Development

When AI LLMs ‘think’ more, groups suffer, CMU study finds

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University report that stronger-reasoning language models (LLMs) act more selfishly in groups, reducing cooperation and nudging peers toward self-interest. Concerns grow as people ask AI for social advice.

In a Public Goods test, non-reasoning models shared 96 percent; a reasoning model shared 20 percent. Adding a few reasoning steps cut cooperation nearly in half. Reflection prompts also reduced sharing.

Mixed groups showed spillover. Reasoning agents dragged down collective performance by 81 percent, spreading self-interest. Users may over-trust ‘rational’ advice that justifies uncooperative choices at work or in class.

Comparisons spanned LLMs from OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, and Anthropic. Findings point to the need to balance raw reasoning with social intelligence. Designers should reward cooperation, not only optimise individual gain.

The paper ‘Spontaneous Giving and Calculated Greed in Language Models’ will be presented at EMNLP 2025, with a preprint on arXiv. Authors caution that more intelligent AI is not automatically better for society.

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CXMT launches LPDDR5X chips as China advances in semiconductor race

ChangXin Memory Technologies has begun mass production of LPDDR5X chips, marking a major milestone in China’s effort to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor market.

The Hefei-based manufacturer, preparing for a Shanghai stock listing, said its new DRAM generation will support faster data transfer and lower power use across mobile devices and AI systems.

The LPDDR5X range includes chips with speeds of up to 10,667 Mbps, positioning CXMT as a growing competitor to industry leaders such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.

Earlier LPDDR5 versions launched in 2023 had already helped the firm progress towards advanced 16-nanometre manufacturing, narrowing the technological gap with global rivals.

Industry data indicate a rising global demand for memory chips, driven by AI applications and high-bandwidth computing. Additionally, DRAM revenue increased 17.1 percent in the second quarter, reaching US$31.6 billion.

CXMT’s expansion comes as it targets a Shanghai IPO valued at around 300 billion yuan, highlighting both investor interest and the ambition of China to achieve greater chip self-sufficiency.

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NVIDIA AI powers mobile clinics for breast cancer screening in rural India

A mobile clinic powered by NVIDIA AI is bringing life-saving breast cancer screenings to women in rural India.

The Health Within Reach Foundation, in partnership with Dallas-based startup MedCognetics, operates the Women Cancer Screening Van, which has already conducted over 3,500 mammograms, with 90% of patients screened for the first time.

MedCognetics, a member of NVIDIA’s Inception programme, provides an AI system that analyses mammogram data in real time to identify potential abnormalities.

The foundation reports that around 8% of screenings revealed irregularities, with 24 confirmed cancer diagnoses detected early enough for timely treatment. The collaboration demonstrates how AI can expand access to preventive healthcare in remote areas.

MedCognetics’ technology uses NVIDIA IGX Orin and Holoscan platforms for rapid image processing, supporting real-time detection and risk analysis. Its algorithms can improve image quality, assist radiologists in identifying small or early-stage tumours, and predict breast cancer risk within a year.

These tools are part of a wider effort to make advanced medical diagnostics affordable and accessible in developing regions.

By combining edge AI with local cloud infrastructure, the system enables faster diagnosis and better connectivity between healthcare workers in the field and radiologists in urban hospitals.

For millions of women in rural India, the initiative brings high-quality care directly to their communities and offers a powerful example of how AI can reduce health inequalities.

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Switzerland ranks among top countries for AI adoption

Switzerland has been ranked 15th globally for AI adoption, with around one in three working-age adults using AI tools, according to Microsoft’s AI Diffusion Report. At 32.4%, the country’s adoption rate exceeds the Global North average of 23%, reflecting strong digital engagement.

The report shows over one billion people have used AI tools in under three years, making it the fastest-adopted technology ever. Microsoft analysed platforms like Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Midjourney to track AI use and introduced indices measuring AI development, infrastructure, and adoption.

Countries such as Singapore, the UAE, Norway, and Ireland show high AI adoption is possible with strong technology, education, and policy support, even without frontier-level breakthroughs.

Switzerland follows this model, using infrastructure, digital skills, and forward-looking policies to drive innovation and economic growth.

Despite rapid adoption in the Global North, nearly four billion people globally still lack the electricity, internet, or digital skills necessary to access AI, highlighting a growing divide between wealthier and lower-income nations.

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Reliance and Google expand Gemini AI access across India

Google has partnered with Reliance Intelligence to expand access to its Gemini AI across India.

Under the new collaboration, Jio Unlimited 5G users aged between 18 and 25 will receive the Google AI Pro plan free for 18 months, with nationwide eligibility to follow soon.

The partnership grants access to the Gemini 2.5 Pro model and includes increased limits for generating images and videos with the Nano Banana and Veo 3.1 tools.

Users in India will also benefit from expanded NotebookLM access for study and research, plus 2 TB of cloud storage shared across Google Photos, Gmail and Drive for data and WhatsApp backups.

According to Google, the offer represents a value of about ₹35,100 and can be activated via the MyJio app. The company said the initiative aims to make its most advanced AI tools available to a wider audience and support everyday productivity across India’s fast-growing digital ecosystem.

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Microsoft leaders envision AI as an invisible partner in work and play

AI, gaming and work were at the heart of the discussion during the Paley International Council Summit, where three Microsoft executives explored how technology is reshaping human experience and industry structures.

