Artificial intelligence

OpenAI brings in former UK chancellor George Osborne

Former UK chancellor George Osborne has joined OpenAI in a London-based role. He will lead the OpenAI for Countries programme focused on government partnerships.

The initiative aims to help governments build AI capacity and ensure systems reflect democratic values. OpenAI says more than 50 countries are already involved.

Osborne will work on developing AI infrastructure, boosting AI literacy and improving public services. The role follows discussions with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.

His appointment comes as UK-US tech talks face setbacks and investment in AI accelerates. Against this backdrop, financial authorities have warned of risks linked to the sector’s rapid growth.

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UNDP and UNESCO support AI training for judiciary

UNESCO and UNDP have partnered to enhance judicial capacity on the ethical use of AI. A three-day Bangkok training, supported by the Thailand Institute of Justice, brought together 27 judges from 13 Asia-Pacific countries to discuss the impact of AI on justice and safeguards for fairness.

Expert sessions highlighted the global use of AI in court administration, research, and case management, emphasising opportunities and risks. Participants explored ways to use AI ethically while protecting human rights and judicial integrity, warning that unsupervised tools could increase bias and undermine public trust.

Trainers emphasised that AI must be implemented with careful attention to bias, transparency, and structural inequalities.

Judges reflected on the growing complexity of verifying evidence in the age of generative AI and deepfakes, and acknowledged that responsible AI can improve access to justice, support case reviews, and free time for substantive decision-making.

The initiative concluded with a consensus that AI adoption in courts should be guided by governance, transparency, and ongoing dialogue. The UNDP will continue to collaborate in advancing ethical, human rights-focused AI in regional judiciaries.

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AI-generated ads face new disclosure rules in South Korea

South Korea will require advertisers to label AI-generated or AI-assisted advertising from early 2026, marking a shift in how the country governs AI in online commerce and consumer protection.

The measure responds to a sharp rise in deceptive ads using synthetic imagery and deepfakes, particularly in healthcare and financial promotions. Regulators say transparency at the point of content delivery is intended to reduce manipulation and restore consumer trust.

Authorities in South Korea acknowledge that mandatory labelling alone may not deter malicious actors, who can bypass rules through offshore hosting or rapidly changing content. Detection challenges and uneven enforcement capacity across platforms remain open concerns.

South Korea’s industry groups warn that the policy could have uneven economic effects within the country’s advertising ecosystem. Large platforms and agencies are expected to adapt quickly, while smaller firms may face higher compliance costs that slow experimentation with generative tools.

Policymakers argue the framework aligns with South Korea’s broader AI governance strategy, positioning the country between innovation-led and precautionary regulatory models as synthetic media becomes more widespread.

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Salesforce expands Stockholm office to advance agentic AI

The San Francisco-based software company Salesforce has opened a significantly expanded office in Stockholm, reinforcing its long-term investment in Sweden and its broader Northern European strategy.

A new location that reflects the growing demand for AI-driven enterprise tools as regional businesses increasingly adopt agent-based technologies across their operations.

Located at Sveavägen 20, the Stockholm office is four times larger than Salesforce’s previous space and has been designed to support hybrid work, collaboration and innovation.

The opening event highlighted the focus of Salesforce on real estate as a strategic enabler for AI transformation, bringing together employees, partners, customers and community organisations.

A launch that also featured the Agentforce Sweden Nonprofit Hackathon, where Swedish charities presented AI agent solutions to improve efficiency and impact.

Majblomman received SEK 150,000 for an autonomous financial aid agent, underlining Salesforce’s ambition to position the Stockholm office as a regional hub for agentic enterprise development and responsible AI adoption.

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Segment Anything adds audio as Meta unveils SAM Audio

Meta has introduced SAM Audio, a new AI model that uses intuitive prompts to isolate and segment sounds from complex audio recordings. The release extends the company’s Segment Anything collection beyond visuals into audio and video workflows.

SAM Audio allows users to separate sounds through text prompts, visual cues, or time-based selections. Creators can extract vocals or instruments, remove background noise, or isolate specific sound sources in recordings without specialised audio engineering tools.

Meta describes SAM Audio as a unified model designed around how people naturally think about sound. It supports combined text, visual, and time-based prompts, enabling flexible audio separation across music, podcasting, film, accessibility, and research.

Meta says the model achieves strong performance across diverse audio environments and is already being used internally to develop next-generation creative tools. The approach lowers technical barriers while expanding the range of possible audio editing applications.

SAM Audio is available through the Segment Anything Playground, where users can test the model with sample assets or upload their own files. Meta has also made the model available for download, signalling broader ambitions to make audio segmentation a core capability of its AI ecosystem.

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AI helps Everbloom create sustainable cashmere alternatives

Everbloom has developed Braid.AI, an AI system that transforms waste fibres into high-quality textiles. The process can use poultry feathers, wool, and other keratin-rich materials to replicate fabrics like cashmere.

