Singapore AI News & Daily Briefing

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_\_\\_[This is a sponsored article with the[Singapore Government Partnerships Office](https://www.sgpo.gov.sg/).]\\_\__ Singapore’s push in artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated in recent years, with [adoption expected to contribute billions to the economy](https://www.edb.gov.sg/en/our-industries/artificial-intelligence-in-singapore.html). To unlock this potential, the government is creating spaces that bring together industry, researchers, and public sector players to collaborate, innovate and share knowledge. One such initiative is [**Lorong AI**](https://lorong.ai/), launched in Jan 2025 by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI). The hub provides a collaborative space for practitioners across sectors to connect, exchange ideas, and partner on AI projects. Lor

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As AI systems become more capable, a lot of resources and effort are being put toward measuring their abilities. Researchers look at technical evaluation metrics, subject AIs to reasoning tests, track their throughput, and much more. But there’s one key metric that often gets overlooked, and it’s arguably the most important of all: What is AI doing to humans? Imran Khan leads psychosocial evaluation of AI at the nonprofit Center for Humane Technology . In a recent essay published on the organization’s Substack, Khan points out that we’re deploying AI tools capable of reshaping our cognition, relationships, and behavior, but with little systematic effort to measure the downstream impacts they’re having on us. The push to look more closely at AI’s psychosocial effects is similar to debates t

## Introduction Before releasing a new model, labs need to understand not just what it can do, but how it is likely to behave in real-world use, including where it might introduce new risks. This becomes even more important as capabilities increase. As part of our pre-deployment safety review, we leverage targeted evaluations, red-teaming, and other checks to understand model behavior. We’ve now started using a method for simulating model deployments before they happen, which adds a complementary signal: a deployment-like preview of how a candidate model may behave before it reaches users. Deployment Simulation is a method for simulating a future deployment before it happens. We do so by replaying previous conversations in a privacy-preserving manner with a new candidate model. This enable

Tracking how fast glaciers are shrinking is crucial for measuring the pace of climate change and projecting future sea level rises. This is normally a painstaking manual job, but a new approach that enables AI to analyze satellite images of glaciers anywhere in the world could help automate the monitoring process. Glaciers that flow directly into the ocean play a crucial role in the earth’s climate, but global warming is making them retreat ever faster. This can have severe knock-on effects as ice that breaks away from “calving fronts”—the ends of glaciers where icebergs shear off into the water—dumps massive amounts of freshwater into the sea, which can alter ocean currents and cause sea levels to rise. Bright white glaciers also reflect a lot of sunlight. When they shrink, they expose da

## Explore our next generation AI systems [Explore models](https://deepmind.google/models/) Gemini [ Gemini Build intelligent agents](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini/)[ Gemini Omni Create anything from anything](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-omni/)[ Nano Banana Create and edit detailed images](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-image/)[ Gemini Audio Talk, create and control audio](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-audio/) Specialized models [ Veo Generate cinematic video with audio](https://deepmind.google/models/veo/)[ Imagen Generate high-quality images from text](https://deepmind.google/models/imagen/)[ Lyria Generate high fidelity music and audio](https://deepmind.google/models/lyria/) World models & embodied AI [ Genie 3 Generate and explore interactive worlds](ht

Jun 09, 2026 6 min read Gemini 3.5 Live Translate is our latest audio model, delivering near real-time speech-to-speech translation in over 70 languages. A Anuda Weerasinghe Product Manager T Tony Lu Senior Staff Software Engineer  [Audio 3](https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblog-publish-prod/media/tts_audio_85287_umbriel_2026_06_09_15_20_53.wav) Listen to article This content is generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental [[duration]] minutes Twenty years ago, [translation at Google](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/translate/fun-facts-google-translate-20-years/) began as one of our

The results from this pre-registered trial suggest that AI can be a powerful pedagogical partner — not by replacing teachers, but by augmenting their reach. This study is part of our [ongoing effort](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/measuring-the-impact-of-ai-on-teaching-and-learning/) to build a global evidence base for the impact of AI on teaching and learning. ## Beyond the answer engine: protecting critical thinking A common concern is that generative AI could become a shortcut for students, potentially bypassing the challenging yet essential cognitive effort required for deeper learning. [Guided Learning](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/guided-learning/) is designed to address this concern: it’s built from years of research an

believed to be of interest to you (“Targeted Advertising”). If you are a California resident, you also have the right to limit the use and disclosure of your Sensitive Personal information in particular circumstances. Please note that you may need to Opt-Out on each website, mobile app, browser, and device you use, and if you clear your browser cookies, you may need to repeat this process. However, if you have created an account to log in across several of our websites and/or mobile apps, we will make reasonable efforts to apply your Opt-Out request to each of those websites and apps. ◦ To Op

AMD GIVETH; AMD TAKETH AWAY AMD’s stripping of TSME from consumer CPUs appears to be a deliberate, covert move. AMD's Ryzen 7 9850X3D. Credit: Andrew Cunningham A decade ago, AMD added a protection to its high-end CPUs to protect them against [cold boot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_boot_attack) attacks and other types of physical exploits that siphon sensitive data out of the connected memory chips. Short for Transparent Secure Memory Encryption, TSME encrypts the entire contents stored in memory, making the data useless to physical attackers. Over time, AMD added TSME to lower-end processors, including the consumer version of its Ryzen chips, a CPU that costs less than the Pro version. Over the years, users of these lower-end chips have gotten used to the added security. Recently a

Jun 09, 2026 4 min read Google DeepMind Accelerator selects 15 robotics companies from across Europe to join the program. Providing 3 months of intensive mentorship and technical support, enabling the integration of AI into their core products. C Carolina Parada VP Robotics, Google DeepMind ## General summary Google DeepMind is launching a three-month accelerator program to support early-stage robotics startups across Europe. These companies will receive technical mentorship, product guidance, and access to advanced artificial intelligence models to help turn their research into real-world applications. You can learn more about the selected cohort and their work on the official program page. Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental. ## Bullet points * Google Dee

A half century ago, a scrappy crew at the University of Massachusetts Amherst erected a wind turbine on Orchard Hill, the highest point on campus. It was a frugal production, cobbled together from the rear axle of a Ford truck, a donated generator and microcontroller, a steam pipe, and various handcrafted steel and fiberglass parts, including its 4.5-meter blades. The team of UMass engineering grad students, faculty advisors, and one precocious undergrad built it to prove that wind energy could keep rural homes toasty in New England’s frigid winters, as a way of trimming U.S. oil dependence—a national imperative in the aftermath of the 1973–1974 energy crisis. To illustrate the point, they also assembled a modular home there on Orchard Hill, and outfitted it with heaters that would be powe

Singapore-based ChemT Biotechnology has raised $4 million to expand its AI platform called CelMo, which simulates how cells respond to manufacturing conditions. The platform helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies predict and improve cell behavior during production, potentially speeding up drug development. The company has already partnered with over 40 global firms.

