Artificial intelligence Archives | Page 25 of 676

European Commission delays tech sovereignty package again

The European Commission has postponed the presentation of its tech sovereignty package until 3 June, following several earlier delays. The publication had previously been scheduled for 25 March, 15 April and 27 May.

According to Euractiv, the package is expected to include the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act and Chips Act 2. The initiatives are intended to support digital infrastructure development and strengthen Europe’s semiconductor sector. The measures are also expected to encourage data centre investment and semiconductor manufacturing within the EU.

The latest postponement follows comments from the US ambassador to the EU concerning potential trade implications of European digital regulation. Euractiv additionally reported uncertainty regarding a proposed EU open-source strategy previously linked to the package.

The European Commission did not comment publicly on the latest delay.

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Canada backs AI adoption across Toronto businesses

Canada has announced nearly C$16.5 million in funding for 13 businesses and organisations in the Greater Toronto Area to support AI adoption and help bring new AI technologies to market.

The investment was announced by Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. The funding will support projects in healthcare, energy management, legal services, construction, finance, transportation, sensitive data infrastructure, and enterprise software.

Several projects focus on healthcare and life sciences. Cosm Medical will accelerate the clinical and commercial rollout of an AI-driven platform for patient-specific gynaecological devices, while Future Fertility will commercialise AI-powered technology for assessing endometrial receptivity. MarkiTech will advance an AI healthcare solution for clinical workflows, and ProteinQure will bring to market an AI-powered targeted drug delivery solution.

Other recipients will use AI to improve business operations and sector-specific workflows. DMD Building Systems will integrate robotics, automation, and AI software for engineering workflows, while Edgecom Energy will commercialise its AI Energy Co-Pilot platform for energy management. Trax will develop an AI-assisted platform for building permit compliance checks, and VisFuture will deliver a natural-language AI tool for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The funding also includes C$2 million for Private AI, operating as Limina, to scale a sensitive data infrastructure platform for regulated sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and insurance. MinuteBox will add advanced AI capabilities to its legal services platform, while Stratosphere Technology, operating as Fiscal.ai, will develop an AI-powered platform for structuring corporate filing data.

The Vector Institute will receive C$4 million to launch and deliver a programme helping start-ups improve data readiness, develop models, and deploy AI products. The Government of Canada said the investment is intended to support AI adoption, commercialisation, productivity, competitiveness, and Ontario’s wider AI ecosystem.

Why does it matter?

The funding shows how Canada is using regional development programmes to push AI from research and experimentation into sector-specific commercial deployment. The mix of recipients also points to a broader policy priority: supporting domestic AI capacity while encouraging adoption in regulated and productivity-sensitive sectors such as healthcare, finance, construction, energy, and legal services.

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US and Sweden expand cooperation on AI and strategic technologies

The White House has announced a new Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Sweden focused on cooperation in strategic technologies, research, and industrial innovation.

The agreement includes cooperation on AI systems, advanced connectivity, and secure 5G and 6G infrastructure. The memorandum also references collaboration on telecommunications standards, subsea communications infrastructure, and industrial AI applications.

Additional areas of cooperation include biomedical research, nuclear energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and space technologies. The agreement also highlights research security, supply chain resilience, intellectual property protection, and safeguards related to sensitive research activities.

The US-Sweden agreement builds on a previous bilateral science and technology partnership established in 2006. The memorandum was published by The White House and its implementation will involve coordination mechanisms that also consider relevant EU regulatory developments.

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United Kingdom and Australia tighten alliance on AI security risks

The United Kingdom and Australia are deepening cooperation on AI security through a new partnership between the UK AI Security Institute and the Australian AI Safety Institute.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the two institutes will share information on frontier AI capabilities, collaborate on AI evaluation practices and exchange research findings. The UK government said the partnership will focus partly on how advanced AI systems could be used in cyberattacks, as well as how they can strengthen defensive capabilities.

The agreement will also support staff exchanges between the two institutes, strengthening day-to-day collaboration. UK officials said the partnership reflects the need for trusted international cooperation as AI systems evolve quickly and create new security and safety risks.

