Future of work

Sam Altman shrugs off Meta poaching, backs Trump, jabs at Musk

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed multiple hot topics during the Sun Valley conference, including Meta’s aggressive recruitment of top AI researchers, his strained relationship with Elon Musk, and a surprising show of support for Donald Trump.

Altman downplayed Meta’s talent raids, saying he had not spoken to Mark Zuckerberg since the Meta CEO lured away three OpenAI researchers with a $100 million signing bonus. All three had worked at OpenAI’s Zurich office, which opened in 2024.

Despite the losses, Altman described the situation as ‘fine’ and ‘good’, suggesting OpenAI’s mission continues to retain top talent.

The OpenAI chief also took a subtle swipe at Meta’s smartglasses, saying he doesn’t like wearable tech and implying his company has no plans to follow suit.

On the topic of Elon Musk, Altman laughed off their rivalry, saying only that Musk’s bust-ups with everybody, and hinting at the long-running tension between the two former co-founders.

Perhaps most notably, Altman expressed disillusionment with the Democratic Party, saying he no longer feels represented by mainstream figures he once supported.

He praised Donald Trump’s focus on AI infrastructure. He even donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund — a gesture reflecting a broader shift among Silicon Valley leaders warming to Trump as his popularity rises.

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AI model detects infections from wound photos

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed an AI system capable of detecting surgical site infections from wound photographs submitted by patients. The model was trained using over 20,000 images from more than 6,000 persons across nine hospital locations.

The AI pipeline identifies whether a photo contains a surgical incision and then evaluates that incision for infection. Known as Vision Transformer, the model accurately recognises incisions and scores high in AUC in infection detection.

Medical staff review outpatient wound images manually, which can delay care and burden resources. Automating this process may improve early diagnosis, reduce unnecessary visits, and speed up responses to high-risk cases.

Researchers believe the tool could eventually serve as a frontline screening method, especially helpful in rural or understaffed areas. Consistent performance across diverse patient groups also suggests a lower risk of algorithmic bias, though further validation remains essential.

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Groq opens AI data centre in Helsinki

Groq has opened its first European AI data centre in Helsinki, Finland, in collaboration with Equinix. The facility offers European users fast, secure, and low-latency AI inference services, aiming to improve performance and data governance.

The launch follows Groq’s existing partnership with Equinix, which already includes a site in Dallas. The new centre complements Groq’s global network, including facilities in the US, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

CEO Jonathan Ross stated the centre provides immediate infrastructure for developers building fast at scale. Equinix highlighted Finland’s reliable power and sustainable energy as key factors in the decision to host capacity there.

The data centre supports GroqCloud, delivering over 20 million tokens per second across its network. European businesses are expected to benefit from improved AI performance and operational efficiency.

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How agentic AI is transforming cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is gaining a new teammate—one that never sleeps and acts independently. Agentic AI doesn’t wait for instructions. It detects threats, investigates, and responds in real-time. This new class of AI is beginning to change the way we approach cyber defence.

Unlike traditional AI systems, Agentic AI operates with autonomy. It sets objectives, adapts to environments, and self-corrects without waiting for human input. In cybersecurity, this means instant detection and response, beyond simple automation.

With networks more complex than ever, security teams are stretched thin. Agentic AI offers relief by executing actions like isolating compromised systems or rewriting firewall rules. This technology promises to ease alert fatigue and keep up with evasive threats.

A 2025 Deloitte report says 25% of GenAI-using firms will pilot Agentic AI this year. SailPoint found that 98% of organisations will expand AI agent use in the next 12 months. But rapid adoption also raises concern—96% of tech workers see AI agents as security risks.

The integration of AI agents is expanding to cloud, endpoints, and even physical security. Yet with new power comes new vulnerabilities—from adversaries mimicking AI behaviour to the risk of excessive automation without human checks.

Key challenges include ethical bias, unpredictable errors, and uncertain regulation. In sectors like healthcare and finance, oversight and governance must keep pace. The solution lies in balanced control and continuous human-AI collaboration.

Cybersecurity careers are shifting in response. Hybrid roles such as AI Security Analysts and Threat Intelligence Automation Architects are emerging. To stay relevant, professionals must bridge AI knowledge with security architecture.

Agentic AI is redefining cybersecurity. It boosts speed and intelligence but demands new skills and strong leadership. Adaptation is essential for those who wish to thrive in tomorrow’s AI-driven security landscape.

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Wimbledon faces backlash over AI line judges after tech errors spark outrage

Wimbledon’s decision to fully replace human line judges with an AI-powered system has sparked growing discontent among players and fans.

Although designed for precision, the Hawk-Eye Live system has made questionable calls, been difficult to hear during matches, and even shut down unexpectedly, raising concerns about its reliability.

British players Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu both expressed frustration over key points lost due to what they believed were inaccurate calls. Sonay Kartal’s match was interrupted in a particularly disruptive incident when the AI system crashed mid-game, prompting organisers to apologise.

The All England Club defends the system as more impartial than human officials, but not everyone agrees. Over 300 line judges lost their jobs, and some staged protests outside the grounds.

With no way to challenge calls made by the machine, players say the system removes accountability and human judgement from the sport.

While Wimbledon continues to market the move as progress, critics argue that the tournament has sacrificed tradition and clarity for automation.

As other Grand Slams like the French Open retain human officials, questions remain over whether AI is improving the sport or changing it for the worse.

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Meta hires Apple’s top AI executive amid tech talent war

Apple has lost a key AI executive to Meta, dealing a fresh blow to the tech giant’s internal AI ambitions.

