Macron invites scientists to come work in France | Open AI wants to buy Google Chrome | Advanced data centres vulnerable to Chinese espionage.
Papal election to begin amid tight security and secrecy - and cell phone blackouts.
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French President Emmanuel Macron invited scientists from all over the world to come work in France or Europe, as U.S. President Donald Trump's new administration has started slashing funding for universities and research bodies. Macron did not mention the U.S., where hundreds of scientists have been dismissed in cutbacks to research that come amid a broader clash between Trump and Ivy League universities. Reuters
OpenAI would be interested in buying Google's Chrome if antitrust enforcers are successful in forcing the Alphabet unit to sell the popular web browser as part of a bid to restore competition in search, an OpenAI executive testified on Tuesday at Google's antitrust trial in Washington. Reuters
Tech companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars — and they are vulnerable to Chinese espionage, according to a report published Tuesday. Today’s top AI datacentres are vulnerable to both asymmetrical sabotage—where relatively cheap attacks could disable them for months—and exfiltration attacks, in which closely guarded AI models could be stolen or surveilled, the report’s authors warn. Time
ASPI
Australia to target American scientists threatened by Trump administration
The Canberra Times
Steve Evans
There is a history of American scientists migrating to Australia to great national benefit. Astrophysicist Brian Schmidt moved to Canberra in 1994, bringing his Harvard PhD with him. His work earned him a Nobel prize. A less ambitious precursor of the new scheme was the Ukraine-Australia Research Fund which offered grants to Ukrainian scientists wanting to visit Australia to see if it offered them a future. But the American effort is more ambitious in that the aim is to attract the very best scientists to Australia for the long term. "Australia's ambassador in the US, Kevin Rudd, and his team are well placed to provide a picture of which top scientists have lost funding," Danielle Cave, head of research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said as the destructive impact of Mr Trump and his aid Elon Musk's policies emerged. "They could work with others in government to promote Australia as a top destination for technology talent while also working collaboratively with the US government to explain how these investments would also benefit them."
Australian statecraft must restore the link between deterrence and non-proliferation to survive in the new nuclear age
The Strategist
Alex Bristow
Nuclear weapons are becoming a more salient feature of the international order in ways that the next Australian Government can’t afford to ignore. Russia, China and North Korea are expanding their arsenals and leveraging new technologies to coerce others with nuclear threats, as Moscow demonstrated by intimidating democracies into restricting their support for Ukraine. Of greatest concern to Australia, Beijing is rapidly expanding and modernising its nuclear arsenal, including deploying large numbers of shorter-range missiles that can probably field nuclear as well as conventional warheads.
World
The tech that safeguards the conclave’s secrecy
WIRED
Jorge Garay
In 2005, cell phones were banned for the first time during the conclave, the process by which the Catholic Church elects its new pope. Twenty years later, after the death of Pope Francis, the election process is underway again. Authorities have two priorities: to protect the integrity of those attending the meeting and to ensure that it proceeds in strict secrecy (under penalty of excommunication and imprisonment) until the final decision is made.
Secure ‘quantum messages’ sent over telecoms network in breakthrough
Financial Times
Michael Peel
Governments, companies and academic researchers are racing to improve information security because of emerging technological threats to encrypted sensitive data, such as bank transactions and health records. In this context, Toshiba Europe researchers have used so-called quantum key distribution cryptography to transfer messages over traditional communication systems in a way that would be safe from hackers. Scientists sent messages encrypted using principles of quantum physics over a 250km German commercial telecommunications network, in a milestone towards next-generation data security.
When the world connected on Skype
Rest of World
Isra Fejzullaj, Rina Chandran and Michael Zelenko
Skype, the online video-calling service, is shutting down in May after more than two decades of service. For those of a certain generation, Skype changed everything. At its peak, Skype had about 300 million users around the world. But it was a product of the desktop era, and as users went mobile, Skype lost its edge to upstarts like WhatsApp and FaceTime. Today, the app is forgotten on most phones and computers, particularly in the West.
Australia
Failure to launch: Optus, Musk deal hit by US woes
The Australian
Jared Lynch
US regulatory hurdles have delayed the launch of Optus’s much-hyped partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide the first satellite direct-to-handset services to Australians. The nation’s second-biggest telco has quietly pushed back its plans to launch the Starlink service, which was initially expected to debut last year. Starlink’s current fleet of 400 to 500 satellites lacks the density to provide a voice-capable service in Australia.
