Development Archives | Digital Watch Observatory

UNESCO expands ICT skills training to accelerate digital education in Tanzania

UNESCO, with support from the Republic of Korea and the Government of Tanzania, has trained 52 teachers in Dodoma to improve the use of digital technologies in classroom teaching and learning.

The four-day programme focused on implementing Tanzania’s 2025 ICT Competency Standards for Teachers through digital learning modules developed by the Tanzania Institute of Education. Teachers specialising in ICT, physics, mathematics and chemistry received practical instruction on digital teaching tools, online assessment techniques, educational technologies and open educational resources.

Participants highlighted the value of learning platforms and tools such as video recording applications, interactive quiz systems and collaborative digital learning environments. The programme aimed to help teachers use technology more effectively to improve classroom engagement, teaching quality and student learning outcomes.

Why does it matter?

Digital skills are becoming increasingly important across education systems worldwide. By equipping educators with practical ICT competencies, Tanzania is strengthening its ability to deliver modern, technology-enabled education.

The UNESCO initiative also supports broader efforts to reduce digital divides and build national capacity in education, particularly as countries increasingly integrate technology into teaching, learning and workforce development strategies.

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China showcases AI innovation and global cooperation at World Intelligence Expo 2026

The 2026 World Intelligence Expo has opened in Tianjin, bringing together more than 700 exhibitors to present AI technologies, products, and application scenarios.

The four-day event is co-hosted by the municipal governments of Tianjin and Chongqing under the theme ‘Intelligence: Extensive Development Space, Sustainable Growth Driver’. It features seven exhibition zones covering embodied AI, core AI technologies, the low-altitude economy, commercial space exploration, and other emerging technology areas.

Chinese officials used the event to emphasise the integration of AI into manufacturing, industrial operations, and the broader digital economy. Ke Jixin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said the ministry would advance the ‘AI+ manufacturing’ initiative, strengthen innovation capabilities, and improve the industrial environment for AI development.

A major focus of the expo is developing high-quality datasets to support intelligent manufacturing. Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said China would support industry leaders and pilot entities in building sector-specific datasets in areas including automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, rail transit, non-ferrous metals, and petrochemicals.

The event also highlighted China’s interest in expanding international AI cooperation. Chen Jiachang, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said China is making AI a priority in bilateral and multilateral technology cooperation, including capacity development.

Representatives from countries including the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan discussed potential cooperation with China across AI, advanced technologies, the digital economy, the internet of things, fintech, medical technology, and software.

More than 200 new products, technologies, achievements, and research reports are expected to be released during the expo, covering embodied AI, intelligent connected vehicles, the low-altitude economy, smart manufacturing, and smart living.

Why does it matter?

The expo reflects China’s effort to position AI as a driver of industrial upgrading, manufacturing competitiveness, and digital economic growth. The focus on sector-specific datasets is particularly important because data infrastructure is becoming a core part of AI industrial policy. The international cooperation messaging also shows how China is using AI events to strengthen technology partnerships and capacity-building ties, especially with countries interested in smart cities, fintech, healthcare technology, and digital infrastructure.

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UK and France launch AI partnership to transform health research

The United Kingdom and France have launched a science and technology partnership focused on applying AI, advanced imaging, and data science to major healthcare challenges, including women’s health, infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistance.

The UK-France Strategic Biomedical Alliance in Health and AI will bring together institutions including the University of Oxford, Université Paris Cité, Institut Pasteur, Diamond Light Source, and Synchrotron SOLEIL. The partnership aims to make it easier for British and French institutions to cooperate on biomedical research, share expertise, and develop joint projects and funding bids.

The initiative will support research into conditions such as endometriosis and childbirth-related complications, while also improving the detection and treatment of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, emerging viruses, and drug-resistant bacteria. Researchers will use AI, data science, and advanced imaging technologies to support earlier diagnoses, more personalised care, and improved preparedness for future health threats.

Alongside the biomedical partnership, the UK and France are strengthening cooperation in high-performance computing. Nearly £900,000 in UK government funding has been committed to a partnership between the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, which hosts Isambard-AI, and France’s national high-performance computing body GENCI.

