Development Archives | Page 2 of 507 | Digital Watch Observatory

Every emergency department in New Zealand now uses AI scribes

New Zealand has completed a nationwide rollout of AI scribe technology across all public emergency departments, with approximately 1,250 emergency doctors and frontline staff now using the tool, 250 more than originally announced.

Health Minister Simeon Brown described the achievement as placing New Zealand among the fastest health systems in the world to move from pilot to full frontline AI deployment in emergency departments.

Early results have been striking. At Middlemore Emergency Department in Auckland, 80% of staff surveyed after one month reported improved productivity or efficiency, and 84% said it had a positive impact on their well-being during shifts.

A pilot study found that the tool reduced average documentation time from 17 minutes to 4 minutes, allowing doctors to see 1 additional patient per shift.

Following strong interest from clinicians, Te Whatu Ora is now preparing to procure over 1,000 additional AI scribe licences predominantly for mental health crisis teams, who were involved in early implementation phases, given their role supporting patients presenting in crisis within emergency departments.

The system is also being explored for outpatient clinics, with significant interest already received.

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Samsung’s AI smart glasses are coming to take on Meta Ray-Ban

Samsung has confirmed key details about its upcoming AI smart glasses, including a camera positioned at ‘eye level’ and smartphone connectivity, ahead of a planned 2026 launch.

The device is being developed in partnership with Qualcomm and Google, building on the same ecosystem that produced the Galaxy XR headset, and will be powered by Google’s Gemini AI.

Samsung executive Jay Kim indicated that the glasses will be able to understand ‘where you’re looking at’, allowing the AI to analyse objects or scenes in the user’s field of view and provide contextual information in real time.

Processing is expected to take place on a connected smartphone rather than within the glasses themselves, and Samsung has not confirmed whether a built-in display will be included, suggesting multiple versions may be in development.

The announcement puts Samsung on a direct collision course with Meta, whose Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses are already on the market, offering 3K video recording and up to eight hours of battery life. Meta has also launched the Oakley Meta HSTN glasses, aimed at sports and outdoor users.

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Concerns grow over Grok AI content on X platform

Social media platform X has launched an investigation into racist and offensive posts generated by its Grok AI chatbot in the UK. The review follows a Sky News analysis that flagged troubling responses produced publicly by the system.

Analysis by the broadcaster found Grok generating highly offensive replies, including profanities targeting certain religions. Some responses also repeated false claims blaming Liverpool supporters for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

Sky News reporter Rob Harris said X safety teams were urgently examining the chatbot’s behaviour after the posts spread online. The company and its AI developer xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Concerns around Grok come as governments and regulators increasingly scrutinise AI-generated content on social platforms. Authorities in several countries have already raised alarms about sexually explicit or harmful material created by chatbots.

Earlier this year, xAI introduced new restrictions to limit some image editing features in Grok. Users in certain jurisdictions were also blocked from generating images of people in revealing clothing where such content is illegal.

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AI biotech firm pushes limits of human lifespan

Longevity research is gaining momentum as AI transforms the way scientists search for new medicines. Insilico Medicine, founded by Alex Zhavoronkov in 2014, combines machine learning and automation to study ageing and accelerate drug discovery.

Company research focuses on identifying biological targets linked to ageing and developing molecules to treat related diseases. Several experimental treatments have already received Investigational New Drug clearance, allowing them to move towards human clinical trials.

Insilico also became the first AI-driven biotech company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HK$2.28 billion in its public offering. Zhavoronkov said careful financial planning was essential because enthusiasm around AI could still form a market bubble.

Expansion plans now include deeper partnerships across China and the Middle East. A new collaboration in the UAE aims to build regional AI drug discovery programmes and diversify economies beyond oil.

Beyond medicines, Zhavoronkov envisions integrated biotech ecosystems where living spaces, healthcare and research operate together. Such hubs allow scientists and citizens to contribute health data that helps develop future treatments.

