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

OpenAI restructures under new foundation, Microsoft takes 27 percent stake

AI and society

The long-predicted deepfake dystopia has arrived with Sora 2

AI and society

Google downplays AI's environmental impact in new study

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AI and society
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WeChat is introducing new rules that require users to label any AI-generated content they share, including videos and public posts. The platform may also add its own visible or invisible labels to content to increase transparency.

When posting on a public WeChat account, users must indicate if any content—whether video, image, or text—was generated by AI and choose the appropriate category, including official/media, news, entertainment, personal opinion/reference only. | Image: Screenshot via WeChat

These changes follow China's government regulation on mandatory labeling of AI-generated content, which takes effect on September 1, 2025. Users who ignore the rules, such as by removing required labels or sharing misleading content, will face penalties, according to WeChat.

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Google will invest an additional $9 billion in expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in Virginia by 2026. The plan includes building a new data center in Chesterfield County and expanding existing facilities in Loudoun and Prince William counties, according to a company blog post. This move is part of a larger trend, with tech giants pouring money into data centers to keep up with rising demand for AI computing. Bloomberg reports that Google's annual investment in this area now stands at $85 billion - $10 billion more than previously planned. A spokesperson noted that data centers in Virginia often take years to come online due to power supply challenges. Google has not announced a completion date for the new Chesterfield facility but expects construction to take 18 to 24 months. Dominion Energy will provide electricity for the project.

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Anthropic has reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of authors who sued the company over its use of more than seven million books downloaded from shadow libraries to train its AI models. The plaintiffs accused Anthropic of using copyrighted works without permission to train its language models. After a federal judge allowed the case to proceed as a class action in July, Anthropic said it was under existential pressure, citing potential damages in the billions. The settlement was disclosed on August 26, 2025, in a San Francisco court. Anthropic still faces other lawsuits, including cases brought by music publishers and Reddit.

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AI and society
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OpenAI and Microsoft call AGI pointless, then make it the linchpin of billion-dollar deals

AI in practice

Google leans on token metrics, not revenue, adding to bubble talk about AI growth

AI and society

OpenAI restructures under new foundation, Microsoft takes 27 percent stake

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