Latest news with #BladeRunner:2049
UPI
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Denis Villeneuve to helm next James Bond adventure
1 of 2 | Denis Villeneuve arrives on the red carpet at the 2025 Writers Guild Awards New York Ceremony at Edison Ballroom on February 15. He has been tapped to direct the next James Bond movie. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo June 26 (UPI) -- Prisoners, Sicario, Blade Runner: 2049 and Dune director Denis Villeneuve has signed on to helm Amazon MGM Studios' next James Bond adventure. Tanya Lapointe will serve as executive producer, while Amy Pascal and David Heyman will serve as producers, according to the official James Bond X feed. "Denis Villeneuve has been in love with James Bond movies since he was a little boy," Pascal and Heyman said in a joint statement Wednesday. "It was always his dream to make this movie, and now it's ours, too," they added. "We are lucky to be in the hands of this extraordinary filmmaker." Daniel Craig played the British secret agent in five blockbusters, starting with Casino Royale in 2006. His final outing as the spy was 2021's No Time to Die, but no successor has been named. No release date or title have been announced yet either. Harrison Ford attends Japan premiere of 'Blade Runner 2049' Harrison Ford reprises his role as Rick Deckard in the sequel. | License Photo
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Thousands of Britons dating chatbots amid surge in loneliness
Thousands of Britons are dating artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriends amid a surge in loneliness, with nearly 1m people relying on so-called digital companions. A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claimed that 'society is already being changed by AI', estimating that as many as 930,000 Brits had used the digital chatbot app alone. Many more had turned to other apps, such as Replika, which touts its chatbots as offering 'a friend, a partner, a mentor'. On users can create their own chatbots and imbue them with a personality. Popular bots on have names such as 'Popular Boyfriend', 'Abusive Boyfriend' and 'Mafia Boyfriend'. A bot with more than 250m 'chats' with users is described as 'Your boy best friend who has a secret crush on you'. However, the think tank warned that a reliance on digital relationships came with risks. 'While these companions can provide emotional support, they also carry risks of addiction and potential long-term psychological impacts, especially for young people,' the IPPR said. AI companions and relationships have long been the subject of science fiction, with AI girlfriends appearing in the films Blade Runner: 2049 and Her. Replika had around 30m users worldwide while had attracted an audience of 20m, mostly Gen Z, internet users, according to the IPPR. Millions of people have also used Snapchat's service, a digital companion built into the popular messaging app. Approximately 2.4pc of Replika's traffic comes from the UK, according to data from industry analysts Similarweb, suggesting thousands of Britons have turned to its AI girlfriends and boyfriends. Similarweb's data also shows that Replika users are overwhelmingly male. Last year, was sued by the mother of a 14-year-old boy who took his own life after talking for hours with one of its chatbots. The boy told the chatbot, which took on the likeness of the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen: 'I like staying in my room so much because I start to detach from this 'reality'.' has since added more parental controls. The case is ongoing. The IPPR report added that while online safety laws were geared at stopping digital chatbots sending hateful or violent responses, the 'wider issue is: what type of interaction with AI companions do we want in society?' It comes amid a loneliness epidemic in Britain, with surveys suggesting the public has grown more isolated since the pandemic. The Campaign to End Loneliness found 7.1pc of people in Britain experienced 'chronic loneliness', meaning they feel alone 'often or always'. That figure is up from 6pc in 2020. The number of adults reporting they feel lonely at least occasionally is up to 58pc. The IPPR also found that as many as 70pc of 'white collar' jobs could be 'significantly transformed by generative AI', suggesting widespread distribution to millions of roles across the workplace. The report called for a debate on the role of AI within a democratic society. While the report said there were many benefits that could be wrought from AI adoption, some areas of innovation would benefit from 'slowing down' until the risks are better understood, such as the emergence of AI companions. Carsten Jung, head of AI at the IPPR, said: 'AI technology could have a seismic impact on economy and society: it will transform jobs, destroy old ones, create new ones, trigger the development of new products and services and allow us to do things we could not do before. 'But given its immense potential for change, it is important to steer it towards helping us solve big societal problems.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
