Category: KB

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Polly Rippon, University Teacher in Journalism, University of Sheffield

When someone is arrested and under police investigation, we usually don’t know their names. Police reveal only their gender, age and the crime for which they are under suspicion, and the media reports it.

The arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson were a striking exception to this practice. When the police said they had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk” on February 19, newspapers widely reported that it was the former prince. The image of him in the back of a car after questioning featured on nearly every front page the following day.

Days later, Mandelson was arrested at his London home. Again, police said simply they “arrested a 72-year-old man”, and the media confirmed it was the former US ambassador.

The police investigations into both men, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, were prompted by US officials’ release of a tranche of emails from the Epstein files. Both men are suspected to have passed sensitive information to the paedophile financier while serving in official positions. Both deny any wrongdoing.

Why was the media allowed to report their names?

Privacy law in the UK is enshrined in the European convention on human rights. The ECHR bans intrusion into a person’s private life, which means citizens under investigation, or arrested by the police, have “a reasonable expectation of privacy”. This is to protect those who are arrested or investigated but never charged with a criminal offence.

Legally and ethically, journalists shouldn’t breach the privacy of people under investigation. However, the public interest exceptions in the Independent Press Standards Organisation editor’s code and the Ofcom code for broadcasting allow for breaches when reporting on matters of public interest – this includes detecting and exposing crime or wrongdoing, particularly when the suspect in question is someone in a position of power. Your average theft by an unknown civilian doesn’t count.

In the cases of Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson, there is clearly a strong public interest. One is a member of the royal family, the other a senior politician. Both held positions of power and influence, and were longtime friends of one of the most notorious convicted sex offenders in history.

In such a case, a media organisation being sued for breach of privacy may have a defence if it can demonstrate there was a strong public interest, and it reported the information because it was deemed to be of high value to society. The ECHR also protects public interest journalism.

Other high profile people named by the media at the point of arrest due to exceptional public interest include BBC newsreader Huw Edwards, who pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children. Also named by the media on arrest was presenter Russell Brand. He is currently awaiting trial on sexual offence charges, which he denies.

Once charged with criminal offences, suspects become defendants, appear in court and can be officially named.

The College of Policing has just released new guidelines around police communications with the media. The guidance in relation to naming of suspects at arrest protects their right to privacy.

It says the names of those arrested or suspected of a crime should only be released “in exceptional circumstances, where there is a legitimate policing purpose to do so”, for example when a dangerous suspect is on the run.

How Cliff Richard shaped today’s privacy laws

Prior to 2013, police did release the names of those being investigated, or would at least confirm names to the media if asked. But a change in privacy law came after the police investigation into singer Cliff Richard, which toughened up the legislation.

In 2014, South Yorkshire Police raided Richard’s Berkshire home while he was out of the country. The star was unaware he was being investigated on suspicion of historical sexual assault allegations (dropped in 2016 due to lack of evidence). Richard only discovered the police probe because the raid was broadcast live on BBC News, with helicopter shots and a running commentary.

He successfully sued the BBC for £2 million for breach of privacy, telling a judge that the BBC identifying him had smeared his name and reputation around the world.

This case marked a major shift, establishing that suspects have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” before being charged with a criminal offence.

This was reinforced in the case of Alaedeen Sicri a 26-year-old Libyan arrested by police after the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017. He was later released without charge following the attack, which killed 22 people.

Sicri was not identified by Greater Manchester Police, but MailOnline published his name, images and other details after his arrest. He successfully sued Associated Newspapers Ltd and was awarded £83,000 in damages.

In the 2016 case of ZXC v Bloomberg, a businessman successfully sued Bloomberg for breach of privacy because it reported he was under investigation by a UK law enforcement agency. This was something the financial news organisation discovered by reading a confidential letter sent to him. The judge ordered his identity should not be published and awarded him £25,000 in damages. The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

These cases all demonstrate the delicate balancing exercise between the rights of the media to report on an ongoing police investigation and an individual’s right to privacy.

A democracy needs both privacy and public interest reporting. Privacy is the shield that allows people to lead their lives without unwanted interference. But public interest journalism is the spotlight that prevents the rich and famous from abusing their power and holds them to account.

Polly Rippon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why media were able to report the identities of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson as they were arrested – https://theconversation.com/why-media-were-able-to-report-the-identities-of-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-and-peter-mandelson-as-they-were-arrested-276916

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Joshua Kumbani, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Tübingen

Rock art is widespread across southern Africa and includes a wide range of depictions such as human figures, animals, dots, handprints, and other painted or engraved imagery on rock surfaces. The rock art tradition of paintings was made by San hunter gatherers over thousands of years.

The first dance scenes in southern African rock art were documented 100 years ago. But there’s been some confusion as to whether certain scenes could indeed be interpreted as a dance.

Dance can be simply defined as intentional and organised bodily movement. It also functions as an expression of mood and a form of nonverbal communication. In southern African cultures, dance is also performed during moments of celebration and in ritual contexts. Sometimes dancers go into a trance.

Scholars in the past have interpreted the dances in San rock art as ritual dances, mainly trance dances. But ethnography (the study of living people) points to the fact that San communities also danced for leisure and entertainment. Hence the need to systematically examine and categorise dancing scenes in the rock art.

We are archaeologists with a special interest in sound and music in rock art. In a recent study, we examined selected dancing scenes in rock art from four of South Africa’s provinces: the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. The aim was to categorise the different types of dances depicted and to explore whether all dancing scenes represent ritual performances or whether some might reflect entertainment or leisure activities.

We concluded that some of the performances depicted were likely undertaken for leisure and enjoyment rather than ritual purposes.

We hope that our study provides a way to categorise dancing scenes in San rock art. This framework can be refined and expanded by future researchers working in music archaeology, the study of sound and its effects, or the iconographic analysis of musical instruments and dance imagery (working out what the images mean). This kind of research also helps people appreciate their music heritage from the past.

Sources and categories

Our article examined selected dancing scenes through a literature review and by consulting the African Rock Art Digital Archive database curated by the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.

