Content Policy

UNESCO expands multilingual learning through LearnBig

The LearnBig digital application is expanding access to learning, with UNESCO supporting educational materials in national and local languages instead of relying solely on dominant teaching languages.

A project that aligns with International Mother Language Day and reflects long-standing research showing that children learn more effectively when taught in languages they understand from an early age.

The programme supports communities along the Thailand–Myanmar border, where children gain literacy and numeracy skills in both Thai and their mother tongues.

Young learners can make more substantial academic progress with this approach, which allows them to remain connected to their cultural identity rather than being pushed into unfamiliar linguistic environments. More than 2,000 digital books are available in languages such as Karen, Myanmar, and Pattani Malay.

LearnBig was developed within the ‘Mobile Literacy for Out-of-School Children’ programme, backed by partners including Microsoft, True Corporation, POSCO 1% Foundation and the Ministry of Education of Thailand.

An initiative by UNESCO that has reached more than 526,000 learners, with young people in Yala using tablets to access digital books, while learners in Mae Hong Son study through content presented in their local languages.

The project illustrates the potential of digital innovation to bridge linguistic, social, and geographic divides.

By supporting children who often fall outside formal education systems, LearnBig demonstrates how technology can help build a more inclusive and equitable learning environment rather than reinforcing existing barriers.

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Reliance and OpenAI bring AI search to JioHotstar

OpenAI has joined forces with Reliance Industries to introduce conversational search into JioHotstar.

The integration uses OpenAI’s API so viewers can look for films, series, and live sports through multilingual text or voice prompts, receiving recommendations shaped by their viewing patterns instead of basic keyword results.

A collaboration that extends beyond the platform itself, with plans to surface JioHotstar suggestions directly inside ChatGPT.

The approach presents a two-way discovery layer that links entertainment browsing with conversational queries, pointing toward a new model for how audiences engage with streaming catalogues.

OpenAI is strengthening its footprint in India, where more than 100 million people now use ChatGPT weekly. The company intends to open offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru to support the expansion, adding to its site in New Delhi.

The partnership was announced at the India AI Impact Summit, where Sam Altman appeared alongside industry figures such as Dario Amodei and Sundar Pichai.

A move that aligns with a broader ‘OpenAI for India’ strategy that includes work on data centres with the Tata Group and further collaborations with companies such as Pine Labs, Eternal, and MakeMyTrip.

Executives from both sides said conversational interfaces will reshape how people find and follow programming, helping users navigate entertainment in a more natural way instead of relying on conventional menus.

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Conversational AI comes to YouTube TV

YouTube is testing its conversational AI feature on smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. The tool, previously available on mobile and desktop, appears as an Ask button marked with a Gemini sparkle icon.

The feature allows viewers to ask questions about videos, request summaries, receive related content suggestions, and select from prompts displayed on screen. Users can press the microphone button on their remote to interact with the AI while watching.

Currently, the tool is available to a limited group of users, on select videos, and supports English, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. YouTube has not revealed when it will expand access to more users or regions.

By bringing conversational AI to TVs, YouTube aims to make viewing more interactive. Fans can now get answers or clarifications directly on the big screen without needing a phone or computer.

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AI agent autonomy rises as users gain trust in Anthropic’s Claude Code

A new study from Anthropic offers an early picture of how people allow AI agents to work independently in real conditions.

By examining millions of interactions across its public API and its coding agent Claude Code, the company explored how long agents operate without supervision and how users change their behaviour as they gain experience.

The analysis shows a sharp rise in the longest autonomous sessions, with top users permitting the agent to work for more than forty minutes instead of cutting tasks short.

Experienced users appear more comfortable letting the AI agent proceed on its own, shifting towards auto-approve instead of checking each action.

At the same time, these users interrupt more often when something seems unusual, which suggests that trust develops alongside a more refined sense of when oversight is required.

The agent also demonstrates its own form of caution by pausing to ask for clarification more frequently than humans interrupt it as tasks become more complex.

The research identifies a broad spread of domains that rely on agents, with software engineering dominating usage but early signs of adoption emerging in healthcare, cybersecurity and finance.

Most actions remain low-risk and reversible, supported by safeguards such as restricted permissions or human involvement instead of fully automated execution. Only a tiny fraction of actions reveal irreversible consequences such as sending messages to external recipients.

Anthropic notes that real-world autonomy remains far below the potential suggested by external capability evaluations, including those by METR.

The company argues that safer deployment will depend on stronger post-deployment monitoring systems and better design for human-AI cooperation so that autonomy is managed jointly rather than granted blindly.

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Macron calls Europe safe space for AI

French President Emmanuel Macron told the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi that Europe would remain a safe space for AI innovation and investment. Speaking in New Delhi, he said the European Union would continue shaping global AI rules alongside partners such as India.

Macron pointed to the EU AI Act, adopted in 2024, as evidence that Europe can regulate emerging technologies and AI while encouraging growth. In New Delhi, he claims that oversight would not stifle innovation but ensure responsible development, but not much evidence to back it up.

The French leader said that France is doubling the number of AI scientists and engineers it trains, with startups creating tens of thousands of jobs. He added in New Delhi that Europe aims to combine competitiveness with strong guardrails.

Macron also highlighted child protection as a G7 priority, arguing in New Delhi that children must be shielded from AI driven digital abuse. Europe, he said, intends to protect society while remaining open to investment and cooperation with India.

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Anthropic seeks deeper AI cooperation with India

The chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has said India can play a central role in guiding global responses to the security and economic risks linked to AI.

Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, he argued that the world’s largest democracy is well placed to become a partner and leader in shaping the responsible development of advanced systems.

