Capacity development

Trainium2 power surges as AWS’s Project Rainier enters service for Anthropic

Anthropic and AWS switched on Project Rainier, a vast Trainium2 cluster spanning multiple US sites to accelerate Claude’s evolution.

Project Rainier is now fully operational, less than a year after its announcement. AWS engineered an EC2 UltraCluster of Trainium2 UltraServers to deliver massive training capacity. Anthropic says it offers more than five times the compute used for prior Claude models.

UltraServers bind four Trainium2 servers with high-speed NeuronLinks so 64 chips act as one. Tens of thousands of networks are connected through Elastic Fabric Adapter across buildings. The design reduces latency within racks while preserving flexible scale across data centres.

Anthropic is already training and serving Claude on Rainier across the US and plans to exceed one million Trainium2 chips by year’s end. More computing should raise model accuracy, speed evaluations, and shorten iteration cycles for new frontier releases.

AWS controls the stack from chip to data centre for reliability and efficiency. Teams tune power delivery, cooling, and software orchestration. New sites add water-wise cooling, contributing to the company’s renewable energy and net-zero goals.

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ILO launches grievance apps for Indonesian workers

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched upgraded grievance apps to enhance workplace conditions in Indonesia’s garment, footwear and palm oil sectors. The Jakarta launch on 29 October advances decent work and strengthens industrial relations.

The initiative was developed in close collaboration with trade union confederations, federations and networks representing more than 100,000 workers nationwide.

The new apps, including SoPaN SPN, Teman Garteks, Hallo Siola and a palm oil platform, use AI for categorisation, tagging, follow-ups and satisfaction ratings. The upgrades make complaint processes quicker, clearer and more accessible for all workers.

Each platform allows workers to submit grievances with supporting evidence, which are then reviewed and addressed by union administrators through negotiation or mediation.

Funded by Canada, the ILO’s RealGains project tackles labour challenges and expands the platforms beyond the garment sector. Using technology in grievance systems, the ILO aims to boost social dialogue, safeguard workers’ rights and support businesses.

Officials highlighted that these tools could deliver direct benefits to hundreds of thousands of employees across key industries in Indonesia.

Experts emphasised that effective grievance channels are critical for sustainable industrial relations. AI apps streamline complaints and empower workers, promoting safer and fairer workplaces nationwide.

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Automakers and freight partners join NVIDIA and Uber to accelerate level 4 deployments

NVIDIA and Uber partner on level 4-ready fleets using the DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10, aiming to scale a unified human-and-robot driver network from 2027. A joint AI data factory on NVIDIA Cosmos will curate training data, aiming to reach 100,000 vehicles over time.

DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10 is a reference compute and sensor stack for level 4 readiness across cars, vans, and trucks. Automakers can pair validated hardware with compatible autonomy software to speed safer, scalable, AI-defined mobility. Passenger and freight services gain faster paths from prototype to fleet.

Stellantis, Lucid, and Mercedes-Benz are preparing passenger platforms on Hyperion 10. Aurora, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Waabi are extending level 4 capability to long-haul trucking. Avride, May Mobility, Momenta, Nuro, Pony.ai, Wayve, and WeRide continue to build on NVIDIA DRIVE.

The production platform pairs dual DRIVE AGX Thor on Blackwell with DriveOS and a qualified multimodal sensor suite. Cameras, radar, lidar, and ultrasonics deliver 360-degree coverage. Modular design plus PCIe, Ethernet, confidential computing, and liquid cooling support upgrades and uptime.

NVIDIA is also launching Halos, a cloud-to-vehicle AI safety and certification system with an ANSI-accredited inspection lab and certification program. A multimodal AV dataset and reasoning VLA models aim to improve urban driving, testing, and validation for deployments.

