Vatican urges ethical AI development

(DigWatch – 13 July 2025) At the AI for Good Summit in Geneva, the Vatican urged global leaders to adopt ethical principles when designing and using AI. The message, delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, warned against letting technology outpace moral responsibility. – https://dig.watch/updates/vatican-urges-ethical-ai-development – original text: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/parolin/2025/documents/rc_seg-st_20250708_parolin-messaggio-aiforgood_en.html

How the EU’s Voluntary AI Code is Testing Industry and Regulators Alike

(Ramsha Jahangir – Tech Policy Press – 13 July 2025) Following months of negotiation and just weeks before the first legal deadlines under the EU AI Act take effect, the European Commission published the final Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI. The Code is voluntary and intended to help companies demonstrate compliance with the AI Act. It sets out detailed expectations around transparency, copyright, and measures to mitigate systemic risks. Signatories will need to publish summaries of training data, avoid unauthorized use of copyrighted content, and establish internal frameworks to monitor risks. Companies that sign on will see a “reduced administrative burden” and greater legal clarity, the Commission said. At the same time, both European and American tech companies have raised concerns about the AI Act’s implementation timeline, with some calling to “stop the clock” on the AI Act’s rollout. – https://www.techpolicy.press/how-the-eus-voluntary-ai-code-is-testing-industry-and-regulators-alike/

How US States Are Shaping AI Policy Amid Federal Debate and Industry Pushback

(Cristiano Lima-Strong – Tech Policy Press – 13 July 2025) In the United States, state legislatures are key players in shaping artificial intelligence policy, as lawmakers attempt to navigate a thicket of politics surrounding complex issues ranging from AI safety, deepfakes, and algorithmic discrimination to workplace automation and government use of AI. The decision by the US Senate to exclude a moratorium on the enforcement of state AI laws from the budget reconciliation package passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump over the July 4 weekend leaves the door open for more significant state-level AI policymaking. – https://www.techpolicy.press/how-us-states-are-shaping-ai-policy-amid-federal-debate-and-industry-pushback/

New AI traffic control promises faster commutes in Dubai

(DigWatch – 13 July 2025) Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has rolled out a next-generation traffic signal system using AI and digital twin technology to optimise city traffic. The system, UTC-UX Fusion, dynamically adjusts real-time signals based on predictive traffic models. UTC-UX Fusion is expected to ease congestion during peak hours and at busy intersections by simulating road scenarios before implementation. RTA reports the system can reduce journey times by up to 20 percent on key routes. – https://dig.watch/updates/new-ai-traffic-control-promises-faster-commutes-in-dubai

AI can reshape the insurance industry, but carries real-world risks

(DigWatch – 12 July 2025) AI is creating new opportunities for the insurance sector, from faster claims processing to enhanced fraud detection. According to Jeremy Stevens, head of EMEA business at Charles Taylor InsureTech, AI allows insurers to handle repetitive tasks in seconds instead of hours, offering efficiency gains and better customer service. Yet these opportunities come with risks, especially if AI is introduced without thorough oversight. Poorly deployed AI systems can easily cause more harm than good. For instance, if an insurer uses AI to automate motor claims but trains the model on biassed or incomplete data, two outcomes are likely: the system may overpay specific claims while wrongly rejecting genuine ones. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-can-reshape-the-insurance-industry-but-carries-real-world-risks

A Proposed Scheme for International Diplomacy on AI Governance

(Judit Bayer – Tech Policy Press – 11 July 2025) Organizations and agreements related to AI governance are proliferating, and yet the vision of a consensual and binding governance agreement among the major powers remains out of sight. Even between the US and the EU – seen as robust allies for many decades – the dividing lines in AI policy have dramatically deepened. Nonetheless, new lines of alliance are dynamically developing around both major Atlantic powers. The EU’s impact on global regulation has come into doubt, especially as its AI Act appears to be losing support even among EU officials. This moment of uncertainty presents the opportunity to re-evaluate European priorities for AI governance, based on the changing geopolitical landscape. It suggests thinking and planning as if from scratch, going back to the drawing board to calibrate a novel approach towards a global AI governance agreement. – https://www.techpolicy.press/a-proposed-scheme-for-international-diplomacy-on-ai-governance/