We consulted foundational works on rock art by pioneers George Stow and Dorothea Bleek (1930), and by more recent scholars such as Patricia Vinnicombe and David Lewis-Williams. Ethnographic accounts by Lorna Marshall (1969, 1976), Richard Katz (1982) and Megan Biesele (1993) of dance among San communities in the Kalahari (Botswana) and Nyae Nyae (Namibia) regions further informed our analysis.

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Read more:
An enigmatic theme in San rock paintings is finally unlocked

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We identified three broad categories of dances in the ethnographic records: ritual dances, circumstantial dances, and entertainment dances. Some circumstantial dances were performed to celebrate a successful hunt, while entertainment dances included those celebrating a newlywed couple, as well as dances done simply for fun and games by boys and girls.

We therefore argue that dancing scenes in the archaeological record should be examined critically: not all of them depict rituals.

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Read more:
What archaeology tells us about the music and sounds made by Africa’s ancestors

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Six points of identification

To systematically identify dancing scenes, we applied six analytical attributes:

• body postures, including bent figures, outstretched arms and flexed legs

• paraphernalia held by dancers, such as sticks, rattles or headgear

• interaction between dancers

• evidence of synchrony (moving in unison)

• direction of movement

• the gender of the figures represented.

In the following section, we provide examples of different kinds of dances in rock art and suggest how they may be interpreted on the basis of ethnographic information.

Ritual dances

Our study identified several ritual dances depicted in the rock art, including the trance or medicine dance. (An example is the Attakwas Kloof dance image above, from a site in the Klein Karoo in the Western Cape.) This is one of the most widespread dances among San communities. It is a communal healing practice in which medicine men, believed to possess healing powers, treat the sick through touch and dispel harmful spirits or misfortune.

During the trance dance, men dance while women sing and clap in accompaniment. Some of the male dancers serve as healers. The dancers move in a circular pattern, stamping their feet until a shallow furrow forms on the ground. Prolonged dancing induces an altered state of consciousness, during which healers may fall or collapse as they enter trance.

In South Africa, several forms of trance dance are depicted in the rock art. These scenes typically show clapping female figures accompanying male dancers, who are often shown bending forward. In some images, however, the clapping figures are absent, and only the dancers are represented.

Ethnographic accounts (for example, Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, 1911: 190) note that leg rattles are commonly used during trance dances to produce a sharp, rhythmic vibration, yet these rattles are not frequently depicted in the rock art. A notable exception comes from the Halstone site in the Eastern Cape (above), where several dancers are shown wearing leg rattles. Some figures balance on dancing sticks and appear to be in an altered state of consciousness, or in a trance.

Female initiation rituals that are accompanied by eland dances, performed during the first menstruation rite, also appear in the rock art.

The women mimic the moves of the female eland, a spiritually important animal. These dances are performed only by women, usually in a secluded space. The dancers move in a circle while bending forward, and the ceremony celebrates a girl’s first menstruation. This interpretation is supported by ethnographic research conducted among San communities in Botswana and Namibia by anthropologists such as Marshall and Biesele.

Other ritual dances depicted in the rock art include boys’ initiation ceremonies, commonly known as the Tshoma. This dance marks the transition from boyhood to manhood and is performed exclusively by males. The ethnographic accounts mentioned above indicate that these ceremonies take place in secluded areas away from the main camp.

We identified some other dance scenes at G3 Site II (Vinnicombe 1976) (below) as possibly circumstantial or leisure dances and we suggested that this could have well been the case for the performance depicted at Witsieshoek (bottom).

It is likely that, because of their non-ritual nature, circumstantial or leisure dances – which ethnographic literature suggests were very common – were only rarely depicted in paintings.

This article is part of the ERC Artsoundscapes project (Grant Agreement No. 787842) that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. PI: Margarita Díaz-Andreu.

Joshua Kumbani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Dance scenes in South African rock art: a closer look at ritual, music and movement – https://theconversation.com/dance-scenes-in-south-african-rock-art-a-closer-look-at-ritual-music-and-movement-275489

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christopher Terrell Nield, Lecturer, Chemistry and Forensic Science, Nottingham Trent University

British gardeners and farmers may remember 2024 with a shudder – it was widely referred to as “the year of the slug”. Vast numbers of slimy slitherers chomped their way through raspberries, laid waste to lettuce and toppled tomato plants.

Directly sown crops were demolished, early carrots did not germinate and main crop potatoes were damaged.

Will we see a repeat of the slugageddon in 2026?

Slugs are well suited to the UK’s damp, mild climate and have a wide diet, but only a few species feed on live plants. Slugs and snails are actually an important part of the decomposition cycle, meaning they help the composting process. Apart from those that eat your plants, they can be considered a gardener’s friend, as long as their populations remain stable.

Outbreaks of insect pests, for example, occur when checks on population growth such as predators, competitors or environmental constraints are removed.

So, what conditions favour growth of slug populations and how well did 2024 match these?

Slugs need moist conditions as they have little or no shell and their protective mucus is water based. Slugs can reproduce throughout the year, but do so mostly in spring and in autumn. They can overwinter in the egg, juvenile or adult stage. To avoid frost and predators they seek dark, damp, insulated areas, such as underground, beneath pots or within compost heaps. Slugs are resilient and most survive the winter especially under mild conditions, but hard frosts will kill them.

If it’s mild, slug populations actually increase as early plant growth in late winter provides adults with additional energy to lay eggs. These eggs can hatch in ten days, but take up to 100 days if it’s cold. Over a typical one year life span a slug can lay up to 500 eggs.

And a warm wet spring or summer with frequent rain allows populations to disperse and grow.

Reduced predator numbers also benefit slugs, with many, such as hedgehogs, facing population declines. Toads are also in decline, as are birds such as thrushes.

Weather matters

The year 2024 had conditions ideal for slug breeding; a mild winter, high moisture levels in spring and summer, and no long dry spells.

According to the Met Office, 2024 climate statistics showed the UK is heading outside the “envelope of historical weather observations”. The year 2024 was the fourth warmest year since 1884. Overall it was a little wetter than average, but central and southern England had 25-30% more rain than normal, making the area both warm and damp.

