Telecommunications infrastructure

Tech giants back Trump’s AI deregulation plan amid public concern over societal impacts

Donald Trump recently hosted an AI summit in Washington, titled ‘Winning the AI Race,’ geared towards a deregulated atmosphere for AI innovation. Key figures from the tech industry, including Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang and Palantir’s CTO Shyam Sankar, attended the event.

Co-hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum and the Silicon Valley All-in Podcast, the summit was a platform for Trump to introduce his ‘AI Action Plan‘, comprised of three executive orders focusing on deregulation. Trump’s objective is to dismantle regulatory restrictions he perceives as obstacles to innovation, aiming to re-establish the US as a leader in AI exportation globally.

The executive orders announced target the elimination of ‘ideological dogmas such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)’ in AI models developed by federally funded companies. Additionally, one order promotes exporting US-developed AI technologies internationally, while another seeks to lessen environmental restrictions and speed up approvals for energy-intensive data centres.

These measures are seen as reversing the Biden administration’s policies, which stressed the importance of safety and security in AI development. Technology giants Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet have shown significant support for Trump’s initiatives, contributing to his inauguration fund and engaging with him at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang have also pledged substantial investments in US AI infrastructure.

Despite this backing, over 100 groups, including labour, environmental, civil rights, and academic organisations, have voiced their opposition through a ‘People’s AI action plan’. These groups warn of the potential risks of unregulated AI, which they fear could undermine civil liberties, equality, and environmental safeguards.

They argue that public welfare should not be compromised for corporate gains, highlighting the dangers of allowing tech giants to dominate policy-making. That discourse illustrates the divide between industry aspirations and societal consequences.

The tech industry’s influence on AI legislation through lobbying is noteworthy, with a report from Issue One indicating that eight of the largest tech companies spent a collective $36 million on lobbying in 2025 alone. Meta led with $13.8 million, employing 86 lobbyists, while Nvidia and OpenAI saw significant increases in their expenditure compared to previous years. The substantial financial outlay reflects the industry’s vested interest in shaping regulatory frameworks to favour business interests, igniting a debate over the ethical responsibilities of unchecked AI progress.

As tech companies and pro-business entities laud Trump’s deregulation efforts, concerns persist over the societal impacts of such policies.

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China issues action plan for global AI governance and proposes global AI cooperation organisation

At the 2025 World AI Conference in Shanghai, Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged the international community to prioritise joint efforts in governing AI, making reference to a need to establish a global framework and set of rules widely accepted by the global community. He unveiled a proposal by the Chinese government to create a global AI cooperation organisation to foster international collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity in AI across nations.

‘China attaches great importance to global AI governance, and has been actively promoting multilateral and bilateral cooperation with a willingness to offer more Chinese solutions‘.

An Action Plan for AI Global Governance was also presented at the conference. The plan outlines, in its introduction, a call for ‘all stakeholders to take concrete and effective actions based on the principles of serving the public good, respecting sovereignty, development orientation, safety and controllability, equity and inclusiveness, and openness and cooperation, to jointly advance the global development and governance of AI’.

The document includes 13 points related to key areas of international AI cooperation, including promoting inclusive infrastructure development, fostering open innovation ecosystems, ensuring high-quality data supply, and advancing sustainability through green AI practices. It also calls for consensus-building around technical standards, advancing international cooperation on AI safety governance, and supporting countries – especially those in the Global South – in ‘developing AI technologies and services suited to their national conditions’.

Notably, the plan indicates China’s support for multilateralism when it comes to the governance of AI, calling for an active implementation of commitments made by UN member states in the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact, and expressing support for the establishment of the International AI Scientific Panel and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance (whose terms of reference are currently negotiated by UN member states in New York).

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Viasat launches global IoT satellite service

Viasat has unveiled a new global connectivity service designed to improve satellite-powered internet of things (IoT) communication, even in remote environments. The new offering, IoT Nano, supports industries like agriculture, mining, transport with reliable, low-data and low-power two-way messaging.

The service builds on Orbcomm’s upgraded OGx platform, delivering faster message speeds, greater data capacity and improved energy efficiency. It maintains compatibility with older systems while allowing for advanced use cases through larger messages and reduced power needs.

Executives at Viasat and Orbcomm believe IoT Nano opens up new opportunities by combining wider satellite coverage with smarter, more frequent data delivery. The service is part of Viasat’s broader effort to expand its scalable and energy-efficient satellite IoT portfolio.

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Meta forms AI powerhouse by appointing Shengjia Zhao as chief scientist

Meta has appointed former OpenAI researcher Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of its newly formed AI division, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL).

Zhao, known for his pivotal role in developing ChatGPT, GPT-4, and OpenAI’s first reasoning model, o1, will lead MSL’s research agenda under Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI.

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed Zhao’s appointment, saying he had been leading scientific efforts from the start and co-founded the lab.

Meta has aggressively recruited top AI talent to build out MSL, including senior researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, Apple, Anthropic, and its FAIR lab. Zhao’s presence helps balance the leadership team, as Wang lacks a formal research background.

Meta has reportedly offered massive compensation packages to lure experts, with Zuckerberg even contacting candidates personally and hosting them at his Lake Tahoe estate. MSL will focus on frontier AI, especially reasoning models, in which Meta currently trails competitors.

By 2026, MSL will gain access to Meta’s massive 1-gigawatt Prometheus cloud cluster in Ohio, designed to power large-scale AI training.

The investment and Meta’s parallel FAIR lab, led by Yann LeCun, signal the company’s multi-pronged strategy to catch up with OpenAI and Google in advanced AI research.

The collaboration dynamics between MSL, FAIR, and Meta’s generative AI unit remain unclear, but the company now boasts one of the strongest AI research teams in the industry.

