Digital business models Archives | Page 428 of 582

Nvidia hit by the new US export rules

Nvidia is facing fresh US export restrictions on its H20 AI chips, dealing a blow to the company’s operations in China.

In a filing on Tuesday, Nvidia revealed it now needs a licence to export these chips indefinitely, after the US government cited concerns they could be used in a Chinese supercomputer.

The company expects a $5.5 billion charge linked to the controls in its first fiscal quarter of 2026, which ends on 27 April. Shares dropped around 6% in after-hours trading.

The H20 is currently the most advanced AI chip Nvidia can sell to China under existing regulations.

Last week, reports suggested CEO Jensen Huang might have temporarily eased tensions during a dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, by promising investments in US-based AI data centres instead of opposing the rules directly.

Just a day before the filing, Nvidia announced plans to manufacture some chips in the US over the next four years, though the specifics were left vague.

Calls for tighter controls had been building, especially after it emerged that China’s DeepSeek used the H20 to train its R1 model, a system that surprised the US AI sector earlier this year.

Government officials had pushed for action, saying the chip’s capabilities posed a strategic risk. Nvidia declined to comment on the new restrictions.

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OpenAI updates safety rules amid AI race

OpenAI has updated its Preparedness Framework, the internal system used to assess AI model safety and determine necessary safeguards during development.

The company now says it may adjust its safety standards if a rival AI lab releases a ‘high-risk’ system without similar protections, a move that reflects growing competitive pressure in the AI industry.

Instead of outright dismissing such flexibility, OpenAI insists that any changes would be made cautiously and with public transparency.

Critics argue OpenAI is already lowering its standards for the sake of faster deployment. Twelve former employees recently supported a legal case against the company, warning that a planned corporate restructure might encourage further shortcuts.

OpenAI denies these claims, but reports suggest compressed safety testing timelines and increasing reliance on automated evaluations instead of human-led reviews. According to sources, some safety checks are also run on earlier versions of models, not the final ones released to users.

The refreshed framework also changes how OpenAI defines and manages risk. Models are now classified as having either ‘high’ or ‘critical’ capability, the former referring to systems that could amplify harm, the latter to those introducing entirely new risks.

Instead of deploying models first and assessing risk later, OpenAI says it will apply safeguards during both development and release, particularly for models capable of evading shutdown, hiding their abilities, or self-replicating.

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Hertz customer data stolen in vendor cyberattack

Hertz has disclosed a significant data breach involving sensitive customer information, including credit card and driver’s licence details, following a cyberattack on one of its service providers.

The breach stemmed from vulnerabilities in the Cleo Communications file transfer platform, exploited in October and December 2024.

Hertz confirmed the unauthorised access on 10 February, with further investigations revealing a range of exposed data, including names, birth dates, contact details, and in some cases, Social Security and passport numbers.

While the company has not confirmed how many individuals were affected, notifications have been issued in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and across the EU.

Hertz stressed that no misuse of customer data has been identified so far, and that the breach has been reported to law enforcement and regulators. Cleo has since patched the exploited vulnerabilities.

The identity of the attackers remains unknown. However, Cleo was previously targeted in a broader cyber campaign last October, with the Clop ransomware group later claiming responsibility.

The gang published Cleo’s company data online and listed dozens of breached organisations, suggesting the incident was part of a wider, coordinated effort.

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xAI adds collaborative workspace to Grok

Elon Musk’s AI firm xAI has introduced a new feature called Grok Studio, offering users a dedicated space to create and edit documents, code, and simple apps.

Available on Grok.com for both free and paying users, Grok Studio opens content in a separate window, allowing for real-time collaboration between the user and the chatbot instead of relying solely on back-and-forth prompts.

Grok Studio functions much like canvas-style tools from other AI developers. It allows code previews and execution in languages such as Python, C++, and JavaScript. The setup mirrors similar features introduced earlier by OpenAI and Anthropic, instead of offering a radically different experience.

All content appears beside Grok’s chat window, creating a workspace that blends conversation with practical development tools.

Alongside this launch, xAI has also announced integration with Google Drive.

It will allow users to attach files directly to Grok prompts, letting the chatbot work with documents, spreadsheets, and slides from Drive instead of requiring uploads or manual input, making the platform more convenient for everyday tasks and productivity.

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Opera brings AI assistant to Opera Mini on Android

Opera, the Norway-based browser maker, has announced the rollout of its AI assistant, Aria, to Opera Mini users on Android. The move represents a strategic effort to bring advanced AI capabilities to users with low-end devices and limited data access, rather than confining such tools to high-spec platforms.

Aria allows users to access up-to-date information, generate images, and learn about a range of topics using a blend of models from OpenAI and Google.

Since its 2005 launch, Opera Mini has been known for saving data during browsing, and Opera claims that the inclusion of Aria won’t compromise that advantage nor increase the app’s size.

It makes the AI assistant more accessible for users in regions where data efficiency is critical, instead of making them choose between smart features and performance.

Opera has long partnered with telecom providers in Africa to offer free data to Opera Mini users. However, last year, it had to end its programme in Kenya due to regulatory restrictions around ads on browser bookmark tiles.

Despite such challenges, Opera Mini has surpassed a billion downloads on Android and now serves more than 100 million users globally.

