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

Google downplays AI's environmental impact in new study

AI and society

Meta's human-like chatbot personas can mislead users and result in real-world harm

AI and society

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

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AI and society
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Cognitive scientist Melanie Mitchell is pushing back against recent New York Times columns by writer Thomas Friedman, criticizing his framing of advanced AI.

In his pieces, Friedman calls for close U.S.-China collaboration on AI regulation and warns of an approaching "superintelligence." Much of his argument leans on comments from his friend Craig Mundie, the former Microsoft executive, as well as media reports. Mitchell says these claims lack scientific evidence. According to her, examples Friedman cites - like AI "teaching itself" new languages or chatbots pursuing their own hidden agendas - can be explained by training data and have been debunked.

Mitchell describes Friedman’s outlook as "magical thinking." In her view, he ascribes AI with mysterious powers that actually stem from human data and relatively simple mechanisms. She warns that because of Friedman’s broad reach, these myths risk shaping public understanding of AI. Instead of speculative scenarios, Mitchell argues for fact-based realism and human-led regulation.

AI and society
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Huawei introduced its new AI supercomputer, the Atlas 950 SuperCluster, at the Connect 2025 conference. The system uses more than 524,000 Ascend-950DT chips and, according to Huawei, can deliver up to 524 FP8 exaFLOPS for training and 1 FP4 zettaFLOP for inference. That makes it capable of handling models with trillions of parameters, according to Huawei.

In contrast to Nvidia's Rubin systems, Huawei continues to focus on scale over individual chip performance. As reported by Tom's Hardware, the setup requires about 64,000 square meters of floor space. Huawei is already planning a follow-up: the Atlas 960, slated for 2027, will include more than one million chips.

AI and society
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Abu Dhabi has announced a plan to build what it calls a fully AI-native government by 2027, with more than 200 AI systems deployed across public services.

The plan focuses on integrating AI into all government operations to build a proactive, agile, and technology-driven state apparatus. By 2027, all government processes are expected to be digitized and automated.

The initiative will rely on sovereign cloud infrastructure and collaborations with the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the Advanced Technology Research Council on large language models, and AI infrastructure company G42.

Authorities plan to invest $3.5 billion in the program. By 2027, the effort is projected to contribute about $6.5 billion to GDP and create more than 5,000 jobs.

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Meta has set up its own super PAC in California to shape AI policy. According to The Verge, the "Meta California PAC" is designed to channel millions of dollars into campaigns supporting politicians who back the company’s approach to AI regulation.

Unlike other tech firms, Meta is funding the effort exclusively with its own corporate funds, meaning Mark Zuckerberg ultimately controls its resources. The company’s strategy contrasts with rivals that often join collective lobbying efforts or seek funding from multiple sources.

Critics, including Rick Hasen of UCLA, argue the move could give Meta an outsized advantage over competitors by transforming corporate wealth into political power. At the same time, a separate industry-wide super PAC called Leading the Future recently launched without Meta’s participation.

AI and society
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According to the Financial Times, China has ordered leading tech firms including Bytedance and Alibaba to cancel orders for the RTX Pro 6000D, a chip designed specifically for the Chinese market. The Cyberspace Administration of China is seen as pushing this policy to reduce reliance on US technology.

The measure goes further than earlier guidelines, which only targeted the H20 chip, another Nvidia product adapted for China. The move also comes just after China accused Nvidia of violating competition law in connection with its Mellanox acquisition.

At the same time in the US, the House of Representatives is investigating the ties between Nvidia and Huawei spinoff Futurewei. Until 2024, Futurewei leased three buildings on Nvidia's Santa Clara campus. Lawmakers are now demanding access to documents over espionage concerns. Nvidia said its campus and intellectual property remained secure.

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Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have filed a lawsuit in California against Chinese company Minimax. The studios accuse Minimax of using their copyrighted characters, including Darth Vader, the Minions, and Wonder Woman, to promote its AI service Hailuo AI and generate content.

According to the complaint, Minimax ignored requests to add safeguards that other AI platforms typically use to prevent copyright violations. The studios argue that Minimax actively encouraged infringement by treating their characters as if they were its own property. They are seeking damages and an injunction to stop the service from operating without protections in place.

This case follows earlier actions against Midjourney. Disney and Universal filed suit in June, and Warner Bros. launched its own complaint in September.

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AI in practice

OpenAI suddenly remembers that copyright law exists after a few days of wild Sora videos

AI in practice
Update

OpenAI unveils Sora 2 video model with realistic physics, high-quality audio, and a new social app

AI in practice

Deepmind says video models for visual tasks could become what LLMs are for text tasks

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