The Brief – Wednesday 14th January

🚫 The UK intends to fast track a new law that would make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images using online AI tools. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said X could lose the “right to self regulate” and that “if X cannot control Grok, we will”. (BBC)

🤖 Apple has partnered with Google to integrate its Gemini model to power Siri and other Apple Intelligence features. (Axios)

📺 Barb has appointed three agencies following a recent tender. NatCen and RSMB have been tapped to deliver its Establishment Survey, while Ipsos will deliver its panel top-up recruitment. The new contracts run from 2027 to 2029. (Barb)

🎤 More than 50 apparently fake “experts” have been offering commentary in the British press in recent years. Combined, these non-existent commentators have been featured more than 1,000 times in newspapers, magazines and online titles. (Press Gazette)

🕹️ Meta is planning to cut around 10% of the 15,000 employees in its Reality Labs division as the company shifts its priorities away from the metaverse and toward AI. (New York Times)

⛽ Bauer Media Audio UK has announced British Gas is the new official sponsor of Absolute Radio Hometime with Bush & Richie. The partnership was inked by media agency OMD UK and will run throughout 2026, placing British gas at the centre of Absolute Radio’s 4-7pm drivetime slot. (Bauer Media)

🎧 SuperAwesome has acquired Starglow Media, an independent ecosystem of kids and family audio content. Starglow’s portfolio includes IP such as Paramount’s Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer, as well as original audio programming. It is SuperAwesome’s first acquisition since it was bought out from Epic Games. (SuperAwesome)