The UK’s AI Minister Kanishka Narayan is expected to sign the agreement with Australia’s Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy, Andrew Charlton, during a meeting in Canberra. Narayan said no country can address fast-moving AI risks alone, particularly in cybersecurity.

The announcement follows research from the UK AI Security Institute showing that advanced AI systems are rapidly improving their ability to carry out complex cyberattacks, creating opportunities for both attackers and defenders. The UK said the institute’s frontier AI research continues to inform policymaking to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, and the public.

Why does it matter?

The partnership shows how AI security is becoming a matter of international coordination, especially as frontier models develop stronger cyber capabilities. By sharing research, evaluation methods and staff expertise, the UK and Australia are trying to reduce blind spots in oversight and develop more consistent approaches to testing fast-moving AI systems.

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EU consultation closes on AI energy measurement

The European Commission has moved forward with work on measuring the energy consumption and emissions of AI models and systems, as part of preparations for a possible AI energy measurement framework under the EU AI Act.

The targeted consultation forms part of a Commission-procured study on measuring and promoting energy-efficient and low-emission AI in the European Union. Responses will help refine the study, contribute to a measurement framework for the AI Act’s energy-related objectives and support the design of a potential AI energy and emissions label.

The process focuses on how to measure energy use across the AI lifecycle, including development and training, as well as operational use and inference. The Commission says a comprehensive picture of AI’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint requires data on computational resources, electricity consumption and hardware details.

Under Annex XI of the AI Act, providers of general-purpose AI models must document known or estimated energy consumption as part of their technical documentation obligations. The consultation, therefore, targets developers and deployers of general-purpose AI models and AI systems, as well as component and service suppliers.

Stakeholders were asked about the accessibility of data needed to assess AI energy consumption and emissions, as well as the suitability of different AI performance indicators. The Commission said the aim is to develop a robust and practical industry-informed framework for measuring AI energy consumption and efficiency.

The AI Office will publish a summary of the consultation results based on aggregated data, with respondents not directly quoted.

Why does it matter?

AI’s growing energy demand is becoming a regulatory and environmental policy concern, especially as general-purpose AI models require substantial computing resources for training and inference. A common EU framework for measuring AI energy use and emissions could make environmental impacts more visible, support future transparency obligations and help compare systems more consistently. A possible AI energy and emissions label would also push sustainability into AI governance alongside safety, transparency and accountability.

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European Commission marks 10 years of GDPR

The European Commission has marked ten years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force across the European Union.

The GDPR entered into force on 24 May 2016 and established a common data protection framework across EU member states, and introduced rules governing the collection and processing of personal data. According to the European Commission, the regulation strengthened individuals’ rights regarding how personal data is collected, processed, corrected, deleted, and shared.

The framework applies to organisations ranging from small businesses to multinational technology companies. Authorities across the EU have also issued significant penalties in cases involving non-compliance with the regulation.

The GDPR has influenced privacy and data protection discussions internationally and contributed to wider adoption of similar regulatory approaches.

The Commission linked the GDPR to broader EU digital regulation efforts, including the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the AI Act. According to the Commission, these measures address issues including platform accountability, competition, and AI governance.

The Commission also referenced online child protection initiatives, including work on age verification and cyberbullying prevention. It said the EU’s approach reflects the principle that the online world should serve people.

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Canada launches AI learning initiative for federal public servants

Canada’s School of Public Service is organising the Learning Week on Artificial Intelligence, an initiative aimed at strengthening AI understanding across the federal public service.

The programme is linked to the Government of Canada’s AI Strategy for the Federal Public Service 2025–2027.

The AI learning programme is open to public servants at all levels and across the country. The initiative includes live events, virtual sessions, self-paced learning tools, and practical demonstrations related to AI technologies.

According to organisers, the programme aims to improve awareness of AI-related opportunities, challenges, and skills within the public service.

The initiative also aligns with broader public service priorities involving digital transformation, productivity, and process modernisation.

Sessions will examine potential applications of AI in areas including policy development, service delivery, and internal administrative functions.

The programme is intended to support responsible AI adoption and prepare public servants in Canada for organisational and operational changes linked to AI technologies.

