AI to drive growth despite geopolitics, Taiwan’s Foxconn says


By AFP
March 16, 2026


Strong demand for AI hardware brought a 24 percent annual net profit jump last year for Foxconn - Copyright AFP I-Hwa Cheng

Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn on Monday said it expected the booming market for artificial intelligence servers to drive growth this year, despite volatility caused by global conflict.

Strong demand for AI hardware fuelled a 24 percent annual net profit jump last year for Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer.

Energy markets have been roiled by the war in the Middle East, raising concerns for big tech manufacturers, but company chairman Young Liu struck an upbeat tone at an earnings call with analysts.

“Over the past few months, there have been significant changes in tariffs, geopolitics, and global monetary policy,” he said.

“However, driven by the strong growth of AI servers, I believe 2026 will still be a very good year, and we expect to see robust growth.”

Foxconn — also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry — has gone beyond assembling low-margin Apple iPhones to making AI servers for Nvidia along with electric vehicles and robotics.

It’s a move that is paying off as tech firms worldwide race to spend big on training and deploying rapidly evolving AI systems.

In 2025, Foxconn’s net profit came to NT$189.4 billion ($5.9 billion), up from NT$152.7 billion in 2024.

Revenue jumped 18 percent on-year to NT$8.1 trillion, the firm said, just beating the estimates of a Bloomberg survey of economists.

– AI ambitions –

Sky-high tech share results and valuations worldwide have led to concerns of an AI market bubble that could eventually burst.

But Foxconn on Monday forecast “strong AI server demand” with “high double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth” expected for AI rack shipments in the first quarter of 2026.

Liu said the company wanted to become “the most trusted industrial platform of the AI era”.

Cloud and networking services accounted for 40 percent of Foxconn’s business portfolio in 2025, up from 30 percent in 2024.

Meanwhile, smart consumer electronics declined from 46 percent to 38 percent.

Huge global demand for memory chips to use in AI data centres has caused a shortage that is threatening higher prices for everyday gadgets.

“Everyone is concerned about memory shortages and related price hikes” fors smart consumer products, Liu said Monday.

But “since our product portfolio is mainly composed of higher-priced models, the impact we’ve observed so far has been relatively limited” while demand has not changed, he added.

Ahead of Monday’s earnings release, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Steven Tseng told AFP that for Foxconn, “so far the impact from the Middle East conflict appears largely manageable”.

“As the region is not a major market for either AI hardware or smartphones, the main risk is more on costs than demand, driven by higher oil prices and some logistic disruptions,” he said.

Alibaba pins hopes on AI as quarterly net profit drops


By AFP
March 19, 2026


China's tech titans, including Alibaba, are racing to develop AI agents - Copyright AFP HECTOR RETAMAL

China’s Alibaba said Thursday that revenue from AI-related products showed strong momentum, even as the tech giant reported a 66 percent year-on-year drop in quarterly net profit.

Alibaba, which runs some of China’s biggest online shopping platforms, has seen its core e-commerce business squeezed by price wars and sluggish consumption in the world’s second largest economy.

It is ploughing tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence — with its shareholders keen to see how the company will approach the tricky task of monetising these huge investments.

“AI is and will continue to be one of our primary growth engines,” CEO Eddie Wu said Thursday, noting that revenue from Alibaba’s Cloud Intelligence Group was up 36 percent on-year in October-December.

Net profit plunged 66 percent to 15.6 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) primarily due to a “decrease in income from operations”, the firm said.

Total revenue for the period stood at 284.8 billion yuan, missing the estimates of a Bloomberg survey of economists.

China’s tech titans, including Alibaba, are racing to develop AI agents — tools that execute real-life tasks such as sending emails or booking flights, touted as the technology’s next frontier after text and image generators.

This week, Alibaba announced an AI agent for businesses called Wukong, currently in beta testing.

It follows the unexpected boom in popularity in China of OpenClaw, an agent tool created by an Austrian researcher that has fascinated programmers worldwide despite cybersecurity concerns.

Alibaba’s open-source “Qwen” AI models are popular with programmers worldwide, and CEO Wu said Thursday that Qwen’s consumer interface had surpassed 300 million monthly active users.

The company is bringing its AI development and services teams together under the so-called “Alibaba Token Hub”, with the restructuring seen as a bid to focus on profitability.

Max Liu, an AI entrepreneur who has worked with several local AI startup teams, told AFP that Alibaba’s “previous structure was too dispersed, making it hard for all departments to work together”.

The OpenClaw phenomenon in China has led big tech companies, including Alibaba, to recognise that “token” — a unit of AI computing power — is becoming a new type of utility, much like water and electricity, Liu said.

China tech giant Tencent bets on AI agents


By AFP
March 18, 2026


So far Tencent has been seen as a cautious artificial intelligence player - Copyright AFP Adek BERRY

Luna Lin, with Katie Forster in Tokyo

Tencent wants to bring artificial intelligence agents into its WeChat social media app, the Chinese tech firm’s president said on Wednesday, a move that could change how hundreds of millions of users interact with the platform in the Asian nation and beyond.

Agents — programmes that execute real-life tasks such as sending emails or booking flights — are being touted as AI’s next frontier after chatbots such as ChatGPT.

Their incorporation into WeChat may alter how people in the world’s second-largest economy use the so-called “super-app” that already boasts social messaging, digital payments and a long list of other features.

Tencent, also the world’s largest video game publisher, reported a 16 percent jump in full-year net profit on Wednesday, with gaming still the main business driver even as it extends its AI push.