Meta has rolled out a suite of AI tools for advertisers at Cannes Lions 2026, claiming businesses now get $4.13 back for every $1 spent on ads—a 25% jump since 2022. The key launch is a Brand-Aware AI system that learns a company's style from its existing ads and churns out consistent content automatically. It also unveiled a Creator Marketing Hub merging Facebook and Instagram influencer tools, plus a Business Agent Platform letting firms deploy AI chatbots on WhatsApp and Messenger. For everyday marketers, this means AI is becoming a one-click solution for ad creative, translations, video voiceovers, and customer chat—no tech team needed.

Three ITE College East students have built NavigaITE, a free online platform to help secondary and ITE students navigate education and career choices. It bundles AI-powered mock interview practice, career personality quizzes, a directory of all Singapore ITE and polytechnic courses, resume feedback, and O/N-level cut-off calculators into one place. The students say they built it after struggling themselves to piece together information across dozens of websites. The AI chatbot has already helped one of them ace a real interview.

Dataiku has partnered with Singapore Red Cross to deploy AI for humanitarian operations across Southeast Asia. The AI platform automates disaster surveillance and predicts disease outbreaks like leptospirosis in Thailand using weather and environmental data. For everyday readers, this means faster, more targeted disaster relief when crises hit the region — potentially saving lives through better early warnings.

AI companies worldwide are scrambling for GPU compute as shortages push up cloud costs. Southeast Asia is emerging as a new hunting ground for available chips. Even older GPU rentals are getting expensive—Nvidia's H100 rental prices jumped 20% in early 2026. One Silicon Valley firm says it couldn't fulfill half its client requests. The squeeze comes from export controls, a single dominant foundry, and global hoarding. Smaller AI firms are hardest hit.

Sea Limited and OpenAI expand their alliance, embedding the new Shopee ChatGPT integration natively across eight key regional markets. The partnership rolls out retail-focused generative AI tools for local small businesses while kicking off an Asia-Pacific developer hackathon series. E-commerce has long relied on the static search bar, requiring users to guess specific keywords to […] The post Is the Shopee ChatGPT integration the blueprint for the future of Southeast Asian e-commerce? appeared first on TechWire Asia .

Singtel reported a 44% jump in net profit to S$1.89 billion for Q3, largely driven by selling part of its Airtel stake. The telco is using proceeds from its asset recycling program to fund AI-ready data centres under its Nxera business and the RE:AI platform. Nxera facilities in Thailand and Singapore are already 80% and 50% pre-sold ahead of launches. Singtel Singapore's consumer unit faces pressure with a 3.7% revenue drop, but NCS and Optus helped offset losses.

Former vendors and staff of Singapore's popular Mercury Festival art market are accusing the organizers of misconduct, including underpaying staff at S$400 per event held twice yearly. There's also a dispute about AI use: organizers claim fired staff used AI-generated captions without permission, while ex-staff say they were actually told to use ChatGPT by the directors. The organizers deny the allegations and say they've apologized for misunderstandings with other local events.

Akamai and NVIDIA are embedding Zero Trust security directly into AI data centers, called 'AI factories.' The challenge: traditional security software slows down AI systems that need every processing cycle. The solution runs security checks on dedicated NVIDIA BlueField-4 chips instead of the main AI processors, so protection doesn't dent performance. If an AI workload gets compromised, the blast radius stays contained to a small area while the rest keeps running.

Singapore-based AI startup Simular is testing a flat-fee subscription model for its AI agent Sai, which automates tasks by operating a cloud-based computer. Unlike typical usage-based pricing, users pay a fixed monthly fee for unlimited tasks. The company argues this approach is more sustainable and has already beat human performance benchmarks on computer tasks.

A Singapore man discovered a former schoolmate used AI to generate fake photos of them as a couple, including images with a fabricated baby. She created fake social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers to impersonate him, sent out wedding invitations with his mother's name, and convinced multiple people they were in relationships. He filed a police report and described feeling traumatized, with trouble sleeping and concentrating. Experts say the woman shows signs of delusional thinking.

A Singapore startup called Soma AI has launched a marketing intelligence platform that pulls together ad data from Meta, TikTok, Shopee, and Google Ads into one workspace, then gives plain-language strategic advice without requiring users to know prompt engineering. Co-founded by a veteran who previously exited an AI company for hundreds of millions, the platform costs US$59-449 monthly and is built on custom prompts drawing from real marketing expertise rather than generic AI responses.

Bengaluru-based Mitigata, which combines cybersecurity services with cyber insurance, has raised $5.9 million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners (with Titan Capital and WEH Ventures). The startup embeds security engineers directly in client companies while brokering cyber insurance from partners like HDFC ERGO and ICICI Lombard. India faces mounting cyber threats—ranking second globally for attacks in 2016-2018—and the government now requires incident reporting to CERT-In within six hours. Mitigata plans to use the funding to build AI-powered security tools and open three security operations centers.

Australian women's health startup Ovum has raised $4 million in seed funding to build an AI platform that consolidates women's health data—symptoms, biometrics, medical records, and appointments—into one place. The app generates health summaries and helps women prepare for doctor visits. Since launching last year, it has grown 30 percent monthly with over 20,000 downloads.

Nvidia has released a toolkit that teaches AI agents specialized biomedical knowledge so they can help scientists discover new drugs, analyze genetic data, and read medical images without wasting computing power. Called BioNeMo, the software works alongside general AI systems like OpenAI's Codex to give them a scientific crash course. Nvidia's goal: keep researchers dependent on its chips by offering smarter research tools.

Thailand's data center capacity is set to quadruple, driven by major hyperscale investments and supportive government policies. Research firm BMI flags execution risks including power supply constraints and grid readiness challenges. The growth reflects surging demand for cloud and AI computing infrastructure across Southeast Asia.

