Future of work

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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Australian influencer family moves to UK over child social media ban

An Australian influencer family known as the Empire Family is relocating to the UK to avoid Australia’s new social media ban for under-16s, which begins in December. The law requires major platforms to take steps preventing underage users from creating or maintaining accounts.

The family, comprising mothers Beck and Bec Lea, their 17-year-old son Prezley and 14-year-old daughter Charlotte, said the move will allow Charlotte to continue creating online content. She has hundreds of thousands of followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, with all accounts managed by her parents.

Beck said they support the government’s intent to protect young people from harm but are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding enforcement methods, such as ID checks or facial recognition. She said the family wanted stability while the system is clarified.

The Australia ban, described as a world first, will apply to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Non-compliant firms could face fines of up to A$50 million, while observers say the rules raise new privacy and data protection concerns.

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Japan’s KDDI partners with Google for AI-driven news service

Japan’s telecom leader KDDI is set to partner with Google to introduce an AI-powered news search service in spring 2026. The platform will use Google’s Gemini model to deliver articles from authorised Japanese media sources while preventing copyright violations.

The service will cite original publishers and exclude independent web scraping, addressing growing global concerns about the unauthorised use of journalism by generative AI systems. Around six domestic media companies, including digital outlets, are expected to join the initiative.

KDDI aims to strengthen user trust by offering reliable news through a transparent and copyright-safe AI interface. Details of how the articles will appear to users are still under review, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The move follows lawsuits filed in Tokyo by major Japanese newspapers, including Nikkei and Yomiuri, against US startup Perplexity AI over alleged copyright infringement. Industry experts say KDDI’s collaboration could become a model for responsible AI integration in news services.

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When AI LLMs ‘think’ more, groups suffer, CMU study finds

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University report that stronger-reasoning language models (LLMs) act more selfishly in groups, reducing cooperation and nudging peers toward self-interest. Concerns grow as people ask AI for social advice.

In a Public Goods test, non-reasoning models shared 96 percent; a reasoning model shared 20 percent. Adding a few reasoning steps cut cooperation nearly in half. Reflection prompts also reduced sharing.

Mixed groups showed spillover. Reasoning agents dragged down collective performance by 81 percent, spreading self-interest. Users may over-trust ‘rational’ advice that justifies uncooperative choices at work or in class.

Comparisons spanned LLMs from OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, and Anthropic. Findings point to the need to balance raw reasoning with social intelligence. Designers should reward cooperation, not only optimise individual gain.

The paper ‘Spontaneous Giving and Calculated Greed in Language Models’ will be presented at EMNLP 2025, with a preprint on arXiv. Authors caution that more intelligent AI is not automatically better for society.

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CXMT launches LPDDR5X chips as China advances in semiconductor race

ChangXin Memory Technologies has begun mass production of LPDDR5X chips, marking a major milestone in China’s effort to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor market.

The Hefei-based manufacturer, preparing for a Shanghai stock listing, said its new DRAM generation will support faster data transfer and lower power use across mobile devices and AI systems.

The LPDDR5X range includes chips with speeds of up to 10,667 Mbps, positioning CXMT as a growing competitor to industry leaders such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.

Earlier LPDDR5 versions launched in 2023 had already helped the firm progress towards advanced 16-nanometre manufacturing, narrowing the technological gap with global rivals.

Industry data indicate a rising global demand for memory chips, driven by AI applications and high-bandwidth computing. Additionally, DRAM revenue increased 17.1 percent in the second quarter, reaching US$31.6 billion.

CXMT’s expansion comes as it targets a Shanghai IPO valued at around 300 billion yuan, highlighting both investor interest and the ambition of China to achieve greater chip self-sufficiency.

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NVIDIA AI powers mobile clinics for breast cancer screening in rural India

A mobile clinic powered by NVIDIA AI is bringing life-saving breast cancer screenings to women in rural India.

The Health Within Reach Foundation, in partnership with Dallas-based startup MedCognetics, operates the Women Cancer Screening Van, which has already conducted over 3,500 mammograms, with 90% of patients screened for the first time.

MedCognetics, a member of NVIDIA’s Inception programme, provides an AI system that analyses mammogram data in real time to identify potential abnormalities.

The foundation reports that around 8% of screenings revealed irregularities, with 24 confirmed cancer diagnoses detected early enough for timely treatment. The collaboration demonstrates how AI can expand access to preventive healthcare in remote areas.

MedCognetics’ technology uses NVIDIA IGX Orin and Holoscan platforms for rapid image processing, supporting real-time detection and risk analysis. Its algorithms can improve image quality, assist radiologists in identifying small or early-stage tumours, and predict breast cancer risk within a year.

