China's Great Firewall cuts global access for an hour | 493 child sextortion cases linked to scam compounds | Australian trade union council strikes deal on AI copyright payments
DeepSeek rolls out V3.1 with 128k context, dropping R1 label and fueling speculation over the fate of its R2 reasoning model
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For about an hour on Wednesday, China appeared to go dark—or at least internet access across the country did. According to an analysis published by the Great Firewall Report, a group that monitors internet censorship efforts in China, something happened in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that resulted in China blocking almost all traffic to TCP port 443, the standard port for HTTPS traffic Gizmodo
Scam compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos have conned people out of billions. New research shows they may be linked to child sextortion crimes too WIRED
The ACTU has hailed a “breakthrough” agreement with the nation’s tech sector to develop a model to pay for copyrighted material used in artificial intelligence The Australian
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Australia
ACTU hails ‘breakthrough’ deal on AI copyright model
The Australian
Ewin Hannan
The ACTU has hailed a “breakthrough” agreement with the nation’s tech sector to develop a model to pay for copyrighted material used in artificial intelligence. The agreement was reached as the Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra saw a level of consensus among unions and employers about the need for action to combat the potential destructive consequences of AI on workers and business.
Australia, US mull critical minerals price support to combat China
The Australian Financial Review
Jessica Gardner
Australia is in discussions with like-minded nations and trading partners as it considers ways to support prices for domestically processed critical minerals, which former prime minister Kevin Rudd says is a crucial step to breaking China’s worrying hold on the sector.
Commonwealth Bank’s AI fail exposes more than 45 jobs and sounds a warning for all businesses
The Australian
Jared Lynch
Commonwealth Bank’s grand AI experiment just delivered a masterclass in corporate self-sabotage, proving that sometimes, the future of efficiency costs you more than just 45 jobs – it can cost your reputation. The promise of artificial intelligence has captivated boardrooms across the globe, luring businesses with visions of streamlined operations, unprecedented efficiencies, and significant cost savings.
University of Adelaide opens immersive tech
OpenGov Asia
Alita Sharon
The University of Adelaide has launched the Australian Lab for Immersive Technologies, a new facility designed to advance research, collaboration, and education in simulation, digital performance, and immersive media. The lab brings together a suite of advanced tools in a single, integrated environment, positioning it as one of the most versatile immersive technology hubs in Australia.
WA lawyer referred to regulator after preparing documents with AI-generated citations for nonexistent cases
The Guardian
Josh Taylor
A lawyer has been referred to Western Australia’s legal regulator after using artificial intelligence in preparing court documents for an immigration case. The documents contained AI-generated case citations for cases that did not exist. It is one of more than 20 cases so far in Australia in which AI use has resulted in fake citations or other errors in court submissions, with warnings from judges across the country to be wary of using the technology in the legal profession.
The Wiggles’ teen social media ban lobbying exposes an uncomfortable truth about young kids and tech
Crikey
Cam Wilson
A lawyer has been referred to Western Australia’s legal regulator after using artificial intelligence in preparing court documents for an immigration case. The documents contained AI-generated case citations for cases that did not exist. It is one of more than 20 cases so far in Australia in which AI use has resulted in fake citations or other errors in court submissions, with warnings from judges across the country to be wary of using the technology in the legal profession.
China
China’s Great Firewall mysteriously severed connection to the world for an hour
Gizmodo
AJ Dellinger
For about an hour on Wednesday, China appeared to go dark—or at least internet access across the country did. According to an analysis published by the Great Firewall Report, a group that monitors internet censorship efforts in China, something happened in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that resulted in China blocking almost all traffic to TCP port 443, the standard port for HTTPS traffic.
DeepSeek’s V3.1 update and missing R1 label spark speculation over fate of R2 AI model
South China Morning Post
Ben Jiang
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has updated its foundational V3 model and removed references to its reasoning model R1 from its chatbot, prompting speculation about a shift in the company’s research focus. DeepSeek announced on Tuesday the release of the V3.1 model in a brief message to one of its WeChat user groups. The update expands the context window to 128k, allowing the model to hold more information – equivalent to a roughly 300-page book – during user interactions.
China turns against Nvidia’s AI chip after ‘insulting’ Howard Lutnick remarks
Financial Times
Zijing Wu and Cheng Leng
Beijing’s move to restrict sales of Nvidia’s China-specific artificial intelligence processor was prompted by remarks from US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick about chip exports that officials found “insulting”. A group of Chinese regulators have mobilised in an effort to dissuade domestic tech companies from acquiring the H20 — a watered-down processor widely used for artificial intelligence in China.
China considering yuan-backed stablecoins to boost global currency usage, sources say
Reuters
China is considering allowing the usage of yuan-backed stablecoins for the first time to boost wider adoption of its currency globally, sources familiar with the matter said, in a major reversal of its stance towards digital assets. The State Council - China's cabinet – will review and possibly approve a roadmap later this month for the greater usage of the currency globally, including catching up with a U.S. push on stablecoins, said the sources.
USA
White House launches official TikTok account after Trump vowed ban in 2020
The Guardian
The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, as Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the US despite a law requiring its sale. “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” read a caption on the account’s first post, a 27-second clip, on the popular video-sharing app.
Anthropic, DOE team up to spot dangerous nuclear chats
Axios
Sam Sabin
Anthropic and the U.S. government's nuclear experts have developed a new tool that can spot the difference between a scientist asking Claude about nuclear reactors and a spy probing it for secrets about weapons development. Now, they're building on that work and rolling out a new classifier in Claude that determines with 96% accuracy in testing when a conversation is likely to cause some kind of harm, the company announced today.
