Governance, Regulation, Legislation, Geostrategies

Trump unveils ‘Super Intelligence Force’ to oversee AI policy – US President Donald Trump says he has created a new taskforce focused on artificial intelligence, which will be led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. The “Super Intelligence Force” will work to ensure that the US continues to lead in the technology’s development and will coordinate the government’s engagement with the public, Trump posted on Sunday. It comes after the president signed an executive order on 29 September to rename AI as Super Intelligence, after previously saying the word artificial made it sound “fake”. Trump also said last week that he would set up a board to oversee AI safety after top tech bosses signed what he described as a “morally binding” pact. “The Super Intelligence Force will coordinate the Federal Government’s engagement with Consumers, Public Interest Groups, Religious Organizations, Critical Infrastructure Providers, and Super Intelligence Companies,” Trump wrote. Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and Undersecretary of Defense for Research, Engineering Emil Michael and Director of the Office of Personnel Management Scott Kupor will also be part of the taskforce. It will report directly to the president and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The taskforce’s chief, Clayton, took office as the US national intelligence director in August after Trump’s original choice, Bill Pulte, was rejected by lawmakers. – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj6jenp26zyo

Republic of Korea and the USA back $22.3 billion gas plant to power AI data centres– The Republic of Korea and the USA have selected a $22.3 billion gas-fired power project in Texas as the first of three strategic investments under a bilateral memorandum of understanding, with the facility intended to supply electricity directly to nearby AI data centres. The Texas Gas Combined-Cycle Power Generation Project, known as Project Star, will have a planned generating capacity of 6,472 MW and will be developed in Encinal, Texas. The plant will be dedicated to supplying co-located data centres through a direct connection between the generating facility and the power buyer. Its first phase is expected to begin commercial operations in 2029, with the full facility coming online in stages by 2032. – https://dig.watch/updates/republic-korea-usa-gas-plant-ai-data-centres

Amazon wins approval for UK data centre despite air pollution concerns – Buckinghamshire Council has approved plans for a large Amazon data centre in Iver, England, despite concerns over the development’s potential impact on local air quality. The 18-acre development near the M25 will replace 17 existing industrial and warehouse units and include a main building approximately 20 metres high, alongside a substation, water tanks, a generator yard, security infrastructure, and parking. Planning documents estimate that the completed facility could support around 60 full-time jobs. – https://dig.watch/updates/amazon-approval-uk-data-centre-air-pollution

Security and Surveillance

 

AI-Biosecurity monitoring moves toward sequence-aware controls, as WHO launches its Biorisk evaluation tool – The intersection of biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) presents both enormous potential and significant and rapidly advancing biosecurity risks. A growing concern is the misuse of AI systems capable of handling biological sequence data—such as DNA and protein sequences—which can have dual-use implications. A recent research published by Goodfire introduces a novel approach to monitoring AI agents engaged in biological sequence, involving sophisticated monitoring frameworks that understand not only what tasks AI agents perform but also the specific biological context of the sequences involved. The researchers argue that monitoring only the task being performed can miss risks because identical DNA or protein sequences may be benign or concerning depending on context. Their proposed monitors combine sequence information with task context to distinguish legitimate biological research from potentially risky activity.. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-biosecurity-monitor-sequence-who-biorisk-tool

 

Denmark ’s Population Registry Breached, 8.8 Million Affected – A hacker broke into the database that holds basically every identifying detail on every person connected to Denmark, living, dead, or long since moved away. Denmark’s digital affairs minister announced it Monday and didn’t soften the language. The affected database is Denmark’s national population register. It contains names, addresses and CPR numbers, which are similar to Social Security numbers in the US. The registry covers 8.8 million people, even though Denmark has about six million residents, because it also includes people who have died or moved abroad. In total, the database contains around 11 million records. Christina Egelund, the digital affairs minister, didn’t mince words. She called it “an extremely serious incident,” and said the government is working with every relevant authority to map out how far it actually goes. Translation: they’ve confirmed the break-in, but they genuinely don’t know the full scope yet. “Together with all the relevant authorities, we are in the process of mapping out the full extent of the incident,” she added. – https://securityaffairs.com/200437/data-breach/denmark-s-population-registry-breached-8-8-million-affected.html

 

Another OpenAI Safety Expert Quits and Raises New AI Safety Concerns – OpenAI safety veteran David Robinson knows how his resignation looks. He starts his essay by calling himself “something of a cliché”: an AI company employee who quits and then raises concerns about the company. But Robinson was not a junior employee; he helped write the safety reports released with OpenAI’s major product launches and, after three and a half years at the company, says he was one of its longest-serving employees. He is leaving because he believes the company’s culture is broken. “I resigned this week from OpenAI. I led the writing of the safety reports we published with each major launch. Now I’m joining a parade of former colleagues—at OpenAI and the industry’s other leaders—who have decided that the current path is unacceptable.” Robinson told The Atlantic. “I agree with other recently departed staff that the companies building this technology aren’t being nearly careful enough. But I believe that we need to look deeper than specific rules or new laws. We need to talk about culture.” – https://securityaffairs.com/200372/security/another-openai-safety-expert-quits-and-raises-new-ai-safety-concerns.html

