Digital standards

India AI Impact Summit faces controversy over robotic dog claim

An Indian university has vacated its stall at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi after a staff member presented a commercially available Chinese robotic dog as a university-developed innovation. The episode has sparked criticism and drawn attention to India’s AI ambitions.

Footage showed a professor introducing the robot, named Orion, as developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University. Social media users later identified the device as the Unitree Go2, produced by Unitree Robotics in China and widely used for research and education.

The Indian IT minister initially shared the video before deleting the post. The university later clarified that the robot was not its own creation and said no official communication had confirmed its removal from the event. However, local reports indicated that the stall had been vacated.

The incident occurred during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, billed as a major AI gathering in the Global South. The event has also faced reports of overcrowding and logistical issues, even as more than $100 billion in AI-related investments were announced.

Opposition politicians in India criticised the government over the episode, arguing it undermined India’s credibility in the global AI race. Despite the controversy, the summit continues with high-profile participation from global technology leaders and heads of government.

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Google plans $15bn AI push in India

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi that he never imagined Visakhapatnam would become a global AI hub. Speaking in New Delhi, he recalled passing through the coastal city as a student and described its transformation as remarkable.

In New Delhi, Pichai announced that Google will establish a full-stack AI hub in Visakhapatnam as part of a $15 billion investment in India. The facility is expected to include gigawatt-scale compute capacity and a new international subsea cable gateway.

The project in Visakhapatnam is set to generate jobs and deliver advanced AI services to businesses and communities across India. Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have allotted more than 600 acres of land near the port city for the proposed hyperscale AI data centre.

Reacting in New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh welcomed the announcement and thanked Pichai for expressing confidence in Visakhapatnam. The development positions Visakhapatnam as a major AI infrastructure hub within India’s expanding technology sector.

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India hosts AI Impact Summit as UN chief urges shared AI rules

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that the future of AI must not be determined by a small group of nations or controlled by powerful private actors. He praised India’s leadership in hosting what he described as the first AI summit in the Global South.

Guterres said AI is transforming economies, societies, and governance at unprecedented speed. Inclusive and globally representative governance frameworks are essential to ensure equitable access and responsible deployment, he added.

‘The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires,’ he said, urging multilateral cooperation. Real impact, he added, means technology that improves lives and protects the planet.

United Nations officials say AI could help accelerate progress on nearly 80 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals. Potential applications include reducing inequalities, strengthening public services, and enhancing climate action.

The UN has committed to a proactive, human rights-based approach to AI adoption within its own system. Agencies are deploying AI tools to address bias in data models, improve analytics, support innovation, and safeguard ethical standards.

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Anthropic seeks deeper AI cooperation with India

The chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has said India can play a central role in guiding global responses to the security and economic risks linked to AI.

Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, he argued that the world’s largest democracy is well placed to become a partner and leader in shaping the responsible development of advanced systems.

Amodei explained that Anthropic hopes to work with India on the testing and evaluation of models for safety and security. He stressed growing concern over autonomous behaviours that may emerge in advanced systems and noted the possibility of misuse by individuals or governments.

He pointed to the work of international and national AI safety institutes as a foundation for joint efforts and added that the economic effect of AI will be significant and that India and the wider Global South could benefit if policymakers prepare early.

Through its Economic Futures programme and Economic Index, Anthropic studies how AI reshapes jobs and labour markets.

He said the company intends to expand information sharing with Indian authorities and bring economists, labour groups, and officials into regular discussions to guide evidence-based policy instead of relying on assumptions.

Amodei said AI is set to increase economic output and that India is positioned to influence emerging global frameworks. He signalled a strong interest in long-term cooperation that supports safety, security, and sustainable growth.

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EU turns to AI tools to strengthen defences against disinformation

Institutions, researchers, and media organisations in the EU are intensifying efforts to use AI to counter disinformation, even as concerns grow about the wider impact on media freedom and public trust.

Confidence in journalism has fallen sharply across the EU, a trend made more severe by the rapid deployment of AI systems that reshape how information circulates online.

Brussels is attempting to respond with a mix of regulation and strategic investment. The EU’s AI Act is entering its implementation phase, supported by the AI Continent Action Plan and the Apply AI Strategy, both introduced in 2025 to improve competitiveness while protecting rights.

Yet manipulation campaigns continue to spread false narratives across platforms in multiple languages, placing pressure on journalists, fact-checkers and regulators to act with greater speed and precision.

Within such an environment, AI4TRUST has emerged as a prominent Horizon Europe initiative. The consortium is developing an integrated platform that detects disinformation signals, verifies content, and maps information flows for professionals who need real-time insight.

Partners stress the need for tools that strengthen human judgment instead of replacing it, particularly as synthetic media accelerates and shared realities become more fragile.

Experts speaking in Brussels warned that traditional fact-checking cannot absorb the scale of modern manipulation. They highlighted the geopolitical risks created by automated messaging and deepfakes, and argued for transparent, accountable systems tailored to user needs.

European officials emphasised that multiple tools will be required, supported by collaboration across institutions and sustained regulatory frameworks that defend democratic resilience.