June 2025 Tech Litigation Roundup

(Melodi Dinçer – Tech Policy Press – 11 July 2025) This roundup gathers and briefly analyzes tech-related cases across a variety of legal issues. The Tech Justice Law Project (TJLP) tracks these and other tech-related cases in the US, federal, state, and international courts in this regularly updated litigation tracker. – https://www.techpolicy.press/june-2025-tech-litigation-roundup/

Geostrategies

Latin America struggling to join the global AI race

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) Currently, Latin America is lagging in AI innovation. It contributes only 0.3% of global startup activity and attracts a mere 1% of worldwide investment, despite housing around 8% of the global population. Experts point to a significant brain drain, a lack of local funding options, weak policy frameworks, and dependency on foreign technology as major obstacles. Many high‑skilled professionals emigrate in search of better opportunities elsewhere. – https://dig.watch/updates/latin-america-struggling-to-join-the-global-ai-race

Malaysia enforces trade controls on AI chips with US origin

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) Malaysia’s trade ministry announced new restrictions on the export, transshipment and transit of high-performance AI chips of US origin. Effective immediately, individuals and companies must obtain a trade permit and notify authorities at least 30 days in advance for such activities. The restrictions apply to items not explicitly listed in Malaysia’s strategic items list, which is currently under review to include relevant AI chips. The move aims to close regulatory gaps while Malaysia updates its export control framework to match emerging technologies. – https://dig.watch/updates/malaysia-enforces-trade-controls-on-ai-chips-with-us-origin

Indonesia opens AI centre with global tech partners

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) Indonesia has inaugurated a National AI Centre of Excellence in Jakarta in partnership with Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, NVIDIA and Cisco. The centre is designed to fast-track the adoption of AI and build digital talent to support Indonesia’s ambitions for its 2045 digital vision. Deputy Minister Nezar Patria said the initiative will help train one million Indonesians in AI, networking and cybersecurity by 2027. Officials and industry leaders stressed the importance of human capability in maximising AI’s potential. – https://dig.watch/updates/indonesia-opens-ai-centre-with-global-tech-partners

Spain awarded €12.3 million in contracts to Huawei

(Security Affairs – 14 July 2025) The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has awarded €12.3 million ($14.3 million) contracts to manage and store judicially authorized wiretaps used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, raising concerns about potential Chinese government access due to the company’s ties to Beijing. Between 2021 and 2025, Spain awarded centralized contracts for digital storage of court-ordered wiretaps to Huawei, using its OceanStor 6800 V5 servers. These systems store and classify intercepted communications for law enforcement, adhering to National Security Framework standards and ICT Security Guidelines set by the National Cryptologic Center (CCN-STIC). The contracts, part of routine procurement processes managed by the General Directorate for the Rationalization and Centralization of Procurement, were publicly tendered and are listed on the State Procurement Platform. – https://securityaffairs.com/179884/intelligence/spain-awarded-e12-3-million-in-contracts-to-huawei.html

Iran seeks at least three cloud providers to power its government

(The Register – 14 July 2025) The Information Technology Organization of Iran (ITOI), the government body that develops and implements IT services for the country, is looking for suppliers of cloud computing. The org recently posted a notification of its desire to evaluate, grade, and rank cloud players to assess their suitability to host government services. At the end of the exercise, the organization hopes to have a panel of at least three cloud operators capable of handling government services. – https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/14/iran_cloud_panel_evaluation/

