Digital cooperation

Estimating biological age from routine records with LifeClock

LifeClock, reported in Nature Medicine, estimates biological age from routine health records. Trained on 24.6 million visits and 184 indicators, it offers a low-cost route to precision health beyond simple chronology.

Researchers found two distinct clocks: a paediatric development clock and an adult ageing clock. Specialised models improved accuracy, reflecting scripted growth versus decline. Biomarkers diverged between stages, aligning with growth or deterioration.

LifeClock stratified risk years ahead. In children, clusters flagged malnutrition, developmental disorders, and endocrine issues, including markedly higher odds of pituitary hyperfunction and obesity. Adult clusters signalled future diabetes, stroke, renal failure, and cardiovascular disease.

Performance was strong after fine-tuning: the area under the curve hit 0.98 for current diabetes and 0.91 for future diabetes. EHRFormer outperformed RNN and gradient-boosting baselines across longitudinal records.

Authors propose LifeClock for accessible monitoring, personalised interventions, and prevention. Adding wearables and real-time biometrics could refine responsiveness, enabling earlier action on emerging risks and supporting equitable precision medicine at the population scale.

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

AI-driven diabetes prevention matches human-led programs in clinical trial

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health report that an AI-driven diabetes prevention program achieved outcomes comparable to traditional, human-led coaching. The results come from a phase III randomised controlled trial, the first of its kind.

The trial enrolled participants with prediabetes and randomly assigned them to one of four remote human-led programs or an AI app that delivered personalised push notifications guiding diet, exercise and weight management. Over 12 months, both groups were evaluated against CDC benchmarks for risk reduction (e.g. achieving 5 % weight loss, meeting activity goals, or reducing A1C).

After one year, 31.7 % of AI-app users and 31.9 % of human-led participants met the composite benchmark. Interestingly, the AI arm saw higher initiation rates (93.4 % vs 82.7 %) and completion (63.9 % vs 50.3 %) than human programs.

The researchers note that scheduling, staffing, and access barriers can limit traditional lifestyle programs. The AI approach, which runs asynchronously and is always available, may help expand reach, especially for underserved populations or when human resources are constrained.

Future work will assess how these findings scale in broader, real-world patient groups and explore cost effectiveness, user preferences and the balance between AI and human support.

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

Rare but real, mental health risks at ChatGPT scale

OpenAI says a small share of ChatGPT users show possible signs of mental health emergencies each week, including mania, psychosis, or suicidal thoughts. The company estimates 0.07 percent and says safety prompts are triggered. Critics argue that small percentages scale at ChatGPT’s size.

A further 0.15 percent of weekly users discuss explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent. Updates aim to respond more safely and empathetically, and to flag indirect self-harm signals. Sensitive chats can be routed to safer models in a new window.

More than 170 clinicians across 60 countries advise OpenAI on risk cues and responses. Guidance focuses on encouraging users to seek real-world support. Researchers warn vulnerable people may struggle to act on on-screen warnings.

External specialists see both value and limits. AI may widen access when services are stretched, yet automated advice can mislead. Risks include reinforcing delusions and misplaced trust in authoritative-sounding output.

Legal and public scrutiny is rising after high-profile cases linked to chatbot interactions. Families and campaigners want more transparent accountability and stronger guardrails. Regulators continue to debate transparency, escalation pathways, and duty of care.

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

Europol urges coordinated EU action against caller ID spoofing

Europol calls for a Europe-wide response to caller ID spoofing, which criminals use to impersonate trusted numbers and commit fraud. The practice causes significant harm, with an estimated €850 million lost yearly.

Organised networks now run ‘spoofing as a service’, impersonating banks, authorities or family members, and even staging so-called swatting incidents by making false emergency calls from a victim’s address. Operating across borders, these groups exploit jurisdictional gaps to avoid detection and prosecution.

A Europol survey across 23 countries found major obstacles to implementing anti-spoofing measures, leaving around 400 million vulnerable to these scams.

Law enforcement said weak cooperation with telecom operators, fragmented rules and limited technical tools to identify and block spoofed traffic hinder an adequate response.

