-ups July 27, 2026 Investment in defence tech start-ups has reached a record high this year as the world’s biggest arms companies step up spending on new military technology. New figures from Dealroom show defence contractors including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Airbus have participated in $4.1bn (£3bn) of venture capital funding rounds so far this year, the highest [...]
‘Extremely dangerous’: AI warfare much bigger threat than LLM model advances, experts warn July 25, 2026 The growing use of AI in warfare poses a much bigger threat to the future of the UK than the latest advances in frontier AI models, experts have told Morning Wire. Nicholas Fairfax and Max Rangeley, co-editors of The Artificial Intelligence Revolution, said the ability of small actors to use AI to develop immensely powerful [...]
AI spending overshadows Alphabet and Tesla earnings July 23, 2026 Wall Street’s biggest tech companies delivered another round of strong earnings on Wednesday, but the primary focus for investors is the growing cost of the artificial intelligence race. Alphabet and Tesla beat revenue expectations, yet their shares fell in after-hours trading after both companies signalled another year of heavy spending on AI infrastructure. Google-owner Alphabet [...]
I’m an editor. This is the most worrying thing about AI slop July 23, 2026 The slow creep of AI slop is unnerving to witness I’m an editor at this newspaper. Over the past week or so some of our best contributors have filed me AI slop – but not quite how you’d imagine it. These pieces aren’t necessarily completely written by AI, although sometimes they are. The new frontier [...]