Trump unveils new app for 'self-deportations' | Xi says China must win the global tech race | Musk claims ‘massive cyber-attack’ caused X outages

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The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

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• The Trump administration is repurposing a mobile application - originally created to facilitate asylum appointments - into a way for undocumented migrants already in the US to "self-deport". This is the latest move in the White House's effort to dramatically overhaul the US immigration system, which has included promises of mass detentions. BBC

• Throughout China’s annual legislative meeting, Xi Jinping made clear that he wants nothing to hold back his plans for China to march past its rivals by becoming a technological superpower. Not the economic slowdown or heavy local government debt, nor a trade war with the United States. He has urged China to forge ahead in advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and new weapons. The New York Times

• Elon Musk claimed on Monday afternoon that X was targeted in a “massive cyber-attack” that resulted in the intermittent service outages that had brought down his social network throughout the day. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, had been unresponsive for many users as posts failed to load. Musk reiterated his claim of a cyber-attack during an interview on Fox Business later that day, suggesting that the perpetrators may have been from Ukraine. The Guardian

ASPI

S. Korea eyes policy changes to attract researchers displaced by US budget cuts
The Chosun Daily
Kim Hyo-in and Kim Mi-geon
China is aggressively recruiting US researchers affected by the funding cuts. At the annual Two Sessions meetings on Mar. 5—the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference—the Chinese government pledged to expand efforts to attract overseas talent. Other countries are also moving swiftly. Tekna, Norway’s largest association for technology and science professionals, has urged the government to implement immediate measures to facilitate the relocation of U.S. students and researchers to Norway. Meanwhile, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a leading think tank, released a report on Mar. 7 calling for a fast-track visa program to attract unemployed American scientists. The report emphasized that if the Australian government acts quickly, it could seize a “once-in-a-century” opportunity to secure top-tier scientific talent.

• Read ASPI’s article: ‘As Trump sacks scientists, Australia should hire them. US drain is our brain gain’
  ASPI
  Danielle Cave
  US President Donald Trump, his powerful offsider Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are slashing public spending in an effort to save US taxpayers anywhere between US$500 billion and US$2 trillion. Believe it or not, there is an enormous opportunity for Australia in this unusual situation. If the government acts quickly, this is a once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity.

Australia

Australia needs to manufacture change to ensure national security
ASPI
Bronte Munro
After decades of gradual decline, Australia’s manufacturing capability is no longer mission-fit to meet national security needs. Any whole-of-nation effort to arrest this trend needs to start by making the industrial operating environment more conducive to manufacturing. The sector needs both knowledge-based capital, for innovation, and financial capital. Given the scale of investment required, the government must cooperate with the private sector and incentivise the sector’s independent efforts.

News Corp rolls out NewsGPT AI tool for staff in Australia
Capital Brief
John Buckley
News Corp Australia has announced the launch of NewsGPT, a generative artificial intelligence tool designed for internal use, positioning the Murdoch-controlled media giant among the most advanced adopters of the technology in the sector. The company's chief technology officer announced the model’s launch in a memo to staff on Tuesday, which he said “brings the power” of leading models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude.

Australia’s Indo-Pacific destiny up for grabs in a new world order
The Australian Financial Review
Richard Maude
In a turbulent world, economic security is as important to Xi and the Party as other forms of security. China pursues policies to make itself less reliant on the world, and especially less reliant on the United States, and the world more dependent on it for industrial products and advanced technologies. This “beggar they neighbour” approach creates ever greater global trade imbalances and drives economic nationalism in the US and Europe.

China

What slowdown? Xi says China must win the global tech race.
The New York Times
Chris Buckley
Xi Jinping wants China to surpass rivals as a tech superpower, undeterred by economic woes or trade wars. He has urged China to forge ahead in advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and new weapons. Critics ask if this focus neglects struggling citizens.

China’s delivery platforms compete to offer better worker benefits
Financial Times
William Langley
China’s food delivery platforms are competing to roll out social security benefits, as the government presses for improved conditions in an industry criticised in the past for harsh treatment of its bike riders and drivers. China’s largest players — Meituan and Alibaba-owned Ele.me — have both said they will expand social insurance benefits for their full-time delivery workers.