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UK enforces age checks to block harmful online content for children

The United Kingdom has introduced new age verification laws to prevent children from accessing harmful online content, marking a significant shift in digital child protection.

The measures, enforced by media regulator Ofcom, require websites and apps to implement strict age checks such as facial recognition and credit card verification.

Around 6,000 pornography websites have already agreed to the new regulations, which stem from the 2023 Online Safety Act. The rules also target content related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and online violence, instead of just focusing on pornography.

Companies failing to comply risk fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue, and senior executives could face criminal charges if they ignore Ofcom’s directives.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle described the move as a turning point, saying children will now experience a ‘different internet for the first time’.

Ofcom data shows that around 500,000 children aged eight to fourteen encountered online pornography in just one month, highlighting the urgency of the reforms. Campaigners, including the NSPCC, called the new rules a ‘milestone’, though they warned loopholes could remain.

The UK government is also exploring further restrictions, including a potential daily two-hour time limit on social media use for under-16s. Kyle has promised more announcements soon, as Britain moves to hold tech platforms accountable instead of leaving children exposed to harmful content online.

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NASA launches twin satellites to study space storms

NASA has launched two TRACERS satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to study space weather near Earth’s poles.

These identical spacecraft will probe the polar cusps in Earth’s magnetic field better to understand the origins and dynamics of geomagnetic storms.

Magnetic reconnection, a process where solar wind collides with Earth’s magnetosphere, is central in triggering auroras and potentially damaging solar storms.

Using tandem satellites, scientists can now monitor changes in real time, offering insights that single-orbiting spacecraft could not provide.

The mission aims to record around 3,000 reconnection events over the next year, helping researchers determine how solar energy enters Earth’s system.

By doing so, they hope to improve forecasting of disruptive space weather events that can impact GPS, satellites, and power grids.

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Microsoft replaces the blue screen of death with a sleek black version in Windows 11

Microsoft has officially removed the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) from Windows 11 and replaced it with a sleeker, black version.

As part of the update KB5062660, the Black Screen of Death now appears briefly—around two seconds—before a restart, showing only a short error message without the sad face or QR code that became symbolic of Windows crashes.

The update, which brings systems to Build 26100.4770, is optional and must be installed manually through Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalogue.

It is available for both x64 and arm64 platforms. Microsoft plans to roll out the update more broadly in August 2025 as part of its Windows 11 24H2 feature preview.

In addition to the screen change, the update introduces ‘Recall’ for EU users, a tool designed to operate locally and allow users to block or turn off tracking across apps and websites. The feature aims to comply with European privacy rules while enhancing user control.

Also included is Quick Machine Recovery, which can identify and fix system-wide failures using the Windows Recovery Environment. If a device becomes unbootable, it can download a repair patch automatically to restore functionality instead of requiring manual intervention.

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Network failure hits EE, BT and affects other UK providers

Thousands of EE and BT customers across the UK encountered widespread network failures on 24 July, primarily affecting voice services.

The outage, lasting over 24 hours, disrupted mobile and landline calls. Over 2,600 EE users reported issues with Downdetector at peak volume around 2:15 p.m. BST. Despite repair efforts, residual outages were still being logged the following day.

Although Vodafone and Three initially confirmed their networks were stable, users who recently switched carriers or ported numbers from EE experienced failures when making or receiving calls. However, this suggests cross-network routing issues burdened by EE’s technical fault.

Emergency services were briefly impacted; some users could not reach 999, though voice functionality has resumed. BT and EE apologised and said they were working urgently to restore reliable service.

Given statutory obligations around service resilience, Ofcom has opened inquiries into scale and causes. Affected MVNO operators using EE infrastructure, like 1pMobile, reported customer disruptions.

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Starlink suffers widespread outage from a rare software failure

The disruption began around 3 p.m. EDT and was attributed to a failure in Starlink’s core internal software services. The issue affected one of the most resilient satellite systems globally, sparking speculation over whether a botched update or a cyberattack may have been responsible.

Starlink, which serves more than six million users across 140 countries, saw service gradually return after two and a half hours.

Executives from SpaceX, including CEO Elon Musk and Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls, apologised publicly and promised to address the root cause to avoid further interruptions. Experts described it as Starlink’s most extended and severe outage since becoming a major provider.

As SpaceX continues upgrading the network to support greater speed and bandwidth, some experts warned that such technical failures may become more visible. Starlink has rapidly expanded with over 8,000 satellites in orbit and new services like direct-to-cell text messaging in partnership with T-Mobile.

Questions remain over whether Thursday’s failure affected military services like Starshield, which supports high-value US defence contracts.

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Amazon exit highlights deepening AI divide between US and China

Amazon’s quiet wind-down of its Shanghai AI lab underscores a broader shift in global research dynamics, as escalating tensions between the US and China reshape how tech giants operate across borders.

Instead of expanding innovation hubs in China, major American firms are increasingly dismantling them.

The AWS lab, once central to Amazon’s AI research, produced tools said to have generated nearly $1bn in revenue and over 100 academic papers.

Yet its dissolution reflects a growing push from Washington to curb China’s access to cutting-edge technology, including restrictions on advanced chips and cloud services.

As IBM and Microsoft have also scaled back operations or relocated talent away from mainland China, a pattern is emerging: strategic retreat. Rather than risking compliance issues or regulatory scrutiny, US tech companies are choosing to restructure globally and reduce local presence in China altogether.

With Amazon already having exited its Chinese ebook and ecommerce markets, the shuttering of its AI lab signals more than a single closure — it reflects a retreat from joint innovation and a widening technological divide that may shape the future of AI competition.

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