Digital business models

OpenAI strengthens controls after Bryan Cranston deepfake incident

Bryan Cranston is grateful that OpenAI tightened safeguards on its video platform Sora 2. The Breaking Bad actor raised concerns after users generated videos using his voice and image without permission.

Reports surfaced earlier this month showing Sora 2 users creating deepfakes of Cranston and other public figures. Several Hollywood agencies criticised OpenAI for requiring individuals to opt out of replication instead of opting in.

Major talent agencies, including UTA and CAA, co-signed a joint statement with OpenAI and industry unions. They pledged to collaborate on ethical standards for AI-generated media and ensure artists can decide how they are represented.

The incident underscores growing tension between entertainment professionals and AI developers. As generative video tools evolve, performers and studios are demanding clear boundaries around consent and digital replication.

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ChatGPT to exit WhatsApp after Meta policy change

OpenAI says ChatGPT will leave WhatsApp on 15 January 2026 after Meta’s new rules banning general-purpose AI chatbots on the platform. ChatGPT will remain available on iOS, Android, and the web, the company said.

Users are urged to link their WhatsApp number to a ChatGPT account to preserve history, as WhatsApp doesn’t support chat exports. OpenAI will also let users unlink their phone numbers after linking.

Until now, users could message ChatGPT on WhatsApp to ask questions, search the web, generate images, or talk to the assistant. Similar third-party bots offered comparable features.

Meta quietly updated WhatsApp’s business API to prohibit AI providers from accessing or using it, directly or indirectly. The change effectively forces ChatGPT, Perplexity, Luzia, Poke, and others to shut down their WhatsApp bots.

The move highlights platform risk for AI assistants and shifts demand toward native apps and web. Businesses relying on WhatsApp AI automations will need alternatives that comply with Meta’s policies.

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Innovation versus risk shapes Australia’s AI debate

Australia’s business leaders were urged to adopt AI now to stay competitive, despite the absence of hard rules, at the AI Leadership Summit in Brisbane. The National AI Centre unveiled revised voluntary guidelines, and Assistant Minister Andrew Charlton said a national AI plan will arrive later this year.

The guidance sets six priorities, from stress-testing and human oversight to clearer accountability, aiming to give boards practical guardrails. Speakers from NVIDIA, OpenAI, and legal and academic circles welcomed direction but pressed for certainty to unlock stalled investment.

Charlton said the plan will focus on economic opportunity, equitable access, and risk mitigation, noting some harms are already banned, including ‘nudify’ apps. He argued Australia will be poorer if it hesitates, and regulators must be ready to address new threats directly.

The debate centred on proportional regulation: too many rules could stifle innovation, said Clayton Utz partner Simon Newcomb, yet delays and ambiguity can also chill projects. A ‘gap analysis’ announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers will map which risks existing laws already cover.

CyberCX’s Alastair MacGibbon warned that criminals are using AI to deliver sharper phishing attacks and flagged the return of erotic features in some chatbots as an oversight test. His message echoed across panels: move fast with governance, or risk ceding both competitiveness and safety.

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AI chats with ‘Jesus’ spark curiosity and criticism

Text With Jesus, an AI chatbot from Catloaf Software, lets users message figures like ‘Jesus’ and ‘Moses’ for scripture-quoting replies. CEO Stéphane Peter says curiosity is driving rapid growth despite accusations of blasphemy and worries about tech intruding on faith.

Built on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the app now includes AI pastors and counsellors for questions on scripture, ethics, and everyday dilemmas. Peter, who describes himself as not particularly religious, says the aim is access and engagement, not replacing ministry or community.

Examples range from ‘Do not be anxious…’ (Philippians 4:6) to the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12), with answers framed in familiar verse. Fans call it a safe, approachable way to explore belief; critics argue only scripture itself should speak.

Faith leaders and commentators have cautioned against mistaking AI outputs for wisdom. The Vatican has stressed that AI is a tool, not truth, and that young people need guidance, not substitution, in spiritual formation.

Reception is sharply split online. Supporters praise convenience and curiosity-spark; detractors cite theological drift, emoji-laden replies, and a ‘Satan’ mode they find chilling. The app holds a 4.7 rating on the Apple App Store from more than 2,700 reviews.

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AWS outage turned a mundane DNS slip into global chaos

Cloudflare’s boss summed up the mood after Monday’s chaos, relieved his firm wasn’t to blame as outages rippled across more than 1,000 companies. Snapchat, Reddit, Roblox, Fortnite, banks, and government portals faltered together, exposing how much of the web leans on Amazon Web Services.

AWS is the backbone for a vast slice of the internet, renting compute, storage, and databases so firms avoid running their own stacks. However, a mundane Domain Name System error in its Northern Virginia region scrambled routing, leaving services online yet unreachable as traffic lost its map.

Engineers call it a classic failure mode: ‘It’s always DNS.’ Misconfigurations, maintenance slips, or server faults can cascade quickly across shared platforms. AWS says teams moved to mitigate, but the episode showed how a small mistake at scale becomes a global headache in minutes.

Experts warned of concentration risk: when one hyperscaler stumbles, many fall. Yet few true alternatives exist at AWS’s scale beyond Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, with smaller rivals from IBM to Alibaba, and fledgling European plays, far behind.

Calls for UK–EU cloud sovereignty are growing, but timelines and costs are steep. Monday’s outage is a reminder that resilience needs multi-region and multi-cloud designs, tested failovers, and clear incident comms, not just faith in a single provider.

