Welcome to the May 28, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Estonia Takes Leap into AI
• FCC Bars Chinese Labs Deemed Security Risks from Testing U.S. Electronics
• Robots Take on Some of the ‘Busy Work’ at U.S. Hospitals
• Dutch Intelligence Agencies Say Russian Hackers Stole Police Data
• Texas Requires Apple, Google to Verify Ages for App Downloads
• Mixed Reality Glasses Give 'the Whole World Back' to People with Partial Vision Loss
• Ukraine Scrambles to Overcome Russia's Edge in Fiber-Optic Drones
• UAE's AI University Aims to Become ‘Stanford of the Gulf’
• EU Plans Fund to Help Tech Companies Scale
• Database of 184 Million Records Exposes Vast Array of Login Credentials
• Specialized Robots Attract Billions with Efficient Task Handling
• Judge Rejects Claim Chatbots Have Free Speech in Suit Over Teen's Death
• AI Poised to Revolutionize Weather Forecasting

Estonia Takes Leap into AI

Estonia will roll out AI Leap beginning in September, providing "world-class" AI tools and skills to students and teachers. The national initiative will ensure 58,000 students and 5,000 teachers have free access to top-tier AI learning tools by 2027. Teacher training will focus on self-directed learning, digital ethics, and prioritizing educational equity and AI literacy. The plan also involves allowing students use of their smartphones in schools.
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FCC Bars Chinese Labs Deemed Security Risks from Testing U.S. Electronics

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to finalize rules barring Chinese labs deemed risks to U.S. national security from testing electronic devices for use in the U.S. The FCC says about 75% of all electronics are tested in labs located inside China and that many of those labs could have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. These labs have tested thousands of devices bound for the U.S. market over the last several years, the agency added.
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Robots Take on Some of the ‘Busy Work’ at U.S. Hospitals

Robots are being deployed to new areas of U.S. hospitals to help cope with a shortage of workers. While rollouts of AI to formulate care plans and schedule appointments have been resisted by nurses' unions, the use of robotics to automate mundane tasks such as transporting lab samples, disinfecting equipment, and cleaning floors has been looked on more favorably. Kate McAfoose of Chang Robotics said offloading such tasks to robots can save nurses up to 40% of their day.
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Dutch Intelligence Agencies Say Russian Hackers Stole Police Data

Intelligence agencies in the Netherlands are accusing a previously unknown hacking group of a cyberattack last year on the Dutch police. The group, dubbed Laundry Bear, reportedly is actively trying to steal sensitive data from EU and NATO countries and is “extremely likely Russian state-supported.”
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Texas Requires Apple, Google to Verify Ages for App Downloads

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill requiring Apple and Google to verify the age of app store users. Utah became the first state to sign such a bill in March, while California and Illinois are considering similar rules. State age-verification laws have pitted tech giants against one another over who should be responsible for restricting children’s access to apps. Social media companies have pressed for Apple and Google to become one-stop shops where parents verify their children’s age and approve downloads.
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Mixed Reality Glasses Give 'the Whole World Back' to People with Partial Vision Loss

Software developed by researchers at Canada's University of Alberta (UAlberta) allows people suffering from hemianopsia, a loss of vision in half the visual field, to regain some of their sight using mixed reality glasses. The "picture-in-picture navigation" software, which works with the Microsoft HoloLens 2 mixed reality glasses, processes real-time video of the user's surroundings and compresses the visual environment into the unaffected field of vision.
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Ukraine Scrambles to Overcome Russia's Edge in Fiber-Optic Drones

Russia's use of fiber-optic drones prompted the recent retreat of Ukrainian troops from Russia's western Kursk region. Fiber-optic drones receive their signals from a cable that unspools as the device flies and are impervious to electronic jamming. The drones allow for more precise targeting, have a longer battery life, and a range of up to 12 miles. At least 15 of Ukraine's approximately 500 drone manufacturers are now building fiber-optic drones.
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UAE's AI University Aims to Become ‘Stanford of the Gulf’

Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI (MBZUAI) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is taking steps to become what its president, ACM Fellow Eric Xing, calls "the Stanford of the Gulf." MBZUAI is intended to be a feeder for Emirati firms, an incubator for homegrown startups, and an AI research and development arm for the nation. The university offers degrees in such fields as robotics and computer vision, backed by full scholarships from the UAE.
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EU Plans Fund to Help Tech Companies Scale

The European Commission has issued a draft strategy detailing plans to establish a Scaleup Europe Fund through which EU funds will be used to acquire stakes in certain tech firms seeking scale. The fund, which will be privately managed and co-financed by private investors, would enable the Commission and investors to obtain direct stakes in AI, quantum, semiconductor, and other companies.
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Database of 184 Million Records Exposes Vast Array of Login Credentials

Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered an exposed Elastic database comprised of more than 184 million records that include an ID tag for account type, a URL for each website or service, usernames, and plaintext passwords. Fowler said there was no information about who owns the data or where it was obtained, but it appears to be a compilation, possibly maintained by researchers investigating cybercrimes or stolen from attackers via infostealer malware.
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Specialized Robots Attract Billions with Efficient Task Handling

Task-specific robots are gaining popularity as companies seek ways to perform specific tasks more efficiently and cost effectively. This comes amid advances in AI chips and as developers encounter challenges in producing humanoid robots capable of sophisticated reasoning and navigating unpredictable environments. Data from PitchBook show that robotics companies globally raised $2.26 billion in the first quarter of 2025, with more than 70% of the total going to firms making task-focused machines.
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Judge Rejects Claim Chatbots Have Free Speech in Suit Over Teen's Death

In a lawsuit that alleges Character.AI and Google are responsible for the suicide of a 14-year-old boy who became obsessed with the chatbot, a federal judge in Orlando rejected Character's argument that the First Amendment protects the chatbot's output. U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Judge Anne Conway allowed the lawsuit to proceed, noting that she was not ready "at this stage" to rule on whether the chatbot's outputs constitute protected speech.
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AI Poised to Revolutionize Weather Forecasting

An AI weather model developed by researchers at Microsoft generates accurate 10-day forecasts at smaller scales than similar models and within seconds, versus hours for traditional models. To increase its usefulness beyond weather forecasts, the Aurora AI weather model also was trained on multiple large Earth system datasets, enabling predictions of air pollution and wave height, among other things. The model is already in use at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting.
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