Artificial intelligence Archives | Page 8 of 663

Amnesty International warns that AI models are built on privacy violations

Amnesty International has warned that major generative AI systems are powered by large-scale data pipelines rooted in mass invasions of privacy.

In a new briefing, ‘Unlawful by Design: Exposing the Human Rights Costs of Generative AI’, the organisation argues that companies developing generative AI tools rely on unlawful web scraping to collect vast amounts of online data, including personal information, often without the explicit consent of the people who created or appear in it.

The briefing examines models powering widely used standalone generative AI tools, including OpenAI’s GPT-3, Google’s Gemini, Meta’s Llama, DeepSeek, and tools by Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. Amnesty says the design choices behind these systems create systemic human rights risks, particularly around privacy, discrimination, freedom of thought, and environmental harms.

Amnesty argues that large-scale scraping and processing of online posts, images, and other personal data infringes privacy by design. It also warns that training datasets drawn from the open web can reproduce and amplify discriminatory content, stereotypes, and prejudices, especially along racial and gender lines.

The organisation also highlights the environmental costs of generative AI development, pointing to rising demand for energy-intensive chips, data centres, electricity, and water. It says AI infrastructure can negatively affect historically marginalised communities when land and resources are used to build and operate data centres.

Amnesty said it wrote to Google, OpenAI, Meta, Stability AI, Midjourney, DeepSeek, Intel, VMware, Microsoft, and Amazon about the findings and related human rights concerns. At the time of publication, it said Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, OpenAI, and Meta had responded.

The organisation is calling on states to prohibit standalone generative AI systems built using unlawful web scraping and to hold companies accountable for human rights abuses linked to the design and deployment of AI systems.

Why does it matter?

The briefing adds a strong human rights framing to the debate over the training data for generative AI. Instead of focusing only on copyright or competition, Amnesty argues that large-scale scraping of personal data raises privacy, discrimination, freedom of thought, and environmental concerns. Its recommendations would significantly raise the stakes for AI developers by treating non-consensual data extraction as a human rights issue requiring regulatory intervention.

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Microsoft expands protections against AI-generated intimate imagery

Microsoft has announced new measures aimed at combating non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including both authentic and AI-generated content. The company says the changes are designed to make reporting easier for victims, improve detection of harmful content, and strengthen enforcement across Microsoft services.

The initiative comes as the US’s new Take It Down Act enters into force, creating additional legal protections against the distribution of intimate images without consent. Microsoft said both synthetic and authentic NCII can cause significant harm and should be addressed through a unified response.

As part of the update, Microsoft has introduced a redesigned reporting process that allows users to report both real and AI-generated intimate imagery through a simplified global reporting system. The company has also expanded its use of StopNCII.org technology, which creates privacy-preserving digital fingerprints of images to help identify and remove known abusive content across platforms.

Microsoft is further extending the use of validated StopNCII.org hashes across consumer services, including Teams Free, OneDrive and Xbox. The company says it will combine automated detection systems with human review processes while maintaining appeal mechanisms for users affected by moderation decisions.

The company also highlighted broader cooperation with governments, regulators and civil society groups. Microsoft expressed support for the US Take It Down Act, welcomed European efforts targeting AI-powered ‘nudification’ applications, and pointed to upcoming UK Online Safety Act requirements addressing illegal intimate imagery harms.

Why does it matter?

Advances in generative AI have made it easier to create realistic synthetic images, prompting governments and technology companies to strengthen measures against image-based abuse. The announcement reflects a broader trend toward treating AI-generated intimate imagery and authentic non-consensual content under similar safety, moderation and legal frameworks.

The move also highlights growing cooperation between technology companies, regulators and civil society organisations as policymakers develop new approaches to addressing AI-enabled harms online.

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Anthropic opens Milan office, highlights responsible AI development

The US AI company, Anthropic, has announced the opening of a new office in Milan, expanding its European presence alongside existing locations in London, Dublin, Paris, Zurich and Munich. The company says the Italian office will support enterprises, developers and researchers adopting Claude AI while contributing to broader discussions about the societal impact of AI.

