Economic

Report warns of widening 5G capability gap

A new study by network analytics firm Ookla finds that while global 5G coverage gaps are narrowing, a deeper divide is emerging in network capabilities, with Europe falling behind. The report argues that the real competition is no longer about basic rollout, but about how effectively countries deploy advanced standalone (SA) 5G networks to support innovation, industry, and high-performance services.

According to the findings, North America and leading Asian markets have moved more decisively toward full standalone 5G architectures, achieving faster speeds and improved responsiveness. Gulf Cooperation Council countries have also advanced rapidly, with the region described as a 5G SA performance leader in 2025, delivering median download speeds reportedly more than five times higher than those in Europe.

Europe, by contrast, is characterised as lagging due to slow commercialisation, fragmented device ecosystems, and uneven tariff structures. While some countries, such as Spain, are cited as positive examples, the broader region risks losing ground as others accelerate deployment of 5G Advanced technologies, including enhanced spectrum use and more sophisticated network optimisation tools.

The report highlights national policy frameworks as a decisive factor in 5G competitiveness. Spectrum allocation strategies, infrastructure investment rules, and regulatory innovation are seen as equally important as technical upgrades. The findings come as the European Union advances its proposed Digital Networks Act, which has drawn mixed reactions from industry stakeholders concerned about investment conditions.

Beyond deployment, Ookla stresses that simply launching standalone 5G does not guarantee strong performance. Advanced optimisation strategies, such as cloud-native network design, deeper virtualisation, and improved spectrum efficiency, are key to unlocking the technology’s full potential. Enterprise adoption, initially slow under earlier non-standalone models, is now showing signs of growth, particularly in markets offering network slicing services.

The study concludes that decisions made in the next two years will be critical for long-term digital competitiveness. As 5G increasingly intersects with national AI strategies, industrial policy, and digital sovereignty agendas, countries that treat standalone networks as a strategic priority may gain a structural advantage, while others risk seeing the gap widen further as the transition toward 6G approaches.

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Parliament halts built-in AI tools on tablets and other devices over data risks

The European Parliament has disabled built-in AI features on tablets issued to lawmakers, citing cybersecurity and data protection risks. An internal email states that writing assistants, summarisation tools, and enhanced virtual assistants were turned off after security assessments.

Officials said some AI functions on tablets rely on cloud processing for tasks that could be handled locally, potentially transmitting data off the device. A review is underway to clarify how much information may be shared with service providers.

Only pre-installed AI tools were affected, while third-party apps remain available. Lawmakers were advised to review AI settings on personal devices, limit app permissions, and avoid exposing work emails or documents to AI systems.

The step reflects wider European concerns about digital sovereignty and reliance on overseas technology providers. US legislation, such as the Cloud Act, allows authorities to access data held by American companies, raising cross-border data protection questions.

Debate over AI security is intensifying as institutions weigh innovation against the risks of remote processing and granular data access. Parliament’s move signals growing caution around handling sensitive information in cloud-based AI environments.

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From Milan-Cortina to factory floors, AI powers Zhejiang manufacturing

As Chinese skater Sun Long stood on the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics podium, the vivid red of his uniform reflected more than national pride. It also highlighted AI’s expanding role in China’s textile manufacturing.

In Shaoxing, AI-powered image systems calibrate fabric colours in real time. Factory managers say digital printing has lifted pass rates from about 50% to above 90%, easing longstanding production bottlenecks.

Tyre manufacturing firm Zhongce Rubber Group uses AI to generate multiple 3D designs in minutes. Engineers report shorter development cycles and reduced manual input across research and testing.

Electric vehicle maker Zeekr uses AI visual inspection in its 5G-enabled factory. Officials say tyre verification now takes seconds, helping eliminate assembly errors.

Provincial authorities in China report that large industrial firms are fully digitalized. Zhejiang plans to further integrate AI by 2027, expanding smart factories and industrial intelligence.

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Study says China AI governance not purely state-driven

New research challenges the view that China’s AI controls are solely the product of authoritarian rule, arguing instead that governance emerges from interaction between the state, private sector and society.

A study by Xuechen Chen of Northeastern University London and Lu Xu of Lancaster University argues that China’s AI governance is not purely top-down. Published in the Computer Law & Security Review, it says safeguards are shaped by regulators, companies and social actors, not only the central government.

Chen calls claims that Beijing’s AI oversight is entirely state-driven a ‘stereotypical narrative’. Although the Cyberspace Administration of China leads regulation, firms such as ByteDance and DeepSeek help shape guardrails through self-regulation and commercial strategy.

China was the first country to introduce rules specific to generative AI. Systems must avoid unlawful or vulgar content, and updated legislation strengthens minor protection, limiting children’s online activity and requiring child-friendly device modes.

Market incentives also reinforce compliance. As Chinese AI firms expand globally, consumer expectations and cultural norms encourage content moderation. The study concludes that governance reflects interaction between state authority, market forces and society.

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Hollywood groups challenge ByteDance over Seedance 2.0 copyright concerns

ByteDance is facing scrutiny from Hollywood organisations over its AI video generator Seedance 2.0. Industry groups allege the system uses actors’ likenesses and copyrighted material without permission.

