Rubio impersonated by AI in calls to foreign ministers | Qantas confirms 5.7 million customers impacted in data breach | Grok repeating antisemitic tropes after 'anti-woke' update
And who is most at risk of being replaced by AI: the young or the experienced?
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An individual using an artificially generated voice to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted three foreign ministers and two US officials last month, pretending to be the top US diplomat, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Reuters
Qantas has confirmed 5.7 million customers were impacted in last week's cyber attack. Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson says the airline is focused on understanding what details of their data have been compromised and will let them know as soon as possible. ABC News
AI chatbot Grok, which is produced by Elon Musk’s xAI, wrote numerous antisemitic social media posts on Tuesday, after the artificial intelligence company released a revamped version of the bot over the weekend. The posts ranged from alleging "patterns" about Jewish people to praising Hitler. NBC News
ASPI
Opening systems to Chinese AI is a risk we can’t ignore
The Australian
Fergus Ryan
There’s one thing China’s ambassador to Australia got right in a call to add artificial intelligence to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement: “China has always viewed Australia and China-Australia relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.” That long view should concern us deeply because Beijing now is using AI to entangle our economies in ways that could become strategically irreversible.
Albanese must back up tough talk with hard conversations in Beijing
The Nightly
Nicola Smith
Deepening cooperation on AI and digital tech was risky as Beijing pushed to monopolise these sectors and concentrate control over critical supply chains and standards, said James Corera, the director of ASPI’s cyber, technology and security program. “Unlike coal or beef exports, where alternative markets can eventually be found, dependencies in AI are far harder to unwind—and the stakes are much higher,” he said. His colleague, senior analyst Fergus Ryan, warned that AI systems trained and tuned inside China came embedded with content moderation reflecting CCP values and a view of AI as “an instrument of social stability and ideological compliance.”Artificial interference
Capital Brief
Finn McHugh
Fergus Ryan, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warned that Beijing’s offer will set “alarm bells” ringing in Washington and within Australia’s intelligence community. Ryan said Beijing is using AI to “entangle our economies in ways that could become strategically irreversible”.
Qantas hack: limits to the government’s reach
The Strategist
James Corera and Jason Van der Schyff
A cyberattack on a Qantas call centre, revealed last week, put cyber risk back in the headlines, as did similar attacks on Medibank and Optus. But these are not one-off shocks: they represent a new normal. Australia cannot afford to treat these threats as episodic. They are persistent and demand constant, adaptive attention.
On ABC News Breakfast, ASPI senior analyst Dr Gatra Priyandita unpacks the latest Qantas cyber attack and why Australian companies must ensure their partners meet strong cybersecurity standards.
Australia
Qantas confirms 5.7 million customers were impacted in cyber attack
ABC News
Qantas has confirmed 5.7 million customers were impacted in last week's cyber attack. Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson says the airline is focused on understanding what details of their data have been compromised and will let them know as soon as possible.
Joining EU research fund a ‘no-brainer’, says former ASIO chief
The Australian Financial Review
Julie Hare
Australia’s former intelligence chief Duncan Lewis says defence innovation would get a spectacular boost if Australia finally signed up to the $163 billion Horizon Europe collaborative research fund. “It seems like a no-brainer to me,” said Lewis, the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
Canva overtakes CSIRO for number of patent applications
InnovationAus
Justin Hendry
Australia’s most valuable tech unicorn surpassed the national science agency as the country’s second most active patent applicant for the first time last year, new data reveals. The number one spot on the patent filing list was again taken by gambling giant Aristocrat.
From ICE to Coles: Controversial US tech company Palantir’s links to Australia spark backlash
Crikey
Cam Wilson
Palantir has become notorious for supporting the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and allegedly assisting with the IDF’s AI weapons. Now, its work with Australian government and business is facing scrutiny.
AI chatbots are ‘poisoning data’, regulator warns universities
The Australian
Natasha Bita
Artificial intelligence is “poisoning data’’, the university regulator has told Australian researchers, as the federal government’s review of research grants is delayed by three months. The risks of using generative AI in research have been outlined by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which has also revealed a jumble of contradictory AI policies among universities scrambling to slap rules on use of the runaway technology.
Capital gaps and complacency: investment imbalance undermines sovereignty
The Strategist
Jason Van der Schyff
The failure to translate innovation into deployable capability is not just about procurement models or research policy; it is also about capital. Specifically, the absence of a coherent financial architecture designed to support dual-use and high-consequence technologies from early development through to scaled delivery.