‘Moral panic’ about new media’s influence on young voters underplays their interest in politics, creators say
The Guardian
Rafqa Touma
While most respondents to our callout indicated they rely on a mix of social media and traditional media for news, influencers and experts have observed a “moral panic” about the increase in young online creators engaging in politics. For at least 20 years, young people have been moving away from formal politics – such as joining a political party or a volunteering organisation – and towards “issues-based” politics, says Prof Philippa Collin from Western Sydney University. Collin researches the role of the internet in the political lives of young people. But research points to an increase in participatory politics, where young people “feel a responsibility to do something about the issues that they see in the world, or that affect them directly”, Collin says.
Meet the 24-year-old Australian behind a $300m US start-up
The Australian Financial Review
Paul Smith
At just 24, Australian entrepreneur Max Marchione has Silicon Valley at his feet. His start-up, which promises to help health-obsessed people live longer, has caught the imagination of big-name investors and celebrities and is now worth more than $300 million just two years after it was founded.
Safeguarding Australia’s sovereignty with public digital infrastructure
The Policymaker
Raffaele Ciriello
Digital technologies are evolving rapidly, offering enormous potential – but the platforms shaping this future are driven by profit, not necessarily the public interest. Securing Australia’s sovereignty over digital infrastructure is essential to building an online ecosystem grounded in democratic values.
China
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent stockpile billions worth of Nvidia chips
Nikkei Asia
Cheng Ting-Fang, Lauly Li and Cissy Zhou
China's top internet companies have stockpiled billions of dollars worth of Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chips this year before the U.S. cut off shipments of the components in April, Nikkei Asia has learned. Chinese internet giants aimed to snap up 1 million H20s before the latest US curbs.
Chinese e-commerce platforms to end refund-without-returns amid weak economy, sources say
Reuters
Sophie Yu and Anne Marie Roantre
Chinese authorities have asked e-commerce platform operators to stop insisting on merchants refunding customers without requiring the return of goods, to alleviate financial pressure on merchants. The government met operators including PDD Holdings and concluded the practice must end by July, from which point only merchants will be able to initiate a refund, the people said, without specifying dates. The aim is to prevent merchants' situation from becoming tenuous during times of economic slowdown, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the information is not public.
Exclusive: Every AI datacentre is vulnerable to Chinese espionage, report says
Time
Billy Perrigo
Tech companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to build new U.S. datacenters where —if all goes to plan—radically powerful new AI models will be brought into existence. But all of these datacentres are vulnerable to Chinese espionage, according to a report published Tuesday. Today’s top AI datacentres are vulnerable to both asymmetrical sabotage—where relatively cheap attacks could disable them for months—and exfiltration attacks, in which closely guarded AI models could be stolen or surveilled, the report’s authors warn.
USA
What would a US tariff on chips look like?
Financial Times
Chris Miller
The US government will be “taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN”, President Donald Trump recently declared. Given his repeated promises to impose a tariff on imported chips, we must assume some action is coming. But what type, and to what end? According to trade data, the US imports around $30bn in chips annually, largely from south-east Asia. Would tariffs lead companies to replace these imports with domestically made chips?
Inside the desperate rush to save decades of US scientific data from deletion
BBC
Chris Baraniuk
Swathes of scientific data deletions are sweeping across US government websites – with decades of health, climate change and extreme weather research at risk. Now, scientists are racing to save their work before it's lost.
China-linked Billbug hackers breached multiple entities in Southeast Asian country
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
A long-running cyber espionage operation linked to China breached multiple prominent government and business organizations in a single Southeast Asian country during a campaign from August 2024 to February 2025. Researchers at Symantec attributed the attacks to Billbug — a Chinese advanced persistent threat group (APT) active since at least 2009. The group — also known as Lotus Panda, Lotus Blossom and Bronze Elgin — targeted a government ministry, an air traffic control organisation, a telecoms operator, and a construction company in the unnamed Southeast Asian country.
South Asia
China to replicate its 'Great Digital Firewall' in Pakistan
Intelligence Online
China is building an internet censorship system in Pakistan along the lines of its own Great Firewall. Beijing, which has forced Islamabad's hand on the matter and has enlisted the support of Chinese companies operating in the country, is intent on protecting its economic interests.
Southeast Asia
Korean telco giant SK telecom hacked
Security Week
Eduard Kovacs
SK Telecom is South Korea’s largest wireless carrier — it has tens of millions of subscribers and holds roughly half of the local market. The company revealed on Tuesday in a Korean-language statement posted on its website that it detected an intrusion on April 19. An investigation showed that the attackers deployed malware and managed to obtain personal information belonging to customers.
Can Southeast Asia’s digital boom leave no one behind?
