Audio training data has been overlooked when it comes to assessing AI
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Artificial intelligence models that generate audio are being trained on datasets plagued with bias, offensive language and potential copyright infringement, sparking concerns about their use.
A legal challenge over the decision to give consent to the UK’s largest untapped oil field is set to begin.
A judicial review brought jointly by the environment groups Greenpeace and Uplift is due to be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
The campaigners want to stop the development of Rosebank oil field, which is off Shetland, and the Jackdaw gas field, off Aberdeen. But oil companies say the projects are vital.
If the challenge is successful, operators would have to resubmit environmental impact assessments for approval before drilling can begin.
It is understood the oil companies will accept that the decision to give the go-ahead was unlawful – because the emissions they would create were not properly assessed – and will not challenge it.
Instead, they are expected to focus on how to move forward, given that work is already under way.
What is the judicial review about?
Consent for drilling in the Rosebank field was granted by the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), in September last year.
Shell’s proposals to develop the Jackdaw field were approved by the NSTA in 2022, after initially being rejected on environmental grounds.
The environment groups say that when consent was granted for the fields, the impact of emissions caused by burning extracted oil and gas was “unlawfully ignored” by regulators.
Uplift accused regulators of “failing to be transparent” in granting the consents and said Rosebank would damage marine life in the North Sea.
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The UK government said in August that it would not fight any cases over Rosebank and Jackdaw.
It effectively accepted the original decisions were unlawful.
This came after the Supreme Court ruled in June that regulators must consider the total environmental impact of new projects – including the way fossil fuels are used by end consumers.
The Supreme Court’s decision could still be challenged by either side.
What do the campaigners say?
Philip Evans, of Greenpeace UK, said: “Earlier this year, the Supreme Court made it crystal clear that the climate impact of emissions from burning fossil fuels must be assessed before any new oil and gas projects can be approved.
“It’s these types of emissions that are causing the climate chaos we’re seeing all over the world.
“But oil companies want to keep drilling for maximum profits whilst ignoring the damage they’re doing.
“That’s why we are taking Shell, Equinor and Ithaca to court to stop them in their tracks.”
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, said Rosebank should never have been approved.
She said: “Rosebank is a terrible deal for Britain. It’s mostly oil for export, which would do nothing to lower fuel costs or boost our energy security yet, because of huge tax breaks for new drilling, the UK public would effectively cover almost all of the costs of developing it while the oil companies walk off with the profits.
“It won’t provide long-term security for oil and gas workers either.
“Even with new fields being approved, jobs supported by the industry have more than halved in the past decade. Workers need clean-energy jobs that have a long-term future.”
Lord Deben, former chairman of the government watchdog the Climate Change Committee, said: “Rosebank and Jackdaw should never have been approved by the previous government.
“These fields will do nothing to help the UK’s energy security or lower our bills because the oil and gas will be sold on the international market. They will only fuel more floods, fires and droughts all over the world.”
What do the oil companies say?
Norwegian energy giant Equinor and British firm Ithaca Energy jointly own the Rosebank field.
They have said it would create about 1,600 jobs during its construction and support about 450 UK-based jobs during its lifetime.
Equinor declined to comment while the court challenge was ongoing, but said it was continuing to “work closely with all relevant parties to progress the project”.
It added: “It is vital for the UK and will bring benefits in terms of local investment, jobs and energy security.”
A Shell spokesman said the Jackdaw development had been developed in line with all relevant consents and permits.
He added: “Jackdaw is a vital project for UK energy security and the project is already well advanced.
“Stopping the work is a highly complex process, with significant technical and operational issues now that infrastructure is in place and drilling has started in the North Sea.
“Jackdaw will provide enough fuel to heat 1.4m UK homes as older gas fields reach the end of production.”
The UK government has previously pledged that oil and gas would play an important role in the economy “for decades to come” as the UK transitions to clean energy.
The Scottish government has previously said it had a “presumption against” new oil and gas exploration.
However, First Minister John Swinney said in June that it would still be needed “for a period of time” to help the country meet its net-zero targets by 2045.
Both governments said it would not be appropriate to comment on live legal proceedings. The NSTA also declined to comment on a live case.