The company has sought in recent years to integrate AI into WeChat, known as Weixin in China.

“We hope to create AI agents in Weixin, which could leverage Weixin’s close connection with users,” company president Martin Lau told reporters.

“It will be a highly diverse ecosystem, encompassing mini-programs, content, commerce, social networking and payments,” Lau added, without giving details such as when the service would become available.

On Wednesday, Tencent said net profit for 2025 came to 224.8 billion yuan ($32.6 billion), beating estimates of 221.9 billion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The company, which owns the developer of popular eSports including “League of Legends”, has sizeable operations in other sectors from cloud computing to entertainment.

Despite being China’s most valuable tech company by market capitalisation, so far Tencent has been seen as a cautious AI player, although founder Pony Ma has vowed to increase investment in the sector.

“Our highly resilient and cash generative core businesses provides us with the resources to fund our increasing investments in AI,” Ma said in a statement Wednesday.



– Agent fever –



Like its rivals Alibaba, Baidu and ByteDance, Tencent has recently branched out into the world of AI agents with its WorkBuddy app.

The Shenzhen-based company has also been among the Chinese tech giants racing to take advantage of a surge in interest in the country in OpenClaw — an AI agent platform created by an Austrian programmer that has fascinated the tech world.

Tencent and others are offering simplified installation and affordable coding plans to help users host OpenClaw agents on cloud servers.

Earlier this month the company’s cloud computing arm organised an OpenClaw setup event at its headquarters, which drew more than 1,000 attendees, with similar events planned across China.

The increasing capabilities of Tencent’s main large-language AI model, and AI agent tools such as WorkBuddy and new offering QClaw, “are encouraging early signs that these investments will unlock new opportunities”, the company said.

The Financial Times reported this month that the White House was debating whether Tencent’s investment in US and Finnish gaming groups pose a national security risk.

Discussions over its stakes in “Fortnite” creator Epic Games, Riot Games and Supercell revolve around the implications for US user data privacy, the British newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

“We have been engaged in constructive discussions with the relevant US regulators for quite some time now,” said Tencent president Lau.

“Things are moving in a positive direction” with the overall risk “manageable”, he said.

“While there are due processes to be followed in the US, other regions are actually very keen for us to invest in gaming companies.”

Mistral chief calls for European AI levy to pay creatives


By AFP
March 20, 2026


Valued at 11.7 billion euros ($13.5 billion), Mistral has staked a place as Europe's challenger to the AI behemoths that have emerged in the US with valuations in the hundreds of billions. - Copyright AFP/File Lionel BONAVENTURE

Companies selling artificial intelligence models in Europe should pay a “levy” to support cultural industries, the head of French developer Mistral said Friday.

AI models are trained on vast swathes of human-generated data including text, audio and video, which has prompted complaints and legal challenges to their developers from both creators and copyright-owning companies in America and Europe.

Operators of AI models in Europe should pay “a revenue-based levy… reflecting their use of content publicly available online,” Mensch wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Times (FT) shared with AFP.

“Proceeds would flow into a central European fund dedicated to investing in new content creation, and supporting Europe’s cultural sectors,” he added.

Mistral’s external affairs chief Audrey Herblin-Stoop told AFP that the company was suggesting a levy of between 1.0 and 1.5 percent of revenues.

With most major AI developers based in the US, Mensch insisted that “this levy would apply equally to providers based abroad, creating a level playing field within the European market and ensuring that foreign AI companies also contribute when they operate here”.

Brussels’ AI regulation, adopted in 2024, requires systems to respect the EU’s copyright rules.

But the question of how to apply the law to generative AI systems remains undecided.

In exchange for paying the levy, AI developers “would gain what they urgently need: legal certainty,” Mensch wrote.

“The mechanism would shield AI providers from liability for training on materials accessible on the web,” he added — without replacing direct agreements between data owners and AI firms.

Valued at 11.7 billion euros ($13.5 billion), Mistral has staked a place as Europe’s challenger to the AI behemoths that have emerged in the US with valuations in the hundreds of billions.

Those dominant players enjoy “extremely permissive regulatory contexts on copyright,” Herblin-Stoop said.

American AI giant Anthropic nevertheless agreed in September to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by authors.

Mistral was itself accused last month of using copyrighted works including “Harry Potter” and “The Little Prince” to train its AI model, in an investigation by French media Mediapart.

The company told AFP at the time that it “respects the opt-out mechanisms and deploys safeguards” against including copyrighted material.

Nevertheless, some of the works involved are “especially popular and duplicated many times online”, making it difficult to exclude them completely from training data.

Global music market grows, calls for AI compensation: industry body

ByAFP
March 18, 2026


Taylor Swift was the biggest-selling global artist of 2025 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Frazer Harrison

The global music industry generated $31.7 billion last year, driven by online streaming, industry body IFPI said Wednesday, as it called on the sector to ensure AI-generated content compensates musicians.

Music revenues rose 6.4 percent, marking the eleventh consecutive year of expansion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents more than 8,000 global record labels.

Streaming accounted for nearly 70 percent of annual revenue, with paid streaming subscriptions reaching 837 million subscribers worldwide.

But the IFPI warned against the increasing threat of AI-generated streams of fake content.

“Streaming fraud is theft, plain and simple,” the group said in its annual report, calling instead for technology to “support and enhance creativity, not replace it.”

AI-generated tracks regularly go viral, such as the runaway success of an AI cover of Belgian musician Stromae’s “Papaoutai” at the end of January.

According to the report, Deezer revealed that it receives more than 60,000 AI-generated tracks every day.

