Welcome to the May 14, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• U.S. Scraps ‘AI Diffusion’ Rule
• CISA Mutes Website, Shifts Routine Cyber Alerts to X, RSS, Email
• Nvidia Sending 18,000 AI Chips to Saudi Arabia
• Microsoft Cutting Thousands of Employees
• Apple to Support Brain-Implant Control of Its Devices
• The Fastest Way Yet to Color Graphs
• New Computer Language Helps Spot Hidden Pollutants
• AI Helps Police Skirt Facial Recognition Bans
• UAE to Introduce AI Classes for Children as Young as Four
• U.S. Disrupts Proxy-for-Hire Botnet
• Tech Company Responsible for Global IT Outage to Cut Jobs, Citing AI
• Spanish Firm Launches Lunar Navigation System
• AI Headphones Translate Multiple Speakers at Once

U.S. Scraps ‘AI Diffusion’ Rule

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday it is rescinding the “AI Diffusion Rule,” which imposed caps on how many chips certain countries can buy. “The Trump Administration will pursue a bold, inclusive strategy to American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries,” said Jeffrey Kessler, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.
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CISA Mutes Website, Shifts Routine Cyber Alerts to X, RSS, Email

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said its Cybersecurity Alerts and Advisories website will post only urgent alerts associated with major cyber activity or emerging threats. "CISA wants this critical information to get the attention it deserves and ensure it is easier to find," the agency said. Going forward, routine updates, guidance, and other notifications will be shared via email, RSS, and X.
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Nvidia Sending 18,000 AI Chips to Saudi Arabia

Nvidia will sell more than 18,000 of its latest AI chips to newly launched Saudi company Humain, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The chips will be used in the construction of datacenter infrastructure. Humain’s plans include eventually deploying “several hundred thousand” Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). AMD said on Tuesday it would also supply chips to Humain.
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Microsoft Cutting Thousands of Employees

Microsoft Corp. said it will cut 6,000 workers across the company, reductions that will occur across geographies and employee levels. The company has been under pressure in recent years to cut costs amid massive spending on datacenters. Among other tech companies, Meta Platforms Inc. said in January it planned to cut about 5% of staff via performance-based terminations, while Salesforce Inc. said in February it was cutting more than 1,000 positions.
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Apple to Support Brain-Implant Control of Its Devices

Apple is taking early steps to enable people to control their iPhones with neural signals captured by a new generation of brain implants. It is working with startup Synchron, maker of a device that is implanted in a vein atop the brain’s motor cortex. An early tester with ALS is currently learning how to control his iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro virtual reality headset through a connection between his Stentrode implant and Apple’s various operating systems.
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The Fastest Way Yet to Color Graphs

An algorithm developed by an international team of academic researchers optimizes the speed of coloring graphs. With the goal of achieving the theoretical minimum time, the researchers focused on coloring multiple edges at the same time. They first used randomization techniques to "prime" the graph, coloring most of the graph first and then painting the remaining uncolored edges virtually simultaneously.
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New Computer Language Helps Spot Hidden Pollutants

A programming language created by University of California, Riverside’s Mingxun Wang (pictured) functions like a search engine for mass spectrometry data, enabling researchers to find patterns that would otherwise require advanced programming skills. Mass Query Language (MassQL) was used to help identify flame retardant chemicals in public waterways. Said Wang, "We wanted to give chemists and biologists…the ability to mine their data exactly how they want to, without having to spend months or years learning to code."
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AI Helps Police Skirt Facial Recognition Bans

Attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice, state and local police departments, and universities across the country are among the users of video analytics firm Veritone's Track tool for tracking individuals without running afoul of laws restricting the use of facial recognition technology. Track lets users track people by body size, gender, hair style, and color, shoes, clothing, and accessories or in videos when faces are obscured or not visible. Track does not involve biometric data, so it does not face the same restrictions as facial recognition technology.
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UAE to Introduce AI Classes for Children as Young as Four

The United Arab Emirates is rolling out an AI curriculum in state schools for children as young as four as it seeks to become a regional AI hub. Ethical use of AI will be a component of the curriculum, which is capped at 20 hours per academic year. Children will also be taught how to write prompts for chatbots and how to use AI for research purposes without plagiarizing.
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U.S. Disrupts Proxy-for-Hire Botnet

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) advised consumers to get rid of old routers from Linksys, Ericsson, and Cisco due to their increased vulnerability to hacking. The warning came as the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed indictments against three Russian nationals and a Kazakhstani associate who allegedly exploited outdated routers in a long-running proxy-for-hire network. The botnet operators charged $9.95 to $110 per month for access to more than 7,000 residential proxies, receiving more than $46 million since 2004.
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Tech Company Responsible for Global IT Outage to Cut Jobs, Citing AI

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, whose faulty software update brought down 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide last July, said AI efficiencies will result in the loss of 500 jobs in the company globally, amounting to about 5% of its workforce. CEO George Kurtz said, “We’re operating in a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry, accelerating threats, and evolving customer needs.”
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Spanish Firm Launches Lunar Navigation System

Spanish technology firm GMV has unveiled a navigation system that uses GPS-like signals from Moon-orbiting satellites to enable astronauts and rovers to determine their lunar location in real time. The LUPIN system is part of a European Space Agency program to test new lunar positioning, navigation, and timing techniques. Said project director Steven Kay, "With this software, we bring Europe closer to establishing a presence of humans on the Moon."
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AI Headphones Translate Multiple Speakers at Once

A headphone system developed by University of Washington researchers leverages AI to translate several speakers simultaneously. The Spatial Speech Translation system automatically detects the number of speakers in a space and translates their speech while maintaining the volume and expressive qualities of each voice. It also tracks the quality and direction of the voices as the speakers move their heads.
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