Liv McMahon - Technology reporter
Liv McMahon reports on how powerful digital systems, especially artificial intelligence and major online platforms, shape safety, security and everyday life. She is a technology reporter at the BBC, covering AI models, social media, online regulation, cybersecurity incidents and the businesses behind them. Her work combines news reporting with clear explainers and human-led stories that show the consequences of emerging technologies.
AI models, safety warnings and corporate decisions
McMahon’s core focus is the rapid development of advanced AI systems and the risks that come with them.
She covers major model launches and upgrades, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5, tracking claims about heightened capabilities alongside expert access and technical scrutiny. She reports closely on safety concerns within AI firms, including OpenAI’s decision to scrap the rollout of a new model over internal safety standards.
Her coverage extends to Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, explaining what the tool is, how it can outperform humans at certain hacking and cyber-security tasks, and why regulators and financial institutions treat it as a potential systemic risk. Across these pieces she anchors technical news in concrete consequences, from corporate investment plans and paused infrastructure projects to warnings from AI safety institutes and senior researchers who argue the world is “in peril” and leave high-profile roles over existential concerns.
Social media trials, watchdog investigations and online harms
Another strand of her beat examines how social media platforms and generative AI tools affect users, particularly children and teenagers, and how regulators respond. McMahon reports on major legal actions against platforms such as Meta, detailing addiction lawsuits and jury trials that test how Instagram and Facebook target and harm young users.
She follows the remedies ordered by courts, including changes to likes for under-18s, restrictions on nudity and limits on push notifications, showing how legal decisions translate into product and policy shifts. She also covers investigations into Elon Musk’s X, focusing on its Grok AI tool and evidence of sexualised and abusive images being generated and shared, including images of children.
Her reporting in this area consistently links platform design and AI features to tangible harms, documenting the steps taken by regulators and watchdogs when those harms cross legal and ethical lines.
Cybersecurity breaches and gaming giants
McMahon frequently reports on cybersecurity incidents where entertainment and gaming companies meet sophisticated online crime.
She has covered repeated hacking of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, detailing how criminal groups gain access to servers, threaten to leak stolen material and negotiate ransom demands. Her reporting includes direct engagement with hacking groups and company responses that downplay operational impact while confirming specific data exposures. Alongside breaches, she writes about blockbuster titles such as GTA 6, providing clear explainers on what audiences need to know about major releases and the business context behind them.
In stories about Claude Mythos, she also explores how AI systems themselves can become cyber tools, surfacing long-dormant software bugs and exploiting vulnerabilities, which connects her gaming and cybersecurity coverage back to the broader AI safety questions on her beat.
Digital platforms, policy and the business of tech
McMahon’s work often sits at the intersection of technology policy, geopolitics and corporate strategy.
She has reported on contested ownership and control of social media platforms, including coverage of a Trump-era deal reshaping TikTok’s operations in the United States and shifting control of its algorithm and board. She follows how big technology firms respond to economic pressures and the opportunities presented by AI, such as Amazon’s decision to cut thousands of corporate roles as part of a more “lean” reorganisation geared towards artificial intelligence.
Her stories on OpenAI’s data centre projects show how energy costs, regulation and infrastructure shape where and how AI capabilities are built, including multi-billion-pound investments being paused or redesigned. In these pieces she connects policy decisions, boardroom strategies and regulatory debates, giving a clear view of how digital platforms and AI businesses move under political and economic constraints.
Explainers, digital culture and multimedia reporting
Beyond breaking news, McMahon is a multimedia journalist who writes about technology, digital culture, lifestyle and sexuality. Her experience spans straight news, in-depth features, explainers and critical commentary, allowing her to adapt format to subject and audience.
The BBC work includes live coverage and collaborative reporting with editors and specialist correspondents, particularly on complex AI and cybersecurity topics where joint bylines help combine technical, economic and policy detail. Outside daily news, she has skills in video and sound editing, graphic design and data visualisation, which support visually and sonically rich storytelling around technology’s impact.
Across formats, her reporting keeps emerging tools and platforms grounded in specific people, institutions and cases, making abstract debates about AI, platforms and safety concrete and accessible.
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