Apple announced the revamp, ‌called “Siri AI,” at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference at its Cupertino, California, headquarters. Siri AI is capable of analysing what is on the device screen, and has what Apple called “broad world knowledge” that allows it to reach out to the web for more information, Apple said.

Users will also be able to refer back to a previous Siri conversation, and the assistant will be able to find bits of information like a friend’s address sent in a message, even if that information was not formally saved, Apple executives said.

“Truly ​helpful AI must be centred around you and your needs,” Apple software chief Craig Federighi said.

“This means integrating AI deep into the products you use every day, grounding it in your personal context and ​the apps you rely on, and designing it with privacy at every step. This is our vision for Apple Intelligence.”

APPLE’S LAGGING POSITION IN AI RACE

Apple’s Siri overhaul has ⁠been the central focus for this year’s developer conference, after the company’s initial promise of a Siri revamp in 2024 was followed by multiple delays, leaving the company lagging in the AI race.

Apple has been seeking to ​close a gap with rivals such as Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, which have moved faster to embed “agentic” AI — software that can carry out complex tasks — into everyday computing.

With OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini AI chatbots gaining strong ​traction among consumers, Apple’s Siri — which became the first mainstream voice assistant following its launch in 2011 — has been on a losing streak.

Apple on Monday said Siri AI comes with a new voice experience that allows the assistant to sound “a lot more expressive” and more conversational. Apple said Siri AI will also be available on its iPads, and that it was still working on tailoring the assistant for its smartwatches.

Apple said Siri AI will not be available “initially” in the EU on iPhones or iPads, and that it ​will not be available in China at all, as the company works through regulatory issues.

Apple said it is also adding new features to blur, by default, images of gore in messaging apps and alert parents, building on earlier tools that took such steps for images containing nudity.

The company said it was working ​with the American Academy of Pediatrics to create a guide ​for parents that helps them establish healthy digital ⁠habits for their children.

APPLE’S AI CHALLENGE

Apple has long kept tight control over its software and user data, and has taken a cautious approach to AI, leaning in part on partnerships, including with Google’s Gemini models, to power new capabilities.

That caution contrasts with competitors betting on AI agents that could eventually replace traditional apps and reshape how people ​use their devices. Rivals such as Microsoft have teased a future where AI “agents” supersede traditional operating systems and apps, and Nvidia is working with PC makers to offer laptops ​that would directly target Apple’s own ⁠high-end MacBooks.

“AI is incredibly powerful technology with the potential to shape society in profound ways, and with proper care, unlock meaningful benefits for people everywhere. Still, some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without clear regard for the people,” Federighi said.

APPLE’S SPENDING PIVOT

Apple’s slower approach, though, has meant the company has so far avoided the massive spending on data centres seen at rivals. But it may now be shifting gears, with financial chief Kevan ⁠Parekh saying on ​Apple’s latest earnings conference call that the company would end its longtime goal of returning its spare cash directly to shareholders, signalling room for ​greater investment.

But in chasing AI, Apple possesses something held by few of its rivals: powerful chips in many of its phones and laptops that can run AI agents for free because consumers already paid for the computing power when they purchased the devices. Apple also has ​a massive trove of personal data sitting on iPhones.

The agreements come during a high-profile trip by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to South Korea that began on Friday and has seen him dine on grilled pork belly and local spirit soju with the country’s top corporate bosses, throw a baseball pitch and meet with a well-known gamer.

Nvidia and its partners, which also included SK Telecom and conglomerate Doosan Group, did ​not disclose the value of the deals.

SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest family-owned conglomerate, said its SK Hynix and SK Telecom arms had agreed deals with Nvidia.

Memory chip ​maker SK Hynix signed a multi-year technology partnership that will see it commit to developing advanced types of memory for global AI ⁠data centres, SK Group said.

SK Hynix and Nvidia said the agreement, which comes as memory chip makers have been straining to keep up with demand, would enable supply ​to keep pace with Nvidia’s plans, which have expanded to robotics, personal computers and AI supercomputers.

“SK Hynix has been Nvidia’s largest memory partner. SK Hynix will continue to be Nvidia’s ​largest memory partner,” Huang said after a meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at the headquarters of the chipmaker’s parent.

Huang said the deal with SK Hynix, a rival to Samsung Electronics and US-based Micron Technology, was for more than two years, with the option to keep extending.

“We already procure, and we buy from SK Hynix already billions and billions of dollars each year, and it’s going to ​grow substantially,” he said.

Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said the SK Hynix-Nvidia partnership reinforced the view that memory chips were evolving from a commodity ​product into a more customer-specific business.

Other deals

SK Telecom said it would build a gigawatt-scale AI cloud in South Korea using Nvidia technology, with the first AI data centre to come online in 2027. ‌

NVIDIA said ⁠internet giant Naver and conglomerate Doosan would also use its technology to help build AI data centres.

Doosan, which is developing robots and makes materials used in Nvidia’s most powerful Blackwell chips, said it expected its energy solution to be used in Nvidia’s data centre platforms and for it to use the US firm’s physical AI technology as well.

NVIDIA is also partnering with LG Group on electronics, mechanical systems and AI for humanoid robots, Huang said after a meeting with the tech conglomerate’s Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.

Huang said the pair were also ​working on the architecture of future data centres ​, including cooling, power delivery and the ⁠entire design and building of the data centres.

South Korea stock rally falters

South Korea is an Asian manufacturing powerhouse, home to major producers of chips, electronics, cars and ships.

SK Hynix and Samsung are the world’s two largest makers of memory chips, which are key ​components in data centres.

The country’s benchmark Kospi index has doubled in six months as heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung benefited from ​the AI wave, but dove almost ⁠9% on Monday after robust US jobs data fanned bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year and sparked a rout in global tech stocks.

Shares in Samsung and SK Hynix both plunged more than 10% in early trading before trimming some losses, with Samsung later down 4.6% and SK Hynix falling 0.6%.

When asked about the global chip stock rout, Huang waved ⁠off concerns. “Everybody ​should be very excited; they can now buy stock at a cheaper price, and the future of AI is indeed very bright.”

Huang also told reporters after a fried chicken dinner with Chey on Sunday that he planned to meet Samsung’s Jun Young-hyun, who leads the company’s semiconductor business, on Monday.

He will ​also meet with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung on Monday afternoon.

Once dominated by governments and large aerospace firms, the sector has opened up due to falling launch costs, improved satellite data processing, and growing demand from commercial and defence customers for space-based services, according to a report in Forbes.

From access to infrastructure

Industry executives say cheaper access to orbit, driven in part by reusable rockets such as Falcon 9 developed by SpaceX, has enabled smaller firms to raise tens of millions in funding and build hardware for space deployment.

Eric Truitt, CEO and cofounder of space infrastructure startup Mantis Space, said launch costs have fallen to about $7,000 per kilogram, allowing startups with relatively modest capital to deploy orbital systems.

“There is truly now a market in space, with demonstrated demand and demonstrated value,” he said.

Building a ‘space power grid’

One of the emerging players, Mantis Space, is developing what it describes as the first orbital power distribution network.

The system would use laser-based transmission to beam energy between satellites in medium Earth orbit, reducing reliance on onboard batteries and sunlight availability.

Originally, the company explored beaming solar energy to Earth, but cofounder Jeremy Scheerer said physics constraints made that model less viable.

