Online education

Reddit hit with a major ICO penalty over children’s privacy failures

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Reddit £14.47 million after finding that the platform unlawfully used children’s personal information and failed to put in place adequate age checks.

The regulator concluded that Reddit allowed children under 13 to access the platform without robust age-verification measures, leaving them exposed to content they were not able to understand or control.

Although Reddit updated its processes in July 2025, self-declaration remained easy to bypass, offering only a veneer of protection. Investigators also found that the company had not completed a data protection impact assessment until 2025, despite a large number of teenagers using the service.

Concerns were heightened by the volume of children affected and the risks created by relying on inadequate age checks.

The regulator noted that unlawful data processing occurred over a prolonged period, and that children were at risk of viewing harmful material while their information was processed without a lawful basis.

UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said companies must prioritise meaningful age assurance and understand the responsibilities set out in the Children’s Code.

The ICO said it will continue monitoring Reddit’s current controls and expects online platforms to align with robust age-assurance standards rather than rely on weak verification.

It will coordinate its oversight with Ofcom as part of broader efforts to strengthen online safety and ensure under-18s benefit from high privacy protections by default.

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Microsoft expands Sovereign Cloud with secure offline support for large AI models

Digital sovereignty is gaining urgency as organisations seek infrastructure that remains secure and reliable under strict regulatory conditions.

Microsoft is expanding its Sovereign Cloud to help public bodies, regulated industries and enterprises maintain control of data and operations even when environments must operate without external connectivity.

The updated portfolio allows customers to choose how each workload is governed, rather than relying on a single deployment model.

Azure Local now supports disconnected operations, keeping mission-critical systems running with full Azure governance within sovereign boundaries. Management, policies and workloads stay entirely on site, so services continue during periods of isolation.

Microsoft 365 Local extends the resilience to the productivity layer by enabling Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business Server to run locally, giving teams secure collaboration within the same protected boundary as their infrastructure.

Support for large multimodal AI models is delivered through Foundry Local, which enables advanced inference on customer-controlled hardware using technology from partners such as NVIDIA.

Such an approach helps organisations bring modern AI capabilities into highly restricted environments while preserving control over data, identities and operational procedures.

Microsoft positions it as a unified stack that works across connected, hybrid and fully disconnected modes without increasing operational complexity.

These additions create a framework designed for governments and regulated industries that regard sovereignty as a strategic priority.

With global availability for qualified customers, the Sovereign Cloud aims to preserve continuity, reinforce governance and expand AI capability while keeping every layer of the environment within local control.

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New Relic advances AI agents for enterprise observability

The expansion into enterprise AI comes with a no-code platform from New Relic that allows companies to build and supervise their own observability agents.

A system that assembles AI-driven monitors designed to detect bugs and performance problems before they affect users, instead of leaving teams to rely on manual tracking.

It also supports the Model Context Protocol so organisations can link external data sources to the agents and integrate them with existing New Relic tools.

The company stresses that the platform is intended to complement other agent systems rather than replace them.

As AI agent software spreads across the market, enterprises are searching for ways to manage risk when giving automated tools access to internal systems.

Industry players such as Salesforce and OpenAI have already introduced their own agent platforms, and assessments from Gartner describe these frameworks as essential infrastructure for wider AI adoption.

New Relic also introduced new tools for the OpenTelemetry framework to remove friction around observability standards.

Its application performance monitoring agents now support OTel data, allowing enterprises to manage these streams in one place instead of operating separate collectors.

The update aims to reduce fragmentation that has slowed OTel deployment across large organisations and to simplify how engineering teams handle diverse observability pipelines.

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AI preparing kids for careers that don’t exist yet, say education leaders

Education leaders and industry stakeholders in South Africa say the rise of AI is transforming labour-market expectations to the point that tomorrow’s careers may not yet exist.