Europol has put forward several priorities, including setting up EU-wide technical standards to verify caller IDs and trace fraudulent calls, stronger cross-border cooperation among authorities and industry, and regulatory convergence to enable lawful tracing.

The proposals, aligned with the ProtectEU strategy, aim to harden networks while anticipating evolving scammers’ tactics such as SIM-based scams, anonymous prepaid services and smishing (fraud via fake text messages).

Brussels has begun a phishing awareness campaign alongside enforcement to help users spot and report scams.

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

OpenAI and Microsoft sign new $135 billion agreement to deepen AI partnership

Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a new agreement that marks the next phase of their long-standing partnership, deepening ties first formed in 2019.

The updated deal builds on years of collaboration in advancing responsible AI, positioning both organisations for long-term success while introducing new structural and operational changes.

Under the new arrangement, Microsoft supports OpenAI’s transition into a public benefit corporation (PBC) and recapitalisation. The technology giant now holds an investment valued at around $135 billion, representing about 27 percent of OpenAI Group PBC on an as-converted diluted basis.

Despite OpenAI’s recent funding rounds, Microsoft previously held a 32.5 percent stake in the for-profit entity.

The partnership maintains Microsoft’s exclusive rights to OpenAI’s frontier models and Azure API until artificial general intelligence (AGI) is achieved, but also introduces several new terms. Once AGI is declared, an independent panel will verify it.

Microsoft’s intellectual property rights are extended through 2032, including models developed after AGI with safety conditions. OpenAI may now co-develop certain products with third parties, while retaining the option to serve non-API products on any cloud provider.

OpenAI will purchase an additional $250 billion worth of Azure services, although Microsoft will no longer hold first-refusal rights for compute supply. The new framework allows both organisations to innovate independently, with Microsoft permitted to pursue AGI independently or with other partners.

The updated agreement reflects a more flexible collaboration that balances independence, growth, and shared innovation.

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

Yuan says AI ‘digital twins’ could trim meetings and the workweek

AI could shorten the workweek, says Zoom’s Eric Yuan. At TechCrunch Disrupt, he pitched AI ‘digital twins’ that attend meetings, negotiate drafts, and triage email, arguing assistants will shoulder routine tasks so humans focus on judgement.

Yuan has already used an AI avatar on an investor call to show how a stand-in can speak on your behalf. He said Zoom will keep investing heavily in assistants that understand context, prioritise messages, and draft responses.

Use cases extend beyond meetings. Yuan described counterparts sending their digital twins to hash out deal terms before principals join to resolve open issues, saving hours of live negotiation and accelerating consensus across teams and time zones.

Zoom plans to infuse AI across its suite, including whiteboards and collaborative docs, so work moves even when people are offline. Yuan said assistants will surface what matters, propose actions, and help execute routine workflows securely.

If adoption scales, Yuan sees schedules changing. He floated a five-year goal where many knowledge workers shift to three or four days a week, with AI increasing throughput, reducing meeting load, and improving focus time across organisations.

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

Citi and Coinbase unite to boost digital asset payments

Citi and Coinbase have announced a strategic partnership to enhance digital asset payment capabilities for institutional clients. The collaboration will begin by streamlining fiat transactions and strengthening links between traditional banking and digital assets via Coinbase’s on/off-ramps.

Both firms plan to introduce further initiatives in the coming months aimed at simplifying global access to crypto payments.

According to Citi’s Head of Payments, Debopama Sen, the partnership supports Citi’s goal of creating a ‘network of networks’ that enables borderless payments. Operating across 94 markets and 300 networks, Citi sees the move as progress towards integrating blockchain into mainstream finance.

Coinbase’s Brian Foster said the partnership merges Citi’s payments expertise with Coinbase’s digital asset leadership. Together, they aim to build next-generation infrastructure enabling seamless, round-the-clock access to crypto services for institutional clients.

The partnership builds on Citi’s ongoing investment in digital finance, including its Citi Token Services and 24/7 USD Clearing system. By aligning with Coinbase, the bank reinforces its commitment to innovation and positions itself at the forefront of the evolving digital money landscape.

