Prominent personalities

Salesforce invests $15 billion in San Francisco’s AI future

The US cloud-based software company, Salesforce, has announced a $15 billion investment in San Francisco over the next five years, strengthening the city’s position as the world’s AI capital.

The funding will support a new AI Incubator Hub on the company’s campus, workforce training programmes, and initiatives to help businesses transform into ‘Agentic Enterprises’.

A move that coincides with the company’s annual Dreamforce conference, expected to generate $130 million in local revenue and create 35,000 jobs.

Chief Executive Marc Benioff said the investment demonstrates Salesforce’s deep commitment to San Francisco, aiming to boost AI innovation and job creation.

Dreamforce, now in its 23rd year, is the world’s largest AI event, attracting nearly 50,000 participants and millions more online. Benioff described the company’s goal as leading a new technological era where humans and AI collaborate to drive progress and productivity.

Founded in 1999 as an online CRM service, Salesforce has evolved into a global leader in enterprise AI and cloud computing. It is now San Francisco’s largest private employer and continues to expand through acquisitions of local AI firms such as Bluebirds, Waii, and Regrello.

The company’s new AI Incubator Hub will support early-stage startups, while its Trailhead learning platform has already trained more than five million people for the AI-driven workplace.

Salesforce remains one of the city’s most active corporate philanthropists. Its 1-1-1 model has inspired thousands of companies worldwide to dedicate a share of equity, product, and employee time to social causes.

With an additional $39 million pledged to education and healthcare, Salesforce and the Benioffs have now donated over $1 billion to the Bay Area.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

OpenAI and Broadcom unite to deploy 10 gigawatts of AI accelerators

The US firm, OpenAI, has announced a multi-year collaboration with Broadcom to design and deploy 10 gigawatts of custom AI accelerators.

The partnership will combine OpenAI’s chip design expertise with Broadcom’s networking and Ethernet technologies to create large-scale AI infrastructure. The deployment is expected to begin in the second half of 2026 and be completed by the end of 2029.

A collaboration that enables OpenAI to integrate insights gained from its frontier models directly into the hardware, enhancing efficiency and performance.

Broadcom will develop racks of AI accelerators and networking systems across OpenAI’s data centres and those of its partners. The initiative is expected to meet growing global demand for advanced AI computation.

Executives from both companies described the partnership as a significant step toward the next generation of AI infrastructure. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it would help deliver the computing capacity needed to realise the benefits of AI for people and businesses worldwide.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan called the collaboration a milestone in the industry’s pursuit of more capable and scalable AI systems.

The agreement strengthens Broadcom’s position in AI networking and underlines OpenAI’s move toward greater control of its technological ecosystem. By developing its own accelerators, OpenAI aims to boost innovation while advancing its mission to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits humanity.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Why DC says no to AI-made comics

Jim Lee rejects generative AI for DC storytelling, pledging no AI writing, art, or audio under his leadership. He framed AI alongside other overhyped threats, arguing that predictions falter while human craft endures. DC, he said, will keep its focus on creator-led work.

Lee rooted the stance in the value of imperfection and intent. Smudges, rough lines, and hesitation signal authorship, not flaws. Fans, he argued, sense authenticity and recoil from outputs that feel synthetic or aggregated.

Concerns ranged from shrinking attention spans to characters nearing the public domain. The response, Lee said, is better storytelling and world-building. Owning a character differs from understanding one, and DC’s universe supplies the meaning that endures.

Policy meets practice in DCs recent moves against suspected AI art. In 2024, variant covers were pulled after high-profile allegations of AI-generated content. The episode illustrated a willingness to enforce standards rather than just announce them.

Lee positioned 2035 and DC’s centenary as a waypoint, not a finish line. Creative evolution remains essential, but without yielding authorship to algorithms. The pledge: human-made stories, guided by editors and artists, for the next century of DC.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Google cautions Australia on youth social media ban proposal

The US tech giant, Google (also owner of YouTube), has reiterated its commitment to children’s online safety while cautioning against Australia’s proposed ban on social media use for those under 16.

Speaking before the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee, Google’s Public Policy Senior Manager Rachel Lord said the legislation, though well-intentioned, may be difficult to enforce and could have unintended effects.

Lord highlighted the 23-year presence of Google in Australia, contributing over $53 billion to the economy in 2024, while YouTube’s creative ecosystem added $970 million to GDP and supported more than 16,000 jobs.

She said the company’s investments, including the $1 billion Digital Future Initiative, reflect its long-term commitment to Australia’s digital development and infrastructure.

According to Lord, YouTube already provides age-appropriate products and parental controls designed to help families manage their children’s experiences online.

Requiring children to access YouTube without accounts, she argued, would remove these protections and risk undermining safe access to educational and creative content used widely in classrooms, music, and sport.