In addition, 2023 had been the UK’s second warmest year, and wetter than average. This combination promoted slug population growth, setting the base for the 2024 increase.

In contrast, 2025 weather was less favourable for slugs as it varied from cold to extreme heat with little rainfall. Slug populations are disrupted by dry and unstable conditions. However, it is difficult to predict population trends when there is instability. For example, climate change is making it difficult to predict butterfly numbers.

In 2025, slug numbers declined from the 2024 peak. However, there were issues with slugs decimating some field crops and returning rainfall produced an upturn in slug numbers in autumn 2025.

Following a cold snap before Christmas 2025, UK winter was mild and very wet, with persistent cloud cover trapped by high pressure over Scandinavia. Some areas had 50% of annual rainfall in the first six weeks of 2026, with widespread flooding. When this pattern shifted, cold arctic air entered the UK. Spring could be chilly as March frequently exceeds December for snowfall and there can be cold snaps in April.

Thus, the picture for 2026 is complicated. Although flooding can kill overwintering eggs and adults, a mild wet winter will have reduced slug mortality. It may also affect slug predators. Beetles used for slug control in conservation agriculture can survive short term inundation but their larvae in saturated soil probably won’t. Flooding also creates lots of ready food for slugs from plants that have died in the water, a potential slug fest as it dries in spring.

With a global temperature above 1.4°C, compared to pre-industrial levels, the Met Office predicts a warm 2026. In addition, the UK government’s Environment Agency predicted a drought in 2026, before the winter’s heavy rainfall.

Overall the conditions point towards increased slug populations but probably not as bad as 2024.

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Read more:
In defence of slugs

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So, what can we do to help our gardens survive a possible 2026 slugageddon?

You can water in parasitic nematodes. These only attack slugs and snails, where they transmit a lethal bacterial infection. It’s a wildlife-friendly option, if a bit expensive.

Put down bark, cat litter, sand or grit. Copper tape may be effective, but physical barriers don’t always work. Smear the edge of pots with petroleum jelly. Creating habitats for slug predators will boost your defences too.

Slugs are nocturnal so water plants in the morning so the soil can dry before they become active. Remove slugs under torchlight, or set pitfall traps. Grow slug-resistant plants such as such as sedum, rosemary and geraniums.

It seems counter intuitive to attract slugs, but compost heaps can redirect them from vulnerable plants. Ferric phosphate slug pellets are effective, but must be targeted around your most vulnerable plants as they can harm wildlife that eats slugs.

Whatever methods you use, remember that most slugs are our friends and an important part of the ecosystem.

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Do the seasons feel increasingly weird to you? You’re not alone. Climate change is distorting nature’s calendar, causing plants to flower early and animals to emerge at the wrong time.

This article is part of a series, Wild Seasons, on how the seasons are changing – and what they may eventually look like.

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Christopher Terrell Nield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Will 2026 be another slugageddon? – https://theconversation.com/will-2026-be-another-slugageddon-275614

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Simon Theobald, Research Fellow, University of Oxford; University of Notre Dame Australia

As Iranian and US diplomats meet in Geneva for crucial negotiations to avoid a potential war, opposition groups in exile are sniffing an opportunity.

The Islamic Republic faces its greatest political crisis since its inception. US President Donald Trump is threatening an imminent attack if Iran doesn’t capitulate on its nuclear program. And anti-regime protesters continue to gather, despite a brutal government crackdown that has killed upwards of 20,000 people, and possibly more.

Talk of a future Iran after the fall of the Islamic regime has grown increasingly fervent. And buoyed by cries heard during some of the protests in Iran of “long live the shah” (the former monarch of Iran), the voices of royalists in the Iranian diaspora are everywhere.

But is a return of the shah really what Iranians want, and what would be best for the country?

What are the monarchists promising?

Iran’s monarchy was ancient, but the Pahlavi dynasty that last ruled the country only came to power in 1925 when Reza Khan, a soldier in the army, overthrew the previous dynasty.

Khan adopted the name Pahlavi, and attempted to bring Iran closer to Western social and economic norms. He was also an authoritarian leader, famous for banning the hijab, and was ultimately forced into exile by the British following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941.

His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, attempted to continue his father’s reforms, but was similarly authoritarian. Presiding over a government that tolerated little dissent, he was ultimately forced out by the huge tide of opposition during the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

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Read more:
How Iran’s current unrest can be traced back to the 1979 revolution

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Now, the exiled crown prince, 65-year-old Reza Pahlavi, is being touted by many in the diaspora as the most credible and visible opposition figure to be able to lead the country if and when the Islamic Republic collapses.

Pro-monarchy groups such as the US-based National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) have become vocal supporters of Pahlavi.

In early 2025, the NUFDI launched a well-coordinated and media savvy “Iran Prosperity Project”, offering what the group claimed was a roadmap for economic recovery in a post-Islamic Republic Iran. Pahlavi himself penned the foreword.

Then, in July, the group released its “Emergency Phase Booklet”, with a vision for a new political system in Iran.

Although the document is mostly written in the language of international democratic norms, it envisions bestowing the crown prince with enormous powers. He’s called the “leader of the national uprising” and given the right to veto the institutions and selection processes in a transitional government.

One thing the document is missing is a response to the demands of Iran’s many ethnic minority groups for a federalist model of government in Iran.

Instead, under the plan, the government would remain highly centralised under the leadership of Pahlavi, at least until a referendum that the authors claim would determine a transition to either a constitutional monarchy or democratic republic.

But students of Iranian history cannot help but note echoes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had promised a more democratic Iran with a new constitution, and without himself or other clerics in power.

After the revolution, though, Khomeini quickly grasped the reigns of power.

Online attacks against opponents

Pahlavi and his supporters have also struggled to stick to the principles of respectful debate and tolerance of different viewpoints.

When interviewed, Pahlavi has avoided discussing the autocratic nature of his father’s rule and the human rights abuses that occurred under it.

But if Pahlavi tends to avoid hard questions, his supporters can be aggressive. At the Munich Security Conference in February, British-Iranian journalist Christiane Amanpour interviewed the crown prince.