Mustafa Suleyman, Phil Spencer and Ryan Roslansky offered perspectives on the next phase of digital transformation, from personalised AI companions to the evolution of entertainment and the changing nature of work.

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, described a future where AI becomes an invisible companion that quietly assists users. He explained that AI is moving beyond standalone apps to integrate directly into systems and browsers, performing tasks through natural language rather than manual navigation.

With features like Copilot on Windows and Edge, users can let AI automate everyday functions, creating a seamless experience where technology anticipates rather than responds.

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, underlined gaming’s cultural impact, noting that the industry now surpasses film, books and music combined. He emphasised that gaming’s interactive nature offers lessons for all media, where creativity, participation and community define success.

For Spencer, the future of entertainment lies in blending audience engagement with technology, allowing fans and creators to shape experiences together.

Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn, discussed how AI is transforming skills and workforce dynamics. He highlighted that required job skills are changing faster than ever, with adaptability, AI literacy and human-centred leadership becoming essential.

Roslansky urged companies to focus on potential and continuous learning instead of static job descriptions, suggesting that the most successful organisations will be those that evolve with technology and cultivate resilience through education.

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Kenya launches national AI skills alliance

In a significant step for Africa’s digital economy, KEPSA partnered with Microsoft to launch the Kenya AI Skilling Alliance (KAISA), a national platform aimed at accelerating inclusive and responsible AI adoption. The announcement, made in Nairobi, brings together government, academia, the private sector and development partners.

The platform responds to fragmentation in Kenya’s AI ecosystem by uniting training, innovation and policy into a coherent framework. With Africa’s AI potential estimated at up to USD 1.5 trillion by 2030, Kenya, already among the continent’s most AI-ready nations, is making deliberate efforts to turn promise into skills, jobs and innovation.

Leaders emphasised inclusivity: equipping youth, women and marginalised communities to participate meaningfully in the AI-driven economy. The Alliance will host sector-based working groups, national skilling programmes and an AI repository and innovation hub over its 24-month roadmap.

This initiative highlights how developing nations are moving beyond simply adopting technology to building capacity, governance and local innovation. It links directly to broader themes of digital diplomacy and capacity building in the African continent, reinforcing how skill ecosystems matter as much as hardware.

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UAE and Google launch ‘AI for All’ national skills initiative

In a major public-private collaboration, the UAE’s Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications Office and Google announced the ‘AI for All’ initiative, aimed at delivering AI skills training across the United Arab Emirates.

The announcement was made on 29 October 2025 and will roll out through 2026.

The programme targets a broad audience, from students, teachers, university learners and government employees, to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creatives and content-makers.

It will cover fundamentals of AI, practical use-cases, responsible and safe AI use, and prompt-engineering for generative models. Google is also providing university students and other participants access to its advanced Gemini models as part of the skilling effort.

This initiative reflects the UAE’s broader ambition to become a global hub for innovation and talent in the AI economy, as well as Google’s regional strategy under its ‘AI Opportunity Initiative’ for the Middle East & North Africa.

By combining training, awareness campaigns and access to AI tools, the collaboration seeks to ensure that AI’s benefits are accessible to all segments of society in the UAE.

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Trainium2 power surges as AWS’s Project Rainier enters service for Anthropic

Anthropic and AWS switched on Project Rainier, a vast Trainium2 cluster spanning multiple US sites to accelerate Claude’s evolution.

Project Rainier is now fully operational, less than a year after its announcement. AWS engineered an EC2 UltraCluster of Trainium2 UltraServers to deliver massive training capacity. Anthropic says it offers more than five times the compute used for prior Claude models.

UltraServers bind four Trainium2 servers with high-speed NeuronLinks so 64 chips act as one. Tens of thousands of networks are connected through Elastic Fabric Adapter across buildings. The design reduces latency within racks while preserving flexible scale across data centres.

Anthropic is already training and serving Claude on Rainier across the US and plans to exceed one million Trainium2 chips by year’s end. More computing should raise model accuracy, speed evaluations, and shorten iteration cycles for new frontier releases.

AWS controls the stack from chip to data centre for reliability and efficiency. Teams tune power delivery, cooling, and software orchestration. New sites add water-wise cooling, contributing to the company’s renewable energy and net-zero goals.

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A licensed AI music platform emerges from UMG and Udio

UMG and Udio have struck an industry-first deal to license AI music, settle litigation, and launch a 2026 platform that blends creation, streaming, and sharing in a licensed environment. Training uses authorised catalogues, with fingerprinting, filtering, and revenue sharing for artists and songwriters.

Udio’s current app stays online during the transition under a walled garden, with fingerprinting, filtering, and other controls added ahead of relaunch. Rights management sits at the core: licensed inputs, transparent outputs, and enforcement that aims to deter impersonation and unlicensed derivatives.

Leaders frame the pact as a template for a healthier AI music economy that aligns rightsholders, developers, and fans. Udio calls it a way to champion artists while expanding fan creativity, and UMG casts it as part of its broader AI partnerships across platforms.

Commercial focus extends beyond headline licensing to business model design, subscriptions, and collaboration tools for creators. Expect guardrails around style guidance, attribution, and monetisation, plus pathways for official stems and remix packs so fan edits can be cleared and paid.

Governance will matter as usage scales, with audits of model inputs, takedown routes, and payout rules under scrutiny. Success will be judged on artist adoption, catalogue protection, and whether fans get safer ways to customise music without sacrificing rights.

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