ai policy4 articles
China Is Bolting AI Onto Its Creaking Camera Grid. The Upgrade Is Significant.
China is upgrading its extensive legacy camera network with AI-powered systems from manufacturers like Hikvision and Huawei, enabling automated behavioral analysis, crowd detection, and text-based video search without manual review. The modernization follows a 2024 government directive issued after a series of violent attacks, shifting the system's focus from reactive individual identification to large-scale, proactive behavioral monitoring. Human rights experts and Anthropic have raised alarm, warning that the upgrades represent a far more sweeping surveillance capability that China could scale significantly by 2028.
OpenAI Plants Its Flag in Singapore With a S$300M Partnership
OpenAI has launched **OpenAI for Singapore** in partnership with Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), backed by a commitment of over S$300 million. The initiative focuses on three areas: deploying frontier AI for organisations tackling key national challenges, developing local AI talent, and broadening AI access for businesses and individuals across the economy. Central to the partnership is the opening of OpenAI's first Applied AI Lab outside the United States, which will create more than 200 technical roles in Singapore.
Three Phone Calls and America's AI Safety Order Was Dead
President Trump cancelled a planned executive order on AI safety at the last minute after phone calls from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and former AI advisor David Sacks, who warned that the proposed measures could slow AI development and jeopardise America's competitive edge over China. The draft order would have established a voluntary system requiring AI companies to submit frontier models to federal agencies for safety testing up to 90 days before release. The order has been shelved for reworking, with critics inside the administration dismissing it as unnecessary fearmongering pushed by AI "doomers."
Flagged as a Pentagon Supply Chain Risk, Anthropic Is Probably Getting the NSA Contract Anyway
Despite being flagged as a supply chain risk by the Pentagon due to its refusal to allow unrestricted lawful use of its technology, Anthropic will likely continue supplying its Claude-based "Mythos" model to the NSA, with the arrangement personally approved by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Mythos is reportedly the only short-term solution for the NSA's classified networks because it can run on older chips, unlike models from competitors that require Nvidia's latest hardware. A contract being finalized includes a clause preventing the model from processing Americans' data, and the White House intends to use it as a template for future AI agreements.