After the interview, Amanpour’s tough questions resulted in an explosion of anger from his supporters. In a video that has been widely shared on X, royalists can be seen heckling Amanpour, saying she “insulted” the crown prince.

In online forums, the language can be even more intimidating. Amanpour asked Pahlavi point-blank if he would tell his supporters to stop their “terrifying” attacks on ordinary Iranians.

While saying he doesn’t tolerate online attacks, he added, “I cannot control millions of people, whatever they say on social media, and who knows if they are real people or not.”

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Read more:
The rise of Reza Pahlavi: Iranian opposition leader or opportunist?

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Do Iranians want a monarchy?

As I’ve noted previously, the monarchist movement also talks as though it is speaking for the whole nation.

But during the recent protests, some students could be heard shouting: “No to monarchy, no to the leadership of the clerics, yes to an egalitarian democracy”.

The level of support for the shah within Iran is unclear, in part because polling is notoriously difficult.

A 2024 poll by the GAMAAN group, an organisation set up by two Iranian academics working in the Netherlands, attempted to gauge political sentiment in Iran. Just over 30% of those polled indicated Pahlavi would be their first choice if a free and fair election were held.

But the poll doesn’t indicate why people said they wanted to vote for him. It also showed just how fragmented the opposition is, with dozens of names getting lower levels of support.

The future of Iran is very unclear at the moment. Even if the Islamic Republic were to be dislodged – a very big “if” – the transition could very well be chaotic and violent.

Would Pahlavi make a good leader? For many critics, his behaviour, and that of his supporters, call into question the royalists’ promises of a more liberal and tolerant Iran.

Simon Theobald receives funding from the University of Oxford and the University of Notre Dame Australia.

– ref. Iran’s exiled crown prince is touting himself as a future leader. Is this what’s best for the country? – https://theconversation.com/irans-exiled-crown-prince-is-touting-himself-as-a-future-leader-is-this-whats-best-for-the-country-276629

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Polly Rippon, University Teacher in Journalism, University of Sheffield

When someone is arrested and under police investigation, we usually don’t know their names. Police reveal only their gender, age and the crime for which they are under suspicion, and the media reports it.

The arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson were a striking exception to this practice. When the police said they had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk” on February 19, newspapers widely reported that it was the former prince. The image of him in the back of a car after questioning featured on nearly every front page the following day.

Days later, Mandelson was arrested at his London home. Again, police said simply they “arrested a 72-year-old man”, and the media confirmed it was the former US ambassador.

The police investigations into both men, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, were prompted by US officials’ release of a tranche of emails from the Epstein files. Both men are suspected to have passed sensitive information to the paedophile financier while serving in official positions. Both deny any wrongdoing.

Why was the media allowed to report their names?

Privacy law in the UK is enshrined in the European convention on human rights. The ECHR bans intrusion into a person’s private life, which means citizens under investigation, or arrested by the police, have “a reasonable expectation of privacy”. This is to protect those who are arrested or investigated but never charged with a criminal offence.

Legally and ethically, journalists shouldn’t breach the privacy of people under investigation. However, the public interest exceptions in the Independent Press Standards Organisation editor’s code and the Ofcom code for broadcasting allow for breaches when reporting on matters of public interest – this includes detecting and exposing crime or wrongdoing, particularly when the suspect in question is someone in a position of power. Your average theft by an unknown civilian doesn’t count.

In the cases of Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson, there is clearly a strong public interest. One is a member of the royal family, the other a senior politician. Both held positions of power and influence, and were longtime friends of one of the most notorious convicted sex offenders in history.

In such a case, a media organisation being sued for breach of privacy may have a defence if it can demonstrate there was a strong public interest, and it reported the information because it was deemed to be of high value to society. The ECHR also protects public interest journalism.

Other high profile people named by the media at the point of arrest due to exceptional public interest include BBC newsreader Huw Edwards, who pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children. Also named by the media on arrest was presenter Russell Brand. He is currently awaiting trial on sexual offence charges, which he denies.

Once charged with criminal offences, suspects become defendants, appear in court and can be officially named.

The College of Policing has just released new guidelines around police communications with the media. The guidance in relation to naming of suspects at arrest protects their right to privacy.

It says the names of those arrested or suspected of a crime should only be released “in exceptional circumstances, where there is a legitimate policing purpose to do so”, for example when a dangerous suspect is on the run.

How Cliff Richard shaped today’s privacy laws

Prior to 2013, police did release the names of those being investigated, or would at least confirm names to the media if asked. But a change in privacy law came after the police investigation into singer Cliff Richard, which toughened up the legislation.

In 2014, South Yorkshire Police raided Richard’s Berkshire home while he was out of the country. The star was unaware he was being investigated on suspicion of historical sexual assault allegations (dropped in 2016 due to lack of evidence). Richard only discovered the police probe because the raid was broadcast live on BBC News, with helicopter shots and a running commentary.

He successfully sued the BBC for £2 million for breach of privacy, telling a judge that the BBC identifying him had smeared his name and reputation around the world.

This case marked a major shift, establishing that suspects have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” before being charged with a criminal offence.

This was reinforced in the case of Alaedeen Sicri a 26-year-old Libyan arrested by police after the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017. He was later released without charge following the attack, which killed 22 people.

Sicri was not identified by Greater Manchester Police, but MailOnline published his name, images and other details after his arrest. He successfully sued Associated Newspapers Ltd and was awarded £83,000 in damages.

In the 2016 case of ZXC v Bloomberg, a businessman successfully sued Bloomberg for breach of privacy because it reported he was under investigation by a UK law enforcement agency. This was something the financial news organisation discovered by reading a confidential letter sent to him. The judge ordered his identity should not be published and awarded him £25,000 in damages. The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

These cases all demonstrate the delicate balancing exercise between the rights of the media to report on an ongoing police investigation and an individual’s right to privacy.

A democracy needs both privacy and public interest reporting. Privacy is the shield that allows people to lead their lives without unwanted interference. But public interest journalism is the spotlight that prevents the rich and famous from abusing their power and holds them to account.