Instead, the company shifted focus to “transmitting power from space to space,” targeting satellites that spend significant time in Earth’s shadow.

The Albuquerque-based firm operates a 20,000-square-foot laser optics lab in New Mexico and has raised a $15 million seed round alongside roughly $28 million in non-dilutive public funding.

Its 22-person team includes engineers with backgrounds in major optics and space science programmes.

National security and operational demand

New leadership additions include former US navy officer Hugh Wyman Howard III, who said orbital power is becoming a key limiting factor for mission capability.

He compared the company’s work to defence operations, noting that reliable power in orbit directly affects the performance of intelligence and surveillance systems used on Earth.

Funding surge, but structural risks remain

Investors say the sector is benefiting from a broader shift in confidence following the commercial success of companies such as ICEYE and others in the satellite data market, alongside growing geopolitical demand for space-based defence capabilities.

However, industry leaders warn that space startups face two persistent challenges: the gap between early funding and stable long-term contracts, and the difficulty of operating complex satellite systems reliably at scale.

Ann Stevens, US CEO of ICEYE US, said many firms fail not in building technology, but in transitioning to sustained, mission-critical service delivery.

“Operating one reliably, day after day, is a different discipline entirely,” she said.

Geopolitics and new markets

Investors also point to rising defence spending and emerging technologies such as direct-to-device connectivity and in-orbit computing as major growth drivers.

Some analysts expect orbital data centres to become a future market, despite technical hurdles.

Space investment firm Seraphim Space said these trends have made it easier for startups to attract venture capital by demonstrating credible commercial pathways within typical investment timelines.

Scaling challenges and launch bottlenecks

A key constraint remains launch capacity, with firms often needing to book rocket rides well in advance.

Startups without enough funding can get stuck waiting for a single rocket launch, slowing down their progress and stretching out months — or even years — before they can try again.

Environmental implications

Companies such as Mantis Space argue that building permanent orbital infrastructure could reduce waste from decommissioned satellites, which are often deorbited into the ocean.

Extending satellite lifespans from a few years to a decade or more is also seen as a potential environmental benefit.

Outlook

Mantis Space plans to begin in-orbit demonstrations of its laser-based power transmission system in 2028, with long-term ambitions to expand orbital energy infrastructure.

Truitt said the broader goal is to remove power constraints in space systems: “We are enabling humanity’s ability to go beyond Earth, and by solving the power constraint, we unlock the true potential of space.”

“We are ​working with them in ​motor technology as well as mechanical systems so ​that we can ​bring together humanoid robotics and ‌the ⁠future of robotics,” he told reporters after a meeting ​with LG ​Group ⁠Chairman Koo Kwang-mo in Seoul.

“We’re ​also working with ​LG ⁠in architecting the future data centres,” ⁠he ​said.

The coin-sized implant, known as NEO, has reportedly completed clinical trials and is designed initially to help patients with spinal cord injuries and paralysis by enhancing nervous system function.

It is expected to enter mass production for use within China’s state-run healthcare system, with early deployment focused on medical rehabilitation applications.

The development has sparked renewed global attention on brain-computer interface technology, an emerging field also being pursued by Neuralink, the neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk.

Musk has previously described the potential of such implants as transformative, including restoring movement and vision in patients with severe neurological conditions.

Neuralink has also been testing devices that aim to allow users to control digital interfaces through thought.

Experts say the technology could eventually extend beyond medical use into broader human-machine integration, though they caution that it raises major ethical and security concerns.

Cybersecurity specialists have warned that brain implants could expose highly sensitive neural data, including thoughts and memories, to hacking risks or misuse by corporations or hostile actors.

Analysts also say issues of data ownership and privacy will become central as the technology develops, given the intimate nature of brain activity compared with existing digital tracking systems.

While proponents argue brain-computer chips could benefit billions of people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and stroke, researchers note that the technology remains experimental and carries medical risks.

These include potential brain damage, immune rejection, infection, and complications from implanting devices in sensitive neural regions.

The Chinese-developed implant is currently reported to be entering early large-scale production, while Neuralink’s system is still undergoing limited human trials and awaiting broader regulatory approval.

The proposed structure, named Freedom Ship, would measure around a mile in length, 800ft in width and rise to 30 decks, with capacity for permanent residents, visitors and crew.

Project developers say the floating city would include housing for around 50,000 residents, space for additional visitors, as well as schools, shops, restaurants and healthcare facilities, including a research hospital.

Other proposed facilities include hotels, a convention centre, a sports stadium, museums, a symphony hall, a water park and entertainment venues, alongside commercial and retail districts.

The vessel is expected to operate continuously at sea, circumnavigating the globe every few years at a slow cruising speed, remaining in international waters and relying on ferries for passenger transfer to and from land.

Design plans also include transport systems within the ship, extensive walkways and green spaces.

The project, which has been discussed for decades, is being led by a development team that says construction could begin once funding is secured.

Early proposals suggest the ship would be built in sections before being assembled offshore, with construction potentially taking several years.

Developers say the project could include commercial leasing opportunities for businesses operating on board, along with facilities such as a hospital and other large-scale services.

The concept remains in the planning and fundraising stage, with no construction currently underway.

The streaming platform ⁠announced the move in an SEC filing on ​Friday, saying Hoag assumed the role following its ​annual shareholders meeting on June 4.

Netflix said in April that Hastings is quitting the company in order to ​focus on his philanthropy and other ​pursuits.

Hastings transformed Netflix from a DVDs-by-mail business to a ‌global ⁠streaming goliath that revolutionised the distribution of movies and television series.

He also steered it through the COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted its growth ​even as ​other entertainment ⁠companies struggled.

Hoag co-founded TCV, a growth equity firm, which has been an investor ​in Netflix for many years.

Hoag has ​served ⁠on Netflix’s board since 1999 and was the lead independent director for more than ⁠a ​decade.

He currently serves on the ​boards of Zillow Group and Peloton Interactive.

The four astronauts of NASA’s Crew-12 mission aboard the station — two Americans, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut — along with another US astronaut were ordered by NASA mission ​control at 9.04am ET on Friday to enter their SpaceX-built Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said.

NASA ​reversed that order roughly two hours later and told the astronauts they could return to the station as the agency ⁠and its Russian counterparts examined the rate of leaking air.

NASA and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, the station’s two primary operators, have debated for months over ​the cause and potential fixes of small air leaks aboard Russia’s Zvezda service module, a key structure of the ISS, a football field-size orbital laboratory ​where astronauts live and work in space.

Roscosmos said on Friday that its experts had detected two leaks aboard the ISS but that there was no immediate threat to the crew.

The first leak was quickly sealed, and preparations were underway to seal the second one, Roscosmos said, adding that there was no threat to the spacecraft’s systems.

The air leaks ​have been relatively minor in recent months but escalated on Friday from a pound of air per day to two pounds, according to a senior ​NASA official who asked not to be named.

The ISS is currently home to seven astronauts from two missions, including the Crew‑12 team — NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack ‌Hathaway, European ⁠Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — who arrived in February.

The other crew of one US astronaut, Christopher Williams, and two cosmonauts, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, arrived in November.

Kud-Sverchkov and Mikayev, who did not execute evacuation procedures, were planning to use a saw to reach an area where they believed they could access the crack leaking air, the NASA official said.

NASA officials disagreed with this method, the NASA official said, prompting mission control ​in Houston to order safe-haven procedures.

