Apple will let EU users switch away from Siri, M&S facing court action

Apple is planning to give users in the EU the ability to set a default voice assistant other than Siri, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett. In a lengthy report about Apple’s artificial intelligence shortcomings today, Gurman and Bennett said Apple plans to introduce this change across multiple software platforms, which likely means the iPhone, iPad, and Mac at a minimum. Presumably, this means that users in the EU will be able to set options like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant as their default voice assistant on Apple devices. Mac Rumors 

Sir Elton John described the government as “absolute losers” and said he feels “incredibly betrayed” over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws. Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said if ministers go ahead with plans to allow AI firms to use artists’ content without paying, they would be “committing theft, thievery on a high scale”. This week the government rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes. BBC

M&S is facing a multi-million pound court action by Scottish customers whose personal data has been stolen in a catastrophic cyber attack. The high street giant was forced to admit last week hackers have obtained information which could include the telephone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth and online ordering histories of millions of people. And the Sunday Mail can reveal leading law Thompsons Solicitors will this week launch a class action suit against the company which could result in huge compensation payouts. Daily Record 

For decades, walking robots have been a feature of science fiction without ever becoming a reality. So when Elon Musk first revealed plans for Tesla’s humanoid “Optimus” robot three years ago, his vision was met with understandable scepticism. He didn’t exactly help his case when showcasing the project by appearing onstage alongside a human pretending to be a robot….Four years later, however, humanoid robots are no longer just a punchline. Social media is now awash with videos of advanced Chinese robots completing an array of tasks, whether that be tap-dancing or running half-marathons. Telegraph 

The iPhone 17 Air is a new upcoming flagship smartphone from Apple that is meant to replace the Plus model. There have been concerns about battery capacity — especially given that rival Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge has a small battery too — and it turns out that these concerns were valid. A source from inside the supply chain has revealed that the iPhone 17 Air will have a battery capacity of a laughably low 2,800 mAh. This is much less than the already tiny 3,900 mAh battery inside the Galaxy S25 Edge. Phone Arena 

A significant cyberattack on the UK’s Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has resulted in the theft of a large amount of private data, including criminal records, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).  The MoJ revealed that the breach, affecting the LAA’s online digital services, was initially detected on April 23rd, but its severity was only realized later. Jane Harbottle, Chief Executive of the Legal Aid Agency, acknowledged the seriousness of the incident, stating the news “will be shocking and upsetting for people.” The attackers claim to have accessed 2.1 million pieces of data, a figure the MoJ has not independently verified, according to the PA news agency. The stolen data spans applications for legal aid made over the past 15 years, dating back to 2010. Tech Digest