Welcome to the August 18, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Education, Workforce Training Form Core of U.S. AI Strategy
• Trump Administration Eyeing Stake in Intel
• Fewer U.K. Students Taking Computing at A-level
• Robots Compete, Collapse in China 'Olympics'
• Elegant Mathematics Bending the Future of Design
• World's Fastest Supercomputer Improves Tsunami Alerts
• A Scalable Probabilistic Computer
• NASA, Google Collaborate on AI Doctor for Mars Trip
• Study Reveals Alarming Browser Tracking
• U.K. Expands Police Use of Facial Recognition
• Tax Changes Spur U.S. Tech Startups to Spend, Hire Domestically
• Labor Unions Mobilize to Challenge Advance of Algorithms in Workplaces

Education, Workforce Training Form Core of U.S. AI Strategy

At the recent Ai4 conference in Las Vegas, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Chief Innovation Officer Taylor Stockton said the agency will prepare Americans for an AI-centric economy through a focus on upskilling and developing new vehicles to curtail worker displacement. Stockton said a key aspect of this strategy is prioritizing foundational AI literacy "across all education and workforce funding streams." The comments came on the heels of the release of a Talent Strategy government report co-authored by the DOL and the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Education.
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Trump Administration Eyeing Stake in Intel

The U.S. is reportedly in talks to take a stake in Intel, aiming to facilitate construction of a delayed chipmaking hub in Ohio and strengthen U.S. technology leadership. The potential deal follows President Trump’s recent meeting with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, whom he had previously criticized over ties to China. Intel’s Ohio project, once promised as the world’s largest chip facility, has been delayed due to financial struggles.
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Fewer U.K. Students Taking Computing at A-level

Fewer students are taking computing at A-level (Advanced Level) this year in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with overall entries falling 2.8% despite modest increases in other STEM subjects. Girls’ participation continues to rise, now accounting for 18.6% of entrants, up 3.5% from 2024, and they outperform boys across all grades. Experts warn that declining student numbers will worsen the U.K.’s IT skills shortage, particularly in areas like AI and cybersecurity, and highlight a disconnect between school curriculums and real-world technology.
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Robots Compete, Collapse in China 'Olympics'

China's three-day World Humanoid Robot Games kicked off Friday, drawing 280 teams from 16 countries. Robots competed in various sports and showcased their abilities in challenges such as sorting medicines, handling materials, and cleaning. Despite frequent falls requiring human assistance, many robots managed to right themselves independently. Organizers said the games provide data collection opportunities for developing robots for practical applications.
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Elegant Mathematics Bending the Future of Design

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) Geometric Computing Laboratory (GCM) developed “C-Tubes,” lightweight curved tubular structures created from flat strips of material without stretching or wrinkling. Presented at ACM SIGGRAPH 2025, the approach uses an algorithm to design shapes that are buildable, ensuring all parts are “developable” surfaces. Explained GCM's Michele Vidulis, "Our algorithm adjusts the input parameters so that the final shape matches the designer’s goal and is guaranteed to work as a physical object."
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World's Fastest Supercomputer Improves Tsunami Alerts

A real-time tsunami forecasting system developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers is powered by the world's fastest supercomputer, El Capitan. The researchers developed a dataset enabling real-time tsunami forecasting on smaller systems using more than 43,500 AMD Instinct MI300A APUs to complete extreme-scale acoustic-gravity wave propagation problems. They solved a billion-parameter Bayesian inverse problem in under 0.2 seconds via a one-time, offline precomputation step via El Capitan.
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A Scalable Probabilistic Computer

Northwestern University researchers developed an integrated probabilistic computer using a scalable approach. The computer, which operates at room temperature, features a custom-designed digital silicon chip with nanodevices based on previously developed voltage-controlled magnetic tunnel junctions (V-MTJs). The researchers built the 130-nm application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) using commercially available transistor-based technology. They used the V-MTJs to create a true random number generator, which is necessary for the computer to search its solution space.
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NASA, Google Collaborate on AI Doctor for Mars Trip

Researchers at Google, in collaboration with NASA, are developing the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA) to provide diagnostics and medical advice without input from medical professionals on Earth for those taking part in multi-year, long-distance space travel. CMO-DA uses open-source large language models and runs on Google Cloud's Vertex AI environment. Its source code is owned by NASA. In tests using a three-doctor panel, the system's AI diagnostics achieved high accuracy rates for common maladies.
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Study Reveals Alarming Browser Tracking

University of California, Davis computer scientists found that GenAI browser assistants typically collect and share personal and sensitive information with first-party servers and third-party trackers. Their study covered nine popular search-based GenAI browser assistants. Some gathered only the data on the screen when the questions were asked, but others collected the full HTML of the page and all textual content. One also collected form inputs, including the user's Social Security number.
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U.K. Expands Police Use of Facial Recognition

The U.K.'s Home Office plans to deploy 10 new live facial recognition vans across seven English police forces. The vans scan faces in public and compare them to watchlists, a system credited with 580 London arrests in a year. Privacy campaigners warn of a “surveillance state” and are pursuing legal challenges, citing misidentifications and lack of a legal mandate. The government counters that the technology is accurate, proportionate, and focused on serious offenders.
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Tax Changes Spur U.S. Tech Startups to Spend, Hire Domestically

Tech startups plan to hire U.S.-based engineers instead of outsourcing, citing 20–25% cost savings fueled by recent tax changes. Congress restored a tax deduction allowing U.S. companies to immediately expense domestic R&D costs, spurring startups and tech firms to expand U.S. hiring. The change applies only to U.S. spending; foreign R&D must still be amortized over 15 years.
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Labor Unions Mobilize to Challenge Advance of Algorithms in Workplaces

Labor unions are working with state lawmakers to place guardrails on AI's use in workplaces. In Massachusetts, for example, the Teamsters labor union is backing a proposed state law that would require autonomous vehicles to have a human safety operator. Oregon lawmakers recently passed a bill supported by the Oregon Nurses Association that prohibits AI from using the title “nurse” or any associated abbreviations. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), meanwhile, launched a national task force in July to work with state lawmakers on efforts to regulate automation and AI affecting workers.
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