Ruoming Pang, who led Apple’s foundation models team, is joining Meta’s newly formed superintelligence group, according to people familiar with the matter.

Meta reportedly offered Pang a lucrative package worth tens of millions annually, continuing its aggressive hiring streak.

The company, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has already brought in several high-profile AI experts from Scale AI, OpenAI, Anthropic and elsewhere, with Zuckerberg personally involved in recruitment efforts.

Pang’s team at Apple had been responsible for the core language models behind Apple Intelligence and Siri.

However, internal dissatisfaction has been mounting as the company considered shifting to third-party models, including from OpenAI and Anthropic.

That shift, combined with recent leadership changes and reduced responsibilities for Apple’s AI chief John Giannandrea, has weakened morale across the team.

Following Pang’s exit, the team will now be managed by Zhifeng Chen under a new multi-tier structure.

Several engineers are also reportedly planning to leave, raising concerns about Apple’s ability to retain AI talent as Meta increases its investment and influence in the race for advanced AI development.

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Court ruling raises alarm over saved ChatGPT chats

A US federal court has ordered OpenAI to preserve nearly all user chats with ChatGPT, including those that users had deleted. The decision comes as part of The New York Times’s ongoing copyright lawsuit, triggering widespread privacy concerns.

The ruling means that millions of personal conversations, previously thought erased, will remain accessible during litigation. These exchanges may include medical queries, relationship issues, and other private matters shared in confidence.

Privacy advocates argue that users were not notified or allowed to object. Critics warn the US ruling sets a dangerous precedent, enabling mass data preservation in lawsuits unrelated to most users.

The Times claims users may have deleted chats to hide copyright infringement. Lawyers and privacy experts counter that people delete chats for legitimate, non-infringing reasons and should retain control over their data.

Legal experts call the preservation order excessive, noting it undermines trust in AI tools and could lead to a chilling effect on their use. The decision could reshape how user privacy is treated in tech litigation for years.

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Podcast-based training helps improve AI dialogue

Researchers have developed PodGPT, a new AI model designed to enhance reasoning and dialogue skills by training on scientific podcasts. The project aims to integrate dynamic, conversational audio data into language models to boost their performance in STEMM subjects.

The team used over 3,700 hours of English-language STEMM podcast transcripts, alongside material from the New England Journal of Medicine. Transcripts were generated using Whisper large-v3 and fed into open-source AI models such as Gemma, Mixtral, and LLaMA.

PodGPT improves multilingual understanding and factual accuracy, particularly in answering science-based queries. It also performs better at retrieving evidence from long documents and engaging in human-like scientific dialogue.

The researchers suggest that podcast-based training provides more realistic language use and diverse reasoning patterns than traditional datasets. Their work demonstrates the value of spoken, expert-led content in preparing models for advanced scientific applications.

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East Meets West: Reimagining education in the age of AI

At the WSIS+20 High-Level Event in Geneva, the session ‘AI (and) education: Convergences between Chinese and European pedagogical practices’ brought together educators, students, and industry experts to examine how AI reshapes global education.

Led by Jovan Kurbalija of Diplo and Professor Hao Liu of Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), with industry insights from Deloitte’s Norman Sze, the discussion focused on the future of universities and the evolving role of professors amid rapid AI developments.

Drawing on philosophical traditions from Confucius to Plato, the session emphasised the need for a hybrid approach that preserves the human essence of learning while embracing technological transformation.

Professor Liu showcased BIT’s ‘intelligent education’ model, a human-centred system integrating time, space, knowledge, teachers, and students. Moving beyond rigid, exam-focused instruction, BIT promotes creativity and interdisciplinary learning, empowering students with flexible academic paths and digital tools.

Jovan Kurbalija at WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025
Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director of Diplo

Meanwhile, Norman Sze highlighted how AI has accelerated industry workflows and called for educational alignment with real-world demands. He argued for reorienting learning around critical thinking, ethical literacy, and collaboration—skills that AI cannot replicate and remain central to personal and professional growth.

A key theme was whether teachers and universities remain relevant in an AI-driven future. Students from around the world contributed compelling reflections: AI may offer efficiency, but it cannot replace the emotional intelligence, mentorship, and meaning-making that only human educators provide.

As one student said, ‘I don’t care about ChatGPT—it’s not human.’ The group reached a consensus: professors must shift from ‘sages on the stage’ to ‘guides on the side,’ coaching students through complexity rather than merely transmitting knowledge.

The session closed on an optimistic note, asserting that while AI is a powerful catalyst for change, the heart of education lies in human connection, dialogue, and the ability to ask the right questions. Participants agreed that a truly forward-looking educational model will emerge not from choosing between East and West or human and machine, but from integrating the best of all to build a more inclusive and insightful future of learning.

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Google hit with EU complaint over AI Overviews

After a formal filing by the Independent Publishers Alliance, Google has faced an antitrust complaint in the European Union over its AI Overviews feature.

The group alleges that Google has been using web content without proper consent to power its AI-generated summaries, causing considerable harm to online publishers.

The complaint claims that publishers have lost traffic, readers and advertising revenue due to these summaries. It also argues that opting out of AI Overviews is not a real choice unless publishers are prepared to vanish entirely from Google’s search results.

AI Overviews were launched over a year ago and now appear at the top of many search queries, summarising information using AI. Although the tool has expanded rapidly, critics argue it drives users away from original publisher websites, especially news outlets.

Google has responded by stating its AI search tools allow users to ask more complex questions and help businesses and creators get discovered. The tech giant also insisted that web traffic patterns are influenced by many factors and warned against conclusions based on limited data.

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