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

FDA and patent law create dual hurdles for AI-enabled medical technologies

AI reshapes healthcare by powering more precise and adaptive medical devices and diagnostic systems.

Yet, innovators face two significant challenges: navigating the US Food and Drug Administration’s evolving regulatory framework and overcoming legal uncertainty under US patent law.

These two systems, although interconnected, serve different goals. The FDA protects patients, while patent law rewards invention.

The FDA’s latest guidance seeks to adapt oversight for AI-enabled medical technologies that change over time. Its framework for predetermined change control plans allows developers to update AI models without resubmitting complete applications, provided updates stay within approved limits.

An approach that promotes innovation while maintaining transparency, bias control and post-market safety. By clarifying how adaptive AI devices can evolve safely, the FDA aims to balance accountability with progress.

Patent protection remains more complex. US courts continue to exclude non-human inventors, creating tension when AI contributes to discoveries.

Legal precedents such as Thaler vs Vidal and Alice Corp. vs CLS Bank limit patent eligibility for algorithms or diagnostic methods that resemble abstract ideas or natural laws. Companies must show human-led innovation and technical improvement beyond routine computation to secure patents.

Aligning regulatory and intellectual property strategies is now essential. Developers who engage regulators early, design flexible change control plans and coordinate patent claims with development timelines can reduce risk and accelerate market entry.

Integrating these processes helps ensure AI technologies in healthcare advance safely while preserving inventors’ rights and innovation incentives.

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

Google Research applies AI across cancer, quantum computing and Earth science

Google Research has outlined how it tackles three major domains where foundational AI and science research are applied for tangible global effect, under a framework the team calls the ‘magic cycle’.

The three focus areas highlighted are fighting cancer with AI, quantum computing for medicines and materials, and understanding Earth at scale with Earth AI.

One of the flagship tools is DeepSomatic, an AI system developed to detect genetic variants in cancer cells that previous techniques missed. The tool partnered with a children’s hospital to identify ten new variants in childhood leukaemia samples. Significantly, DeepSomatic was applied to a brain cancer type it had never encountered before and still flagged likely causal variants.

Google Research is exploring the frontiers with its service chip (Willow) and algorithms like Quantum Echoes to simulate molecular behaviours with precision that classical computers struggle to reach. These efforts target improved medicines, better batteries and advanced materials by capturing quantum-scale phenomena.

Aiming to model complex interconnected systems, from weather and infrastructure to population vulnerability, the Earth AI initiative seeks to bring disparate geospatial data into unified systems. For example, predicting which communities are most at risk in a storm requires combining meteorological, infrastructure and socioeconomic data.

Google Research states that across these domains, research and applied work feed each other: foundational research leads to tools, which, when deployed, reveal new challenges that drive fresh research, the ‘magic cycle’.

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

AMD powers US AI factory supercomputers for national research

The US Department of Energy and AMD are joining forces to expand America’s AI and scientific computing power through two new supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Named Lux and Discovery, the systems will drive the country’s sovereign AI strategy, combining public and private investment worth around $1 billion to strengthen research, innovation, and security infrastructure.

Lux, arriving in 2026, will become the nation’s first dedicated AI factory for science.

Built with AMD’s EPYC CPUs and Instinct GPUs alongside Oracle and HPE technologies, Lux will accelerate research across materials, medicine, and advanced manufacturing, supporting the US AI Action Plan and boosting the Department of Energy’s AI capacity.

Discovery, set for deployment in 2028, will deepen collaboration between the DOE, AMD, and HPE. Powered by AMD’s next-generation ‘Venice’ CPUs and MI430X GPUs, Discovery will train and deploy AI models on secure US-built systems, protecting national data and competitiveness.

It aims to deliver faster energy, biology, and national security breakthroughs while maintaining high efficiency and open standards.

AMD’s CEO, Dr Lisa Su, said the collaboration represents the best public-private partnerships, advancing the nation’s foundation for science and innovation.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright described the initiative as proof that America leads when government and industry work together toward shared AI and scientific goals.

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