The announcement comes shortly after the publication of Pope Leo XIV’s AI-focused encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas’. Anthropic highlighted the participation of co-founder Chris Olah in the Vatican presentation, where he discussed the ethical challenges associated with advanced AI and called for wider involvement from governments, academia, civil society and religious institutions in shaping AI’s future.

Anthropic says its technology has already been adopted by several major Italian organisations, including Generali Group, Unipol Group, Angelini Pharma, Bracco Group, Enel Group and Pirelli.

The company also highlighted partnerships with Italian technology firms. According to Anthropic, JAKALA deployed Claude across more than 3,000 users, while Satispay and Bending Spoons have integrated Claude into software development workflows to accelerate engineering and product development.

Anthropic says the Milan office will help support the AI ecosystem of Italy while encouraging broader debate about how advanced AI technologies should be developed and deployed responsibly.

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ENISA identifies risk zone sectors in EU cybersecurity assessment

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity has released its 2026 NIS360 report, assessing the cybersecurity maturity and criticality of high-criticality sectors under the NIS2 Directive.

The report says cybersecurity maturity across the EU critical sectors has steadily improved as organisations respond to evolving policy requirements and cyber threats. Banking, electricity, and telecommunications remain among the most mature and critical sectors, while trust services, aviation, and financial market infrastructures have moved into the high maturity band.

Gas, road, maritime, and health strengthened their maturity within the moderate band, although ENISA says progress remains uneven across and within sectors. Factors behind the differences include skills shortages, sector-specific characteristics, and organisational size.

The report identifies a ‘risk zone’ covering sectors with lower-than-average maturity and criticality that exceeds their maturity. ENISA lists health, railway, maritime, ICT management services, space, public administrations, and drinking and wastewater as risk-zone sectors, while gas has started moving out of the category.

ENISA says improvements have been driven by cybersecurity legislation, increased political attention, information sharing, collaboration, and operational preparedness. Regulation, including the NIS2 Directive and the Digital Operational Resilience Act, has helped increase investment and encouraged organisations to address vulnerability management, business continuity, disaster recovery, and supply-chain risk.

The report also points to AI, supply-chain and third-party exposure, and geopolitical volatility as major dynamics shaping the cybersecurity environment. ENISA says AI can improve threat detection and response, but can also support more convincing social engineering, shorter exploitation timelines, and broader access to offensive capabilities.

Why does it matter?

The NIS360 report gives the EU policymakers a comparative view of where cybersecurity maturity is improving and where critical sectors remain underprepared. The risk-zone concept is especially useful because it identifies sectors whose importance to society and the economy exceeds their current level of cyber readiness. That makes the report relevant for NIS2 implementation, national supervision, investment priorities, and resilience planning across sectors such as health, public administration, transport, space, and water.

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Australian privacy concerns rise as trust in AI companies falls

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has released a major survey showing that privacy concerns are rising across Australia, while public trust in AI companies and social media remains extremely low.

The Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, conducted every three years, found that 87% of respondents are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago. The survey examines Australians’ privacy attitudes and experiences, including how recent events have shaped public expectations.

Trust was especially low for emerging and data-intensive sectors. Only 4% of respondents said they trusted AI companies, while 3% said the same for social media. Trust also declined across the insurance, telecommunications, technology, retail, and real estate sectors, while remaining highest for health service providers and Australian Government agencies.

Launching the report at the Data Privacy & Consumer Protection Summit 2026, Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said Australians’ expectations about privacy continue to sharpen as the information ecosystem becomes more complex, data-intensive, and difficult to navigate.

The OAIC said privacy complaints have increased by 73% year to date. Kind said trust is uneven across sectors and that wariness of emerging technologies is increasing, particularly around fairness, accountability, and the practical ability to exercise rights.

The survey also found that 68% of Australians would be more likely to use digital services requiring personal information if they knew their data was handled fairly and responsibly. Another 92% said data collection could be acceptable under certain conditions, including a clear purpose, consent or opt-in, limited collection, and the ability to opt out of non-essential data collection.

