summit

Macron says AI should not be 'Wild West'

  • "AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
  • Development of artificial intelligence (AI) should not be an unregulated "Wild West", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday ahead of a global summit on the technology in Paris.
  • "AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
Development of artificial intelligence (AI) should not be an unregulated "Wild West", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday ahead of a global summit on the technology in Paris.
The call to impose rules -- tempered with the pro-business president's fundamental optimism about the technology -- comes as France and Europe push to stay abreast of the AI race dominated by the US and China.
"AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
"There have to be rules" and "there are all kinds of fields where we don't want AI, because we don't want it creating discrimination or mass control in our society," he added.
Macron nevertheless insisted that "we shouldn't be afraid of innovation".
There is "a risk that some people don't set themselves any rules... but also the reverse, that Europe sets itself too many rules, parts ways with the others and therefore can't innovate," he warned.
The French leader's attempt to reconcile the two positions at the summit will be a "declaration open for any country to sign, on a completely voluntary basis, with strong principles on protecting rights, the environment, news integrity and intellectual property," Macron said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is one of the highest-profile political leaders to attend the summit in Paris, alongside figures like US Vice President JD Vance and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.
The EU must be "ready to fight to be fully autonomous and independent, or will we let the competition shrink to a battle between the USA and China?" Macron said.
"If Europe takes an interest in this subject, simplifies and speeds up, it has cards to play," he added.
Macron called for "European and economic patriotism" including buying locally developed AI services that he said promised boosts for the EU's competitiveness and productivity.
Von der Leyen is expected to announce plans to build around 10 public supercomputers for research and use by start-up firms, the president added.
pab/tgb/jhb

AI

AI starts to help India's struggling farms

BY AISHWARYA KUMAR

  • "The app is the first thing I check as soon as I wake up," said Murali, whose farm is planted with sensors providing constant updates on soil moisture, nutrient levels and farm-level weather forecasts.
  • Each morning Indian farmer R Murali opens an app on his phone to check if his pomegranate trees need watering, fertiliser or are at risk from pests.
  • "The app is the first thing I check as soon as I wake up," said Murali, whose farm is planted with sensors providing constant updates on soil moisture, nutrient levels and farm-level weather forecasts.
Each morning Indian farmer R Murali opens an app on his phone to check if his pomegranate trees need watering, fertiliser or are at risk from pests.
"It is a routine," Murali, 51, told AFP at his farm in the southern state of Karnataka. "Like praying to God every day."
Much of India's vast agricultural economy -- employing more than 45 percent of the workforce -- remains deeply traditional, beset by problems made worse by extreme weather driven by climate change.
Murali is part of an increasing number of growers in the world's most populous nation who have adopted artificial intelligence-powered tools, which he says helps him farm "more efficiently and effectively".
"The app is the first thing I check as soon as I wake up," said Murali, whose farm is planted with sensors providing constant updates on soil moisture, nutrient levels and farm-level weather forecasts.
He says the AI system developed by tech startup Fasal, which details when and how much water, fertiliser and pesticide is needed, has slashed costs by a fifth without reducing yields.
"What we have built is a technology that allows crops to talk to their farmers," said Ananda Verma, a founder of Fasal, which serves around 12,000 farmers.
Verma, 35, who began developing the system in 2017 to understand soil moisture as a "do-it-yourself" project for his father's farm, called it a tool "to make better decisions".

Costly

But Fasal's products cost between $57 and $287 to install.
That is a high price in a country where farmers' average monthly income is $117, and where over 85 percent of farms are smaller than two hectares (five acres), according to government figures.
"We have the technology, but the availability of risk capital in India is limited," said Verma.
New Delhi says it is determined to develop homegrown and low-cost AI, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to co-host an AI summit in France opening on Monday.
Agriculture, which accounts for roughly 15 percent of India's economy, is one area ripe for its application. Farms are in dire need of investment and modernisation.
Water shortages, floods and increasingly erratic weather, as well as debt, have taken a heavy toll in an industry that employs roughly two-thirds of India's 1.4 billion population. 
India is already home to over 450 agritech startups with the sector's projected valuation at $24 billion, according to a 2023 report by the government NITI Aayog think tank.
But the report also warned that a lack of digital literacy often resulted in the poor adoption of agritech solutions.

Buzzing

Among those companies is Niqo Robotics, which has developed a system using AI cameras attached to focused chemical spraying machines.
Tractor-fitted sprays assess each plant to provide the ideal amount of chemicals, reducing input costs and limiting environmental damage, it says.
Niqo claims its users in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states have cut their outlay on chemicals by up to 90 percent.
At another startup, BeePrecise, Rishina Kuruvilla is part of team that has developed AI monitors measuring the health of beehives.
That includes moisture, temperature and even the sound of bees -- a way to track the queen bee's activities. 
Kuruvilla said the tool helped beekeepers harvest honey that is "a little more organic and better for consumption".

State help

But while AI tech is blossoming, takeup among farmers is slow because many cannot afford it.
Agricultural economist RS Deshpande, a visiting professor at Bengaluru's Institute for Social and Economic Change, says the government must meet the cost.
Many farmers "are surviving" only because they eat what they grow, he said.
"Since they own a farm, they take the farm produce home," he said. "If the government is ready, India is ready."
ash/pjm/stu/lb

crypto

'Lottery ticket': Crypto investors brace for bumpy ride under Trump

BY LUCIE LEQUIER

  • The value of Bitcoin, by far the most important crypto which has broken record after record and gained around 50 percent since Trump's election, dropped six percent at the height of the crash.
  • Nick was enjoying his Saturday off work in Pennsylvania when he received an unexpected and alarming message: cryptocurrencies, buoyed since Donald Trump's November 5 election win, were in freefall. 
  • The value of Bitcoin, by far the most important crypto which has broken record after record and gained around 50 percent since Trump's election, dropped six percent at the height of the crash.
Nick was enjoying his Saturday off work in Pennsylvania when he received an unexpected and alarming message: cryptocurrencies, buoyed since Donald Trump's November 5 election win, were in freefall. 
The crash immediately wiped out tens of thousands of dollars from his savings. 
"I clicked on it and watched it for like a minute just drop straight down," the 28-year-old American construction worker, who asked for anonymity because of sensitivities around investing in crypto assets, told AFP. 
"I was like, 'Well, I guess I should stop looking at it now'," he added with a laugh.
Crypto investors like Nick are being buffeted by Trump's vow to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet" while at the same time upending trade and other policy areas with a raft of executive orders and announcements.
Digital currencies are now seeing sudden fluctuations that are impacting legions of both small and large investors. 
Last weekend, cryptos suffered a meltdown after Trump announced impending trade tariffs on US imports from Canada, China and Mexico, prompting investors to turn to safer assets. 
The value of Bitcoin, by far the most important crypto which has broken record after record and gained around 50 percent since Trump's election, dropped six percent at the height of the crash.
Ether, another blockchain currency considered credible, fell around a quarter. 
The falls have been more dramatic for so-called "meme coins" -- cheap and highly volatile cryptos with little or no economic use, themed around a celebrity or viral internet phenomenon. 
In the space of a few hours, Nick lost around $60,000 from the $150,000 he had accumulated over five years in his virtual wallets.
Most of his holdings were in Dogecoin -- a meme coin backed by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk. 
But Nick remains undeterred and convinced that these highly volatile assets will rebound, just as they did in 2021 when their popularity surged. 
"I try to talk about it with my co-workers, but they don't believe in it like I do," he confided. 

