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This post serves as support material for the OODAcon 2024 panel discussion “Touching the Void: Persona-Based AI and the New Age of Expertise”. exploring the role of persona-based AI in shaping the future of human-AI interaction and its implications for expertise in various sectors.
Climate change is rapidly becoming a major driver of forced migration. This summary explores various perspectives on climate displacement, offering a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and potential solutions.
China’s ongoing naval modernization has transformed the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) into the world’s largest navy – posing a growing strategic challenge to the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
The ODNI, FBI, AND CISA and CISA have issued an updated joint statement regarding ongoing foreign influence campaigns aimed at undermining public confidence in the election today.
As the United States pushes closer to electing its next president, the nation faces many challenges that need to be addressed. Whether it be hot button issues like illegal immigration, domestic economic concerns, or U.S. involvement in international conflicts, the next president will have a lot to do to implement their respective policies. However, one issue that…
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) marks its first decade with evolving approaches across regions – with both risks and opportunities as skepticism grows among partner countries.
In recent years, the U.S. government has intensified its efforts to hold companies accountable for cybersecurity failures, underscored by high-profile cases such as the prosecution of Uber’s former security chief, Joseph Sullivan, and the fallout from the SolarWinds breach. These actions send a strong message: American businesses entrusted with sensitive data must meet rigorous security standards. However, this new…
The CNAS “Secure, Governable Chips” report discusses using on-chip governance mechanisms to manage national security risks from AI and advanced computing to ensure secure, governable AI chip deployment.
The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) recently released the report “Synthetic Content: Exploring Risks, Technical Approaches, and Regulatory Responses”, exploring the impact of synthetic media on trust, regulation, and the evolving digital landscape – including a fast-approaching future when, by 2026, online content generated by non-humans will vastly outnumber human-generated content
Insights from the CrowdStrike outage reveal critical lessons for board members and CISOs on enhancing collaboration, strategic thinking, and proactive cybersecurity measures.
Powering AI’s growth at double exponential speed will require navigating the immense energy demands of expanding data centers and understanding their impact on the global energy landscape—a crucial challenge for stakeholders in both AI and the energy sector.
The October 2024 OODA Network Monthly Meeting—held on Friday, October 18, 2024—featured guest speaker Dor Sarig, CEO & Co-founder of Pillar Security, to discuss the recently released Pillar Security report on The State of Attacks on GenAI.
The 2024 Geography of Crypto Report—an annual report from Chainalysis—provides an analysis of regional trends in cryptocurrency adoption and patterns crucial for investors, policymakers, and businesses as they navigate the evolving global landscape of crypto adoption.
Last week, the UK proposed a new data protection regime, hoping for an economic boost by hueing closer to EU data protection laws – while the U.S. proposed new rules governing data transfers to adversarial nations. Details here.
The government needs large clusters of GPUs dedicated to missions that matter to national security and acceleration of AI in service to our citizens. We currently have none.
During a visit to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on May 14, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a groundbreaking defense agreement that will see Qatar acquire $ 42 billion worth of advanced American military equipment. The centerpiece of the Qatar leg of this tour was the official announcement of Qatar’s procurement of the…
China launched 12 satellites early Wednesday for an on-orbit computing project led by startup ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern (0412 UTC) May 14 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Insulation tiles fell away from the payload fairing as the rocket climbed into…
Rampant labour trafficking that left tens of thousands of Bangladeshis stranded without jobs in Malaysia must be addressed first before signing any deal to end a year-long freeze on entry for a fresh cohort of migrant workers, activist groups have warned. Bangladesh, one of Asia’s poorest nations, sent as many as 450,000 people to work…
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said that the most “crucial task” for the country’s armed forces is to make “full preparations for war”. After he observed special forces exercises, the dictator said that his country had to be ready for “all levels of modern warfare”, according to state media. In a video of the…
Indian security forces have killed 31 Maoist rebels in what the country’s home minister called the “biggest operation against Naxalism”. Amit Shah said on social media on Wednesday that the operation took place on Karreguttalu Hill on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana. “The hill on which the red terror once reigned, today the tricolour…
China has announced plans to build the world’s largest hydroelectric project at a remote river gorge in eastern Tibet, an ecological treasure trove close to a disputed border with India. Indian politicians have reacted angrily, saying it gives China the ability to release destructive “water bombs” across the border in any future conflict. They are…
The United States agreed on Tuesday to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done. The agreement, signed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh, covers deals with more than…