Stevens ​said NASA reversed the safe-haven order ⁠and told astronauts they could return to the space station once Roscosmos paused its efforts to repair the crack.

“We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks,” she said.

Safe-haven orders are rare on ​the International Space Station, though pieces of space debris that risk colliding with the ISS and smaller changes ​in air leak rates ⁠have triggered the process in recent years.

Astronauts have never had to evacuate the ISS in its 27-year history.

Legislation is before the US Congress that would extend the planned life of the space station for two years, until 2032, to give companies more time to develop a replacement.

The bill has the backing of ⁠Senator Ted ​Cruz, a Republican, and Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat — the chair and ranking member, respectively, ​of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The legislation is part of the committee’s focus on rivalling China’s growing footprint in space.

Leaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives ​are working to reach a consensus on the proposed legislation.

He was talking to reporters after arriving at Gimpo airport in South ​Korea on a flight from Taiwan.

“Korea ​has many sectors to invest in. Robotics ⁠is going to be the next ​major sector here in Korea,” he said.

Huang said ​he had meetings scheduled with Hyundai, LG, SK, Samsung and Naver during his trip.

“Did I bring any ​gifts for Korea? I brought a lot ​of business for Korea,” he told reporters, adding: “I have ‌some ⁠surprises.”

He said Nvidia will partner with Korea’s manufacturing firms in robotics and AI.

“Because Korea is a manufacturing centre of the world, ​we can apply ​the ⁠robotics technology, the physical AI technology that we invent here for ​the industry,” he said.

“The manufacturing of ​semiconductors ⁠will become increasingly robotics and increasingly AI-driven in the future, and so we have ⁠a ​great opportunity to partner with ​the semiconductor companies here as well.”

Creative director Marcus Smith introduced the sequence, which opens with Logan tracking a group of mutants captured by the Reavers, a cybernetic mercenaries working for a figure named Bolivar Trask.

Logan’s signature yellow suit is quickly soaked in red as he hacks his way through the facility, with the claws delivering the kind of visceral, bone-crunching damage comic fans have always imagined.

“The X-Men don’t exist yet in this world — Logan is part of a mutant-protecting group called Team X, facing its darkest hour.” Marcus Smith, Creative Director, said.

The biggest story moment came mid-sequence: Jean Grey appears alongside Logan as the two team up against Trask’s forces. She has a clear and prominent role in the narrative, though playability wasn’t confirmed.

A motorcycle chase across rooftops and through a truck convoy added spectacle before the demo closed with teases of Sabretooth, additional enemy factions, and new suits.

On the gameplay mechanics side, Insomniac confirmed that Logan can die, specifically, if his heart stops, but adrenaline and rage can restart it. When damage accumulates, players mash a button to trigger the healing factor. For those who prefer less carnage, the studio confirmed a less-violent difficulty path and the option to disable blood entirely in accessibility settings.

The game is set across several locations, Madripoor, the Canadian wilderness, and the streets of Tokyo, and is described as a global thriller.

Standard edition costs $69.99; the Digital Deluxe comes in at $79.99 and includes extra suits, claw variants, and additional technique points. Pre-order bonuses include Logan’s classic brown suit, reflective claws, a bonus ability point, and four PlayStation avatars.

Marvel’s Wolverine releases on September 15, 2026, exclusively on PlayStation 5.

Faye, whose true name is Laufey, was secretly a Jötunn giant from Jötunheim hiding among mortals. She was Kratos’ wife and the mother of Atreus, who is later revealed to be the Norse trickster god Loki.

Despite never appearing alive in the games, her fingerprints were on every major event of the Norse saga. She was, according to legend within the game’s world, a feared and respected warrior known as Laufey the Just.

The game picks up immediately after her death, with Faye waking in the Everywhen — a lawless afterlife where gods from every mythology across history clash for dominance. Her mission: protect Kratos and Atreus from beyond the grave. Gameplay shifts away from Kratos’ heavy, brutal style toward something faster and more aerial. She’s joined by two companions — a witty cosmic cube named Phranque, voiced by Jack Quaid, and a ribbon guardian called Rue. Deborah Ann Woll leads the cast as Faye.

Sony revealed that the game is still in development and no release date has been announced.

The more optimistic view ‌on Tesla comes as Musk pursues expansion across multiple technology ventures. Musk is also taking SpaceX public in what could become the largest IPO on record, with a valuation of roughly $1.7 ​trillion, and an expected market debut on June 12.

Investors are looking beyond Tesla’s slowing ​core electric-vehicle business and focusing on future growth opportunities, including robotaxis, humanoid ⁠robots, AI chips and software services that could reshape the company’s earnings ​profile over the next decade, the brokerage said.

J.P. Morgan analysts led by Rajat Gupta, ​who took coverage of the stock last month, highlighted Tesla’s unmatched level of vertical integration across hardware and software.

“We believe this aspect is still somewhat under-appreciated and misunderstood, but for the ​sheer starting-point advantage it brings.”

Reflecting this optimism, J.P. Morgan hiked its price target ​on Tesla shares to $475 from $145.

The brokerage also estimates Tesla’s earnings-per-share (EPS) to “potentially inflect” beyond 2028 and jump ‌nearly ⁠threefold to about $7.50 by 2030 from roughly $1.95 in 2026.

Tesla reported adjusted first-quarter 2026 EPS of 41 cents.

Shares of Tesla were down marginally in early premarket trade on Friday.

The company’s revenue is projected to more than double from about $95 billion in 2025 ​to roughly $203 billion ​by 2030, the ⁠brokerage said, with nearly half of that growth coming from services and newer businesses tied to autonomy and robotics.

Gupta values ​Tesla across five interlinked markets - automotive, energy storage, robotaxis, humanoid robots ​and ⁠infrastructure licensing with a combined potential addressable market of about $3.9 trillion by 2035.

The brokerage, however, warned that execution risks remain high, particularly around regulatory approvals, safety validation and scaling ⁠new ​technologies.

At least 24 analysts rate the stock “buy” or ​higher, 23 have a “hold” rating, and seven rate “sell” or lower, according to LSEG-compiled data.

The $1.6 trillion Facebook and Instagram owner said a proposal to tax platforms 2.25% of all Australian ​revenue — including revenue unrelated to social media — was “indefensible” and went further than actions which had prompted a ​response by the US government.

Meta has previously said it opposed the so-called news bargaining incentive, for ⁠which Australia’s centre-left government is considering industry submissions.

But its latest missive shows how the law risks stirring ​up geopolitical tension between the allies.

The tax “plainly violates the commitments Australia and the United States made in their bilateral ​Free Trade Agreement, which commits Australia to grant American companies ‘treatment no less favourable’ than Australian peers”, Meta said in a blog post published on Thursday.

By drawing on the tech firms’ total domestic revenue, the Australian tax was “even broader than existing digital services taxes ​enacted by some governments, which resulted in the United States initiating trade actions”, the post added.

“We encourage any government ​considering a similar approach to look carefully at what this model actually represents.”

A spokesperson for Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino, who would ‌be ⁠responsible for overseeing the tax, said the government remained committed to the change and any takings would be distributed back to the news media industry.

The issue of making social media companies reimburse news outlets for content that drives clicks has been a point of contention between Australia and Meta since 2021, when the country became the first to ​pass a law forcing ​the platforms to negotiate deals ⁠or face government arbitration.