'Rollercoaster ride'

Larisa Yarovaya of the Southampton Business School in southern England said Bitcoin's record rises were "definitely driven by investment optimism surrounding political endorsements".
She warned that could be "characterised as a bubble", at risk of bursting and spreading beyond crypto, given they are "increasingly interconnected with traditional assets in today's financial landscape".
Yarovaya also called the growing influence of "political personalities" on the sector "significant and highly concerning". 
"Powerful individuals can easily exploit the trust of their followers for personal gain, leading to serious conflicts of interest," she warned.
The day before his inauguration, Trump launched his own meme coin -- the "Trump" -- posing serious ethical questions given his administration will undoubtedly exert a big influence on crypto during his four-year term.
"When Musk speaks or tweets, immediately the price of crypto can jump, because people are afraid of missing the opportunity," explained Stan, a 28-year-old Paris-based public affairs consultant and crypto investor. He also asked for anonymity.
For Stan, investing in meme coins is like "buying a lottery ticket".
Savva, a 26-year-old research assistant in London, has personal experience of crypto's rollercoaster ride, recalling how his first foray into meme coin investing made him $700 within minutes.
"That's kind of what hooked me," he told AFP, also declining to give his last name.
The tech enthusiast, who developed his own short-lived meme coin-trading robot, found his experience with crypto highly stressful.
"A lot of the times I couldn't hold conversations because I was worried that my assets were doing poorly or that I was going to lose all my money," he noted. 
Although Savva still believes in the philosophy of cryptos, which allow investing outside of traditional financial institutions' controls, he has retreated after losing the $5,000 he invested. 
"It took a huge toll on me physically and mentally and I was just like 'I need to stop'," he said, adding: "It's always too late when you realise."
lul/zap/jj/jkb/rl/sco

internet

'Social Network' star Eisenberg slams Zuckerberg as 'obsessed with power'

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • "The Social Network" brought Eisenberg worldwide fame and an Oscar nomination for best actor.
  • Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in 2010 hit "The Social Network", told AFP the Facebook owner had evolved from having "a sense of righteousness" into "somebody obsessed with power".
  • "The Social Network" brought Eisenberg worldwide fame and an Oscar nomination for best actor.
Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in 2010 hit "The Social Network", told AFP the Facebook owner had evolved from having "a sense of righteousness" into "somebody obsessed with power".
Eisenberg took a broadly sympathetic view of the Silicon Valley billionaire when playing him in the David Fincher-directed movie, which helped shape Facebook's public image.
"As an actor, your job is to empathise with the character, not only empathise, but justify," Eisenberg told AFP in an interview to promote his widely acclaimed new movie "A Real Pain".
"I was thinking of the (Zuckerberg) character as somebody who was able to understand certain things so much quicker than other people, and who had a kind of sense of righteousness that was born out of his own brilliance," he explained.
But 15 years later, with Zuckerberg shifting his political views to align with Donald Trump's new administration and cutting fact-checking on the US platform, Eisenberg has revised his opinions.
"You kind of wonder like 'oh, so this person didn't evolve into a profile in courage'. This person evolved into somebody obsessed with avarice and power and so that's kind of interesting for me as an actor who at one point thought about this person a lot," the 41-year-old New Yorker added.
"The Social Network" brought Eisenberg worldwide fame and an Oscar nomination for best actor.
He is set to return to the Academy Awards on March 2 with "A Real Pain", which he wrote, directed and acted in alongside "Succession" star Kieran Culkin.
The unlikely comedy about two Jewish cousins who go on a Holocaust tour in Poland picked up two Oscar nominations: Eisenberg for best original screenplay, and Culkin for best supporting actor.

'The depths'

The film has won rave reviews since it was first shown at last year's Sundance Film Festival and has been released widely in American and European cinemas over the last three months.
Many critics have noted the deft dialogue between Eisenberg and Culkin's characters -- David and Benji -- with their humour and mental health struggles bringing new twists to two classic Hollywood formats, Holocaust and road movies.
For Eisenberg, the script and setting were intensely personal, returning to the land of his Polish grandparents who fled the Nazis and drawing on his experience of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety.
"David's life is very similar to my life... the pills that David takes are the pills that I take to the point where the prop department asked me if they can borrow my pills," he explained.
"But I've also been Benji. I've been to the depths that Benji has been to emotionally," he added.
The core of the film reflects Eisenberg's contemplation of existential guilt.
"How is it possible that I have self-pity, or that I spend an hour every morning trying to get out of bed when my grandparents' generation were two inches away from being slaughtered?" said Eisenberg, who applied for and gained Polish nationality after filming.
"How is it possible that all of us don't wake up every morning and kiss the ground that we're alive?"

'Great timing'

Culkin was cast in the film despite not being Jewish, something Eisenberg said he was initially "hesitant" about.
"Once we relieved ourselves of that very specific consideration, he seemed like far and away the only person that could do the part," he explained.
Culkin brought his "unusual energy" and "great sense of timing and intelligence" to filming, which also saw him repeatedly reject instructions from his co-lead and director, who was nominally in charge of the shoot.
"I was directing the movie, sure, but Kieran was leading the day. I would set up a shot, and Kieran would make fun of me and say that the shot was stupid," said Eisenberg.
The married father-of-one says he sees himself carrying on in front of and behind the camera, with "A Real Pain" a follow up to 2022's "When You Finish Saving the World", which he also directed.
But nothing in the movie business compares to the satisfaction he felt doing volunteer work during the Covid pandemic, however.
"I was volunteering every day at this domestic violence shelter that was run by my mother-in-law. And I had never been happier in my life," he said.
adp/jhb/sco

Amazon

Big Tech's AI spending rattles markets

  • However, Amazon's shares dropped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading, mirroring reactions to Microsoft and Google's results - strong profits overshadowed by concerns about AI spending. 
  • E-commerce giant Amazon reported strong earnings Thursday but, like its big tech peers Microsoft and Google, saw its stock price fall on concerns over high AI investment costs.
  • However, Amazon's shares dropped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading, mirroring reactions to Microsoft and Google's results - strong profits overshadowed by concerns about AI spending. 
E-commerce giant Amazon reported strong earnings Thursday but, like its big tech peers Microsoft and Google, saw its stock price fall on concerns over high AI investment costs.
The mounting expenses of data-intensive artificial intelligence and its infrastructure have cast a shadow over this earnings season, with only Facebook owner Meta winning Wall Street's approval. 
Meta's stock surged 18 percent in January as investors endorsed its AI strategy.
Amazon's AWS cloud division, along with rivals Microsoft and Google, are investing heavily in AI data centers while meaningful returns remain uncertain. 
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy defended the spending, saying the company was on track to spend $100 billion on capital expenditure in 2025, with the "vast majority" on AI. 
On a call with analysts, he dubbed AI a "once in a lifetime" business opportunity that couldn't be missed.
The emergence of China's lower-cost DeepSeek model has raised questions about such massive spending. 
Despite US government efforts to maintain AI dominance through export controls on advanced chips, DeepSeek has achieved comparable results using authorized, less sophisticated Nvidia semiconductors.
Microsoft, leading the generative AI revolution through its OpenAI partnership, plans to invest about $80 billion in AI this fiscal year. 
And while it has rapidly deployed AI features under its Gemini brand, Google's Cloud revenue missed expectations, despite growing 30 percent to $12 billion. 
Google also announced plans for $75 billion in capital expenditures for 2025, surprising analysts.
Amazon on Thursday reported its fourth-quarter net income doubled to $20 billion, with net sales rising 10 percent to $187.8 billion. 
AWS remained profitable with sales growing 19 percent to $28.8 billion, though slightly below market expectations. Jassy celebrated "the most successful holiday shopping season yet."
However, Amazon's shares dropped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading, mirroring reactions to Microsoft and Google's results - strong profits overshadowed by concerns about AI spending. 
"Amazon delivered a knockout quarter, but a touch of softness in first quarter guidance has sent shares into a bit of a post-earnings wobble," said Matt Britzman, a senior equity researcher at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Amazon's forecast of 5-9 percent growth for first-quarter 2025, with sales between $151.0 billion and $155.5 billion, also fell short of analyst expectations and weighed on the stock price.
Independent tech analyst Rob Enderle suggested the conservative guidance might reflect uncertainty over US-China trade tensions. 
"With the tariff uncertainty, Amazon is being much more conservative right now than they otherwise would be," he said.
China could also be a problem for Apple, which posted a record profit of $36.3 billion last week.
But Apple lost its status as the best selling smartphone brand in the crucial Chinese market last year and could be negatively affected by the trade battles pitting the Trump administration against Beijing.
arp/jgc