Terrorism

Assessment of the Global Terrorism Threat Landscape in Mid-2025

(Soufan Center – 11 July 2025) Al-Qaeda’s franchise groups, affiliates, and regional branches have ebbed and flowed in strength, but at the moment, both al-Shabaab in Somalia and Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) in the Sahel are on the ascent. Terrorist groups like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) benefit from leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate their propaganda, thus freeing up more bandwidth for militants to plan external operations. It will soon be the rule, not the exception, that terrorists use emerging technologies in one or multiple aspects of the attack planning cycle. The litany of challenges is occurring against a backdrop of budget cuts related to counterterrorism capacity, which could make the U.S. more vulnerable to a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil perpetrated by any number of hostile actors. – https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-july-11/

Security

AI fake news surge tests EU Digital Services Act

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) Europe is facing a growing wave of AI-powered fake news and coordinated bot attacks that overwhelm media, fact-checkers, and online platforms instead of relying on older propaganda methods. According to the European Policy Centre, networks using advanced AI now spread deepfakes, hoaxes, and fake articles faster than they can be debunked, raising concerns over whether EU rules are keeping up. Since late 2024, the so-called ‘Overload’ operation has doubled its activity, sending an average of 2.6 fabricated proposals each day while also deploying thousands of bot accounts and fake videos. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-fake-news-surge-tests-eu-digital-services-act

Azerbaijan government workers hit by cyberattacks

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) In the first six months of the year, 95 employees from seven government bodies in Azerbaijan fell victim to cyberattacks after neglecting basic cybersecurity measures and failing to follow established protocols. The incidents highlight growing risks from poor cyber hygiene across public institutions. – https://dig.watch/updates/azerbaijan-government-workers-hit-by-cyberattacks

Italian defence firms hit by suspected Indian state-backed hackers

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) An advanced persistent threat (APT) group with suspected ties to India has been accused of targeting Italian defence companies in a cyber-espionage campaign. Security researchers found that the hackers used phishing emails and malicious documents to infiltrate networks, stealing sensitive data. The attacks, believed to be state-sponsored, align with growing concerns about nation state cyber operations targeting critical industries. – https://dig.watch/updates/italian-defence-firms-hit-by-suspected-indian-state-backed-hackers

CBI Shuts Down £390K U.K. Tech Support Scam, Arrests Key Operatives in Noida Call Center

(The Hacker News – 14 July 2025) India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has announced that it has taken steps to dismantle what it said was a transnational cybercrime syndicate that carried out “sophisticated” tech support scams targeting citizens of Australia and the United Kingdom. The fraudulent scheme is estimated to have led to losses worth more than £390,000 ($525,000) in the United Kingdom alone. The law enforcement effort, which was carried out on July 7, 2025, as part of Operation Chakra V, involved searches at three locations in Noida, one of which was a fully functional fraudulent call center operating from the Noida Special Economic Zone. – https://thehackernews.com/2025/07/cbi-shuts-down-390k-uk-tech-support.html

eSIM Vulnerability in Kigen’s eUICC Cards Exposes Billions of IoT Devices to Malicious Attacks

(Hacker News – 14 July 2025) Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new hacking technique that exploits weaknesses in the eSIM technology used in modern smartphones, exposing users to severe risks. The issues impact the Kigen eUICC card. According to the Irish company’s website, more than two billion SIMs in IoT devices have been enabled as of December 2020. The findings come from Security Explorations, a research lab of AG Security Research company. Kigen awarded the company a $30,000 bounty for their report. An eSIM, or embedded SIM, is a digital SIM card that’s embedded directly into a device as software installed onto an Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC) chip. – https://thehackernews.com/2025/07/esim-vulnerability-in-kigens-euicc.html

Beware the Robots: AI-Enabled Sanctions Evasion is Here

(Aaron Arnold – RUSI – 8 July 2025) This past January, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation issued updated guidance about North Korea’s IT labour networks, noting that they ‘…have been observed using artificial intelligence and face-swapping technology during video job interviews to obfuscate their true identities.’ Iran, too, is finding success in augmenting its global spear-phishing and social-engineering campaigns with AI. While banks and other financial institutions are increasingly supplementing their compliance and monitoring capabilities with AI, most are geared towards financial crime and sanctions evasion as it currently stands, not as it is heading. – https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/beware-robots-ai-enabled-sanctions-evasion-here

