Welcome to the February 19, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Trust in AI Is Much Higher in China Than in the U.S.
• Robot Exoskeletons Help Chinese Tourists Climb Mountain
• U.K. Drops 'Safety' from AI Body
• South Korea Aims to Secure 10,000 GPUs for National AI Computing Center
• How AI Can Protect Undersea Pipelines, Cables
• Ellison Calls for Governments to Unify Data to Feed AI
• China Hunts for Ways to Protect Data from Quantum Computers
• Microsoft: Russian-Linked Hackers Using 'Device Code Phishing' to Hijack Accounts
• U.K. Demand for a Back Door to Apple Data Threatens Americans, Lawmakers Say
• Galway Researchers Create 'World's Largest' Digital Microbe Database
• Meta to Link U.S. and India with World's Longest Undersea Cable Project
• Dual-Arm HyQReal Puts Powerful Telepresence Anywhere

Trust in AI Is Much Higher in China Than in the U.S.

A global survey by the Edelman Trust Barometer found that only 32% of U.S. residents trust AI. The greatest level of trust was reported in India at 77%, followed by Nigeria (76%), Thailand (73%), and China (72%). Trust was lowest in Canada (30%), Germany (29%), the Netherlands (29%), U.K. (28%), Australia (25%), and Ireland (24%). More than half (58%) of respondents said they worry automation will displace them in the workforce, and more than 60% worry about AI-driven misinformation.
[ » Read full article ]

Robot Exoskeletons Help Chinese Tourists Climb Mountain

Robotic legs developed by Taishan Cultural Tourism Group and Kenqing Technology are being beta tested at China's Mount Tai, where they help visitors scale more than 7,000 steps to the top. The 1.8-kg. AI-powered device wraps around the user's waist and thighs, providing "synchronized assistance" to take strain off their legs during the climb. The exoskeletons will be made available to the mass market next month.
[ » Read full article ]

U.K. Drops 'Safety' from AI Body

The U.K. has rebranded the AI Safety Institute to the AI Security Institute, signaling a shift away from examining large language models for issues such as bias. Said Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Peter Kyle, “The work of the AI Security Institute won’t change, but this renewed focus will ensure our citizens, and those of our allies, are protected from those who would look to use AI against our institutions, democratic values, and way of life.”
[ » Read full article ]

South Korea Aims to Secure 10,000 GPUs for National AI Computing Center

To ensure it can compete in the global AI race, the South Korean government plans to obtain 10,000 high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) through public-private cooperation, to facilitate an early opening of its national AI computing center. South Korea currently is exempt from a new U.S. regulation restricting the export of GPUs.
[ » Read full article ]

How AI Can Protect Undersea Pipelines, Cables

AI is being leveraged to protect critical underwater infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of creating an undersea map that can sift through vast amounts of data to identify potential threats in real time. German startup North.io is using technology from Nvidia, IBM, and others to develop systems that can distinguish between natural elements and potential threats to undersea technology. North.io researchers are training AI to analyze data from multiple sources.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Ellison Calls for Governments to Unify Data to Feed AI

During an interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison said governments should consolidate all national data for consumption by AI models. Fragmented data about a population’s health, agriculture, infrastructure, procurement and borders should be unified into a single, secure database that can be accessed by AI models, Ellison said, because it would enable countries with rich population data sets to cut costs and improve public services, particularly healthcare.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

China Hunts for Ways to Protect Data from Quantum Computers

China's Institute of Commercial Cryptography Standards (ICCS) is developing its own post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms, opting against those created through a project at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). ICCS has not commented on the reason for its effort, but some believe China is worried about secret "back doors" in NIST's algorithms or seeks to develop algorithms with its own back doors.
[ » Read full article ]

Microsoft: Russian-Linked Hackers Using 'Device Code Phishing' to Hijack Accounts

Microsoft researchers have identified a threat cluster, dubbed Storm-2372, that appears tied to Russian-linked hackers and has targeted government agencies, non-governmental organizations, IT services, and technology, defense, telecommunications, health, higher education, and energy/oil and gas sectors in Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East. The attacks involve the use of "device code phishing," which allows the threat actor to obtain authentication tokens that can be used to access the user's accounts and data.
[ » Read full article ]

U.K. Demand for a Back Door to Apple Data Threatens Americans, Lawmakers Say

American security could be compromised by a U.K. government order, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, that Apple provide officials with backdoor access to encrypted data, argued congressmen in a note to U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard. They urged Gabbard to demand the U.K. rescind the order, which could make U.S. citizens' data vulnerable to hackers and expose them to foreign surveillance. If the order is not retracted, U.S. lawmakers may reconsider cooperative efforts with the U.K. on deep intelligence sharing and cybersecurity.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Galway Researchers Create 'World's Largest' Digital Microbe Database

Researchers at Ireland's University of Galway have created the world's biggest collection of digital microbes, which will help scientists study the function of microbes in the human body. The Apollo database contains 247,092 advanced computer models, each representing a bacterial microbiome's unique metabolic processes. The database could help pave the way for personalized treatments and improvements in drug development and diagnostics.
[ » Read full article ]

Meta to Link U.S. and India with World's Longest Undersea Cable Project

Meta said it plans to connect the U.S., India, South Africa, Brazil, and other regions via a 31,000-mile (50,000-km.) subsea cable. The Project Waterworth cable is the longest so far to use a 24 fiber-pair system. Meta said the cable system would be laid up to 7,000 meters deep, with "enhanced burial techniques" used to prevent damage "in high-risk fault areas, such as shallow waters near the coast."
[ » Read full article ]

Dual-Arm HyQReal Puts Powerful Telepresence Anywhere

An Italian Institute of Technology team developed the HyQReal robotic system, which combines a powerful quadruped robot with advanced arms and a teleoperation system to assist humans in dangerous, unstructured environments. The 140-kg. robot has knee joints that can output up to 300 newton-meters of torque, and it can carry a payload of 5 kg. per arm. The teleoperation system, which uses immersive virtual reality and haptic feedback, allows operators to control the robot remotely.
[ » Read full article ]