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Digital procurement strengthens compliance and prepares governments for AI oversight

AI is reshaping the expectations placed on organisations, yet many local governments in the US continue to rely on procurement systems designed for a paper-first era.

Sealed envelopes, manual logging and physical storage remain standard practice, even though these steps slow essential services and increase operational pressure on staff and vendors.

The persistence of paper is linked to long-standing compliance requirements, which are vital for public accountability. Over time, however, processes intended to safeguard fairness have created significant inefficiencies.

Smaller businesses frequently struggle with printing, delivery, and rigid submission windows, and the administrative burden on procurement teams expands as records accumulate.

The author’s experience leading a modernisation effort in Somerville, Massachusetts showed how deeply embedded such practices had become.

Gradual adoption of digital submission reduced logistical barriers while strengthening compliance. Electronic bids could be time-stamped, access monitored, and records centrally managed, allowing staff to focus on evaluation rather than handling binders and storage boxes.

Vendor participation increased once geographical and physical constraints were removed. The shift also improved resilience, as municipalities that had already embraced digital procurement were better equipped to maintain continuity during pandemic disruptions.

Electronic records now provide a basis for responsible use of AI. Digital documents can be analysed for anomalies, metadata inconsistencies, or signs of manipulation that are difficult to detect in paper files.

Rather than replacing human judgment, such tools support stronger oversight and more transparent public administration. Modernising procurement aligns government operations with present-day realities and prepares them for future accountability and technological change.

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ECB and ONCE Foundation promote accessible digital euro

The European Central Bank (ECB) has joined forces with Spain’s ONCE Foundation to ensure the digital euro app is accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities, older adults, and those with limited digital skills.

The partnership focuses on technical advice, design collaboration, and testing prototypes for accessibility.

ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said accessibility is a core principle of the digital euro, designed to empower all citizens in the digital age. ONCE Foundation Director Jesús Hernández Galán said experts with lived disability experience are helping make the digital euro app practical and user-friendly.

The collaboration supports an ‘accessibility by design’ approach, going beyond minimum legal requirements under the European Accessibility Act.

Features under consideration include voice-controlled transactions, large-font displays, guided onboarding, and multiple support options to ensure clarity, simplicity, and control for users less confident with digital tools.

Public input will also shape the app’s development, with focus groups and vulnerable consumer feedback guiding design choices. The partnership follows European accessibility and digital regulations, promoting a user-friendly and inclusive digital euro for all.

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AWS scales AI with inference-focused systems

AI assistants deliver answers in seconds, but the process behind the scenes, called inference, is complex. Inference lets trained AI models generate responses, recommendations, or images, accounting for up to 90% of AI computing power.

AWS has built infrastructure to handle these fast, high-volume operations reliably and efficiently.

Inference involves four main stages: tokenisation, prefill, decoding, and detokenisation. Each step converts human input into machine-readable tokens, builds context, generates responses token by token, and converts output back to readable text.

AWS custom Trainium chips speed up the process while reducing costs. AI agents add complexity by chaining multiple inferences for multi-step tasks.

AWS uses its Bedrock platform, Project Mantle engine, and Journal tool to manage long-running requests, prioritise urgent tasks, and maintain low latency. Unified networking ensures efficiency and fairness across users.

By focusing on inference-first infrastructure, AWS lowers AI costs while enabling more advanced applications. Instant responses from AI assistants are the result of years of engineering, billions in investment, and systems built to scale globally.

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PostFinance expands digital asset range to 22 cryptocurrencies

Swiss lender PostFinance has broadened its digital-asset offering to 22 cryptocurrencies, adding Algorand, Arbitrum, NEAR Protocol, Stellar, USDC, and Sui to its platform. The expansion strengthens its position as one of the most comprehensive retail crypto offerings among Swiss banks.

Direct cryptocurrency access was introduced in early 2024, making the institution the first systemically important bank in Switzerland to provide such services. Further additions followed mid-year, reflecting growing client demand for regulated exposure to digital assets.

More than 36,000 custody accounts have been opened since launch, generating over 565,000 trades. According to Alexander Thoma, the bank continues to broaden its selection as customers increasingly prefer to manage crypto through their primary banking provider.

Trading is available via e-finance and the PostFinance app, with a minimum entry level of $50 for both savings plans and individual orders, a move aimed at lowering barriers and widening retail participation.

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Lyria 3 brings AI-generated music to Gemini

The Gemini app has introduced Lyria 3, the latest music-generation model from Google DeepMind, enabling users to create 30-second tracks from text prompts, images, or videos. The feature is rolling out in beta, marking a further expansion of creative tools within the platform.

Users can customise genre, tempo, and vocals, while the system generates lyrics automatically when needed. Tracks include AI-generated cover art and can be shared directly, aiming to provide a simple way to produce short, personalised soundtracks rather than full compositions.

Audio created in the app is embedded with SynthID watermarking to identify AI-generated content, alongside new verification tools that allow users to check whether files were produced using Google AI.

The model is designed to produce original material rather than replicate specific artists, supported by filters and reporting mechanisms.

Availability initially covers multiple major languages for users aged 18 and over, with higher usage limits offered to premium subscribers. Lyria 3 is also being integrated into YouTube creator tools to enhance Shorts soundtracks as the rollout expands.

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