AI systems rely heavily on human labour to train and improve algorithms. Images and videos collected by AI-powered devices are often reviewed and labelled by human annotators so that systems can better recognise objects, environments, and context.
This work is frequently outsourced to data annotation companies such as Sama, which provides training data services for large technology firms, including Meta Platforms. Many of these tasks are carried out by contract workers in Nairobi, Kenya, where employees review large volumes of visual data under strict confidentiality agreements.
Recent investigations have raised concerns about privacy and data governance linked to AI wearables such as the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. Some device features rely on cloud processing, meaning that captured images and voice inputs may be transmitted and analysed remotely.
Workers involved in the annotation process report regularly encountering sensitive material. Footage can include scenes recorded inside private homes, bedrooms, or bathrooms, as well as images that unintentionally reveal personal or financial information.
These practices raise broader questions about transparency and cross-border data transfers, particularly when data originating in Europe or the United States is processed in other countries. They also highlight the often-hidden human role behind AI systems that are frequently presented as fully automated technologies.
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Governments across the world are increasingly treating AI as a strategic capability that shapes economic development, public services and national security. Momentum behind the idea of ‘sovereign AI’ is growing as countries reassess who controls the chips, cloud infrastructure, data and models powering modern technology.
Complete control over the entire AI stack remains unrealistic for most economies because of the enormous financial and technological costs involved. Global infrastructure continues to rely heavily on US technology firms, which still operate a large share of data centres and AI systems worldwide.
Policy makers are therefore exploring different approaches to sovereignty across the AI ecosystem rather than pursuing total independence. Strategies range from building domestic computing capacity to adapting global AI models for national languages, regulations and public services.
Several countries already illustrate different approaches. The EU is investing billions in AI infrastructure, Canada protects sensitive computing resources while using global models, and India prioritises applications that serve its multilingual population through public digital systems.
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London authorities are drafting new data centre policies amid concerns about their environmental impact and rising energy use. City Hall aims to balance the sector’s economic advantages with pressures on electricity, water, and emissions.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) estimates that 10 large data centres generate around 2.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions due to their high electricity consumption. Of the 100 data centres the UK plans, about 60 will be in London.
Megan Life, assistant director for environment and energy at the GLA, told the London Assembly Environment Committee the new strategy aims to ‘keep hold of the kind of economic growth benefits that data centres offer’ while addressing some ‘quite challenging’ impacts linked to their energy use.
Deputy mayor for environment Mete Coban said the expansion of data centres brings both ‘big benefits’ and ‘massive challenges’ for the capital, particularly in terms of energy and water consumption. ‘It’s not just a London problem, it’s going to be a global problem,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s about making sure that our environment doesn’t suffer in the hands of a few global corporations who will take and not give back, so we want to make sure we equitably do this.’
Policymakers are assessing how data centre growth may affect climate goals and urban infrastructure. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has commissioned a study to forecast future expansion. At the same time, UK lawmakers have launched an inquiry into the environmental impact of the sector as demand for cloud computing and AI infrastructure grows.
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Spanish banking giant Banco Santander and Mastercard have completed what they describe as Europe’s first live end-to-end payment executed by an AI agent. The pilot combined Santander’s live payments infrastructure with Mastercard Agent Pay to enable autonomous, permission-based transactions.
Mastercard Agent Pay, launched in April 2025, allows AI agents to initiate and complete payments within predefined consumer limits. The transaction was orchestrated with support from PayOS and integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot Studio.
Following the pilot, Santander plans to expand testing and explore new partnerships across agentic commerce use cases. The bank, which manages around €1.84 trillion in assets, is positioning AI as a core driver of innovation.
AI initiatives at Santander are led by chief data and AI officer Ricardo Martín Manjón, hired from BBVA. A strategic partnership with OpenAI has also connected up to 30,000 employees to ChatGPT Enterprise in one of the fastest deployments of its kind.
Global competition in agentic payments is intensifying as Citi, US Bank and Westpac trial Mastercard Agent Pay. Westpac recently completed New Zealand’s first authenticated agentic transaction, while DBS, Visa, Axis Bank and RBL Bank are advancing similar intelligent commerce pilots.
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Ransomware attacks are increasingly relying on stolen passwords rather than traditional malware, according to Cloudflare’s latest annual threat report. Attackers now exploit legitimate account credentials to blend into regular traffic, making breaches harder to detect and contain.
Manufacturing and critical infrastructure organisations account for over half of targeted attacks, reflecting their high operational stakes.
Cloudflare highlighted that AI is enabling attackers to prioritise speed and scale over technical sophistication. Generative AI lets criminals automate fraud, hijacking email threads and targeting a ~$49,000 sweet spot to maximise profit while avoiding scrutiny.
Nation-state actors also leverage legitimate platforms for command-and-control operations, with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea each following distinct cyber strategies.
Researchers warned that modern ransomware is less a malware crisis and more an identity and access challenge. Attackers using authorised credentials can bypass defences and execute high-impact extortion, marking a significant shift in global threat vectors.
