Governance/Regulation/Legislation

New WHO/Europe report provides first-ever snapshot of AI in health care across European Union Member States

(World Health Organization) WHO/Europe has released a new report assessing the rapidly evolving use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care across the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. The first comprehensive review of its kind, the report reveals strong and consistent momentum across EU Member States, with all 27 countries recognizing improved patient care as a driver of AI development and the majority already deploying AI tools in clinical settings. The report, produced as part of a multi-year funding agreement with the European Commission, builds on a recent WHO/Europe regional report, published in late 2025, by zooming in on the 27 EU Member States specifically. – https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/20-04-2026-new-who-europe-report-provides-first-ever-snapshot-of-ai-in-health-care-across-european-union-member-states

The EU’s Age Verification Fix Creates More Problems Than it Solves

(Joana Soares – Tech Policy Press) The European Commission last week unveiled an age verification app it says will help platforms confirm whether users meet minimum age thresholds — a move officials presented as closing a long-standing loophole in the bloc’s digital rulebook. But security researchers and civil society groups say the tool has significant vulnerabilities, and that the broader policy push may be solving the wrong problem. For Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, platforms now have “no more excuses.” The system is meant to be simple. Users upload an identity document, such as a passport or national ID, or use a “QR code” issued by a third party, such as a school or a bank, to attest to their age. Then, proceed to a face scan so the app can check if the face matches the document and send a yes or no confirmation. Officials argue that this minimizes data sharing by relying on “zero-knowledge” proofs, allowing age to be confirmed without revealing underlying personal information. But the reality is more complex, as the process requires identity proofing and biometric data being shared at least once. – https://www.techpolicy.press/the-eus-age-verification-fix-creates-more-problems-than-it-solves/

Commission makes €63.2 million available to support AI innovation in health and online safety

(European Commission) Seven Digital Europe Programme calls worth €63.2 million open today to support artificial intelligence (AI) in health, digital health, digital skills, and online safety. Promotional visual for the Digital Europe Programme Part of the funding will also bolster the adoption and deployment of transformative digital technologies across Europe. Of the total amount, €9 million will be made available for AI-powered image screening in medical centres, a field with enormous potential to improve prevention, early detection and diagnosis of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. – https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-makes-eu632-million-available-support-ai-innovation-health-and-online-safety

The European Register for Protected Data: Public sector data at your fingertips

(European Union/European Data) The European Union has created a European register that helps people discover public sector datasets which are not able to be shared as open data. The European Register for Protected Data held by the Public Sector (ERPD) is available through the European Data Portal and supports the reuse of valuable data while respecting privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property rules. The register was created under the Data Governance Act, which recognises that some information held by public bodies, such as health, mobility, or business data, cannot be published openly. Instead, public authorities publish metadata explaining what data exists, who holds it, and how access can be requested. The ERPD acts as a European-level access point that brings this information together from across the EU. – https://data.europa.eu/en/news-events/news/european-register-protected-data-public-sector-data-your-fingertips

AI firms pioneering drug discovery, cheaper supercomputing and more get first backing through UK’s Sovereign AI

(GOV. UK) Sovereign AI is the UK’s £500 million bet to back homegrown AI founders, drive growth and create jobs across the UK. AI is the most important technology of our era. The UK must be an AI maker, not just an AI taker, to control how it defines the future of our economic prosperity and national security. Sovereign AI is built to help promising AI companies so they start in Britain, scale fast and compete globally. Government believes in Britain’s AI founders and is betting on them – with unique package of support on investment, visas, access to supercomputers and R&D funding. – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-firms-pioneering-drug-discovery-cheaper-supercomputing-and-more-get-first-backing-through-uks-sovereign-ai

5 lessons from piloting the Quantum Economy Blueprint in Saudi Arabia

(World Economic Forum) Saudi Arabia became the first country to pilot the World Economic Forum’s Quantum Economy Blueprint, translating a global framework into a national action plan. The trial allowed Saudi Arabia to reflect on the country’s role in the broader quantum landscape and to accelerate multistakeholder collaboration. Five key lessons emerged, from anchoring quantum strategies in national priorities, to diversifying hardware access. – https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/04/quantum-economy-blueprint-saudi-arabia/

DIFC to become the world’s first AI Native financial centre

(Gouvernment of Dubai) The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, today announced that it will become the world’s first AI-Native financial centre, embedding artificial intelligence at the foundational level of its legal frameworks, business environment, talent development, ecosystem infrastructure and physical urban fabric. While many global financial centres are experimenting with artificial intelligence, DIFC is positioning itself to take a fundamentally different approach. As part of this ambition, DIFC will evolve into an AI-Native jurisdiction and destination where artificial intelligence is embedded across legal and regulatory frameworks, business operations, talent development systems, ecosystem infrastructure and the district’s physical environment. Rather than piloting AI at the margins, DIFC intends to integrate it into the core operating system of the Centre. – https://mediaoffice.ae/en/news/2026/april/21-04/difc-ai-native-financial-centre

