Top of the Day

Lawmakers ask DNI to reassess UK cyber, intel ties over Apple backdoor mandate

(David DiMolfetta – NextGov – 13 February 2025) A bipartisan, bicameral pair of lawmakers urged newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to reevaluate U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence-sharing relations with the United Kingdom in response to a report revealing that the UK secretly ordered Apple to build a backdoor into encrypted iCloud backups. The Feb. 7 report from the Washington Post says that the order issued last month demands UK law enforcement and intelligence operatives be granted worldwide, unfettered access to users’ protected cloud data. Apple customers residing in the United States would be cast into that dragnet. – https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/02/lawmakers-ask-dni-reassess-uk-cyber-intel-ties-over-apple-backdoor-mandate/403005/?oref=ng-homepage-river

Intelligence agencies must explain what they do, says UK’s former cyber spy chief

(Alexander Martin – The Record – 13 February 2025) Amid a growing scandal over the British government’s reported attempt to force Apple to provide the country’s authorities with access to encrypted iCloud accounts, a former intelligence chief has called for more transparency from spy agencies. Speaking at the Munich Cyber Security Conference on Thursday, Sir Jeremy Fleming — who headed the cyber and signals intelligence agency GCHQ from 2017 to 2023 — said he felt “really strongly” the agency’s “license to operate” had to be based on public understanding and trust. – https://therecord.media/intel-agencies-must-explain-what-they-do-fleming-gchq

Survival of the quickest: Military leaders aim to unleash, control AI

(Rudy Ruitenberg – Defense News – 13 February 2025) Artificial intelligence is massively accelerating military decision making, and armed forces that don’t keep up risk being outmatched, the NATO commander in charge of strategic transformation at the alliance said at the AI Action Summit in Paris. Alliance members are now using AI in the decision-making loop of observe, orient, decide and act, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Adm. Pierre Vandier, said at a conference focused on military AI. Analysis that previously took hours or days, such as processing large amounts of sensor data, can now be done in a matter of seconds, he said. – https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/02/13/survival-of-the-quickest-military-leaders-aim-to-unleash-control-ai/

How Disruptive Is DeepSeek? Stanford HAI Faculty Discuss China’s New Model

(Vanessa Parli – Stanford HAI – 13 February 2025) In recent weeks, the emergence of China’s DeepSeek — a powerful and cost-efficient open-source language model — has stirred considerable discourse among scholars and industry researchers. At the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), faculty are examining not merely the model’s technical advances but also the broader implications for academia, industry, and society globally. – https://hai.stanford.edu/news/how-disruptive-deepseek-stanford-hai-faculty-discuss-chinas-new-model

DeepSeek and the shifting tides of the US-China AI race

(Sameer Patil, Sauradeep Bag – Observer Research Foundation – 12 February 2025) The emergence of DeepSeek as a formidable Artificial Intelligence (AI) contender last week has raised unsettling questions about the conventional wisdom surrounding AI development—particularly the belief that winning the AI race is purely a function of pouring billions into graphics processing units (GPUs). Despite operating with seemingly fewer and less advanced chips, DeepSeek has managed to produce models that rival America’s best, challenging Nvidia chip company’s dominance in AI infrastructure. Market signals suggest investors remain steadfast in their faith in the American AI chip giant. Some dismiss DeepSeek’s efficiency claims as posturing, but others see merit. Even if true, it may have simply optimised around American models trained on superior hardware. The stark reality? A Chinese AI now matches the best US models—at a fraction of the cost. – https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/deepseek-and-the-shifting-tides-of-the-us-china-ai-race

It’s the Algorithm, Stupid: Influence in the Age of Generative AI

(Matt Freear – RUSI – 11 February 2025) The rise of Chinese-made DeepSeek and the rapid spread of AI chatbots raise pressing questions about their implications for democracy and security. Given their superhuman ability to learn and influence, there is an urgent need to strengthen user literacy. – https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/its-algorithm-stupid-influence-age-generative-ai

Uneven Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Tools Among U.S. Teachers and Principals in the 2023–2024 School Year

(Julia H. Kaufman, Ashley Woo, Joshua Eagan, Sabrina Lee, Emma B. Kassan – RAND Corporation – 11 February 2025) Using survey data from the RAND American Educator Panels, the authors examine the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and products among teachers and principals in kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) and the provision of school guidance on the use of AI during the 2023–2024 school year. The results indicate that 25 percent of surveyed teachers used AI tools for their instructional planning or teaching. That said, English language arts and science teachers were nearly twice as likely to report using AI tools as mathematics teachers or elementary teachers of all subjects. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. principals reported using AI tools for their work. Teachers and principals in higher-poverty schools were less likely to report using AI tools than those in lower-poverty schools. In addition, principals in high-poverty schools reported providing guidance for use of AI less often than their counterparts in lower-poverty schools. These results have implications for district and school leaders, as well as AI tool developers and researchers. – https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-25.html

Governance and Legislation

GOP lawmakers seek industry input on crafting US-first AI regulatory regime

(Edward Graham – NextGov – 13 February 2025) As President Donald Trump works to develop a new national artificial intelligence action plan, Republican lawmakers are signaling the importance of differentiating between public-facing AI tools and those designed to advance the U.S. economy. During a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade hearing on Wednesday, multiple GOP members said that the Trump administration needs to embrace a regulatory framework that encourages the use of AI and other innovative technologies across the domestic manufacturing industry so that the U.S. can maintain its competitive edge over China and other rival nations. – https://www.nextgov.com/artificial-intelligence/2025/02/gop-lawmakers-seek-industry-input-crafting-us-first-ai-regulatory-regime/403003/?oref=ng-homepage-river