Amodei explained that Anthropic hopes to work with India on the testing and evaluation of models for safety and security. He stressed growing concern over autonomous behaviours that may emerge in advanced systems and noted the possibility of misuse by individuals or governments.

He pointed to the work of international and national AI safety institutes as a foundation for joint efforts and added that the economic effect of AI will be significant and that India and the wider Global South could benefit if policymakers prepare early.

Through its Economic Futures programme and Economic Index, Anthropic studies how AI reshapes jobs and labour markets.

He said the company intends to expand information sharing with Indian authorities and bring economists, labour groups, and officials into regular discussions to guide evidence-based policy instead of relying on assumptions.

Amodei said AI is set to increase economic output and that India is positioned to influence emerging global frameworks. He signalled a strong interest in long-term cooperation that supports safety, security, and sustainable growth.

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EU turns to AI tools to strengthen defences against disinformation

Institutions, researchers, and media organisations in the EU are intensifying efforts to use AI to counter disinformation, even as concerns grow about the wider impact on media freedom and public trust.

Confidence in journalism has fallen sharply across the EU, a trend made more severe by the rapid deployment of AI systems that reshape how information circulates online.

Brussels is attempting to respond with a mix of regulation and strategic investment. The EU’s AI Act is entering its implementation phase, supported by the AI Continent Action Plan and the Apply AI Strategy, both introduced in 2025 to improve competitiveness while protecting rights.

Yet manipulation campaigns continue to spread false narratives across platforms in multiple languages, placing pressure on journalists, fact-checkers and regulators to act with greater speed and precision.

Within such an environment, AI4TRUST has emerged as a prominent Horizon Europe initiative. The consortium is developing an integrated platform that detects disinformation signals, verifies content, and maps information flows for professionals who need real-time insight.

Partners stress the need for tools that strengthen human judgment instead of replacing it, particularly as synthetic media accelerates and shared realities become more fragile.

Experts speaking in Brussels warned that traditional fact-checking cannot absorb the scale of modern manipulation. They highlighted the geopolitical risks created by automated messaging and deepfakes, and argued for transparent, accountable systems tailored to user needs.

European officials emphasised that multiple tools will be required, supported by collaboration across institutions and sustained regulatory frameworks that defend democratic resilience.

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Digital procurement strengthens compliance and prepares governments for AI oversight

AI is reshaping the expectations placed on organisations, yet many local governments in the US continue to rely on procurement systems designed for a paper-first era.

Sealed envelopes, manual logging and physical storage remain standard practice, even though these steps slow essential services and increase operational pressure on staff and vendors.

The persistence of paper is linked to long-standing compliance requirements, which are vital for public accountability. Over time, however, processes intended to safeguard fairness have created significant inefficiencies.

Smaller businesses frequently struggle with printing, delivery, and rigid submission windows, and the administrative burden on procurement teams expands as records accumulate.

The author’s experience leading a modernisation effort in Somerville, Massachusetts showed how deeply embedded such practices had become.

Gradual adoption of digital submission reduced logistical barriers while strengthening compliance. Electronic bids could be time-stamped, access monitored, and records centrally managed, allowing staff to focus on evaluation rather than handling binders and storage boxes.

Vendor participation increased once geographical and physical constraints were removed. The shift also improved resilience, as municipalities that had already embraced digital procurement were better equipped to maintain continuity during pandemic disruptions.

Electronic records now provide a basis for responsible use of AI. Digital documents can be analysed for anomalies, metadata inconsistencies, or signs of manipulation that are difficult to detect in paper files.

Rather than replacing human judgment, such tools support stronger oversight and more transparent public administration. Modernising procurement aligns government operations with present-day realities and prepares them for future accountability and technological change.

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AWS scales AI with inference-focused systems

AI assistants deliver answers in seconds, but the process behind the scenes, called inference, is complex. Inference lets trained AI models generate responses, recommendations, or images, accounting for up to 90% of AI computing power.

AWS has built infrastructure to handle these fast, high-volume operations reliably and efficiently.

Inference involves four main stages: tokenisation, prefill, decoding, and detokenisation. Each step converts human input into machine-readable tokens, builds context, generates responses token by token, and converts output back to readable text.

AWS custom Trainium chips speed up the process while reducing costs. AI agents add complexity by chaining multiple inferences for multi-step tasks.

AWS uses its Bedrock platform, Project Mantle engine, and Journal tool to manage long-running requests, prioritise urgent tasks, and maintain low latency. Unified networking ensures efficiency and fairness across users.

By focusing on inference-first infrastructure, AWS lowers AI costs while enabling more advanced applications. Instant responses from AI assistants are the result of years of engineering, billions in investment, and systems built to scale globally.

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Lyria 3 brings AI-generated music to Gemini

The Gemini app has introduced Lyria 3, the latest music-generation model from Google DeepMind, enabling users to create 30-second tracks from text prompts, images, or videos. The feature is rolling out in beta, marking a further expansion of creative tools within the platform.

Users can customise genre, tempo, and vocals, while the system generates lyrics automatically when needed. Tracks include AI-generated cover art and can be shared directly, aiming to provide a simple way to produce short, personalised soundtracks rather than full compositions.

Audio created in the app is embedded with SynthID watermarking to identify AI-generated content, alongside new verification tools that allow users to check whether files were produced using Google AI.

The model is designed to produce original material rather than replicate specific artists, supported by filters and reporting mechanisms.

Availability initially covers multiple major languages for users aged 18 and over, with higher usage limits offered to premium subscribers. Lyria 3 is also being integrated into YouTube creator tools to enhance Shorts soundtracks as the rollout expands.

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