Polly Rippon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Reporting the names of arrested people is against the law – why the Andrew and Mandelson cases were exceptions – https://theconversation.com/reporting-the-names-of-arrested-people-is-against-the-law-why-the-andrew-and-mandelson-cases-were-exceptions-276916

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By James Trapani, Associate Lecturer of History and International Relations, Western Sydney University

After toppling Venezuela’s leader earlier this year, the Trump administration has turned its sights on Cuba. The near-total blockade of the island is now posing the greatest challenge to the government since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

Cuba is quickly running out of oil, creating a dire political and economic crisis for the island’s 11 million residents.

US President Donald Trump’s embargo has prevented any oil tankers from reaching the island for months. A ship carrying Russian fuel is now reportedly on the way to the island to attempt to break the blockade, but the US has seized other ships that have previously tried.

The Trump administration has also threatened tariffs on any nation that tries to send Cuba fuel, putting Latin American leaders in an uncomfortable position. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has called out the embargo as “very unfair”, but she’s been careful not to antagonise Trump by putting an emphasis on the Cuban “people”, not the government.

This is not the first time the US has isolated Cuba, or coerced Latin American leaders to take part. Cuba has been under a US embargo for the past 66 years, which has stunted its economy and caused widespread human suffering.

The island has always found a way to get by, but can it survive this new round of American pressure?

Animosity grows in the 1950s

The Cuban Revolution caught the United States by surprise in 1959. During the Cold War, the US had supported dictatorships in Latin America, such as Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista, with political, financial and military support, creating widespread anti-US activism across the region.

After coming to power, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro instituted modest reforms to land tenure and infrastructure to support the impoverished people. Then-US President Dwight Eisenhower opposed these moves because of their impact on US commercial interests on the island. This opposition turned into a US embargo of Cuban sugar imports in 1960.

In response, Castro looked to the Soviets as an export alternative. Eisenhower retaliated by refusing to ship oil to Cuba, leading Castro to sign an oil deal with the Soviets and eventually nationalise American and British refineries. In 1961, Castro declared his adherence to “Marxism-Leninism”.

Castro and Cuba were hugely popular throughout Latin America. When the Cuban military defeated the CIA-trained force of exiled Cuban fighters at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Castro was lauded for standing up to the US, though few knew of the military and intelligence support coming from the Soviets.

And when President John F. Kennedy began the campaign to remove Cuba from the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1961, most Latin American democracies moved to block it.

To bring those leaders to his side, Kennedy used a carrot-and-stick approach. He proposed an “alliance for progress” to meet the “basic needs of the [Latin] American people for homes, work and land, health and schools”. But his government also passed the Foreign Assistance Act, which established a total blockade of the island and prohibited US aid to any country providing assistance to Cuba.

The OAS removed Cuba as a member the following year and, in 1964, voted to embargo all trade to Cuba, except food and medicine.

Life under the embargo

The embargo prevented Cuba from reaching the modern technological age. Instead, it existed in socialist bubble, emphasising the care of its people over economic development.

Nonetheless, Cuba’s Cold War economic growth was comparable to its neighbours. In 1970, the nominal GDP per capita for Cuba was US$645 (A$900), slightly lower than Mexico and about double the Dominican Republic. By 1990, it was US$2,565 (A$3,600), about 80% of Mexico’s and more than triple the Dominican Republic’s.

Cuba was not industrialised, but the country did reach full literacy before any other Latin American nation and extended health care to all Cubans. Cuba then exported its teachers and doctors throughout Latin America, and beyond.

However, life on the island was still difficult, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

With no clear replacement for Soviet imports and subsidies, the economy began to buckle. From 1990 to 1994 (a time known as the “Special Period”), food production decreased by 40%, leading to food rationing, malnutrition and other health issues.

Protests broke out across the island in 1994 and some 35,000 Cubans fled on boats for Florida.

Cuba and the US after the Cold War

However, the end of the Cold War brought newfound sympathy and assistance from Cuba’s neighbours. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, for example, provided Cuba with oil in exchange for Cuban doctors.

Then, in 2009, the OAS voted to readmit Cuba and allow for regional trade and tourism again.

US President Barack Obama followed suit in 2014, saying the US embargo of Cuba had “failed”.

His administration then initiated what would become known as the “Cuban thaw”. Then-President Raul Castro visited Washington in 2015 and, the following year, Obama became the first US president to visit Cuba since 1928.

Obama did not end the embargo, but he did open the door to US tourism, providing a lifeline for Cuba’s economy.

Why is Trump punishing the island again?

Now, Trump is reimposing the Cold War-era embargo on the island and ramping up the pressure on President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s government.

The White House claims Cuba presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, saying the island is cooperating with “dangerous adversaries” on intelligence activities, chief among them Russia and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned Trump’s embargo, saying “we do not accept anything like this”.

If Russian oil makes it to Cuba, more aid could follow. If that eventuates, the US will have invited Russia into its backyard again, laying the foundation for another Cold War-style stalemate, with the Cuban people once more trapped in the middle.

James Trapani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Cuba has survived 66 years of US-led embargoes. Will Trump’s blockade break it now? – https://theconversation.com/cuba-has-survived-66-years-of-us-led-embargoes-will-trumps-blockade-break-it-now-276065

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Garner, Senior Lecturer of Human Computer Interaction, Department of Computing, Sheffield Hallam University

In 1997 I was 13 and decidedly not a gamer. I liked film, music and Stephen King novels – but I had been “blessed” with two parents who believed video games rotted your brain. They did, however, invest in a home PC, seemingly under the impression I would be drawn only to its educational functions.

Their faith was misplaced when I discovered Blade Runner (1997), an adventure game based on the 1982 Ridley Scott film that I had not seen. Before, I had understood games as “collect coins, jump on enemies, avoid spikes, get a high score”. Now I was a detective conducting something called a Voight-Kampf test. I was scouring crime scenes, analysing CCTV footage and piecing together the narrative of a crime that kept escalating the more I proceeded.

By the end I was grappling with whether to turn my character’s back on every part of their life, whether their memories were their own, whether they were even human and the broader question of how a person can act morally when they cannot be certain of themselves – or their perception of reality.

