Governance, Legislation, and Geostrategies
From myth to metrics: Communities can leverage the real costs of generative AI when negotiating for data centres
(Sayoko Blodgett-Ford – OECD.AI – 7 May 2025) Accurate forecasts of power consumption for AI should be available following OECD AI Principle 1.1: “Inclusive growth, sustainable development, and well-being.” However, these details are often closely guarded as corporate trade secrets. Due to the difficulty in obtaining details, analysts have been compelled to rely on outdated and incomplete sources. For instance, Goldman Sachs, the Washington Post, and the International Energy Agency have occasionally used a rough 10x power estimate for so-called ‘generative AI.’ This estimate suggests that ‘generative AI’ requires more or less 10 times the cost, electrical power, or computational performance of traditional AI or machine learning. – https://oecd.ai/en/wonk/from-myth-to-metrics-real-costs-of-generative-ai
How Congress Can Stop the Looming Crypto Disaster
(Hilary J. Allen, Graham Steele – Just Security – 7 May 2025) Washington, D.C., is beset by legislative gridlock, but stablecoins—a type of crypto-asset pegged to the U.S. dollar—have become a bipartisan priority for all the wrong reasons. Both the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee have advanced legislation to create a bespoke, light-touch regulatory framework for stablecoins; the full Senate is expected to begin considering its stablecoin legislation this week. As they consider this legislation, members of Congress should be fully aware of the risks stablecoins pose to U.S. national security and its financial system. The legislative and entrepreneurial frenzy around stablecoins is part of the broader embrace of crypto following the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump. In anticipation of stablecoin bills soon becoming law, the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business announced plans to create a Trump-branded stablecoin. It will be used in transactions by the Emirati sovereign wealth fund, facilitated by Binance, a crypto company that has previously pled guilty to money laundering and sanctions evasion. El Salvador-based Tether—the issuer of the world’s most popular and most notorious stablecoin—recently said the stablecoin legislation will allow it to issue its first stablecoin in the United States. – https://www.justsecurity.org/110820/how-congress-can-stop-crypto-crash/
Albanian Government Invests €8.8M in Mira Murati’s AI Startup to Signal Commitment to Innovation and Global Tech Leadership
(AI Insider – 7 May 2025) The Albanian government has approved an €8.8 million investment in Machine Thinking Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. The decision, announced as part of the country’s first 2025 budget revision, positions Albania as an emerging player in advanced technology and AI innovation. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2025/05/07/albanian-government-invests-e8-8m-in-mira-muratis-ai-startup-to-signal-commitment-to-innovation-and-global-tech-leadership/
Bhutan launches first national crypto tourism payment system
(Digital Watch Observatory – 7 May 2025) Bhutan has launched the world’s first national-level crypto tourism payment system, in partnership with Binance Pay and DK Bank. Tourists can now pay for nearly everything, from flights to food, using over 100 cryptocurrencies like BTC, BNB, and USDC. Payments are made via QR codes through the Binance app, with DK Bank converting crypto into Bhutan’s local currency instantly. – https://dig.watch/updates/bhutan-launches-first-national-crypto-tourism-payment-system
Amazon’s new robots could replace warehouse workers
(Digital Watch Observatory – 7 May 2025) Amazon’s latest innovation, the Vulcan robot, is set to revolutionise the company’s warehouse operations. These cutting-edge robots are designed with an advanced ‘sense of touch,’ enabling them to perform tasks such as picking and packing, which were previously exclusive to human workers. It could significantly reduce the number of jobs required in Amazon’s fulfilment centres worldwide, potentially displacing lower-skilled workers, particularly those in temporary or younger roles. – https://dig.watch/updates/amazons-new-robots-could-replace-warehouse-workers
AI chatbots fall short in health advice study
(Digital Watch Observatory – 7 May 2025) As healthcare costs rise and waiting lists grow, many people are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for medical advice. However, a new Oxford-led study suggests chatbots may not improve, and could even hinder, health decision-making. Participants using AI models such as GPT-4o, Cohere’s Command R+ and Meta’s Llama 3 often missed key health conditions or underestimated their severity. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-chatbots-fall-short-in-health-advice-study
AI reshapes UK social care but raises concerns
(Digital Watch Observatory – 7 May 2025) AI tools such as pain-detecting apps, night-time sensors, and even training robots are increasingly shaping social care in the UK. Care homes now use the Painchek app to scan residents’ faces for pain indicators, while sensors like AllyCares monitor unusual activity, reducing preventable hospital visits. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-reshapes-uk-social-care-but-raises-concerns
Security
Counting the costs: A cybersecurity metrics framework for policy
(Stewart Scott – Atlantic Council – 6 May 2025) US cybersecurity policy has a critical blind spot: the absence of reliable outcome metrics that can inform policymakers about whether the digital ecosystem is becoming more secure and which interventions are driving progress most effectively. Despite years of strategies, regulations, and best-practices campaigns, the field of cybersecurity metrics has room to grow, and policymakers still lack answers to fundamental questions. How much harm are cybersecurity incidents causing? Are things getting better or worse? Which policies deliver the greatest return on investment for reducing realized harm and the risk of future harm? This report identifies two core problems holding back progress: first, the unknown state of the system, meaning policymakers cannot empirically describe how secure or insecure the digital landscape currently is; and second, unmeasured policy efficacy, which prevents policymakers from comparing which interventions are most effective at improving security and reducing harm. The result is a policymaking environment heavily reliant on intuition, anecdote, incomplete data, and proxy measures—all unsustainable for a domain with such systemic and escalating risks and so much security investment. – https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/counting-the-costs/
Defense, Intelligence, and Warfare
Ukraine’s long-range kamikaze drone can hit 1,000 miles away with 265-pound explosives
(Interesting Engineering – 7 May 2025) On May 6, 2025, Ukraine officially unveiled its latest long-range strike drone, the FP-1, during a demonstration at Infantry Day commemorations. The platform, exhibited publicly for the first time, is designed to engage high-value targets at strategic depth. According to technical data presented at the event and corroborated by open-source defense analysts, the FP-1 can fly up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) while delivering a warhead payload of up to 120 kilograms. – https://interestingengineering.com/military/ukraine-debuts-long-range-strike-drone
Frontiers
Quantum leap: Cisco opens lab and introduces entanglement chip
(Digital Watch Observatory – 7 May 2025) Cisco has introduced a prototype chip designed to connect quantum computers and has opened a new laboratory in California to drive its ambitions in the emerging field. The company revealed in a blog post that its quantum network entanglement chip produces pairs of entangled photons, allowing for instantaneous connections across any distance through quantum teleportation. – https://dig.watch/updates/quantum-leap-cisco-opens-lab-and-introduces-entanglement-chip