OpenAI splits with Tech Council of Aus over copyright clash | China claims evidence of US cyberattack on state agency | US court orders NSO to stop targeting WhatsApp
Plus, even top generals are looking to AI chatbots for answers
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OpenAI has broken ranks with the Tech Council of Australia over copyright restrictions, declaring that its artificial intelligence models are “going to be in Australia, one way or the other”. The Guardian
China said it’s uncovered “irrefutable evidence” of US government cyber attacks on the country’s main agency responsible for timekeeping. Bloomberg
A US court has ordered Israel’s NSO Group to stop targeting Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp messaging service, a development the spyware company warned could put it out of business. iTnews
ASPI
Trump’s crackdown on Chinese students ignores a startling new reality
The New York Times
Bethany Allen and Jenny Wong Leung
Data compiled by our teams at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute suggests that US universities trail their Chinese counterparts in cutting-edge research in dozens of emerging technologies. In recent years, dozens of China’s top 60 universities have established an expanding array of labs and research centers dedicated to pushing forward technologies with dual civilian and military uses, according to our research. This expanding ecosystem and the professional opportunities it affords incentivizes students to study in China, fast-tracking them into careers in strategic industries.
ASEAN needs a regional approach to tech-facilitated gender-based violence
ASPI
Alice Wai
This year marks the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which first formally recognised women’s indispensable role in peace and security. Since the resolution’s passing, the threats that women face have evolved. Exclusion now has a digital frontline, where online abuse and tech-facilitated gender-based violence silence women’s voices and curb their civic, political and social participation.
🚀 We’ve rebuilt ASPI’s China Defence Universities Tracker from the ground up. The major expansion adds richer profiles, rankings powered by the Critical Technology Tracker, new mapping of links to China’s state-owned defence industry, analysis of China–Russia research ties, and data on the surge in dual-use research centres—now covering 180+ entities with faster search. Be among the first to subscribe and explore new data and exclusive insights: https://unitracker.aspi.org.au/
Australia
Open AI breaks ranks with Tech Council of Australia over heated copyright issue
The Guardian
Daisy Dumas
OpenAI has broken ranks with the Tech Council of Australia over copyright restrictions, declaring that its artificial intelligence models are “going to be in Australia, one way or the other”. Chris Lehane, the chief global affairs officer of the artificial intelligence company responsible for ChatGPT, made a keynote appearance at SXSW Sydney on Friday, where he covered the geopolitics of AI, Australia’s tech future – and the global debate around using copyrighted material to train large language models.
Australia’s new cyber affairs ambassador sourced from ASD
iTnews
Juha Saarinen
The government has appointed Jessica Hunter as its next ambassador for cyber affairs and critical technology. Hunter takes over from Hugh Watson, who had been acting ambassador for several months since the departure of Brendan Dowling. At ASD, Hunter held the role of first assistant director-general, working at the Australian Cyber Security Centre under access and effects.
Remote work has opened Australia’s cyber backdoor
ASPI
Isaac Sharp
Australia’s adoption of remote work has opened a national security blind spot that foreign adversaries are actively exploiting to infiltrate critical infrastructure. This is urgent because AI-generated identities, deepfake social engineering and inadequately vetted remote hires make traditional cybersecurity frameworks insufficient, exposing both government and private sectors to espionage and financial loss.
China
China says it found evidence of US cyber attack on state agency
Bloomberg
China said it’s uncovered “irrefutable evidence” of US government cyber attacks on the country’s main agency responsible for timekeeping. The US National Security Agency has exploited vulnerabilities in some National Time Service Center employees’ mobile phones to attack the devices and acquire sensitive information since March 25, 2022, according to a statement on the official Wechat account of the Ministry of State Security on Sunday.
Hong Kong police to expand CCTV coverage and link up with more departments
South China Morning Post
Vivian Au
Hong Kong police will expand their surveillance camera coverage to public housing estates, cross-harbour tunnels and venues hosting the National Games including Kai Tak Sports Park by the end of the year after footage helped officers arrest more than 840 suspects. The police force said on Sunday that it was exploring a wider range of installation platforms and continuing to gradually integrate closed-circuit television camera feeds from other government departments and public organisations with the SmartView system.
Chinese team plans to test powerful chip on world’s largest optical telescope in Spain
South China Morning Post
Ling Xin
Chinese researchers have developed an optical chip the size of a fingernail that can analyse light in real time with a precision once possible only with bulky laboratory instruments. They hope to test it using the largest optical telescope on Earth. The breakthrough could enable an unprecedented level of visual intelligence in machines ranging from drones and robots to medical scanners and telescopes, according to Fang Lu and her team at Tsinghua University.
China’s innovation paradox
Financial Times
Tej Parikh
China’s state-driven ascent towards global manufacturing and technological leadership is remarkable. China led in just three of 64 critical technologies between 2003 and 2007, but had become the top country in 57 of those technologies between 2019 and 2023, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. But Beijing’s manufacturing and innovation boom has not translated into notable productivity gains.
Man accused of running Cambodian scam farm empire has Hong Kong business links
South China Morning Post
Edith Lin and Willa Wu
A Chinese-born businessman sanctioned by the US and UK for alleged human trafficking through a Cambodian-based cybercrime empire and scam farm has operations in Hong Kong and a related company owns an office building in the city, the Post has found.
ByteDance’s other AI chatbot is quietly gaining traction around the world
WIRED
Zeyi Yang
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has built what is currently the most popular AI chatbot in China: Doubao. Launched in 2023, the app has risen to the top of the country’s generative AI market, reaching more than 157 million monthly active users by August, according to Chinese analytics firm QuestMobile.