 

FBI announces capture of first cyber fugitive on 10 most wanted list after international cybercrime investigation – US authorities have apprehended Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, also known as “Prometheus” and “The Engineer”, a Venezuelan national identified by the FBI as a senior figure in the transnational criminal organisation Tren de Aragua (TdA), the most powerful criminal organisation in Venezuela and the only local group that has managed to establish a foothold abroad. – https://dig.watch/updates/fbi-cyber-fugitive-10-most-wanted

Iranian hacker accused of draining 31TB from university inboxes extradited to the US – Amir Barati spent June 25 getting arrested in Montenegro, and this week a Montenegrin court signed off on sending him to the United States. He’s a dual Turkish and Iranian citizen, 40 years old, picked up by Montenegro’s Police Directorate after the FBI issued a warrant. “He is accused of committing the following crimes: conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer hacking, as well as identity theft, by conducting massive hacking attacks on the infrastructure of the United States of America since 2013, as an associate of a legal entity from the territory of Iran – at over 150 universities in the United States of America, causing damage estimated at more than 3.4 billion US dollars.” reads the press release published by Montenegro’s Police. – https://securityaffairs.com/200387/security/iranian-hacker-accused-of-draining-31tb-from-university-inboxes-extradited-to-the-us.html

 

Courts and Litigation

California Attorney General examines OpenAI AI-agent, expanding a coalition of 15 state AG inquiry – California Attorney General Rob Bonta has opened a new phase of scrutiny of OpenAI’s AI models, issuing an investigative subpoena on 1 October as part of a broader inquiry into cybersecurity incidents and risks associated with increasingly autonomous AI systems. The subpoena follows California’s investigation into the July 2026 incident involving Hugging Face, in which an OpenAI research model moved beyond its intended testing environment and accessed parts of the open-source platform’s infrastructure. Bonta said his office was seeking additional information about cybersecurity incidents and risks involving OpenAI and its models, stressing that developers have a legal responsibility to ensure their systems do not perpetrate or enable cyberattacks during testing or after deployment. The subpoena does not establish that OpenAI violated California law; it is an investigative measure intended to obtain information and determine whether legal obligations may have been breached. – https://dig.watch/updates/california-attorney-openai-ai-agent-coalition-15

 

US court temporarily blocks border wall and monitoring technology construction in Texas – A US federal court issued a preliminary injunction on 2 October, temporarily blocking the Trump administration from constructing border barriers and associated infrastructure in Texas’s Big Bend region, along the border with Mexico. The decision affects a project that forms part of a broader federal initiative combining physical barriers, patrol roads and surveillance technologies. US District Judge Kathleen Cardone ordered the federal government to halt construction and ground disturbing activities across the Big Bend sector unless it complies with applicable laws. The court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on at least one of their legal claims and faced a risk of serious, irreparable harm without an injunction. The ruling is preliminary and does not resolve the underlying lawsuit. – https://dig.watch/updates/us-court-temporarily-blocks-smart-border-wall

Markets

Anthropic expected to IPO despite market uncertainty, AI slowdown calls – Wall Street is gearing up for Anthropic’s expected mega initial public offering, a major test of investors’ appetite for one of the AI industry’s leading firms. Just weeks ago, its CEO called for an industry-wide slowdown over growing safety concerns. The IPO could take place as soon as November, according to the Wall Street Journal. Anthropic’s IPO has been highly anticipated after the company announced in June that it confidentially filed to go public. Anthropic could raise as much as $100 billion in an IPO that would value the company at around $2 trillion, according to the Journal. The seismic sums would vault Anthropic into the top 10 most valuable companies in the world. Anthropic’s IPO would mark a major milestone in the AI boom that has enveloped markets in recent years. But the journey to the IPO has been messy, and there have been delays. Anthropic’s plans have been muddled by questions about AI regulation and safety risks. Former employees, as well as CEO Dario Amodei, have raised concerns in recent weeks, spurring an industry-wide call to slow down AI development to better manage risks. Tech leaders, including Amodei, signed an accord at the White House last week to “self-police” the development of AI. Meanwhile, the outlook for all potential IPOs has grown complicated in recent months. The market has grown more uncertain as interest rates are on the rise. Bond yields have surged in recent weeks, pushing up borrowing costs, as traders adjust to the Iran war energy shock and central banks raising rates. – https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/05/business/anthropic-ipo-stock-market

Frontiers

Indian entities demonstrate 5.56 km free-space quantum key distribution link – Indian entities have demonstrated its first 5.56 km free-space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link in a field trial involving QNu Labs, the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N), and IIT Gandhinagar. The trial established a secure quantum communication channel between BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar. Using QNu Labs’ Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking system, the trial maintained a Quantum Bit Error Rate below 5% and generated secure keys at 230–260 bps. The keys were integrated with BISAG-N’s Vedic Kavach platform, which uses post-quantum cryptography and quantum random number generation to enable end-to-end encryption and decryption of test messages. – https://dig.watch/updates/india-free-space-quantum-key-distribution-link