The system works with standard textile machinery, combining chopped waste with proprietary compounds to produce biodegradable fibres. Everbloom aims to reduce environmental impact while maintaining material quality comparable to traditional cashmere.

Co-founder Sim Gulati said the startup aims to make materials economically accessible. Products are designed to offer both environmental benefits and cost-effectiveness, avoiding a ‘sustainable premium’ for consumers.

The AI can fine-tune fibre properties for multiple fabrics beyond cashmere, including polyester alternatives. Everbloom collects waste from farms, mills, and other sources to create a sustainable supply chain.

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Armenian agritech startups use AI, drones and blockchain to empower small farms

In rural Armenia, small agritech startups are applying AI, drones and blockchain technologies to meet the needs of local farmers and producers.

At SkyAgro, drones are used for precision spraying and crop monitoring, allowing farmers to apply inputs with higher efficiency, use fewer chemicals and save water, enhancements critical in water-scarce regions like the Ararat Valley.

Another startup, BeeSync, employs machine-learning hardware attached to beehives that analyses photographic data and environmental sensors to alert beekeepers when colonies show signs of disease or stress, potentially boosting yields.

Blockchain is also being tested in the wool market by ArmWool, which creates immutable records of each step in the production process, from farmer to artisan, to build product traceability and add value for consumers.

While these technologies hold promise for improving productivity, startups face economic hurdles in a small domestic market and are encouraged to pitch solutions globally to sustain growth.

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New AI agent helps organise your day

Google Labs has introduced CC, an experimental AI productivity agent designed to help users stay organised and improve daily efficiency. The agent connects with Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and the wider web to gain an understanding of each user’s day.

Each morning, CC delivers a ‘Your Day Ahead’ briefing to users’ inboxes, summarising schedules, key tasks, and updates. It can draft emails, generate calendar links, and highlight next steps, making it easier to manage appointments, bills, and other responsibilities.

Users can interact with CC directly by replying to emails or sending custom requests, allowing the AI to learn personal preferences, store ideas, and remember tasks. The interactive approach helps the AI agent become more tailored to individual workflows over time.

CC is available in early access for Google consumer accounts aged 18 and over in the US and Canada, initially for Google AI Ultra and paid subscribers. Those interested can join the waitlist via the Google Labs website to gain early access.

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Local experts highlight AI’s potential for regional development

A panel of local business leaders, educators and policymakers in the Columbia Basin convened to discuss how AI can be harnessed to benefit the region’s economy, workforce and public services.

Participants highlighted AI’s potential to streamline government operations, enhance training programs and support small-business growth through data analysis and automation.

Speakers emphasised the importance of investing in workforce education and upskilling, so residents can capitalise on AI-related opportunities rather than being displaced by automation. Partnerships between local schools, employers and community organisations were cited as key to building ‘real-world readiness’ for AI integration across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing.

Panellists also emphasised ethical considerations and the need for community engagement in governance frameworks to ensure AI tools are adopted responsibly and equitably.

They argued that thoughtful regional planning can attract high-quality jobs and help the Columbia Basin carve out a competitive place in the broader digital economy.

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AI shows promise in scientific research tasks

FrontierScience, a new benchmark from OpenAI, evaluates AI capabilities for expert-level scientific reasoning across physics, chemistry, and biology.

The benchmark measures Olympiad-style reasoning and real-world research tasks, showing how AI can aid complex scientific workflows. Generative AI models like GPT‑5 are now used for literature searches, complex proofs, and tasks that once took days or weeks.

The benchmark consists of two tracks: FrontierScience-Olympiad, with 100 questions created by international Olympiad medalists to assess constrained scientific reasoning, and FrontierScience-Research, with 60 multi-step research tasks developed by PhD scientists.

Initial evaluations show GPT‑5.2 scoring 77% on the Olympiad set and 25% on the Research set, outperforming other frontier models. The results show AI can support structured scientific reasoning but still struggles with open-ended problem solving and hypothesis generation.

FrontierScience also introduces a grading system tailored to each track. The Olympiad set uses short-answer verification, while the Research set employs a 10-point rubric assessing both final answers and intermediate reasoning steps.

Model-based grading allows for scalable evaluation of complex tasks, although human expert oversight remains ideal. Analyses reveal that AI models still make logic, calculation, and factual errors, particularly with niche scientific concepts.

While FrontierScience does not capture every aspect of scientific work, it provides a high-resolution snapshot of AI performance on difficult, expert-level problems. OpenAI plans to refine the benchmark, extend it to new domains, and combine it with real-world tests to track AI’s impact on scientific discovery.

The ultimate measure of success remains the novel insights and discoveries AI can help generate for the scientific community.

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