Amazon

Amazon profits double, but cautious outlook disappoints

  • But looking ahead, Amazon expects first-quarter 2025 net sales between $151.0 billion and $155.5 billion, representing growth of five to nine percent, which was less than predicted by analysts.
  • E-commerce giant Amazon reported Thursday its fourth-quarter net income nearly doubled to $20 billion, driven by strong holiday sales, but its outlook for the coming quarter came in less than hoped for by analysts.
  • But looking ahead, Amazon expects first-quarter 2025 net sales between $151.0 billion and $155.5 billion, representing growth of five to nine percent, which was less than predicted by analysts.
E-commerce giant Amazon reported Thursday its fourth-quarter net income nearly doubled to $20 billion, driven by strong holiday sales, but its outlook for the coming quarter came in less than hoped for by analysts.
After earnings dropped, shares in Amazon were down by more than three percent in after hours trading on Wall Street, with the high cost of AI also weighing on investors.
The Seattle-based company saw its net sales rise 10 percent to $187.8 billion in the quarter ending December 31, compared to $170 billion in the same period last year. 
For the full year 2024, Amazon's net income jumped to $59.2 billion from $30.4 billion in 2023.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud computing arm, remained a key profit driver with sales increasing 19 percent year-over-year to $28.8 billion.
But this too was just below market expectations and matched the similar growth worries that hurt cloud rivals Microsoft and Google in the current earnings season.
The division introduced several new and high-cost artificial intelligence capabilities, including its own family of foundation models called Amazon Nova.
"The holiday shopping season was the most successful yet for Amazon," said CEO Andy Jassy, highlighting the company's delivery improvements, with U.S. Prime members receiving over 65 percent more items same-day or overnight compared to Q4 2023.
The company's North American segment posted operating income of $9.3 billion, while the International segment returned to profitability with operating income of $1.3 billion, compared to a loss in the previous year.
But looking ahead, Amazon expects first-quarter 2025 net sales between $151.0 billion and $155.5 billion, representing growth of five to nine percent, which was less than predicted by analysts.
Independent tech analyst Rob Enderle pointed to the trade skirmishes launched by US President Donald Trump against China, a major source of goods for Amazon, as a possible reason for the company's caution.
"Although we focus on Temu a lot more with Chinese content, a lot of stuff sold on Amazon is also Chinese based," Enderle said.
"With the tariff uncertainty, Amazon is being much more conservative right now than they otherwise would be regarding its guidance."
arp/bjt

AI

OpenAI says to host some customers' data in Europe

  • The move comes as AI developers based largely in the United States, such as OpenAI, Facebook parent Meta, Google and Microsoft, are racing to invest tens of billions in the data centre infrastructure needed for large-scale use of systems like chatbots and image generators.
  • ChatGPT developer OpenAI said Thursday that it would allow some European customers to store and process data from conversations with its chatbots within the European Union, rather than on its infrastructure in the United States or elsewhere.
  • The move comes as AI developers based largely in the United States, such as OpenAI, Facebook parent Meta, Google and Microsoft, are racing to invest tens of billions in the data centre infrastructure needed for large-scale use of systems like chatbots and image generators.
ChatGPT developer OpenAI said Thursday that it would allow some European customers to store and process data from conversations with its chatbots within the European Union, rather than on its infrastructure in the United States or elsewhere.
The move underscores the impact of EU regulations on what major digital platforms, including artificial intelligence developers, can do with data originating from the bloc.
OpenAI said companies and educational institutions that pay for employees or students to use its chatbots would be offered the option to store data from those interactions in Europe.
Developers using the company's models as a foundation to develop their own AI-powered apps will also be able to opt for users' queries to be processed within the EU.
"This helps organisations operating in Europe meet local data sovereignty requirements," OpenAI said.
The move comes as AI developers based largely in the United States, such as OpenAI, Facebook parent Meta, Google and Microsoft, are racing to invest tens of billions in the data centre infrastructure needed for large-scale use of systems like chatbots and image generators.
Tech giants have often slammed Europe's array of regulations on issues like personal data and AI as brakes on business.
European regulators have slapped Meta with billions of euros in fines for violations of data protection and antitrust rules in the past few years.
One bugbear is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which stipulates that organisations holding data give it the same protection if they store it outside the bloc as it would have under EU law.
OpenAI's new policy is likely aimed at offering its clients a way around such compliance headaches, said digital law expert Yael Cohen-Hadria, of consultancy EY.
European customers "will prefer players based here, even if they're originally from abroad... with infrastructure, offices and legal chains of responsibility here," Cohen-Hadria told AFP.
The move also potentially positions OpenAI to bid for public-sector contracts in the EU that require strict data protection guarantees, she added.
OpenAI has made Europe a priority in its expansion of physical offices around the world, with sites in Paris, Brussels and Dublin -- a hub for EU data protection as many US tech giants have footholds there.
German authorities announced later Thursday that OpenAI would open its first office in the country, in Munich.
German economic newspaper Handelsblatt said the new office would open later this year.
The California-based company also has offices in New York and Singapore.
tgb/jhb/bc/js