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Anthropic says AI system identified thousands of critical software flaws

Anthropic has published an update on Project Glasswing, a cybersecurity initiative focused on identifying software vulnerabilities using AI systems.

According to Anthropic, partner organisations used Claude Mythos Preview to identify thousands of high- and critical-severity vulnerabilities across software platforms and infrastructure systems.

The company said the initiative demonstrated how AI systems are increasing the speed and scale of vulnerability discovery processes. Anthropic reported that participating organisations observed substantial increases in software vulnerability detection capabilities during testing.

Evaluations cited by Anthropic suggested the system performed strongly in vulnerability identification and exploit-detection tasks compared with earlier AI cybersecurity models.

Anthropic also said the model analysed more than 1,000 open-source projects and identified vulnerabilities affecting widely used software components. The company highlighted a vulnerability identified in the open-source cryptography library wolfSSL as one example from the project.

According to Anthropic, the vulnerability was patched after disclosure.

Anthropic said AI-assisted vulnerability discovery may increasingly shift cybersecurity challenges toward verification, disclosure, and remediation processes. The company also said similar AI cybersecurity capabilities are likely to become more widely available across the industry.

Why does it matter?

The rapid growth of AI-driven cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important as AI is fundamentally changing the balance between cyber defence and cyber threats. Systems such as Anthropic’s Project Glasswing demonstrate that advanced AI models can identify software vulnerabilities at a speed far beyond traditional human-led security testing, potentially making critical infrastructure, financial systems, cloud platforms, and open-source software both safer and more exposed at the same time.

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UN DESA launches AI governance workshop for Africa and Asia-Pacific officials

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is organising a capacity-building workshop in Hangzhou, China, focused on AI governance and digital transformation for senior government officials from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

The activity is part of the project ‘Strengthening AI Capabilities and Governance for Sustainable Digital Transformation in Africa and Asia-Pacific’, implemented in partnership with the Government of China. The programme includes a five-day study tour examining policy, institutional, and technical approaches to AI governance and adoption.

According to the concept note, the initiative responds to gaps in national AI governance frameworks and implementation capacity in many countries. The programme references findings from the UN E-Government Survey 2024 and OECD data concerning AI regulation and national AI strategies.

The programme will draw on the UN E-Government Survey 2024 and its AI Addendum, as well as China’s experience in using AI to support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth.

Participants are expected to review AI governance structures, regulatory frameworks, and institutional coordination mechanisms. The agenda also includes briefings with relevant ministries or AI bodies, as well as visits to AI coordination or digital transformation institutions.

The agenda includes discussions on international cooperation, regulatory interoperability, public-private collaboration, and AI-related opportunities for small businesses.

According to the concept note, the workshop aims to strengthen institutional understanding of AI governance and support integration of digital policies into national development strategies. Participation is by invitation only and limited to around 20 attendees.

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EuroDIG 2026 to bring European internet governance voices to Brussels

EuroDIG 2026 will take place on 26 and 27 May at the Charlemagne Building of the European Commission in Brussels, bringing together Europe’s internet governance community for two days of discussions on the future of the digital environment.

The event will be hosted by EURid, the registry operator for the .eu domain name, with support from the European Commission, a longstanding institutional partner of EuroDIG. This year’s edition also marks 20 years of .eu domain, celebrating two decades of what organisers describe as a trusted European digital identity.

The overarching theme is ‘European Voices for the Future of the Internet – Celebrating 20 Years of .eu and the Beginning of a New Internet Governance Era’. Discussions are expected to address issues including openness, security, multistakeholder governance, and Europe’s digital policy priorities.

Over the past 18 years, EuroDIG has served as a European multistakeholder platform for discussions on internet governance and digital public policy. Outcomes from the discussions contribute to broader international internet governance processes, including the Internet Governance Forum.

Participants from government, civil society, academia, the technical community, business, and youth groups are expected to take part in the discussions. Sessions will address topics including AI, digital identity, information integrity, infrastructure resilience, digital sovereignty, and democracy online.

Digital Watch Observatory is following EuroDIG 2026 through a dedicated event page, featuring session information and reporting from Brussels.

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