They argue that traditional curricula, centred on static knowledge and routine tasks, must evolve to prioritise adaptability, problem solving, creativity, ethical reasoning and digital fluency, competencies that complement AI rather than compete with it.

Speakers at recent education forums emphasised that AI will continue to automate routine cognitive and technical work, pushing demand toward roles that require higher-order thinking and human-centred skills.

They described a growing need to integrate AI literacy and data skills into schooling from an early age to reduce future workforce displacement and prepare students to harness AI as a productive partner.

Experts also highlighted equity concerns: without intentional policy and investment to support under-resourced schools and communities, the ‘AI skills gap’ could exacerbate inequality. Some educators recommended stronger partnerships between government, tech industry and educational institutions to co-develop curricula, teacher training and accessible AI tools.

They underscored that competencies such as empathetic communication, cultural awareness and ethical judgement, areas where AI lacks robust capabilities, will remain crucial.

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Global privacy regulators warn of rising AI deepfake harms

Privacy regulators from around the world have issued a joint warning about the rise of AI-generated deepfakes, arguing that the spread of non-consensual images poses a global risk instead of remaining a problem confined to individual countries.

Sixty-one authorities endorsed a declaration that draws attention to AI images and videos depicting real people without their knowledge or consent.

The signatories highlight the rapid growth of intimate deepfakes, particularly those targeting children and individuals from vulnerable communities. They note that such material often circulates widely on social platforms and may fuel exploitation or cyberbullying.

The declaration argues that the scale of the threat requires coordinated action rather than isolated national responses.

European authorities, including the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor, support the effort to build global cooperation.

Regulators say that only joint oversight can limit the harms caused by AI systems that generate false depictions, rather than protecting individuals’ privacy as required under frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation.

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Medical AI risks in Turkey highlight data bias and privacy challenges

Ankara is seeing growing debate over the risks and benefits of medical AI as experts warn that poorly governed systems could threaten patient safety.

Associate professor Agah Tugrul Korucu said AI offers meaningful potential for healthcare only when supported by rigorous ethical rules and strong oversight instead of rapid deployment without proper safeguards.

Korucu explained that data bias remains one of the most significant dangers because AI models learn directly from the information they receive. Underrepresented age groups, regions or social classes can distort outcomes and create systematic errors.

Turkey’s national health database e-Nabiz provides a strategic advantage, yet raw information cannot generate value unless it is processed correctly and supported by clear standards, quality controls and reliable terminology.

He added that inconsistent hospital records, labelling errors and privacy vulnerabilities can mislead AI systems and pose legal challenges. Strict anonymisation and secure analysis environments are needed to prevent harmful breaches.

Medical AI works best as a second eye in fields such as radiology and pathology, where systems can reduce workloads by flagging suspicious areas instead of leaving clinicians to assess every scan alone.

Korucu said physicians must remain final decision makers because automation bias could push patients towards unnecessary risks.

He expects genomic data combined with AI to transform personalised medicine over the coming decade, allowing faster diagnoses and accurate medication choices for rare conditions.

Priority development areas for Turkey include triage tools, intensive care early warning systems and chronic disease management. He noted that the long-term model will be the AI-assisted physician rather than a fully automated clinician.

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University of Bristol opens free online course on AI

The University of Bristol has launched a free online course called AI Fundamentals, designed to increase public understanding of AI. Many people use AI regularly but feel unsure about how to engage with it effectively, creating a gap that the course aims to address.

AI Fundamentals explores the technology’s complexities, societal impact, and environmental implications. The curriculum emphasises critical thinking about AI, its risks, and its potential, making it relevant for both enthusiasts and the curious general public.

The course runs entirely online over four weeks, requiring about 3 hours of self-paced work per week. No coding or advanced mathematics is needed, allowing learners from all backgrounds to participate and explore AI in a digestible format.

Led by Professors Genevieve Liveley and Seth Bullock, the course draws on expertise across fields including computer science, law, medicine, humanities, and neuroscience. Supported by a £50,000 alum donation and UKRI funding, it is now open for enrolment via FutureLearn.