consumers

EU quizzes Shein over 'illegal' products

  • "The Commission is requesting Shein to provide internal documents and more detailed information on risks linked to the presence of illegal content and goods on its marketplace," it said.
  • The EU on Thursday told online fashion giant Shein to hand over information on risks linked to illegal products on its site, paving the way for a second probe into the Chinese-founded firm.
  • "The Commission is requesting Shein to provide internal documents and more detailed information on risks linked to the presence of illegal content and goods on its marketplace," it said.
The EU on Thursday told online fashion giant Shein to hand over information on risks linked to illegal products on its site, paving the way for a second probe into the Chinese-founded firm.
The European Commission announced the request a day after confirming it was investigating the low-cost e-commerce platform for not abiding by the bloc's consumer protection rules.
"The Commission is requesting Shein to provide internal documents and more detailed information on risks linked to the presence of illegal content and goods on its marketplace," it said.
The EU's regulator also asked for information on other issues, including the "transparency of its recommender systems" and protection of users' personal data.
"Shein must provide the necessary information by 27 February," the commission said. 
"Based on the assessment of the replies, the Commission will determine the next steps".
The request could lead to a probe under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a mammoth law that forces the world's largest tech firms to do more to protect European consumers online.
"Shein shares the Commission's objective of ensuring that EU consumers can shop online with peace of mind, we have received the request for information and are working to respond promptly," the company said.
Brussels has already launched a separate investigation into the popular fast-fashion site, which was founded in China in 2012 and is now headquartered in Singapore, for not doing enough to prevent the sale of products that do not meet European standards.
After the probe was announced, the company said it would "engage" its partners at EU and national government-level.
Shein is not the only online retailer originally from China in the crosshairs of Brussels over similar issues. 
The commission in October opened an investigation against Temu, which sells a vast array of goods at low costs.
A commission spokesman explained many products tested were not compliant with EU rules and safety standards. 
This could have serious consequences, the spokesman added, citing as examples a baby's pacifier that could come apart and choke the child, or a light fitting that could cause an electric shock.
aro-ub/del/lth

technology

South Korea ministries, police block DeepSeek access

BY CLAIRE LEE

  • But after DeepSeek failed to respond to an enquiry from South Korea's data watchdog, a slew of ministries confirmed Thursday they were taking steps to limit access to prevent potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services.
  • South Korean ministries and police said Thursday they were blocking DeepSeek's access to their computers, after the Chinese AI startup did not respond to a data watchdog request about how it manages user information.
  • But after DeepSeek failed to respond to an enquiry from South Korea's data watchdog, a slew of ministries confirmed Thursday they were taking steps to limit access to prevent potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services.
South Korean ministries and police said Thursday they were blocking DeepSeek's access to their computers, after the Chinese AI startup did not respond to a data watchdog request about how it manages user information.
DeepSeek launched its R1 chatbot last month, claiming it matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pacesetters in the United States for a fraction of the investment, upending the global industry.
South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for information about how the company handles user information.
But after DeepSeek failed to respond to an enquiry from South Korea's data watchdog, a slew of ministries confirmed Thursday they were taking steps to limit access to prevent potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services.
"Blocking measures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military work-related PCs with Internet," a defence ministry official told AFP.
The ministry, which oversees active-duty soldiers deployed against the nuclear-armed North, has also "reiterated the security precautions regarding the use of generative AI for each unit and soldier, taking into account security and technical concerns", it added.
South Korea's police told AFP they had also blocked access to DeepSeek, while the trade ministry said that access had been temporarily restricted on all its PCs. 
The trade, finance, unification and foreign ministries also all said they had blocked the app or had taken unspecified measures.

 Bans 'not excessive'

Last week, Italy launched an investigation into DeepSeek's R1 model and blocked it from processing Italian users' data.
Australia has also banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies.
Kim Jong-hwa, a professor at Cheju Halla University's artificial intelligence department, told AFP that amid growing rivalry between the United States and China he suspected "political factors" could be influencing the reaction to DeepSeek -- but said bans were still justified.
"From a technical standpoint, AI models like ChatGPT also face numerous security-related issues that have not yet been fully addressed," he said.
"Given that China operates under a communist regime, I question whether they consider security issues as much as OpenAI does when developing innovative technologies," he said. 
"We cannot currently assess how much attention has been paid to security concerns by DeepSeek when developing its chatbot. Therefore, I believe that taking proactive measures is not too excessive."
Beijing on Thursday hit back against the ban, insisting the Chinese government "will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data".
"China has always opposed the generalisation of national security and the politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
Beijing would also "firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," Guo vowed.

'Complex competition'

DeepSeek says it uses less-advanced H800 chips -- permitted for sale to China until 2023 under US export controls -- to power its large learning model.
South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are key suppliers of advanced chips used in AI servers.
The government announced on Wednesday an additional 34 trillion won ($23.5 billion) investment in semiconductors and high-tech industries, with the country's acting president urging Korean tech companies to stay flexible. 
"Recently, a Chinese company unveiled the AI model DeepSeek R1, which offers high performance at a low cost, making a fresh impact in the market," acting President Choi Sang-mok said Wednesday.
"The global AI competition may evolve from a simple infrastructure scale-up rivalry to a more complex competition that includes software capabilities and other factors."
cdl-hs-oho/fox

computers

AI risks 'disaster' without 'cast-iron guarantees': expert

BY KILIAN FICHOU

  • Should AI in general be more tightly regulated?
  • What are the main dangers of using AI in weapons?
  • Should AI in general be more tightly regulated?
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems must come with "cast-iron guarantees" against mass harm to humans, especially as the likelihood of their integration into weapons grows, a leading expert has told AFP.
Stuart Russell, Berkeley computer science professor and co-director of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI), will be in Paris Thursday for scientific talks in the run-up to a global summit on AI technology on February 10-11.
US tech giant Google appears to have walked back its commitment to avoid working on AI-powered weapons and surveillance systems. What was your reaction?
Stuart Russell:I think it's unfortunate. The reason they instantiated their earlier policy against the use of AI in weapons was precisely because their own employees revolted... The Google employees were worried that their work would be used in weapons, not just for reconnaissance, but for killing people.
Now (Google) says they're willing to override the views of their employees, also the views of the vast majority of the public, who are also opposed to the use of AI in weapons. 
Why might Google have made this change?
SR: The military market for AI is minuscule compared to the consumer market and the business market so this is not really about the opportunity to make money. This is really about improving their bargaining position with the US government.
It's not a coincidence that this change in policy comes with a new administration that has removed all the regulations on AI that were placed by the Biden administration and is now placing a huge emphasis on the use of AI for military prowess.
What are the main dangers of using AI in weapons?
SR:Small autonomous weapon systems... are the most dangerous in the sense that because they're small and cheap, non-state groups, terrorists, for example, can buy them by the million and use them to carry out enormous massacres.
(Such weapons) could be used in much more dangerous and harmful ways. For example, "kill anyone who fits the following description". And that description could be by age, by gender, by ethnic group, by religious affiliation, or even a particular individual.
Will AI be increasingly integrated into future weapons systems?
SR:There were, at last count, about 75 countries that had either developed or were using remotely piloted weapons. And I think most of those are in the process of thinking about how to convert them to fully autonomous weapons.
Ukraine has been an accelerator... that conflict has forced these weapon systems to evolve very quickly. And everyone else is looking at this.
It's quite possible that the next major conflict after Ukraine will be fought largely with autonomous weapons in a way that is currently unregulated. So we can only imagine the kinds of devastation and horrific impacts on civilians that might occur as a result. 
But on the other hand, there are more than 100 countries that have already stated their opposition to autonomous weapons. And I think there's a good chance that we'll achieve the necessary majority in the United Nations General Assembly to have a resolution calling for a ban. 
Should AI in general be more tightly regulated?
SR:Human extinction could result from AI systems that are much more intelligent than humans, and therefore much more capable of affecting the world than we are.
Governments must require cast-iron guarantees in the form of either statistical evidence or mathematical proof that can be inspected, that can be checked carefully. And anything short of that is just asking for disaster. 
kf/tgb/jxb