Netherlands to join US-led Pax Silica AI initiative despite ASML dispute. A 1x1 image, likely be a tacker probe

A new Sophos survey of 5,000 IT leaders globally finds that 73% of Asia Pacific and Japan firms suffered an identity-related breach in the past year — nearly three out of four organizations. AI is making things worse: software agents now spin up sub-agents that generate credentials faster than security teams can track them, creating what experts call a non-human identity (NHI) crisis. Human error — like employees falling for phishing tricks — caused 43% of breaches, while poor NHI management caused 41%. Organizations with weak NHI controls paid roughly US$150,000 more in recovery costs. Ransomware attacks, which cost victims an average of US$1.64 million to recover from, originated from identity attacks in 67% of cases. Only one in three organizations regularly audits service accounts, and just 11% do so continuously — a major gap as AI accelerates credential sprawl.

Malaysia's digital finance sector is maturing but faces hurdles: fintech companies struggle with profitability, cyber threats are rising, and BNPL lending lacks proper regulatory oversight. AMRO's analysis points to structural gaps that could expose consumers and the financial system to risks as digital payments grow.

AI systems have mastered reasoning and language, but now researchers and companies are pushing AI to interact with the physical world through robotics and embodied AI. This next phase could transform manufacturing, logistics, and everyday devices.

AI systems need massive amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to function. But memory makers like SK Hynix and Samsung are struggling to produce enough HBM fast enough. This shortage is driving up costs for AI chips and could make everything from AI-powered smartphones to cloud services more expensive for consumers down the line.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has launched an AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, calling on AI companies to disclose the full environmental cost of their data centres. He warned that by 2030, AI data centres could use more power than all but five countries and enough water to meet the basic needs of 1.3 billion sub-Saharan African residents. He urged firms to power all data centres with renewable energy by 2030.

TerraMaster has launched the F4-425 Pro, a four-bay NAS device running what it calls the world's first AI-native operating system. Users can manage storage, configure backups, and run apps using plain conversation commands—no technical know-how needed. All AI features like facial recognition and file sorting run locally on the device, keeping data private. The $700-$800 device also includes built-in ransomware protection and fast 1,010 MB/s transfer speeds for editing 4K video over the network.

IBM has joined OpenAI's cybersecurity partner program, gaining access to AI tools designed to find and fix software vulnerabilities in enterprise systems. The partnership lets IBM offer AI-powered security scanning to its clients, potentially catching bugs faster than traditional methods.

India's Bajaj Auto — one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers — confirmed a ransomware attack hit its systems and its Bajaj Auto Technology unit. The company says it activated security protocols and has so far contained the damage. The attack comes as manufacturers increasingly rely on digital systems, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals.

[Ovum](https://www.askovum.com/), an Australian women’s health company founded by Ariella Heffernan-Marks, has raised $4 million in seed funding to address the gender health gap, tripling its valuation just one year after securing $1.7 million in a pre-seed round. In a statement on Tuesday, Ovum said the round was led by Admiralty Capital Group. It had the participation from Antler, Giant Leap, Aviron Investments, Foggy Valley Aotearoa, Brisbane Angels, and Think & Grow, alongside an increased investment from LaunchVic through The Alice Anderson Fund. Ovum is building AI infrastructure for women’s health that captures symptoms, lifestyle, biometrics, reproductive health stages, medications, appointments, and medical reports into a single longitudinal memory. It can generate health summarie

Chinese robot company Agibot is livestreaming its humanoid robots working real shifts on a factory production line in Nanchang. The robots are doing quality inspection work alongside human workers, and anyone can watch them work for days without breaking. This follows similar stunts by companies like Figure AI, which ran 200-hour factory challenges to prove their robots can handle boring, repetitive work that humans find exhausting.

AI Learned To Think. Now It Has To Learn To Move. A 1x1 image, likely be a tacker probe

Data storage specialist [TerraMaster](https://www.terra-master.com/products/f4-425-pro) has announced the global launch of its new four-bay flagship NAS device. The TerraMaster F4-425 Pro will be available from June 23, 2026, just in time to coincide with Amazon Prime Day. Powered by [TOS 7](https://www.terra-master.com/pages/tos7), described as the world’s first AI-native operating system, the F4-425 Pro is private cloud storage solution that has natural language interaction with localized intelligent computing and enterprise-grade performance. The new F4-425 Pro has four drive bays for 3.5 or 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs with a SATA interface. The HDDs can all be hot-swapped. There are also three separate bays for NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs with a capacity of 8TB for each bay which gives a total of 24

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) has issued an urgent warning that AI models powerful enough to breach government and business cyber defenses are just months away—not years. The spy agencies are calling on organizations worldwide to immediately upgrade their defenses. This follows the US restricting AI firm Anthropic's most advanced models over national security concerns. AI experts say small and medium businesses are most at risk because they often lack the cybersecurity resources of larger corporations.

Micron Technology reported Q1 results that beat analyst forecasts, with revenue hitting US$13.6 billion and adjusted earnings per share at US$4.8. Net income was US$5.2 billion, or US$4.6 per share, compared to US$1.9 billion, or US$1.7 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 57% year-on-year amid strong demand for AI infrastructure. Micron reported US$5.3 billion in cloud memory sales, double the previous year, and US$2.4 billion in core data center sales, up 4%. The company projected Q2 revenue of about US$18.7 billion, above analyst expectations of US$14.2 billion, and said adjusted Q2 earnings per share would be around US$8.4, higher than the estimated US$4.8. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts that demand for high-performance memory and storage, especially in AI data centers, is growin

Iranian authorities confirmed a cyberattack hit card-based banking systems at three financial institutions. Details remain scarce, but such attacks can disrupt millions of people's access to their bank accounts and daily transactions.

American AI chip company Groq has raised $650 million in fresh funding to expand its cloud AI services. Groq makes chips optimized for AI inference — the process of running AI models — and competes directly with Nvidia in certain workloads. The funding will fuel building out data center capacity to serve enterprise customers running AI applications at scale.

Professional services firms risk losing US$143 billion in client revenue by failing to implement AI effectively, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of 1,800 professionals. Despite 91% of Asia-Pacific professionals using AI weekly, one-third are using unapproved AI tools — creating hidden data risks. One in four professionals say they would leave their firm within two years if AI delivery doesn't improve, while 78% of corporate clients now rate AI-enabled quality as essential.

ByteDance's overseas revenue surged nearly 50% in 2025, driven by TikTok Shop sales jumping 70% year-on-year. However, the company's net profit fell by over 70% as it ramped up AI spending. ByteDance allocated about US$20 billion to capital spending in 2025, mostly for AI, and is planning to spend US$22.7 billion on AI infrastructure in early 2026 — putting it squarely in the global race against tech giants for AI capacity.

