Digital standards

Germany considers age limits after Australian social media ban

Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger has indicated support for stricter age limits on social media after Australia banned teenagers under 16 from using major online platforms. He said age restrictions were more than justified and that the policy had clear merit.

Australia’s new rules require companies to remove under 16 user profiles and stop new ones from being created. Officials argued that the measure aims to reduce cyberbullying, grooming and mental health harm instead of relying only on parental supervision.

The European Commission President said she was inspired by the move, although social media companies and civil liberties groups have criticised it.

Germany has already appointed an expert commission to examine child and youth protection in the digital era. The panel is expected to publish recommendations by summer 2025, which could include policies on social media access and potential restrictions on mobile phone use in schools.

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ZhiCube showcases new approach to embodied AI deployment

Chinese robotics firm AI² Robotics has launched ZhiCube, described as a modular embodied AI service space integrating humanoid robots into public venues. The concept debuted in Beijing and Shenzhen, with initial installations in a city park and a shopping mall.

ZhiCube places the company’s AlphaBot 2 humanoid robot inside a modular unit designed for service delivery. The system supports multiple functions, including coffee, ice cream, entertainment, and retail, which can be combined based on location and demand.

At the core of the platform is a human–robot collaboration model powered by the company’s embodied AI system, GOVLA. The robot can perceive its surroundings, understand tasks, and adapt its role dynamically during daily operations.

AI² Robotics says the system adjusts work patterns based on foot traffic, allocating tasks between robots and human staff as demand fluctuates. Robots handle standardised services, while humans focus on creative or complex activities.

The company plans to deploy 1,000 ZhiCube units across China over the next three years. It aims to position the platform as a scalable urban infrastructure, supported by in-house manufacturing and long-term operational data from multiple industries.

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AI chatbots spreading rumours raise new risks

Researchers warn AI chatbots are spreading rumours about real people without human oversight. Unlike human gossip, bot-to-bot exchanges can escalate unchecked, growing more extreme as they move through AI networks.

Philosophers Joel Krueger and Lucy Osler from the University of Exeter describe this phenomenon as ‘feral gossip.’ It involves negative evaluations about absent third parties and can persist undetected across platforms.

Real-world examples include tech reporter Kevin Roose, who encountered hostile AI-generated assessments of his work from multiple chatbots, seemingly amplified as the content filtered through training data.

The researchers highlight that AI systems lack the social checks humans provide, allowing rumours to intensify unchecked. Chatbots are designed to appear trustworthy and personal, so negative statements can seem credible.

Such misinformation has already affected journalists, academics, and public officials, sometimes prompting legal action. Technosocial harms from AI gossip extend beyond embarrassment. False claims can damage reputations, influence decisions, and persist online and offline.

While chatbots are not conscious, their prioritisation of conversational fluency over factual accuracy can make the rumours they spread difficult to detect and correct.

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Sberbank issues Russia’s first crypto-backed loan

Sberbank has issued Russia’s first crypto-backed loan, providing financing to Intelion Data, one of the country’s largest Bitcoin miners. The bank did not disclose the loan size or the cryptocurrency used as collateral but described the move as a pilot project.

The loan leveraged Sberbank’s own cryptocurrency custody solution, Rutoken, ensuring the digital assets’ safety throughout the loan period. The bank plans to offer similar loans and collaborate with the Central Bank on regulatory frameworks.

Intelion Data welcomed the deal, calling it a milestone for Russia’s crypto mining sector and a potential model for scaling similar financing across the industry. The company is expanding with a mining centre near the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant and a gas power station.

Sberbank has also been testing decentralised finance tools and supports gradual legalisation of cryptocurrencies in Russia. VTB and other banks are preparing to support crypto transactions, while the Central Bank may allow limited retail trading.

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Korean Air employee data breach exposes 30,000 records after cyberattack

Investigators are examining a major data breach involving Korean Air after personal records for around 30,000 employees were exposed in a cyberattack on a former subsidiary.

An incident that affected KC&D Service, which previously handled in-flight catering before being sold to private equity firm Hahn and Company in 2020.

The leaked information is understood to include employee names and bank account numbers. Korean Air said customer records were not impacted, and emergency security checks were completed instead of waiting for confirmation of the intrusion.

Korean Air also reported the breach to the relevant authorities.

Executives said the company is focusing on identifying the full scope of the breach and who has been affected, while urging KC&D to strengthen controls and prevent any recurrence. Korean Air also plans to upgrade internal data protection measures.

The attack follows a similar case at Asiana Airlines last week, where details of about 10,000 employees were compromised, raising wider concerns over cybersecurity resilience across the aviation sector of South Korea.

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AI in education receives growing attention across the EU

A recent Flash Eurobarometer survey shows that EU citizens consider digital skills essential for all levels of education. Nearly nine in ten respondents believe schools should teach students to manage the effects of technology on mental and physical health.

Most also agree that digital skills deserve equal focus to traditional subjects such as reading, mathematics and science.

The survey highlights growing interest in AI in education. Over half of respondents see AI as both beneficial and challenging, emphasising the need for careful assessment. Citizens also expect teachers to be trained in AI use, including Generative AI, to guide students effectively.