Alongside this update, Opera continues testing new AI functions, including features that let users manage tabs using natural language and tools that assist with task completion.

An effort like this reflects the company’s ambition to embed AI more deeply into everyday browsing instead of limiting innovation to its main browser.

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Google Search drops local domain URLs

Google is set to begin redirecting its country-specific search domains, such as google.fr or google.co.uk, to the main global address at google.com.

The company says the move is intended to streamline user experience across different regions, with the update being gradually rolled out over the coming months.

Although users will see google.com in their browser instead of their local version, Google assures that the way Search functions will remain the same.

Some users may be prompted to re-enter their search preferences during the transition, but results will still reflect local relevance.

Since 2017, the platform has delivered the same core Search experience regardless of whether users accessed it through a country-specific address or the global one.

With this standardisation already in place, Google has concluded that separate country domains are no longer necessary.

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Justice Department pushes to curb Google monopoly

Google has pushed back against a US government proposal to break up its business, arguing that such a move would hurt consumers and reduce competition rather than enhance it.

In a court filing ahead of a remedy trial due to begin on 21 April, Google claimed the Justice Department’s plan to divest services like Chrome and Android would force users to adopt less effective alternatives.

The company stressed that consumers overwhelmingly prefer Google’s search engine and that its agreements with browser and device manufacturers do not prevent rivals from competing.

The Justice Department is asking the court to consider structural remedies, including breaking up parts of Google’s business or limiting its default search agreements, to curb what it deems monopolistic behaviour.

The agency originally proposed more aggressive action, such as divesting Google’s AI investments, but later backed down, citing concerns over unintended consequences in the fast-evolving AI sector.

Google has offered alternative remedies, including more flexibility for Android manufacturers to preload or set other search engines as default, without fully removing its own search partnerships.

A 15-day hearing will begin later this month, with both sides set to present evidence and call high-profile witnesses. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple’s senior VP of services are among the 20 witnesses listed by the tech giant.

The Justice Department plans to call 19 witnesses, including executives from OpenAI, DuckDuckGo and Microsoft, as it argues for stronger measures to level the playing field in internet search.

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AI firm DeepSeek opens up on model deployment tech

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has announced its intention to share the technology behind its internal inference engine, a move aimed at enhancing collaboration within the open-source AI community.

The company’s inference engine and training framework have played a vital role in accelerating the performance and deployment of its models, including DeepSeek-V3 and R1.

Built on PyTorch, DeepSeek’s training framework is complemented by a modified version of the vLLM inference engine originally developed in the US at UC Berkeley.

While the company will not release the full source code of its engine, it will contribute its design improvements and select components as standalone libraries.

These efforts form part of DeepSeek’s broader open-source initiative, which began earlier this year with the partial release of its AI model code.

Despite this contribution, DeepSeek’s models fall short of the Open Source Initiative’s standards, as the training data and full framework remain restricted.

The company cited limited resources and infrastructure constraints as reasons for not making the engine entirely open-source. Still, the move has been welcomed as a meaningful gesture towards transparency and knowledge-sharing in the AI sector.

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Viral AI image trends drive up water consumption

Behind ChatGPT’s digital charm lies an increasingly concerning environmental toll, largely driven by its water consumption.

According to recent reports, OpenAI’s GPT-4 model consumes around 500 millilitres of clean, drinkable water for every 100-word response. The surge in demand, fuelled by viral trends like Studio Ghibli-style portraits and Barbie-themed avatars, has significantly amplified this impact.

Each AI interaction, especially those involving image generation, generates heat, necessitating cooling systems that rely heavily on water.

With an estimated 57 million users daily, ChatGPT’s operations result in a staggering daily water usage of over 14,800 crore litres. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently acknowledged server strain, urging users to reduce non-essential use.

The environmental costs extend beyond water. Many data centres supporting AI platforms are located in water-stressed regions and rely on fossil fuels, raising serious concerns about sustainability.

Experts warn that while AI promises convenience, its rapid expansion risks putting additional pressure on fragile ecosystems unless mindful practices are adopted.

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KiloEX loses $7.5 million in oracle hack

A hacker has exploited decentralised exchange KiloEX, draining approximately US$7.5 million by manipulating its price oracle mechanism. The breach led to an immediate suspension of the platform and sparked a cross-industry investigation involving cybersecurity firms and blockchain networks.

The vulnerability centred on KiloEX’s price feed system, which allowed the attacker to manipulate the ETH/USD feed by inputting an artificial entry price of 100 and closing it at 10,000.

According to cybersecurity firm PeckShield, this simple flaw enabled the attacker to steal millions across multiple chains, including $3.3 million from Base, $3.1 million from opBNB, and $1 million from BNB Smart Chain.

KiloEX is working with various security experts and blockchain networks such as BNB Chain and Manta Network to recover the stolen assets.

Funds are reportedly being routed through cross-chain protocols like zkBridge and Meson. Co-founder of Fuzzland, Chaofan Shou, described the breach as stemming from a ‘very simple vulnerability’ in oracle verification, where only intermediaries were validated rather than the original transaction sender.

The attack caused KiloEX’s token price to plummet by over 29% and came just one day after the platform announced a strategic partnership with DWF Labs, aimed at fuelling growth. KiloEX has promised a full incident report and a bounty programme to encourage asset recovery.

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