Phone searches at the US border hit a record high
WIRED
Matt Burgess
United States Custom and Border Protection officials have sweeping powers to search anyone’s phone when they are entering the country—including US citizens. Newly released figures show that over the past three months, CBP officials have been searching more phones and other devices than ever before.
FTC Chair warns tech firms not to weaken data privacy to comply with EU, UK laws
Reuters
Jody Godoy
The chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission warned Apple, Alphabet and other technology companies on Thursday that efforts to comply with British and European digital content laws could violate U.S. law if they weaken privacy and data security protections for American users. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson expressed concerns about the EU Digital Services Act, and the UK Online Safety Act, which are aimed at cracking down on illegal and harmful online content, and the UK Investigatory Powers Act.
How Trump will decide which Chips Act companies must give up equity
The Wall Street Journal
Robbie Whelan, Yang Jie and Amrith Ramkumar
The Trump administration is considering taking equity stakes in companies receiving funds from the 2022 Chips Act but has no plans to seek shares in bigger semiconductor firms that are increasing their U.S. investments, according to a government official. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in a Tuesday interview with CNBC that the government is in talks to take a 10% equity stake in the troubled semiconductor company Intel and said the administration may consider equity stakes in other firms as well.
Trump Is Betting Big on Intel. Will the Chips Fall His Way?
WIRED
Lauren Goode
The US government is aiming to take an equity stake in Intel in exchange for grants the company was already committed to receive under the Biden era CHIPS Act, according to comments US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick made in an interview with CNBC. The move is part of the government’s efforts to boost US chip manufacturing.
Google to provide Gemini AI tools to federal agencies for 47 cents
The Hill
Julia Shapero
Google will provide a suite of artificial intelligence and cloud services to federal agencies for 47 cents each, the General Services Administration announced Thursday. Federal agencies will have access to Gemini for Government at the discounted price through 2026. The announcement follows similar moves by OpenAI and Anthropic to offer their AI products to the government for $1 a year.
California Republicans trust tech companies as much as Trump on AI
POLITICO
Chase DiFeliciantonio
Republican voters in California are about as likely to put their faith in tech companies to regulate artificial intelligence as they are President Donald Trump’s government, and more likely to trust either than members of the opposing party, according to an exclusive POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab poll.
Southeast Asia
493 cases of sextortion against children linked to notorious scam compounds
WIRED
Matt Burgess and Lily Hay Newman
Over the past decade, organized crime gangs working out of Southeast Asia have scammed people out of billions of dollars. Operating giant scam compounds—where experts estimate around 200,000 victims of human trafficking have been forced to run scams 24 hours a day—the criminal enterprises have used an array of romance, cryptocurrency investment, and impersonation fraud to target thousands of people around the world. Now new research reveals that the already chilling scam compounds may have an even darker underbelly.
Huawei commits to train thousands of Malaysians, as country’s tech ecosystem grows
CloudTech
Dashveenjit Kaur
Malaysia’s race to build a homegrown AI workforce has entered a new phase with Huawei pledging to train 30,000 local professionals. The tech giant is expanding its commitment to growing the local AI ecosystem in the country. Its announcement comes as Malaysia develops its domestic, broad-reaching digital strategy framework.
Thai government approves major digital strategy
The Nation
The government approved a new three-year national data strategy and established a dedicated National AI Committee to drive its digital agenda. The data strategy focuses on four key areas: building data infrastructure, establishing data governance, promoting data utilisation, and developing a digital workforce. The digital plan also includes renewed commitments to developing smart cities and improving public internet access through an Open Access Network concept.
Ukraine – Russia
Russia orders state-backed MAX messenger app, a WhatsApp rival, pre-installed on phones and tablets
Reuters
Andrew Osborn
A Russian state-backed messenger application called MAX, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets from next month, the Russian government said on Thursday. The decision to promote MAX comes as Moscow is seeking greater control over the internet space as it is locked in a standoff with the West over Ukraine, which it casts as part of an attempt to shape a new world order.
Russian investment platform confirms cyberattack by pro-Ukraine hackers
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
The Russian investment and analytics platform Investment Projects was hit by a cyberattack from a pro-Ukrainian hacker group earlier this week. As of Wednesday, the site was still offline. In a statement, the platform said it was working to restore its infrastructure and had notified state regulators about the incident.
Russian state cyber group Static Tundra exploiting Cisco devices, FBI warns
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
A Russian cyber-espionage group is increasingly targeting unpatched Cisco networking devices through a vulnerability discovered in 2018, according to the FBI. Advisories released on Wednesday by both the FBI and Cisco Talos warned that the Russian Federal Security Service's Center 16 is exploiting CVE-2018-0171 in devices that have reached end-of-life status to breach organizations in the telecommunications, higher education and manufacturing sectors across North America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
Artificial Intelligence
In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses
MIT Technology Review
Casey Crownhart
Google has just released a technical report detailing how much energy its Gemini apps use for each query. In total, the median prompt—one that falls in the middle of the range of energy demand—consumes 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of running a standard microwave for about one second. The company also provided average estimates for the water consumption and carbon emissions associated with a text prompt to Gemini.
Warfare at the speed of thought: can brain-computer interfaces comply with IHL?
Humanitarian Law & Policy
Anna M. Gielas
As brain-computer interface technologies advance rapidly, their integration into military systems is no longer speculative but an impending reality. These devices, which translate neural signals into digital commands, enable users to control drones and other military platforms through thought – offering unprecedented cognitive integration on the battlefield.
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