Countries are racing to harness AI, and the European Commission has unveiled two strategies to maintain Europe’s competitiveness. Apply AI targets faster adoption across industries and the public sector, while AI in Science focuses on boosting Europe’s research leadership.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that Europe must shape AI’s future by balancing innovation and safety. The European Commission is mobilising €1 billion to boost adoption in healthcare, manufacturing, energy, defence, and culture, while supporting SMEs.
Measures include creating AI-powered screening centres for healthcare, backing frontier models, and upgrading testing infrastructure. An Apply AI Alliance will unite industry, academia, civil society, and public bodies to coordinate action, while an AI Observatory will monitor sector trends and impacts.
The AI in Science Strategy centres on RAISE, a new virtual institute to pool and coordinate resources for applying AI in research. Investments include €600 million in compute power through Horizon Europe and €58 million for talent networks, alongside plans to double annual AI research funding to over €3 billion.
The EU aims to position itself as a global hub for trustworthy and innovative AI by linking infrastructure, data, skills, and investment. Upcoming events, such as the AI in Science Summit in Copenhagen, will showcase new initiatives as Europe pushes to translate its AI ambitions into tangible outcomes.
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California has enacted SB 53, offering legal protection to employees reporting AI risks or safety concerns. The law covers companies using large-scale computing for AI model training, focusing on leading developers and exempting smaller firms.
It also mandates transparency, requiring risk mitigation plans, safety test results, and reporting of critical safety incidents to the California Office of Emergency Services (OES).
The legislation responds to calls from industry insiders, including former OpenAI and DeepMind employees, who highlighted restrictive offboarding agreements that silenced criticism and limited public discussion of AI risks.
The new law protects employees who have ‘reasonable cause’ to believe a catastrophic risk exists, defined as endangering 50 lives or causing $1 billion in damages. It allows them to report concerns to regulators, the Attorney General, or management without fear of retaliation.
While experts praise the law as a crucial step, they note its limitations. The protections focus on catastrophic risks, leaving smaller but significant harms unaddressed.
Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig emphasises that a lower ‘good faith’ standard for reporting would simplify protections for employees, though it is currently limited to internal anonymous channels.
The law reflects growing recognition of the stakes in frontier AI, balancing the need for innovation with safeguards that encourage transparency. Advocates stress that protecting whistleblowers is essential for employees to raise AI concerns safely, even at personal or financial risk.
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The US tech giant, Google, has announced a €5 billion investment in Belgium to strengthen its AI and cloud infrastructure over the next two years.
A plan that includes major expansions of its Saint-Ghislain data centre campuses and the creation of 300 full-time jobs.
The company has also signed agreements with Eneco, Luminus and Renner to develop new onshore wind farms and supply the Belgian grid with clean energy.
Alongside the infrastructure push, Google will fund non-profits to deliver free AI training for low-skilled workers, ensuring broader access to digital skills.
By deepening its presence in Belgium, Google aims to bolster the country’s technological and economic future. The initiative marks one of Europe’s largest AI infrastructure investments, reflecting growing competition to secure leadership in the continent’s digital transformation.
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Alibaba Group has established a robotics AI team within its Qwen lab, marking a significant step in its strategy to expand into AI-powered hardware.
However, this move reflects China’s broader push to lead in robotics and embodied intelligence, increasingly driven by generative AI and multimodal foundation models.
Qwen researcher Lin Junyang revealed the creation of the robotics unit on social media, describing it as part of Alibaba’s efforts to move AI from the virtual to the physical world.
The lab’s Qwen series has already achieved global prominence, with seven models ranking among the world’s top ten on Hugging Face, including the multimodal Qwen3-Omni in first place.
Group chairman Joe Tsai recently stressed that success in AI depends less on model scale and more on how rapidly technologies are adopted. He argued that China is focused on cost-effective, open-source AI models that can enable faster integration than the high-cost approach pursued in the US.
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming confirmed plans to raise AI infrastructure investment to 380 billion yuan over three years to become a full-stack AI provider.
The company also invests in robotics ventures such as Unitree Robotics and X Square Robot, aligning its expansion with national industrial strategies and the country’s accelerating robotics leadership.
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The US startup OpenAI has broadened access to its affordable ChatGPT Go plan, now available in 16 additional countries across Asia, including Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Priced at under $5 per month, the plan offers local currency payments in select regions, while others will pay in USD with tax-adjusted variations.
ChatGPT Go gives users higher message and image-generation limits, increased upload capacity, and double the memory of the free plan.
A move that follows significant regional growth (Southeast Asia’s weekly active users increasing fourfold) and builds on earlier launches in India and Indonesia, where paid subscriptions have already doubled.
The expansion intensifies competition with Google, which recently introduced its Google AI Plus plan in more than 40 countries. Both companies are vying to attract users in fast-growing markets with low-cost AI access, each blending productivity and creative tools into subscription offerings.
At OpenAI’s DevDay 2025 in San Francisco, CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT’s global weekly active users have reached 800 million.
OpenAI is also introducing in-chat applications from partners like Spotify, Zillow, and Coursera, signalling a shift toward transforming ChatGPT into a broader AI platform ecosystem.
