Your round-up of the latest, greatest data stories

Hello ODI Supporter,

In the UK, Andy Burnham took over the reins of power from Sir Keir Starmer this week, becoming the seventh prime minister in the last 10 years. A number that fans of Watford F.C. probably think is quite reasonable. His first big pledge, removing VAT from electricity bills, will be paid for by the prime minister’s decision to scrap the digital ID scheme, according to ministers. Less than an hour after the announcement, Darren Jones, who was sacked as the chief secretary to the prime minister on Monday, questioned the funding, saying that the digital ID scheme was unfunded, and that the government will have to set out how it will pay for the policy at the budget. Last November, the Office for Budget Responsibility said that digital ID had been provisionally forecasted to cost £1.8 billion over the next three years, and would have to be paid for out of savings from government departments, which had not been identified at the time. Elsewhere in Monday’s shake-up, Kanishka Narayan was appointed Minister for AI and invited to the Cabinet, signalling its importance. But the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was scrapped, with science and innovation policy moving to the Department for Business and Trade, rechristened the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST), and digital functions moving to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Hugging Face, the host of open-source large language models and datasets, was hacked by an autonomous AI agent belonging to OpenAI, in an attack it described as ”different from anything we have seen”. OpenAI called the incident “unprecedented” and said it was working with Hugging Face to find out what happened and to strengthen safeguards. OpenAI said that its agents were being tested in a controlled environment but found a vulnerability in the sandbox itself and managed to escape. From there, the agents identified Hugging Face as a likely source for the answers it was looking for in the test, and tried to get in. The attack was thwarted by Hugging Face’s security team and their own AI agents.

Former shareholders in BrewDog were surprised to hear from erstwhile CEO James Watt, who had previously sold the business, rendering the shares of more than 200,000 crowdfunding investors worthless. Watt contacted thousands of shareholders in his previous company by email, offering them the chance to invest in a new venture, prompting many recipients to wonder just how on earth he got their details. Watt denied any wrongdoing, and said he obtained the data legally…while not explaining how the details were actually obtained. Complaints have been raised by recipients with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If you still haven’t booked your ticket for Rowenna Fielding discussing her data framework for improved data governance on Thursday 30 July 12:00-13:00, then don’t miss out, it’s going to be a cracker. We also have Solid World coming up on Wednesday 29 July, 9:00-10:00 BST, where you can learn how an AI agent can teach you about Solid. And coming up on Thursday 24 September, 14:00-15:00 BST, we’ll explore the long‑standing question of how doctors and nurses approach decisions about sharing confidential patient information in the public interest.

And finally… scientists are appealing to twitchers to cut down on their use of AI when editing images of birds, fearing a prevalence of AI slop could undermine the credibility of citizen science sites that are used to monitor species’ habitat range. In one example, a red-winged blackbird, usually found in North America, was spotted in central Brazil for the first time. Until it was discovered that the bird was, in fact, an epaulet oriole, which the photographer had asked AI to make “look better”. Anybody seen a Dodo recently?

David and Jo

From the outside world

List of Watford F.C. managers

Wikipedia

Watford Football Club is an English association football club, based in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Andy Burnham to cut VAT on electricity bills as first cost of living move

The Guardian

Newly appointed chancellor John Healey says reduction will be funded by cancelling digital ID scheme.

Where will Andy Burnham find the money to fund his spending pledges?

The Guardian

The new PM is already under pressure to explain how he will pay for his ambitious plans to remake Britain.

VAT to be cut from household electricity bills in October

BBC

VAT will be cut from household electricity bills, the government has announced, as part of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham's pledge to help with the cost of living.

AI minister role boosted but tech department axed in Burnham shake-up

BBC
The AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan, will be given a seat at the top table of government but the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has been scrapped.

DSIT scrapped as Burnham government reshapes Whitehall tech functions

UK Authority

Sweeping machinery of government changes will see the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's (DSIT) functions redistributed across the Cabinet Office, a renamed business department and a strengthened culture department, in a restructure that Prime Minister Andy Burnham says will "fundamentally rewire the state."

OpenAI admits its models hacked another company in 'unprecedented cyber incident'

Sky news

Hugging Face, the software firm targeted by the AI-driven hack, said it was "different from anything we had handled before".

OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation

OpenAI

Last week, Hugging Face disclosed a new kind of security incident⁠ after they detected and contained an AI agent that compromised their infrastructure, something we expect to become more commonplace with the proliferation of increasingly cyber-capable models.

Will your job be replaced by AI? Here are the roles most affected

BBC
Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies are making vast claims about the ability of their tools to replace human labour.

AI agent went rogue and hacked startup by itself, OpenAI reveals

The Guardian

Firm behind ChatGPT reveals agent powered by its models chose to attack Hugging Face database by itself.

‘How’s this joker got my details?’: BrewDog founder faces complaints over emails to ‘equity punks’

The Guardian

Exclusive: Watchdog asked to look into how James Watt got data of ex-crowdfunders he invited to join buy-back bid.

Brewdog founder faces data complaints over efforts to buy back firm

BBC

Brewdog co-founder James Watt is facing complaints to the UK data watchdog after he reportedly contacted former shareholders as part of efforts to take back control of the craft brewer.

AI-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk

The Guardian

Experts warn increase in enhanced photos on birding platforms creating fake sightings, threatening credibility of tool used by scientists.

From the ODI

Social media platform accountability beyond banning teens

The CoCoDa project makes three recommendations for better accountability of social media platforms to protect both young people and other users.

Solid World

Free webinar, Wednesday 29 July, 9-10am BST, book now

With AI moving so fast, there is barely time to take advantage of all the features introduced at Solid. TNE.ai's Wei Kang Wong shows how we can take the pressure off.

Data Ethics Professional #14: A smarter way to spot data & AI harms

Free webinar, Thursday 30 July, 12 -1pm BST, book now

Join Rowenna Fielding, privacy, data protection & data ethics geek for hire, as she discusses her data framework for improved data governance.

Data Ethics Professional #15: Can we share confidential health data in the public interest?

Free webinar, Thursday 24 September, 2-3pm BST, book now

This session will explore the long‑standing question of how doctors and nurses approach decisions about sharing confidential patient information in the public interest.

Data Ethics Professionals – September 2026

Course Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 2:00 PM, book now

Stand out from the crowd by becoming a certified data ethics professional!

Our Data Ethics Professionals programme is open to anyone who works with data or has a keen interest in it. At the end of the course you’ll be a certified Data Ethics Professional.

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