Legal tech startup Harvey is in discussions to raise more than $250 million in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue that would value it at $5 billion, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources. Sequoia Capital, which led the startup’s $300 million Series D just three months ago, is also expected to invest in…
Coinbase expects to pay $180 million to $400 million relating to remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements related to this incident, which saw attackers gain access to users personal information. Coinbase received an email communication from the unknown threat actor on May 11, according to the firm. Attackers were able to access customers personal details,…
Pathos AI, a New York drug development startup, raised $365 million in a Series D at a $1.6 billion valuation. The round represents investors’ continued interest in platforms using AI for drug development. The financing brings Pathos AI’s total funding to around $467 million, per PitchBook data. Pathos AI did not disclose Series D investors.…
China’s humanoid robot revolution is unfolding at breakneck speed, raising serious concerns about mass unemployment as these sophisticated machines begin replacing human workers across multiple industries. With over 1,000 units set to roll out from production lines this month alone, the economic transformation is already sending shockwaves through China’s labor market. What began as experimental…
Quantum computing is expected to leave classical computing in the dust when it comes to solving some of the world’s most fiendishly difficult problems. The best quantum machines today have one major weakness, however — they are incredibly error-prone. That’s why the field is racing to develop and implement quantum error-correction (QEC) schemes to alleviate…
Quantinuum, the quantum-computing company majority-owned by Honeywell, finalized a $1 billion agreement with a Qatari investment firm, citing ramping global demand for the technology. The announcement came amid President Donald Trump’s four-day trip to the Middle East. It was part of a multi-billion-dollar trade deal that included a string of purchases from U.S. defense contractors…
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have unveiled a fully automated digital laboratory system capable of autonomously synthesizing thin-film materials and evaluating their structural and physical properties. Known as the digital laboratory, or dLab, the system marks a significant advancement in robot- and data-driven materials science. By integrating automated material synthesis with in situ property…
Google has overtaken IBM to become the leader in generative AI-related patents and also leads in the emerging area of agentic AI, according to data from IFI Claims shared first with Axios. Patent filings, though they’re not a direct proxy for innovation, indicate areas of keen research interest — and generative AI patent applications in…
The UK and Germany have agreed to develop a new deep strike weapon system. The UK and Germany have annouced that they intend to jointly develop a new deep strike weapon system. They have said that the weapon will be capable of hitting targets nearly 2,000 KM away. This project builds on a previously signed…
Al Qaeda affliate in Burkina Faso has claimed responsibility for an attack. An Al Qaeda affiliate in Burkina Faso has claimed responsibilty for an attack which killed 60 soldiers. The affiliate has carried out a series of recent attacks in the country as well as in Mali. The attacks have underminded claims of the governments…
Sri Lanka and India have agreed to a debt restructuring agreement. Sri Lanka and India have come to an agreement to restructure the nation’s debt. The deal affects several loans and investment projects in Sri Lanka. The agreement follows years of instability in Sri Lanka caused by poor government finances. Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-restructures-nearly-9308-million-credit-lines-with-india-2025-05-15/
Israel successfully intercepts missiles fired from Yemen. The Israeli military was able to successfully intercept several missiles fired from Yemend by the Houthis. The Houthi campaign against Israel has continued despite repeated strikes by Israel and the United States against the group. The Houthi attacks occured as the US President Trump is visiting the region.…
Steelmaker Nucor has disclosed that its operations were disrupted by a cyber attack. The largest steelmaker in North America has disclosed that its operations were disrupted by a cyber attack. The company said that it was forced to take several systems offline in response to the attack. The company has said there will not be…
The Australian Human Rights Commission has disclosed a data breach. The Australian Human Rights Commission has disclosed that data related to complaints was made accessible due to human error. The Commission said that roughly 700 documents were affected by the breach. The Commission said that the breach did not expose significant amounts of personal data.…
Nova Scotia Power has disclosed information related to an previously reported cyber attack. Nova Scotia Power has disclosed information related to which customers were impacted by a previously reported cyber attack. The company disclosed that 550,000 customers had their data stolen during the attack. The company has said they are not aware of any misuse…
A Chinese APT has carried out attacks against drone sector supply chains. The Chinese APT Dubbed Earth Ammit has carried out several attacks against the drone sector’s supply chains. Researchers found that the group carried out a series of complex attacks against several targets over several months. They also found that the group relied on…
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday had tea with a former jihadist who until recently had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, once known by his militant nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, met Trump in Riyadh six months after leading a swift campaign that toppled the half-a-century-old…
Artificial intelligence agent and assistant platform provider Vectara Inc. today announced the launch of a new Hallucination Corrector directly integrated into its service, designed to detect and mitigate costly, unreliable responses from enterprise AI models. Hallucinations, when generative AI large language models confidently provide false information, have long plagued the industry. For traditional models, it’s…