From chatbots to intelligent toys: How AI is booming in China
BBC
Laura Bicker
China is embracing AI in its bid to become a tech superpower by 2030. Money is pouring into AI businesses seeking more capital, fuelling domestic competition. There are more than 4,500 firms developing and selling AI, schools in the capital Beijing are introducing AI courses for primary and secondary students later this year, and universities have increased the number of places available for students studying AI.

USA

US unveils new app for 'self-deportations'
BBC
Bernd Debusmann Jr
The Trump administration is repurposing a mobile application - originally created to facilitate asylum appointments - into a way for undocumented migrants already in the US to "self-deport". The app, known as CBP Home, allows migrants to submit an "intent to depart", which US Customs and Border Patrol says offers them a chance to leave without "harsher consequences".

Trump says US in talks with four groups over TikTok sale: ‘It’s up to me’
The Guardian
Agence France-Presse
Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States was in talks with four groups interested in acquiring TikTok, with the Chinese-owned app facing an uncertain future in the country. A US law has ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or be banned in the United States. Asked on Sunday if there was going to be a deal on TikTok soon, Trump told reporters: “It could be.”

US says will retaliate if Poland introduces tax on big tech
Bloomberg
Maciej Martewicz
Poland will face consequences if it introduces a levy on large technology companies, the incoming US envoy to Warsaw warned as the spat between the two allies escalated. The government seeks to present a model to collect taxes from the so-called Big Tech firms in the coming months.

Trump administration halts funding for two cybersecurity efforts, including one for elections
Associated Press
Christina A. Cassidy
The Trump administration has cut millions of dollars in federal funding from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials. It’s the latest move by Trump administration officials to rein in the federal government’s role in election security, which has prompted concerns about an erosion of guardrails to prevent foreign meddling in US elections.

Top US utility says gas can meet only a fraction of power demand
Bloomberg
Naureen S Malik and Simon Casey
NextEra Energy Inc., the biggest US utility and No. 1 developer of wind and solar generation, believes power plants fueled by natural gas can meet only a sliver of the unprecedented electricity demand growth forecast through the end of the decade. Electricity demand growth is being supercharged by the mega data campuses for tech giants like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and access to power has become the critical stumbling block.

Americas

APT 'Blind Eagle' targets Colombian government
Dark Reading
Alexander Culafi
Check Point Research has observed a threat actor "long suspected" to originate from South America targeting Colombian institutions and government entities in a series of cyberattacks. "The monitored campaigns targeted Colombian judicial institutions and other government or private organizations, with high infection rates," Check Point's research read.

North Asia

Japan losing to China in deep sea race as key research vessel ages
Nikkei Asia
Dai Kuwamura
With Japan's main deep-sea research vessel set to go out of service as early as the 2030s and no replacement in sight, the country risks falling even further behind China, which has the world's deepest diving exploration technology. The aging Shinkai 6500 is Japan's only crewed submersible research vessel, owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

Southeast Asia

TikToker jailed in Indonesia for telling Jesus to cut his hair
BBC
Gavin Butler
An Indonesian TikToker has been sentenced to almost three years in prison after reportedly 'talking' to a picture of Jesus on her phone and telling him to get a haircut. On Monday, a court in Medan, Sumatra found Ratu Thalisa guilty of spreading hatred under a controversial online hate-speech law, and sentenced her to two years and 10 months in jail.

Big Tech

Elon Musk claims ‘massive cyber-attack’ caused X outages
The Guardian
Nick Robins-Early
Elon Musk claimed on Monday afternoon that X was targeted in a “massive cyber-attack” that resulted in the intermittent service outages that had brought down his social network throughout the day. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, had been unresponsive for many users as posts failed to load.