Kind said Australians want greater transparency in understanding their privacy rights and how their information is used, adding that improving transparency would help safeguard a healthy, informed, and vibrant democracy.

Why does it matter?

The survey shows that trust is becoming a central barrier to digital adoption, especially for AI and social media services. While Australians are willing to share data under fair and transparent conditions, the very low levels of trust in AI companies suggest that privacy, accountability, and explainability will be critical for public acceptance of emerging technologies.

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ChatGPT down as users report login and conversation issues

OpenAI reported two resolved incidents affecting ChatGPT on 29 May, following user reports of issues with conversations, logins, and account creation.

The first incident affected users trying to log in or create an account. OpenAI classified the issue as degraded performance affecting ChatGPT and APIs. The company began investigating at 03:12 a.m., applied a mitigation at 03:28 a.m., and marked the incident resolved at 04:57 a.m.

A second incident affected ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI began investigating the issue at 03:18 a.m., applied a mitigation at 03:29 a.m., and marked the incident resolved at 04:58 a.m. The company said all impacted services had fully recovered.

OpenAI’s official status page listed both incidents as degraded performance rather than a full outage. The company did not provide further details on the cause of either disruption in the incident updates.

The brief disruption highlights the growing reliance on AI services for daily work, communication, and software development, as even short periods of degraded performance can affect users and organisations that depend on cloud-based AI tools.

Why does it matter?

The incidents show how widely used AI services are becoming part of everyday digital infrastructure. Even brief login or conversation failures can disrupt work for individuals, developers, businesses, and teams that rely on ChatGPT and related API services.

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European Commission prepares Chips Act 2.0 to boost semiconductor resilience

The European Commission is preparing a Chips Act 2.0 aimed at strengthening Europe’s semiconductor resilience, reducing strategic dependencies, and supporting technological sovereignty.

The initiative builds on earlier legislation introduced after pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, but seeks to address persistent gaps in advanced chip manufacturing and fragmented governance across Member States.

A key focus of the revised framework is expanding Europe’s capacity in advanced semiconductors, particularly chips below 10 nanometres that are used in AI, high-performance computing, defence and advanced automotive systems.

The proposal also aims to improve monitoring of supply chains and market actors, while simplifying regulatory processes and enhancing investment conditions for strategic semiconductor projects.

Alongside production capacity, the initiative is expected to strengthen oversight of supply chain risks and improve crisis preparedness within the EU semiconductor ecosystem. Policymakers have identified limited visibility into supply-chain risks, including technology leakage and dependence on suppliers outside the EU, as a structural weakness.

The initiative is also expected to form part of the EU’s broader digital sovereignty agenda, including support for semiconductor research, chip design capabilities and cross-border industrial coordination.

Why does it matter?

Semiconductors are essential components in technologies ranging from AI systems and telecommunications networks to defence equipment, energy infrastructure and vehicles. The concentration of advanced chip production in a small number of global locations has heightened concerns about supply-chain resilience and strategic dependencies.

By expanding manufacturing capacity and improving oversight of supply chain risks, the EU aims to strengthen its ability to withstand disruptions while supporting long-term competitiveness in a critical technology sector.

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Spain urges immediate action on global AI governance at UN laboratory launch

Spain has renewed its call for stronger international AI governance following the launch of the UN AI Governance for Humanity Lab in Valencia.

Speaking at the opening event, Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Administration Óscar López said AI must serve peace and people, and warned that governments and international institutions must act quickly if AI governance is to become more than an unfulfilled ambition.

López said science and democracy should work together to ensure AI helps reduce poverty and narrow the industrial divide between the Global North and the Global South. He described the laboratory as a further step in Spain’s commitment to multilateral, ethical, and trustworthy AI development.

The minister also pointed to Spain’s growing role in AI governance, highlighting initiatives such as the Digital Rights Charter, the Digital Rights Observatory, the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence, the EU AI Act, and Spain’s recently approved law on the good use and governance of AI.