This was my entry point into a lifelong love of video games. I’m still enamoured with their ability to directly involve you in the story, to challenge your decision making and values, knowing the consequences would play out in front of you, affecting situations and characters you had become emotionally invested in.

There is growing evidence that factors such as burnout from passive streaming culture are increasingly encouraging people towards video games – and yet many people still feel excluded from them. If you’re among that group, you may assume games are all too violent, too juvenile, too technical, or simply “not for you”.

The great shame here is that games tell deep and immersive stories and present beautiful worlds in ways that are wholly unique to the medium. If you don’t engage with games, you’re increasingly missing out on meaningful new stories and aesthetics.

Here are three different kinds of potential player and the video games I would prescribe for each one.

1. The aesthetic wanderer

Potential player one is an “aesthetic wanderer”. If this is you, you love music, immersive visual arts, installations and exhibitions. You find yourself are drawn to places, whether urban or nature, that evoke mood and feeling.

Aesthetic wanderers are driven by the sensory pleasure of atmosphere and the personal meaning they extract from interpretation of art and environment. They likely perceive video games to be loud, time-pressured, visually oppressive and goal-obsessed.

If this sounds familiar, then your route to video games should be through titles that prioritise exploration, the autonomy of self-pacing and a beautiful – or possibly disgusting – world. So long as it’s evocative.

Try playing Journey (2012), a wordless traversal across a desolate yet beautiful landscape, with flowing character movement that blends interaction with music, sound and atmosphere – offering an immersive, resonating and contemplative experience.

Alternatively, Firewatch (2016) offers a slowly unfolding mystery wrapped in a summer trek in the Wyoming wilderness, emphasising reflective presence in a lonely landscape and a narrative revealed naturally through a dialogue.

A more involved, but equally beautiful classic is Shadow of the Colossus (2018) – an at times deafeningly silent world in which you are drawn into conflict with vast, awe-inspiring creatures and are confronted with moral unease in your actions.

2. The pre-digital native

Potential player two is the pre-digital native. If you’re in this camp then you grew up before video games became established. You may be intrigued by games but believe you have missed the proverbial boat. You may view games as juvenile, a distraction from “genuine” pursuits, or even morally questionable.

Your love of cinema and literature is based in story over spectacle, and you also appreciate opportunities for growth and personal reflection. You may also be concerned that video games present a risk to your perceived competence, not in a cognitive or cultural sense, but in the fiddly physical controls that may require precise and immediate motor actions.

If you fit into this player type, seek out games that emphasise cognitive capability over motor-skills, with critical thinking over fast reactions. You could consider contemporary detective games, such as Her Story (2015) and Return of the Obra Dinn (2018).

3. The cultural sceptic

Lastly, potential player three is the cultural sceptic. If you’re in this group, you might believe video games were simply not made for you. You may observe a deluge of games targeting young men, with male protagonists, aggressive competition-based mechanics and even hostile exclusionary communities. You are interested, but feel the need to culturally protect yourself.

The cultural sceptic values autonomy and growth through new experiences. You may especially value relatedness, seeking credible characters that you can connect with. You are drawn to opportunities to collaborate, and you particularly enjoy art as a shared experience.

If this sounds like you, consider games that feature cooperative multiplayer experiences like It Takes Two (2021), a puzzle platformer about a couple on the brink of divorce who find themselves trapped in the bodies of two of their daughter’s dolls. Here narrative and gameplay are inseparable as the game explores matters of relationship breakdown but also reconciliation and perspective through cooperation.

You may also find yourself drawn to games built around themes that fall outside of the “guns, gore and muscles” trope, such as Gone Home (2013), a first-person exploration game in which the player-protagonist uncovers journals to follow her sister’s journey to understanding and accepting her sexuality.

Alterntively, What Remains of Edith Finch (2017), a collection of interwoven stories in which the player inhabits the final moments of Finch’s relatives in a way that demonstrates how interactive experiences can explore a genuinely wide range of themes, and can tell stories in ways that would be impossible in any other medium.

If explored openly, there is no demographic barrier to all video games. A few months ago, I introduced my partner to the farming simulation game Stardew Valley (2016), a game I have been playing for about five years. She enjoys ballet, romantic fantasy novels and Sabrina Carpenter. She hadn’t played a game since the mid-90s. Her farm is now better than mine. A lot better.

For you, my potential player, this is an invitation and not a lecture. I’d love you to take the opportunity to engage with video games on your own terms, to challenge your initial assumptions and perhaps discover a new cultural love.

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Tom Garner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The beginner’s guide to video games – where to start if you don’t think you like games – https://theconversation.com/the-beginners-guide-to-video-games-where-to-start-if-you-dont-think-you-like-games-273737

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Mohib Abderrahim, Chercheur en Préhistoire et conservateur principal des Monuments et Sites, Institut national des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine in Rabat

Could a Moroccan cave hold a crucial piece of the puzzle of human origins? Hominin fossils dating back 773,000 years discovered in the country are bringing new evidence to the debate about the last common ancestor of present-day humans (Homo sapiens), Neanderthals and Denisovans. The discovery points to a long evolutionary history in north Africa, much earlier than modern Homo sapiens. It also supports Africa’s central role in the major stages that shaped the human species.

Abderrahim Mohib is a prehistoric archaeologist, heritage curator, and associate professor and researcher at the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage in Rabat. He’s one of the authors of a recent study that explains the significance of the discovery.

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What did you discover and why does it matter?

Excavations have been underway since 1994 in the Hominid Cave at the Thomas Quarry I, south-west of the city of Casablanca in Morocco. A research programme called Prehistory of Casablanca working at the site is led by Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

The team has unearthed hominin fossils along with thousands of animal remains and around 300 artefacts made of quartzite and flint. The site looks like it was a den for large carnivores. This is supported by a hominin femur showing bite marks from a large carnivore, likely a hyena.

In addition to the femur, the set of hominin remains includes a nearly complete adult jaw, half of another adult jaw, a young child’s jawbone, cervical and thoracic vertebrae, and several teeth.

