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OpenInfra Summit Europe brings focus on AI and VMware alternatives

The OpenInfra Foundation and its global community will gather at the OpenInfra Summit Europe from 17 to 19 October in Paris-Saclay to explore how open source is reshaping digital infrastructure.

It will be the first summit since the Foundation joined the Linux Foundation, uniting major projects such as Linux, Kubernetes and OpenStack under the OpenInfra Blueprint. The agenda includes a strong focus on digital sovereignty, VMware migration strategies and infrastructure support for AI workloads.

Taking place at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, the summit arrives at a time when open source software is powering nearly $9 trillion of economic activity.

With over 38% of the global OpenInfra community based in Europe, the event will focus on regional priorities like data control, security, and compliance with new EU regulations such as the Cyber Resilience Act.

Developers, IT leaders and business strategists will explore how projects like Kata Containers, Ceph and RISC-V integrate to support cost-effective, scalable infrastructure.

The summit will also mark OpenStack’s 15th anniversary, with use cases shared by the UN, BMW and nonprofit Restos du Coeur.

Attendees will witness a live VMware migration demo featuring companies like Canonical and Rackspace, highlighting real-world approaches to transitioning away from proprietary platforms. Sessions will dive into topics like CI pipelines, AI-powered infrastructure, and cloud-native operations.

As a community-led event, OpenInfra Summit Europe remains focused on collaboration.

With sponsors including Canonical, Mirantis, Red Hat and others, the gathering offers developers and organisations an opportunity to share best practices, shape open source development, and strengthen the global infrastructure ecosystem.

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Lung cancer caught early thanks to AI

A 69-year-old woman from Surrey has credited AI with saving her life after it detected lung cancer that human radiologists initially missed.

The software flagged a concerning anomaly in a chest X-ray that had been given the all-clear, prompting urgent follow-up and surgery.

NHS hospitals increasingly use AI tools like Annalise.ai, which analyses scans and prioritises urgent cases for radiologists.

Dianne Covey, whose tumour was caught at stage one, avoided chemotherapy or radiotherapy and has since made a full recovery.

With investments exceeding £36 million, the UK government and NHS are rapidly deploying AI to improve cancer diagnosis rates and reduce waiting times. AI has now been trialled or implemented across more than 45 NHS trusts and is also used for skin and prostate cancer detection.

Doctors and technologists say AI is not replacing medical professionals but enhancing their capabilities by highlighting critical cases and improving speed.

Experts warn that outdated machines, biassed training data and over-reliance on consumer AI tools remain risks to patient outcomes.

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Balancing security and usability in digital authentication

A report by the FIDO Alliance revealed that 53% of consumers observed an increase in suspicious messages in 2024, with SMS, emails, and phone calls being the primary vectors.

As digital scams and AI-driven fraud rise, businesses face growing pressure to strengthen authentication methods without compromising user experience.

No clear standard has emerged despite the range of available authentication options—including passkeys, one-time passwords (OTP), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and biometric systems.

Industry experts warn that focusing solely on advanced tools can lead to overlooking basic user needs. Minor authentication hurdles such as CAPTCHA errors have led to customer drop-offs and failed transactions.

Organisations are exploring risk-based, adaptive authentication models that adjust security levels based on user behaviour and context. The systems could eventually replace static logins with continuous, behind-the-scenes verification.

AI complicates the landscape further. As autonomous assistants handle tasks like booking tickets or making purchases, distinguishing legitimate user activity from malicious bots becomes increasingly tricky.

With no universal solution, experts say businesses must offer a flexible range of secure options tailored to user preferences. The challenge remains to find the right balance between security and usability in an evolving threat environment.

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Taiwan leads in AI defence of democracy

Taiwan has emerged as a global model for using AI to defend democracy, earning recognition for its success in combating digital disinformation.

The island joined a new international coalition led by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems to strengthen election integrity through AI collaboration.

Constantly targeted by foreign actors, Taiwan has developed proactive digital defence systems that serve as blueprints for other democracies.

Its rapid response strategies and tech-forward approach have made it a leader in countering AI-powered propaganda.

While many nations are only beginning to grasp the risks posed by AI to democratic systems, Taiwan has already faced these threats and adapted.

Its approach now shapes global policy discussions around safeguarding elections in the digital era.

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Meta expands AI ambitions with more OpenAI hires

According to a report published by The Information on Sunday, Meta Platforms has hired four additional researchers from OpenAI.

The researchers—Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren—are set to join Meta’s AI team as part of a broader recruitment drive. All four were previously involved in AI development at OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company behind ChatGPT and other generative models.

Earlier in the week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had hired three more OpenAI researchers—Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai—based in the firm’s Zurich office.

The hires reflect Meta’s increased investment in advanced AI research, particularly in ‘superintelligence’, a term CEO Mark Zuckerberg has used to describe future AI capabilities.

Meta and OpenAI have not yet responded to requests for comment. Reuters noted that it could not independently verify the hiring details at the time of reporting.

With growing competition among tech giants in AI innovation, Meta’s continued talent acquisition suggests a clear intention to strengthen its internal capabilities through strategic hiring.

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AI training with pirated books triggers massive legal risk

A US court has ruled that AI company Anthropic engaged in copyright infringement by downloading millions of pirated books to train its language model, Claude.

Although the court found that using copyrighted material for AI training could qualify as ‘fair use’ under US law when the content is transformed, it also held that acquiring the content illegally instead of licensing it lawfully constituted theft.

