BYD Dolphin Surf is UK's cheapest EV, Meta invests $15 billion in Scale AI

Costing from £18,650, the BYD Dolphin Surf will be the UK’s cheapest EV. Image: BYD

The Chinese manufacturer BYD has launched its cheapest model in the UK, in the latest stage of its efforts to overtake Tesla as the world’s biggest electric carmaker. The Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650, a price that puts it among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain. BYD is vying with American rival Tesla, run by Elon Musk, for the crown of world’s biggest battery carmaker, although BYD already beats Tesla when including figures for hybrid cars, which combine a battery with a petrol engine. The Chinese carmaker registered more pure electric cars than Tesla in Europe for the first time in April. Tesla just about remained the biggest seller of EVs globally in 2024. The Guardian

Meta has invested $15bn into data-labelling start-up Scale AI and hired its co-founder Alexandr Wang, as part of its bid to attract talent from rivals in a fiercely competitive market. The deal values Scale at $29bn, double its valuation last year. Scale said it would “substantially expand” its commercial relationship with Meta “to accelerate deployment of Scale’s data solutions”, without giving further details. Scale helps companies improve their artificial intelligence models by providing labelled training data. Scale will distribute proceeds from Meta’s investment to shareholders, and Meta will own 49 per cent of Scale’s equity following the transaction. FT

Sony has officially teased the PlayStation 6, making that next generation all the more nearer. Although it may not feel like it, the PS5 has been around for nearly five years now, having released towards the end of 2020. Five years on and we’ve got some upcoming bangers like GTA VI and Ghost of Yōtei which look like they’ll push the PS5 hardware to the max. With all that said, Sony is always looking ahead to the future, and it seems the next generation of hardware is not far off. Gaming Bible

Video game actors in the US have ended their strike after nearly a year of industrial action, over the use of artificial intelligence by game studios. More than 2,500 US performers were barred from working on games impacted by the strike while the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) negotiated a deal with studios. Now, after more than 11 months of discussions, a “tentative” agreement has been reached. “Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary AI guardrails that defend performers’ livelihoods in the AI age, alongside other important gains,” said SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. Sky News

BMW’s Neue Klasse electric cars will introduce “smart and co-operative” automated driving assistance on lane changes and overtakes – and Auto Express has tested them in an upcoming BMW iX3 prototype. The new suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) uses Artificial Intelligence and superfast processing from multiple sensors to predict and support a driver’s intentions. That enables it to execute a highway overtake if the driver looks in the side mirror, or cross the central white lines to avoid a cyclist if you’ve telegraphed the move with a little steering input. AutoExpress

The hacking mystery roiling the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government is deepening after researchers said they had found new evidence that two more journalists were targeted using the same military-grade spyware that Italy has admitted to using against activists. A parliamentary committee overseeing intelligence confirmed earlier this month that Italy had used mercenary spyware made by Israel-based Paragon Solutions against two Italian activists. The Guardian