The new laboratory, operating under the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, will act as a global coordination body focused on the impact of AI through international governance, risk assessment, multilateral cooperation, and support for the UN Global Digital Compact.

Based in Quart de Poblet, Valencia, the lab aims to build a shared understanding of how AI is governed across countries, advance interoperability among governance frameworks, and support implementation across regions and sectors. Through reports and recommendations, it will support international scientific panels and inform decisions by the UN General Assembly.

The lab will also support the Valencia Dialogues, a series of technical workshops designed to develop concrete and actionable contributions to the laboratory’s work.

Why does it matter?

The launch of the UN AI Governance for Humanity Lab gives the Global Digital Compact a more concrete institutional anchor for AI governance work. Its focus on risk assessment, interoperability, multilateral cooperation, and implementation across regions and sectors reflects a growing effort to move global AI governance from principles and declarations towards practical coordination mechanisms.

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UNESCO highlights ethical AI integration in South Asian higher education

AI is transforming higher education systems across South Asia, creating opportunities to improve teaching, learning, research, and institutional management, while also exposing challenges around policy readiness, educator capacity, digital infrastructure, and equitable access.

A regional policy dialogue held in Kathmandu on 20 May 2026, jointly organised by UNESCO Kathmandu, Tribhuvan University, the Asian Development Bank, and UNESCO-ICHEI, highlighted the need for coordinated strategies to guide AI integration in higher education.

Key priorities include strengthening policies and strategies for AI use, investing in teacher professional development, improving collaboration between universities and industry, and better understanding the implications of generative AI for higher education and technical and vocational education and training.

The discussions also focused on inclusion, particularly the gender divide in AI. UNESCO said one of the most significant forms of AI bias in South Asia affects girls and women, underscoring the need for their participation in AI-related education and workplaces to build an inclusive AI ecosystem.

The launch of the IIOE Nepal National Centre at Tribhuvan University reflects the growing need for sustained national capacity-building mechanisms to support higher education institutions in adapting to digital transformation.

The dialogue also reinforced the importance of evidence-based policymaking, following the release of the Report on Digital Transformation in Higher Education in South Asia. UNESCO said such knowledge can help governments and universities move beyond experimentation towards more coherent and future-oriented strategies for AI integration.

Why does it matter?

AI integration in higher education is becoming a structural policy issue, not only a classroom technology question. UNESCO’s regional dialogue points to the risk that unequal digital infrastructure, weak institutional capacity, limited AI literacy, and gender gaps could deepen existing inequalities if clear policies, ethical safeguards, and investment in educators do not guide AI adoption.

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ECB explores AI tools for monitoring financial stability risks

The European Central Bank (ECB) has examined how AI could support financial stability monitoring and communication, comparing traditional dictionary-based sentiment analysis with transformer models and GPT-based systems. The study was published as part of the ECB’s May 2026 Financial Stability Review.

Researchers analysed all ECB Financial Stability Review publications between 2004 and 2025 to evaluate how AI systems interpret financial stability risks and vulnerabilities. The study found that GPT-based models were better able to isolate explicit risk assessments and identify stronger signals during periods of financial stress, including the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ECB also introduced its SPOT indicator, an AI-powered system that uses large language models and financial news coverage to assess the severity and probability of potential financial stability triggers. According to the study, the system detected elevated risk levels ahead of several major geopolitical and economic disruptions.

Despite the growing capabilities of AI-based analysis, the ECB stressed that such tools should remain complementary to human expertise, vulnerability analysis and stress testing. The ECB stressed that financial stability assessments cannot rely solely on automated systems because forecasting shocks and systemic crises remains inherently uncertain.

Why does it matter?

Central banks are increasingly exploring AI tools to analyse large volumes of financial reports, market data, and news coverage. The ECB’s findings suggest that advanced AI models could help identify emerging vulnerabilities and support risk monitoring, while also highlighting the continued need for human judgement in assessing complex financial and geopolitical developments.

As financial systems become more interconnected, AI may become an increasingly important component of central bank analytical toolkits.

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