She emphasised that YouTube functions primarily as a video streaming platform rather than a social media network, serving as a learning resource for millions of Australian children.

Lord called for legislation that strengthens safety mechanisms instead of restricting access, saying the focus should be on effective safeguards and parental empowerment rather than outright bans.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Grok to get new AI video detection tools, Musk says

Musk said Grok will analyse bitstreams for AI signatures and scan the web to verify the origins of videos. Grok added that it will detect subtle AI artefacts in compression and generation patterns that humans cannot see.

AI tools such as Grok Imagine and Sora are reshaping the internet by making realistic video generation accessible to anyone. The rise of deepfakes has alarmed users, who warn that high-quality fake videos could soon be indistinguishable from real footage.

A user on X expressed concern that leaders are not addressing the growing risks. Elon Musk responded, revealing that his AI company xAI is developing Grok’s ability to detect AI-generated videos and trace their origins online.

The detection features aim to rebuild trust in digital media as AI-generated content spreads. Commentators have dubbed the flood of such content ‘AI slop’, raising concerns about misinformation and consent.

Concerns about deepfakes have grown since OpenAI launched the Sora app. A surge in deepfake content prompted OpenAI to tighten restrictions on cameo mode, allowing users to opt out of specific scenarios.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Age verification and online safety dominate EU ministers’ Horsens meeting

EU digital ministers are meeting in Horsens on 9–10 October to improve the protection of minors online. Age verification, child protection, and digital sovereignty are at the top of the agenda under the Danish EU Presidency.

The Informal Council Meeting on Telecommunications is hosted by the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Denmark and chaired by Caroline Stage. European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen is also attending to support discussions on shared priorities.

Ministers are considering measures to prevent children from accessing age-inappropriate platforms and reduce exposure to harmful features like addictive designs and adult content. Stronger safeguards across digital services are being discussed.

The talks also focus on Europe’s technological independence. Ministers aim to enhance the EU’s digital competitiveness and sovereignty while setting a clear direction ahead of the Commission’s upcoming Digital Fairness Act proposal.

A joint declaration, ‘The Jutland Declaration’, is expected as an outcome. It will highlight the need for stronger EU-level measures and effective age verification to create a safer online environment for children.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Google Cloud to power Gap Inc.’s digital transformation with AI

Gap Inc. has announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to power its human-centred, digitally enabled technology strategy. The collaboration aims to accelerate AI adoption across the company’s brands, including Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta.

The partnership will give Gap Inc. access to Google’s AI stack, including Gemini, Vertex AI, and BigQuery. These tools will drive innovation in product design, pricing, marketing, and employee workflows, improving efficiency and enabling faster, more personalised retail experiences.

AI tools will accelerate product development and planning, support hyper-personalised shopping, and optimise marketing through smarter recommendations and storytelling. Gap Inc. is also using Google Ads to strengthen its omnichannel campaigns through AI-driven optimisation.

For employees, AI will act as a partner in decision-making and execution, making operations more agile and freeing teams to focus on creativity and customer engagement. This shift reflects a broader redesign of workflows to embed AI across the business.

Gap Inc. CTO Sven Gerjets said the partnership will bring AI to life across the company. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian described it as a step towards reinventing retail with speed, personalisation, and industry-leading experiences.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Microsoft attracts tech pioneers to build the next era of AI

Some of the world’s most influential technologists (the creators of Python, Kubernetes, Google Docs, Google Lens, RSS feeds and ONNX) are now helping Microsoft shape the next era of AI.

Drawn by the company’s scale, openness to collaboration, and long-term investment in AI, they are leading projects that span infrastructure, productivity, responsible innovation and reasoning systems.

R.V. Guha, who invented RSS feeds, is developing NLWeb, a project that lets users converse directly with websites.

Brendan Burns, co-creator of Kubernetes, focuses on improving AI tools that simplify developers’ work. At the same time, Aparna Chennapragada, the mind behind Google Lens, now leads efforts to build intelligent AI agents and enhance productivity through Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Sarah Bird, who helped create the ONNX framework, leads Microsoft’s responsible AI division, ensuring that emerging systems are safe, secure and reliable.

Meanwhile, Sam Schillace, co-creator of Google Docs, explores ways AI can collaborate with people more naturally. Python’s creator, Guido van Rossum, works on systems to strengthen AI’s long-term memory across conversations.

Together, these innovators illustrate how Microsoft has become a magnet for the pioneers who defined modern computing, and they are now united in advancing the next stage of AI’s evolution.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

European Commission launches Apply AI and AI in Science strategies

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.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Alibaba’s Qwen lab launches robotics unit to drive embodied AI

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.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!