Samsung Electronics is weighing a new advanced chip packaging plant in Gwangju, South Korea, with an announcement possible by June 29. The facility would bolster Samsung's HBM (high-bandwidth memory) business, which is key for AI processors. Samsung recently started shipping samples of its 12-layer HBM4E chips and is fighting harder for market share against rival SK hynix. Advanced packaging stacks chips together to boost AI performance.

LG CNS has launched an "RX Innovation Lab" to help businesses adopt robotics, marking a push beyond digital transformation into physical robot deployment. The lab offers consulting, workflow redesign, and proof-of-concept testing, working with US firms Skild AI and Config plus humanoid startup Dexmate. More than ten customers are already testing the service.

LG AI Research has patented its agentic AI platform EXAONE Discovery, designed to accelerate scientific research by analyzing papers, patents, molecular structures, and images. The system reads chemical structures over 100 times better than existing models. LG is already using it to discover new battery solvents and predict cancer markers for personalized vaccines. The company has filed 573 AI-related patents since 2022 and is partnering to commercialize the technology.

Qualcomm has joined South Korea's Everyone's Challenge AX program to collaborate with local AI startups on proof-of-concept projects. The program matches Qualcomm's processors and NPU accelerator cards with startups working on AR glasses, robots, and smart appliances. Selected startups can receive up to $65,000 in funding and technical support for commercialization. This move extends Qualcomm's strategy to build an edge AI developer ecosystem beyond just selling chips.

AI agents are increasingly becoming the first point of contact for customer service calls, handling everything from sales to debt collection. Industry forecasts say 80% of routine service issues will be handled by AI by 2029. But these systems often fail people with strong accents, non-standard speech, or those who need extra patience — a particular risk in multilingual Asia-Pacific. The piece argues inclusion in AI design is not just ethical but a business necessity, as companies lose customers when voice systems cannot understand them.

Australian venture firm Blackbird has led a major funding round into Baseten, an AI infrastructure startup now valued at $13 billion. Baseten helps companies deploy and scale AI models in production. The investment is reportedly one of Blackbird's largest bets on a single AI company, signaling continued investor appetite for the backend tools that make AI work at scale.

Anthropic's product leader Fiona Fung explains how AI is transforming software development—teams now spend less time writing code and more time defining goals and verifying AI-generated outputs. She warns that lengthy product roadmaps create dangerous delays as AI accelerates everything else.

India is building a massive semiconductor factory in Gujarat that will churn out 50,000 silicon wafers monthly — larger than most commercial fabs globally. Backed by $26 billion in government subsidies, this signals India's serious push to break its reliance on imported chips. The project involves Tata Electronics working with global equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research. This is part of a broader global scramble to reshore chip manufacturing, following supply chain chaos during the pandemic.

Qualcomm has joined South Korea's Everyone's Challenge AX program to work with local AI startups on proof-of-concept projects. The company matched with three Korean firms to develop projects covering AR glasses, robots, and smart appliances using Qualcomm processors and NPU accelerator cards. Selected startups can receive up to US$65,823 in funding plus technical support.

A cybersecurity startup called Cyberette has developed AI that goes beyond detecting deepfakes. Instead, it analyzes behavioral cues like signs of distress or coercion in communications to help investigators build stronger fraud cases. Think of it as teaching AI to spot when someone sounds like they're being pressured or threatened, rather than just checking if a video is fake.

Oracle has slashed 21,000 jobs over the past year while simultaneously pouring billions into AI infrastructure. The company is replacing workers with AI systems and automating operations, with executives openly admitting layoffs will accelerate as internal AI deployment grows. It's a stark example of how AI adoption is directly destroying white-collar tech jobs.

Microsoft is quietly testing China's DeepSeek AI on its Azure cloud to cut costs after Copilot's chronic outages and ballooning bills. But Australian companies are caught in a bind—their government has banned DeepSeek over security risks, while the US has restricted access to American AI models. Corporate giants like Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths have already blocked DeepSeek outright, but Microsoft's plan to bake it into Azure and Microsoft 365 could force it on them anyway.

Amazon Prime Day 2026 runs June 23-26 (four-day event, moved from July). This ZDNet article rounds up the best Apple deals available: MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, and accessories with discounts. Singapore is among the 26 countries participating. Amazon's own devices (Echo, Fire TV, Kindles) typically see their best prices during Prime-exclusive events. Tips include researching prices beforehand, using price trackers, and knowing that holiday sales often beat Prime Day for variety.

Password manager LastPass has disclosed another breach—hackers stole customer names, phone numbers, emails, addresses, and support ticket data from market research partner Klue. The attack also hit several cybersecurity firms including HackerOne and Recorded Future. LastPass insists user password vaults remain secure, but this adds to the company's troubled security history following a 2022 breach that led to cryptocurrency thefts.

Almost 60% of TikTok videos and 21% of YouTube videos are now AI-generated junk, according to a study by video platform Kapwing. Kids' content is worst—97% of cartoon videos analyzed were AI-made. Platforms reward volume over quality, incentivizing creators to flood feeds with cheap AI slop.

[](https://bit.ly/3qgqzHg) [](https://bit.ly/3KjTj94) When 32-year-old Phil (not his real name) discovered doctored photos of himself with a former schoolmate, he felt chills run down his spine. The photos depicted them as a couple going on dates and even showed them with a newborn baby. ## ADVERTISEMENT Phil's sister, Ana (not her real name), told _Mothership_ that they first learned about the photos from a friend, who had seen them on the schoolmate's social media accounts. The friend knew that Phil was single and became suspicious after seeing the photos. She alerted Ana, who was shocked when she saw them. ## AI-generated photos Accord

Singapore-based AI startup Simular is testing a flat-fee subscription model for its AI agent Sai, which automates tasks by operating a cloud-based computer. Unlike typical usage-based pricing, users pay a fixed monthly fee for unlimited tasks. The company argues this approach is more sustainable and has already beat human performance benchmarks on computer tasks.

