Hub AI and society

Artificial Intelligence is a key technology that can help us solve major societal challenges such as climate change, energy supply, healthcare, education or logistics. AI can solve specific problems more effectively by supporting us in decision-making, automating solutions and thus scaling them, or discovering completely new solutions. But the use of AI also poses new risks, for example when it comes to surveillance or questions of social justice.

What is our society doing with AI – and what is AI doing to our society? We shed light on this question in our AI and Society Content Hub.

AI and society

US think tank warns of "reverse brain drain" in China's AI sector

AI and society

Researchers used AI to manipulate Reddit users, scrapped study after backlash

AI and society
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xAI alters Grok chatbot to shield Elon Musk from misinformation claims

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AI and society
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The US government is reportedly planning new restrictions on the export of AI chips to Malaysia and Thailand, aiming to prevent suspected smuggling to China. According to Bloomberg, the Trump administration intends to update current rules so that strict controls remain in place for China and more than 40 other countries, while lifting previous global regulations on AI technology transfers.

A draft from the US Department of Commerce would let companies headquartered in the US continue supplying chips to the US and "a few dozen friendly nations" without special authorization for several months. Nvidia and officials from Malaysia and Thailand did not comment on the plans. Meanwhile, China is investing heavily in its own chip infrastructure.

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Ukraine has signed an agreement with US firm Swift Beat to massively scale up production of AI-powered drones. Finalized in Denmark, the deal will see hundreds of thousands of AI-controlled drones delivered to Ukraine at cost by 2025, with more to follow in 2026. President Volodymyr Zelensky and Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and now head of Swift Beat, attended the signing.

Swift Beat is developing interceptor drones for Russian threats, reconnaissance models, and medium-weight combat drones, along with AI-driven tools like automated turrets and surveillance platforms. Testing happens in Ukraine with teams from both sides.

Schmidt, a vocal advocate for the strategic use of artificial intelligence, has long pushed for deploying cutting-edge AI in defense and security, seeing it as critical for maintaining an edge in modern conflict.

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Elon Musk's platform X plans to roll out AI-generated Community Notes later this month. Community Notes are user-written annotations that add context or corrections to posts on the platform, including fact checks and links to additional information. The goal is to curb misinformation. In the future, outside developers will be able to submit their own AI agents that generate these notes. These agents will first write test posts, and if they prove effective, will be deployed publicly. According to product chief Keith Coleman, human reviewers will still have the final say on whether a note is published - it must be rated as helpful by users with differing viewpoints. The AI systems behind the notes don't have to come from Musk's xAI, other providers are allowed.

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Elon Musk's AI company xAI has raised $10 billion in funding, split evenly between equity and debt, according to The Information. Morgan Stanley, which handled the debt financing, said the mix lowers capital costs and gives xAI broader access to funding. The bank did not disclose details about the investors involved. Back in December, xAI secured $6 billion from backers including Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and MGX to build AI data centers and further develop Grok, its competitor to ChatGPT. xAI later acquired Musk's platform X through a share swap, pushing the company's valuation to $113 billion.

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The Trump administration is preparing a series of executive orders aimed at accelerating the expansion of AI data centers in the United States, according to Reuters. The plan focuses on lowering barriers to power grid access and making federal land available for new facilities, addressing the rising electricity demand driven by AI applications. A formal action plan is expected to be unveiled on July 23. Faster permitting based on nationwide water rights framework is also under consideration. Critics warn that the U.S. power grid is already overburdened, with lengthy wait times for new energy projects. Earlier in his term, Trump declared an energy emergency and threw his support behind the Stargate Project with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. He is scheduled to speak at an AI event in Pennsylvania on July 15.

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AI research

"Cat attack" on reasoning model shows how important context engineering is

AI research

Apple's claims about large reasoning models face fresh scrutiny from a new study

AI in practice

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince sees trouble ahead for the open web

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