employee

Google halts workplace diversity push

  • "At Alphabet, we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve," the removed line read.
  • Google parent company Alphabet has stopped making diversity and inclusion a workplace priority, according to a filing Wednesday with US regulators.
  • "At Alphabet, we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve," the removed line read.
Google parent company Alphabet has stopped making diversity and inclusion a workplace priority, according to a filing Wednesday with US regulators.
The internet giant's annual 10-K report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), no longer contained a commitment to workplace inclusion and diversity that had been there the prior year.
"At Alphabet, we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve," the removed line read.
Internally, Alphabet workers were given word that the company no longer had hiring goals based on race or gender.
"We're committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we've been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there," a Google spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.
"As a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic."
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, issuing an executive order last month calling such programs illegal.
The filing by Alphabet came a day after Google updated its principles regarding artificial intelligence, removing vows not to use the technology for weapons or surveillance.
The changes arrive just weeks after Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and other tech titans attended Trump's inauguration.
Upon taking office, Trump quickly rescinded an executive order by his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, mandating safety practices for AI.
Companies in the race to lead the burgeoning AI field in the United States now have fewer obligations to adhere to, such as being required to share test results signalling the technology has serious risks to the nation, its economy or its citizens.
gc/jgc

justice

US Marine vet acquitted in NY subway death joins tech firm

  • Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the Silicon Valley firm, is a staunch backer of Trump and played a role behind the scenes in setting up the incoming tech-focused White House.
  • A US Marine veteran who was acquitted in the chokehold death of a homeless man on the New York subway -- a high-profile case highlighting the divisive issue of race in America -- has been hired by a major Silicon Valley firm allied with Donald Trump.
  • Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the Silicon Valley firm, is a staunch backer of Trump and played a role behind the scenes in setting up the incoming tech-focused White House.
A US Marine veteran who was acquitted in the chokehold death of a homeless man on the New York subway -- a high-profile case highlighting the divisive issue of race in America -- has been hired by a major Silicon Valley firm allied with Donald Trump.
California-based Andreessen Horowitz said Daniel Penny would join the company's American Dynamism wing that supports the "national interest," including aerospace, defense and public safety, according to the firm's website on Wednesday.
Penny, who is white, was found not guilty in December of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black homeless man.
Neely's May 1, 2023, death on a New York subway train was caught on video by onlookers, and the footage was shared widely on social media.
According to witnesses, Neely, before being restrained by Penny, had been screaming at passengers for food and drink and saying he was willing to die.
The video showed Penny pinning Neely, who had a history of mental illness, in a chokehold on the floor of the train for several minutes.
Besides the racial element, the case brought into focus two issues in New York: mental illness among the city's homeless population and safety on public transit.
Protests erupted in New York after Neely's death, resulting in several arrests, as some decried Penny's actions as an example of white "vigilantism."
Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the Silicon Valley firm, is a staunch backer of Trump and played a role behind the scenes in setting up the incoming tech-focused White House.
Andreessen Horowitz has backed major tech companies including Twitter (now known as X), Airbnb and Coinbase, and he is one of the longest-serving members on Meta's board alongside Mark Zuckerberg.
Andreessen, who co-founded Netscape in the 1990s, fights against any restrictions on technological development, whether from government regulation or social concerns, believing they are fundamentally detrimental to human progress.
arp/acb

AI

Australia bans DeepSeek AI program on government devices

  • TikTok was banned from government devices in 2023 on the advice of Australian intelligence agencies.
  • Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies, a top official said Wednesday, citing privacy and malware risks posed by China's breakout AI program.
  • TikTok was banned from government devices in 2023 on the advice of Australian intelligence agencies.
Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies, a top official said Wednesday, citing privacy and malware risks posed by China's breakout AI program.
The DeepSeek chatbot -- developed by a China-based startup -- has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last month.
But a growing list of countries including South Korea, Italy and France have voiced concerns about the application's security and data practices. 
Australia upped the ante overnight banning DeepSeek from all government devices, one of the toughest moves against the Chinese chatbot yet. 
"This is an action the government has taken on the advice of security agencies. It's absolutely not a symbolic move," said government cyber security envoy Andrew Charlton. 
"We don't want to expose government systems to these applications." 
Risks included that uploaded information "might not be kept private", Charlton told national broadcaster ABC, and that applications such as DeepSeek "may expose you to malware". 
China on Wednesday rejected those claims and said it opposed the "politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues".
"The Chinese government... has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data," its foreign ministry said in a statement.

'Unacceptable' risk

Australia's Home Affairs department issued a directive to government employees overnight. 
"After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government," Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said in the directive. 
As of Wednesday all non-corporate Commonwealth entities must "identify and remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on all Australian Government systems and mobile devices," she added.  
The directive also required that "access, use or installation of DeepSeek products" be prevented across government systems and mobile devices. 
It has garnered bipartisan support among Australian politicians. 
In 2018 Australia banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G network, citing national security concerns. 
TikTok was banned from government devices in 2023 on the advice of Australian intelligence agencies.
Cyber security researcher Dana Mckay said DeepSeek posed a genuine risk. 
"All Chinese companies are required to store their data in China. And all of that data is subject to inspection by the Chinese government," she told AFP. 
"The other thing DeepSeek says explicitly in its privacy policy is that it collects keystroke data on typing patterns," said Mckay, from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. 
"You can identify an individual through that. 
"If you know some work is coming from a government machine, and they go home and search for something unsavoury, then you have leverage over them."

Alarm bells

DeepSeek raised alarm last month when it claimed its new R1 chatbot matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the cost. 
It has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.
Some experts have accused DeepSeek of reverse-engineering the capabilities of leading US technology, such as the AI powering ChatGPT. 
Several countries now including South Korea, Ireland, France, Australia and Italy have expressed concern about DeepSeek's data practices, including how it handles personal data and what information is used to train DeepSeek's AI system. 
Tech and trade spats between China and Australia go back years. 
Beijing was enraged by Canberra's Huawei decision, along with its crackdown on Chinese foreign influence operations and a call for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. 
A multi-billion-dollar trade war raged between Canberra and Beijing but eventually cooled late last year, when China lifted its final barrier, a ban on imports of Australian live rock lobsters. 
mlm-sft/djw/tym/mya/fox

technology

Google pledge against using AI for weapons vanishes

  • That wording was gone from the updated AI principles shared by Google on Tuesday.
  • Google on Tuesday updated its principles when it comes to artificial intelligence, removing vows not to use the technology for weapons or surveillance.
  • That wording was gone from the updated AI principles shared by Google on Tuesday.
Google on Tuesday updated its principles when it comes to artificial intelligence, removing vows not to use the technology for weapons or surveillance.
Revised AI principles were posted just weeks after Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and other tech titans attended the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
When asked by AFP about the change, a Google spokesperson referred to a blog post outlining the company's AI principles that made no mention of the promises, which Pichai first outlined in 2018.
"We believe democracies should lead in AI development, guided by core values like freedom, equality, and respect for human rights," read an updated AI principles blog post by Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and research labs senior vice president James Manyika.
"And we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security," it continued.
Pichai had previously stated that the company would not design or deploy the technology for weapons designed to hurt people or "that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms."
That wording was gone from the updated AI principles shared by Google on Tuesday.
Upon taking office, Trump quickly rescinded an executive order by his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, mandating safety practices for AI.
Companies in the race to lead the burgeoning AI field in the United States now have fewer obligations to adhere to, such as being required to share test results signalling the technology has serious risks to the nation, its economy or its citizens.
Google noted in its blog post that it publishes an annual report about its AI work and progress.
"There's a global competition taking place for AI leadership within an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape," Hassabis and Manyika said in their post.
"Billions of people are using AI in their everyday lives."
Google's original AI principles were published after employee backlash to its involvement in a Pentagon research project looking into using AI to improve the ability of weapons systems to identify targets.
Google ended its involvement in the project.
gc-juj/jgc