This discovery is significant. It sheds new light on a key period in human evolution. Fossils from this period are very scarce in Africa, Europe and Asia. These remains help document little-known populations between early Homo species and the more recent lineages. They are the oldest hominin fossils ever found in Morocco with a clear and reliable date.

In addition, the site is adjacent to another, older, site named Unit L in the same quarry. This site covers more than 1,000 square metres and dates back to 1.3 million years ago. It documents the oldest human occupation in Morocco. It is linked to the Acheulean material culture in north-west Africa.

How old are these early humans and how did you date them so accurately?

These fossils found in Casablanca were dated to around 773,000 years, using palaeomagnetism, the study of the Earth’s ancient magnetic field.

The sediments in Grottes à Hominidés have recorded changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. With very high-resolution sampling (every 2cm) we were able to identify the last geomagnetic reversal from a reverse polarity (Matuyama) to a normal polarity (Brunhes). This means that we have identified a period when the Earth’s magnetic field flipped. And that is a natural event that serves as a marker for dating geological and archaeological layers.

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Read more:
The whole story of human evolution – from ancient apes via Lucy to us

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This reversal is a very solid and widely accepted chronological marker. What is extraordinary is that our fossil remains date precisely to the time of the reversal. This offers one of the most reliable datings of hominin fossils from the Pleistocene era (starting about 2.58 million years ago and often called the “Ice Age”). These data are consistent with the geological setting and palaeontological remains.

How does this change our understanding of modern human evolution?

The Casablanca fossils come from a time when Homo erectus spread out of Africa. It was also a time when older groups of hominins like the Australopithecus and Paranthropus died out.

In terms of shapes and features, the fossils show a mix of archaic traits typical of Homo erectus and more advanced traits closely related to Homo sapiens. They also fill an important gap in the African fossil record. Palaeogenetic data suggest a split between the African lineage to Homo sapiens and the Eurasian lineages that later produced the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.

The unique combination of primitive and more evolved features suggests that these individuals were in a population that lived close in time to this split.

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Read more:
Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct

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This Moroccan population can be described as having advanced traits of Homo erectus. It has more evolved traits than older Homo erectus fossils found in Africa and Asia. But it lacks the full modern features seen in Neanderthals or anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Until now, the fossils of Homo antecessor unearthed at the Gran Dolina site in Atapuerca, Spain were the only ones to show Homo sapiens-like traits. The fossils from the Grotte à Hominidés offer a new perspective.

They open up the possibility of an evolutionary link with the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils – those from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, dated to around 315,000 years ago. These discoveries help clarify the emergence of the Homo sapiens lineage while reinforcing the idea that its deep roots are African.

So, based on their mix of archaic and derived traits, these finds support the deep African roots of Homo sapiens but also point to an African population close to the split between Eurasian and African lineages in the Middle Pleistocene.

Why is north Africa, and Morocco in particular, so important?

North-west Africa, along with east and southern Africa, represents one of the key regions where we currently have a new window into the evolution of Pleistocene hominins. The Mediterranean Sea likely acted as a major biogeographical barrier. It contributed to the divergence between African and Eurasian populations.

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Read more:
Giant sea lizards: fossils in Morocco reveal the astounding diversity of marine life 66 million years ago, just before the asteroid hit

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The Sahara desert’s size changed over time. It probably shaped how African populations were structured. The Moroccan fossils confirm how ancient and deep our species’ roots are in Africa. They highlight the key role of north-west Africa in the major stages of human evolution.

Mohib Abderrahim is Researcher in Prehistory and Chief Curator of Monuments and Sites, National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage in Rabat.

– ref. Morocco: ancient fossils shed light on a key period in human evolution – https://theconversation.com/morocco-ancient-fossils-shed-light-on-a-key-period-in-human-evolution-275099

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Nicholas Morieson, Research Fellow, Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at a very Chinese time in its life. Recent moves from Chinese AI labs are throwing the dominance of American “frontier labs” such as Google and OpenAI into question.

Last week ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, released an AI video-generating tool called Seedance 2.0 which produces high-quality film-like clips from text prompts, with a casual disregard for copyright concerns. This week Anthropic, the US company behind the chatbot Claude, said three Chinese AI labs created thousands of fake accounts to harvest Claude’s answers in a practice called “distillation” which can be used to improve AI models.

These events have led to suggestions that China may be gaining the upper hand in the battle to dominate AI. So, is China winning the “AI race”?

Cheap, widely used tools

While most advanced frontier models are still made by American companies, China is pushing hard to develop cheap, widely used AI tools, which could create global dependence on Chinese platforms.

Reuters reports the industry is bracing for a “flurry” of low-cost Chinese AI models, with Chinese systems repeatedly driving usage costs down.

What’s the plan? China’s official AI policy documents suggest China sees AI as “a new engine for building China into both a manufacturing and cyber superpower”, and “a new engine of economic development”.

Since 2017, China has recognised that the technology is at the centre of “international competition”. “By 2030,” one key policy document says, China’s AI “technology and application should achieve world-leading levels, making China the world’s primary AI innovation center”.

This focus on becoming the dominant player in AI helps explain why Chinese firms are pushing hard on price. If you can make your AI cheap enough, you might just make it globally ubiquitous.

Cost helps determine who adopts AI first, and which models are first implemented in software and services. Even if the United States remains ahead on most elite benchmarks, Chinese products could still become globally influential if they are widely used and widely depended upon.

High-tech soft power

But China does not present its AI technology to the world as only benefiting itself. Instead, it’s pitched as a contribution to humanity.

A 2019 statement of “governance principles” from a national AI governance expert committee argues that AI development should enhance “the common well-being of humanity” and “serve the progress of human civilization”.

These phrases portray AI as a technology that advances the human story itself, rather than only serving Chinese interests. It suggests Chinese AI leadership is good for everyone.

This is an example of Chinese soft power. Tools such as Seedance may threaten Hollywood’s business model, but they do something else too. High-quality, low-cost generative media can spread quickly.

If Chinese systems become widespread, they can influence creators, developer habits, and platform dependencies, especially in non-Western markets that need affordable tools and may dislike American tech dominance.

