The Council of Europe is taking an active role in shaping regional digital policy by leading three key panels at the Southeastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG 2025), held in Athens on 10-11 October. The discussions bring together policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society to strengthen cooperation on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in the digital age.
The first day focuses on bridging human rights and digital innovation. A panel on ‘Public-Private Policy Dialogue’ examines how governments and companies can align emerging technologies with ethical standards through frameworks like the Council of Europe’s AI Convention. Another session tackles harmful online content and disinformation, exploring ways to balance content moderation with freedom of expression and democratic resilience in South-Eastern Europe.
On 11 October, the spotlight shifts to ‘Cyber Interference with Democracy,’ addressing how digital technologies can be misused to manipulate elections and public trust. Experts will discuss real-world cases of cyber interference and propose measures to protect democratic institutions through human rights–based approaches.
Ahead of the event, Council of Europe representatives will also meet participants of the SEEDIG Youth School to discuss opportunities within the Council’s Digital Agenda.
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Meta has introduced new AI-powered translation features that allow Facebook and Instagram users to enjoy reels from around the world in multiple languages.
Meta AI now translates, dubs, and lip-syncs short videos in English, Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese, with more languages to be added soon.
A tool that reproduces a creator’s voice and tone while automatically syncing translated audio to their lip movements, providing a natural viewing experience. It is free for Facebook creators with over 1,000 followers and all public Instagram accounts in countries where Meta AI is available.
The expansion is part of Meta’s goal to make global content more accessible and to help creators reach wider audiences. By breaking language barriers, Meta aims to strengthen community connections and turn Reels into a platform for global cultural exchange.
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California has entered a new era of privacy and AI enforcement after the state’s privacy regulator fined Tractor Supply USD1.35 million for failing to honour opt-outs and ignoring Global Privacy Control signals. The case marks the largest penalty yet from the California Privacy Protection Agency.
In California, there is a widening focus on how companies manage consumer data, verification processes and third-party vendors. Regulators are now demanding that privacy signals be enforced at the technology layer, not just displayed through website banners or webforms.
Retailers must now show active, auditable compliance, with clear privacy notices, automated data controls and stronger vendor agreements. Regulators have also warned that businesses will be held responsible for partner failures and poor oversight of cookies and tracking tools.
At the same time, California’s new AI law, SB 53, extends governance obligations to frontier AI developers, requiring transparency around safety benchmarks and misuse prevention. The measure connects AI accountability to broader data governance, reinforcing that privacy and AI oversight are now inseparable.
Executives across retail and technology are being urged to embed compliance and governance into daily operations. California’s regulators are shifting from punishing visible lapses to demanding continuous, verifiable proof of compliance across both data and AI systems.
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Ant Group has unveiled its Ling AI model family, introducing Ling-1T, a trillion-parameter large language model that has been open-sourced for public use.
The Ling family now includes three main series: the Ling non-thinking models, the Ring thinking models, and the multimodal Ming models.
Ling-1T delivers state-of-the-art performance in code generation, mathematical reasoning, and logical problem-solving, achieving 70.42% accuracy on the 2025 AIME benchmark.
A model that combines efficient inference with strong reasoning capabilities, marking a major advance in AI development for complex cognitive tasks.
Company’s Chief Technology Officer, He Zhengyu, said that Ant Group views AGI as a public good that should benefit society.
The release of Ling-1T and the earlier Ring-1T-preview underscores Ant Group’s commitment to open, collaborative AI innovation and the development of inclusive AGI technologies.
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The OSCE has launched a new publication warning that rapid progress in AI threatens the fundamental human right to freedom of thought. The report, Think Again: Freedom of Thought in the Age of AI, calls on governments to create human rights-based safeguards for emerging technologies.
Speaking during the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, Professor Ahmed Shaheed of the University of Essex said that freedom of thought underpins most other rights and must be actively protected. He urged states to work with ODIHR to ensure AI development respects personal autonomy and dignity.
Experts at the event said AI’s growing influence on daily life risks eroding individuals’ ability to form independent opinions. They warned that manipulation of online information, targeted advertising, and algorithmic bias could undermine free thought and democratic participation.
ODIHR recommends states to prevent coercion, discrimination, and digital manipulation, ensuring societies remain open to diverse ideas. Protecting freedom of thought, the report concludes, is essential to preserving human dignity and democratic resilience in an age shaped by AI.