AI music generation platforms — such as US based Suno and Udio — argue their work is covered by the American copyright loophole of “fair use,” which does not require rights holders’ consent.

The IFPI urged policymakers to uphold copyright protections.

“Music is embracing the future, demonstrated by record company partnerships with generative AI developers who respect the rights of creators,” the group said.

Suno reached an agreement with record label Warner Music Group in November to compensate artists whose work is used to create AI-generated tracks.

Image: — © AFP

Revenues from physical formats were up, including from vinyl which grew 13.7 percent.

Asia drove the rise in vinyls and CDs, while these formats were almost non-existent in the North Africa and Middle East market, where streaming accounts for 97.5 percent of revenue.

Taylor Swift was the biggest-selling global artist of 2025, followed by Korean group Stray kids and Canadian rapper Drake.

In Hollywood, AI’s no match for creativity, say top executives


By AFP
March 16, 2026


US filmmaker Steven Spielberg says he has never used AI in his award-winning films, and he doesn't support AI if it takes work from creatives - Copyright AFP Jean Baptiste Lacroix

Alex PIGMAN

Artificial intelligence is transforming Hollywood at a pace that has sent shockwaves through creative industries, but human creativity will always prevail, a leading executive at the cutting edge of that change told AFP.

The disruption was a dominant theme at this week’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas where veteran director Steven Spielberg made clear he was drawing a line in the sand.

“I’ve never used AI on any of my films yet. We have a writer’s room. All the seats are occupied,” Spielberg said. “I am not for AI if it replaces a creative individual.”

Joshua Davies, chief innovation officer of Artlist — a Tel Aviv-based AI video platform that has most recently been positioning itself as a supplier of creative tools to filmmakers — told AFP the technology would never eclipse the human creative.

If given the choice between something made using an AI toold by a techie and a creative, “I know which one I would rather watch at the end,” said Davies, who founded video editing software company FXhome before it was acquired by Artlist in 2021.

Davies acknowledged the industry’s anxiety was not unfounded, with new video models having “struck fear in the hearts of everybody” — not just over copyright and personality infringement, but over the fundamental question of how film and television production will look in a matter of years.

“If I was bringing out an Iron Man movie in 2027, 2028 — would I be going to multiple visual effects houses, would I expect them to be utilizing AI? We’re all kind of working out our way through that,” he said.

Davies described the platform’s AI video tools as a way to “fill in the bits that you can’t shoot, or didn’t shoot, or you don’t have the budget to shoot,” rather than a wholesale substitution for going out on location.

– ‘Holy grail’ –

Yet the timing is charged. Editors, visual effects artists and other Hollywood professions have watched the rapid advance of generative AI with alarm, fearing that tools capable of producing broadcast-quality footage at a fraction of traditional costs could hollow out entire job categories.

Major studios are actively evaluating how AI can be integrated into production pipelines, foreshadowing significant workforce changes across an industry that has already endured a bruising period following the covid pandemic and writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023.

Artlist made headlines in February when it produced a Super Bowl LX spot in under five days using its own products, at a fraction of the multi-million-dollar cost typical of Big Game advertising.

Davies was keen to push back on the narrative that the ad represented the future of production without human involvement.

That wasn’t what it was, he said. It was creatives “using the tool to get the very best out of it.”

A self-described “techie guy,” Davies said the platform’s current obsession is on giving creators nuanced control over creating or editing footage — something he described as the company’s “holy grail.”

Existing models, he said, handle simple static shots reasonably well but struggle with complex camera movements and consistent performance across multiple takes.

You can prompt an elaborate shot, but for now “you’ll get something random” that you can’t work with.

On cost, Davies cautioned against unrealistic expectations, suggesting AI would reduce production expenses significantly but not eliminate them.

Davies said his long-term hope was that AI would serve as a leveling force for independent filmmakers and content creators who currently lack the budgets to realize their ambitions.

“There are definitely YouTubers who make some of the best action work out there on no budget,” he said.

“AI will level that playing field completely — the story will be what matters.”

He struck a cautiously optimistic note on the creative industry’s direction, dismissing the most dystopian predictions.

“The idea that no one works at the end of it is the bit that doesn’t hold any water with me,” he said.

“There’s been more and more of everything, not less and less — and the cream rises to the top anyway, because the human element is what we crave.”

Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation

Evan Solomon on the AI problem Canadians can’t ignore


By Jennifer Friesen

DIGITAL JOURNAL
March 19, 2026


Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon at Platform Calgary Mar. 18, 2026. - Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal

There’s a version of this story where Canada wins AI.

We have the research, the talent, and cities like Calgary pulling founders, investors, and policymakers into the same room to figure out what comes next.

There’s also a version where we keep doing what we’ve always done. Build here, sell early, and watch the upside leave.

At a sold-out event at Platform Calgary on Wednesday, federal Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon spoke to a room of founders, investors, researchers, and policymakers about what happens as AI starts shaping where companies build, hire, and grow.

“We plant the seeds here. We water the seeds. We grow the plants, and they come and harvest,” he said.

The visit comes as Ottawa works on a new national AI strategy following a public consultation process that drew input from more than 11,000 Canadians. The focus now is on commercialization, adoption, infrastructure, and how to keep more economic value in the country.

Ottawa is rewriting its AI playbook at the same time companies are deciding right now where to invest, who to sell to, and how to scale.

“This is a hinge moment,” said Platform Calgary CEO Jennifer Lussier.

The question on the table was if Canada can turn its AI advantage into something that lasts

.

Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon (left) and Platform CEO Jennifer Lussier tour Platform Calgary on Mar. 18, 2026. – Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal

A moment bigger than AI

“We are living through the biggest political realignment since the Second World War,” explained Solomon. “This political realignment and this technological realignment poses real challenges to our sovereignty, to our values, to our communities, but it also presents opportunities.”

That word keeps coming up now. ‘Sovereignty’ shows up in federal strategy documents, telecom partnerships, and academic reports. Not in a vague, patriotic way. In a very specific, slightly uncomfortable way.

Sensitive Canadian data, from financial systems to health records, is often stored or processed on foreign infrastructure, which means it can fall under foreign laws.

If your product runs on infrastructure you don’t control, your roadmap depends on decisions made somewhere else.

If your data sits in another jurisdiction, your legal exposure changes overnight.

And if your company scales on platforms you don’t own, the value tends to follow the platform.

Solomon also acknowledged the balancing act. Canada is not stepping away from global markets. Most companies in the room will still sell into the United States and beyond.

“Sovereignty is not solitude,” he said. “We are not building a digital moat.”

Build here, compete globally, rely on systems that are often outside your control, and still try to keep the upside anchored at home.
The culture gap inside the system

Owning the system is one thing. Getting it to move is another.

Solomon described what he sees as two instincts inside organizations. One defaults to caution, focusing on risk and process. The other moves ahead despite uncertainty, with a bias toward action and a willingness to figure things out along the way.

He called it ‘team yes’ and ‘team no.’

“My job is to facilitate team yes, to get out of the way when we need to, and to give a boost when we have to.”

That framing puts government in a supporting role, helping builders move faster. It also raises a more practical question about how often the system does the opposite.

He acknowledged that progress won’t be clean.

“We’re going to screw up sometimes, but we’ve got to be a bit risk tolerant,” he said. “Iterate ideas, admit when you’re wrong, build on mistakes, get better.”

Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon spoke at Platform Calgary on Mar. 18, 2026. – Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal

That kind of iteration is standard inside startups. But public systems are built differently, with layers of approval, procurement rules, and accountability structures that make pace harder to apply.

At the same time, the pace of building is speeding up.

“The distance between idea and execution has never been shorter,” he said.

Shorter timelines make those constraints more visible. Companies trying to move from pilot to deployment still run into procurement cycles, funding approvals, and programs that were not designed for that speed.

But behaviour is only part of the problem.

An OECD study of AI adoption across G7 countries found that more than 60% of firms cite a shortage of skilled talent as a major barrier. Cost, access to usable data, and uncertainty about how to apply AI in real business settings also rank near the top.

Even companies willing to move quickly run into limits around hiring, infrastructure, and clarity on return.
Why Canada struggles to hold on to scale

Canada’s brain drain has been discussed a thousand times. It’s a pattern tech has been trying to outgrow for years. What’s changing is how often it comes up in conversations about AI.

Canada produces companies with strong research foundations and early traction. As those companies grow, many still look outside the country for capital, customers, and infrastructure.

Solomon pointed to three areas where policy is trying to intervene, focusing on capital, compute, and customers.

Each one maps to a point where companies tend to leave.

Access to capital remains a constraint at later stages. Founders often look to larger U.S. funds when they need bigger rounds or faster deal timelines.

Compute is becoming just as important. Training and deploying AI systems requires infrastructure that is expensive and concentrated in a small number of providers. Programs like the federal compute fund are meant to lower that barrier, particularly when companies use domestic infrastructure, he said.

Customers may be the most immediate lever.

“Most of you would rather have a contract than a grant,” Solomon said.

Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon (left) and Platform CEO Jennifer Lussier gave a fireside chat to a sold out room at Platform Calgary. – Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal

Revenue changes the equation. A contract provides validation, not just funding, and can make it easier to attract private investment.

That is where procurement comes in. Governments can act as early customers, creating demand for Canadian companies.

The challenge is that this approach depends on how those systems operate in practice. Procurement is still a sticking point. Long timelines, dense requirements, and unclear processes make it hard for smaller companies to get through the door.

Even with new programs and incentives, founders will continue making decisions based on where they can grow fastest and with the least friction.

Policy can influence that decision, but it doesn’t remove the trade-offs.
Adoption is the problem no one can ignore

“Currently, Canada adopts AI at the lowest rate in the OECD, 12% adoption rate,” Solomon said. “A lot of people don’t trust it. So we gotta get the trust up.”

Interest is growing, but most companies are still on the sidelines. Two-thirds of businesses say they have no plans to adopt AI in the next year, and many report that the technology does not yet feel relevant to what they do.

Even among companies exploring AI, many report improvements in productivity and efficiency, but adoption is still uneven and early-stage.

The benefits are showing up inside companies that have made the leap. Outside that group, hesitation is still the default.

The decision comes down to whether a tool improves how work gets done or introduces more complexity than it removes. When that answer is unclear, projects stall or never move past early testing.

Trust is part of that hesitation, but it is not the only factor. Cost, integration challenges, and a lack of internal expertise continue to slow adoption, even as the technology becomes more accessible.

Companies are making decisions now about where to invest, what to build, and how quickly to move. Those decisions will shape where value is created and where it ends up.

Canada has already shown it can grow in the early stages. What happens next depends on whether more companies decide to use what is being built, and whether that value stays long enough to be harvested here.

Final shots

Where companies choose to scale will determine whether the value created in Canada stays here

Early customer access, especially through procurement, can influence whether companies grow domestically

Adoption is still concentrated among a small group of Canadian companies, leaving most on the sidelines

Written ByJennifer Friesen
Jennifer Friesen is Digital Journal's associate editor and content manager based in Calgary.

