Industrial Policy & International Security
OPEC Sees Booming Oil Demand Until Middle of Century | The Wall Street Journal
Despite Western nations transitioning away from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources, OPEC raised long-term forecasts of demand for oil in a new report released this week. Analysts claim that increasing demand among developing nations–fueled in part by population growth–will more than make up for declining consumption in the West. The report projects demand to reach 105.5 million barrels a day by 2025 (an increase of 2 million barrels compared to last year’s report). OPEC called for $12.1 trillion of investments in the oil industry by 2045 to meet expected global demand and avoid energy security issues. In contrast, the International Energy Agency recently argued to halt investment in fossil fuels to mitigate climate change.
US Ban on Americans Aiding China Chip Firms Narrower Than Feared | Bloomberg
According to a Bureau of Industry and Security document published last week, the new ban on US citizens assisting China’s chip industry will be more narrowly enforced than anticipated. The rules target persons working in specific functions at semiconductor manufacturing firms; US citizens will need a license to conduct or authorize the delivery of goods used to develop or produce chips at Chinese plants. Clerical or administrative duties will not be affected. As a result, the impact of the ban on Chinese chipmakers will be smaller than expected and design firms may end up unaffected if they don’t directly run or own machinery. However, the ban also affects multinational corporations. International sales are expected to decline and some firms are making adjustments to American employees’ roles to comply with the bans.
US accuses North Korea of secret ammunition shipments to Russia | The Hill
The US accused North Korea of secretly supplying Russia with large quantities of rockets and artillery shells (estimated in the millions) to aid in the war against Ukraine. Biden Administration officials believe North Korea has been framing the shipments to seem as if they were headed to North Africa or the Middle East. This not only signifies North Korea's continued efforts to bolster support from Russia, but also indicates the severity of Russia’s shortage of ammunition and defense supplies after months at war. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claims the amount of shells being shipped to Russia will not be enough to change the course of the war. Allegedly, Iran has also resupplied Russia with lethal drones.
US Regulation
FCC commissioner says government should ban TikTok | Axios
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr argues the Council on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) should ban TikTok. With over 200 million users in the US, Carr’s core concerns are about TikTok user data flowing back to China and the risk that Beijing could use the popular app to influence political processes in the US. This statement is the strongest to date made by the FCC regarding TikTok. Carr expressed, “I don’t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban” for the Chinese-owned platform. Ongoing negotiations between TikTok and CFIUS will yield a decision on whether it can be divested by parent company ByteDance to an American company. If a deal to that effect moves forward, it is possible TikTok could remain operational in the US. While the FCC does not have authority to regulate TikTok, a Republican-controlled Congress may act in response to Carr’s statements.
Innovation
Air Force launches Autonomy Prime program in hunt for new tech | Defense News
The Air Force says the future of defense technology is autonomy and wants to find new and innovative ways to implement it. AFWERX, the Air Force division responsible for finding new technology, established Autonomy Prime to learn about emerging autonomous technologies and the ways the military could adapt them for its missions. Lt. Col. Tom Meagher, chief of AFWERX’s Prime division, says the program wants to get autonomy into larger unmanned air and ground vehicles and thinks the program is a low-risk, low-cost way of honing autonomous technologies. The Prime model pipeline begins with a request for information that will inform future solicitations to align companies’ products with specific defense needs. AFWERX will make individual awards ranging from thousands of millions of dollars and will provide access to a testing and development facility.
Cyber
Cyber officials from 37 countries, 13 companies to meet on ransomware in Washington | Reuters
Following last year’s virtual inaugural meeting of the Counter-Ransomware Initiative, the White House is hosting an in-person meeting this week convening officials from thirty-seven countries and thirteen global companies. With ransomware attacks on the rise, the White House hopes the meeting will set the stage for participating countries to define cyber norms that hold malicious actors accountable. The meeting will focus less on Russia’s offensive cyber activity while putting more emphasis on how to deter attackers–by hardening targets or countering the illicit movement of cryptocurrencies– and disrupt attacks once they begin. After the meeting concludes, participants will issue a joint statement.
Singapore unveils new cyber-focused military service | Defense News
Singapore inaugurated its fourth military branch, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), to leverage emerging technologies in the digital domain and combat digital threats to the country including data breaches, cyberespionage, denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, and hostile informational campaigns. The new service will be made up of four separate commands–tasked with joint intelligence, C4 cybersecurity, digital defense, and training–and a digital operations technology center with a train and equip mission for the entire military. DIS will be responsible for leading and coordinating Singapore’s cybersecurity across the defense sector and leveraging emerging technology in areas like cloud computing, data science, and AI.
State & Local Tech Ecosystems
OpenAI will give roughly 10 AI startups $1M each and early access to its systems | Tech Crunch
San Francisco-based AI giant OpenAI announced a new program,Converge, to provide early-stage AI startups $1 million each and early access to OpenAI models and additional perks including office hours, workshops, and Azure resources from Microsoft. The cohort of roughly 10 founders will be financed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, backed by Microsoft and other partners. With Converge, OpenAI is claiming territory as one of the few incubator programs exclusively focused on AI. AI financing rounds are becoming more and more lucrative indicating investors’ confidence in the technology’s potential; however, revenue from cutting-edge AI systems has yet to catch up.
Democracy Online
Welp, there goes Twitter’s ethical AI team, among others as employees post final messages | Gizmodo
Former Twitter employees’ social media posts are providing insight into what teams are being subjected to layoffs after Elon Musk finalized his acquisition of the company last week. Some posts indicate the Ethical AI and Machine Learning, Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability (META) teams have been completely disbanded. According to one former team member, META “was researching and pushing for algorithmic transparency and algorithmic choice” and “inventing and building ethical AI tooling and methodologies.” According to former Twitter Human Rights Counsel Shannon Raj Singh, the entire human rights team was also laid off. Up to half of Twitter employees may lose their jobs in the name of radically cutting costs.
