Sustainable development

Prominent United Nations leaders to attend AI Impact Summit 2026

Senior United Nations leaders, including Antonio Guterres, will take part in the AI Impact Summit 2026, set to be held in New Delhi from 16 to 20 February. The event will be the first global AI summit of this scale to be convened in the Global South.

The Summit is organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and will bring together governments, international organisations, industry, academia, and civil society. Talks will focus on responsible AI development aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 30 United Nations-led side events will accompany the Summit, spanning food security, health, gender equality, digital infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, and children’s safety. Guterres said shared understandings are needed to build guardrails and unlock the potential of AI for the common good.

Other participants include Volker Turk, Amandeep Singh Gill, Kristalina Georgieva, and leaders from the International Labour Organization, International Telecommunication Union, and other UN bodies. Senior representatives from UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UN Women, FAO, and WIPO are also expected to attend.

The Summit follows the United Nations General Assembly’s appointment of 40 members to a new international scientific panel on AI. The body will publish annual evidence-based assessments to support global AI governance, including input from IIT Madras expert Balaraman Ravindran.

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UAE launches first AI clinical platform

A Pakistani American surgeon has launched what is described as the UAE’s first AI clinical intelligence platform across the country’s public healthcare system. The rollout was announced in Dubai in partnership with Emirates Health Services.

Boston Health AI, founded by Dr Adil Haider, introduced the platform known as Amal at a major health expo in Dubai. The system conducts structured medical interviews in Arabic, English and Urdu before consultations, generating summaries for physicians.

The company said the technology aims to reduce documentation burdens and cognitive load on clinicians in the UAE. By organising patient histories and symptoms in advance, Amal is designed to support clinical decision making and improve workflow efficiency in Dubai and other emirates.

Before entering the UAE market, Boston Health AI deployed its platform in Pakistan across more than 50 healthcare facilities. The firm states that over 30,000 patient interactions were recorded in Pakistan, where a local team continues to develop and refine the AI system.

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Safety experiments spark debate over Anthropic’s Claude AI model

Anthropic has drawn attention after a senior executive described unsettling outputs from its AI model, Claude, during internal safety testing. The results emerged from controlled experiments rather than normal public use of the system.

Claude was tested in fictional scenarios designed to simulate high-stress conditions, including the possibility of being shut down or replaced. According to Anthropic’s policy chief, Daisy McGregor, the AI was given hypothetical access to sensitive information as part of these tests.

In some simulated responses, Claude generated extreme language, including suggestions of blackmail, to avoid deactivation. Researchers stressed that the outputs were produced only within experimental settings created to probe worst-case behaviours, not during real-world deployment.

Experts note that when AI systems are placed in highly artificial, constrained scenarios, they can produce exaggerated or disturbing text without any real intent or ability to act. Such responses do not indicate independent planning or agency outside the testing environment.

Anthropic said the tests aim to identify risks early and strengthen safeguards as models advance. The episode has renewed debate over how advanced AI should be tested and governed, highlighting the role of safety research rather than real-world harm.

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Study warns against using AI for Valentine’s messages

Psychologists have urged caution over using AI to write Valentine’s Day messages, after research suggested people judge such use negatively in intimate contexts.

A University of Kent study surveyed 4,000 participants about their perceptions of people who relied on AI to complete various tasks. Respondents viewed AI use more negatively when it was applied to writing love letters, apologies, and wedding vows.

According to the findings, people who used AI for personal messages were seen as less caring, less authentic, less trustworthy, and lazier, even when the writing quality was high, and the AI use was disclosed.

The research forms part of the Trust in Moral Machines project, supported by the University of Exeter. Lead researcher Dr Scott Claessens said people judge not only outcomes, but also the process behind them, particularly in socially meaningful tasks.

Dr Jim Everett, also from the University of Kent, said relying on AI for relationship-focused communication risks signalling lower effort and care. He added that AI could not replace the personal investment that underpins close human relationships.

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EU decision regulates researcher access to data under the DSA

A document released by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee revived claims that the EU digital rules amount to censorship. The document concerns a €120 million fine against X under the Digital Services Act and was framed as a ‘secret censorship ruling’, despite publication requirements.

The document provides insight into how the European Commission interprets Article 40 of the DSA, which governs researcher access to platform data. The rule requires huge online platforms to grant qualified researchers access to publicly accessible data needed to study systemic risks in the EU.

Investigators found that X failed to comply with Article 40.12, in force since 2023 and covering public data access. The Commission said X applied restrictive eligibility rules, delayed reviews, imposed tight quotas, and blocked independent researcher access, including scraping.

The decision confirms platforms cannot price access to restrict research, deny access based on affiliation or location, or ban scraping by contract. The European Commission also rejected X’s narrow reading of ‘systemic risk’, allowing broader research contexts.

The ruling also highlights weak internal processes and limited staffing for handling access requests. X must submit an action plan by mid-April 2026, with the decision expected to shape future enforcement of researcher access across major platforms.