• ‘Garbage' to blame Ukraine for massive X outage, experts say
  BBC

  Lily Jamali and Liv McMahon
  Experts have cast doubt on Elon Musk's claim that a large-scale outage which hit X was caused by hackers in Ukraine. Ciaran Martin, professor at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government told the BBC that Musk's explanation was "wholly unconvincing" and "pretty much garbage."

Facebook was 'hand in glove' with China, BBC told
BBC
Katie Razzall and Sarah Bell
A former senior Facebook executive has told the BBC how the social media giant worked "hand in glove" with the Chinese government on potential ways of allowing Beijing to censor and control content in China. Sarah Wynn-Williams says in return for gaining access to the Chinese market of hundreds of millions of users, Mark Zuckerberg considered agreeing to hiding posts that were going viral, until they could be checked by the Chinese authorities.

Foxconn launches traditional Chinese large language model for AI-driven manufacturing
South China Morning Post
Ann Cao
Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer and major iPhone supplier for Apple, launched its first Chinese large language model trained on traditional characters, as the Taiwanese company pushes forward the use of artificial intelligence in factories. The new FoxBrain model was trained in a “more efficient and lower-cost” method within just four weeks, and sets a new milestone in the development of Taiwan’s AI technology.

Apple readies dramatic software overhaul for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Bloomberg
Mark Gurman
Apple Inc. is preparing one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the company’s history, aiming to transform the interface of the iPhone, iPad and Mac for a new generation of users. The revamp — due later this year — will fundamentally change the look of the operating systems and make Apple’s various software platforms more consistent, according to people familiar with the effort.

Artificial Intelligence

CoreWeave inks $11.9 billion contract with OpenAI ahead of IPO
Reuters
Echo Wang
CoreWeave, an artificial intelligence startup backed by Nvidia has signed a five-year contract worth $11.9 billion with OpenAI ahead of its hotly anticipated stock market launch. As part of the pact, CoreWeave will provide AI infrastructure to OpenAI. The deal will give OpenAI a stake in CoreWeave, which will issue shares worth $350 million to the ChatGPT maker through a private placement at the time of its initial public offering.

Chinese AI agent Manus transcends chatbots, founder of start-up Butterfly Effect says
South China Morning Post
Coco Feng
Chinese start-up Butterfly Effect, creator of general-purpose artificial intelligence agent Manus, appears poised to shake up the red-hot domestic market for large language models, as it focuses on applications beyond ChatGPT-like chatbots.

Alibaba.com targets 100% AI adoption by merchants in 2025 in global expansion drive
South China Morning Post
Karen Chiu
Alibaba’s international wholesale marketplace, Alibaba.com, expects all sellers on the platform to adopt its artificial intelligence tools by the end of this year, as the e-commerce giant boosts its investment in the technology. More than half of the roughly 200,000 merchants on Alibaba.com were already using its AI applications on a weekly basis. Introduced in early 2024, these AI tools are designed to assist sellers in marketing, product management, customer engagement and risk control – which form part of efforts to expand Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce business.

AI search has a citation problem
Columbia Journalism Review
Klaudia Jaźwińska and Aisvarya Chandrasekar
AI search tools are rapidly gaining in popularity, with nearly one in four Americans now saying they have used AI in place of traditional search engines. These chatbots’ conversational outputs often obfuscate serious underlying issues with information quality. There is an urgent need to evaluate how these systems access, present, and cite news content.

The quest for AI ‘scientific superintelligence’
The New York Times
Steve Lohr
This month, Lila Sciences went public with its ambitions to revolutionize science through AI. The start-up had worked in secret for two years “to build scientific superintelligence to solve humankind’s greatest challenges.” Relying on an experienced team of scientists and $200 million in initial funding, Lila has been developing an A.I. program trained on published and experimental data, as well as the scientific process and reasoning.

Research

AI in the military domain: a briefing note for states
UNIDIR
Giacomo Persi Paoli and Yasmin Afina
On 24 December 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/79/239 on artificial intelligence in the military domain and its implications for international peace and security. The briefing note includes some contextual information on the topic of AI in the military domain, a set of considerations for states to refer to, and a list of suggested readings that draws on UNIDIR’s own research and selected external publications.

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