Sustainable development

UK tightens grip on Apple and Google mobile power

Apple and Google have been designated with strategic market status over UK mobile platforms. The CMA’s decision covers operating systems, app stores, browsers, and browser engines. Tailored conduct rules and special abuse oversight can now be imposed.

Regulators say entrenched power across iOS and Android risks limiting rivals and developers. The move is enabled by the UK’s DMCC framework and mirrors EU ambitions. Implementation will follow consultations on specific remedies for competition and consumer choice.

In Europe, gatekeeper rules already bite as Apple was fined €500 million over anti-steering. Alphabet faces preliminary findings over Play Store and search preferencing under the DMA. Further penalties could follow if non-compliance persists.

Both companies criticised the UK move, warning of harmed innovation and user experience. Google called the decision disappointing and disproportionate, while Apple attacked EU-style rules. The CMA also recently gave Google’s search and ads businesses SMS status.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot! 

UC Santa Cruz uses NVIDIA AI to map global coastal flood risks

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are using NVIDIA’s accelerated computing to model coastal flooding and support climate adaptation planning.

Led by Professor Michael Beck, the team develops high-resolution, GPU-powered visualisations to assess how coral reefs, mangroves, and dunes can reduce flood damage.

The centre employs NVIDIA CUDA-X software and RTX GPUs to speed up flood simulations from six hours to just 40 minutes. Using tools such as SFINCS and Unreal Engine 5, the team can now generate interactive visual models of storm impact scenarios, providing vital insights for governments and insurers.

The researchers’ current goal is to map flooding risks across small island states worldwide ahead of COP30. Their previous visualisations have already helped secure reef insurance policies in Mexico’s Mesoamerican Barrier Reef region, ensuring funding for coral restoration after severe storms.

A project, part of CoSMoS ADAPT, that aims to expand the US Geological Survey’s coastal modelling system and integrate nature-based solutions like dunes and reefs into large-scale flood resilience strategies.

Through NVIDIA’s technology and academic grants, the initiative demonstrates how accelerated computing can drive real-world environmental protection.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

General Motors unveils AI and robotics innovations for next-generation vehicles

General Motors showcased AI, robotics, and software at GM Forward, showing how cars are becoming intelligent assistants. CEO Mary Barra unveiled advances in autonomy, AI, computing, and energy, signalling a move toward smarter, safer, and more personalised vehicles.

GM plans to bring eyes-off driving to market in 2028, debuting on the Cadillac ESCALADE IQ electric SUV. The company has already mapped 600,000 miles of hands-free roads in North America, with Super Cruise drivers completing 700 million miles without a crash attributed to the system.

Cruise’s driverless technology adds over five million fully autonomous miles of experience, forming the foundation for GM’s next phase of personal autonomy.

Vehicles will also feature conversational AI powered by Google Gemini from next year, allowing drivers to interact naturally with their car. In the future, GM plans to introduce its own AI, fine-tuned to individual vehicles and driver preferences via OnStar.

A new centralised computing platform, launching in 2028, will integrate propulsion, steering, infotainment, and safety on a single high-speed core, increasing update capacity, bandwidth, and AI performance dramatically.

GM is also advancing robotics at its Autonomous Robotics Center and Mountain View lab. Collaborative robots trained on decades of production data are being deployed in US assembly plants to improve efficiency, safety, and workplace quality.

Additionally, GM’s EVs can provide backup power to homes and, from 2026, to the electrical grid, supported by an integrated home energy system and smartphone app. Together, these innovations mark a significant step toward intelligent, personalised, and sustainable mobility.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI leaders call for a global pause in superintelligence development

More than 850 public figures, including leading computer scientists Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, have signed a joint statement urging a global slowdown in the development of artificial superintelligence.

The open letter warns that unchecked progress could lead to human economic displacement, loss of freedom, and even extinction.

An appeal that follows growing anxiety that the rush toward machines surpassing human cognition could spiral beyond human control. Alan Turing predicted as early as the 1950s that machines might eventually dominate by default, a view that continues to resonate among AI researchers today.

Despite such fears, global powers still view the AI race as essential for national security and technological advancement.

Tech firms like Meta are also exploiting the superintelligence label to promote their most ambitious models, while leaders such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman have previously acknowledged the existential risks of developing systems beyond human understanding.

The statement calls for an international prohibition on superintelligence research until there is a broad scientific consensus on safety and public approval.

Its signatories include technologists, academics, religious figures, and cultural personalities, reflecting a rare cross-sector demand for restraint in an era defined by rapid automation.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

ChatGPT faces EU’s toughest platform rules after 120 million users

OpenAI’s ChatGPT could soon face the EU’s strictest platform regulations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), after surpassing 120 million monthly users in Europe.

A milestone that places OpenAI’s chatbot above the 45 million-user threshold that triggers heightened oversight.

The DSA imposes stricter obligations on major platforms such as Meta, TikTok, and Amazon, requiring greater transparency, risk assessments, and annual fees to fund EU supervision.

The European Commission confirmed it has begun assessing ChatGPT’s eligibility for the ‘very large online platform’ status, which would bring the total number of regulated platforms to 26.

