Artificial intelligence Archives | Page 8 of 651

Ghana launches WHO-UNDP programme on AI-driven health system resilience

Ghana has launched an AI-driven health programme aimed at strengthening its healthcare system, improving resilience and protecting vulnerable communities.

The initiative is a joint programme by the World Health Organization and the UN Development Programme, funded by the Government of Japan through the UN Trust Fund for Human Security. It is being implemented in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Health.

The programme focuses on integrating AI into Ghana’s health systems in an ethical, inclusive and people-centred way. It aims to strengthen AI governance, protect health data, build institutional and workforce capacity, and expand digital literacy among healthcare workers and communities.

A key component includes the deployment of AI-enabled early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases, integrated into national platforms such as DHIS2. The programme will also support responsible private-sector engagement in digital health.

Speaking at the launch, WHO Representative to Ghana said the programme would strengthen the country’s digital health ecosystem by advancing AI governance, safeguarding health data and preparing a workforce able to deliver people-centred care.

UNDP Resident Representative Niloy Bernejee said strengthening health systems and responsible digital innovation could reinforce stability, build resilience and support sustainable development.

The initiative is grounded in a human security approach, focusing on protecting and empowering vulnerable and marginalised populations while improving equitable access to digital health solutions.

Why does it matter?

The programme shows how AI is being integrated into health systems not only as a technical tool, but as part of broader governance, resilience and equity planning. By combining early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases with data protection, workforce training and digital literacy, Ghana is addressing both immediate healthcare needs and longer-term capacity gaps in responsible digital health.

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Global experts gather for CPDP 2026

The CPDP Conference 2026 has released its detailed programme, outlining a multi-day agenda of panels, workshops and cultural sessions focused on AI, data protection and digital governance. The conference will run from 19 to 22 May 2026, bringing together global experts across policy, academia and industry.

Across the programme, a wide range of panels and debates will explore key themes including AI regulation, digital governance, workplace data rights and platform power. Alongside panels and discussions, there will also be short movies and workshops offering conference topics in different formats.

Workshops are scheduled throughout each day, with structured breaks including coffee sessions and lunch intervals offering networking moments for participants. Topics range from AI in healthcare and advertising to digital conflict, governance under pressure and privacy-preserving technologies.

The programme also includes specialised tracks and cultural sessions, such as film screenings and artistic discussions on algorithmic systems, alongside academic panels and policy debates. The event will conclude after a final series of workshops and sessions on 22 May in Brussels, Belgium.

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OpenAI responds to TanStack supply chain cyber attack

OpenAI has confirmed that two employee devices were affected during the wider ‘Mini Shai-Hulud’ supply chain attack linked to the compromised TanStack npm package. The AI giant said there is no evidence that user data, production systems, intellectual property or deployed software were compromised.

According to OpenAI, attackers gained limited access to internal source code repositories through credential-focused malware activity, but only a small amount of credential material was successfully exfiltrated, and no customer information or code repositories were altered.

As part of its response, the company isolated affected systems, revoked sessions, rotated credentials and restricted parts of its deployment workflows. OpenAI also launched a precautionary rotation of software signing certificates across products, including ChatGPT Desktop, Codex App, Codex CLI and Atlas. macOS users must update their applications before 12 June 2026, when older certificates will be revoked, and unsupported versions may stop functioning.

The incident reflects growing concern across the technology sector about software supply chain attacks targeting open-source dependencies and CI/CD infrastructure instead of direct attacks against individual firms.

OpenAI said it accelerated new protections after a previous cyberattack, including stricter package verification controls and provenance validation mechanisms designed to reduce risks from compromised upstream libraries.

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WEF highlights AI shift in life sciences R&D

A World Economic Forum (WEF) report highlights a major structural shift in the life sciences industry, as AI drives a move away from traditional linear drug development towards continuous, system-based research and development. Instead of progressing through fixed pipelines, R&D is increasingly operating as an adaptive cycle of design, testing, and iteration.

AI is accelerating discovery and widening access to innovation, but the key bottlenecks are shifting further downstream. Validation, regulatory approval, and large-scale deployment are becoming the main constraints, underscoring the complexity of translating ideas into safe and effective therapies.

At the same time, success is increasingly measured through long-term patient outcomes rather than single blockbuster drug performance.

Data is emerging as the foundation of this new model, with quality, traceability, and auditability positioned as critical requirements for both regulatory compliance and scientific integrity. The WEF report notes that governance frameworks are expected to evolve toward continuous oversight, reflecting the dynamic nature of AI-enabled R&D systems.

The industry is also becoming more structurally layered, with decentralised innovation at the front end and increasingly centralised validation and scaling. Competitive advantage will depend less on individual drug candidates and more on the ability to operate integrated, AI-driven R&D systems.

As the World Economic Forum highlights, it signals a structural shift in how medical innovation is produced and scaled, moving from isolated drug breakthroughs to continuous, AI-driven systems.

That changes the basis of competition in life sciences, where advantage increasingly depends on integrated R&D infrastructure rather than individual products. It also raises the importance of data governance, regulatory adaptation, and long-term outcome tracking at a time when healthcare systems are under pressure from ageing populations and chronic disease.