IBM and Meta have announced the expansion of the AI Alliance to Indonesia, marking its presence in 29 countries with 195 members. The non-profit consortium aims to promote open-source AI innovation and responsible development. Indonesia is seen as a key market, with AI expected to add US$366 billion to its GDP by 2030. A recent IBM CEO Study found that 61% of Indonesian companies actively adopt AI, though only 27% see expected ROI from their AI systems. Challenges include developing skilled talent, digital infrastructure, and ensuring data privacy and trust. The alliance plans to address these issues by fostering open-source AI solutions and collaboration with local organizations. Universitas Ciputra is the first Indonesian member, with others in the process of joining. _🔗 Source: [IBM](ht

[123RF](https://www.123rf.com/), a Malaysia-based stock media platform, has launched a generative AI-powered video comprehension service on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance search accuracy for its global users. The new feature analyzes the visual content of videos and images. Early tests on 5 million videos doubled the accuracy of video descriptors and improved search relevance. 123RF processes over 3 million image uploads monthly and uses AI to automatically detect trademarked logos, categorize licensing, and flag branded content. The AI technology can identify visual details and match similar images. 123RF reported a 92% reduction in content review time, and said customers now find creative assets in 90% less time. The platform used Amazon Bedrock and Nova models for these AI capabil

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One after another the calls came in from hospitals; criminals were infecting computer networks in a mass hack that was putting countless lives at risk. At Bucharest's national cyber-security centre (DNSC) they watched helplessly as the hackers spread across Romania through a popular piece of medical software. Cyber-chief Dan Cimpean had a tough decision to make, but it was the only option they had. The order went out to more than 100 hospitals. Disconnect from the internet, now. The cyber-attack on Romania's hospitals [in February 2024](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68288150?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D#:~:text=Over%20a%20hundred%20Romanian%20healthcare,going%20offline%20as%20a%20precaution.)is one of the worst to

DeFi is losing momentum as lending yields fall near government bond levels, blockchain activity slows, and security worries rise after a US$285 million theft from [Drift](https://www.drift.trade/). On [Aave,](https://aave.com/)the rate on USDT was about 2.45%, below the US Federal Reserve’s 3.5% to 3.75% benchmark. Drift attributed the hack to a North Korean-linked group. Firms are moving toward blockchain versions of traditional assets,while the around US$97 billion sector faces headwinds. _🔗 Source: [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/a-285-million-crypto-hack-and-falling-yields-rock-defi-industry)_ ## 🧠 Food for thought Implications, context, and why it matters. ### Some DeFi models are cooling off, while others beat traditional markets * DeFi lending yields a

[UBTech Robotics](http://ubtrobot.com/?srsltid=AfmBOors8fLCWKcZlRWJrSKRF8zGOj0GdyQy3N0QjYvYyIREjWotVFVk) plans to expand humanoid robot production tenfold next year to about 5,000 units, and then double it to 10,000 in 2027. The company expects production costs to drop by 20 to 30 percent each year, said chief branding officer Michael Tam. UBTech is set to deliver 500 humanoid robots for industrial use by the end of 2025, up from 10 units delivered last year. The firm recently secured over 800 million yuan (US$112 million) in orders for its Walker S2 robots, with customers including data centers and automotive manufacturers. _🔗 Source: [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3333427/ubtechs-2026-humanoid-robot-output-grow-10-fold-costs-plunge-scale-economics?module=top

Nisha Talagala, Contributor Mon, 22 June 2026 at 4:15 pm GMT-7 6 min read  DeepSeek AI app logo photo illustration, of the Chinese artificial intelligence company that develops open-source large language models LLM in a fraction of the cost of the US based competition. Close up of DeepSeek application thumbnail logo displayed on a smartphone screen next to other AI providers like ChatGPT of OpenAI and Copilot of Microsoft. Amsterdam, the Netherlands on January 28, 2025 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto vi

Micron Technology reported Q1 results that beat analyst forecasts, with revenue hitting US$13.6 billion and adjusted earnings per share at US$4.8. Net income was US$5.2 billion, or US$4.6 per share, compared to US$1.9 billion, or US$1.7 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 57% year-on-year amid strong demand for AI infrastructure. Micron reported US$5.3 billion in cloud memory sales, double the previous year, and US$2.4 billion in core data center sales, up 4%. The company projected Q2 revenue of about US$18.7 billion, above analyst expectations of US$14.2 billion, and said adjusted Q2 earnings per share would be around US$8.4, higher than the estimated US$4.8. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts that demand for high-performance memory and storage, especially in AI data centers, is growin

Qualcomm has joined South Korea's Everyone's Challenge AX program to collaborate with local AI startups on proof-of-concept projects. The program matches Qualcomm's processors and NPU accelerator cards with startups working on AR glasses, robots, and smart appliances. Selected startups can receive up to $65,000 in funding and technical support for commercialization. This move extends Qualcomm's strategy to build an edge AI developer ecosystem beyond just selling chips.

Qualcomm has joined South Korea's Everyone's Challenge AX program to work with local AI startups on proof-of-concept projects. The company matched with three Korean firms to develop projects covering AR glasses, robots, and smart appliances using Qualcomm processors and NPU accelerator cards. Selected startups can receive up to US$65,823 in funding plus technical support.

Akamai and NVIDIA are embedding Zero Trust security directly into AI data centers, called 'AI factories.' The challenge: traditional security software slows down AI systems that need every processing cycle. The solution runs security checks on dedicated NVIDIA BlueField-4 chips instead of the main AI processors, so protection doesn't dent performance. If an AI workload gets compromised, the blast radius stays contained to a small area while the rest keeps running.

Bengaluru-based Mitigata, which combines cybersecurity services with cyber insurance, has raised $5.9 million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners (with Titan Capital and WEH Ventures). The startup embeds security engineers directly in client companies while brokering cyber insurance from partners like HDFC ERGO and ICICI Lombard. India faces mounting cyber threats—ranking second globally for attacks in 2016-2018—and the government now requires incident reporting to CERT-In within six hours. Mitigata plans to use the funding to build AI-powered security tools and open three security operations centers.

Dataiku has partnered with Singapore Red Cross to deploy AI for humanitarian operations across Southeast Asia. The AI platform automates disaster surveillance and predicts disease outbreaks like leptospirosis in Thailand using weather and environmental data. For everyday readers, this means faster, more targeted disaster relief when crises hit the region — potentially saving lives through better early warnings.

A Singapore man discovered a former schoolmate used AI to generate fake photos of them as a couple, including images with a fabricated baby. She created fake social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers to impersonate him, sent out wedding invitations with his mother's name, and convinced multiple people they were in relationships. He filed a police report and described feeling traumatized, with trouble sleeping and concentrating. Experts say the woman shows signs of delusional thinking.

American AI chip company Groq has raised $650 million in fresh funding to expand its cloud AI services. Groq makes chips optimized for AI inference — the process of running AI models — and competes directly with Nvidia in certain workloads. The funding will fuel building out data center capacity to serve enterprise customers running AI applications at scale.

LG CNS has launched an "RX Innovation Lab" to help businesses adopt robotics, marking a push beyond digital transformation into physical robot deployment. The lab offers consulting, workflow redesign, and proof-of-concept testing, working with US firms Skild AI and Config plus humanoid startup Dexmate. More than ten customers are already testing the service.