 Op-Ed: Robots, AI, and an undefined future – A frame of reference that can’t keep up with itself

By Paul Wallis
EDITOR AT LARGE

DIGITAL JOURNAL
March 21, 2026


EngineAI founder Evan Yao says the China-based maker of humanoid robots is working with US tech titans such as Amazon and Meta on giving them AI brains - Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

The idea of functional robots dates back to ancient Greece. An automatic maid called Automate Therapaenis was created in the 3rd century BC using hydraulics to mix drinks. Robots were also used as automatic players in theatrical performances.

There was a bit of a historical gap. Since then, things have become slightly more complex. The whole idea of robots was basically humanoid for a long time. That idea didn’t really change at all until very recently. Technology has taken a while to catch up, but it has. The humanoid robot is now just one species of robot.

If you define robots by function, you can see how far the technology has driven the thinking. Now, the technology is adding wings and a vast spectrum of new digressions to the thinking. It’s not helping the logic much.

Autonomous thinking robots as a working proposition in the real world can be said to have been mapped by Asimov’s I, Robot. At the time, it was a truly spectacular leap in logic and created the Three Laws of Robotics.

That was about as close to clear thinking as people got on the subject of living with robots for a long time. Now, it’s becoming an almost imponderable real-world problem. Human relationships with robots are very much a cultural issue, now becoming a social issue. It’s almost as if total incomprehension was a problem.

Also built into the theory of robots was human conflict with robots.

This was a sort of quasi-Luddite perspective. It wasn’t even theoretically practical in societies run by robots, like the world of the famous Magnus, Robot Fighter of the 1960s. The robots were the default bad guys. Magnus, raised by robots, is the hero for fighting the bad robots. Robot characters, like B9 in Lost in Space and Robbie the Robot from Forbidden Planet, slowly evolved. The idea of robots with individual personalities took a long time.

Dependence on robots was also seen as a bad idea. The threat was that humans wouldn’t be able to function without them. Automation in general was and is still seen as a weakness in human survival capabilities.

The social frame of reference for robotics is as critical as it is inevitable. It’s the thinking that’s not working. The ideas may define the technology, but the technology is now forcing the ideas to evolve, rapidly. Autonomous robots and AI are raising many old and new doubts.

AI is integral to autonomous robots and automation in general. The dysfunctionality of AI is becoming a serious, expensive, and by definition, dangerous problem. Now, create millions of robots with those problems. Brilliant, aren’t you?

The conflict with automation is already real enough. It stems entirely and exclusively from human thinking. “AI slop” is human-prompted slop. Human thinking isn’t keeping up with the technology at all.

Nor is business, on any level. You can’t expect a collection of evolutionarily deficient corporate slobs and sycophants to really grasp anything but money. That’s generating (pun intended) disasters regularly. You’re not “saving wages”. Productivity is all about costs and whether you can control them. You’re investing in a class of tech that will be obsolete in 5 years and paying for every second of it. Dumb is as dumb does.

Nor is this moronic superficial thinking keeping up with basic critical technical standards. They’re bleating about regulations that don’t yet exist, while doing nothing about obvious needs for proper controls and safeguards.

What use is a tool that doesn’t work properly?

More to the point, what use are idiot users?

These aren’t even difficult issues. If you define AI and robots by function, you have an instant, ready-made definition of necessary quality controls and technical standards.

Like:

Don’t crash financial markets.

Don’t kill the patients.

Don’t crash the power supply.

Don’t crash the food supply.

Don’t crash the water supply.

Don’t burn down the house, the neighborhood, or the planet.

Strict guidelines for human rights and privacy.

Proper oversight of all operations.

Reliable instant remediation and safeguards for all AI and robot operations as required.

A four-year-old child, presumably a very offended four-year-old child insulted to have such obvious things told to them, wouldn’t need these things explained. For some reason, this idiotic society does. The proper frame of reference needs to be taught in kindergarten. It’s how humans relate to technology that dictates what happens.

Trust nothing. Keep your mind open and your mouth wary.

_______________________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

Three charged with sneaking Nvidia AI chips from US into China


By AFP
March 19, 2026


Super Micro Computer says a member of its board is among those charged with conspiring to divert servers with Nvidia AI chips to China - Copyright AFP Hector RETAMAL

Employees of a US computer company raked in billions of dollars diverting Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China in violation of export controls, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, 71, of Silicon Valley conspired with 53-year-old Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang and 44-year-old Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun of Taiwan to smuggle computer servers containing high-performance Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to China, prosecutors contend.

“The defendants participated in a systematic scheme to divert massive quantities of US artificial intelligence technology to customers in China,” US attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.

“They did so through a tangled web of lies, obfuscation, and concealment.”

The company that employed the three defendants, Super Micro Computer, said the employees violated its policies and controls with the scheme.

Yih-Shyan Liaw was a senior vice president of business development and on the company’s board of directors, Ruei-Tsang Chang was a sales manager in Taiwan, and Ting-Wei Sun was a contractor, according to Super Micro.

“The company has been cooperating fully with the government’s investigation and will continue to do so,” it said.

The trio conspired with others starting about two years ago for the sale of at least $2.5 billion worth of computer servers routed to China despite US export controls barring their sale in that country without proper licenses, according to the indictment.

The scheme involved a “pass-through” company based in Southeast Asia used to obscure where the servers packed with Nvidia GPUs were actually going, prosecutors maintain.