Bangladesh’s Election Commission has cancelled the registration of the former ruling party of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, preventing it from participating in the next national election, which is expected to be held by June next year. The decision on Monday came hours after the country’s interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad…
The most intense clashes for years rocked Tripoli for a second night and continued into Wednesday morning, witnesses in the Libyan capital said, after Monday’s killing of a major militia leader set off fighting between rival factions. The United Nations Libya mission UNSMIL said it was “deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated…
An airstrike by Myanmar’s military on a village in the country’s central Sagaing region hit a school on Monday, killing as many as 20 students and two teachers, according to a member of a resistance group, an aid worker and media reports. The morning attack on Ohe Htein Twin village in the region’s Tabayin township,…
Mali’s military government has dissolved all political parties after accusations from rights groups that opposition figures have been arrested. Assimi Goita, who seized power in two army coups in 2020 and 2021, validated the decision after it was broadcast to Malians in a televised statement on Tuesday. The parties were disbanded after demonstrations this month,…
U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and…
OpenAI is in talks to acquire Windsurf, an A.I.-powered computer programming tool, for around $3 billion, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The acquisition could gain OpenAI thousands of new customers in the tech industry, which is rapidly embracing tools, like Windsurf, that can instantly generate computer code. The potential deal, which would…
Nine years ago, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence scientists singled out an endangered occupational species. “People should stop training radiologists now,” Geoffrey Hinton said, adding that it was “just completely obvious” that within five years A.I. would outperform humans in that field. Today, radiologists — the physician specialists in medical imaging who look…
Databricks has agreed to acquire database startup Neon in a deal valued at about $1 billion, a move the company hopes will make it more attractive to businesses that want to create their own artificial intelligence bots. The data analytics company said the deal addresses a challenge that businesses face when deploying AI agents: how…
Emerging technologies, including quantum computing, could potentially render the cryptography securing Bitcoin and other blockchain networks ineffective, asset manager BlackRock said in a regulatory filing. On May 9, BlackRock updated the registration statement for its iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). The revised version addressed potential risks to the integrity of the Bitcoin network posed by quantum…
New AI agent evolves algorithms for math and practical applications in computing by combining the creativity of large language models with automated evaluators. Large language models (LLMs) are remarkably versatile. They can summarize documents, generate code or even brainstorm new ideas. And now we’ve expanded these capabilities to target fundamental and highly complex problems in…
The nascent humanoid robots market offers a large opportunity, but uptake will be low in the short and medium-term, according to a new report from Interact Analysis. Despite the hype about humanoid robots and significant investment activity, the market intelligence specialist predicts market growth will be relatively slow, reaching over 40,000 units by 2032 with…
The Commerce Department issued guidance stating that the use of Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ascend artificial intelligence chips “anywhere in the world” violates the government’s export controls, escalating US efforts to curb technological advances in China. The agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement Tuesday that it’s also planning to warn the public…
At least 70 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza as indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas continue in Watar. Of these 70, at least 50 have been killed since early Wednesday morning. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the recent attacks, which come while an Israeli delegation meets with…
Iran has proposed creating a joint nuclear enrichment venture on a new path to reaching a nuclear deal with the United States. The agreement would involve Arab countries in the region, as well as American investments. The plan was proposed to American officials during talks over the weekend. It is not yet known how feasible…
On Tuesday, President Trump announced that he will lift sanctions on Syria. Trump is expected to meet with Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s new president, on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia as his first major state visit of the current term. The announcement, which came as a surprise, sparked a positive reaction from citizens across Syria who celebrated…
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a $600 billion investment by Saudi Arabia in the U.S., including a $142 billion weapons sales agreement and technology partnerships. The agreement also includes collaboration between the two countries in areas such as energy and mineral development. It is the largest-ever weapons sale between the nations, representing deepening economic…
ENISA, the European Union cybersecurity agency, has announced the launch of the European Vulnerability Database (EUVD). The database will aim to provide data on current vulnerabilities, such as exploitation status and mitigation measures. It will be freely accessible to anyone, and include information sourced from vendors and other vulnerability databases like CISA’s KEV catalog and…
Marks & Spencer, the large United Kingdom retailer, is now stating that customer data was stolen in the recent cyberattack suffered by the company. The incident forced the company to shut down online orders for weeks after the data breach. M&S said that personal data including contact details and dates of birth was accessed during…