Defence, Intelligence, and Warfare

Elon Musk’s xAI wins $200M Pentagon deal to bring Grok AI into federal agencies

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has secured a $200 million ceiling contract from the U.S. Department of Defense. The company also announced its “Grok for Government” suite on Monday, opening the door for every federal agency to access its tools via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. The deal places xAI alongside OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, all of whom landed identical contracts under the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO). – https://interestingengineering.com/culture/elon-musk-xai-grok-pentagon-contract

Frontiers

World’s first quantum light factory chip built on standard semiconductor tech

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) In a leap toward practical quantum systems, researchers from Boston University, UC Berkeley, and Northwestern University have built the world’s first integrated electronic–photonic–quantum chip. The study showcases a device that merges quantum light sources with stabilizing electronics on a single platform using a standard 45-nanometer semiconductor process. The chip can produce streams of correlated photon pairs, particles of light crucial for future quantum computing, sensing, and secure communication. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/worlds-first-quantum-light-factory-chip

New SSD can self-destruct on command to protect your most sensitive data

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) “This message will self-destruct in 3… 2… 1” is something you’ve definitely seen in Mission Impossible films over the years. Now, we finally have tech that feels just as futuristic, thanks to a new kind of storage hardware. Taiwanese company TeamGroup has unveiled a new internal SSD that can literally destroy itself at the press of a button, ensuring sensitive data never falls into the wrong hands. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/self-destructing-ssd-teamgroup-p250q

Meta reveals plans for giant AI superclusters to outpace OpenAI and Google

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) Meta Platforms Inc., the technology conglomerate behind Facebook, is going all-in on artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday announced plans to invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” into building some of the world’s largest AI superclusters. In a Facebook post, the tech mogul revealed that Meta’s first supercluster, named Prometheus, is set to go live next year, with several other multi-gigawatt clusters also in development. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/meta-ai-superclusters-prometheus-hyperion

Powerful polymer could fuel safer EVs, smartphones, drones and space probes

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) Scientists in the US have blended a common polymer with a specially charged one, in a breakthrough that could potentially lead to safer, longer-lasting solid-state batteries for smartphones, EVs, drones, and space probes. The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering research team at Florida State University used polyethylene oxide (PEO), a polymer widely used in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries for its ionic conductivity and mechanical strength. They then combined it with a custom-designed charged polymer known as p5. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/powerful-polymer-could-fuel-safer-evs

NASA tests supersonic muscle in Japan as mini X-59 jet hits 925 mph in Tokyo tunnel

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) Researchers from NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have completed a fresh round of supersonic wind-tunnel testing on a miniature version of NASA’s X-59 quiet-supersonic experimental aircraft. The campaign was conducted at JAXA’s 3-by-3-foot facility in Chofu, Tokyo. It assessed how the aircraft’s pressure signature, audible on the ground as a sonic “thump,” will reach people beneath its flight path. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/nasa-jaxa-test-19-inch-x-59-model

How AI agents are reshaping the marketing landscape

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) Marketers have weathered many disruptions, but a bigger shift is emerging—AI agents are starting to make purchasing decisions. As machines begin choosing what to buy, brands must rethink how they build visibility and relevance in this new landscape. AI agents do not shop like humans. They use logic, structured data, and performance signals—not emotion, nostalgia or storytelling. They compare price, reviews, and specs. Brand loyalty and lifestyle marketing may carry less weight when decisions are made algorithmically. According to Salesforce, 24% of people are open to AI shopping on their behalf—rising to 32% among Gen Z. Agents interpret products as data tables. Structured information, such as features and sentiment analysis, guide choices—not impulse or advertising flair – https://dig.watch/updates/how-ai-agents-are-reshaping-the-marketing-landscape