USA
US court orders spyware company NSO to stop targeting WhatsApp
iTnews
Raphael Satter
A US court has ordered Israel’s NSO Group to stop targeting Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp messaging service, a development the spyware company warned could put it out of business. In a 25-page ruling, US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton imposed a permanent injunction on NSO Group’s efforts to break into WhatsApp, one of the world’s most widely used communications platforms
As ‘No Kings’ protests denounce Trump, surveillance worries emerge
Reuters
A.J. Vicens and Raphael Satter
People who take part in Saturday’s mass “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump’s administration may be targeted for federal government surveillance with a range of technology that could include facial recognition and phone hacking, civil libertarians said.
Hackers had been lurking in cyber firm F5 systems since 2023
Bloomberg
Jake Bleiberg, Jordan Robertson, and Margi Murphy
The state-backed hackers who breached cybersecurity company F5 Inc. broke in beginning in late 2023 and lurked in the company’s systems until being discovered in August of this year, according to people who were briefed by F5 about the incident. The attackers penetrated F5’s computer systems by exploiting software from the company that had been left vulnerable and exposed to the internet, according to the people.
North Asia
William Lai wants a ‘T-Dome’ missile shield for Taiwan. Will it remain a pie in the sky?
South China Morning Post
Lawrence Chung
Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te wants the island to build a “T-Dome” missile shield – modelled after Israel’s Iron Dome. But his proposal has sparked debate over feasibility, given Taiwan’s disparate missile systems. Lai unveiled his “T-Dome” plan during a Double Tenth Day address marking the 114th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official title.
Southeast Asia
Singapore, Thailand look into alleged fraud ring targeted by US
Bloomberg
Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Low De Wei
Thai and Singapore authorities are looking into a Cambodian real estate group after the US and the UK imposed sanctions on the company’s chairman on allegations of fraud and money laundering. Thai officials will work with US counterparts to review the asset seizure process and legal proceedings involving Prince Holding Group, the Bangkok Post cited Surapol Prembutr, commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, as saying.
Middle East
Iran extends internet clampdown beyond wartime
The New York Times
Sanam Mahoozi
Throughout its 12 days of war with Israel in June, Iran enforced a near-total internet blackout on its people, saying that it was a necessary security measure to stop Israeli infiltration. Though the authorities have since technically lifted the blackout, internet activists, tech entrepreneurs and rights monitors say that a wartime chokehold on the web remains, leaving many Iranians still in the dark.
Africa
African non-state actors put drones on the attack
Lawfare
Reuben Dass
The use of drones has become a ubiquitous reality of modern warfare. Non-state actors in at least nine different African countries—Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Congo, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan—have acquired and used drones. African NSAs’ strategic shift toward the offensive use of drone technology highlights an interesting trend.
Big Tech
Big Tech is paying millions to train teachers on AI, in a push to bring chatbots into classrooms
Associated Press
Jocelyn Gecker
Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic are providing millions of dollars for AI training to the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second-largest teachers union. In exchange, the tech companies have an opportunity to make inroads into schools and win over students in the race for AI dominance.
Instagram unveils teen safety features for AI chatbots
The New York Times
Eli Tan
Instagram on Friday unveiled safety features for teenagers who use its artificial intelligence chatbots amid growing concerns over how the chatbots are affecting young people’s mental health. The features, which will be rolled out early next year, would give parents more control over how teenagers use Instagram’s “AI characters,” which have fictional personalities that users can message with as they would other human accounts.
Meta to give teens’ parents more control after criticism over flirty AI chatbots
Reuters
Meta said on Friday it will let parents disable their teens’ private chats with AI characters, adding another measure to make its social media platforms safe for minors after fierce criticism over the behavior of its flirty chatbots. Earlier this week, the company said its AI experiences for teens will be guided by the PG-13 movie rating system, as it looks to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content.
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI’s chip strategy: pair Nvidia’s chocolate with Broadcom’s peanut butter
The Wall Street Journal
Christopher Mims
OpenAI’s recent deals with Broadcom and Nvidia are the peanut butter and chocolate of the AI world. Both are necessary for OpenAI to achieve its goals of training the world’s most capable models—on Nvidia’s chips—then delivering their output without breaking the bank—on Broadcom’s custom chips.
AI-generated lesson plans fall short on inspiring students and promoting critical thinking
The Conversation
Torrey Trust and Robert Maloy
When teachers rely on commonly used artificial intelligence chatbots to devise lesson plans, it does not result in more engaging, immersive or effective learning experiences compared with existing techniques, we found in our recent study. The AI-generated civics lesson plans we analyzed also left out opportunities for students to explore the stories and experiences of traditionally marginalized people.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue 2025
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is pleased to announce the Sydney Dialogue, the world’s premier policy summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies, will return on 4-5 December. Now in its fourth year, the dialogue attracts the world’s top thinkers, innovators and policymakers, and focusses on the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and security. TSD has become the place where new partnerships are built among governments, industry and civil society, and where existing partnerships are deepened.
The New Power of Far-Right Influencers
WIRED
In this episode of Uncanny Valley, we discuss the impacts of antifa’s designation as a domestic terrorist group as author Mark Bray faces new harassment from the far-right. Michael Calore sits down with reporter David Gilbert and senior politics editor Leah Feiger to discuss what went down and how the role of far-right influencers has expanded exponentially during the past year.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