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Discord has confirmed that official ID images belonging to around 70,000 users may have been exposed in a cyberattack targeting a third-party service provider. The platform itself was not breached, but hackers targeted a company involved in age verification processes.
The leaked data may include personal information, partial credit card details, and conversations with Discord’s customer service agents. No full credit card numbers, passwords, or activity beyond support interactions were affected. Impacted users have been contacted, and law enforcement is investigating.
The platform has revoked the support provider’s access to its systems and has not named the third party involved. Zendesk, a customer service software supplier to Discord, said its own systems were not compromised and denied being the source of the breach.
Discord has rejected claims circulating online that the breach was larger than reported, calling them part of an attempted extortion. The company stated it would not comply with demands from the attackers. Cybercriminals often sell personal information on illicit markets for use in scams.
ID numbers and official documents are especially valuable because, unlike credit card details, they rarely change. Discord previously tightened its age-verification measures following concerns over the misuse of some servers to distribute illegal material.
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The US startup OpenAI has broadened access to its affordable ChatGPT Go plan, now available in 16 additional countries across Asia, including Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Priced at under $5 per month, the plan offers local currency payments in select regions, while others will pay in USD with tax-adjusted variations.
ChatGPT Go gives users higher message and image-generation limits, increased upload capacity, and double the memory of the free plan.
A move that follows significant regional growth (Southeast Asia’s weekly active users increasing fourfold) and builds on earlier launches in India and Indonesia, where paid subscriptions have already doubled.
The expansion intensifies competition with Google, which recently introduced its Google AI Plus plan in more than 40 countries. Both companies are vying to attract users in fast-growing markets with low-cost AI access, each blending productivity and creative tools into subscription offerings.
At OpenAI’s DevDay 2025 in San Francisco, CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT’s global weekly active users have reached 800 million.
OpenAI is also introducing in-chat applications from partners like Spotify, Zillow, and Coursera, signalling a shift toward transforming ChatGPT into a broader AI platform ecosystem.
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The agreement will combine innovations across Google Search, Gemini, and Google Cloud. AI tools will assist Team USA with training analysis, while viewers will benefit from more innovative search functions during NBCUniversal’s coverage.
Gemini will also support athletes and organisers with enhanced data insights and communication tools.
Google Cloud will power what is set to be the most technologically advanced Games in history. It will optimise event logistics, analyse performance data, and provide real-time analytics to NBCUniversal.
Meanwhile, YouTube will host exclusive Olympic content, expanding NBCUniversal’s storytelling reach through short-form video.
The partnership underscores how AI and cloud technologies are shaping the future of global events. Fans attending or watching from home will enjoy more immersive, on-demand access to the athletes, competitions, and stories driving LA28.
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OpenAI has announced it will give copyright holders more control over how their intellectual property is used in videos produced by Sora 2. The shift comes amid criticism over Sora’s ability to generate scenes featuring popular characters and media, sometimes without permission.
At launch, Sora allowed generation under a default policy that required rights holders to opt out if they did not want their content used. That approach drew immediate backlash from studios and creators complaining about unauthorised use of copyrighted characters.
OpenAI now says it will introduce ‘more granular control’ for content owners, letting them set parameters for how their work can appear, or choose complete exclusion. The company has also hinted at monetisation features, such as revenue sharing for approved usage of copyrighted content.
CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that feedback from studios, artists and other stakeholders influenced the change. He emphasised that the new content policy would treat fictional characters more cautiously and make character generation opt-in rather than default.
Still unresolved is how precisely the system will work, especially around the enforcement, blocking, or filtering of unauthorised uses. OpenAI has repeatedly framed the updates as evolutionary, acknowledging that design and policy missteps may occur.
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Zelda Williams has urged people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her late father, Robin Williams, calling the practice disturbing and disrespectful. The actor and director said the videos are exploitative and misrepresent what her father would have wanted.
In her post, she said such recreations are ‘dumb’ and a ‘waste of time and energy’, adding that turning human legacies into digital imitations is ‘gross’. She criticised those using AI to simulate deceased performers for online engagement, describing the results as emotionless and detached.
The discussion intensified after the unveiling of ‘AI actor’ Tilly Norwood, created by Dutch performer Eline Van der Velden. Unions and stars such as Emily Blunt condemned the concept, warning that AI-generated characters risk eroding human creativity and emotional authenticity.
Williams previously supported SAG-AFTRA’s campaign against the misuse of AI in entertainment, calling digital recreations of her father’s voice ‘personally disturbing’. She has continued to call for respect for real artists and their legacies.
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