Please confirm you are human

This browser or connection looks automated. Press and continuously hold the control for 3 seconds to enable Google-hosted web results and, when separately allowed, AI-assisted answers.

A successful check enables 100 search requests. Interactive access does not authorize scraping, systematic collection, or reuse of search output.

Hold with a pointer, or hold Space or Enter.

News

The Observer
observer.co.uk > news > columnists > article > we-already-live-in-clone-towns-ai-is-making-things-worse

We already live in ‘clone towns’ – AI is making things worse

3+ hour, 39+ min ago   (523+ words) Friday 21 August 2026 In 2004 the New Economics Foundation (NEF) conducted a national survey of UK high streets, which were then still economically active. It found that real local shops had been replaced by swathes of identikit chain stores, making high streets…...