LG AI Research has patented its agentic AI platform EXAONE Discovery, designed to accelerate scientific research by analyzing papers, patents, molecular structures, and images. The system reads chemical structures over 100 times better than existing models. LG is already using it to discover new battery solvents and predict cancer markers for personalized vaccines. The company has filed 573 AI-related patents since 2022 and is partnering to commercialize the technology.

AI agents are increasingly becoming the first point of contact for customer service calls, handling everything from sales to debt collection. Industry forecasts say 80% of routine service issues will be handled by AI by 2029. But these systems often fail people with strong accents, non-standard speech, or those who need extra patience — a particular risk in multilingual Asia-Pacific. The piece argues inclusion in AI design is not just ethical but a business necessity, as companies lose customers when voice systems cannot understand them.

Australian venture firm Blackbird has led a major funding round into Baseten, an AI infrastructure startup now valued at $13 billion. Baseten helps companies deploy and scale AI models in production. The investment is reportedly one of Blackbird's largest bets on a single AI company, signaling continued investor appetite for the backend tools that make AI work at scale.

India is building a massive semiconductor factory in Gujarat that will churn out 50,000 silicon wafers monthly — larger than most commercial fabs globally. Backed by $26 billion in government subsidies, this signals India's serious push to break its reliance on imported chips. The project involves Tata Electronics working with global equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research. This is part of a broader global scramble to reshore chip manufacturing, following supply chain chaos during the pandemic.

AI companies worldwide are scrambling for GPU compute as shortages push up cloud costs. Southeast Asia is emerging as a new hunting ground for available chips. Even older GPU rentals are getting expensive—Nvidia's H100 rental prices jumped 20% in early 2026. One Silicon Valley firm says it couldn't fulfill half its client requests. The squeeze comes from export controls, a single dominant foundry, and global hoarding. Smaller AI firms are hardest hit.

Samsung Electronics is weighing a new advanced chip packaging plant in Gwangju, South Korea, with an announcement possible by June 29. The facility would bolster Samsung's HBM (high-bandwidth memory) business, which is key for AI processors. Samsung recently started shipping samples of its 12-layer HBM4E chips and is fighting harder for market share against rival SK hynix. Advanced packaging stacks chips together to boost AI performance.

Professional services firms risk losing US$143 billion in client revenue by failing to implement AI effectively, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of 1,800 professionals. Despite 91% of Asia-Pacific professionals using AI weekly, one-third are using unapproved AI tools — creating hidden data risks. One in four professionals say they would leave their firm within two years if AI delivery doesn't improve, while 78% of corporate clients now rate AI-enabled quality as essential.

ByteDance's overseas revenue surged nearly 50% in 2025, driven by TikTok Shop sales jumping 70% year-on-year. However, the company's net profit fell by over 70% as it ramped up AI spending. ByteDance allocated about US$20 billion to capital spending in 2025, mostly for AI, and is planning to spend US$22.7 billion on AI infrastructure in early 2026 — putting it squarely in the global race against tech giants for AI capacity.

Anthropic's product leader Fiona Fung explains how AI is transforming software development—teams now spend less time writing code and more time defining goals and verifying AI-generated outputs. She warns that lengthy product roadmaps create dangerous delays as AI accelerates everything else.

Singtel reported a 44% jump in net profit to S$1.89 billion for Q3, largely driven by selling part of its Airtel stake. The telco is using proceeds from its asset recycling program to fund AI-ready data centres under its Nxera business and the RE:AI platform. Nxera facilities in Thailand and Singapore are already 80% and 50% pre-sold ahead of launches. Singtel Singapore's consumer unit faces pressure with a 3.7% revenue drop, but NCS and Optus helped offset losses.

A Singapore startup called Soma AI has launched a marketing intelligence platform that pulls together ad data from Meta, TikTok, Shopee, and Google Ads into one workspace, then gives plain-language strategic advice without requiring users to know prompt engineering. Co-founded by a veteran who previously exited an AI company for hundreds of millions, the platform costs US$59-449 monthly and is built on custom prompts drawing from real marketing expertise rather than generic AI responses.

AI systems have mastered reasoning and language, but now researchers and companies are pushing AI to interact with the physical world through robotics and embodied AI. This next phase could transform manufacturing, logistics, and everyday devices.

TerraMaster has launched the F4-425 Pro, a four-bay NAS device running what it calls the world's first AI-native operating system. Users can manage storage, configure backups, and run apps using plain conversation commands—no technical know-how needed. All AI features like facial recognition and file sorting run locally on the device, keeping data private. The $700-$800 device also includes built-in ransomware protection and fast 1,010 MB/s transfer speeds for editing 4K video over the network.

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) has issued an urgent warning that AI models powerful enough to breach government and business cyber defenses are just months away—not years. The spy agencies are calling on organizations worldwide to immediately upgrade their defenses. This follows the US restricting AI firm Anthropic's most advanced models over national security concerns. AI experts say small and medium businesses are most at risk because they often lack the cybersecurity resources of larger corporations.

A cybersecurity startup called Cyberette has developed AI that goes beyond detecting deepfakes. Instead, it analyzes behavioral cues like signs of distress or coercion in communications to help investigators build stronger fraud cases. Think of it as teaching AI to spot when someone sounds like they're being pressured or threatened, rather than just checking if a video is fake.

University leaders from across ASEAN met in Brunei to discuss how to use AI responsibly in higher education. Singapore Management University chaired the talks, where educators from SMU showcased how AI can personalize learning while keeping teachers in charge. The regional network is expanding to cover more AI topics, showing that Southeast Asian universities are taking the lead on balancing tech innovation with ethics.

Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has partnered with Cisco to strengthen digital trust and AI skills development across the nation. The partnership targets both government agencies and enterprises, aiming to build workforce capabilities for an AI-driven economy. Details on specific programs and funding were outlined in the announcement.

A U.S. legal technology firm called Legion LegalTech is suing the federal government over a Commerce Department order that forced Anthropic to shut off access to its most advanced AI models for all users worldwide. The company, which builds AI-powered tools for lawyers, says the restriction has cut off its Canada-based development team and could permanently harm its business. Anthropic is also fighting its own legal battles with the administration over military use of its AI.