The Motion Picture Association said the tool reflects large-scale unauthorised use of protected works. Chairman Charles Rivkin called on ByteDance to halt what he described as infringing activities that undermine creators’ rights and jobs.

SAG-AFTRA also criticised the platform, citing concerns over the use of members’ voices and images. Screenwriter Rhett Reese warned that rapid AI development could reshape opportunities for creative professionals.

ByteDance acknowledged the concerns and said it would strengthen safeguards to prevent misuse of intellectual property. The company reiterated its commitment to respecting copyright while addressing complaints.

The dispute underscores wider tensions between technological innovation and rights protection as generative AI tools expand. Legal experts say the outcome could influence how AI video systems operate within existing copyright frameworks.

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Qwen3.5 debuts with hybrid architecture and expanded multimodal capabilities

Alibaba has released Qwen3.5-397B-A17B, the first open-weight model in its Qwen3.5 series. Designed as a native vision-language system, it contains 397 billion parameters, though only 17 billion are activated per forward pass to improve efficiency.

The model uses a hybrid architecture that combines sparse mixture-of-experts with linear attention via Gated Delta Networks. According to the company, this design improves inference speed while maintaining strong results across reasoning, coding, and agent benchmarks.

Multilingual coverage expands from 119 to 201 languages and dialects, supported by a 250k vocabulary and larger visual-text pretraining datasets. Alibaba says the model achieves performance comparable to significantly larger predecessors.

A hosted version, Qwen3.5-Plus, is available through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, with a 1-million-token context window and built-in adaptive tool use. Reinforcement learning environments were scaled to prioritise generalisation across tasks rather than narrow optimisation.

Infrastructure upgrades include an FP8 training pipeline and an asynchronous reinforcement learning framework to improve efficiency and stability. Alibaba positions Qwen3.5 as a base for multimodal agents that support reasoning, search, and coding.

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Prominent United Nations leaders to attend AI Impact Summit 2026

Senior United Nations leaders, including Antonio Guterres, will take part in the AI Impact Summit 2026, set to be held in New Delhi from 16 to 20 February. The event will be the first global AI summit of this scale to be convened in the Global South.

The Summit is organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and will bring together governments, international organisations, industry, academia, and civil society. Talks will focus on responsible AI development aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 30 United Nations-led side events will accompany the Summit, spanning food security, health, gender equality, digital infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, and children’s safety. Guterres said shared understandings are needed to build guardrails and unlock the potential of AI for the common good.

Other participants include Volker Turk, Amandeep Singh Gill, Kristalina Georgieva, and leaders from the International Labour Organization, International Telecommunication Union, and other UN bodies. Senior representatives from UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UN Women, FAO, and WIPO are also expected to attend.

The Summit follows the United Nations General Assembly’s appointment of 40 members to a new international scientific panel on AI. The body will publish annual evidence-based assessments to support global AI governance, including input from IIT Madras expert Balaraman Ravindran.

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Quebec examines AI debt collection practices

Quebec’s financial regulator has opened a review into how AI tools are being used to collect consumer debt across the province. The Autorité des marchés financiers is examining whether automated systems comply with governance, privacy and fairness standards in Quebec.

Draft guidelines released in 2025 require institutions in Quebec to maintain registries of AI systems, conduct bias testing and ensure human oversight. Public consultations closed in November, with regulators stressing that automation must remain explainable and accountable.

Many debt collection platforms now rely on predictive analytics to tailor the timing, tone and frequency of messages sent to borrowers in Quebec. Regulators are assessing whether such personalisation risks undue pressure or opaque decision making.

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Security flaws expose ‘vibe-coding’ AI platform Orchids to easy hacking

BBC technology reporting reveals that Orchids, a popular ‘vibe-coding’ platform designed to let users build applications through simple text prompts and AI-assisted generation, contains serious, unresolved security weaknesses that could let a malicious actor breach accounts and tamper with code or data.

A cybersecurity researcher demonstrated that the platform’s authentication and input handling mechanisms can be exploited, allowing unauthorised access to projects and potentially enabling attackers to insert malicious code or exfiltrate sensitive information.

Because Orchids abstracts conventional coding into natural-language prompts and shared project spaces, the risk surface for such vulnerabilities is larger than in traditional development environments.

The report underscores broader concerns in the AI developer ecosystem: as AI-driven tools lower technical barriers, they also bring new security challenges when platforms rush to innovate without fully addressing fundamental safeguards such as secure authentication, input validation and permission controls.

Experts cited in the article urge industry and regulators to prioritise robust security testing and clear accountability when deploying AI-assisted coding systems.

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AI startup raises $100m to predict human behaviour

Artificial intelligence startup Simile has raised $100m to develop a model designed to predict human behaviour in commercial and corporate contexts. The funding round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and other investors.

The company is building a foundation model trained on interviews, transaction records and behavioural science research. Its AI simulations aim to forecast customer purchases and anticipate questions analysts may raise during earnings calls.

Simile says the technology could offer an alternative to traditional focus groups and market testing. Retail trials have included using the system to guide decisions on product placement and inventory.

Founded by Stanford-affiliated researchers, the startup recently emerged from stealth after months of development. Prominent AI figures, including Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy, joined the funding round as it seeks to scale predictive decision-making tools.

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