These tools are part of a wider effort to make advanced medical diagnostics affordable and accessible in developing regions.

By combining edge AI with local cloud infrastructure, the system enables faster diagnosis and better connectivity between healthcare workers in the field and radiologists in urban hospitals.

For millions of women in rural India, the initiative brings high-quality care directly to their communities and offers a powerful example of how AI can reduce health inequalities.

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Reliance and Google expand Gemini AI access across India

Google has partnered with Reliance Intelligence to expand access to its Gemini AI across India.

Under the new collaboration, Jio Unlimited 5G users aged between 18 and 25 will receive the Google AI Pro plan free for 18 months, with nationwide eligibility to follow soon.

The partnership grants access to the Gemini 2.5 Pro model and includes increased limits for generating images and videos with the Nano Banana and Veo 3.1 tools.

Users in India will also benefit from expanded NotebookLM access for study and research, plus 2 TB of cloud storage shared across Google Photos, Gmail and Drive for data and WhatsApp backups.

According to Google, the offer represents a value of about ₹35,100 and can be activated via the MyJio app. The company said the initiative aims to make its most advanced AI tools available to a wider audience and support everyday productivity across India’s fast-growing digital ecosystem.

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Microsoft leaders envision AI as an invisible partner in work and play

AI, gaming and work were at the heart of the discussion during the Paley International Council Summit, where three Microsoft executives explored how technology is reshaping human experience and industry structures.

Mustafa Suleyman, Phil Spencer and Ryan Roslansky offered perspectives on the next phase of digital transformation, from personalised AI companions to the evolution of entertainment and the changing nature of work.

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, described a future where AI becomes an invisible companion that quietly assists users. He explained that AI is moving beyond standalone apps to integrate directly into systems and browsers, performing tasks through natural language rather than manual navigation.

With features like Copilot on Windows and Edge, users can let AI automate everyday functions, creating a seamless experience where technology anticipates rather than responds.

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, underlined gaming’s cultural impact, noting that the industry now surpasses film, books and music combined. He emphasised that gaming’s interactive nature offers lessons for all media, where creativity, participation and community define success.

For Spencer, the future of entertainment lies in blending audience engagement with technology, allowing fans and creators to shape experiences together.

Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn, discussed how AI is transforming skills and workforce dynamics. He highlighted that required job skills are changing faster than ever, with adaptability, AI literacy and human-centred leadership becoming essential.

Roslansky urged companies to focus on potential and continuous learning instead of static job descriptions, suggesting that the most successful organisations will be those that evolve with technology and cultivate resilience through education.

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A new capitalism for the intelligent age

In his Time’s article, Klaus Schwab argues that business is undergoing a deeper transformation than previous technological revolutions. He notes that we are entering what he terms the ‘Intelligent Age’, where value is less about physical assets and more about ideas, relationships and the ability to learn faster than change.

According to Schwab, the assumptions of the Industrial Age, that growth meant simply scaling, that efficiency trumped adaptability, and that workers were interchangeable, no longer hold. Instead, enterprises must become living ecosystems, adaptable platforms rather than pipelines.

However, Schwab warns that intelligent technologies such as AI and automation are not inherently benign.

On the one hand, they can amplify human potential; on the other, if misused, they risk diminishing it. Business leaders must therefore undergo not just digital transformation, but a mental transformation, embracing resilience, inclusivity and human dignity as core values.

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Trainium2 power surges as AWS’s Project Rainier enters service for Anthropic

Anthropic and AWS switched on Project Rainier, a vast Trainium2 cluster spanning multiple US sites to accelerate Claude’s evolution.

Project Rainier is now fully operational, less than a year after its announcement. AWS engineered an EC2 UltraCluster of Trainium2 UltraServers to deliver massive training capacity. Anthropic says it offers more than five times the compute used for prior Claude models.

UltraServers bind four Trainium2 servers with high-speed NeuronLinks so 64 chips act as one. Tens of thousands of networks are connected through Elastic Fabric Adapter across buildings. The design reduces latency within racks while preserving flexible scale across data centres.

Anthropic is already training and serving Claude on Rainier across the US and plans to exceed one million Trainium2 chips by year’s end. More computing should raise model accuracy, speed evaluations, and shorten iteration cycles for new frontier releases.

AWS controls the stack from chip to data centre for reliability and efficiency. Teams tune power delivery, cooling, and software orchestration. New sites add water-wise cooling, contributing to the company’s renewable energy and net-zero goals.

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