Economic

Dubai telecom firm launches crypto mining-as-a-service platform

Dubai-based telecom operator du has launched a cryptocurrency mining service designed to promote digital finance adoption across the UAE. The initiative, named Cloud Miner, enables residents to mine cryptocurrency via subscription, eliminating the need for personal hardware or maintenance.

The service, operated by du Tech’s data centres, enables users to rent computational power and mine Bitcoin and other digital assets. Participants can bid online from November 3 to 9 for 24-month contracts that offer 250 terahashes per second.

Users will also gain access to a calculator to track monthly Bitcoin yields linked directly to their crypto wallets.

According to Jasim Al Awadi, du’s Chief ICT Officer, Cloud Miner represents the company’s first step in expanding into digital asset services. He added that as adoption grows, Du plans to explore adjacent sectors such as crypto exchanges and lending platforms.

The company also intends to increase the number of available contracts and hash rate in future phases.

The UAE continues to position itself as a leader in digital finance, introducing supportive regulations and encouraging blockchain innovation. Al Awadi emphasised that trusted, regulated entities like du play a key role in helping users confidently engage with the crypto ecosystem.

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Comet browser update puts privacy in users’ hands

Perplexity has unveiled new privacy features for its AI-powered browser, Comet, designed to give users clearer control over their data. The updates include a new homepage widget called Privacy Snapshot, which allows people to review and adjust privacy settings in one place.

The widget provides a real-time view of how Comet protects users online and simplifies settings for ad blocking, tracker management and data access. Users can toggle permissions for the Comet Assistant directly from the homepage.

Comet’s updated AI Assistant settings now show precisely how data is used, including where it is stored locally or shared for processing. Sensitive information such as passwords and payment details remain securely stored on the user’s device.

Perplexity said the changes reinforce its ‘privacy by default’ approach, an important principle in EU data protection law, combining ad blocking, safe browsing and transparent data handling. The new features are available in the latest Comet update across desktop and mobile platforms.

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Live exploitation of CVE-2024-1086 across older Linux versions flagged by CISA

CISA’s warning serves as a reminder that ransomware is not confined to Windows. A Linux kernel flaw, CVE-2024-1086, is being exploited in real-world incidents, and federal networks face a November 20 patch-or-disable deadline. Businesses should read it as their cue, too.

Attackers who reach a vulnerable host can escalate privileges to root, bypass defences, and deploy malware. Many older kernels remain in circulation even though upstream fixes were shipped in January 2024, creating a soft target when paired with phishing and lateral movement.

Practical steps matter more than labels. Patch affected kernels where possible, isolate any components that cannot be updated, and verify the running versions against vendor advisories and the NIST catalogue. Treat emergency changes as production work, with change logs and checks.

Resilience buys time when updates lag. Enforce least privilege, require MFA for admin entry points, and segment crown-jewel services. Tune EDR to spot privilege-escalation behaviour and suspicious modules, then rehearse restores from offline, immutable backups.

Security habits shape outcomes as much as CVEs. Teams that patch quickly, validate fixes, and document closure shrink the blast radius. Teams that defer kernel maintenance invite repeat visits, turning a known bug into an avoidable outage.

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Microsoft AI chief rules out machine consciousness as purely biological phenomenon

Microsoft’s AI head, Mustafa Suleyman, has dismissed the idea that AI could ever become conscious, arguing that consciousness is a property exclusive to biological beings.

Speaking at the AfroTech Conference in Houston, Suleyman said researchers should stop exploring the notion of sentient AI, calling it ‘the wrong question’.

He explained that while AI can simulate experience, it cannot feel pain or possess subjective awareness.

Suleyman compared AI’s output to a narrative illusion rather than genuine consciousness, aligning with the philosophical theory of biological naturalism, which ties awareness to living brain processes.

Suleyman has become one of the industry’s most outspoken critics of conscious AI research. His book ‘The Coming Wave’ and his recent essay ‘We must build AI for people;’ not to be a person warn against anthropomorphising machines.

He also confirmed that Microsoft will not develop erotic chatbots, a direction that has been embraced by competitors such as OpenAI and xAI.

He stressed that Microsoft’s AI systems are designed to serve humans, not mimic them. The company’s Copilot assistant now includes a ‘real talk’ mode that challenges users’ assumptions instead of offering flattery.

Suleyman said responsible development must avoid ‘unbridled accelerationism’, adding that fear and scepticism are essential for navigating AI’s rapid evolution.

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Brain-inspired networks boost AI performance and cut energy use

Researchers at the University of Surrey have developed a new method to enhance AI by imitating how the human brain connects information. The approach, called Topographical Sparse Mapping, links each artificial neuron only to nearby or related ones, replicating the brain’s efficient organisation.

According to findings published in Neurocomputing, the structure reduces redundant connections and improves performance without compromising accuracy. Senior lecturer Dr Roman Bauer said intelligent systems can now be designed to consume less energy while maintaining power.

Training large models today often requires over a million kilowatt-hours of electricity, a trend he described as unsustainable.

An advanced version, Enhanced Topographical Sparse Mapping, introduces a biologically inspired pruning process that refines neural connections during training, similar to how the brain learns.

Researchers believe that the system could contribute to more realistic neuromorphic computers, which simulate brain functions to process data more efficiently.

The Surrey team said that such a discovery may advance generative AI systems and pave the way for sustainable large-scale model training. Their work highlights how lessons from biology can shape the next generation of energy-efficient computing.