After briefly blocking all news feeds in Australia, Meta agreed on deals with most major outlets, but in 2024, it said it was stopping paying for ​news.

Instead of installing an arbitrator, the government said it would switch to a ​new model ⁠of charging a tax instead.

It also expanded the list of companies it applied to, from Meta and Google to Meta, Google and TikTok.

Google had struck deals under the previous model but had previously said it opposed the proposed tax.

Under ⁠the current ​Trump administration, Australia’s effort to regulate mostly US-based tech firms has ​emerged as a flashpoint.

A US congressional committee has called for Australia’s internet regulator to testify about what it has called a regime of censoring ​American free speech.

The regulator has not yet said if she will agree.

EU data centre capacity is expected to more than double in the coming years, reaching 28 gigawatts by 2030 from 12 GW ​last year. That expansion will lift their share of EU electricity consumption ​beyond the current 2.5%.

The European Commission said it would develop minimum ⁠performance standards for both new and existing data centres, with a “needs assessment” ​due by 2027.

Power hungry

Data centres underpin digital services and are driving the surge ​in computing and AI. But their heavy energy use risks slowing Europe’s clean energy transition - if fossil fuel plants are kept running longer or new ones are built to meet demand - ​and could push up power costs as grids come under strain.

“If not ​tackled at the EU level now, these challenges could grow considerably and become harder to ‌solve in ⁠the coming years, as the energy consumption of the sector is expected to increase further,” the Commission said.

Data centres are expected to drive 20% of growth in electricity demand in advanced economies by 2030, according to the International Energy ​Agency.

The EU is ​also working on ⁠a sustainability label for data centres, covering criteria including water use and clean energy supply, which large facilities would have to make public.

That ​proposal, expected on Wednesday, has been delayed. Officials told Reuters the Commission ​is ⁠still debating issues, including how to assess data centres powered by nuclear energy. A Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plans are part of a broader ⁠EU tech ​package aimed at boosting domestic cloud and ​AI capacity and reducing reliance on Big Tech. Other measures include using generative AI to speed up permitting for new energy projects ​and funding AI tools to help manage Europe’s power grid.

Unless governments heed the rising environmental ‌costs of AI, the rapid rollout could also strain scarce land resources and create mountains of electronic waste, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warned in a ​report.

Here are a few takeaways:

Last year, data centres consumed 448 terawatt-hours of electricity ​globally, more than the whole of Saudi Arabia. AI accounted for ⁠a fifth of the total.

They also consumed 4.5 trillion litres of water, enough ​to meet the needs of more than 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, while ​generating 189 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

“The public debate still often treats AI as software, but AI is also physical infrastructure: data centres, electricity generation, cooling systems, transmission networks, chips, minerals, ​land and water,” said Kaveh Madani, the institute’s director and the report’s lead ​author.

Annual power consumption from data centres is projected to double to 945 TWh by 2030, around ‌the ⁠same as the whole of Japan, with AI accounting for 40% of the total.

Water consumption is expected to reach 9.3 trillion litres, while CO2 emissions will rise to 399 million tons.

The data centre land footprint is also forecast to increase from 6,900 ​square km (2,664 square miles) ​last year to ⁠more than 14,500 square km by 2030, the report said.

While AI could boost efficiency by optimising power grids and reducing waste, ​overall electricity and water demand is still likely to rise ​as countries ⁠and corporations race to build new capacity.

“Right now, the competition for growing faster than others overshadows the very basic principles of sustainable growth,” Madani added.

“AI will not simply ‘run out’ ⁠of ​water or electricity worldwide. But in specific places, ​poorly planned data centre expansion could collide with existing resource pressures. That is why responsible planning matters now, ​before infrastructure and dependencies become locked in.”

The move sets up an early test of whether investor appetite for ‌artificial intelligence, which has fueled lofty private valuations and talk of potential trillion-dollar listings, will hold up under public scrutiny, and which company gets to set the template for how the fast-growing sector is valued.

Anthropic, which makes agentic coding assistant Claude Code, did not disclose the size or the terms of the offering.

It last raised $65 billion at a post-money valuation of $965 billion in late May, putting it ahead of OpenAI.

The listing would represent one of the most consequential stock ​market debuts in years, potentially reshaping benchmark indexes, investor flows, and the broader narrative driving US equities.

Reuters reported in May that OpenAI was also preparing to confidentially file for a US ​IPO in the coming weeks.

That follows SpaceX’s mega-IPO filing, which is on course to rewrite the record books as the Elon Musk-led company pursues a $75 ⁠billion offering at a $1.75 trillion valuation and could begin trading within two weeks.

Confidential submissions let companies advance IPO preparations while shielding sensitive financial details from rivals and the public.

“Filing shortly after SpaceX allows ​Anthropic to capitalise on strong investor interest in AI and growth stocks while the window remains favourable,” Kat Liu, vice president at IPO research firm IPOX, said.

“Anthropic’s valuation ambitions appear far less aggressive in comparison (to ​SpaceX) than they might have looked in isolation.”

Race for dominance

OpenAI and Anthropic have become the face of the AI boom that has redrawn corporate strategies, sparked a global arms race for computing power and talent, and turned AI-linked companies into some of the market’s most richly valued firms.

“For OpenAI, the conventional read is that Anthropic just seized the narrative advantage by filing first,” said Harrison Rolfes, a senior analyst at PitchBook.

“The unconventional read is that OpenAI ​got the better end of this: Anthropic just volunteered to absorb all the disclosure risk first, and OpenAI now has a free option to watch how institutional investors react to audited frontier AI financials ​before committing to its own price.”

On prediction markets, where traders wager on the outcome of future events, most participants had expected OpenAI to file for an IPO before Anthropic.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a CNBC interview that ‌he is ⁠not focused on the timing of a potential initial public offering for the ChatGPT maker, following news of Anthropic’s confidential filing.

He added that the company will go public when it makes sense to do so.

Anthropic’s valuation has more than doubled from $380 billion in February, when it raised $30 billion in a funding round.

The company’s rapid rise in early 2026 rattled markets, triggering sharp selloffs in software and IT stocks as investors worried its increasingly autonomous AI tools could upend traditional business models and accelerate disruption across industries.

Its latest funding round drew backing from a mix of Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors, including Blackstone, Brookfield, ​D1 Capital Partners, GIC, General Catalyst and Insight ​Partners.

A market milestone

As a slew of blockbuster listings ⁠races toward public markets, companies from SpaceX to AI giants are competing for a finite pool of investor capital.

Analysts, including D.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria, said the two companies were racing to go public before capital on Wall Street ran out, and to set the agenda for how a frontier AI model — ​one that pushes the boundaries of what machines can do in language, reasoning, or coding — reports financials in a way that is favourable to ​their financial model.

“The combined demand ⁠for capital from SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic will be so considerable that it is likely to create disruptions in the capital markets, so going early will be a great advantage,” Luria said.

At a valuation of close to $1 trillion, Anthropic would vault to the top tier of the S&P 500, alongside a handful of elite companies that dominate global equity markets.

The IPO market has regained momentum in recent weeks, with companies raising $87.5 billion ⁠through May 26, ​the highest year-to-date global total since 2021, according to Dealogic data.

Several sizable US IPOs are also set to hit the ​market later this week, including Honeywell-backed quantum computing firm Quantinuum, Blackstone-backed Liftoff and gas engine manufacturer Innio.