China
China jumps ahead in the race to achieve a new kind of reuse in space
ArsTechnica
Stephen Clark
Two Chinese satellites have rendezvoused with one another more than 20,000 miles above the Earth in what analysts believe is the first high-altitude attempt at orbital refueling. While some military leaders remain skeptical about the payoff of in-space refueling, the Space Force has an agreement with Astroscale to perform the first refueling of a US military asset in orbit as soon as next year. China appears to be poised to beat the US Space Force to the punch.
China’s weaponisation of rare earths is a new kind of trade war
Financial Times
Chris Miller
China’s skilful deployment of rare earth sanctions this spring was probably the key factor in forcing Washington to reverse its tariff rises on the country. They represent a new era of Chinese economic statecraft — evidence of a sanctions policy capable of pressuring not only small neighbours but also the world’s largest economy.
USA
Rubio impersonator using AI contacted foreign ministers
Reuters
Humeyra Pamuk
An individual using an artificially generated voice to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted three foreign ministers and two US officials last month, pretending to be the top US diplomat. In mid-June, the person contacted the ministers, a US governor and a member of Congress via the Signal messaging app and left voicemails for at least two of them.
Wong won't say if she was stung by Rubio AI impersonator
The Australian
Noah YimForeign Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s office has declined to comment on whether she was one of the foreign ministers who was contacted by, reportedly, an artificial intelligence-powered impersonation of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
North Asia
South Korea's brain drain — Why top talent is leaving
The Korea Herald
Choi Jeong-yoon
Behind the nation’s push to become an innovation hub lies a sobering reality: South Korea is losing its best and brightest to foreign institutions and companies that offer better pay, richer research environments and more promising career paths.
Ukraine - Russia
Russia field-testing new AI drone powered by Nvidia's Jetson Orin supercomputer
TechSpot
Rob Thubron
Russia is using the self-piloting abilities of AI in its new MS001 drone that is currently being field-tested. Ukrainian Major General Vladyslav Klochkov wrote in a LinkedIn post that MS001 is able to see, analyze, decide, and strike without external commands. At its core is an Nvidia Ampere architecture GPU with tensor cores, paired with a 6-core Arm CPU.
Russian drone documents draw line from China to Ukraine’s skies
Bloomberg
Alberto Nardelli
Documents reviewed by Bloomberg—including memos from the company, Aero-HIT, as well as correspondence with Russian government officials—offer unprecedented insight into how Moscow capitalized on its friendly ties with Beijing to skirt Western sanctions and acquire the know-how and capability to build drones to attack Ukraine.
Cyberattack deals blow to Russian firmware used to repurpose civilian drones for Ukraine war
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Russian developers behind a custom firmware used to convert consumer drones for military use in Ukraine have reported a cyberattack on their infrastructure, disrupting the system that distributes the software. While not widely known, the software removes manufacturer-imposed flight limits, improves resistance to GPS spoofing, and enables the use of high-capacity batteries, all of which makes them more suitable for military missions.
Europe
Italy arrests alleged Chinese hacker wanted by US for industrial espionage
Financial Times
Amy Kazmin and Stefania Palma
The 33-year-old Chinese national was suspected of being linked to a Chinese government-backed hacking group known as Hafnium that was accused of penetrating Microsoft email software in 2021 in a mass espionage campaign, a person familiar with the matter said. A nine-count US indictment accusing Xu of participating in a hack targeting US research into Covid vaccines was forthcoming, the person said.
Germany summons Chinese envoy over laser-targeting of surveillance plane
The Guardian
Deborah Cole
The German foreign ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador in Berlin after a Chinese warship used a laser to target a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation helping to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
Fears for elections after rise in bogus AI targeting Scottish politicians
The Times
David Leask
Amazon has pulled fake biographies of SNP leaders amid concerns “AI slop” will be used to undermine next year’s Holyrood elections. The online retail giant is already in the process of removing a book which falsely claims that the first minister, John Swinney, was born in America to a Polish mother, and another that garbled the life story of his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Government unveils its first-ever national artificial intelligence strategy
RNZ
New Zealand has—at last—joined other countries in tackling the AI opportunity and challenge, with the government unveiling its first-ever national artificial intelligence strategy. The plan—titled "Investing with Confidence"—has been met with enthusiasm from the business sector, but concern from critics who say it sets a "dangerous path forward" and is "worryingly light" on ethical considerations.