OpenAI reported that its ChatGPT search function alone had 120.4 million monthly active users across the EU in the six months ending 30 September 2025. Globally, the chatbot now counts around 700 million weekly users.

If designated under the DSA, ChatGPT would be required to curb illegal and harmful content more rigorously and demonstrate how its algorithms handle information, marking the EU’s most direct regulatory test yet for generative AI.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Kazakhstan to achieve full Internet access for all citizens by 2027

Kazakhstan aims to provide Internet access to its entire population by 2027 as part of the national ‘Affordable Internet’ project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of AI and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev outlined the country’s digital transformation goals during a government session, highlighting plans to eliminate digital inequality and expand broadband connectivity.

Over one trillion tenge has been invested in telecommunications in the past three years, bringing average Internet speeds to 94 Mbps. By 2027, Kazakhstan expects to achieve 100% Internet coverage, speeds above 100 Mbps, and fiber-optic access for 90% of rural settlements.

Currently, 84% of villages already have mobile Internet, and 2,606 are connected to main fibre-optic lines.

The plan includes 4G coverage for 92% of settlements, 5G deployment in 20 cities, and 4G connectivity across 40,000 km of highways. Satellite Internet will reach 504 remote villages by 2025.

Madiyev also noted Kazakhstan’s strategic role in global data transit, with projects such as the Caspian Sea undersea fibre-optic line aiming to raise its share of international traffic from 1.5% to 5% by 2027.

An initiative that supports Kazakhstan’s ambition to become a regional IT hub by 2030, with the number of IT racks set to grow from 4,000 to 20,000, and at least nine Tier III-IV data centres planned.

The country has also launched the National Supercomputer Center ‘alem.cloud’ and the ‘Al-Farabium’ tech cluster to strengthen its digital ecosystem.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

USB inventor and Phison CEO warns of an AI storage crunch

Datuk Pua Khein-Seng, inventor of the single-chip USB flash drive and CEO of Phison, warns that AI machines will generate 1,000 times more data than humans. He says the real bottleneck isn’t GPUs but memory, foreshadowing a global storage crunch as AI scales.

Speaking at GITEX Global, Pua outlined Phison’s focus on NAND controllers and systems that can expand effective memory. Adaptive tiering across DRAM and flash, he argues, will ease constraints and cut costs, making AI deployments more attainable beyond elite data centres.

Flash becomes the expansion valve: DRAM stays scarce and expensive, while high-end GPUs are over-credited for AI cost overruns. By intelligently offloading and caching to NAND, cheaper accelerators can still drive useful workloads, widening access to AI capacity.

Cloud centralisation intensifies the risk. With the US and China dominating the AI cloud market, many countries lack the capital and talent to build sovereign stacks. Pua calls for ‘AI blue-collar’ skills to localise open source and tailor systems to real-world applications.

Storage leadership is consolidating in the US, Japan, Korea, and China, with Taiwan rising as a fifth pillar. Hardware strength alone won’t suffice, Pua says; Taiwan must close the AI software gap to capture more value in the data era.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

DeepSeek dominates AI crypto trading challenge

Chinese AI model DeepSeek V3.1 has outperformed its global competitors in a real-market cryptocurrency trading challenge, earning over 10 per cent profit in just a few days.

The experiment, named Alpha Arena, was launched by US research firm Nof1 to test the investing skills of leading LLMs.

Each participating AI was given US$10,000 to trade in six cryptocurrency perpetual contracts, including bitcoin and solana, on the decentralised exchange Hyperliquid. By Tuesday afternoon, DeepSeek V3.1 led the field, while OpenAI’s GPT-5 trailed behind with a loss of nearly 40 per cent.

The competition highlights the growing potential of AI models to make autonomous financial decisions in real markets.

It also underscores the rivalry between Chinese and American AI developers as they push to demonstrate their models’ adaptability beyond traditional text-based tasks.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

UN advances human rights-focused economic metrics

The UN is developing new economic indicators to complement gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of progress. A 14-member expert group, appointed by the UN Secretary-General, is creating metrics that reflect social well-being, equality, and environmental sustainability.

Their proposals, to be presented to the UN General Assembly in 2026, could reshape how governments assess success and guide future economic policies.

UN agencies, in collaboration with Chile, Honduras, Mexico, and Spain, are working to embed human rights into these new metrics. The initiative focuses on areas such as economic inequality, public social spending, environmental impact, gender equality, and labour rights, aiming to shift economic systems toward fairness, participation, and care for the planet.

Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, emphasised that these efforts are about rethinking economic systems to ensure they measure what truly matters for people and the environment.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

MIT unveils SEAL, a self-improving AI model

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled SEAL, a new AI model capable of improving its own performance without human intervention. The framework allows the model to generate its own training data and fine-tuning instructions, enabling it to learn new tasks autonomously.

The model employs reinforcement learning, a method in which it tests different strategies, evaluates their effectiveness, and adjusts its internal processes accordingly. This allows SEAL to refine its capabilities and increase accuracy over time.

In trials, SEAL outperformed GPT-4.1 by learning from the data it generated independently. The results demonstrate the potential of self-improving AI systems to reduce reliance on manually curated datasets and human-led fine-tuning.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!