Modern Diplomacy
Ahmad M. Fachrurreza
Southeast Asia is experiencing a digital renaissance. From Jakarta and Manila to Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur, the region is witnessing a tech-fueled transformation: the digital economy is projected to surpass USD 300 billion by 2025. Spurred by increased internet penetration, the proliferation of mobile technology, and accelerated digital adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, this boom holds the promise of innovation, entrepreneurship, and inclusive growth. But amid this optimism lies a sobering question: Can the region’s digital revolution truly leave no one behind?
Europe
Macron invites international scientists to come work in France
Reuters
Geert De Clercq and Daniel Wallis
French President Emmanuel Macron invited scientists from all over the world to come work in France or Europe, as U.S. President Donald Trump's new administration has started slashing funding for universities and research bodies. Macron did not mention the U.S., where hundreds of scientists have been dismissed in cutbacks to research that come amid a broader clash between Trump and Ivy League universities..France on Friday launched the "Choose France for Science" platform, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which enables universities, schools, and research organisations to apply for co-funding from the government to host researchers.."France is committed to standing up to attacks on academic freedom across the globe," ANR said in a statement. It added that "the international context" was creating the conditions for an unprecedented wave of mobility among researchers worldwide, and that France intends to position itself as a welcoming place for those wishing to pursue their work in Europe.
UK
British food and clothing group M&S discloses cyber incident
Reuters
Yamini Kalia and Pushkala Aripaka
Britain's Marks & Spencer said on Tuesday it has been managing a cyber incident over the past few days and had made some temporary changes to its store operations. The more than 140-year-old clothing and food company said it is managing and investigating the incident with external experts. In the meanwhile, its stores are still open and its website and app are working normally.
Parents must make tough choices on smartphones, says children’s commissioner for England
The Guardian
Rachel Hall
Nearly a quarter of children spend more than four hours a day on an internet-enabled device, a survey for the children’s commissioner suggested earlier this month. A YouGov poll of 502 children in England aged eight to 15 found that 23% spent more than four hours a day using an internet-enabled device with a screen, such as a computer, phone, tablet or gaming console.
Africa
Africa's boardless, bossless, generally troubled internet registry to hold elections in June
The Register
Simon Sharwood
The African Network Information Center (AFRINIC) will hold elections on June 23rd, perhaps giving the regional internet registry the chance to convene a board for the first time in three years. AFRINIC is one of the world’s five regional internet registries which administer, manage, distribute and register IP addresses and autonomous system numbers.
Why African leadership matters in geoengineering
Project Syndicate
Saliem Fakir and Shuchi Talati
Over the past two decades, Global North actors have dominated the field of solar radiation modification. It is time for African leaders to develop a nuanced understanding of these early-stage technologies to shape their development and governance, while also ensuring that they do not derail effective climate action. While African countries undoubtedly have more immediate concerns than SRM, the continent’s policymakers and stakeholders must become better prepared to engage with this rapidly evolving field.
Big Tech
Tech group turns tariff argument on AI rules
POLITICO
Christine Mui and Tyler Katzenberger
An industry group is using Donald Trump’s recent tariffs to oppose AI regulations in California, arguing that one bill specifically will deliver the same kind of economic gut-punch to its tech companies as the president’s favored trade tool. In an analysis first shared with California Decoded, the liberal pro-tech Chamber of Progress attempts to put a price on a bill that would require generative AI developers disclose and document copyrighted material used to train their models. The group gets support from companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Nvidia.
Meta’s oversight board rebukes company over policy overhaul
Reuters
Katie Paul and Echo Wang
Meta Platforms’ Oversight Board on Wednesday sharply rebuked the Facebook and Instagram owner over a policy overhaul in January that cut fact-checking and eased curbs on discussions of contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity. The board, which operates independently but is funded by Meta, urged the world's biggest social media company to assess “potential adverse effects” of the changes, put in place just before U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term.
At Trial, Instagram co-founder says Meta denied his company resources
The New York Times
Cecilia Kang
The case, Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms, entered its second week on Monday and hinges on Meta’s purchases of Instagram, more than a decade ago for $1 billion, and WhatsApp, in 2014 for $19 billion. The government has argued that the acquisitions harmed competition by removing promising start-ups from the market that could have challenged Meta’s dominance. By buying both companies, Meta hurt competition and consumers who were deprived of more choices, according to the government.
EU fines Apple €500M and Meta €200M for breaking Europe’s digital rules.
POLITICO
Jacob Parry
The European Commission issued the first fines under its Digital Markets Act on Wednesday, slapping tech giants Apple and Meta with penalties for breaching the EU’s new digital rulebook. Apple faces a €500 million fine for breaching the regulation’s rules for app stores, while Meta drew a penalty of €200 million for its "pay or consent" advertising model.