The ‌deal brings in Warren Buffett’s diversified holding company as a major new investor, adding a high-profile endorsement of Alphabet’s long-term AI and cloud strategy.

Alphabet raised its annual capital spending forecast by $5 billion to between $180 billion and $190 billion in ​April, ramping up investments to capture growing AI-driven computing demand with its business AI tools ​and custom chips.

The Google parent will sell $10 billion worth of shares to Berkshire ⁠in a private placement, comprising $5 billion in Class A common stock at $351.81 per share and $5 ​billion in Class C capital stock for $348.20 per share, both below Monday’s closing prices.

The company’s shares were ​down 2% after the bell.

“All companies are thrilled when Berkshire takes positions, because it is the kind of shareholder that companies like to have,” said Steven Check, president and chief investment officer of Check Capital Management, which ​has investments in Berkshire stock.

Berkshire’s investment adds to the position it has built since the third quarter ​last year.

Last month, Berkshire said it more than tripled its stake in the Google parent, which at $16.6 billion has ‌become ⁠one of its largest common stock investments.

“This additional purchase underscores that Greg Abel(Berkshire CEO) believes that Alphabet will earn a reasonable return on its AI capex spending even with the firm issuing additional shares,” said Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust Company.

Alphabet said it aims to raise $30 ​billion through concurrent public offerings ​backed by investment ⁠banks, split evenly between depositary shares tied to mandatory convertible preferred stock and Class A and C shares.

In addition, the company expects to launch a $40 ​billion at-the-market offering programme in the third quarter, giving it flexibility to ​sell Class ⁠A and Class C stock gradually over time.

“The company is experiencing strong demand for its AI solutions and services from enterprises and consumers, at levels that are exceeding the company’s available supply,” Alphabet said.

Alphabet ⁠has raised ​more than $85 billion in debt across six currencies and markets ​over the last year, bringing its total debt balance to over $100 billion, the company said.

Marking the first state to take legal action against the company, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, filed the lawsuit in Florida state court.

It cited a shooting at a Tallahassee university last year ​and several events in other states where ChatGPT allegedly provided information ​to people who went on to commit violence.

At a press conference, Uthmeier said the state named Altman personally because he had been “very central” to pushing some of the features on ChatGPT that He said had been the most harmful.

“People are getting hurt, ​parents are getting deceived, and they need to pay for it,” Uthmeier told reporters.

The lawsuit seeks damages up to billions of dollars, Uthmeier said, plus a court order directing the company to change how ​it interacts with young users.

A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request ​for comment.

OpenAI has said it trains its models to refuse requests that could “meaningfully enable violence,” and notifies ‌law ⁠enforcement when conversations suggest “an imminent and credible risk of harm to others,” with mental health experts helping assess borderline cases.

Uthmeier announced in April that he was launching a criminal investigation into ChatGPT’s role in a 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University after prosecutors reviewed ​the chat logs between ​the alleged shooter and ⁠the program.

AI companies are facing a growing wave of lawsuits accusing them of failing to prevent chatbot interactions that plaintiffs say contribute ​to self-harm, mental illness and violence.

OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit ​filed by ⁠the family of a man killed in the shooting at Florida State University, claiming the shooter was aided by ChatGPT in planning the attack.

In April, family members of victims of one ⁠of Canada’s deadliest ​mass shootings filed a group of lawsuits against OpenAI ​and Altman, alleging the company knew eight months before the attack that the shooter was planning it on ChatGPT but ​did not warn police.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who is in Taiwan for the Computex conference, said the RTX Spark PC chip is part of Nvidia’s effort with Microsoft to “reinvent the PC” ​for the AI era, after three years of collaboration between the companies.

The chip is designed to run AI ​agents locally rather than relying solely on cloud computing. Huang said that it was developed ⁠with Taiwan’s MediaTek on the RTX Spark PC chip.

“The RTX Spark looks to transform the traditional app-centric PC to ​a really useful Agentic AI personal computer which will eventually be in every home in the coming years as private edge ​AI agents become pivotal,” said Neil Shah, Counterpoint Research co-founder.

“This is going to be the ‘RTX Spark’ moment for the personal computing segment, like how iPhone, ChatGPT or DeepSeek have been.”

The new chip and Nvidia’s Vera central processing unit underscore the company’s increasing focus on PC ​and CPU products, with Huang spending much of his keynote address highlighting the RTX Spark PC chip and Vera ​CPU.

The Vera CPU is designed for AI agents, and its early adopters include OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX, according to the $5 trillion chip ‌company’s boss.

Huang ⁠was speaking and presenting ahead of Computex, where leaders of some of the world’s largest technology companies are gathering.

During an earnings call in May, Huang said Nvidia’s new Vera central processors give it access to a new $200 billion market.

“This (Vera CPU) is going to be our new major growth driver,” said Huang during a lengthy speech outlining Nvidia’s latest AI ​products and highlighting the island’s ​central role in the global ⁠technology industry.

Huang dismissed as “complete nonsense” concerns that AI would reduce demand for software engineers, arguing instead that the technology would drive hiring by making workers more productive.

“This is the ​promise of AI. The number of engineers, software engineers, is actually increasing. People talk about ​AI reducing ⁠jobs - complete nonsense. It’s causing more software engineers to be hired.”

Huang, who was born in Taiwan’s southern city of Tainan, announced plans last week to invest around $150 billion a year in Taiwan, describing it as the epicentre of the AI revolution.

The speech at ⁠the Taipei ​Music Hall comes around two weeks after he accompanied US President ​Donald Trump on a visit to Beijing, part of a high-powered corporate delegation, to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Computex trade show runs from June 2 ​to 5.

Meta agreed to ‌pay the most at $9 million in the bellwether case for school districts, according to documents that reveal financial terms for the first time, as terms of the deals had not been disclosed in court.

The operator of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp settled the case brought by Breathitt County School District on May 21, a few weeks before a planned June trial, following settlements by ​co-defendants Snap Inc, YouTube parent Alphabet and TikTok parent ByteDance.

The settlements did not require the companies to admit liability and included no ​agreements to make changes to the social media platforms.

The companies have denied the allegations and say they take extensive steps ⁠to keep teens and young users safe on their platforms.

YouTube agreed to pay $2.01 million to settle the case, and Snap and TikTok agreed to pay $8 ​million each, according to copies of the settlements.

YouTube also agreed to provide the ​district with special training on Google Classroom and other products.

Representatives for Meta, YouTube and Snapchat said in separate statements that the companies had resolved the case amicably and continue to focus on tools and features meant to keep users safe on their platforms.

Representatives for TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs also did not ​respond to a request for comment.

They have previously said that their focus is now on pursuing similar claims brought by 1,200 other school districts.

Bigger school districts also suing

The Breathitt school district, which is in a rural county in Appalachia, accused the companies of designing their platforms to keep young users hooked, driving ‌anxiety, depression ⁠and self-harm among students and leaving schools to deal with the consequences.

The school district was seeking over $60 million to cover the costs of counteracting social media’s impact on students’ mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health programme to mitigate the problem.

It had also asked for a court order requiring the companies to modify their platforms to reduce addictive features.

Breathitt’s case was slated to be the first among the school districts’ cases, which have been consolidated ​in federal court in California, to go ​to trial.

Judges and attorneys often ⁠use bellwether verdicts to assess the potential value of remaining claims and guide settlement talks.