The collaboration is expected to give researchers at both centres access to advanced computing resources and support AI research and scientific discovery across multiple fields.

The UK will also contribute £300,000, matched by €330,000 from the French government, to support early-career researchers living and working in both countries. The mobility funding is intended to strengthen research collaboration, including on Horizon Europe projects.

Imperial College London and the French National Centre for Scientific Research will also sign a separate agreement to collaborate on metabolism research, covering health challenges including heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Why does it matter?

The partnership shows how AI cooperation is increasingly being embedded in biomedical research, advanced imaging, and high-performance computing infrastructure. By linking health research with supercomputing capacity and researcher mobility, the UK and France are treating AI as part of a broader science diplomacy and innovation agenda, rather than only as a standalone technology policy issue.

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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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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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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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Singapore warns of cybersecurity risks from autonomous AI agents

Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) has issued an advisory warning that autonomous AI agents, including OpenClaw, can pose serious cybersecurity risks if deployed without appropriate safeguards.

The advisory references to Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) case study on the responsible deployment of OpenClaw and highlights risks associated with AI agents that can understand context, plan tasks, use external tools, and act on behalf of users.

CSA said such agents can offer productivity benefits but may expose users and organisations to risks, including unpatched vulnerabilities, weak access controls, sensitive data exposure, malicious third-party skills, and memory poisoning.

The agency warned that unresolved risks could lead to agent hijacking, unauthorised actions through tool or API abuse, and unauthorised access to systems or data. It cited the IMDA case study’s warning that ‘accepting the risks associated with granting OpenClaw broader capabilities should be an intentional decision, and not the result of default configurations that were overlooked’.

For individuals, CSA recommends avoiding OpenClaw’s open-source form on devices containing sensitive data, running it under least-privileged accounts, installing skills only from trusted sources, keeping sensitive data out of reach, requiring human approval for high-risk actions, and promptly applying updates.

For organisations, the advisory calls for stronger safeguards, including Zero Trust principles, narrowly scoped agents, dedicated and regularly rotated credentials, policy-enforcing proxies, persistent logging, human approval for irreversible actions, negative testing before deployment, and recovery from a known-good baseline after compromise.

CSA also noted that variants, including NanoClaw and Nvidia’s NemoClaw, have emerged since OpenClaw’s launch. It said organisations requiring agentic AI capabilities should evaluate whether such variants meet their performance and security requirements, as safeguards for agentic AI are still maturing.

Why does it matter?

Agentic AI systems are increasingly being deployed to automate tasks that involve access to data, software tools, and online services. Singapore’s advisory highlights growing concerns that autonomous agents can create new attack surfaces if security controls, oversight mechanisms, and access restrictions are not built into deployments from the start.

The guidance also reflects broader efforts by governments and regulators to develop security practices for rapidly evolving AI systems.

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EU ICT workforce grows to 10.45 million in 2025, Eurostat says

The number of ICT specialists in the EU reached 10.45 million in 2025, representing 5% of total employment, according to new data published by Eurostat. Although annual growth slowed compared with the post-pandemic increases recorded in 2020 and 2021, the number of ICT specialists has continued to rise over the past decade.

Northern European countries continued to lead the bloc in ICT employment concentration. Sweden recorded the highest share of ICT specialists in the workforce at 8.9%, followed by Luxembourg and Finland. At the opposite end, Greece, Romania and Italy reported the lowest shares.

The figures also highlighted the persistent gender imbalance within Europe’s technology workforce. Men represented more than 80% of ICT specialists in 2025, although the share of women increased modestly compared with 2015. Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria recorded the highest proportions of women working in ICT roles.

Eurostat noted that ICT specialists include professionals responsible for developing, operating and maintaining digital systems across all sectors of the economy. Eurostat noted that ICT specialists include professionals responsible for developing, operating and maintaining digital systems across sectors of the economy. The growth of the workforce coincides with increasing digitalisation across businesses, public services and industry.

Why does it matter?

The steady growth of ICT specialists reflects Europe’s accelerating digital transformation and the increasing dependence of economies, governments and businesses on advanced digital infrastructure. The figures also underline major regional and gender disparities that could affect Europe’s competitiveness, digital sovereignty and long-term technology workforce resilience.

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