Falsified documents were used to hide the trail to China, and non-working “dummy” replica servers were kept in stock to fool auditors, according to the indictment.

Ting-Wei Sun was described in the filing as a “fixer” who worked with others to conceal the scheme.

Sao Paulo AI policing nabs criminals, and a few innocents


By AFP
March 16, 2026


Latin America's largest city has long battled high rates of crime, and the Smart Sampa AI tech was introduced in 2024 to scan the streets and compare images to those in judicial databases - Copyright AFP Jean Baptiste Lacroix

Facundo Fernández Barrio

In the heart of Sao Paulo, a “prisonometer” keeps a live tally of people jailed due to Latin America’s largest AI facial-recognition system, but its successes have been marred by mistaken arrests.

The digital counter stands outside the Smart Sampa monitoring center, where dozens of police officers watch images streaming in from 40,000 cameras in the Brazilian megalopolis.

Latin America’s largest city has long battled high rates of crime, and the AI technology was introduced in 2024 to scan the streets and compare images to those in judicial databases.

Smart Sampa’s dragnet has swept up 3,000 fugitives, while nearly 4,000 people have been caught in the act of committing a crime.

“With the fugitives the system captured, we could fill seven prisons. Today I can no longer imagine Sao Paulo without Smart Sampa,” municipal security secretary Orlando Morando told AFP about the program, which costs about two million dollars per month to run.

To show how it works, he uploads a photo of himself to the system. Within seconds, images of him in various locations around the city of 12 million people pop up on the screen.

“It reminds me of the book 1984 (by George Orwell), with all that control of people: I love it, I approve 100 percent,” said Sonia Ferreira Silva, a 68-year-old retiree, standing next to a Smart Sampa truck serving as a mobile surveillance post on the iconic Avenida Paulista.



– Mistaken arrests –



But the system is far from foolproof.

Official transparency reports analyzed by AFP show that more than 8 percent of people identified as fugitives and arrested in Smart Sampa’s first year had to be released due to errors.

At least 59 detainees were freed because the system mistook them for other people.

In December, an 80-year-old retiree spent hours under arrest because Smart Sampa confused him with a rapist.

And a month earlier, a group of psychiatric patients were attending therapy at a mental health center when armed police burst in and handcuffed one of them.

After hours at the police station, the detainee was released, and authorities said his arrest warrant was no longer valid.

The system relies not only on street cameras but also on cameras in public buildings — including health centers — and private buildings that agree to participate.

At least 141 people were arrested due to outdated warrants, but the Sao Paulo government argues that those mistakes are the judiciary’s responsibility, not theirs.

“No one remained imprisoned by mistake: the people were released,” said Morando.



– ‘Civil control’ –



Among the fugitives captured by Smart Sampa, almost half had their crimes classified as “other.”

Nearly all of them are people who owe child support, a civil offense “that has little to do with public security,” according to the report “Smart Sampa: Transparency for whom? Transparency of what?”

“Smart Sampa is presented as a solution to crime but is used for civil control,” warns Amarilis Costa, director of the lawyers’ network Liberdade and a co-author of the report.

The government denounces attempts to “discredit” Smart Sampa, boasting the city had seen a nearly 15 percent drop in robberies in 2025.

In 2024, nearly one in five cellphone robberies in Brazil, including violent muggings, occurred in Sao Paulo.



– ‘No prejudice’ –



The racial identity of more than half of those found guilty and jailed after being caught by Smart Sampa is not included in official data.

Costa said this creates an information gap that makes it impossibe to know whether Smart Sampa suffers from “algorithmic racism” in a country with one of the world’s largest black populations.

Studies in several countries have suggested that AI facial recognition systems tend to make more mistakes with black people.

The government argues that the lack of racial data is the responsibility of the justice system.

“Smart Sampa has no prejudice — we do not arrest people based on color,” said Morando, the security secretary.

Most Smart Sampa arrests have occurred in outlying neighborhoods, with many of those detained migrants from poorer regions of Brazil’s interior.

Wild possum shelters with plush toys in Australian airport shop


By AFP
March 19, 2026


A video grab from Melissa Oddie shows a wild possum on a shelf among toys at Hobart Airport in Tasmania - Copyright AFP James Brooks

A wild possum joined stuffed furry friends in an Australian airport gift shop this week, surprising travellers in an adorable case of hide and squeak.

Staff at Hobart Airport in Australia’s Tasmania state said the disoriented marsupial was spotted among the stuffed toys on Wednesday.

Video showed the critter nervously perched on a shelf, seamlessly blending in with the toy kangaroos and bears.

“We always knew our plushie toy collection was lifelike, but it seems we finally got the ultimate seal of approval,” store manager Liam Bloomfield said.

“We were very happy to see a special local visitor stop by our terminal gift shop to browse the toy aisle and see if it could find some new friends.”

“We’re just glad we could provide a cozy resting spot in our store,” he added.

Airport employees were quickly on-hand to return the animal to its rightful place in the great outdoors.

“Only in Australia and only at Hobart Airport could a local possum pop in for a quick browse among the souvenirs,” an airport spokesperson said.

Japan ski paradise faces strains of global acclaim


By AFP
March 19, 2026


The scenic ski resorts in Kutchan, Hokkaido have become a flashpoint for immigration after an influx of foreign workers - Copyright AFP Yuichi YAMAZAKI

Mathias CENA

Beneath the powder snow at internationally popular Japanese ski resort Niseko, anxiety is mounting among residents over soaring prices and a massive influx of overseas workers.

At a time when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is talking tough on immigration, upscale Niseko has never been more popular with seasonal workers, investors and skiers from across the globe.