The report urges businesses to strengthen identity security, monitor access, and defend against AI-driven attacks that exploit impersonation and automation at scale.
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The European Commission is preparing more stringent requirements for ageing data centres rather than allowing legacy infrastructure to operate under looser rules.
A draft strategy tied to the EU’s tech sovereignty package signals that older sites will face higher efficiency expectations and stricter sustainability checks as part of an effort to modernise the digital backbone of the EU.
The proposal outlines minimum performance standards for new data centres by 2030, aiming to align the entire sector with the bloc’s climate and resilience goals. Officials want to reduce energy waste and improve monitoring across facilities that have long operated without uniform benchmarks.
The draft points to an expanded role for the Cloud and AI Development Act, which is expected to frame future obligations for cloud providers instead of relying on fragmented national measures.
Brussels sees consistent rules as essential for supporting secure cloud services, AI infrastructure and cross-border digital operations.
The strategy underscores that modernisation is central to the EU’s vision of tech sovereignty. Older centres would need upgrades to maintain compliance, ensuring that Europe’s digital infrastructure remains competitive, efficient and less dependent on external providers.
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Europe is building a federated cloud and AI infrastructure intended to reduce reliance on US and Chinese technology providers and avoid ongoing strategic vulnerability.
The project, known as EURO-3C, was announced in Barcelona by Telefónica and is backed by the European Commission. More than seventy organisations across telecommunications, technology and emerging companies have joined the effort.
Architects of the scheme argue that linking national infrastructures into a shared network of nodes offers a realistic path forward, particularly as Europe cannot easily create a hyperscale cloud provider from scratch.
The initiative follows a series of US cloud outages that exposed the risks of excessive dependence on external infrastructure and raised questions about sovereignty, resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Commission officials described the programme as a way to build a secure cross-border digital ecosystem that supports industries such as automotive, e-health, public administration and sovereign government cloud.
Telefónica stressed that agentic AI, capable of taking autonomous actions, will play a central role in enabling Europe to develop technology rather than import it.
The partners view the project as a foundation for a unified and independent digital environment that strengthens industrial supply chains and prepares European sectors for the next phase of cloud and AI adoption.
They present the initiative as a significant step toward reducing strategic exposure while stimulating domestic innovation.
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Samsung has secured an agreement with Rakuten Mobile to deliver Open RAN-compliant 5G radios supporting a nationwide mobile network upgrade across Japan. Commercial deployment is expected to begin in 2026 following extensive testing of the cloud-native infrastructure.
Rakuten Mobile continues to expand its fully virtualised network architecture, designed to improve flexibility, performance, and vendor interoperability. The integration of Samsung equipment demonstrates growing industry confidence in Open RAN technology at large-scale commercial deployments.
Equipment supplied includes low-band and mid-band radios, alongside energy-efficient Massive MIMO systems operating in the 3.8 GHz spectrum. Compact hardware enables easier installation on buildings and street infrastructure while improving capacity in dense urban areas.
Executives from both companies highlighted ambitions to accelerate AI-enabled networks and global Open RAN adoption. Samsung also positioned the partnership as a step toward future 6G innovation and broader next-generation connectivity services.
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Anthropic has enhanced its Claude AI chatbot to make switching from other platforms easier. Users on the free plan can now activate Claude’s memory feature, which allows them to import data from other AI platforms using a new dedicated tool.
The update ensures that users don’t have to start over when transferring context and history from competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.
The memory import option, first introduced in October for paid subscribers, now appears under ‘settings’ → ‘capabilities’ for all users. The tool lets users copy a prompt from their previous AI and paste the output into Claude, seamlessly transferring past interactions.
The recent popularity of Claude has been driven by tools such as Claude Code and Claude Cowork, as well as the launch of the Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 models. Upgrades enhance Claude’s coding, spreadsheet, and complex task capabilities, boosting its appeal to new users.
Anthropic’s visibility has also increased amid debates with the Pentagon, as the company refuses to loosen AI safeguards for military use, drawing ‘red lines’ around mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
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Twenty-five years after its launch, SharePoint has grown into one of Microsoft’s largest collaboration platforms, serving more than one billion users annually. The service now underpins vast volumes of enterprise content, with billions of files and millions of sites created each day.
Microsoft positions the platform as a foundational knowledge layer for Microsoft 365 Copilot. As the primary grounding source for Copilot, it contributes to the Work IQ intelligence layer, enabling AI tools to operate within an organisational context.
New agentic capabilities allow teams to build solutions using natural language prompts within governed Microsoft 365 environments. Custom AI skills package organisational standards, terminology, and business logic, helping ensure outputs align with internal policies and workflows.
AI-driven publishing features are now embedded across its web authoring tools. Organisations can plan, refine, and distribute content at scale while maintaining governance controls and consistent communication standards.
Content stored in SharePoint also powers semantic indexing and retrieval systems that support contextual discovery across Microsoft 365 applications. Microsoft says these capabilities enable more proactive knowledge surfacing and strengthen Copilot’s ability to deliver grounded responses.
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