Breathitt is a small district that serves about 1,600 students across six schools, according to federal data, but the litigation also includes far larger ​districts.

Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, a district of about 40,000 students whose case is scheduled to go to ​trial in February, ⁠is seeking more than $1.1 billion to fund a 15-year mental health programme, plus over $100 million in compensation for the time teachers and staff have spent managing social media’s impact.

The Los Angeles Unified School District and the New York City public school system — together serving more than 1.2 million students — have also sued.

Meta has warned investors that ⁠legal and ​regulatory blowback in the European Union and the US over youth social media issues “could significantly ​impact our business and financial results.”

More than 3,300 lawsuits involving addiction claims against social media companies are pending in California state court.

Another 2,400 cases brought by individuals, municipalities and states, as ​well as the school districts, are pending in the California federal court.

Video posted by NASASpaceflight, a YouTube channel that livestreams launches from Florida, showed the New Glenn igniting on the pad at about 2100 ET before erupting into a massive fireball that billowed skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.

Blue ​Origin said it had experienced an “anomaly”, a term commonly used by rocket companies to describe a launch failure or explosion.

“We experienced an anomaly ​during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more,” the ⁠company said in a post on X.

A hot-fire test is where a rocket engine is fired up while anchored to the ground.

NASA Administrator ​Jared Isaacman said the agency was aware of the incident.

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our ​partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets,” he said on X.

Isaacman also added that NASA would provide information on any impacts to its Artemis and Moon Base programmes.

Earlier this week, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to deliver rovers to the moon’s surface using its ​uncrewed cargo lunar lander, Mark 1, as part of NASA’s broader Artemis lunar exploration missions.

In a separate X post, Bezos said it was “too early ​to know the root cause” of the incident.

“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” he said.

‘Rockets are hard’

Musk’s SpaceX ‌and ⁠Bezos’ Blue Origin, in the latest competition between the billionaire-run companies, have been racing to help return people to the moon ahead of a planned crewed mission by China in 2030 by designing the lunar landers NASA will use.

SpaceX, which unveiled its plans for an IPO earlier this month and is set to become the first trillion-dollar US market debut, has also faced setbacks.

In June last year, its massive Starship spacecraft exploded in a similarly dramatic fireball during testing in Texas ​while preparing for a test flight.

SpaceX ​was partly successful in its 12th test ⁠flight of a Starship prototype last week after it deployed a clutch of mock satellites and executed a controlled splashdown of the spacecraft in the Indian Ocean.

But the Musk-owned company failed to achieve a controlled landing of ​the Super Heavy booster, which tumbled into the Gulf of Mexico.

Musk responded on X to a video of ​the Blue Origin explosion, ⁠saying, “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.“

Blue Origin had said on Wednesday it was preparing the New Glenn rocket to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit, part of efforts to build a broadband constellation to rival Musk’s Starlink network. It did not provide a launch date.

The company has spent billions of dollars and roughly a decade developing ⁠New Glenn, ​a rocket 29-stories high with a reusable first stage meant to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon ​fleet and its more powerful Starship.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the incident, but added that it was outside its scope and did not impact air traffic ​in the region.

The move reverses a previous policy of relying on video creators to self-report if they had used generative AI tools.

“If a creator doesn’t specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label,” YouTube said in a blog post.

The video platform’s last steps on generative AI date back to 2024, when it requested that creators flag content where they had used the technology.

Since then there have been major strides in producing photorealistic images and video, with widely available AI models including Google’s Veo 3.1 and Seedance from TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.

Creators will be able to challenge the new flags if they think their content has been unfairly labelled as AI, YouTube said.

The platform added that the flags would have no impact on its algorithm for recommending videos to users.

Other platforms and social networks to introduce automatic flagging of AI content recently include music streamer Spotify.

Many online spaces are flooded with AI-generated images, video or audio, which is growing increasingly difficult to tell apart from human creations as the tools become more capable.

SK hynix’s new benchmark comes on the heels of rival Samsung Electronics, whose market capitalisation also topped $1 trillion this month — fanning frustration among its workers, who have since struck a deal with management securing massive bonuses and averting a strike.

Shares in SK hynix, which supplies Silicon Valley AI chip titan Nvidia with advanced high-bandwidth memory, were up more than 11 per cent in early afternoon trade.

Its new valuation makes the company one of just three $1 trillion firms in Asia, along with Samsung and Taiwanese contract chipmaker TSMC, according to Bloomberg.

Idaho-based Micron also crossed the $1 trillion barrier on Tuesday and jumped another five per cent at the opening of trade on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Governments and tech firms worldwide are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI data centres that can train and run tools such as chatbots, image generators and agents.

That has caused a dizzying boom in business for companies that make the silicon microchips used to crunch vast amounts of data in these facilities.

“Currently there’s a backlog and there’s a short supply, and there’s a tremendous amount of demand,” Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments told AFP.

This is “economics 101.”

Companies like SanDisk, Western Digital and SeaGate technology have also seen their share prices skyrocket as much as 1,000 per cent in a year.

In April, SK hynix said net profit had rocketed almost 400 per cent to a record high in the first quarter, thanks to the AI boom, which helped it shrug off concerns that the Middle East war could hit the semiconductor industry.

At Samsung, meanwhile, union members on Wednesday approved a deal with management under which around 78,000 employees will each be eligible to receive a bonus of roughly $370,000 this year, based on operating profit estimates.

According to Samsung’s union, workers at SK hynix received bonuses more than three times larger than those paid out by Samsung last year.

The promised windfall at both firms has sharply elevated the social status of chip engineers in South Korea.

A simple jacket bearing the SK hynix logo went viral on social media this month as a symbol of wealth and success, with parody posts depicting it as a “golden ticket” to luxury boutiques — or better dating prospects.

Yonhap news agency reported that jobs at Samsung and SK hynix now guarantee “a boost in marriage market value,” citing a rise in their “desirability indices” compiled by matchmaking agency Sunoo — putting them on a par with traditionally prestigious professions such as doctors and lawyers.

The US space agency said on Tuesday it had awarded Astrolab $219 million ​and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build and ​deliver lunar terrain vehicles.

Blue Origin was awarded ⁠a $188 million contract to deliver the rovers ​to the moon’s surface using its uncrewed cargo ​lunar lander, Mark 1.

The contracts are part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to expand humanity’s footprint ​in space and support future deep-space exploration.

The ​agency said it also selected Firefly Aerospace to build the spacecraft ‌that ⁠will transport drones from Earth’s orbit to the moon for its MoonFall mission, which is targeted for launch in 2028.

NASA’s revised plan for ​Artemis, which ​was created ⁠during President Donald Trump’s first term, involves putting infrastructure, centred on a ​moon base, and vehicles on the ​moon’s ⁠surface.

NASA’s second Artemis mission launched in April, sending four astronauts around the moon and back as ⁠one ​of a few precursor missions ​to the first crewed moon landing since 1972.

“Four years ago, five years ago, Nvidia was spending about 10, 15 billion dollars a year in Taiwan.

Now we’re spending 100, going to 150 billion dollars in Taiwan each year,“ CEO Jensen Huang said at a launch celebration ​in Taipei for the $5 trillion chipmaker’s planned Taiwan headquarters.

The project will break ground this year and aims to be operational ​in 2030, Huang said. He did not provide a timeframe for the number of years the company ⁠plans to invest $150 billion.