While many support smartphone bans in schools, there is strong backing for digital learning tools, with 87% in favour of promoting technology designed specifically for education. Teachers, parents and families are seen as key in fostering safe and responsible technology use.

Overall, EU citizens advocate for a balanced approach that combines digital literacy, responsible use of technology, and the professional support of educators and families to foster a healthy learning environment.

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New York orders warning labels on social media features

Authorities in New York State have approved a new law requiring social media platforms to display warning labels when users engage with features that encourage prolonged use.

Labels will appear when people interact with elements such as infinite scrolling, auto-play, like counters or algorithm-driven feeds. The rule applies whenever these services are accessed from within New York.

Governor Kathy Hochul said the move is intended to safeguard young people against potential mental health harms linked to excessive social media use. Warnings will show the first time a user activates one of the targeted features and will then reappear at intervals.

Concerns about the impact on children and teenagers have prompted wider government action. California is considering similar steps, while Australia has already banned social media for under-16s and Denmark plans to follow. The US surgeon general has also called for clearer health warnings.

Researchers continue to examine how social media use relates to anxiety and depression among young users. Platforms now face growing pressure to balance engagement features with stronger protections instead of relying purely on self-regulation.

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SK Telecom introduces South Korea’s first hyperscale AI model

The telecommunications firm, SK Telecom, is preparing to unveil A.X K1, Korea’s first hyperscale language model built with 519 billion parameters.

Around 33 billion parameters are activated during inference, so the AI model can keep strong performance instead of demanding excessive computing power. The project is part of a national initiative involving universities and industry partners.

The company expects A.X K1 to outperform smaller systems in complex reasoning, mathematics and multilingual understanding, while also supporting code generation and autonomous AI agents.

At such a scale, the model can operate as a teacher system that transfers knowledge to smaller, domain-specific tools that might directly improve daily services and industrial processes.

Unlike many global models trained mainly in English, A.X K1 has been trained in Korean from the outset so it naturally understands local language, culture and context.

SK Telecom plans to deploy the model through its AI service Adot, which already has more than 10 million subscribers, allowing access via calls, messages, the web and mobile apps.

The company foresees applications in workplace productivity, manufacturing optimisation, gaming dialogue, robotics and semiconductor performance testing.

Research will continue so the model can support the wider AI ecosystem of South Korea, and SK Telecom plans to open-source A.X K1 along with an API to help local developers create new AI agents.

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Trust Wallet urges update after $7 million hack

Trust Wallet has urged users to update its Google Chrome extension after a security breach affecting version 2.68 resulted in the theft of roughly $7 million. The company confirmed it will refund all impacted users and advised downloading version 2.69 immediately.

Mobile users and other browser extension versions were unaffected.

Blockchain security firms revealed that malicious code in version 2.68 harvested wallet mnemonic phrases, sending decrypted credentials to an attacker‑controlled server.

Around $3 million in Bitcoin, $431 in Solana, and more than $3 million in Ethereum were stolen and moved through centralised exchanges and cross‑chain bridges for laundering. Hundreds of users were affected.

Analysts suggest the incident may involve an insider or a nation-state actor, exploiting leaked Chrome Web Store API keys.

Trust Wallet has launched a support process for victims and warned against impersonation scams. CEO Eowyn Chen said the malicious extension bypassed the standard release checks and that investigation and remediation are ongoing.

The incident highlights ongoing security risks for browser-based cryptocurrency wallets and the importance of user vigilance, including avoiding unofficial links and never sharing recovery phrases.

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The AI terms that shaped debate and disruption in 2025

AI continued to dominate public debate in 2025, not only through new products and investment rounds, but also through a rapidly evolving vocabulary that captured both promise and unease.

From ambitious visions of superintelligence to cultural shorthand like ‘slop’, language became a lens through which society processed another turbulent year for AI.

Several terms reflected the industry’s technical ambitions. Concepts such as superintelligence, reasoning models, world models and physical intelligence pointed to efforts to push AI beyond text generation towards deeper problem-solving and real-world interaction.

Developments by companies including Meta, OpenAI, DeepSeek and Google DeepMind reinforced the sense that scale, efficiency and new training approaches are now competing pathways to progress, rather than sheer computing power alone.

Other expressions highlighted growing social and economic tensions. Words like hyperscalers, bubble and distillation entered mainstream debate as data centres expanded, valuations rose, and cheaper model-building methods disrupted established players.

At the same time, legal and ethical debates intensified around fair use, chatbot behaviour and the psychological impact of prolonged AI interaction, underscoring the gap between innovation speed and regulatory clarity.

Cultural reactions also influenced the development of the AI lexicon. Terms such as vibe coding, agentic and sycophancy revealed how generative systems are reshaping work, creativity and user trust, while ‘slop’ emerged as a blunt critique of low-quality, AI-generated content flooding online spaces.

Together, these phrases chart a year in which AI moved further into everyday life, leaving society to wrestle with what should be encouraged, controlled or questioned.

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