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Grammarly becomes Superhuman with unified AI tools for work

Superhuman, formerly known as Grammarly, is bundling its writing tools, workspace platform, and email client with a new AI assistant suite. The company says the rebrand reflects a push to unify generative AI features that streamline workplace tasks and online communication for subscribers.

Grammarly acquired Coda and Superhuman Mail earlier this year and added Superhuman Go. The bundle arrives as a single plan. Go’s agents brainstorm, gather information, send emails, and schedule meetings to reduce app switching.

Superhuman Mail organises inboxes and drafts replies in your voice. Coda pulls data from other apps into documents, tables, and dashboards. An upcoming update lets Coda act on that data to automate plans and tasks.

CEO Shishir Mehrotra says the aim is ambient, integrated AI. Built on Grammarly’s infrastructure, the tools work in place without prompting or pasting. The bundle targets teams seeking consistent AI across writing, email, and knowledge work.

Analysts will watch brand overlap with the existing Superhuman email app and enterprise pricing. Success depends on trust, data controls, and measurable time savings versus point tools. Rollout specifics, including regions, will follow.

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Report reveals major barriers to UK workforce AI skills development

A new government analysis has identified deep-rooted barriers preventing widespread development of AI skills in the UK’s workforce. The research highlights systemic challenges across education, funding, and awareness, threatening the country’s ambition to build an inclusive and competitive AI economy.

UK experts found widespread confusion over what constitutes AI skills, with inconsistent terminology creating mismatches between training, qualifications, and labour market needs. Many learners and employers still conflate digital literacy with AI competence.

The report also revealed fragmented training provision, limited curriculum responsiveness, and fragile funding cycles that hinder long-term learning. Many adults lack even basic digital literacy, while small organisations and community programmes struggle to sustain AI courses beyond pilot stages.

Employers were found to have an incomplete understanding of their own AI skills needs, particularly within SMEs and public sector organisations. Without clearer frameworks, planning tools, and consistent investment, experts warn the UK risks falling behind in responsible AI adoption and workforce readiness.

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Global alliance strengthens response to crypto crime

Global experts are stepping up efforts to combat the misuse of cryptocurrencies as criminal networks become increasingly sophisticated.

The 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets was held in Vienna and co-organised by Europol, the UNODC and the Basel Institute on Governance. The event brought together over 250 participants and 1,000 online attendees to discuss how to strengthen the global response.

Delegates emphasised the need for unified standards, stronger cooperation and greater investment in training to tackle the evolving threats posed by crypto-enabled crime.

Speakers warned that blockchain misuse has expanded beyond scams to include terrorism financing, sanctions evasion and organised money laundering. Europol’s Burkhard Mühl said tackling these complex crimes needs greater innovation and collaboration.

Advanced tracing tools and successful cross-border operations demonstrate progress, yet significant legislative and capacity gaps remain.

Participants urged harmonised standards and quicker information sharing between financial institutions and virtual asset providers. The Wolfsberg Group noted that private sector collaboration is as vital as public partnerships in disrupting illicit crypto activity.

Building capacity through hands-on training and peer learning was also identified as a priority. According to Elizabeth Andersen of the Basel Institute, equipping agencies with the skills to trace and recover illicit assets can transform how nations respond to crypto-related crime.

Experts agreed that continued dialogue, shared expertise and consistent standards are key to ensuring innovation in blockchain benefits society rather than enabling criminal networks.

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Top institutes team up with Google DeepMind to spearhead AI-assisted mathematics

AI for Math Initiative pairs Google DeepMind with five elite institutes to apply advanced AI to open problems and proofs. Partners include Imperial, IAS, IHES, the Simons Institute at UC Berkeley, and TIFR. The goal is to accelerate discovery, tooling, and training.

Google support spans funding and access to Gemini Deep Think, AlphaEvolve for algorithm discovery, and AlphaProof for formal reasoning. Combined systems complement human intuition, scale exploration, and tighten feedback loops between theory and applied AI.