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Q3 funding in Europe rebounds with growth rounds leading

Europe raised €13.7bn across just over 1,300 rounds in Q3, the strongest quarter since Q2 2024. September alone brought €8.7bn. July and August reflected the familiar summer slowdown.

Growth equity provided €7bn, or 51.6% of the total, with two consecutive quarters surpassing 150 growth rounds. Data centres, AI agents, and GenAI led the activity, with more AI startups scaling with larger cheques.

Early-stage totals were the lowest in 12 months, yet they were ahead of Q3 last year. Lovable’s $200 million Series A at a $1.8 billion valuation stood out. Seven new unicorns included Nscale, Fuse Energy, Framer, IQM, Nothing, and Tide.

ASML led the quarter’s largest deal, investing €1.3bn in Mistral AI’s €1.7bn Series C. France tallied €2.7 billion, heavily concentrated in Mistral, while the UK reached €4.49 billion. Germany followed with just over €1.5bn, ahead of the Netherlands and Switzerland.

AI-native funding surpassed all verticals for the first time on record, reaching €3.9 billion, with deeptech at €2.6 billion. Agentic AI logged 129 rounds, sharply higher year-over-year, while data centres edged out agents for capital. Defence and dual-use technology attracted €2.1 billion across 44 rounds.

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Unexpected language emerges as best for AI prompting

A new joint study by the University of Maryland and Microsoft has found that Polish is the most effective language for prompting AI, outperforming 25 others, including English, French, and Chinese.

The researchers tested leading AI models, including OpenAI, Google Gemini, Qwen, Llama, and DeepSeek, by providing identical prompts in 26 languages. Polish achieved an average accuracy of 88 percent, securing first place. English, often seen as the natural choice for AI interaction, came only sixth.

According to the study, Polish proved to be the most precise in issuing commands to AI, despite the fact that far less Polish-language data exists for model training. The Polish Patent Office noted that while humans find the language difficult, AI systems appear to handle it with remarkable ease.

Other high-performing languages included French, Italian, and Spanish, with Chinese ranking among the lowest. The finding challenges the widespread assumption that English dominates AI communication and could reshape future research on multilingual model optimisation.

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Perplexity launches AI-powered patent search to make innovation intelligence accessible

The US software company, Perplexity, has unveiled Perplexity Patents, the first AI-powered patent research agent designed to democratise access to intellectual property intelligence. The new tool allows anyone to explore patents using natural language instead of complex keyword syntax.

Traditional patent research has long relied on rigid search systems that demand specialist knowledge and expensive software.

Perplexity Patents instead offers conversational interaction, enabling users to ask questions such as ‘Are there any patents on AI for language learning?’ or ‘Key quantum computing patents since 2024?’.

The system automatically identifies relevant patents, provides inline viewing, and maintains context across multiple questions.

Powered by Perplexity’s large-scale search infrastructure, the platform uses agentic reasoning to break down complex queries, perform multi-step searches, and return comprehensive results supported by extensive patent documentation.

Its semantic understanding also captures related concepts that traditional tools often miss, linking terms such as ‘fitness trackers’, ‘activity bands’, and ‘health monitoring wearables’.

Beyond patent databases, Perplexity Patents can also draw from academic papers, open-source code, and other publicly available data, revealing the entire landscape of technological innovation. The service launches today in beta, free for all users, with extra features for Pro and Max subscribers.

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Nexperia chip exports may resume as China softens stance on ban

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced plans to exempt specific Nexperia orders from its export ban, aiming to stabilise the global semiconductor supply chain after the Netherlands seized control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chipmaker.

The ministry stated that exemptions would be granted when the criteria were met, encouraging affected firms to apply.

A move that follows a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Busan, where both sides reached a framework allowing Nexperia to resume shipments under eased restrictions.

Washington reportedly agreed to pause the 50 percent subsidiary rule, which restricts exports from companies half-owned by entities on its trade blocklist. Wingtech Technology, Nexperia’s Chinese parent, has been under these restrictions since December.

Beijing’s export ban, introduced after the Dutch takeover citing national security concerns, disrupted supplies from Nexperia’s Dongguan factory, which assembles about 70 percent of its products.

China condemned the Netherlands for intervening in corporate affairs, warning that such actions deepen global supply chain instability.

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A new phase for Hyundai and NVIDIA in AI mobility and manufacturing

NVIDIA and Hyundai Motor Group will build a Blackwell-powered AI factory for autonomous vehicles, smart plants and robotics. The partners will co-develop core physical AI, shifting from tool adoption to capability building across mobility, manufacturing and on-device chips.

The programme targets integrated training, validation and deployment on 50,000 Blackwell GPUs. In parallel, both sides will back the physical AI cluster in South Korea with about $3 billion, creating an NVIDIA AI Technology Center, Hyundai’s Physical AI Application Center and regional data centres.

Hyundai will use NVIDIA DGX for model training, Omniverse and Cosmos on RTX PRO Servers for digital twins and simulation, and DRIVE AGX Thor in vehicles and robots for real-time intelligence. The stack underpins design, testing and deployment at an industrial scale.

Factory digital twins will unify data, enable virtual commissioning and improve predictive maintenance, supporting safer human-robot work. Isaac Sim will validate tasks and ergonomics before line deployment, speeding robot integration and lifting throughput, quality and uptime.

Vehicles will gain evolving features via Nemotron and NeMo, from autonomy to personalised assistants and adaptive comfort. DRIVE AGX Thor with safety-certified DriveOS will power driver assistance and next-generation safety, linking car and factory into one intelligent ecosystem.

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