‘Milestone’ moment for Utropolis as it joins IWF to help deliver a safer internet for children

(Internet Watch Foundation) The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has welcomed a new Member, Utropolis, a next generation web filtering and digital safeguarding company. By combining modern, AI-driven cloud technology with its experience in digital safeguarding, Utropolis aims to meet the IWF objectives of a safer internet for children. Utropolis addresses the challenge of modern-day safeguarding in schools by mirroring the fluidity of the ever-changing internet. AI-driven cloud technology predicts risks, streamlines policies and empowers educators to deliver proactive protection and real-time insights for safer, uninterrupted learning.  Underpinned by a team that are both experienced educators in schools and seasoned in digital safeguarding practices, the company is positioned to leapfrog traditional approaches that are outdated or too slow. – https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media/news/milestone-moment-for-utropolis-as-it-joins-iwf-to-help-deliver-a-safer-internet-for-children/

Geostrategies

Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund is Europe’s Missing Venture Capitalist

(Elif Memet, Erik Dalaker, Julian von Moltke, Adrien Joly – Tech Policy Press) Europe has the ideas and the talent but it lacks risk capital at scale. One institution could supply such capital: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. At nearly two trillion euros, the largest sovereign fund in the world, it could anchor a dedicated European venture vehicle that crowds in private capital where it is currently scarce. In the share of global scientific citations, Europe and the United States are near parity. And backing such talent pays off. European venture funds — private investors willing to finance risky, early-stage startups — have outperformed North American funds for the last fifteen years. Yet the average deal in North America is three times larger than in Europe, and the number of unicorns five times higher. If the talent and research are there — and if the funds that do invest perform well — why does Europe still produce fewer and less scaled startups? Europe seems stuck in a structural trap: it needs venture capital markets to support innovation, but without innovation, there are not enough investment opportunities for large venture funds to deploy capital at scale. – https://www.techpolicy.press/norways-sovereign-wealth-fund-is-europes-missing-venture-capitalist/

Commission welcomes high-level study group on connectivity and digital infrastructure

(European Commission) The European Commission, in cooperation with the Governments of France and Finland, organised a high-level study visit on secure, resilient and trusted connectivity and digital infrastructure. Policymakers and regulators from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Vietnam came to Brussels as part of a study visit to the EU. – https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-welcomes-high-level-study-group-connectivity-and-digital-infrastructure

Anthropic bites back in the compute wars with Amazon partnership

(Madison Mills – Axios) Anthropic is expanding its partnership with Amazon, committing more than $100 billion over the next decade to secure massive new computing capacity. Compute capacity is the currency of the AI race and is most likely to define who wins. Anthropic agreed to spend $100 billion to secure up to 5 gigawatts of compute from Amazon to train and run its Claude models. Amazon will invest $5 billion now, with the option for up to $20 billion more — deepening its stake in Anthropic. – https://www.axios.com/2026/04/21/anthropic-amazon-compute-wars

Security and Surveillance

Ukraine busts ‘bot farm’ supplying thousands of fake Telegram accounts to Russian spies

(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record) Ukrainian authorities have dismantled a so-called “bot farm” that police say was supplying thousands of fake social media accounts to Russian intelligence services for use in disinformation campaigns against Ukraine. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and the National Police said on Monday they detained the suspected organizer of the network in the northern city of Zhytomyr and blocked nearly 20,000 fraudulent online profiles allegedly used in information operations directed by Moscow. According to law enforcement, the suspect sold more than 3,000 fake Telegram accounts each month to Russian clients. The accounts were created using Ukrainian mobile phone numbers and then marketed on specialized online platforms used by pro-Russian actors. – https://therecord.media/ukraine-sbu-busts-bot-farm-supplying-russian-spies

The Gentlemen Ransomware Expands With Rapid Affiliate Growth

(Alessandro Mascellino – Infosecurity Magazine) A rapidly expanding ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation has claimed more than 320 victims, with the bulk of attacks occurring in early 2026. According to researchers at Check Point, the group, known as The Gentlemen, has gained traction among affiliates and is increasingly targeting enterprise environments using a mix of modular tooling and cross-platform payloads. First identified in mid-2025, the operation promotes its services on underground forums and recruits technically skilled partners. Affiliates are provided with ransomware variants written in the Go programming language that support Windows, Linux, NAS and BSD systems, along with a separate ESXi encryptor developed in C. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/gentlemen-ransomware-rapid/