Security

China’s Salt Typhoon hackers targeting Cisco devices used by telcos, universities

(Jonathan Greig – The Record – 13 February 2025) China’s Salt Typhoon campaign to breach telecommunications companies has continued through the new year despite efforts by governments to stop the hackers, researchers said Thursday. Recorded Future’s Insikt Group identified a campaign in December and January that involved attempts to compromise more than 1,000 Cisco network devices globally, many of which are associated with telecommunications providers. – https://therecord.media/china-salt-typhoon-cisco-devices

Dutch police say they took down 127 servers used by sanctioned hosting service

(Joe Warminsky – The Record – 13 February 2025) Police in the Netherlands say they seized 127 servers this week that were used by Zservers, a bulletproof hosting service that was the subject of international sanctions issued Tuesday. The raid on Wednesday at the Paul van Vlissingenstraat data center in Amsterdam “followed a long-term digital investigation into the activities of a hosting provider based there, called ZServers/XHost,” police said Thursday. – https://therecord.media/dutch-police-take-down-127-servers-sanctioned-host

Defense, Intelligence, and Warfare

America’s ‘Iron Dome’ is going to need a lot more sensors: NORTHCOM

(Meghann Myers – Defense One – 13 February 2025) Constructing an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system will  require much better missile-detection technology, the head of U.S. Northern Command said. The Trump administration’s renewed focus on air defense dovetails with warnings that leaders of NORTHCOM, and sister command North American Aerospace Defense, have sounded about U.S. detection capabilities in recent years, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. – https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2025/02/americas-iron-dome-going-need-lot-more-sensors-northcom/402998/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary

With IVAS takeover, Anduril looks to build out human-machine ‘ecosystem’

(Patrick Tucker – Defense One – 13 February 2025) Anduril has seized the lead on the Army’s IVAS headset program, putting the eight-year-old company in charge of one of the military’s most important soldier-enhancement programs, and poising it to deliver not just new drones but also a key means of controlling them and the data they gather. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would take over development and production of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System from Microsoft, whose stewardship of the $22 billion program was beset by delays, development problems, and cost overruns. – https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/02/ivas-takeover-anduril-looks-build-out-human-machine-ecosystem/403009/?oref=d1-featured-river-top

Heven Drones unveils new hydrogen-powered, long range UAV at IDEX

(Seth J. Frantzman – Breaking Defense – 13 February 2025) Heven Drones is unveiling a new, hydrogen-powered unmanned aerial system ahead of the upcoming IDEX conference, as the company seeks to expand its footprint in the Gulf. Dubbed the Raider, the new platform is “tailored to provide extended endurance, versatile payload options, and field-ready modularity, addressing critical challenges faced by modern operators,” the company said in a statement. Speaking to Breaking Defense, company CEO Benzion Levinson said the decision to pursue the new design was driven by the recent conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, which have shown drones are moving from being “flying cameras” to being “flying robots.” – https://breakingdefense.com/2025/02/heven-drones-unveils-new-hydrogen-powered-long-range-uav-at-idex/

Frontiers

Phoenix Partners with China’s Origin Quantum on Decentralized AI, DePIN Network

(Quantum Insider – 12 February 2025) Phoenix has partnered with Origin Quantum to integrate its 72-qubit superconducting quantum chip into a decentralized AI and compute network, aiming to make quantum computing more accessible. The partnership builds on Origin Quantum’s “Wukong” superconducting quantum computer, which features 72 working qubits and 126 coupler qubits, supporting applications in biosciences, material engineering, AI, and optimization. Phoenix is developing QuantumVM, a web-based quantum computing platform that will allow users to run quantum applications without coding expertise, with an expected release in early Q2 2025. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/12/phoenix-partners-with-chinas-origin-quantum-on-decentralized-ai-depin-network/

BTQ and Coxwave Partner to Develop AI Chatbots for Quantum Education and Research

(Quantum Insider – 12 February 2025) BTQ Technologies and Coxwave partnered to develop AI-driven chatbots for quantum education and research, supported by a $117,000 grant from South Korea’s “AI Voucher” program. The collaboration will produce two AI-powered tools: AI Tutor, which simplifies quantum concepts for the public, and AI Assistant, which helps researchers analyze complex quantum topics. By combining Coxwave’s AI analytics with BTQ’s quantum expertise, the chatbots will potentially enhance learning and research efficiency, making quantum science more accessible. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/12/btq-and-coxwave-partner-to-develop-ai-chatbots-for-quantum-education-and-research/

Advancing Responsible Healthcare AI with Longitudinal EHR Datasets

(Jason Alan Fries, Michael Wornow, Ethan Steinberg, Zepeng Frazier Huo, Hejie Cui, Suhana Bedi, Alyssa Unell, Nigam Shah – Stanford HAI – 10 February 2025) Current evaluations of AI models in healthcare rely on limited datasets like MIMIC, lacking complete patient trajectories. New benchmark datasets offer an alternative. – https://hai.stanford.edu/news/advancing-responsible-healthcare-ai-longitudinal-ehr-datasets