The Taiwan headquarters will bring Nvidia closer to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, which makes many of ​the advanced semiconductors powering the trend towards AI and is a major supplier to the US tech giant.

It will also help the world’s ​most valuable company boost its alliances with other manufacturing partners, including Foxconn, Wistron and Quanta Computer, which all play key roles in the build-out of AI servers and infrastructure.

“Taiwan is booming,” Huang said on stage to a crowd including his family, around 1,000 employees and Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an. He said ​Nvidia planned to employ 4,000 people at the new site.

“Taiwan is the epicentre of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, ​packaging comes, this is where the systems are made, this is where AI supercomputers were created.

The number of partners we work with here in ‌Taiwan is incredible.“

Huang ⁠was born in the southern city of Tainan, Taiwan’s historic capital, and Wednesday’s launch was attended by his parents, his wife, daughter and son.

He emigrated to the United States at the age of 9 and has somewhat of a rockstar status in Taiwan, where his every move is followed closely.

Earlier this month, Huang was part of the delegation that accompanied US President Donald Trump on a trip ​to Beijing for a summit ​with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Taiwan ⁠plays a pivotal role in the global AI supply chain for companies including Nvidia and Apple and its position is anchored by TSMC.

Underscoring the significance of Taiwan, Advanced Micro Devices said last week it ​would invest more than $10 billion in Taiwan’s AI sector to deepen strategic partnerships and expand its ​capacity to build ⁠and assemble advanced AI chips.

NVIDIA made history late last year when it became the first company to reach $5 trillion in market value, cementing its place at the centre of the global AI boom, and Huang said on Wednesday it will be worth even more in three ⁠to five ​years.

Last week, Nvidia aimed to reassure investors that it can keep up its blockbuster ​growth with the help of a broad base of customers and that new products will help it beat the $1 trillion in sales it has forecast for its flagship ​AI chips.

The first US pope also expressed concern at a Vatican event launching the text that some autonomous weapons systems have advanced “practically beyond any human ‌reach to govern them”. The event was also attended by Chris Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, one of the world’s top AI companies.

Leo, who has adopted a more forceful tone in recent months and has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump after criticising the Iran war, made a range of impassioned appeals to world leaders in the lengthy document, known as an encyclical.

The first US pope called for ownership of AI data not to be left solely in private hands, for policy-makers to protect the rights of workers and keep children safe from the technology, and urged the cooling of competition ​between AI companies.

“What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating,” said Leo in the text, entitled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity).

The pope called for “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users ​and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility.”

Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff to the Church’s 1.4 billion members.

Monday’s highly anticipated text, spanning ⁠nearly 43,000 words, has been in the works nearly since Leo’s election as pope a little more than a year ago.

POPE REPUDIATES ‘JUST WAR’ THEORY

The document, which addressed AI as its main theme, also decried the number of wars roiling the world, lamented the ​weakening of multilateral organisations and warned that arms industry profits were a driving force behind conflicts.

“The past 60 years have been marked by conflicts of astonishing brutality, often affecting civilian populations on a massive scale,” stated Leo, in the English-language text.

“Humanity is slipping into ​a violent culture of power, where peace no longer appears as a responsibility to be taken on, but as a fragile interval between conflicts,” he said.

At the Vatican event on Monday, Anthropic co-founder Olah thanked Leo for addressing the problems raised by the disruptive, new technology. He said firms like his faced strong commercial pressures and needed outside scrutiny.

“Every frontier AI lab, including Anthropic, operates inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing,” Olah said. Anthropic is the company that produces the Claude AI tools.

In his encyclical, Leo also made ​one of the clearest statements yet from a pope repudiating the just war theory, a doctrine the Church has used since at least the fifth century to evaluate global conflicts.

The doctrine, which generally says that wars should only be waged in order to defend ​against aggression, has also been invoked by Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, to defend the Iran war.

“The ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated,” wrote Leo.

“The use of force, violence ‌and weapons reflects ⁠a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations.”

Leo also expressed concern that leaders could start wars to distract citizens from domestic issues.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that some leaders may consider armed conflict as an effective way of diverting attention from domestic problems and a cynical tool for managing difficulties,” he stated.

POPE APOLOGISES FOR CHURCH’S ROLE IN SLAVERY

The pope said any use of AI in warfare “must be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints” and called it “not permissible” to entrust AI systems with lethal decisions.

Leo, the 14th pope to choose that name, cited centuries of prior papal teachings on social justice issues before addressing the ethics of AI systems.

He specifically invoked his predecessor Leo XIII, who published a famed encyclical in 1891 that called for better pay and ​conditions for labourers during the Industrial Revolution.

Leo XIV decried what ​he called “new forms of slavery” endured by people tending ⁠AI systems and factory workers who produce the technological devices, such as computers and smartphones, on which AI is used.

“In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing the materials from which rare earth elements are extracted,” wrote the pope.

“The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly,” he said. “This reality ​deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time.”

The pope also acknowledged that the Catholic Church did not forcefully condemn transatlantic slavery until the 19th century, and made a personal apology.

“This ​constitutes a wound in Christian memory,” ⁠he wrote. “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

POPE URGES WORLD TO ADDRESS AI RISKS

Leo, who stated in the opening of the letter that he wanted to address Catholics and all people of good will, said society must face “crucial questions” about how AI was developing and the general direction of global leadership.

Invoking the biblical story of the Tower of Babel — where a human tribe is driven by pride to try to create a tower tall enough to reach Heaven, angering God — the pope said the story shows ⁠the risk of ​any enterprise that “aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing.”

“With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet ​another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good,” the pope stated.

Leo urged the world not to give up on addressing the possible risks of AI systems.

“A subtle temptation may emerge, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that ​our choices, therefore, cannot make a difference,” he wrote.

“Certainly, not everyone has the same power to make a difference,” Leo said. “Yet, no one is without responsibility. We all have our own areas for action.”

More than two decades later, He, often described in Chinese technology circles as Huawei’s “chip queen”, has become one of the company’s most important executives and a symbol of China’s determination to survive US sanctions and build a self-reliant semiconductor business.

He is president ​of Huawei’s semiconductor business and director of its Science Committee.

She is also one of only two women on Huawei’s ​17-member board, alongside Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei and Huawei’s rotating chairwoman.

Her latest public appearance ⁠on Monday, a keynote address titled “New Semiconductor Path in Practice” at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Shanghai, places her ​at the centre of a global debate over what comes after Moore’s Law.

For decades, chip progress was driven by shrinking transistors and packing more ​of them onto a single chip, making computers faster, cheaper and more energy efficient, a pattern known as Moore’s Law.

But as semiconductor scaling approaches lithographic and atomic limits, Moore’s Law has become less effective, forcing the industry to find new ways to boost performance.

For Huawei, that challenge arrived earlier and more brutally than ​for many rivals.

US sanctions beginning in 2019 cut the company off from key foreign chip technologies and leading-edge manufacturing, threatening its businesses from ​smartphones to telecommunications equipment.

New US curbs subsequently put many of Huawei’s domestic partners and competitors in a similar predicament, increasing the importance of post-Moore’s Law semiconductor ‌technologies.

He introduced ⁠on Monday what Huawei calls the Tau Scaling Law, a principle the Chinese technology company says can guide chip development as Moore’s Law weakens.