The spread of the ‘Chinese model’

For liberal democracies such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, the growth of Chinese AI tools creates a strategic headache. It will not be easy to manage security concerns about Chinese technology while avoiding technological isolation if Chinese AI tools become widely adopted.

There is a darker side to China’s AI tools. US think-tank Freedom House describes China as having the world’s “worst conditions for internet freedom”, and suggests other nations are now “embracing the ‘Chinese model’ of extensive censorship and automated surveillance”.

In 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued rules for the algorithms that curate news feeds and short video platforms. Providers are required to “uphold mainstream value orientations” and “vigorously disseminate positive energy”.

These algorithms are important because they shape what people see and what is suppressed. As a result, these rules suggest the Chinese government is deeply concerned with controlling information across its social media platforms and AI tools.

A dilemma for third parties

Not every Chinese AI tool is a propaganda weapon. Rather, China is building world-class AI technology within an authoritarian system that prioritises the control of information.

This means China’s ability to make generative AI commercially powerful will likely also, despite its claims about serving “human civilisation”, make censorship and narrative management cheaper and easier.

China’s business and soft-power model is a much bigger story than just Seedance’s cavalier attitude towards copyright or Anthropic’s concerns about intellectual property. China’s goal is to build AI tools that rival those created by America’s tech giants, and to make them inexpensive and adopted globally.

For other countries, this may create a dilemma. Once a technology becomes a standard, it can be difficult to justify using a different product.

The question that remains is whether liberal democracies can adopt China’s low-cost products without drifting into dependence on systems shaped by an authoritarian political model.

Nicholas Morieson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How China is betting cheap AI will get the world hooked on its tech – https://theconversation.com/how-china-is-betting-cheap-ai-will-get-the-world-hooked-on-its-tech-276878

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Amy Hume, Lecturer In Theatre (Voice), Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne

Few actors are imitated as often as Michael Caine. Even Michael Caine has imitated Michael Caine.

His voice has been used in birthday card greetings and been the source of jokes in various comedy sketches. It is synonymous with a certain type of Britishness.

Last week, artificial intelligence company ElevenLabs announced Caine has licensed his voice to the company. It will be available on their ElevenReader app, which allows you to listen to any text in a voice of your choosing, as well as being available on their licensing platform, Iconic Marketplace.

To understand why Caine’s voice is so iconic (and wanted by AI) we need to look deeper at what people actually hear in it.

Why do people love listening to Michael Caine?

Caine was born in London in 1933. His mother was a cook and a cleaner, and his father worked in a fish market. Caine speaks with a Cockney accent, setting him aside from most other actors of his generation.

Cockney hails from London’s East End and is often associated with London’s working class – think Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, the Artful Dodger from Oliver!, or Bert the Chimney Sweep from Mary Poppins (although Dick van Dyke’s accent is not the most accurate, it’s still recognisably Cockney).

Traditionally, you were said to be a true Cockney if you were born within earshot of the Bow Bells – the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church on Cheapside.

That distinctiveness matters because the accent carried heavy class meaning in mid-20th century Britain.

We don’t hear many contemporary examples of Cockney. Accents change and evolve over time and it has gradually been replaced by a new dialect called Multicultural London English (MLE).

While most actors of his age acquired a “stage accent” – known as Received Pronunciation (RP) – Caine made a conscious decision to hold onto his working-class roots and not change his accent. Instead, he built his career on it.

He once said,

I could’ve gone to voice lessons, but I always thought if I had any use […] I could fight the class system in England.

His accent became cultural capital and helped him land roles in Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969) and Jack Carter (1971). By the 1970s, he was a British cultural icon.

What do we hear when we hear celebrity voices?

Hearing a person’s voice is never just about acoustics. We hear social meaning: culture, identity, character and story.

Sociolinguist Asif Agha coined the term “enregisterment” to describe how a way of speaking becomes publicly recognised as signalling particular social types and values.

Over time, Caine’s voice has become enregistered as a recognisable Cockney accent associated with East London and historically linked to a working-class identity. Hearing his voice activates a socially shared register of meanings attached to Cockney.

This contrasts with, say, Queen Elizabeth II, whose accent was enregistered with royalty, prestige and wealth.

Another useful concept here is what sociolinguists sometimes call “dialectal memes”: the images and character types that circulate around particular accents. These memes are transmitted through books, television, film, and even celebrity figures themselves.

Caine has been a carrier of Cockney dialectal memes in popular culture.

When you look at it this way, AI voice licensing commodifies not just the acoustic properties of Caine’s voice, but the enregistered social meanings audiences recognise in it.

What AI licensing means for Caine

ElevenLabs describes its Iconic Marketplace platform as “the performer-first approach the entertainment industry has been calling for”. Through licensing, actors maintain ownership of their voices in a digital, AI landscape.

Caine licensing his voice theoretically ensures he receives credit and compensation, and prevents unauthorised clones appearing elsewhere.

It is possible this is exactly the direction actors want AI to go in – for use of their voice to be controlled by themselves, with clear credit and payment.

However, this model is not without risk to the actor or the listener. We should ask: do we need to hear something in Caine’s voice? Will we process information differently or hear it with more authority if it’s delivered in the voice of a cultural icon like Caine?

Giving power over to machines

People who admire Caine may want him to read to them. Some will be willing to pay for it. We need to remain conscious of the decisions we are making here.

In the 1960s, computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum, creator of the world’s first chatbot, Eliza, warned about the dangers of forming relationships with machines. He was alarmed to see users confiding in Eliza and responding to the chatbot as if it actually understood them, even when they knew it did not.

What happens if an AI voice is not actually generic, but recognisably tied to a real human?

An actor’s likeness and voice may be protected with licensing, but their human self is not. That creates a pathway to attachment or even infatuation.

Caine is not just licensing his voice, but also the Cockney persona audiences recognise in it. Suddenly, a machine speaks with the authority of a real human behind it.

Amy Hume does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Michael Caine’s voice is iconic. Why would he sell that to AI? – https://theconversation.com/michael-caines-voice-is-iconic-why-would-he-sell-that-to-ai-276506