Google

Google shares slide on spending plans despite sales jump

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • Alphabet said revenues jumped 12 percent to $96.5 billion in the quarter, but the company's share price sank more than 7 percent in after-hours trading as investors were disappointed by lower-than-expected revenue growth and the company's ambitious capital spending forecast for 2025.
  • Google's parent company Alphabet on Tuesday reported revenue jumped in the recently-ended quarter, but shares sank on concerns it may be pouring too much money into artificial intelligence.
  • Alphabet said revenues jumped 12 percent to $96.5 billion in the quarter, but the company's share price sank more than 7 percent in after-hours trading as investors were disappointed by lower-than-expected revenue growth and the company's ambitious capital spending forecast for 2025.
Google's parent company Alphabet on Tuesday reported revenue jumped in the recently-ended quarter, but shares sank on concerns it may be pouring too much money into artificial intelligence.
Google and rivals are spending billions of dollars on data centers and more for AI, while meaningful returns on investments remain elusive and the rise of lower-cost model DeepSeek from China raises questions about how much needs to be spent.
"We are pushing the next frontiers from AI agents, reasoning and deep research to state-of-the-art video, quantum computing and more," Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said during an earnings call.
"The company is in a great rhythm and cadence, building, testing, and launching products faster than ever before."
Pichai said this is translating into increased use of its products, including AI search summaries that are now available in more than 100 countries.
Alphabet said revenues jumped 12 percent to $96.5 billion in the quarter, but the company's share price sank more than 7 percent in after-hours trading as investors were disappointed by lower-than-expected revenue growth and the company's ambitious capital spending forecast for 2025.
Google Cloud revenue, while growing 30 percent to $12 billion, fell short of expectations, raising questions about the division's ability to compete with rivals in the heated AI infrastructure market.
"Q4 was a strong quarter driven by our leadership in AI and momentum across the business," Pichai said.
"We'll continue to invest in our cloud business to ensure we can address the increase in customer demand."
Pichai added that Google is working on "even better thinking models" that it will share with developers soon.
Alphabet announced plans to invest approximately $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, a figure that surprised analysts and highlighted the mounting costs of AI development.

'Chaotic backdrop'

Like other tech giants, Alphabet is betting heavily on artificial intelligence across all of its products. 
"Part of the reason we are so excited about the AI opportunity is we know we can drive extraordinary use cases because the cost of actually using it is going to keep coming down," Pichai said.
"The opportunity space is as big as it comes, and that's why you're seeing us meeting that moment."
In December, the company announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced AI model to date.
The company's core Google Services segment, which includes search and YouTube, posted revenues of $84.1 billion, up 10 percent year-over-year.
Within this segment, YouTube advertising revenue grew to $10.5 billion, while Google Search revenue reached $54 billion.
Pichai told financial analysts that autonomous car division Waymo made "tremendous progress" last year and its robotaxi service is averaging 150,000 trips weekly.
Waymo One robotaxi operations will expand to Austin and Atlanta this year, and to Miami next year, according to Pichai.
"And in the coming weeks, Waymo One vehicles will arrive in Tokyo for their first international road trip," Pichai said.
The company's workforce remained largely stable at 183,323 employees, reflecting ongoing cost control measures.
Hanging over Google in 2025 are two major antitrust cases in the United States concerning the company's dominant position in search engines and ad technology. 
A US judge has already found Google operating an illegal monopoly in search, and the company faces potential forced restructuring, including the possible sale of Chrome, its world-leading web browser.
Meanwhile, Britain's competition watchdog recently launched its own investigation into Google's search engine market dominance and its impact on consumers and businesses. 
The decision in the US ad tech case is expected in the coming weeks.
"Between defending itself against antitrust lawsuits from multiple governments, courting US TikTok advertisers to capitalize on a yet-elusive ban, reconfiguring search around generative AI, and convincing the market to invest in Gemini, Google is fighting ongoing battles on several fronts," said Emarketer senior analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.
"Against this chaotic backdrop, Google's core ads business has maintained healthy growth."
arp-gc/jgc

technology

What Elon Musk's Twitter tactics may bode for US government

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • At Twitter Elon asked workers who wanted to stay for hard core devotion to their jobs.
  • As Elon Musk and his aides take control of the US Treasury's payments system, the drastic job cuts and other shake-ups he instituted on buying Twitter may offer a preview of what government workers can expect.
  • At Twitter Elon asked workers who wanted to stay for hard core devotion to their jobs.
As Elon Musk and his aides take control of the US Treasury's payments system, the drastic job cuts and other shake-ups he instituted on buying Twitter may offer a preview of what government workers can expect.
Musk, the world's richest person, is leading President Donald Trump's federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Treasury's closely guarded payments system handles the money flow of the US government, including $6 trillion annually for Social Security, Medicare, federal salaries, and other critical payments.
Ryan Mac, co-author of the recently released book "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter," told AFP what the tycoon's involvement could mean for massive federal agencies.
Q: What did Musk make of Twitter?
A: "Elon Musk saw Twitter as a bloated company that was being mismanaged. He fashioned himself as a great cost cutter.
"He has done this for years at Tesla and SpaceX. That is the same principle he applied after buying Twitter.
"Now, we are seeing the impacts of that. More than 80 percent of the company has departed, been laid off or fired.
"Costs have been severely reduced, in turn that's also reduced revenue - that side of the business has been hammered. He's taking those same tactics to the US government."
- Is Musk stripping funds? 
"In the same way that Musk has zeroed out budgets at Twitter, he is doing the same with whatever federal agency he is taking an interest in.
"They take a contract or expenditure down to zero, then the employee overseeing it has to argue why it's necessary.
"They reassemble the budget based on that and, hopefully, have been able to find some efficiencies or things that could have been cut.
"That is something we saw at Twitter that's now being deployed in the federal government.
"We're seeing the same names of characters, people like Steve Davis who is Elon's right-hand man that came in to Twitter to slash costs. He's now part of the DOGE effort with the federal government."
Will engineers rule?
"We'll start to see a heavy reliance on engineers. Elon is driven by this idea that engineers should be the decision makers; everyone else should either help them build or get out of their way.
"That's why you're starting to see these young engineers coming to these agencies overseeing stuff.
"I also expect to see burnout and people that initially sign on to work with him at DOGE start to fall out along the way. That's a natural attrition you get with working with someone as intense as him. People no longer see eye-to-eye or get tired of the pace and leave or get fired."
Is Musk's rule illegal?
"Elon's view on laws are they are something that can be challenged. He has this way of thinking called 'going to first principles.' If you tell him he can't do something, he will ask why.
"I think you are starting to see a little shift in his strategy. The 'Fork in the Road' email is similar to an email he sent out at Twitter after his takeover. At Twitter Elon asked workers who wanted to stay for hard core devotion to their jobs.
"With the federal government, you have to opt in to resign. He has learned from his past mistake."
Did cuts break Twitter?
"There were some outages, and the crash on X when Ron DeSantis announced his run for president was quite embarrassing.
"X has remained online for the most part, and Elon sees that as a big win. We can talk about the cratering of revenue at X, but the site has been online, and he'll take that as a victory.
"But, the federal government is not something you can just slash willy nilly and put things back in place if it doesn't work. People will get hurt along the way. What happens when you slash Social Security or Medicare too far? Whatever federal payment gets cut off, reassembling that is not as simple as turning on a server again or rehiring the person you just fired. 
"He has not built up these federal bureaucracies. Now he's coming in and trying to fly the airplane and change the engine in mid-flight."
gc/sms

