The UAE embraces AI for kindergartners
The country’s approach offers a glimpse of what education could look like if AI literacy becomes as fundamental as reading and writing.
URSY.NEWS / Publisher
ROW Rest of World
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Technology reporting beyond the West. · Free · 38 headlines archived · restofworld.org ↗
As U.S. blocks DJI, Insta360 races to win American creators
Regulatory clarity and market timing are a boon for smaller Chinese smart-camera maker Insta360 and its independent Antigravity drone brand.
Conflict in the Red Sea is forcing cloud giants to find a new route for the internet
Google, Meta, and Microsoft are said to be securing expensive land routes as fighting around Yemen threatens the submarine cables connecting Europe and Asia.
Not just AI. China is building technologies that challenge U.S. dominance
From batteries and solar panels to drones and satellites, China is building tech capabilities that extend well beyond AI, writes Steve Feldstein in his new book, "Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare."
The AI boom is making the world’s cheapest smartphones disappear
AI data centers are driving demand for memory chips, pushing phone makers to raise prices and abandon some of their most affordable models.
Who gets to decide if AI is safe? Africa wants a say
African companies race to adopt American and Chinese AI, with little attention paid to safety.
Awkward: Saudi Arabia’s new EV brand takes on the U.S. rival it already controls
The Saudi wealth fund’s new EV will compete with Chinese rivals and with Lucid, the U.S. carmaker the fund controls.
AI companies want to embed safety evaluators, but countries need their own
At a Rest of World event in New York last week, speakers explored how countries sidelined by the U.S.-China race can retain some control over safety standards as they adopt models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and others.
The open-source AI platforms vying to become China’s Hugging Face
AI model platforms ModelScope and MoArk are competing to serve Chinese-speaking developers behind the Great Firewall.
South Korea’s AI chip giants are fighting for a bigger role in America’s AI boom
Samsung and SK Hynix dominate the high-bandwidth memory market. Now they are competing to become indispensable to Nvidia, OpenAI, and other U.S. AI companies.
China is excelling in health tech. That’s good news for the world
Ruby Wang, a physician and biotech consultant in the U.K., on her upcoming book on the emergence of China as a global health superpower.
Dario Amodei wants to slow AI. China isn’t taking orders
Chinese officials and engineers see an attempt to preserve the U.S. lead; “Why do you always get to define the game — and change the rules?”
America is in the wrong AI race with China
The U.S. is framing its rivalry with China as one of technical superiority, failing to recognize that public trust and robust consumer protections are necessary for long-term dominance.
Nvidia’s free AI model could push the UAE closer to the U.S.
The Emirates owns the machines but rents the intelligence. Nvidia’s next free AI model could change that.
The case for a robot tax to redistribute wealth
In an excerpt from his book, “Innovate for Impact: A Roadmap to Sustainable Technology Beyond AI,” Alessandro Crimi explains that a tax on automation is more effective than retraining labor.
South Africa joins the global resistance against American data centers
“A massive data center is trying to jump the queue and take our land, water, and energy.”
Playing both sides of the U.S.-China AI “Cold War”
From Latin America to Southeast Asia, countries are dividing their AI investments between the two superpowers rather than choosing one over the other.
Where in the world is the iPhone cheapest?
Apple’s high-end models cost more in markets like India and Turkey owing to high taxes and import duties.
The real AI economy is being built by ordinary people
Far from Silicon Valley pitch decks, workers across Asia and Africa are bypassing tech industry hype to quietly rewire their daily jobs — one prompt, workflow, and local problem at a time.
The AI talent war is coming for Big Tech’s Asia executives
OpenAI and Anthropic are hiring leaders from Meta, Google, Microsoft, and other U.S. tech giants to win new markets across India and Southeast Asia.
Google Earth’s AI experiment lasted 24 hours. The damage to trust will linger
A short-lived generative AI feature in Google Earth that allowed users to create fake satellite imagery shows the lasting effects of unvetted AI tools during a conflict.
Now it’s China’s experts who are gig workers training AI data
Squeezed by a stagnant economy and state directives, China's underemployed lawyers, architects, and engineers are taking cheap gig work to teach AI their exact trades — just to pay this month's mortgage.
Think your EV holds its value? China has some bad news for you
Used car dealers in the world’s biggest EV market are turning away 5-year-old cars, exposing a battery anxiety problem heading for Western buyers next.
Chinese businesses are giving away AI tokens with coffee, credit cards, and dumplings
Five unexpected ways computing power is entering everyday life in the country.
I refused to train the AI that could replace me
AI companies are paying highly educated workers to teach machines the judgment they spent years developing — even when those systems could eventually replace them.
Taiwan’s six-year hunt for China’s undercover chip labs
Previously unpublished government data reveals the scale of Taiwan’s crackdown on Chinese companies accused of hiding their ties while recruiting chip talent and pursuing sensitive technology.
AI safety is designed in the West, and failing users everywhere
OpenAI’s pause shows the risks of rapid AI development, as safety frameworks fail to account for non-Western languages and contexts where harms are felt most.
Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad
As governments consider banning social media for under-16s, Meta is turning to influencers to argue that parental controls are a better solution.
I went to China to see a different AI future. It looked familiar
My trip to China revealed an AI race that looks less like a clash of competing visions, and more like two countries racing toward a similar future.
India’s data center boom is leaving the people it displaces with nothing
Communities are being left behind as AI companies secure tax breaks, cheap land from willing governments.
Why the global push to break free from Big Tech keeps falling short
In this excerpt from the book “The Rulers: Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud,” writer Cecilia Rikap examines how Europe, India, Brazil, and China are taking on big tech companies.
America’s immigration policy is driving away future AI leaders
Visa restrictions are deterring international AI talent from building companies in the U.S., giving other nations including China an opportunity to catch up.
The UAE is fighting AI hackers with AI of its own
Attacks on the country’s banks, aviation, and energy systems have climbed since the war with Iran began. Its answer is a homegrown AI security industry.
A dumpling shop becomes a poster child of AI adoption in China
Business owner quotes Deng Xiaoping as motivator: “Science and technology are a primary productive force.”
“It’s laughable”: Global AI experts challenge Zuckerberg’s “AI for everyone”
Observers scrutinize Meta founder’s argument about AI’s potential as an equalizer and enabler.
Chinese carmakers now sell one EV abroad for every two at home
Dwindling sales at home are pushing the cars toward Brazil, Thailand, and the Gulf.
Ban on Chinese robots leaves U.S. startups stranded
Washington’s limits on foreign parts promises a supply chain revolution — but Silicon Valley founders say domestic alternatives don’t exist yet.
The online shopping trend where you buy nothing
On South Korea’s “dopamine sites,” the pleasure comes from aspirational shopping rituals like browsing, curating, and tracking — not from a delivery.