Stanford study flags dangers of using AI as mental health therapists

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) A new Stanford University study warns that therapy chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs) may pose serious user risks, including reinforcing harmful stigmas and offering unsafe responses. Presented at the upcoming ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, the study analysed five popular AI chatbots marketed for therapeutic support, evaluating them against core guidelines for assessing human therapists. The research team conducted two experiments, one to detect bias and stigma, and another to assess how chatbots respond to real-world mental health issues. Findings revealed that bots were more likely to stigmatise people with conditions like schizophrenia and alcohol dependence compared to those with depression. – https://dig.watch/updates/stanford-study-flags-dangers-of-using-ai-as-mental-health-therapists

AI could save billions but healthcare adoption is slow

(DigWatch – 14 July 2025) AI is being hailed as a transformative force in healthcare, with the potential to reduce costs and improve outcomes dramatically. Estimates suggest widespread AI integration could save up to 360 billion dollars annually by accelerating diagnosis and reducing inefficiencies across the system. Although tools like AI scribes, triage assistants, and scheduling systems are gaining ground, clinical adoption remains slow. Only a small percentage of doctors, roughly 12%, currently rely on AI for diagnostic decisions. This cautious rollout reflects deeper concerns about the risks associated with medical AI. – https://dig.watch/updates/ai-could-save-billions-but-healthcare-adoption-is-slow

Carbon to candy? China tech could convert CO₂ into food by turning methanol into sugar

(Interesting Engineering – 14 July 2025) Chinese researchers have developed a groundbreaking method to convert methanol into white sugar—commonly known as sucrose—without using farmland or crops. This method could one day help turn captured carbon dioxide into food. The new biotransformation system doesn’t rely on sugar cane or sugar beet cultivation. Both of these crops require huge amounts of land and water. Instead, the researchers used enzymes to turn methanol, which can be made from industrial waste or by chemically treating carbon dioxide, into complex sugars. – https://interestingengineering.com/science/chinese-scientists-make-sugar-from-methanol

Canada firm’s 99.9% reliable robot vision training studio completes week-long task in hours

(Interesting Engineering – 13 July 2025) A Canadian company has advanced its web-based design and AI training studio that simplifies 4D vision-guided robotic projects. Called Apera Forge, the system, without any hardware, is a browser-based AI vision design studio. The system’s latest features support advanced robotic cell design, end-of-arm-tooling (EOAT)-mounted camera configurations, and full simulation and training for de-racking applications. The design studio can streamline 4D vision-guided robotics automation projects. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/training-studio-completes-robotic-vision-tasks

Metaverse for nuclear plants: Hitachi’s platform to boost efficiency in design, ops

(Interesting Engineering – 13 July 2025) A Japanese company has launched a “Metaverse Platform for Nuclear Power Plants.” Hitachi plans to use the platform to streamline, operations, including nuclear power plants’ safety enhancement and maintenance. The latest approach recreates nuclear power plants in a metaverse using high-precision point cloud data and 3D CAD data. The system that leverages a metaverse and AI technology to enhance productivity in information sharing, schedule coordination, and asset management among stakeholders by utilizing it with partners such as electric utilities and contractors. – https://interestingengineering.com/energy/metaverse-for-nuclear-power-plants-hitachi

Coinbase teams with Perplexity to bring crypto data into AI search

(DigWatch – 13 July 2025) Coinbase has partnered with Perplexity AI to deliver real-time crypto market data through AI-powered tools. The integration will begin with Coinbase’s COIN50 index on Perplexity’s Comet browser, followed by a deeper rollout enabling direct access to token insights and trade ideas through natural language queries. CEO Brian Armstrong described the collaboration as a step towards a more intelligent and decentralised financial system. He said the fusion of AI and crypto could be a ’10x unlock,’ adding that the future lies in integrating crypto wallets into large language models (LLMs). – https://dig.watch/updates/coinbase-teams-with-perplexity-to-bring-crypto-data-into-ai-search