OpenAI is set to air its first-ever television advert during the upcoming Super Bowl, marking its entry into commercial advertising. The Wall Street Journal reported that the AI company will join other major tech firms in leveraging the massive Super Bowl audience to promote its brand. Google previously used the event to highlight its AI capabilities.
The Super Bowl is one of the most sought-after advertising platforms, with high costs reflecting its enormous reach. A 30-second slot for the 2025 game has sold for up to $8 million, an increase from $7 million last year.
The 2024 Super Bowl attracted an estimated 210 million viewers, and this year’s event will take place in New Orleans on 9 February at the Caesars Superdome.
OpenAI has seen rapid growth since launching ChatGPT in 2022, reaching over 300 million weekly active users. The company is in talks to raise up to $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation and recently appointed Kate Rouch as its first chief marketing officer. Microsoft holds a significant stake in the AI firm.
Greece is taking steps to address the impact of AI on the labour market by strengthening its Labour Market Needs Assessment Mechanism and implementing retraining programs. Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Labour Minister Niki Kerameus highlighted the rapid pace of AI development and its transformative effects on the workforce. She emphasised the need for protective measures to ensure workers benefit fully from AI’s potential.
Kerameus outlined two key initiatives Greece is focusing on. The first involves mapping current and future labour market needs, especially for new skills and specialities driven by AI. The Ministry of Labour is enhancing its market needs with a diagnostic mechanism to track real-time employee skills and labour market demands.
The second initiative involves retraining programs to help workers adapt to the evolving job landscape. Kerameus reassured that while AI will continue to change how people work, it should not be feared. Greece is prioritising skills programs, particularly in digital and green sectors, and aims to involve 10% of the active workforce in these initiatives by 2026.
SKY Perfect JSAT plans to invest approximately $230 million in a new satellite constellation. The project will utilise Pelican satellites from US-based Planet Labs and will be managed through the company’s American subsidiary.
The investment marks JSAT’s entry into the Earth observation satellite business, expanding its operations beyond broadcasting and communications. The new satellite network aims to enhance data collection and imaging capabilities from low-Earth orbit.
Following the announcement, JSAT shares surged by as much as 9%. The company remains the largest operator of broadcast and communication satellites in Japan and Asia.
OpenAI is set to introduce an education-focused version of its chatbot to around 500,000 students and faculty at California State University. The rollout, covering 23 campuses, aims to provide personalised tutoring for students and administrative support for faculty members. The initiative is part of OpenAI’s broader effort to integrate its technology into education despite initial concerns about cheating and plagiarism.
Universities such as the Wharton School, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Oxford have already adopted ChatGPT Enterprise. In response, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Edu in May last year to cater specifically to academic institutions. The education sector has become a growing focus for AI companies, with Alphabet investing $120 million into AI education programs and preparing to introduce its Gemini chatbot into school-issued Google accounts for teenage students.
Competition in AI-driven education is intensifying. In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer inaugurated the first Google-funded AI university in London, providing teens with AI and machine learning resources. As AI adoption in schools increases, major tech companies are vying for a dominant role in shaping the future of digital learning.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is keen to accelerate the creation of the digital euro, particularly following US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of stablecoins linked to the US dollar. ECB board member Piero Cipollone highlighted that Trump’s backing could push European lawmakers to fast-track the legislation for the digital euro. The ECB envisions the digital euro as a central bank-backed online wallet, offering an alternative to major US payment providers like Visa and PayPal.
Despite the European Commission’s proposal for digital euro legislation in June 2023, progress has been slow due to some scepticism in the political and banking sectors. Cipollone remains optimistic that recent developments, including the rise of US stablecoins, will prompt greater urgency from EU lawmakers. He expressed hope that the digital euro legislation could be finalised by summer, allowing for negotiations with the Commission to be wrapped up before November.
Cipollone also raised concerns over the growing use of US stablecoins in Europe, warning that it could lead to a shift of deposits from European banks to the US. He acknowledged bankers’ fears that a digital euro could have a similar effect. Still, he reassured that the ECB would likely limit the amount of digital euros users can hold to prevent destabilisation. Several countries, including Nigeria and China, have already launched central bank digital currencies, while many others, such as Russia and Brazil, are in the testing phase.
Australia has banned Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from all government devices, citing security risks. The directive, issued by the Department of Home Affairs, requires all government entities to prevent the installation of DeepSeek’s applications and remove any existing instances from official systems. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that the immediate ban was necessary to safeguard Australia’s national security.