regulation

AI regulation around the world

BY TOM BARFIELD WITH AFP BUREAUS

  • - European Union - In contrast to both the United States and China, "the ethical philosophy of respecting citizens is at the heart of European regulation", Cohen-Hadria said.
  • Countries and economic blocs around the world are at different stages of regulating artificial intelligence, from a relative "Wild West" in the United States to highly complex rules in the European Union.
  • - European Union - In contrast to both the United States and China, "the ethical philosophy of respecting citizens is at the heart of European regulation", Cohen-Hadria said.
Countries and economic blocs around the world are at different stages of regulating artificial intelligence, from a relative "Wild West" in the United States to highly complex rules in the European Union.
Here are some key points about regulation in major jurisdictions, ahead of the Paris AI summit on February 10-11:

United States

Returning President Donald Trump last month rescinded Joe Biden's October 2023 executive order on AI oversight.
Largely voluntary, it required major AI developers like OpenAI to share safety assessments and vital information with the federal government.
Backed by major tech companies, it was aimed at protecting privacy and preventing civil rights violations, and called for safeguards on national security.
Home to top developers, the United States now has no formal AI guidelines -- although some existing privacy protections do still apply.
Under Trump, the United States has "picked up their cowboy hat again, it's a complete Wild West", said Yael Cohen-Hadria, a digital lawyer at consultancy EY.
The administration has effectively said that "we're not doing this law anymore... we're setting all our algorithms running and going for it", she added.

China

China's government is still developing a formal law on generative AI.
A set of "Interim Measures" requires that AI respects personal and business interests, does not use personal information without consent, signposts AI-generated images and videos, and protects users' physical and mental health.
AI must also "adhere to core socialist values" -- effectively banning AI language models from criticising the ruling Communist Party or undermining China's national security.
DeepSeek, whose frugal yet powerful R1 model shocked the world last month, is an example, resisting questions about President Xi Jinping or the 1989 crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
While regulating businesses closely, especially foreign-owned ones, China's government will grant itself "strong exceptions" to its own rules, Cohen-Hadria predicted.

European Union

In contrast to both the United States and China, "the ethical philosophy of respecting citizens is at the heart of European regulation", Cohen-Hadria said.
"Everyone has their share of responsibility: the provider, whoever deploys (AI), even the final consumer."
The "AI Act" passed in March 2024 -- some of whose provisions apply from this week -- is the most comprehensive regulation in the world.
Using AI for predictive policing based on profiling and systems that use biometric information to infer an individual's race, religion or sexual orientation are banned.
The law takes a risk-based approach: if a system is high-risk, a company has a stricter set of obligations to fulfil.
EU leaders have argued that clear, comprehensive rules will make life easier for businesses.
Cohen-Hadria pointed to strong protections for intellectual property and efforts to allow data to circulate more freely while granting citizens control.
"If I can access a lot of data easily, I can create better things faster," she said.

India

Like China, India -- co-host of next week's summit -- has a law on personal data but no specific text governing AI.
Cases of harm originating from generative AI have been tackled with existing legislation on defamation, privacy, copyright infringement and cybercrime.
New Delhi knows the value of its high-tech sector and "if they make a law, it will be because it has some economic return", Cohen-Hadria said.
Occasional media reports and government statements about AI regulation have yet to be followed up with concrete action.
Top AI firms including Perplexity blasted the government in March 2024 when the IT ministry issued an "advisory" saying firms would require government permission before deploying "unreliable" or "under-testing" AI models.
It came days after Google's Gemini in some responses accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of implementing fascist policies.
Hastily-updated rules called only for disclaimers on AI-generated content.

Britain

Britain's centre-left Labour government has included AI in its agenda to boost economic growth.
The island nation boasts the world's third-largest AI sector after the United States and China.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer in January unveiled an "AI opportunities action plan" that called for London to chart its own path.
AI should be "tested" before it is regulated, Starmer said.
"Well-designed and implemented regulation... can fuel fast, wide and safe development and adoption of AI," the action plan document read.
By contrast, "ineffective regulation could hold back adoption in crucial sectors", it added.
A consultation is under way to clarify copyright law's application to AI, aiming to protect the creative industry.

International efforts

The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) brings together more than 40 countries, aiming to encourage responsible use of the technology.
Members will meet on Sunday "in a broader format" to lay out an "action plan for 2025", the French presidency has said.
The Council of Europe in May last year adopted the first-ever binding international treaty governing the use of AI, with the US, Britain and European Union joining the signatories.
Of 193 UN member countries, just seven belong to seven major AI governance initiatives, while 119 belong to none -- mostly in the Global South.
burs-tgb/adp/bc

summit

American VP Vance to attend Paris AI summit

BY DAXIA ROJAS

  • Indian premier Modi has been invited to co-host the Paris summit, in a push to bring governments on board.
  • US Vice President JD Vance will join top tech players in Paris next week at an artificial intelligence summit billed by France as a "wake-up call" for Europe in the global race for AI. Vance, whose attendance was confirmed Tuesday by a French diplomatic source, China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the highest-profile of representatives from 80 countries to mingle with players from across the sector on February 10 and 11.
  • Indian premier Modi has been invited to co-host the Paris summit, in a push to bring governments on board.
US Vice President JD Vance will join top tech players in Paris next week at an artificial intelligence summit billed by France as a "wake-up call" for Europe in the global race for AI.
Vance, whose attendance was confirmed Tuesday by a French diplomatic source, China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the highest-profile of representatives from 80 countries to mingle with players from across the sector on February 10 and 11.
The event will take place in the French capital's sumptuous Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition.
In the run-up, French President Emmanuel Macron will on February 4 visit research centres applying AI to science and health, before hosting scientists and Nobel Prize winners at his Elysee Palace residence on Wednesday.
A wider science conference will be held at the Polytechnique engineering school on Thursday and Friday.
"The summit comes at exactly the right time for this wake-up call for France and Europe, and to show we are in position" to take advantage of the technology, an official in Macron's office told reporters.
In recent weeks, Washington's announcement of $500 billion in investment to build up AI infrastructure and the release of a frugal but powerful generative AI model by Chinese firm DeepSeek have focussed minds in Europe.
The two superpowers are in the midst of a trade war.
France must "not let this revolution pass it by", Macron's office said.
Attendees at the summit will include Sam Altman, head of OpenAI -- the firm that brought generative models to public consciousness in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT.
Google boss Sundar Pichai and Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassabis, who leads the company's DeepMind AI research unit, will also come, alongside Arthur Mensch, founder of French AI developer Mistral.
The Elysee has said there are "talks" on hosting DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, and has yet to clarify whether X owner Elon Musk -- who has his own generative initiative, xAI -- has accepted an invitation.
Confirmed guests from Europe include European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

'Stoke confidence'

The tone of the AI summit will be "neither catastrophising, nor naive," Macron's AI envoy Anne Bouverot told AFP.
Hosting the conference is also an opportunity for Paris to show off its own AI ecosystem, which numbers around 750 companies.
Macron's office has said the summit would see the announcement of "massive" investments along the lines of his annual "Choose France" business conference, at which 15 billion euros ($15.4 billion) of inward investment were pledged in 2024.
Beyond the economic opportunities, AI's impact on culture including artistic creativity and news production will be discussed in a side-event over the weekend.
Debates open to the public, such as that one, are aimed at showing off "positive use cases for AI" to "stoke confidence and speed up adoption" of the technology, said France's digital minister Clara Chappaz.
For now the French public is sceptical of AI, with 79 percent of respondents telling pollsters Ifop they were "concerned" about the technology in a recent survey.