The snow “is the best in the world”, said Gideon Masters, a 29-year-old Australian tourist.

“It’s just soft, powder fluff. You can pick it up with your bare hands, it doesn’t even feel cold… It’s just a shame that it’s become so populated,” he told AFP at the foot of the slopes, snowboard in hand.

Built in the 1960s on the northern island of Hokkaido, the resort began attracting foreigners, mainly Australians, in the 1990s and became a popular destination after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 for those wanting to avoid the United States.

They gradually opened more shops and acquired property, and were later joined by Asian investors from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, among others, pushing land prices ever higher.

In Hirafu, one of the four resorts that make up Niseko, land prices jumped 70 percent between 2020 and 2025.

“If ski resorts in Japan had stayed the way they used to be, they would never have gained such worldwide renown,” said Hiroshi Hasegawa, director of a local real estate agency.

“It’s thanks to the taste and sensibilities of Australians and New Zealanders that this town has grown.”

They are no longer alone, with “funds based in tax havens and all kinds of investors (who) have started pouring money in. Hollywood stars and artists come here, and owners of multinationals are buying second homes,” he added.

“All of this is driving prices up even further,” a trend that will likely continue, according to the agent.



– Unaffordable for locals –



For residents, inflated property prices and living costs are leaving a bitter taste.

“Land is being sold at prices that are no longer affordable for locals,” explained 42-year-old Masatoshi Saito, who runs a painting company.

“In the supermarket, you find luxury products, sea urchins or Dom Perignon champagne, and vegetables have become extremely expensive,” pushing some people to do their shopping in a neighbouring town.

To attract staff, hotels and restaurants are raising wages, but local businesses are struggling to keep up.

“In construction, paying that much is very difficult because market prices are fixed. Raising wages is a huge risk for bosses,” Saito said.

Meanwhile, “care workers sometimes prefer jobs in hotels,” which pay better, creating a risk of labour shortages in social services”, warned Hasegawa.

Driven by tourist demand, the region sees thousands of seasonal workers arrive each year, most of them foreigners.

In Kutchan, a large town in the area, the non-Japanese population doubles in winter to 3,000 people from 70 countries, making up nearly 20 percent of residents.

“Young people in their twenties come here from all over the world (…), which creates a very lively atmosphere,” but also causes problems with neighbours, admitted Kutchan Mayor Kazushi Monji.

Saito and other residents, meanwhile, have complained about littering.

A plan to build housing for 1,200 foreign workers that was approved last autumn sparked outcry among locals.

“Cultures are different, not to mention the language barrier,” the mayor said, urging “mutual support and consideration”.



– ‘Harmonious coexistence’ –



Reflecting growing anti-immigration sentiment, the far-right “Japanese First” Sanseito party made gains in February’s general election.

Prime Minister Takaichi, meanwhile, has promised tougher rules for foreigners in the name of “harmonious coexistence” between communities.

Her government is proposing stricter checks on foreigners entering the country, lengths of stay and illegal work.

It also wants to revise rules on land purchases by foreigners for “national security” reasons.

While acknowledging the need to adapt legislation to current realities, Monji rejects “the somewhat extreme view” that foreigners could “take over”.

The interest Niseko is generating “boosts the economy and greatly contributes to the town’s development”, Kutchan’s mayor said.

And with births falling again in 2025 for the tenth year in a row in Japan, the country desperately needs foreign workers.

Hokkaido is experiencing extreme polarisation, hosting both the localities that saw the sharpest land-price increases in the country last year due to tourism and foreign investment, and those where prices fell the most, due to population decline.

“If we want to share the beauty of this region with the whole world, we must move beyond nationality divides,” Monji said.

GRIFT

Trump gets approval for gold coin in his likeness

“Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm,” 

By AFP
March 19, 2026


A phone displaying the commemorative gold coin featuring Trump to mark America's 250th anniversary - Copyright AFP Chris DELMAS

An advisory commission hand-picked by President Donald Trump has approved the design of a commemorative gold coin featuring his image, officials said Thursday, in a move slammed by Democratic opponents.

The US Commission of Fine Arts declined to comment when asked by AFP after several media outlets showed the proposed design in reporting on the approval.

The coin is supposed to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

One side of it shows a glaring Trump standing with his fists bunched on a desk, and the other features an eagle perched with wings spread on what appears to be a bell.

The coin does not have a monetary value and its sale price has not been disclosed, but similar commemorative coins sold by the US Mint can cost over $1,000.

“We are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving president,” US Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement.

Beach noted that the design would differ from Trump images being planned for two other coins, a $1 piece that would be in circulation, and a one-ounce gold one.

Trump fired all six members of the US Commission of Fine Arts last October and replaced them with hand-picked people as he embarks on a series of renovation and building projects since returning to power in January.

Most controversial are a ballroom he is building at the White House, and the renovation of the famed Kennedy Center for the arts in Washington, which he has renamed after himself.

Another advisory panel, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, had refused in February to put Trump’s coin on the agenda for debate.

Since the signature of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, “no nation on earth has issued coins with the image of a democratically elected leader during the time of their service,” one of the committee members, Donald Scarinci, said at the time.

“Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm,” he said.

India to tackle global obesity with cheap fat-loss jabs


By AFP
March 20, 2026


India's weight-loss drug sales are projected to soar to over half a billion by 2030 - Copyright AFP Indranil MUKHERJEE

Anuj SRIVAS

A deluge of weight‑loss drugs is set to transform the global fight against obesity as India prepares to unleash low‑cost generic versions of injections like Ozempic after a key patent expired Friday.