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Europe’s AI future increasingly depends on electricity and power infrastructure

A new opinion piece published by the World Economic Forum argues that the global AI race is rapidly shifting from software and models towards electricity generation, power infrastructure, and compute capacity.

The analysis by Lucy Yu, CEO for Centre for Net Zero, suggests that Europe’s future competitiveness in AI may depend less on research talent and more on whether the region can deliver clean and reliable energy fast enough to support expanding AI infrastructure.

The article highlights how the US and China continue to dominate the global AI ecosystem through massive investments in data centres, cloud infrastructure, and semiconductor capacity. Europe, meanwhile, faces growing concerns over digital dependence, particularly because US hyperscalers control most of the European cloud market while China maintains a leading position in AI patent filings and industrial deployment.

One of the central concerns involves the speed of infrastructure deployment. Grid connection timelines in some European markets can reportedly stretch close to a decade, while energy prices remain significantly higher than in the USA.

Such delays are already affecting investment decisions, with some operators reportedly bypassing congested electricity networks through direct links to gas-fired power plants, despite Europe’s broader net-zero objectives.

One more argument is that Europe’s challenge is not necessarily a shortage of renewable energy resources, but rather the inability to coordinate energy generation, electricity demand, and infrastructure deployment efficiently.

Offshore wind in the North Sea, southern European solar generation, and Scandinavian hydropower are identified as major strategic assets that remain underutilised because of fragmented infrastructure planning.

Large-scale data centres may help stabilise electricity systems by creating predictable demand patterns capable of improving grid utilisation and spreading infrastructure costs across greater consumption volumes.

Flexible AI data centres, battery systems, distributed energy resources, and AI-powered energy management systems are presented as possible solutions capable of reducing network strain and supporting cleaner electricity integration.

Lucy Yu’s analysis concludes that Europe still has an opportunity to compete in the next phase of AI development, but warns that the window is narrowing quickly. Without faster regulatory coordination, grid modernisation, and energy infrastructure reform, AI investment could increasingly shift towards regions capable of delivering power and compute capacity more rapidly.

Why does it matter?

The debate reflects a major structural shift in the global AI economy. Instead of competing only on algorithms and talent, countries are increasingly competing on access to electricity, semiconductor infrastructure, and data centre capacity. Decisions taken during the next few years could determine whether Europe becomes a major AI infrastructure hub or remains dependent on foreign cloud providers and external compute ecosystems.

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UK committee urges stronger online safety protections

The UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has urged the government to strengthen online safety protections for young people, following evidence on proposals to restrict social media access for under-16s.

Committee Chair Dame Chi Onwurah wrote to Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and AI and Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan after an evidence session on age-based restrictions.

The committee said there is strong and consistent evidence of significant individual harms linked to social media use, alongside a growing body of evidence showing wider negative impacts. It said there is a clear need to protect people, especially young users, from those harms.

The letter argues that responsibility for preventing harm should not rest solely on young people or parents. It says government inaction on online safety is not an option and calls for stronger enforcement of existing age restrictions

The committee also urged the government to revisit its July 2025 report on social media misinformation. Although the government accepted almost all of the report’s conclusions, the committee said it rejected almost all recommendations for change. It is now calling for action on misinformation, harmful algorithms, and online harms in the new parliamentary session.

Dame Chi Onwurah said: ‘The status quo, where social media companies are neither accountable nor responsible for preventing harms, isn’t acceptable. It’s clear social media can cause real harm and more must be done to protect people, especially young users. If any other consumer product caused these harms, it would’ve been recalled or changed. Shouldn’t the same be true for social media services and design features?’

She added: ‘The government must urgently address gaps in the regulation, legislation and enforcement of online safety. It should revisit and adopt my committee’s previous recommendations on tackling misinformation and harmful algorithms and bring forward legislation to effectively tackle online harms in the new parliamentary session.’

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ITU Radiocommunication Bureau outlines key aspects future connectivity

ITU Radiocommunication Bureau has highlighted the critical role of radio-frequency spectrum in ensuring digital resilience, emphasising that reliable connectivity underpins essential services such as healthcare, transport and emergency communications.

According to the Bureau, resilience begins before disruption through coordinated spectrum management, international standards and regulatory frameworks. These systems enable wireless networks and satellite services to operate reliably and avoid harmful interference.

The organisation stressed that growing demand for connectivity, including 5G, satellite broadband and AI-enabled systems, increases pressure on spectrum resources. Technical standards and global coordination are therefore essential to maintain interoperability and support innovation.

ITU also pointed to the importance of satellite systems and early warning technologies in responding to climate risks and disasters. Future decisions at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 in China will further shape how resilient digital infrastructure develops globally.

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AI governance priorities outlined by EU at UN dialogue

The European Union has called for the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance to focus on responsible innovation, human rights, capacity-building and stronger interoperability between AI governance frameworks.