More 'inclusive' AI?

Paris says it also hopes the summit can help kick off its vision of a more ethical and accessible and less resource-intensive AI.
At present, "the AI under development is pushed by a few large players from a few countries", Bouverot said, whereas France wants "to promote more inclusive development".
Indian premier Modi has been invited to co-host the Paris summit, in a push to bring governments on board.
One of the summit's aims is the establishment of a public-interest foundation for which Paris aims to raise 2.5 billion euros over five years.
The effort would be "a public-private partnership between various governments, businesses and philanthropic foundations from different countries", Macron's office said.
Paris hopes at the summit to chart different efforts at AI governance around the world and gather commitments for environmentally sustainable AI -- although no binding mechanism is planned for now.
"There are lots of big principles emerging around responsible, trustworthy AI, but it's not clear or easy to implement for the engineers in technical terms," said Laure de Roucy-Rochegonde, director of the geopolitical technology centre at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI).
dax-fff/tgb/ach 

technology

OpenAI chief Altman signs deal with South Korea's Kakao after DeepSeek upset

BY HIEUN SHIN

  • "With South Korea being a country known for its high loyalty, frequent usage, and tech-savvy user base," OpenAI might use the country as "a testing ground before expanding globally", Kim told AFP.  Also on Altman's agenda were meetings with two top South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, both key suppliers of advanced semiconductors used in AI servers.
  • OpenAI chief Sam Altman signed a deal with tech giant Kakao in South Korea on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.
  • "With South Korea being a country known for its high loyalty, frequent usage, and tech-savvy user base," OpenAI might use the country as "a testing ground before expanding globally", Kim told AFP.  Also on Altman's agenda were meetings with two top South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, both key suppliers of advanced semiconductors used in AI servers.
OpenAI chief Sam Altman signed a deal with tech giant Kakao in South Korea on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.
Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea's largest taxi-hailing app, and a messaging service, announced a partnership allowing them to use ChatGPT for its new artificial intelligence services, joining a global alliance led by OpenAI amid intensifying competition in the sector.
"We're excited to bring advanced AI to Kakao's millions of users and work together to integrate our technology into services that transform how Kakao's users communicate and connect," said Altman.
"Kakao has a deep understanding of how technology can enrich everyday lives," he added.
Kakao's CEO Shina Chung said the company was "thrilled" to establish a strategic collaboration with OpenAI.
Altman's company is part of the Stargate drive announced by US President Donald Trump to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States.
But AI newcomer DeepSeek has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.
"Highly Aware"
At a closed meeting with South Korean AI developers, Altman admitted OpenAI "hasn't found a strategy yet" to respond to DeepSeek. 
When asked by an executive of Wrtn Technologies -- a Seoul-based AI firm -- about his plans for addressing the rise of open-source models such as DeepSeek, Altman said there is "definitely room for open source".
"We haven't figured out a strategy yet, but we want to do more," he added. 
Altman seems "quite nervous internally but it appears OpenAI is indeed highly aware of, and influenced by, DeepSeek's impact", said Kim Jang-hyun, a data science Professor at Sungkyunkwan University.. 
"With South Korea being a country known for its high loyalty, frequent usage, and tech-savvy user base," OpenAI might use the country as "a testing ground before expanding globally", Kim told AFP. 
Also on Altman's agenda were meetings with two top South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, both key suppliers of advanced semiconductors used in AI servers.
Altman met with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung in Seoul to discuss collaboration on AI memory chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM), and AI services.
He is also expected to meet with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong later Tuesday. 
Jaejune Kim, executive vice president of Samsung's memory business, said last week that the company was "monitoring industry trends considering various scenarios" when asked about DeepSeek.
DeepSeek's performance has sparked a wave of accusations that it has reverse-engineered the capabilities of leading US technology.
OpenAI warned last week that Chinese companies are actively attempting to replicate its advanced AI models, prompting closer cooperation with US authorities.
OpenAI says rivals are using a process known as distillation in which developers creating smaller models learn from larger ones by copying their behaviour and decision-making patterns -- similar to a student learning from a teacher.
The company is itself facing multiple accusations of intellectual property violations, primarily related to the use of copyrighted materials in training its generative AI models.
cdl-hs/ceb/fox

Nintendo

Nintendo cuts net profit forecast as Switch sales slow

BY KATIE FORSTER AND NATSUKO FUKUE

  • "Nintendo Switch hardware and software sales through the third quarter were below expectations," the company said in its explanation of the profit warning.
  • Japanese video game giant Nintendo on Tuesday cut its annual net profit forecast after hardware and software sales for its Switch console fell in the first three quarters.
  • "Nintendo Switch hardware and software sales through the third quarter were below expectations," the company said in its explanation of the profit warning.
Japanese video game giant Nintendo on Tuesday cut its annual net profit forecast after hardware and software sales for its Switch console fell in the first three quarters.
The Switch, which is both a handheld and TV-compatible device, hit shelves in 2017 and became a must-have gadget among all age groups during pandemic lockdowns.
Nintendo announced in January that it will release the console's hotly anticipated successor -- the Switch 2 -- in 2025, but stopped short of revealing details such as pricing.
On Tuesday, Nintendo revised its full-year net profit forecast to 270 billion yen ($1.7 billion) from 300 billion yen.
"Nintendo Switch hardware and software sales through the third quarter were below expectations," the company said in its explanation of the profit warning.
"The sales trend" in the April-December period and "prospects for the remainder of the fiscal year, as well as a reevaluation of the assumed exchange rate" were also behind the decision.
Over the nine months, net profit dropped 42 percent to 237 billion yen and sales tumbled 31 percent to 956 billion yen.
The company also lowered its Switch hardware sales forecast to 11 million units from 12.5 million units.
"Sales of both hardware and software declined compared to the same period of last fiscal year, when sales were substantially driven by 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'... and 'Super Mario Bros. Wonder'," Nintendo said.
"Going forward, we will continue to release new offerings so even more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch," it added.
Nintendo has promised to reveal more details about the Switch 2 in early April after it released a brief but slick video preview in January.
In the two-minute video, the new console looks bigger but is broadly similar in design to the original hybrid Switch.
Serkan Toto from Tokyo consultancy Kantan Games told AFP ahead of the earnings release that "Nintendo was way too optimistic about Switch 1 sales when they released their hardware sales forecast for the current fiscal year."
Toto said that while "the initial reaction by gamers was mixed" to the "drip feed" Switch 2 announcement, the popularity of the new console would be key.
"Switch 2 absolutely must be a success, as Nintendo has developed into a single-platform company, he said.
"For decades, Nintendo actually ran two distinct businesses, namely TV versus handheld gaming," but now "Nintendo has no Plan B in case a console fails".
nf-kaf/mtp