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Gemini has announced a significant expansion in Australia, reinforcing its long-term growth strategy across Asia. The move includes appointing James Logan, gaining AUSTRAC registration, and launching new AUD banking rails for faster deposits and trading.
Australians can now deposit funds instantly through Osko and the New Payments Platform (NPP), avoiding international transfer delays and fees. Users can seamlessly buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies using AUD on the Gemini app and the Gemini ActiveTrader platform.
According to Gemini’s Global State of Crypto Report 2025, 22% of Australians already hold digital assets- a rate matching that of the United States.
James Logan will lead Gemini’s Australian operations, overseeing strategy, partnerships, and customer growth. With a background in financial services and senior roles at exchanges like Luno and Bitget, Logan brings deep expertise in digital asset adoption and trust building.
He described Gemini’s expansion as ‘an exciting milestone strengthening Australia’s access to secure and transparent crypto trading.’
Gemini’s mission to bridge traditional finance and the future of money underpins its commitment to trust, transparency, and innovation. The company views its expansion as the start of a long-term effort to empower Australians with secure tools to participate in the next generation of digital finance.
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Over 4.3 million New Zealand account details have been exposed online, according to the National Cyber Security Centre. As Cyber Smart Week begins, the agency is launching a free tool called ‘How Exposed Am I‘ through its Own Your Online platform to help people check their data and strengthen defences.
The tool utilises the Have I Been Pwned database to display users whose personal details have been compromised. It then provides steps to enhance security, giving individuals greater control over their digital safety. Authorities say scammers can easily exploit exposed information to compromise accounts.
New research highlights the scale of the threat. More than half of users in New Zealand faced an online security issue within six months, yet fewer than half felt personally vulnerable. Losses reached NZ$1.6 billion in 2024, affecting over 830,000 people, with an average loss of NZ$1,260 per incident.
NCSC’s Mike Jagusch says almost everyone leaves a digital footprint that exposes them to scammers. Simple steps, such as using long, unique passwords and enabling two-factor authentication, can greatly reduce risk. He notes that two-factor authentication alone can block 99% of automated attacks.
The initiative is part of Own Your Online’s broader push to improve national cyber resilience. Users are encouraged to start by securing their most critical accounts, such as banking, email, and social media, to build stronger protection against future scams.
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The agreement will combine innovations across Google Search, Gemini, and Google Cloud. AI tools will assist Team USA with training analysis, while viewers will benefit from more innovative search functions during NBCUniversal’s coverage.
Gemini will also support athletes and organisers with enhanced data insights and communication tools.
Google Cloud will power what is set to be the most technologically advanced Games in history. It will optimise event logistics, analyse performance data, and provide real-time analytics to NBCUniversal.
Meanwhile, YouTube will host exclusive Olympic content, expanding NBCUniversal’s storytelling reach through short-form video.
The partnership underscores how AI and cloud technologies are shaping the future of global events. Fans attending or watching from home will enjoy more immersive, on-demand access to the athletes, competitions, and stories driving LA28.
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The Swedish-Swiss electrical engineering corporation ABB has agreed to sell its Robotics division to Japan’s SoftBank Group for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion, abandoning plans for a spin-off.
However, the move marks one of the most significant robotics transactions in recent years, and reflects both firms’ ambition to drive the next era of AI-based automation.
A divestment that will allow ABB to focus on its core businesses in electrification and automation, while SoftBank expands its ‘Physical AI’ strategy.
ABB said the sale would create immediate shareholder value and that proceeds would be used according to its capital allocation principles.
The Robotics division, which employs around 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in 2024 revenues, will become part of SoftBank’s portfolio upon completion of the deal, expected by mid-to-late 2026. The transaction is projected to yield ABB a pre-tax book gain of about $2.4 billion.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said the acquisition aligns with his vision to combine artificial superintelligence and robotics to ‘propel humanity forward’.
ABB’s CEO Morten Wierod said the partnership would unite ABB’s industrial expertise with SoftBank’s AI capabilities, strengthening its global leadership in advanced robotics.
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A September breach at one of Discord’s customer service vendors has exposed user data, highlighting the growing cybersecurity risks associated with third-party providers. Attackers exploited vulnerabilities in the external platform, but Discord’s core systems were not compromised.
Exposed information includes usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, and partial payment details, such as the last four digits of credit card numbers. No full card numbers, passwords, or messages were accessed, which limited the scope of the incident compared to more severe breaches.
Discord revoked the vendor’s system access, launched an investigation, and engaged law enforcement and forensic experts. Only users who contacted support were affected. Individuals impacted are being notified by email and advised to remain vigilant for potential scams.
The incident underscores the growing risk of supply chain attacks, where external service providers become weak points in otherwise well-secured organisations. As companies rely more on vendors, attackers are increasingly targeting these indirect pathways.
Cybersecurity analysts warn that third-party breaches are on the rise amid increasingly sophisticated phishing and AI-enabled scams. Strengthening vendor oversight, improving internal training, and maintaining clear communication with users are seen as essential next steps.
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