Recent benchmarks show rapid gains. Deep Think enabled Gemini to reach gold-medal IMO performance, perfectly solving five of six problems for 35 points. AlphaGeometry and AlphaProof earlier achieved silver-level competence on Olympiad-style tasks.

AlphaEvolve pushed the frontiers of analysis, geometry, combinatorics, and number theory, improving the best results on 1/5 of 50 open problems. Researchers also uncovered a 4×4 matrix-multiplication method that uses 48 multiplications, surpassing the 1969 record.

Partners will co-develop datasets, standards, and open tools, while studying limits where AI helps or hinders progress. Workstreams include formal verification, conjecture generation, and proof search, emphasising reproducibility, transparency, and responsible collaboration.

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France moves to create a national Bitcoin reserve

France’s centre-right UDR party, led by Éric Ciotti, has introduced a groundbreaking proposal to create a national Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. The bill is France’s first major effort to integrate cryptocurrency and strengthen financial sovereignty through digital assets.

Under the plan, France would gradually acquire up to 2% of Bitcoin’s total supply- around 420,000 BTC- over seven to eight years. A new Public Administrative Establishment would oversee the reserve, mirroring the management of France’s gold and foreign currency holdings.

The proposal seeks to use surplus renewable and nuclear energy for Bitcoin mining to create economic value. The state would keep seized crypto and use national savings funds for daily Bitcoin purchases, potentially adding about 55,000 BTC yearly.

Beyond Bitcoin, the bill promotes euro-denominated stablecoins for everyday payments and rejects a European Central Bank-controlled digital euro, citing privacy concerns. It proposes tax exemptions for small transactions under €200 and allows certain taxes to be paid in Bitcoin or euro stablecoins.

Despite its ambition, the UDR’s limited representation in Parliament may slow progress on the proposal.

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Nordic ministers fund AI language model network

Nordic ministers for culture have approved funding for a new network dedicated to language models for AI. The decision, taken at a meeting in Stockholm on 29 October, aims to ensure AI development reflects the region’s unique linguistic and cultural traits.

It is one of the first projects for the recently launched Nordic-Baltic centre for AI, New Nordics AI.

The network will bring together national stakeholders to address shared challenges in AI language models. The initiative aims to protect smaller languages and ensure AI tools reflect Nordic linguistic diversity through knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Finland’s Minister for Research and Culture, Mari-Leena Talvitie, said the project is a key step in safeguarding the future of regional languages in digital tools.

Ministers also discussed AI’s broader cultural impact, highlighting issues such as copyright and the need for regional oversight. The network will identify collaboration opportunities and guide future investments in culturally and linguistically anchored Nordic AI solutions.

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Humanoid robots set to power Foxconn’s new Nvidia server plant in Houston

Foxconn will add humanoid robots to a new Houston plant building Nvidia AI servers from early 2026. Announced at Nvidia’s developer conference, the move deepens their partnership and positions the site as a US showcase for AI-driven manufacturing.

Humanoid systems based on Nvidia’s Isaac GR00T N are built to perceive parts, adapt on the line, and work with people. Unlike fixed industrial arms, they handle delicate assembly and switch tasks via software updates. Goals include flexible throughput, faster retooling, and fewer stoppages.

AI models are trained in simulation using digital twins and reinforcement learning to improve accuracy and safety. On the line, robots self-tune as analytics predict maintenance and balance workloads, unlocking gains across logistics, assembly, testing, and quality control.

Texas, US, offers proximity to a growing semiconductor and AI cluster, as well as policy support for domestic capacity. Foxconn also plans expansions in Wisconsin and California to meet global demand for AI servers. Scaling output should ease supply pressures around Nvidia-class compute in data centres.

Job roles will shift as routine tasks automate and oversight becomes data-driven. Human workers focus on design, line configuration, and AI supervision, with safety gates for collaboration. Analysts see a template for Industry 4.0 factories running near-continuously with rapid changeovers.

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