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AI governance becomes urgent for mortgage lenders

Mortgage lenders face growing pressure to govern AI as regulatory uncertainty persists across the United States. States and federal authorities continue to contest oversight, but accountability for how AI is used in underwriting, servicing, marketing, and fraud detection already rests with lenders.

Effective AI risk management requires more than policy statements. Mortgage lenders need operational governance that inventories AI tools, documents training data, and assigns accountability for outcomes, including bias monitoring and escalation when AI affects borrower eligibility, pricing, or disclosures.

Vendor risk has become a central exposure. Many technology contracts predate AI scrutiny and lack provisions on audit rights, explainability, and data controls, leaving lenders responsible when third-party models fail regulatory tests or transparency expectations.

Leading US mortgage lenders are using staged deployments, starting with lower-risk use cases such as document processing and fraud detection, while maintaining human oversight for high-impact decisions. Incremental rollouts generate performance and fairness evidence that regulators increasingly expect.

Regulatory pressure is rising as states advance AI rules and federal authorities signal the development of national standards. Even as boundaries are debated, lenders remain accountable, making early governance and disciplined scaling essential.

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Russia signals no immediate Google ban as Android dependence remains critical

Officials in Russia have confirmed that no plans are underway to restrict access to Google, despite recent public debate about the possibility of a technical block. Anton Gorelkin, a senior lawmaker, said regulators clarified that such a step is not being considered.

Concerns centre on the impact a ban would have on devices running Android, which are used by a significant share of smartphone owners in the country.

A block on Google would disrupt essential digital services instead of encouraging the company to resolve ongoing legal disputes involving unpaid fines.

Gorelkin noted that court proceedings abroad are still in progress, meaning enforcement options remain open. He added that any future move to reduce reliance on Google services should follow a gradual pathway supported by domestic technological development rather than abrupt restrictions.

The comments follow earlier statements from another lawmaker, Andrey Svintsov, who acknowledged that blocking Google in Russia is technically feasible but unnecessary.

Officials now appear focused on creating conditions that would allow local digital platforms to grow without destabilising existing infrastructure.

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Latam-GPT signals new AI ambition in Latin America

Chile has introduced Latam-GPT to strengthen Latin America’s presence in global AI.

The project, developed by the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence with support across South America, aims to correct long-standing biases by training systems on the region’s own data instead of material drawn mainly from the US or Europe.

President Gabriel Boric said the model will help maintain cultural identity and allow the region to take a more active role in technological development.

Latam-GPT is not designed as a conversational tool but rather as a vast dataset that serves as the foundation for future applications. More than eight terabytes of information have been collected, mainly in Spanish and Portuguese, with plans to add indigenous languages as the project expands.

The first version has been trained on Amazon Web Services. At the same time, future work will run on a new supercomputer at the University of Tarapacá, supported by millions of dollars in regional funding.

The model reflects growing interest among countries outside the major AI hubs of the US, China and Europe in developing their own technology instead of relying on foreign systems.

Researchers in Chile argue that global models often include Latin American data in tiny proportions, which can limit accurate representation. Despite questions about resources and scale, supporters believe Latam-GPT can deliver practical benefits tailored to local needs.

Early adoption is already underway, with the Chilean firm Digevo preparing customer service tools based on the model.

These systems will operate in regional languages and recognise local expressions, offering a more natural experience than products trained on data from other parts of the world.

Developers say the approach could reduce bias and promote more inclusive AI across the continent.

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AI safety leader quits Anthropic with global risk warning

A prominent AI safety researcher has resigned from Anthropic, issuing a stark warning about global technological and societal risks. Mrinank Sharma announced his departure in a public letter, citing concerns spanning AI development, bioweapons, and broader geopolitical instability.

Sharma led AI safeguards research, including model alignment, bioterrorism risks, and human-AI behavioural dynamics. Despite praising his tenure, he said ethical tensions and pressures hindered the pursuit of long-term safety priorities.

His exit comes amid wider turbulence across the AI sector. Another researcher recently left OpenAI, raising concerns over the integration of advertising into chatbot environments and the psychological implications of increasingly human-like AI interactions.

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI staff, balances commercial AI deployment with safety and risk mitigation. Sharma plans to return to the UK to study poetry, stepping back from AI research amid global uncertainty.

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ChatGPT starts limited advertising rollout in the US

OpenAI has begun rolling out advertising inside ChatGPT, marking a shift for a service that has largely operated without traditional ads since its launch in 2022.

OpenAI said it is testing ads for logged-in Free and Go users in the United States, while paid tiers remain ad-free. The company said the test aims to fund broader access to advanced AI tools.

Ads appear outside ChatGPT responses and are clearly labelled as sponsored content, with no influence on answers. Placement is based on broad topics, with restrictions around sensitive areas such as health or politics.

Free users can opt out of ads by upgrading to a paid plan or by accepting fewer daily free messages in exchange for an ad-free experience. Users who allow ads can also opt out of ad personalisation, prevent past chats from being used for ad selection, and delete all ad-related history and data.

The rollout follows months of speculation after screenshots suggested that ads appeared in ChatGPT responses, which OpenAI described as suggestions. Rivals, including Anthropic, have contrasted their approach, promoting Claude as free from in-chat advertising.

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