Technology

Hesai and RoboSense are expanding from automotive lidar into robotics, with Hesai committing 200 million yuan to develop robotic “eyes and muscles” as China’s supply chain gains international praise.

At the Boao Forum, Chinese government advisers urged Beijing to set clear “red lines” for AI use to address job displacement and data security concerns, warning against deploying AI solely to cut labour costs.

A Chinese military research team has published the DMSD visible–infrared ship dataset — over 2,000 paired images and nearly 20,000 annotations — that could boost night-time maritime detection for drones and surveillance.

Money20/20’s “Future of Fintech in APAC” report finds fintech expansion momentum moving from Western hubs to Asia, with Southeast Asia the primary focus for growth and financial inclusion efforts.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill urging a pause on the rollout of AI-related infrastructure, including data centres, until safety safeguards are established amid growing political backlash to the technology.

China’s Hukeda-2 (Yuxing-3 06) completed a low Earth orbit refuelling demonstration using a flexible “octopus tentacle” robotic arm, advancing in-orbit servicing capabilities.

Experts at the Boao Forum said China’s humanoid robots are still years from a “ChatGPT moment,” citing difficulties in task generalisation, training efficiency and unresolved hardware and software limits.

Juries returned historic verdicts finding Meta and YouTube liable in two lawsuits alleging their platforms contributed to youth addiction and harm, a major moment in tech accountability.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill to pause new U.S. data center construction until national safeguards for workers, consumers and the environment are established.

Melania Trump walked the red carpet alongside a humanoid robot at a White House education and technology event, highlighting the growing public profile of robotics in learning and policy discussions.

A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman through addictive platform design, awarding US$6 million, including US$3 million punitive damages.

China has designated “ci yuan” as the Chinese term for AI “tokens,” combining the words for “word” and “currency”. The naming could signal a shift toward treating computational units as economic value and raise questions about how AI services are priced and regulated globally.

China Mobile will invest nearly HK$10 billion over five years, opened a new northern Hong Kong data centre and plans greater spending on next‑generation submarine cables to integrate the city into its national computing network.

Hong Kong’s universities saw 53% of their 266 subject offerings fall in the latest QS subject rankings, hitting areas including data science and AI while dentistry at HKU and HKAPA performing arts remained top performers.

China said it will turn Beijing and other city clusters into “international technological innovation centres” as part of a stepped-up drive for tech self-reliance, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang announced at the Zhongguancun Forum.

Shenzhen has launched a three-year plan to grow into a hub for intelligent computing clusters, aiming for a “leapfrog” increase in AI server, semiconductor and storage production and shipments by 2028.

A 2025 GPEN sweep, with Hong Kong participation, found that more child-focused websites and apps are collecting personal data — including phone numbers and addresses — than ten years ago.

OpenAI has pulled its AI video app Sora amid growing concerns over deepfake videos and is redirecting focus toward potentially more lucrative areas like coding tools.

A U.S. jury has ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company endangered children on its platforms—the first time a state has won such a child-safety suit.

NASA has cancelled plans for a lunar-orbit space station, opting to repurpose components to build a US$20 billion moon base and to develop a nuclear-powered spacecraft for Mars, under new NASA chief Jared Isaacman.