Young Singaporeans gathered at a Ministry of Law event to discuss how Singapore's legal system should adapt to new challenges like AI regulation, online harms, and making legal services more affordable. PM Lawrence Wong encouraged students to actively shape these changes. Winning student ideas included using CPF savings for legal costs and creating AI-powered portals to access legal help online. This matters because as technology advances, Singapore's laws must evolve to protect people's rights and ensure fair access to justice for everyone.

Robots typically forget everything they've learned when powered down—a major roadblock to practical use. Researchers are now tackling robot memory systems so machines can retain skills across sessions. This could unlock real-world helpers for homes and warehouses.

Four Republic Polytechnic graduates have launched a start-up called Stroke Guard, developing an AI-powered camera system that detects facial drooping in bedridden patients to identify strokes early. The project was inspired by one founder's grandmother whose stroke went undetected for years, leaving her permanently disabled. Funded by RP and partnered with Care Corner Singapore, the team has built a working prototype and secured investor interest for commercialisation.

AI stocks took a hit this week as investors question whether the $720 billion that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are spending on AI infrastructure will actually pay off. Nvidia fell 3.7%, Micron Technology dropped 13%, and chip stocks broadly sold off. Some analysts say it's just profit-taking after big gains, while others warn of potential oversupply if AI doesn't generate expected returns.

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By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. legal technology company on Tuesday sued the federal government, challenging a directive by President Donald ‌Trump’s administration that resulted in the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic halting access ‌to two of its most advanced models for users worldwide. Legion LegalTech Corp filed its lawsuit in Washington, ​D.C., federal court, saying a June 12 order by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security unlawfully required Anthropic to disable its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for “any foreign national.” Anthropic turned off access for all customers the same ‌day to ensure compliance. San Jose, ⁠California-based Legion says it depends on Anthropic’s tools for its software platform and that the U.S. government’s

TCL is rolling out Google's Gemini AI assistant to its 2026 smart TV lineup across Europe, with older 2025 models also getting the update. Gemini lets users speak naturally to find shows, ask questions, play music, and control smart home devices. It's a sign AI assistants are moving beyond phones into everyday living room gadgets.

Indian marketing software firm MoEngage is acquiring San Francisco startup Aampe for tens of millions of dollars, betting that AI agents—one per customer—will replace traditional marketing campaigns. Aampe's technology learns individual customer behavior to decide what messages to send and when, without humans running campaigns. The deal includes Grab as a customer.

Sea Limited and OpenAI expand their alliance, embedding the new Shopee ChatGPT integration natively across eight key regional markets. The partnership rolls out retail-focused generative AI tools for local small businesses while kicking off an Asia-Pacific developer hackathon series. E-commerce has long relied on the static search bar, requiring users to guess specific keywords to […] The post Is the Shopee ChatGPT integration the blueprint for the future of Southeast Asian e-commerce? appeared first on TechWire Asia .

Australian women's health startup Ovum has raised $4 million in seed funding to build an AI platform that consolidates women's health data—symptoms, biometrics, medical records, and appointments—into one place. The app generates health summaries and helps women prepare for doctor visits. Since launching last year, it has grown 30 percent monthly with over 20,000 downloads.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has launched an AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, calling on AI companies to disclose the full environmental cost of their data centres. He warned that by 2030, AI data centres could use more power than all but five countries and enough water to meet the basic needs of 1.3 billion sub-Saharan African residents. He urged firms to power all data centres with renewable energy by 2030.

IBM has joined OpenAI's cybersecurity partner program, gaining access to AI tools designed to find and fix software vulnerabilities in enterprise systems. The partnership lets IBM offer AI-powered security scanning to its clients, potentially catching bugs faster than traditional methods.

[Ovum](https://www.askovum.com/), an Australian women’s health company founded by Ariella Heffernan-Marks, has raised $4 million in seed funding to address the gender health gap, tripling its valuation just one year after securing $1.7 million in a pre-seed round. In a statement on Tuesday, Ovum said the round was led by Admiralty Capital Group. It had the participation from Antler, Giant Leap, Aviron Investments, Foggy Valley Aotearoa, Brisbane Angels, and Think & Grow, alongside an increased investment from LaunchVic through The Alice Anderson Fund. Ovum is building AI infrastructure for women’s health that captures symptoms, lifestyle, biometrics, reproductive health stages, medications, appointments, and medical reports into a single longitudinal memory. It can generate health summarie

Singapore-based ChemT Biotechnology has raised $4 million to expand its AI platform called CelMo, which simulates how cells respond to manufacturing conditions. The platform helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies predict and improve cell behavior during production, potentially speeding up drug development. The company has already partnered with over 40 global firms.

Malaysia's digital finance sector is maturing but faces hurdles: fintech companies struggle with profitability, cyber threats are rising, and BNPL lending lacks proper regulatory oversight. AMRO's analysis points to structural gaps that could expose consumers and the financial system to risks as digital payments grow.

Chinese robot company Agibot is livestreaming its humanoid robots working real shifts on a factory production line in Nanchang. The robots are doing quality inspection work alongside human workers, and anyone can watch them work for days without breaking. This follows similar stunts by companies like Figure AI, which ran 200-hour factory challenges to prove their robots can handle boring, repetitive work that humans find exhausting.

Data storage specialist [TerraMaster](https://www.terra-master.com/products/f4-425-pro) has announced the global launch of its new four-bay flagship NAS device. The TerraMaster F4-425 Pro will be available from June 23, 2026, just in time to coincide with Amazon Prime Day. Powered by [TOS 7](https://www.terra-master.com/pages/tos7), described as the world’s first AI-native operating system, the F4-425 Pro is private cloud storage solution that has natural language interaction with localized intelligent computing and enterprise-grade performance. The new F4-425 Pro has four drive bays for 3.5 or 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs with a SATA interface. The HDDs can all be hot-swapped. There are also three separate bays for NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs with a capacity of 8TB for each bay which gives a total of 24

Meta has rolled out a suite of AI tools for advertisers at Cannes Lions 2026, claiming businesses now get $4.13 back for every $1 spent on ads—a 25% jump since 2022. The key launch is a Brand-Aware AI system that learns a company's style from its existing ads and churns out consistent content automatically. It also unveiled a Creator Marketing Hub merging Facebook and Instagram influencer tools, plus a Business Agent Platform letting firms deploy AI chatbots on WhatsApp and Messenger. For everyday marketers, this means AI is becoming a one-click solution for ad creative, translations, video voiceovers, and customer chat—no tech team needed.

Three ITE College East students have built NavigaITE, a free online platform to help secondary and ITE students navigate education and career choices. It bundles AI-powered mock interview practice, career personality quizzes, a directory of all Singapore ITE and polytechnic courses, resume feedback, and O/N-level cut-off calculators into one place. The students say they built it after struggling themselves to piece together information across dozens of websites. The AI chatbot has already helped one of them ace a real interview.

