AI and the future of war | China AI start-ups trying to move into US markets | Europe's EV battery woes
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Marines on the ground, drones in the air and many other sensors were connected over a “mesh” network of advanced radios that allowed each to see, seamlessly, what was happening elsewhere—a set-up that had already allowed the marines to run circles around much larger forces in previous exercises. The data they collected were processed both on the “edge” of the network, aboard small, rugged computers strapped to commando vehicles with bungee cables—and on distant cloud servers, where they had been sent by satellite. Command-and-control software monitored a designated area, decided which drones should fly where, identified objects on the ground and suggested which weapon to strike which target. The Economist
Chinese tech companies are facing more scrutiny in the U.S. than ever before. Yet some of China’s artificial intelligence startups are making a rush to grab U.S. customers. The reason: it’s too hard to make any money in China. The Information
In 2019, France and Germany agreed to pump billions of euros into a plan to boost Europe’s battery industry and catch up with China and the US. Five years later, that effort is running out of steam. China already has excess battery-making capacity, can make cells at a fraction of the cost it takes in Europe, and has a head start on the next generation of cell technology. All of this means the continent risks falling further behind in the race to build and power the EVs of the future. Bloomberg
ASPI
From Xinjiang with love: China show tries to give region a rosier image
The Wall Street Journal
Authorities are trying to sell a more “docile and lovable” image of China’s frontier regions, said Daria Impiombato, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a Canberra-backed think tank, who co-wrote a report on how Chinese authorities have begun to enlist women as “frontier influencers” in propaganda efforts around troubled regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet.
Xinjiang’s propaganda department plans to spend 308 million yuan, or roughly $43 million, on culture tourism and communications and media this year, more than 60% of its total budgeted spending and 27% more than it spent on such items in 2020.
Boosting tourism helps the Chinese government bring Xinjiang into the mainstream, making it just like any other place in China, said Impiombato.
World
How AI is changing warfare
The Economist
Marines on the ground, drones in the air and many other sensors were connected over a “mesh” network of advanced radios that allowed each to see, seamlessly, what was happening elsewhere—a set-up that had already allowed the marines to run circles around much larger forces in previous exercises. The data they collected were processed both on the “edge” of the network, aboard small, rugged computers strapped to commando vehicles with bungee cables—and on distant cloud servers, where they had been sent by satellite. Command-and-control software monitored a designated area, decided which drones should fly where, identified objects on the ground and suggested which weapon to strike which target.
Australia
Australians are still suss on AI-made news, while Meta steams ahead on using our content to train its algorithm
ABC News
Ange Lavoipierre
According to a global survey conducted by the Reuters Institute, Australians are on average less comfortable with AI-generated news than the rest of the world. Compared with the average of 45 per cent across 26 surveyed countries, 59 per cent of Australian respondents were very or somewhat uncomfortable about news being mainly produced by AI.
eSafety code to corral reluctant tech leviathans
The Australian
Tech giants will be forced to tackle child sexual abuse and pro-terrorist material under new mandatory standards, after ‘resistance’ to act on abhorrent material.
China
China's top AI startups enter U.S., defying political tensions
The Information
Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu
Chinese tech companies are facing more scrutiny in the U.S. than ever before. Yet some of China’s artificial intelligence startups are making a rush to grab U.S. customers. The reason: it’s too hard to make any money in China.
China tech: Two deaths on same day reignite work culture debate
Nikkei Asia
Cissy Zhou
Facing increasing pressure from e-commerce rivals like PDD, Richard Liu, the high-profile founder of online retailer platform JD.com, said in a video that went viral last month that the company was no place for unproductive staff and threatened to lay off anyone not deemed to be working hard enough.
China’s ecommerce giants splash out to jolt wary shoppers
Bloomberg
Sabrina Mao, Sarah Zheng, and Jane Zhang
China's biggest internet firms are pulling out all the stops during the annual “618” shopping festival, in a bid to shake off the industry’s post-Covid malaise and return to something like the rah-rah years before 2020. Companies are enlisting A-list celebrities to flog products over live video and promising no-questions-asked returns. Before taking on her duties as the new face of J’Adore fragrance, Rihanna found time to rustle up “jianbing” crepes on one Chinese platform. JD.com Inc. even created a digital avatar of founder Richard Liu to hawk steak and blueberries.
Why China’s small merchants are checking out of mega shopping fests
Sixth Tone
Li Xin and Ye Zhanhang
The financial pressures and aggressive pricing strategies have led to significant backlash. In May, dozens of publishers initiated a boycott against JD.com’s “618” event, drawing massive public attention. They claimed that the e-commerce giant demanded universal discounts ranging from 70% to 80% on titles, forcing them to sell at below cost.
China is building Europe battery supply in Morocco, VW unit says
Bloomberg
Chunying Zhang
China is building a battery supply chain for Europe in Morocco, as the continent struggles to develop its own industry to feed electric-car manufacturing, PowerCo’s operations head said. “We don’t have any supply chain. This has to be set up,” Sebastian Wolf, chief operating officer for Volkswagen AG’s battery unit, said Tuesday at an event in Stuttgart. “Right now, we have to be honest that the set-up of LFP supply chain is happening in Morocco and not in Europe.”
USA
US bans sale of Kaspersky software citing security risk from Russia
TechCrunch
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
“Russia has shown it has the capacity, and even more than that, the intent to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize the personal information of Americans. And that’s why we are compelled to take the action that we’re taking today,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a call with reporters.
TikTok slams U.S. in challenge to possible ban: Punishment ‘was the point’
The Washington Post
Drew Harwell
The briefs, filed by TikTok and a group of eight creators, largely reprise past arguments that a law demanding TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, sell its U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or face a nationwide ban would violate Americans’ First Amendment right to free expression.