The move will dramatically widen access to treatments that have long been considered a luxury, especially in middle-income countries, where soaring demand has collided with steep prices.

At clinics across Mumbai, doctors say they are already preparing for an influx in new patients.

More than 50 people walk into endocrinologist Nadeem Rais’s office every week seeking weight-loss injections.

“We have around 70 to 80 patients on active treatment right now,” he told AFP.

“When generics come out and prices drop, that could go up to 200 easily.”

His colleague Sunera Ghai agrees saying that demand is “very high” but many “probably aren’t taking it just because it is truly a luxury item at this point”.

The breakthrough comes as patents on semaglutide — the active ingredient in drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy — expired Friday in India, the world’s largest supplier of generic medicines.

By the end of 2026, core patents on semaglutide will have expired in 10 countries that represent 48 percent of the global obesity burden, according to a study published earlier this month by researchers.

These include Brazil, China, South Africa, Turkey and Canada, the study said.

– Launching soon –



For India’s drug giants, this marks the start of an aggressive new race.

At least four major firms have already prepared generic semaglutide injections, regulatory filings and compliance documents viewed by AFP show.

Some, including Zydus Lifesciences, have announced “Day 1” launches, suggesting generic versions may become available as soon as this weekend in India.

Research firm Pharmarack estimates the Indian market will soon be flooded with options.

“What we understand is, there will be more than 50 brands that will be launched in the market and there are more than 40 players who will be launching these drugs,” Pharmarack’s vice president Sheetal Sapale said.

The timing aligns with India’s shifting health landscape.

While the country still accounts for a third of the world’s undernutrition according to the World Health Organization (WHO), rising incomes and urban lifestyles have pushed obesity rates sharply upward.

Government data released March last year shows 24 percent of women and 23 percent of men are overweight or obese in India.

“Once a person starts earning money, he becomes more sedentary here,” says bariatric surgeon Sanjay Borude.

“While in first-world countries, the more the money, they become more active and devote time for their health, this is reversed in India.”

These flipped economics have worked well for big pharma players like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk who have been cashing in on the market.

India’s weight‑loss drug sales have grown tenfold in five years to $153 million as of 2026, and are projected to soar to over half a billion by 2030.

But using such drugs can cause side effects including nausea and gastrointestinal issues.



– Breaking price barrier –



Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro became the country’s top‑selling drug by value last year, surpassing even common antibiotics.

Still, high prices — often 15,000 to 22,000 rupees ($161–$236) a month — limit access, says Swati Pradhan, who runs a weight-loss clinic in Mumbai.

She expects patient numbers to rise once generics push treatment costs closer to 5,000 rupees ($60) a month.

The global impact may prove even more profound.

India supplies more than half of Africa’s generic medicines, and cheaper semaglutide could become a lifeline for countries where obesity is rising rapidly but treatment remains unaffordable.

“Lower‑cost semaglutide could significantly expand access to effective treatment particularly in middle-income countries where price has been a major barrier,” Simon Barquera, president of the World Obesity Federation, told AFP.

“Generic products are an important step in breaking the access barrier, now that the scientific one has been overcome.”

Indian firms will be a key driving force, with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories aiming to launch its version of semaglutide in Canada by May 2026.

For patients like 46‑year‑old Sukant Mangal, who lost nearly 30 pounds in eight months, wider access could not come soon enough.

Many he knows simply abandoned treatment mid‑way when they realised they would have to spend 20,000 rupees ($214) a month for seven to eight months.

“Had it been cheaper, (it) would’ve been much easier to have it.”

German auto exports to China plunged a third in 2025: study

The study also showed that the German auto industry as a whole shed nearly 50,000 jobs last year, with the total number of workers reaching its lowest level in 14 years.

By AF
March 20, 2026


Volkswagen cars at a port in Germany. Last year, Germany's auto exports to China plunged, a study showed - Copyright AFP/File -

German auto industry exports to China plunged by a third last year as the country’s manufacturers face fierce local competition, a study showed Friday, underscoring the sector’s deepening crisis.

As well as problems in key market China, German carmakers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes are battling weak demand in Europe and a troubled transition to electric vehicles.

According to the study by consultancy EY, exports to China dropped by 33 percent in 2025 to a value of 13.6 billion euros ($15.7 billion) compared to the previous year.

This meant China fell from second spot down to sixth in the ranking of the German auto industry’s biggest export markets, it showed.

The United States remained the top market, with exports worth 28.5 billion euros — but the figure was down 18 percent from 2024 amid President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.

The fall in exports to both China and the United States “is causing massive overcapacity across the entire German automotive industry,” said EY auto industry expert Constantin M. Gall.

“The automotive sector is under more pressure than ever before.”

German auto sector exports were down around four percent overall last year, the study showed.

Long a reliable market for German cars, China has become much more challenging due to the emergence of homegrown rivals, particularly for sales of EVs, such as BYD.

Demand has also been weaker in China due to a prolonged slowdown in the world’s number two economy.

China’s new generation of carmakers are also increasingly making inroads into Europe.

In 2025, the value of cars and auto parts imported from China into the European Union exceeded the value of auto sector exports from the EU to China, according to the EU study.

This is despite the EU’s decision to slap hefty tariffs on imports of Chinese-made EVs in a bid to protect its domestic manufacturers.

The study also showed that the German auto industry as a whole shed nearly 50,000 jobs last year, with the total number of workers reaching its lowest level in 14 years.

Bankruptcies filings in the sector also hit a 14-year high.