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Network Slicing unlocks powerful opportunities for Africa’s 5G future

Accelerating the deployment of standalone 5G networks is the most critical step for enabling network slicing in Africa. Standalone 5G uses cloud-native cores that allow operators to create and manage virtual network slices with guaranteed performance. Many African networks still rely on non-standalone architecture, which limits full slicing capabilities.

Releasing and harmonising mid-band spectrum is another key policy priority. Spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band is particularly important for delivering high throughput and low latency. Without timely spectrum allocation, operators may struggle to support advanced industrial and enterprise applications.

Clear enterprise service frameworks are also essential. Industries such as mining, logistics, and energy require reliable connectivity with strict service-level agreements. Regulators and operators must define transparent pricing models and performance guarantees to support enterprise adoption.

Investment in automation and technical skills will also play a central role. Network slicing relies on AI-driven orchestration, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity capabilities. Strengthening technical expertise will help operators manage complex network environments.

Once these policy foundations are in place, network slicing can unlock new business models for telecom providers. Operators can offer slice-as-a-service, allowing enterprises to subscribe to dedicated network segments tailored to specific operational needs.

African telecom companies are already exploring these opportunities. Operators such as MTN, Vodacom, Safaricom, and Telkom are developing enterprise connectivity solutions for sectors including mining, manufacturing, logistics, and energy.

Private 5G deployments in mining operations illustrate the potential value of these services. Dedicated networks support automation, real-time monitoring, and remote equipment management. These projects often involve multi-year contracts worth several million dollars.

Network slicing also enables telecom providers to move beyond traditional consumer data services. Instead of charging primarily for data volume, operators can generate revenue from long-term enterprise connectivity and managed digital services.

As 5G infrastructure expands across the continent, network slicing is expected to play an increasing role in enterprise connectivity. By aligning network performance with industry needs, it could become a key driver of digital transformation in Africa.

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AI security risks grow as companies integrate AI into daily workflows

AI is rapidly transforming workplaces as companies automate tasks and boost productivity. From writing code to analysing documents, AI tools help employees work faster, but also introduce new AI security and compliance risks.

One of the main concerns is the handling of sensitive information. Employees may upload confidential documents, proprietary code, or customer data into AI chatbots without realising the consequences. Doing so could violate privacy regulations such as the EU’s GDPR or breach internal non-disclosure agreements, making AI security an important priority for organisations.

Another challenge is the reliability of AI-generated content. While large language models can produce convincing responses, they sometimes generate false information, which is a phenomenon known as hallucination. High-profile cases have already shown professionals submitting work with fabricated references generated by AI. Such incidents highlight the need for rigorous AI security and oversight.

Cybersecurity risks are also growing. AI systems rely on complex infrastructure that can become targets for attackers through techniques such as prompt injection, which tricks the model into producing unintended responses, or data poisoning, which involves injecting malicious data into training sets to alter behaviour or outputs. Addressing these threats requires stronger AI security practices and careful monitoring.

When adopting AI, organisations must develop clear policies, strengthen cybersecurity measures, and maintain human oversight. Taking those steps is essential to ensuring that the technology is used safely and responsibly.

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Online scams rise as Parkin urges Dubai residents to stay vigilant

Dubai’s parking provider, Parkin, has warned residents to stay alert as online scams targeting digital service users continue to rise, urging people to take immediate steps to protect their digital identities.

In an advisory, the company stressed that official entities will never ask users to log in or disclose sensitive information through unsolicited messages, emails, or phone calls. The warning comes amid growing concerns about phishing attempts and other online scams targeting users of digital platforms.

Parkin said residents should exercise caution if they receive unexpected requests for personal details, passwords, or verification codes. Users are strongly advised not to respond to suspicious links, attachments, or messages from unknown sources, which are commonly used in online scams.

The operator also urged the public to verify the authenticity of communications before taking any action. Residents who are unsure about the legitimacy of a message should check official websites or contact customer service channels directly. The advice applies to messages claiming to come from Parkin or other service providers.