A North Korean-backed threat group, TA406, is targeting Ukrainian government agencies in attempts to gather intelligence on Ukraine’s willingness and ability to fight back against Russia. The hackers are helping North Korea assess the risks posed to its troops deployed in Ukraine and figure out if Russia may need more. Historically, the group has targeted…
Repeated drone attacks striking Port Sudan since early May serve as a reminder that the civil war tormenting the country, now in its third year since April, remains as devastating as ever. The numbers reflect the extent of this often-overlooked conflict: over 150,000 dead and more than 13 million people displaced by the fighting. Until…
Despite his detention by the International Criminal Court, former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to have been elected as mayor in his home city by a landslide, according to preliminary results on Tuesday. At least five candidates backed by his family were also among those leading the race for 12 Senate positions, in a stronger-than-expected…
A hacker group known as APT37 has launched a new espionage campaign against organizations in South Korea with interests in national security, researchers have found. The group, also known as ScarCruft, impersonated a North Korea-focused expert and a think tank to lure victims into opening phishing emails, reports South Korean cybersecurity firm Genians. One email…
Pakistan’s Chinese-made weapons have shown strength against India’s Western and Russian ones in their clash over Kashmir, but analysts caution that it is too soon to say which side’s arms technology will prove superior in combat. Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated after India conducted military strikes, dubbed Operation Sindoor, on sites in Pakistan and…
President Trump signed an executive order in February establishing refugee status for Afrikaners, the white ethnic minority in South Africa that created and led the brutal system of apartheid. As part of the executive order, the Trump administration created an expedited path for Afrikaners to resettle in the United States, even as the administration has…
On May 13, 2025, the United Arab Emirates officially presented the South Korean M-SAM-II ballistic missile interceptor system, also known as Cheongung Block-II, marking its first public appearance in the Middle East. Developed by LIG Nex1 and showcased under the umbrella of Hanwha Aerospace at IDEX 2025, the system reflects South Korea’s increasingly assertive role…
Netpoleon has been appointed as the official value-added distributor for SailPoint across Australia and New Zealand, expanding a partnership that has previously been concentrated in the wider Asia region. The announcement was made on Monday and marks a strategic step in strengthening SailPoint’s channel ecosystem in the ANZ market. Under the new arrangement, Netpoleon will…
European defence technology start-up Helsing has unveiled plans for a fleet of unmanned mini submarines that it claims will greatly enhance naval surveillance, at a time of rising threats to ships and critical ocean infrastructure. The company said its autonomous glider, SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol underwater for up to three months at…
Apple is embracing the world of brain computer interfaces, unveiling a new technology that one day could revolutionize how humans interact with their devices. The company is taking early steps to enable people to control their iPhones with neural signals captured by a new generation of brain implants. It could make Apple devices more accessible…
Intel Corp. has certified Shell Plc’s lubricant-based method for cooling servers more efficiently within data centers used for artificial intelligence. The announcement on Tuesday, which follows the chipmaker’s two-year trial of the technology, offers a way to use less energy at artificial intelligence facilities, which are booming and are expected to double their electricity demand…
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund-backed artificial intelligence company HUMAIN has selected US chipmaker and Nvidia competitor Groq for its inference work, and has tapped Aramco’s former head of digital Tareq Amin to lead the company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. HUMAIN, launched on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s visit…
Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to make Pasqal’s neutral-atom quantum processing unit (QPU) available through Google Cloud Marketplace. With this, any organization leveraging Google Cloud will have the opportunity to access the all-in-one Pasqal Cloud platform – available as a separate service – to integrate…
In a sprawling warehouse in a Shanghai suburb, dozens of humanoid robots are manoeuvred by their operators to carry out tasks like folding a T-shirt, making a sandwich and opening doors, over and over again.Operating 17 hours a day, the site’s goal is to generate reams of data that its owner, Chinese humanoid startup AgiBot,…
Nvidia will sell over 18,000 of its latest artificial intelligence chips to Saudi Arabian company Humain, CEO Jensen Huang announced on Tuesday. The announcement was made as part of a White House-led trip to the region that includes President Donald Trump and other top CEOs. The cutting-edge Blackwell chips will be used in a 500…
Generative AI (gen AI) has revolutionized workplaces, allowing professionals to produce high-quality work in less time. Whether it’s drafting a performance review, brainstorming ideas, or crafting a marketing email, humans collaborating with gen AI achieve results that are both more efficient and often superior in quality. However, our research reveals a hidden trade-off: While gen…
As President Trump begins a trip to Saudi Arabia this week, he is requesting the country invest $1 trillion in the United States. The number is equivalent to Saudi Arabia’s entire gross domestic product last year. Although the Saudi crown prince is offering $600 billion, economists believe that neither number is realistic. The country is…
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