Unchecked AI Agents Cause Cybersecurity Incidents at Two Thirds of Firms

(Danny Palmer – Infosecurity Magazine) Two thirds of organizations have suffered from a cybersecurity incident related to the deployment of AI agents during the last year, research by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) has warned. According to research, conducted alongside Token Security, unchecked AI agents operating on corporate networks caused damage including data exposure, operational disruption and financial losses. The CSA paper, titled Autonomous but Not Controlled: AI Agent Incidents Now Common in Enterprises, published on April 21, warned that the majority of organizations have no strategy set up around decommissioning AI agents, further putting them at risk of cybersecurity incidents. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/unchecked-ai-agents-cause/

Vercel Confirms Cyber Incident After Sophisticated Attacker Exploits Third‑Party Tool

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) Next.js developer Vercel has confirmed a cyber-incident  conducted by a “highly sophisticated” attacker which may have resulted in threat actors getting hold of sensitive internal data. The US firm, which provides developer tools and cloud infrastructure, said in an updated April 21 notice that the unauthorized access originated from an employee’s use of a third-party tool, Context.ai. “The attacker used that access to take over the employee’s Vercel Google Workspace account, which enabled them to gain access to some Vercel environments and environment variables that were not marked as sensitive,” it added. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/vercel-cyber-incident-threat-actor/

North Korean Blamed for $290m KelpDAO Crypto Heist

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) State-backed hackers are the most likely perpetrators of the largest crypto heist so far this year after liquid restaking protocol KelpDAO was struck over the weekend. The decentralized finance (DeFi) specialist works by accepting Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) like stETH, ETHx or sfrxETH, and issuing a liquid token, rsETH, in return. However, the firm said on Saturday that it identified “suspicious cross-chain activity involving rsETH,” forcing it to pause activity. It appears that threat actors stole 116,500 rsETH, worth around $293m, before funnelling it through Tornado Cash in a bid to throw off investigators. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/north-korean-blamed-290m-kelpdao/

Government of Kazakhstan Discusses Cybersecurity Protection of State Bodies

(Official Information Source of the Prime minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan) The meeting took place against the backdrop of implementing the tasks set by the Head of State to transform Kazakhstan into a fully digital country. Particular attention was paid to the fact that the updated Constitution explicitly enshrines the right of every person to the protection of personal data, while cybersecurity issues have acquired strategic importance in light of decisions by the Security Council. During the meeting, which was attended by heads of relevant ministries, local executive bodies, and the State Technical Service of the National Security Committee, a detailed report was presented on the progress of systemic measures in the field of cybersecurity. – https://primeminister.kz/en/news/government-discusses-cybersecurity-protection-of-state-bodies-31286

Anthropic’s Mythos moment: How frontier AI is redefining cybersecurity

(World Economic Forum) Anthropic’s decision to limit access to its latest model reflects a growing focus on the safe, secure and responsible deployment of advanced AI. Frontier AI is expanding both defensive capabilities and potential cyber risks, requiring organizations to adapt how they manage security. This moment highlights the need for clearer guidance and coordination to support the secure adoption of advanced AI. – https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/04/anthropic-mythos-ai-cybersecurity/

Frontiers

Introducing GPT‑Rosalind for life sciences research

(OpenAI) OpenAI introduced GPT‑Rosalind, our frontier reasoning model built to support research across biology, drug discovery, and translational medicine. The life sciences model series is optimized for scientific workflows, combining improved tool use with deeper understanding across chemistry, protein engineering, and genomics. On average, it takes roughly 10 to 15 years to go from target discovery to regulatory approval for a new drug in the United States. Gains made at the earliest stages of discovery compound downstream in better target selection, stronger biological hypotheses and higher-quality experiments. Progress in the life sciences is constrained not only by the difficulty of the underlying science, but by the complexity of the research workflows themselves. Scientists must work across large volumes of literature, specialized databases, experimental data, and evolving hypotheses in order to generate and evaluate new ideas. These workflows are often time-intensive, fragmented, and difficult to scale. – https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-rosalind/

Jeff Bezos’ AI lab nears $38 billion valuation in funding deal, FT reports

(Reuters) Jeff Bezos’ artificial intelligence lab is close to ​raising $10 billion in a new funding ‌round, valuing the new startup called Project Prometheus at $38 billion, the Financial Times reported on ​Monday, citing sources. The fundraising comes ​amid strong investor enthusiasm for AI ⁠companies as heavy technology spending reshapes ​businesses across sectors. – https://www.reuters.com/technology/jeff-bezos-ai-lab-nears-38-billion-valuation-funding-deal-ft-reports-2026-04-21/