Intel to cut over 20% of the workforce, Bloomberg News reports
Reuters
Reuters
Intel is set to unveil plans this week to slash more than 20% of its workforce, in a move to streamline operations and reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Last month, Reuters reported that Intel was planning an overhaul of the company's manufacturing and AI operations after the embattled firm lost its lead in chipmaking to Taiwan's TSMC and in recent years missed out on surging demand for AI processors, allowing competitors such as Nvidia to dominate those markets.
Artificial Intelligence
Sam Altman steps down as chair of nuclear power supplier Oklo to avoid conflict of interest
Financial Times
Martha Muir and George Hammond
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman is stepping down as chair of Oklo to avoid a conflict of interest ahead of talks between his company and the nuclear start-up on an energy supply agreement, as the race to power artificial intelligence intensifies.The move comes as the AI industry strives to procure high-wattage, low-carbon energy supplies. Although it may be years before tech companies can benefit from nuclear power, the launch of DeepSeek, the less energy-intensive Chinese large language model competitor, has underscored the urgency for western companies such as OpenAI to compete.
AI is inherently ageist. That’s not just unethical – it can be costly for workers and businesses
The Conversation
Sajia Ferdous
Ageism has long shaped hiring, promotion and career development. [It] can affect both young and old, but when it comes to technology, the impact is overwhelmingly skewed against older people. Ageism can affect both young and old, but when it comes to technology, the impact is overwhelmingly skewed against older people. So-called algorithmic ageism in AI systems – exclusion based on automation rather than human decision-making – often exacerbates ageist biases.
GenAI’s energy hunger does not have to be a one-way bet
Financial Times
FT Opinion
Chinese artificial intelligence upstart DeepSeek proved crunching vast amounts of data need not guzzle so much energy. Elsewhere, GenAI is on a more energy — and capital—intensive track. But there are ways for the rest of the world to cut back too. Data centres, the back-office workhorses for AI, data storage and the like, only sucked up some 1.5 per cent of total energy consumption last year, according to the International Energy Agency. But it projects that usage could more than double to 945 TWh by 2030.
OpenAI would buy Google's Chrome, exec testifies at trial
Reuters
Jody Godoy
OpenAI would be interested in buying Google's Chrome if antitrust enforcers are successful in forcing the Alphabet unit to sell the popular web browser as part of a bid to restore competition in search, an OpenAI executive testified on Tuesday at Google's antitrust trial in Washington. Google has not offered Chrome for sale. The company plans to appeal the ruling that it holds a monopoly.
This cheating app teaches all the wrong lessons about AI – but some of you still might use it
TechRadar
Lance Ulanoff
Cluely is a crafty app that installs in your browser and then can sneakily watch and listen to everything on screen. The primary use case is a Zoom video call where you're being interviewed for a high-paying development job. During such a call, you might be asked to Leetcode, which is essentially solving coding or algorithmic problems in full view of your interviewer. With Cluely running, it could quickly tell you how to respond to questions and even solve coding problems.
Research
Charting multiple courses to artificial general intelligence
RAND
William Marcellino, Lav Varshney, Anton Shenk, Nicolas M. Robles, Benjamin Boudreaux
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential emergence of artificial general intelligence (AGI) have important national security implications for the United States, particularly with regard to its competition with China. Existing AI technology—in the form of large language models (LLMs)—has shown great promise, and many in the AI technology and policy worlds argue that LLMs may scale up to AGI in the near future. This paper is intended to complicate that position, explaining why there are barriers to LLMs hyperscaling to AGI, and why AGI may instead emerge from a suite of complementary, if not alternative, algorithmic and computing technologies.
The race to turn brainwaves into fluent speech
Financial Times
Michael Peel, Clive Cookson and Richard Waters
Researchers at universities across California and companies, such as New York-based Precision Neuroscience, are among those making headway towards generating naturalistic speech through a combination of brain implants and artificial intelligence. Investment and attention have long been focused on implants that enable severely disabled people to operate computer keyboards, control robotic arms or regain some use of their own paralysed limbs. But some labs are making strides by concentrating on technology that converts thought patterns into speech.
Podcast
Future weapons: The defence tech bros
Financial Times
Defence tech is booming in the US. Start-ups building drones, missiles and AI systems are competing with established companies for a piece of the US defence budget. Are these new participants the future of the defence industry? John Thornhill hears from investors and founders, and we visit the neighbourhood of El Segundo in Los Angeles, dubbed the Silicon Valley of defence tech.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
For more on China's pressure campaign against Taiwan—including military threats, interference and cyberwarfare, check out ASPI’s State of the Strait Weekly Digest.
