Researchers are using satellite imagery and AI modelling to map global mining activity and close critical data gaps. Transition minerals, such as lithium and copper, are vital for renewable technologies but often come from ecologically sensitive regions, raising concerns about both environmental and social impacts.
Project lead Victor Maus from the Vienna University of Economics and Business said many new projects overlap with areas of high biodiversity or Indigenous lands. Over half of transition mineral resources are on or near Indigenous or subsistence farming territories, according to earlier studies.
Previous mapping efforts have struggled to document small-scale and informal mining, which remains unregulated despite its impact. Maus’s team compared satellite images of 120,000 square kilometres of mine footprints with the S&P Capital IQ Pro database and found over half missing.
To close these gaps, the team is creating a mining database under the EU-funded Mine the Gap initiative. By combining multispectral, radar, and hyperspectral imagery with AI, they aim to monitor land use, waste generation, and environmental degradation.
Experts say the database could support policymakers and increase transparency. Maus emphasised that global reporting standards are crucial for enhancing accountability and informing decisions on managing the environmental and social impacts of mining.
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Countries are racing to harness AI, and the European Commission has unveiled two strategies to maintain Europe’s competitiveness. Apply AI targets faster adoption across industries and the public sector, while AI in Science focuses on boosting Europe’s research leadership.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that Europe must shape AI’s future by balancing innovation and safety. The European Commission is mobilising €1 billion to boost adoption in healthcare, manufacturing, energy, defence, and culture, while supporting SMEs.
Measures include creating AI-powered screening centres for healthcare, backing frontier models, and upgrading testing infrastructure. An Apply AI Alliance will unite industry, academia, civil society, and public bodies to coordinate action, while an AI Observatory will monitor sector trends and impacts.
The AI in Science Strategy centres on RAISE, a new virtual institute to pool and coordinate resources for applying AI in research. Investments include €600 million in compute power through Horizon Europe and €58 million for talent networks, alongside plans to double annual AI research funding to over €3 billion.
The EU aims to position itself as a global hub for trustworthy and innovative AI by linking infrastructure, data, skills, and investment. Upcoming events, such as the AI in Science Summit in Copenhagen, will showcase new initiatives as Europe pushes to translate its AI ambitions into tangible outcomes.
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The European Commission has launched the AI in Science Strategy to position Europe at the forefront of AI-driven research and innovation. RAISE, a virtual European institute, pools AI resources to support scientific research and advance capabilities across Europe.
The strategy aims to attract global talent, provide €600 million from Horizon Europe for computational power, and double annual AI investments to over €3 billion. These measures aim to ensure researchers and startups have access to the infrastructure needed for AI breakthroughs.
It also supports scientists in identifying strategic data gaps, gathering, curating, and integrating datasets essential for AI in science. By doing so, Europe seeks to create a robust, data-driven environment that accelerates innovation across disciplines.
The Apply AI Strategy is also being implemented to encourage AI adoption in key industries and public services. Together with the AI Act Service Desk and AI Continent Action Plan, these initiatives strengthen Europe’s goal to lead in scientific research and industrial AI adoption.
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The US tech giant, Google, has announced a €5 billion investment in Belgium to strengthen its AI and cloud infrastructure over the next two years.
A plan that includes major expansions of its Saint-Ghislain data centre campuses and the creation of 300 full-time jobs.
The company has also signed agreements with Eneco, Luminus and Renner to develop new onshore wind farms and supply the Belgian grid with clean energy.
Alongside the infrastructure push, Google will fund non-profits to deliver free AI training for low-skilled workers, ensuring broader access to digital skills.
By deepening its presence in Belgium, Google aims to bolster the country’s technological and economic future. The initiative marks one of Europe’s largest AI infrastructure investments, reflecting growing competition to secure leadership in the continent’s digital transformation.
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Alibaba Group has established a robotics AI team within its Qwen lab, marking a significant step in its strategy to expand into AI-powered hardware.
However, this move reflects China’s broader push to lead in robotics and embodied intelligence, increasingly driven by generative AI and multimodal foundation models.
Qwen researcher Lin Junyang revealed the creation of the robotics unit on social media, describing it as part of Alibaba’s efforts to move AI from the virtual to the physical world.
The lab’s Qwen series has already achieved global prominence, with seven models ranking among the world’s top ten on Hugging Face, including the multimodal Qwen3-Omni in first place.
Group chairman Joe Tsai recently stressed that success in AI depends less on model scale and more on how rapidly technologies are adopted. He argued that China is focused on cost-effective, open-source AI models that can enable faster integration than the high-cost approach pursued in the US.
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming confirmed plans to raise AI infrastructure investment to 380 billion yuan over three years to become a full-stack AI provider.
The company also invests in robotics ventures such as Unitree Robotics and X Square Robot, aligning its expansion with national industrial strategies and the country’s accelerating robotics leadership.