Thailand's data center capacity is set to quadruple, driven by major hyperscale investments and supportive government policies. Research firm BMI flags execution risks including power supply constraints and grid readiness challenges. The growth reflects surging demand for cloud and AI computing infrastructure across Southeast Asia.

Microsoft is quietly testing China's DeepSeek AI on its Azure cloud to cut costs after Copilot's chronic outages and ballooning bills. But Australian companies are caught in a bind—their government has banned DeepSeek over security risks, while the US has restricted access to American AI models. Corporate giants like Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths have already blocked DeepSeek outright, but Microsoft's plan to bake it into Azure and Microsoft 365 could force it on them anyway.

Netherlands to join US-led Pax Silica AI initiative despite ASML dispute. A 1x1 image, likely be a tacker probe

A new Sophos survey of 5,000 IT leaders globally finds that 73% of Asia Pacific and Japan firms suffered an identity-related breach in the past year — nearly three out of four organizations. AI is making things worse: software agents now spin up sub-agents that generate credentials faster than security teams can track them, creating what experts call a non-human identity (NHI) crisis. Human error — like employees falling for phishing tricks — caused 43% of breaches, while poor NHI management caused 41%. Organizations with weak NHI controls paid roughly US$150,000 more in recovery costs. Ransomware attacks, which cost victims an average of US$1.64 million to recover from, originated from identity attacks in 67% of cases. Only one in three organizations regularly audits service accounts, and just 11% do so continuously — a major gap as AI accelerates credential sprawl.

AI Learned To Think. Now It Has To Learn To Move. A 1x1 image, likely be a tacker probe

Former vendors and staff of Singapore's popular Mercury Festival art market are accusing the organizers of misconduct, including underpaying staff at S$400 per event held twice yearly. There's also a dispute about AI use: organizers claim fired staff used AI-generated captions without permission, while ex-staff say they were actually told to use ChatGPT by the directors. The organizers deny the allegations and say they've apologized for misunderstandings with other local events.

Nvidia has released a toolkit that teaches AI agents specialized biomedical knowledge so they can help scientists discover new drugs, analyze genetic data, and read medical images without wasting computing power. Called BioNeMo, the software works alongside general AI systems like OpenAI's Codex to give them a scientific crash course. Nvidia's goal: keep researchers dependent on its chips by offering smarter research tools.

Iranian authorities confirmed a cyberattack hit card-based banking systems at three financial institutions. Details remain scarce, but such attacks can disrupt millions of people's access to their bank accounts and daily transactions.

Oracle has slashed 21,000 jobs over the past year while simultaneously pouring billions into AI infrastructure. The company is replacing workers with AI systems and automating operations, with executives openly admitting layoffs will accelerate as internal AI deployment grows. It's a stark example of how AI adoption is directly destroying white-collar tech jobs.

AI systems need massive amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to function. But memory makers like SK Hynix and Samsung are struggling to produce enough HBM fast enough. This shortage is driving up costs for AI chips and could make everything from AI-powered smartphones to cloud services more expensive for consumers down the line.

India's Bajaj Auto — one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers — confirmed a ransomware attack hit its systems and its Bajaj Auto Technology unit. The company says it activated security protocols and has so far contained the damage. The attack comes as manufacturers increasingly rely on digital systems, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals.

Amazon Prime Day 2026 runs June 23-26 (four-day event, moved from July). This ZDNet article rounds up the best Apple deals available: MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, and accessories with discounts. Singapore is among the 26 countries participating. Amazon's own devices (Echo, Fire TV, Kindles) typically see their best prices during Prime-exclusive events. Tips include researching prices beforehand, using price trackers, and knowing that holiday sales often beat Prime Day for variety.

TCL is rolling out Google's Gemini AI assistant to its 2026 smart TV lineup across Europe, with older 2025 models also getting the update. Gemini lets users speak naturally to find shows, ask questions, play music, and control smart home devices. It's a sign AI assistants are moving beyond phones into everyday living room gadgets.

Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has partnered with Cisco to strengthen digital trust and AI skills development across the nation. The partnership targets both government agencies and enterprises, aiming to build workforce capabilities for an AI-driven economy. Details on specific programs and funding were outlined in the announcement.

AI stocks took a hit this week as investors question whether the $720 billion that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are spending on AI infrastructure will actually pay off. Nvidia fell 3.7%, Micron Technology dropped 13%, and chip stocks broadly sold off. Some analysts say it's just profit-taking after big gains, while others warn of potential oversupply if AI doesn't generate expected returns.

Young Singaporeans gathered at a Ministry of Law event to discuss how Singapore's legal system should adapt to new challenges like AI regulation, online harms, and making legal services more affordable. PM Lawrence Wong encouraged students to actively shape these changes. Winning student ideas included using CPF savings for legal costs and creating AI-powered portals to access legal help online. This matters because as technology advances, Singapore's laws must evolve to protect people's rights and ensure fair access to justice for everyone.

Robots typically forget everything they've learned when powered down—a major roadblock to practical use. Researchers are now tackling robot memory systems so machines can retain skills across sessions. This could unlock real-world helpers for homes and warehouses.

A U.S. legal technology firm called Legion LegalTech is suing the federal government over a Commerce Department order that forced Anthropic to shut off access to its most advanced AI models for all users worldwide. The company, which builds AI-powered tools for lawyers, says the restriction has cut off its Canada-based development team and could permanently harm its business. Anthropic is also fighting its own legal battles with the administration over military use of its AI.

By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. legal technology company on Tuesday sued the federal government, challenging a directive by President Donald ‌Trump’s administration that resulted in the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic halting access ‌to two of its most advanced models for users worldwide. Legion LegalTech Corp filed its lawsuit in Washington, ​D.C., federal court, saying a June 12 order by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security unlawfully required Anthropic to disable its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for “any foreign national.” Anthropic turned off access for all customers the same ‌day to ensure compliance. San Jose, ⁠California-based Legion says it depends on Anthropic’s tools for its software platform and that the U.S. government’s

Four Republic Polytechnic graduates have launched a start-up called Stroke Guard, developing an AI-powered camera system that detects facial drooping in bedridden patients to identify strokes early. The project was inspired by one founder's grandmother whose stroke went undetected for years, leaving her permanently disabled. Funded by RP and partnered with Care Corner Singapore, the team has built a working prototype and secured investor interest for commercialisation.