Middle East
Iranian ransomware group offers bigger payouts for attacks on Israel, US
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
An Iranian ransomware gang has ramped up operations amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, offering larger profit shares to affiliates who carry out cyberattacks against Israel and the US, researchers said. Since June, the group has offered affiliates an 80% cut of ransom proceeds—up from 70%—if they participate in attacks against Iran’s adversaries.
Big Tech
X says Indian government ordered it to block Reuters News accounts in India
Reuters
Aditya Kalra, Munsif Vengattil and Aftab Ahmed
India's government last week directly ordered X to block more than 2,000 accounts, including two belonging to Reuters News, the social media platform said on Tuesday in a sharp public attack on "ongoing press censorship" in India. X's statement contradicts comments by a spokesperson for India's Press Information Bureau who said no government agency had required the withholding of Reuters handles.
OpenAI clamps down on security after foreign spying threats
Financial Times
Tabby Kinder and Cristina Criddle
OpenAI has overhauled its security operations to protect its intellectual property from corporate espionage, following claims of having been targeted by Chinese rivals. The changes in recent months include stricter controls on sensitive information and enhanced vetting of staff.
Samsung profits take big hit from US chip controls and AI memory shortfalls
Financial Times
Song Jung-a and Christian Davies
Samsung Electronics delivered an earnings shock on Tuesday, projecting a 56% drop in second-quarter operating profit, as US restrictions on China and its struggle to supply key customer Nvidia with advanced memory products weighed on its performance.
Artificial Intelligence
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot churns out antisemitic posts days after update
NBC News
Ben Goggin and Bruna Horvath
AI chatbot Grok, which is produced by Elon Musk’s xAI, wrote numerous antisemitic social media posts on Tuesday, after the artificial intelligence company released a revamped version of the bot over the weekend. The posts ranged from alleging "patterns" about Jewish people to praising Hitler.
Which workers will AI hurt most: The young or the experienced?
The New York Times
Noam Scheiber
If entry-level jobs are most at risk, it could require a rethinking of how we educate college students, or even the value of college itself. And if older workers are most at risk, it could lead to economic and even political instability as large-scale layoffs become a persistent feature of the labor market.
Misc
Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed
The Conversation
Lisa Schirch
Democracy is in crisis globally, and technology is playing a role. Most large platforms optimize their designs for profit, not community or democracy. Increasingly, Big Tech is siding with autocrats, and the platforms’ designs help keep society under control. There are alternatives, however. Some companies design online platforms to defend democratic values.
Research
Promoting accountability for AI misinformation: Intermediary digital liability
Global Voices
Oliver Price
Companies can be incentivised to remove AI-generated misinformation by establishing a liability for the removal of this content. This paper proposes the amendment of the Online Safety Act 2021 to empower the eSafety Commissioner to apply the proposed Digital Duty of Care Bill to AI-generated misinformation.
Technology for whom and for what? A Global South view of tech diplomacy
Policy Analysis
Eugenio Garcia
It is high time for a development-centered tech diplomacy to foster innovation through diffusion, access, inclusion, equitable distribution of benefits, national priorities, and local ownership. Its ultimate goal should be promoting genuine co-governance with the participation of all interested parties in a multi-stakeholder setting, while addressing structural limitations and power imbalances to prevent widening inequalities.
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.
China is closing the gap with America in high-tech weaponry
The Economist
Once dominated by Soviet knock-offs, plenty of high-tech Chinese weaponry is now on par with its Western equivalents. In some areas, the country may even have a technological lead. In the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, advanced Chinese weapons went head-to-head with Western and Russian counterparts for the first time—giving Pakistan a fighting edge.
Fueling the future: the coming world of energy abundance
Intrigue Events
Join International Intrigue and Casey Handmer for a chat on the future of energy, as his start-up Terraform Industries scales up making natural gas (plus just about any other industrial input) out of just sunlight and air. We'll explore the story behind Terraform, the challenges facing today's clean energy solutions, and how decarbonizing industry might shape our world ahead.
Jobs
AI evaluations research scientist
RAND
RAND’s Technology and Security Policy Center is seeking mission-driven AI Evaluations Research Scientists to develop and execute research projects and engineering efforts within our AI Capability Evaluations team.
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