In a statement delivered on behalf of the EU and its member states, the bloc said the dialogue should examine AI’s social, economic, ethical, cultural, linguistic, technical and environmental implications. It also argued that responsible AI innovation should be framed not only as a risk-management challenge, but also as an opportunity for public benefit in areas such as education and government.

The EU urged participants to address who controls the data, compute and value chains behind AI systems. It also highlighted linguistic and cultural diversity, warning that AI systems trained mainly on a limited number of languages can produce less accurate and more costly outputs for speakers of underrepresented languages.

Capacity-building was presented as a core condition for effective AI governance, particularly for developing countries. The EU said countries and institutions need the skills, systems and human capacity to evaluate, question and deploy AI responsibly, while treating AI infrastructure as a matter of public interest rather than only market access or proprietary control.

The statement also identified agentic AI as an emerging governance frontier, arguing that such systems raise new questions around accountability, oversight and control that existing frameworks do not yet adequately address.

On safe and trustworthy AI, the EU called for greater compatibility between governance approaches to prevent regulatory arbitrage and support responsible cross-border deployment. It said trust should not rely only on self-assessment or voluntary disclosure, but also on auditability, traceability, validation mechanisms, certification approaches and evaluation frameworks for high-risk systems.

The EU also urged a human-centric, human rights-based approach grounded in international law. It identified AI-facilitated gender-based violence, harmful AI-generated content affecting children and older persons, manipulative algorithmic systems, data exploitation and AI-enabled surveillance as areas requiring dedicated attention.

The statement called for the UN dialogue to build on existing initiatives, including those led by UNESCO, ITU, UNDP, OHCHR, GPAI, the Council of Europe, the Hiroshima Process and AI summit processes. The EU also supported more interactive thematic sessions, continuity between dialogue editions and a co-chairs’ summary reflecting both converging and diverging views.

Why does it matter?

The EU statement shows how global AI governance debates are moving beyond broad principles towards questions of implementation, institutional capacity and interoperability between frameworks. By linking AI infrastructure, human rights, auditability and agentic AI, the EU is signalling that future international coordination will need to address both today’s deployment risks and the governance challenges posed by more autonomous systems.

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EU AI Act transparency rules go beyond high-risk systems

The EU AI Act’s Article 50 introduces a wide-ranging transparency regime that requires organisations to disclose when AI is involved in interactions or content creation. Unlike high-risk rules elsewhere in the regulation, these obligations apply broadly across sectors and business models, covering any organisation that uses AI in areas such as chatbots, content generation, or biometric analysis.

Four core scenarios trigger compliance duties. These include situations where users interact directly with AI systems, where AI generates synthetic audio, video, text or images, where emotion recognition or biometric categorisation is used, and where AI is involved in producing deepfakes or public-interest content.

Obligations vary between providers and deployers but consistently centre on clear user notification and content labelling.

Providers of AI systems must ensure users are informed at the point of interaction and that synthetic outputs are marked in a detectable, machine-readable format. Deployers face additional disclosure duties when publishing AI-generated material or using systems that analyse human emotions or biometric data.

Deepfake content and AI-generated public-interest text require explicit labelling unless strong editorial oversight or human review is present.

Implementation will depend heavily on forthcoming EU Guidelines and a Code of Practice that will define technical standards for labelling and provenance. With enforcement due in August 2026, organisations are urged to map AI use cases, assess disclosure needs, and prepare systems for evolving transparency requirements.

Why does it matter?

Article 50 makes AI transparency a baseline requirement across everyday tools, not just high-risk systems. It forces organisations to clearly disclose AI use and label AI-generated content, directly shaping product design, publishing practices, and user trust.

By embedding disclosure into routine AI interactions, it turns transparency into a core compliance duty for any business operating in the EU AI market.

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ICO warns organisations about growing AI cyber threats

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has warned that AI is enabling faster, more advanced and harder-to-detect cyberattacks, urging organisations to strengthen their defences against emerging threats.

In a blog post, the regulator highlighted risks such as AI-generated phishing emails, deepfake social engineering, automated vulnerability scanning, AI-powered malware, credential attacks, data poisoning and indirect prompt injection. The ICO said cybersecurity must be treated as a shared responsibility, with organisations expected to take proactive steps to protect the personal data they hold.

The ICO said strong foundational security measures remain essential, but should be reinforced with layered defences to counter AI-powered threats. It pointed to practical steps such as patching systems, restricting access through multi-factor authentication, applying least-privilege principles and managing supplier risks.

The recommendations also include monitoring systems for unusual activity, carrying out vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, and maintaining regularly tested incident response plans. The ICO said AI can also support cyber defence, but should operate within a clear framework of human oversight and accountability.

Organisations are further advised to minimise data collection, conduct regular data audits and train staff to recognise AI-powered social engineering attacks. The ICO said AI tools processing high-risk personal data should be supported by data protection impact assessments and appropriate safeguards.

Why does it matter?

The ICO’s warning links AI-powered cyber threats directly to data protection obligations. As attackers use AI to scale phishing, exploit vulnerabilities and impersonate trusted contacts, organisations are expected not only to improve technical security, but also to limit the personal data they hold, strengthen governance and prepare for faster-moving incidents.

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