The move follows similar action taken by Italy and Taiwan, with other countries also reviewing potential risks posed by the AI firm. DeepSeek has drawn global attention for its cost-effective AI models, which have disrupted the industry by operating with lower hardware requirements than competitors. The rapid rise of the company has raised concerns over data security, particularly regarding its Chinese origins.
This is not the first time Australia has taken such action against a Chinese technology firm. Two years ago, the government imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok for similar security reasons. As scrutiny over AI intensifies, more governments may follow Australia’s lead in limiting DeepSeek’s reach within public sector networks.
Google has removed a key passage from its AI principles that previously committed to steering clear of potentially harmful applications, including weapons. The now-missing section, titled ‘AI applications we will not pursue,’ explicitly stated that the company would not develop technologies likely to cause harm, as seen in archived versions of the page reviewed by Bloomberg.
The change has sparked concern among AI ethics experts. Margaret Mitchell, former co-lead of Google’s ethical AI team and now chief ethics scientist at Hugging Face, criticised the move. ‘Having that removed is erasing the work that so many people in the ethical AI space and the activist space as well had done at Google, and more problematically, it means Google will probably now work on deploying technology directly that can kill people,’ she said.
With ethics guardrails shifting, questions remain about how Google will navigate the evolving AI landscape—and whether its revised stance signals a broader industry trend toward prioritising market dominance over ethical considerations.
The UK government has launched its Code of Practice for the Cyber Security of AI, a voluntary framework designed to enhance security in AI development. The code sets out 13 principles aimed at reducing risks such as AI-driven cyberattacks, system failures, and data vulnerabilities.
The guidelines apply to developers, system operators, and data custodians (any type of business, organisation or individual that controls data permissions and the integrity of data that is used for any AI model or system to function) responsible for creating, deploying, or managing AI systems. Companies that solely sell AI models or components fall under separate regulations. According to the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, the code will help ensure AI is developed and deployed securely while fostering innovation and economic growth.
Key recommendations include implementing AI security training, establishing recovery plans, conducting risk assessments, maintaining system inventories, and ensuring transparency about data usage. One of the principles calls to enable human responsibility for AI systems and prescribes to ensure AI decisions are explainable and users understand their responsibilities.
The code references existing standards and best practices for secure software development and security by design, as well as provides useful definitions.
The release of the code follows the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, which outlines strategies to expand the nation’s AI sector and establish global leadership in the field. It also coincides with a call from the National Cyber Security Centre urging software vendors to eliminate ‘unforgivable vulnerabilities‘—security flaws that are easy and cost-effective to fix but are often overlooked in favour of speed and new features.
This code also builds on NCSC’s Guidelines for Secure AI Development which were published in November 2023 and endorsed by 19 international partners.
China’s antitrust regulator is reportedly preparing to investigate Apple’s App Store policies and fees, including its 30% commission on in-app purchases and restrictions on external payment services. The move follows recent measures targeting US businesses, including Google and fashion brand Calvin Klein, just as new US tariffs on Chinese goods emerged. Apple’s shares fell 2.6% in premarket trading following the news.
The investigation, led by the State Administration for Market Regulation, comes after ongoing discussions between Chinese regulators, Apple executives, and app developers over the past year. While neither Apple nor the Chinese antitrust regulator has commented on the matter, the move is seen as part of broader scrutiny of US companies operating in China.
In a separate development, Google was also accused of violating China’s anti-monopoly laws, with experts speculating the probe could be linked to Google’s Android operating system and its influence over Chinese mobile manufacturers. Additionally, China’s Commerce Ministry added PVH Corp, the owner of brands like Calvin Klein, to its “unreliable entity” list.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday to discuss India’s vision of developing a low-cost AI ecosystem. Vaishnaw shared on X that the meeting centred on India’s strategy to build a comprehensive AI stack, including GPUs, models, and applications. He noted that OpenAI expressed interest in collaborating on all three aspects.
Altman’s visit to India, his first since 2023, comes amid ongoing legal challenges the company faces in the country, which is its second-largest market by user numbers. Vaishnaw recently praised Chinese startup DeepSeek for its affordable AI assistant, drawing parallels between DeepSeek’s cost-effective approach and India’s goal of creating a budget-friendly AI model. Vaishnaw highlighted India’s ability to achieve major technological feats at a fraction of the cost, as demonstrated by its moon mission.
Altman’s trip also included stops in Japan and South Korea, where he secured deals with SoftBank and Kakao. In Seoul, he discussed the Stargate AI data centre project with SoftBank and Samsung, a venture backed by US President Donald Trump.