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The US startup OpenAI has broadened access to its affordable ChatGPT Go plan, now available in 16 additional countries across Asia, including Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Priced at under $5 per month, the plan offers local currency payments in select regions, while others will pay in USD with tax-adjusted variations.
ChatGPT Go gives users higher message and image-generation limits, increased upload capacity, and double the memory of the free plan.
A move that follows significant regional growth (Southeast Asia’s weekly active users increasing fourfold) and builds on earlier launches in India and Indonesia, where paid subscriptions have already doubled.
The expansion intensifies competition with Google, which recently introduced its Google AI Plus plan in more than 40 countries. Both companies are vying to attract users in fast-growing markets with low-cost AI access, each blending productivity and creative tools into subscription offerings.
At OpenAI’s DevDay 2025 in San Francisco, CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT’s global weekly active users have reached 800 million.
OpenAI is also introducing in-chat applications from partners like Spotify, Zillow, and Coursera, signalling a shift toward transforming ChatGPT into a broader AI platform ecosystem.
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Gemini has announced a significant expansion in Australia, reinforcing its long-term growth strategy across Asia. The move includes appointing James Logan, gaining AUSTRAC registration, and launching new AUD banking rails for faster deposits and trading.
Australians can now deposit funds instantly through Osko and the New Payments Platform (NPP), avoiding international transfer delays and fees. Users can seamlessly buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies using AUD on the Gemini app and the Gemini ActiveTrader platform.
According to Gemini’s Global State of Crypto Report 2025, 22% of Australians already hold digital assets- a rate matching that of the United States.
James Logan will lead Gemini’s Australian operations, overseeing strategy, partnerships, and customer growth. With a background in financial services and senior roles at exchanges like Luno and Bitget, Logan brings deep expertise in digital asset adoption and trust building.
He described Gemini’s expansion as ‘an exciting milestone strengthening Australia’s access to secure and transparent crypto trading.’
Gemini’s mission to bridge traditional finance and the future of money underpins its commitment to trust, transparency, and innovation. The company views its expansion as the start of a long-term effort to empower Australians with secure tools to participate in the next generation of digital finance.
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The agreement will combine innovations across Google Search, Gemini, and Google Cloud. AI tools will assist Team USA with training analysis, while viewers will benefit from more innovative search functions during NBCUniversal’s coverage.
Gemini will also support athletes and organisers with enhanced data insights and communication tools.
Google Cloud will power what is set to be the most technologically advanced Games in history. It will optimise event logistics, analyse performance data, and provide real-time analytics to NBCUniversal.
Meanwhile, YouTube will host exclusive Olympic content, expanding NBCUniversal’s storytelling reach through short-form video.
The partnership underscores how AI and cloud technologies are shaping the future of global events. Fans attending or watching from home will enjoy more immersive, on-demand access to the athletes, competitions, and stories driving LA28.
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AI, omics, and systems biology enable targeted drugs for heart disease pathways once considered untreatable. A new study in Frontiers in Science highlights how these innovations could revolutionise treatment and save millions of lives.
Heart disease remains the leading global killer, partly because generic treatments like statins do not account for individual biological differences.
Researchers say AI-powered precision medicine can identify new gene and protein targets, enabling personalised therapies for each patient’s unique heart disease.
RNA-based drugs are emerging as an up-and-coming solution. Unlike conventional medicines that reach only limited protein targets, RNA therapies can influence almost any gene and may be developed more quickly.
Early trials show they can lower cholesterol more effectively than traditional approaches, with potential to address long-standing ‘undruggable’ pathways in cardiovascular disease.
Experts say realising these treatments requires global leadership and collaboration across academia, industry, and healthcare. Bold investment and open science are crucial to make precision medicine global and reduce heart disease, expected to cause 26 million deaths annually by 2030.
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The Swedish-Swiss electrical engineering corporation ABB has agreed to sell its Robotics division to Japan’s SoftBank Group for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion, abandoning plans for a spin-off.
However, the move marks one of the most significant robotics transactions in recent years, and reflects both firms’ ambition to drive the next era of AI-based automation.
A divestment that will allow ABB to focus on its core businesses in electrification and automation, while SoftBank expands its ‘Physical AI’ strategy.
ABB said the sale would create immediate shareholder value and that proceeds would be used according to its capital allocation principles.
The Robotics division, which employs around 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in 2024 revenues, will become part of SoftBank’s portfolio upon completion of the deal, expected by mid-to-late 2026. The transaction is projected to yield ABB a pre-tax book gain of about $2.4 billion.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said the acquisition aligns with his vision to combine artificial superintelligence and robotics to ‘propel humanity forward’.
ABB’s CEO Morten Wierod said the partnership would unite ABB’s industrial expertise with SoftBank’s AI capabilities, strengthening its global leadership in advanced robotics.
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