TikTok lays out past efforts to address U.S. concerns
The New York Times
Sapna Maheshwari
The company also said that it wasn’t clear that Congress had considered the company’s efforts to reach a compromise with the Biden administration. To support its argument, the company released a trove of documents about numerous confidential meetings and other interactions with top federal officials, nearly all of which have been shrouded in secrecy.
New York bans ‘addictive feeds’ for teens
The Verge
Lauren Feiner
One of the bills, the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, will require parental consent for social media companies to use “addictive feeds” powered by recommendation algorithms on kids and teens under 18. The other, the New York Child Data Protection Act, would limit data collection on minors without consent and restrict the sale of such information but does not require age verification. That law will take effect in a year.
Americas
Canada needs AI adoption to narrow productivity Gap, RBC says
Bloomberg
Aimee Look
Canada’s economic productivity is lagging behind the US and more industries should embrace generative artificial intelligence to catch up, according to a report from Royal Bank of Canada. Generative AI has the potential to boost Canada’s economy by C$180 billion ($131 billion) per year by 2030, but 73% of Canadian businesses haven’t even considered using it yet, the report said, citing a Statistics Canada survey from earlier this year.
How Tesla’s Mexico plans stalled out
Rest of World
Russell Brandom
Tesla needed to increase capacity, so Elon Musk decided to build a factory in Mexico. He visited Monterrey in October 2022. At the time, Tesla estimated the factory would take 12 to 15 months to build — slightly longer than the construction of Tesla’s factory in Shanghai. It’s now 15 months since that estimate, and the picture looks very different. According to local reports, there’s been little work on the site over the last year. It doesn’t look like Tesla is in any hurry either, telling suppliers there’s no rush to deliver the factory’s equipment.
LatAm fintechs quadruple in past 6 years, with more room to grow
Reuters
Juana Casas
The number of financial technology startups, known as ""fintechs,"" has more than quadrupled in the past six years in Latin America, a report showed on Thursday, with one expert pointing to more room to grow in the region. The region's fintechs went from 703 in 2017 to 3,069 in 2023, according to the report compiled by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Finnovista, a fintech development firm.
North Asia
TSMC explores radical new chip packaging approach to feed AI boom
Nikkei Asia
Cheng Ting-Fang & Lauly Li
The study is still in its early stages, but it represents a significant technical shift by TSMC, which previously viewed the use of rectangular substrates as too challenging. To make the new method work, TSMC and its suppliers would have to devote a significant amount of time and effort to development as well as upgrade or replace numerous production tools and materials.
New Zealand & the Pacific
Why Australian universities should battle for the Blue Pacific
ASPI Strategist
Brendan Walker-Munro
The result is an Australian tertiary system hopelessly under-engaging with universities in our region, particularly in the Blue Pacific—for example, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, countries whose friendship contributes to our national security. Our universities don’t cooperate operationally with Blue Pacific institutions enough, they have too few students from the region, and they do little joint research with it. Instead, they greatly favour arrangements with China.
Ukraine - Russia
Russians report some outages on bank apps after cyberattack, says Kommersant daily
Reuters
Russians on Thursday reported some problems with processing payments at major banks after a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Russian banks, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported. At least one Russian bank was telling clients that it was having trouble sending messages containing codes to confirm payments, a Reuters reporter said.
New drone attacks strike Russian fuel depots
Reuters
Drone strikes on large fuel depots across Russia have intensified in the last days, while attacks on oil refineries, whose operations have far greater impact on global oil markets and prices, have subsided. Ukraine says Russian energy installations are legitimate targets because they support Moscow's war effort at a time when Russian strikes are pounding Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Europe
Europe’s EV battery plans fade on China price war, US aid
Bloomberg
Joshua Gallu and Chunying Zhang
In 2019, France and Germany agreed to pump billions of euros into a plan to boost Europe’s battery industry and catch up with China and the US. Five years later, that effort is running out of steam. China already has excess battery-making capacity, can make cells at a fraction of the cost it takes in Europe, and has a head start on the next generation of cell technology. All of this means the continent risks falling further behind in the race to build and power the EVs of the future.
EU cancels vote on child sexual abuse law amid encryption concerns
POLITICO
Clothilde Goujard
The draft law, proposed in 2022, has drawn controversy for potentially forcing messaging apps to scan all images and links to find and report child abuse material and conversations between potential offenders and minors, known as grooming. Privacy groups have cried foul over the law, saying it effectively breaks end-to-end encrypted messaging.
UK
Sean Topham: Digital strategist who advised Scott Morrison says AI deepfakes should be used in elections
The Nightly
Latika M Bourke
But the 33-year-old, whom Boris Johnson nicknamed “DigiKiwi,” said neither the UK Labour nor Conservative parties were using AI to their advantage this election campaign. He said AI could be used to communicate with non-English speaking voters in their own language, as well as for political attacks. “I’m a big believer in it,” Mr Topham said.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue was created to help bring together governments, businesses and civil society to discuss and progress policy options. We will forecast the technologies of the next decade that will change our societies, economies and national security, prioritising speakers and delegates who are willing to push the envelope. We will promote diverse views that stimulate real conversations about the best ways to seize opportunities and minimise risks.
Connecting the dots on privacy, security, & online safety for young people
Future of Privacy Forum and ASPI
Join us for the live webinar, Connecting the Dots on Privacy, Security, and Online Safety for Young People in Australia, co-hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the Future of Privacy Forum on June 26 at 11:00am - 1:00pm Australian Eastern Time. In our increasingly digital world, the boundaries of our expectations related to privacy, security and online safety are stretched more and more – by technology companies, criminals and harm-doers, as well as regulators. Finding a good balance that ensures appropriate protection for members of our community in their use of digital products and services is complicated.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.