On Monday evening, the comedian Frankie Boyle was due to moderate a public meeting of about 150 climate campaigners in Edinburgh after lending his support to the Stop Rosebank campaign.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said that the Senedd 2026 election will be his party’s biggest priority that year.
Speaking at the party’s Welsh conference in Newport on Friday, he said: “This campaign, the one leading up to 2026 will be in that calendar year, for me as national party leader, by far our biggest priority.”
He is expected to take charge of Reform’s Welsh efforts in 18 months, and said there was a “distinct possibility” that Reform would go into those elections with a Welsh leader.
Farage also ruled out a deal with the Welsh Conservatives ahead of the 2026 election, saying “they can do what they want”.
“We are going to be in those elections. The main challenge to Labour, that’s the ambition,” he added.
He added that he would be surprised if his party did not have a Welsh leader by 2026.
“This conference is the first time that, effectively, we’ve got Reform members all over Wales together in a room.
“It’s open to members only. We’re forming branches. We’re going to get activists. We’re applying for candidates. Give me time.”
He added: “I think it’s a distinct possibility that we will go into those set of elections with a Welsh leader. I’d be surprised if we don’t.”
Farage has called on his party members to put themselves forward as candidates for the 2026 election, as part of what he called a “people’s army”.
“I need all of you in whatever way you can to get involved with this people’s army, to join us, to join the local branches, to put yourself forward for treasurer or whatever it may be,” he said.
He asked people to sign up and leave their personal details with local Reform groups before leaving the conference.
Farage said the NHS needed reform and that the “entirety of the funding model” does not work.
“We cannot just keep on pouring more and more money into the same pot with the same management structures and expecting a different result.
“We have to look at a country like France, who spend less money on health but get much better outcomes.
“They do it through a mutual insurance system. If you haven’t got the money, you haven’t got to pay, if you do have the money you pay in effectively to an insurance scheme, it works far better,” he said.
He added that Welsh voters “need somebody to provide opposition to a completely failing devolved Labour administration.”
Reform are yet to publish a list of policies specific to Wales for the election.
Party insiders are targeting a return of at least 16 Members of the Senedd (MSs) in 2026, with Farage having previously said that Reform would win “a lot of seats”.
The Senedd’s new system of 16 constituencies, each returning six MSs, is expected to be more favourable to Reform than the first-past-the-post system used for Westminster elections.
If Reform does win seats in 2026, it would mark another anti-establishment breakthrough for Farage in Cardiff Bay.
He was the leader of UKIP when that party won seven seats in 2016, before in-fighting saw the group fall apart over the course of the Senedd term.
Farage later led the Brexit Party, which also had a group in the Senedd.
The Brexit Party became Reform UK.
The party also has councillors in Wales for the first time, with three independent members of Torfaen council switching to Reform soon after the general election.
The emergence of Reform and its relatively high share of the vote represents a challenge to both Labour and the Conservatives in Wales.
‘Leftish elements’
Polling expert Richard Wyn Jones, from the Wales Governance Centre, told the BBC that Reform would have challenges of its own in targeting voters.
He said: “An average Reform voter would be a middle-aged man.
“So their voters are younger, much younger, than the average Conservative voter.
“They’re quite conservative socially, but they’re actually quite left-wing economically.
“And it’s not clear to me if Reform think they need to cater to that kind of more leftish elements in the world view of their voters, because that’s not something you associate with the people financing Reform.”
Gareth’s analysis
If you’re living in the south Wales valleys or other parts of post-industrial Wales, Nigel Farage is pretty confident you’re open to being wooed at the next Senedd election.
Reform is especially keen to win over anyone who’s become disillusioned with mainstream politics.
If that sounds familiar, Farage has just returned from the post-election Trump party in Florida.
Reform’s message is simple – Labour has let people down in Wales during its 25 years in power and Reform is the alternative.
Other than it not being one of the other parties we don’t know what that alternative would look like, as there isn’t yet a list of Wales-specific policies.
Farage is also going to rely on his personal appeal as he tries to win you over.
He will be the face of the campaign and we’ve been told to expect to see him here every week as polling day approaches.
Some surveys suggest the leader himself might not be as popular in Wales as he might like, but Reform is polling at around 14-17 seats .
That would represent a big block in the new expanded 96-seat Senedd.
Love him or not, Nigel Farage and Reform are on the verge of shaking things up in Welsh politics.
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