Ant Group has unveiled its Ling AI model family, introducing Ling-1T, a trillion-parameter large language model that has been open-sourced for public use.
The Ling family now includes three main series: the Ling non-thinking models, the Ring thinking models, and the multimodal Ming models.
Ling-1T delivers state-of-the-art performance in code generation, mathematical reasoning, and logical problem-solving, achieving 70.42% accuracy on the 2025 AIME benchmark.
A model that combines efficient inference with strong reasoning capabilities, marking a major advance in AI development for complex cognitive tasks.
Company’s Chief Technology Officer, He Zhengyu, said that Ant Group views AGI as a public good that should benefit society.
The release of Ling-1T and the earlier Ring-1T-preview underscores Ant Group’s commitment to open, collaborative AI innovation and the development of inclusive AGI technologies.
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Discord has confirmed that official ID images belonging to around 70,000 users may have been exposed in a cyberattack targeting a third-party service provider. The platform itself was not breached, but hackers targeted a company involved in age verification processes.
The leaked data may include personal information, partial credit card details, and conversations with Discord’s customer service agents. No full credit card numbers, passwords, or activity beyond support interactions were affected. Impacted users have been contacted, and law enforcement is investigating.
The platform has revoked the support provider’s access to its systems and has not named the third party involved. Zendesk, a customer service software supplier to Discord, said its own systems were not compromised and denied being the source of the breach.
Discord has rejected claims circulating online that the breach was larger than reported, calling them part of an attempted extortion. The company stated it would not comply with demands from the attackers. Cybercriminals often sell personal information on illicit markets for use in scams.
ID numbers and official documents are especially valuable because, unlike credit card details, they rarely change. Discord previously tightened its age-verification measures following concerns over the misuse of some servers to distribute illegal material.
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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 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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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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Two 17-year-olds have been arrested in connection with a ransomware attack on the London-based nursery chain Kido, which led to the theft of data belonging to about 8,000 children. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrests took place in Bishop’s Stortford and Hertfordshire.
The suspects are accused of computer misuse and blackmail after hackers demanded a ransom of roughly £600,000 in Bitcoin. The stolen data included names, addresses, photographs, and parent contact details, some of which were briefly published on the darknet.
The hacking group, known as Radiant, claimed responsibility for the attack and later removed the files, saying they had deleted the data. Cybersecurity experts condemned the exposure of children’s personal details as one of the most serious breaches of its kind.
Kido said it fully cooperated with UK law enforcement and welcomed the police action, calling it an important step toward justice. The Metropolitan Police said the investigation remains ongoing as officers continue working to identify everyone involved.
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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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Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has directed the full implementation of AI across government agencies to meet President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s goal of reducing the shadow economy’s share in GDP to 15 percent in 2025.
At a government session, Bektenov said progress must go beyond reports and correspondence, calling for structural reforms in taxation, digitalisation, and business regulation. He urged ministries to pursue a ‘transparent economy’ through comprehensive AI and data integration initiatives.
Bektenov stressed that digitalisation projects such as cashless payments and the digital tenge have already proven effective in curbing unrecorded transactions and improving financial oversight.
AI will also be deployed in customs risk profiling and cargo inspection analysis to detect fraud and reduce corruption.
The Ministries of Finance, Justice, Trade, and National Economy were instructed to integrate databases under the Smart Data Finance system and to finalise an automated risk management system for company registration by 25 November.
Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin will oversee coordination.
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