Judge William Alsup described AI as one of the most transformative technologies of our time. Still, he stated that Anthropic obtained millions of digital books from pirate sites such as LibGen and Pirate Library Mirror.

He noted that buying the same books later in print form does not erase the initial violation, though it may reduce potential damages.

The penalties for wilful copyright infringement in the US could reach up to $150,000 per work, meaning total compensation might run into the billions.

The case highlights the fine line between transformation and theft and signals growing legal pressure on AI firms to respect intellectual property instead of bypassing established licensing frameworks.

Australia, which uses a ‘fair dealing’ system rather than ‘fair use’, already offers flexible licensing schemes through organisations like the Copyright Agency.

CEO Josephine Johnston urged policymakers not to weaken Australia’s legal framework in favour of global tech companies, arguing that licensing provides certainty for developers and fair payment to content creators.

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New NHS plan adds AI to protect patient safety

The NHS is set to introduce a world-first AI system to detect patient safety risks early by analysing hospital data for warning signs of deaths, injuries, or abuse.

Instead of waiting for patterns to emerge through traditional oversight, the AI will use near real-time data to trigger alerts and launch rapid inspections.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced that a new maternity-focused AI tool will roll out across NHS trusts in November. It will monitor stillbirths, brain injuries and death rates, helping identify issues before they become scandals.

The initiative forms part of a new 10-year plan to modernise the health service and move it from analogue to digital care.

The technology will send alerts to the Care Quality Commission, whose teams will investigate flagged cases. Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s medical director, said the UK would become the first country to trial this AI-enabled early warning system to improve patient care.

CQC chief Sir Julian Hartley added it would strengthen quality monitoring across services.

However, nursing leaders voiced concerns that AI could distract from more urgent needs. Professor Nicola Ranger of the Royal College of Nursing warned that low staffing levels remain a critical issue.

She stressed that one nurse often handles too many patients, and technology should not replace the essential investment in frontline staff.

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Nvidia insiders sell over $1bn in shares amid AI market boom

Senior Nvidia executives have sold more than $1bn worth of shares over the past year, with over half of those sales taking place in June.

The move comes as Nvidia’s stock soared to record highs, driven by renewed investor enthusiasm for AI. According to the Financial Times, insiders took advantage of the AI-driven rally instead of waiting for further market shifts.

Among those selling shares was Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who offloaded stock for the first time since September, as revealed in recent regulatory filings.

The surge in share price helped the company briefly reclaim its title as the world’s most valuable firm, following upbeat forecasts from analysts predicting Nvidia will ride a ‘Golden Wave’ of AI growth.

Nvidia’s stock has recovered more than 60% since early April, when markets were rattled by President Donald Trump’s global tariff plans.

The rebound reflects optimism that upcoming trade negotiations may soften the economic blow and keep momentum behind tech and AI-focused firms.

Nvidia declined to comment on the report.

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Sam Altman reverses his stance on AI hardware as current computers can’t meet the demands

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has returned from his earlier position, saying that AGI would not need new hardware.

Speaking on a podcast with his brother, Altman said current computers are no longer suited for the fast-evolving demands of AI. Instead of relying on standard hardware, he now believes new solutions are necessary.

OpenAI has already started developing dedicated AI hardware, including potential custom chips, marking a shift from using general-purpose GPUs and servers.

Altman also hinted at a new device — not a wearable, nor a phone — that could serve as an AI companion. Designed to be screen-free and aware of its surroundings, the product is being co-developed with former Apple design chief Jony Ive.

The collaboration, however, has run into legal trouble. A federal judge recently ordered OpenAI and Ive to pause the promotion of the new venture after a trademark dispute with a startup named IYO, which had previously pitched similar ideas to Altman’s investment firm.

OpenAI’s recent $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products, co-founded by Ive, reflects the company’s more profound commitment to reshaping how people interact with AI.

Altman’s revised stance on hardware suggests the era of purpose-built AI devices is no longer a vision but a necessary reality.

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AI governance through the lens of magical realism

AI today straddles the line between the extraordinary and the mundane, a duality that evokes the spirit of magical realism—a literary genre where the impossible blends seamlessly with the real. Speaking at the 20th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Lillestrøm, Norway, Jovan Kurbalija proposed that we might better understand the complexities of AI governance by viewing it through this narrative lens.

Like Gabriel García Márquez’s floating characters or Salman Rushdie’s prophetic protagonists, AI’s remarkable feats—writing novels, generating art, mimicking human conversation—are increasingly accepted without question, despite their inherent strangeness.

Kurbalija argues that AI, much like the supernatural in literature, doesn’t merely entertain; it reveals and shapes profound societal realities. Algorithms quietly influence politics, reshape economies, and even redefine relationships.

Just as magical realism uses the extraordinary to comment on power, identity, and truth, AI forces us to confront new ethical dilemmas: Who owns AI-created content? Can consent be meaningfully given to machines? And does predictive technology amplify societal biases?

The risks of AI—job displacement, misinformation, surveillance—are akin to the symbolic storms of magical realism: always present, always shaping the backdrop. Governance, then, must walk a fine line between stifling innovation and allowing unchecked technological enchantment.

Kurbalija warns against ‘black magic’ policy manipulation cloaked in humanitarian language and urges regulators to focus on real-world impacts while resisting the temptation of speculative fears. Ultimately, AI isn’t science fiction—it’s magical realism in motion.

As we build policies and frameworks to govern it, we must ensure this magic serves humanity, rather than distort our sense of what is real, ethical, and just. In this unfolding story, the challenge is not only technological, but deeply human.

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