Huawei said its team has spent the past six years applying it and has mass-produced 381 chips based on the approach.

The principle argues that the semiconductor industry should shift its focus from shrinking transistors to speeding up transmission speeds across devices, circuits, chips and computing systems.

30-year Huawei veteran

His ​career has largely tracked Huawei’s global ​rise, its years of struggle following ⁠US sanctions, and then a rebirth as the core driver of China’s mission to become a high-tech juggernaut.

Born in 1969 in Changsha in the southern province of Hunan, she joined Huawei in 1996 as an ​engineer after earning a dual bachelor’s degree in semiconductor physics and communication engineering and also a master’s ​degree from Beijing ⁠University of Posts and Telecommunications.

In 2004, the company formally established HiSilicon, its chip design unit, which He helped build from a small internal department into one of the world’s broadest semiconductor operations.

Under her leadership, Huawei developed capabilities across system-on-chip design, optoelectronics, and advanced packaging.

The portfolio eventually spanned smartphones, artificial intelligence, ⁠general-purpose processors, ​telecommunications, networking and consumer electronics, playing a significant part in Huawei’s 2025 revenue of ​880.9 billion yuan ($130 billion).

After sanctions hit, He became closely associated with Huawei’s internal survival effort.

In a widely circulated 2019 letter to HiSilicon employees, she said the unit was “building ​a backup lifeline for Huawei and for the whole country.”

The Japanese government expects the introduction of AI robots into the workplace ‌to be key in coping with the country’s chronic labour shortage and cementing its position as a leading industrial robot supplier.

Home to Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Japan has been a global powerhouse in conventional industrial robotics.

But it now faces tougher competition from China and the United States in AI-enabled robots, which have a ​certain degree of autonomy to judge their environment and choose their action accordingly, rather than just repeating pre-defined tasks.

About 4% of respondents ​are already using AI robots, 5% plan to deploy them, and 25% are considering doing so, while the ⁠remaining 66% have no such plans, the survey showed.

Transportation equipment makers are the most aggressive adopters of AI-equipped robots, with 80% already using them ​or looking into utilising them. By contrast, 94% of respondents in the wholesale sector have no plan to deploy AI robots.

Among the pool of ​respondents who are already using, planning to use or considering using AI robots, 71% chose manufacturing as a specific usage, 19% picked tasks with certain danger, and 11% selected customer-facing services.

The poll question allowed multiple answers.

The poll was conducted by Nikkei Research for Reuters from May 1-15. Nikkei Research reached out to 492 companies, of which ​220 responded on the condition of anonymity.

Cash hoarding?

Asked about a government guideline urging listed companies to effectively use financial assets they hold that have ​increased in value to drive growth, 60% of respondents said individual firms’ decision on the matter should be respected, and 44% said corporate size should be ‌taken into ⁠consideration in applying such a policy.

Also, 24% said keeping a certain level of financial assets is necessary to make wage hikes possible.

The question also allowed multiple answers.

The Financial Services Agency and the Tokyo Stock Exchange last month compiled a draft revision to Japan’s corporate governance code, asking companies to make sure financial and other assets are being used efficiently for growth.

Cash and deposits held by Japanese companies with capital of 1 billion yen ($6.9 ​million) or more, excluding financial and ​insurance firms, totalled 83 trillion ⁠yen in 2024, up 54% from a decade earlier, raising questions about whether the assets could be better used to spur growth.

“What the draft revision is calling for is to make checks and explain if business resources ​are at appropriate levels. A rise and fall in cash and deposits themselves should not come under ​scrutiny,” an official at ⁠a ceramics maker wrote in the survey.

The draft revision also encouraged listed firms to submit securities reports at least three weeks ahead of general meetings of shareholders.

Last year, about 58% of companies whose financial year ends in March submitted securities reports ahead of general shareholders’ meetings, but 80% of those who ⁠did so ​turned in their reports just one or two days before the meetings.

Asked if ​submitting securities reports at least three weeks ahead of shareholders’ meetings is possible, 33% said hitting the target would be burdensome and difficult, while 26% said they would need to ​take steps such as pushing back the dates of shareholders’ meetings to comply with the guideline.

The move highlights growing pressure worldwide on Big Tech to do more to address the negative impacts of social media, particularly for ​children and vulnerable users.

The complaints, filed by the European ​Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and 29 of its members in 27 ⁠European countries, were submitted to the European Commission and national ​regulators under the Digital Services Act, which requires large online platforms ​to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.

“Meta, TikTok and Google not only fail to pro-actively remove fraudulent ads but also do little when ​being notified about such scams,” BEUC Director General Agustín Reyna ​said in a statement.

“If they fail to address the financial scams circulating on ‌their ⁠platforms, fraudsters will continue to reach millions of European consumers daily, leaving people at risk of losing hundreds to thousands of euros to fraud,” he said.

There was no immediate response from the ​companies to an ​email request for ⁠comment.

The consumer groups said they reported nearly 900 ads suspected of breaching EU laws between December ​last year and March this year but the ​platforms ⁠only took down 27% of the ads and 52% of the reports were rejected or ignored.

The groups urged regulators to investigate whether ⁠the companies ​were complying with the rules and ​to impose fines for breaches.

DSA fines can reach as much as 6% of a ​company’s global annual turnover.

The details of the offer, previously unreported, come as Mark Zuckerberg’s tech and social media giant that also controls Facebook, looks to appease increasingly tough EU regulators ​that are tightening the screws on Big Tech.

Meta submitted its proposal to EU antitrust regulators last week after ​the European Commission said it was considering an order requiring the firm to provide rivals access ⁠to WhatsApp until it wraps up an ongoing investigation into the case.

Neither side gave any details of the ​offer.

Interested parties had until May 18 to provide feedback to the Commission before it decides whether to accept Meta’s offer, ​the people said.

The offer would see Meta start charging rival AI chatbots once they hit a limit in terms of messages sent to users, the two sources added.

The wider case underscores how the EU enforcer is looking to ensure competition in new digital markets by preventing ​Big Tech from amassing market power or thwarting small rivals.

The Commission declined to comment, repeating that its priority is to ​keep the growing market of AI assistants open and competitive for innovators.

It said Meta’s offer should allow space for further talks to ‌address its ⁠concerns.

Meta reiterated earlier comments saying it has given rival AI chatbots in Europe free access to WhatsApp business Application Programming Interface (API) for a month while it seeks to resolve the issue with EU regulators.

An API is a type of software interface which determines how two software systems will interact.

Smaller rivals, however, said they were unimpressed.

The Interaction Company of California, ​developer of the Poke.com AI ​assistant, and French startup Agentik, ⁠both of which had complained to the Commission, dismissed Meta’s offer.

“Unfortunately, Meta’s current proposal is far from resolving any of the competition concerns identified in this case,” The Interaction Company ​of California said.

“If Meta does not put forward a genuinely constructive proposal without delay, ​we urge the ⁠Commission to proceed with the interim measures.”

Agentik founder Jeremy Andre said the offer discriminates against rivals as it would not apply to Meta’s own AI.

Meta’s AI chatbot, however, does not use WhatsApp’s API.

Meta introduced a policy in January allowing only its ⁠Meta AI ​assistant on WhatsApp, before amending it in March and saying rivals could ​use the social messaging app for a fee.

That triggered a second charge sheet from the EU watchdog, prompting the company to suspend fees for a ​month while it discussed its proposal with the Commission.