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Majority of college students use or must use AI in classwork, but institutions lag in AI education

Research from Honorlock indicates a substantial shift in how students engage with generative AI in higher education: more than 56% of surveyed US college–enrolled students report being required to use AI tools in coursework, and 63% use AI for at least some assignments.

The most common uses include grammar and editing support (59%) and text generation (57%), with students also using AI to brainstorm ideas and clarify concepts.

Despite widespread AI use, there remains a significant gap in formal AI education: only 31% of students are aware of AI-focused courses at their institutions, and fewer than 20% have taken them.

Students themselves often learn AI skills independently rather than through a structured curriculum, potentially leaving them unprepared for workplaces where AI fluency is expected.

The survey also highlights academic integrity risks: more than one-third of students admitted to using AI assistance on quizzes or exams, underlining the need for clear AI use policies, responsible-use training and ethical frameworks within higher education.

Researchers and advocates argue that colleges should integrate AI literacy, including ethics, governance, real-world applications and responsible use, into coursework to better equip graduates for AI-enabled careers.

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OpenClaw exploits spark a major security alert

A wave of coordinated attacks has targeted OpenClaw, the autonomous AI framework that gained rapid popularity after its release in January.

Multiple hacking groups have taken advantage of severe vulnerabilities to steal API keys, extract persistent memory data, and push information-stealing malware instead of leaving the platform’s expanding user base unharmed.

Security analysts have linked more than 30,000 compromised instances to campaigns that intercept messages and deploy malicious payloads through channels such as Telegram.

Much of the damage stems from flaws such as the Remote Code Execution vulnerability CVE-2026-25253, supply chain poisoning, and exposed administrative interfaces. Early attacks centred on the ‘ClawHavoc’ campaign, which disguised malware as legitimate installation tools.

Users who downloaded these scripts inadvertently installed stealers capable of full compromise, enabling attackers to move laterally across enterprise systems instead of being confined to a single device.

Further incidents emerged on the OpenClaw marketplace, where backdoored ‘skills’ were published from accounts that appeared reliable. These updates executed remote commands that allowed attackers to siphon OAuth tokens, passwords, and API keys in real time.

A Shodan scan later identified more than 312,000 OpenClaw instances running on a default port with little or no protection, while honeypots recorded hostile activity within minutes of appearing online.

Security researchers argue that the surge in attacks marks a decisive moment for autonomous AI frameworks. As organisations experiment with agents capable of independent decision-making, the absence of security-by-design safeguards is creating opportunities for organised threat groups.

Flare’s advisory urges companies to secure credentials and isolate AI workloads instead of relying on default configurations that expose high-privilege systems to the internet.

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EU–US draft data pact allows automated decisions on travellers

A draft data-sharing agreement between the EU and the US Department of Homeland Security would allow automated decisions about European travellers to continue under certain conditions, despite attempts to tighten protections.

The text permits such decisions when authorised under domestic law and relies on safeguards that let individuals request human intervention instead of leaving outcomes entirely to algorithms.

A deal designed to preserve visa-free travel would require national authorities to grant access to biometric databases containing fingerprints and facial scans.

Negotiators are attempting to reconcile the framework with the General Data Protection Regulation, even though the draft states that the new rules would supplement and supersede earlier bilateral arrangements.

Sensitive information, including political views, trade union membership and biometric identifiers, could be transferred as long as protective conditions are applied.

EU countries face a deadline at the end of 2026 to conclude individual agreements, and failure to do so could result in suspension from the US Visa Waiver Program.

A separate clause keeps disputes firmly outside judicial scrutiny by requiring disagreements to be resolved through a Joint Committee instead of national or international courts.

The draft also restricts onward sharing, obliging US authorities to seek explicit consent before passing European-supplied data to third parties.

Further negotiations are expected, with the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs preparing to hold a closed-door review of the talks.

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