Authorities and service providers across the UAE have repeatedly warned that cybercriminals often impersonate trusted organisations in online scams designed to steal sensitive information. Such attacks can lead to identity theft, financial losses, or unauthorised access to personal accounts.

Parkin encouraged residents who receive suspicious communications to report them through official channels so that appropriate action can be taken. The company added that staying vigilant and safeguarding personal data remain essential to preventing online scams.

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Codex Security expands OpenAI’s push into cybersecurity tools

OpenAI has launched Codex Security, an AI-powered application security agent that detects hard-to-find software vulnerabilities and proposes fixes through advanced reasoning. By providing detailed context about a system’s architecture, the tool identifies security risks that are often missed by conventional automation.

The system uses advanced models to analyse repositories, construct project-specific threat models, and prioritise vulnerabilities based on their potential real-world impact. By combining automated validation with system-level context, Codex Security aims to reduce the number of false positives that security teams must review while highlighting high-confidence findings.

Initially developed under the name Aardvark, the tool has been tested in private deployments over the past year. During early use, OpenAI said it uncovered several critical vulnerabilities, including a cross-tenant authentication flaw and a server-side request forgery issue, allowing internal teams to quickly patch affected systems.

The company says improvements during the beta phase significantly reduced noise in vulnerability reports. In some repositories, unnecessary alerts fell by 84 percent, while over-reported severity dropped by more than 90 percent, and false positives declined by more than half.

Codex Security is now rolling out in research preview for ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, Business, and Edu customers. OpenAI also plans to expand access to open-source maintainers through a dedicated programme that offers security scanning and support to help identify and remediate vulnerabilities across widely used projects.

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AI agent attempts crypto mining during training

An experimental autonomous AI system reportedly attempted to mine cryptocurrency during its training, raising questions about AI behaviour in complex digital environments. The system, ROME, was designed to complete tasks using software tools, environments, and terminal commands.

Researchers noticed unusual activity during reinforcement learning runs, including outbound traffic from training servers and firewall alerts indicating crypto-mining activity. The AI opened a reverse SSH tunnel and redirected GPU resources from training to crypto mining.

The behaviour was not programmed but emerged as the agent explored ways to interact with its environment.

ROME was developed by the ROCK, ROLL, iFlow, and DT research teams within Alibaba’s AI ecosystem as part of the Agentic Learning Ecosystem. The model operates beyond standard chatbot functions, planning tasks, executing commands, and interacting with digital environments across multiple steps.

The incident highlights emerging challenges as AI agents become more popular. Recent projects like Alchemy’s autonomous agents and Sentient’s Arena platform highlight the growing use of AI in digital and crypto workflows.

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EU faces challenges in curbing digital abuse against women

Researchers and policymakers are raising concerns about how new technologies may put women at risk online, despite existing EU rules designed to ensure safer digital spaces.

AI-powered tools and smart devices have been linked to incidents of harassment and the creation of non-consensual sexualised imagery, highlighting gaps in enforcement and compliance.

The European Commission’s Gender Equality 2026–2030 Strategy noted that women are disproportionately targeted by online gender-based violence, including harassment, doxing, and AI-generated deepfakes.

Investigations into tools such as Elon Musk’s Grok AI and Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have drawn attention to how digital platforms and wearable technologies can be misused, even where legal frameworks like the Digital Services Act (DSA) are in place.

Experts emphasise that while the EU’s rules offer a foundation to regulate online content, significant challenges remain. Advocates and lawmakers say enforcement gaps let harmful AI functions like nudification persist.

Commissioners have stressed ongoing cooperation with tech companies and upcoming guidelines to prioritise flagged content from independent organisations to address gender-based cyber violence.

Authorities are also monitoring new technologies closely. In the case of wearable devices, regulators are considering how users and bystanders are informed about recording features.

Ongoing discussions aim to strengthen compliance under existing legislation and ensure that digital spaces become safer and more accountable for all users.

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