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AI still struggles to mimic natural human conversation

A recent study reveals that large language models such as ChatGPT-4, Claude, Vicuna, and Wayfarer still struggle to replicate natural human conversation. Researchers found AI over-imitates, misuses filler words, and struggles with natural openings and closings, revealing its artificial nature.

The research, led by Eric Mayor with contributions from Lucas Bietti and Adrian Bangerter, compared transcripts of human phone conversations with AI-generated ones. AI can speak correctly, but subtle social cues like timing, phrasing, and discourse markers remain hard to mimic.

Misplaced words such as ‘so’ or ‘well’ and awkward conversation transitions make AI dialogue recognisably non-human. Openings and endings also pose a challenge. Humans naturally engage in small talk or closing phrases such as ‘see you soon’ or ‘alright, then,’ which AI systems often fail to reproduce convincingly.

These gaps in social nuance, researchers argue, prevent large language models from consistently fooling people in conversation tests.

Despite rapid progress, experts caution that AI may never fully capture all elements of human interaction, such as empathy and social timing. Advances may narrow the gap, but key differences will likely remain, keeping AI speech subtly distinguishable from real human dialogue.

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AI is transforming patient care and medical visits

AI is increasingly shaping the patient experience, from digital intake forms to AI-powered ambient scribes in exam rooms. Stanford experts explain that while these tools can streamline processes, patients should remain aware of how their data is collected, stored, and used.

De-identified information may still be shared for research, marketing, or AI training, raising privacy considerations.

AI is also transforming treatment planning. Platforms like Atropos Health allow doctors to query hundreds of millions of records, generating real-world evidence to inform faster and more effective care.

Patients may benefit from data-driven treatment decisions, but human oversight remains essential to ensure accuracy and safety.

Outside the clinic, AI is being integrated into health apps and devices. From mental health support to disease detection, these tools offer convenience and early insights. Experts warn that stronger evaluation and regulation are needed to confirm their reliability and effectiveness.

Patients are encouraged to ask providers about data storage, third-party access, and real-time recording during visits. While AI promises to improve healthcare, realistic expectations are vital, and individuals should actively monitor how their personal health information is used.

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IAEA launches initiative to protect AI in nuclear facilities

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has launched a new research project to strengthen computer security for AI in the nuclear sector. The initiative aims to support safe adoption of AI technologies in nuclear facilities, including small modular reactors and other applications.

AI and machine learning systems are increasingly used in the nuclear industry to improve operational efficiency and enhance security measures, such as threat detection. These technologies bring risks like data manipulation or misuse, requiring strong cybersecurity and careful oversight.

The Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Enhancing Computer Security of Artificial Intelligence Applications for Nuclear Technologies will develop methodologies to identify vulnerabilities, implement protection mechanisms, and create AI-enabled security assessment tools.

Training frameworks will also be established to develop human resources capable of managing AI securely in nuclear environments.

Research organisations from all IAEA member states are invited to join the CRP. Proposals must be submitted by 30 November 2025, with participation encouraged for women and young researchers. The IAEA offers further details through its CRP contact page.

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Anthropic unveils Claude Life Sciences to transform research efficiency

Anthropic has unveiled Claude for Life Sciences, its first major launch in the biotechnology sector.

The new platform integrates Anthropic’s AI models with leading scientific tools such as Benchling, PubMed, 10x Genomics and Synapse.org, offering researchers an intelligent assistant throughout the discovery process.

The system supports tasks from literature reviews and hypothesis development to data analysis and drafting regulatory submissions. According to Anthropic, what once took days of validation and manual compilation can now be completed in minutes, giving scientists more time to focus on innovation.

An initiative that follows the company’s appointment of Eric Kauderer-Abrams as head of biology and life sciences. He described the move as a ‘threshold moment’, signalling Anthropic’s ambition to make Claude a key player in global life science research, much like its role in coding.

Built on the newly released Claude Sonnet 4.5 model, which excels at interpreting lab protocols, the platform connects with partners including AWS, Google Cloud, KPMG and Deloitte.

While Anthropic recognises that AI cannot accelerate physical trials, it aims to transform time-consuming processes and promote responsible digital transformation across the life sciences.

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China leads the global generative AI adoption with 515 million users

In China, the use of generative AI has expanded unprecedentedly, reaching 515 million users in the first half of 2025.

The figure, released by the China Internet Network Information Centre, shows more than double the number recorded in December and represents an adoption rate of 36.5 per cent.

Such growth is driven by strong digital infrastructure and the state’s determination to make AI a central tool of national development.

The country’s ‘AI Plus’ strategy aims to integrate AI across all sectors of society and the economy. The majority of users rely on domestic platforms such as DeepSeek, Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen and ByteDance’s Doubao, as access to leading Western models remains restricted.

Young and well-educated citizens dominate the user base, underlining the government’s success in promoting AI literacy among key demographics.

Microsoft’s recent research confirms that China has the world’s largest AI market, surpassing the US in total users. While the US adoption has remained steady, China’s domestic ecosystem continues to accelerate, fuelled by policy support and public enthusiasm for generative tools.

China also leads the world in AI-related intellectual property, with over 1.5 million patent applications accounting for nearly 39 per cent of the global total.

The rapid adoption of home-grown AI technologies reflects a strategic drive for technological self-reliance and positions China at the forefront of global digital transformation.

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