A proposed undersea cable from Chile to Hong Kong promised to connect South America directly to Asia. Instead, it became a test of how far the U.S. will go to curb Chinese telecom ambitions https://restofworld.org/2026/chile-china-america-google-cable/?utm_campaign=row-social

The companies that help large enterprises make the AI transition will sit at the centre of one of the largest technology spending cycles in history. scroll.in/article/1093... Itika Sharma Punit writes Via @restofworld.org

The FIFA World Cup’s advanced AI tools rely on thousands of data workers manually logging match actions to fuel the sports betting industry https://restofworld.org/2026/fifa-world-cup-ai-data-workers/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1782232049

While global electric vehicle sales surged past 20 million last year, sales in the U.S. actually dropped as heavy tariffs cut consumers off from affordable Chinese models https://restofworld.org/2026/us-ev-sales-drop-global-outlook/?utm_campaign=row-social

Faced with state pressure to keep unemployment below 5.5%, Chinese tech companies are engineering quiet layoffs instead of open cuts as they aggressively pivot toward AI development https://restofworld.org/2026/china-tech-layoffs-alibaba-baidu-ai-pivot/?utm_campaign=row-social

Chinese tech companies are mobilizing massive local workforces to record millions of hours of human movement data within homes and factories https://restofworld.org/2026/china-ai-robotics-training-data/?utm_campaign=row-social

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"The aura hasn’t disappeared, but the calculus has fundamentally shifted," says recruiter Anuj Agrawal on why elite Indian engineers starting to choose roles back home over U.S. Big Tech stability https://restofworld.org/2026/silicon-valley-status/?utm_campaign=row-social

As Spotify expands across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the platform is betting on localized pricing and consent-based AI tools to shape its post-English future https://restofworld.org/2026/spotify-global-ai-music-streaming-strategy/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky

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Gig workers in Africa helped train AI systems for a company that performed work for a secretive U.S. military unit. Many were never told their work could be used for military purposes https://restofworld.org/2026/gig-workers-us-military-appen/?utm_campaign=row-social

Chinese universities are cutting traditional foreign language and translation majors to make room for new government-approved degrees in physical AI and robotics https://restofworld.org/2026/chinese-universities-drop-humanities-ai/?utm_campaign=row-social

From nonexistent studies in White House reports to hallucinated sources in EU cybersecurity briefs, AI tools are increasingly slipping "fake facts" into official government records https://restofworld.org/2026/government-ai-hallucinations-south-africa-deloitte/?utm_campaign=row-social

Refugees in the U.S. and West Africa are turning to localized AI assistants to navigate complex legal documentation and find essential scholarships https://restofworld.org/2026/irc-signpost-humanitarian-ai-refugee-assistance/?utm_campaign=row-social

Chinese models are gaining market share because they can handle most common tasks at a fraction of the price of U.S. alternatives https://restofworld.org/2026/when-americans-choose-chinese-ai/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1782084480

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Canada and the European Union are opening their markets to budget-friendly Chinese electric cars, leaving the U.S. increasingly isolated behind a strict tariff wall https://restofworld.org/2026/us-ev-sales-drop-global-outlook/?utm_campaign=row-social

Faced with state pressure to keep unemployment below 5.5%, Chinese tech companies are engineering quiet layoffs instead of open cuts as they aggressively pivot toward AI development https://restofworld.org/2026/china-tech-layoffs-alibaba-baidu-ai-pivot/?utm_campaign=row-social

South Africa became the first country to withdraw a national policy document after officials discovered the text was littered with fake research citations generated by AI https://restofworld.org/2026/government-ai-hallucinations-south-africa-deloitte/?utm_campaign=row-social

Current AI models are designed for Western, wealthy societies that represent just 15% of the global population, leaving the remaining 85% to deal with deeply rooted cultural biases https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-divide-america-china-world/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky

Many Indian AI researchers are now willing to take a "50% sacrifice today for the greater pot at the end" by leaving Silicon Valley for homegrown startups https://restofworld.org/2026/silicon-valley-status/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky

Former Hugging Face executive Tiezhen Wang explains how open-source AI training algorithms from Chinese labs are quietly becoming the default infrastructure for U.S. researchers https://restofworld.org/2026/tiezhen-wang-china-us-open-source-ai/?utm_campaign=row-social

From helping Afghan refugees in the U.S. find housing to training teachers in Nigeria via WhatsApp, localized AI is scaling humanitarian aid as global displacement reaches record levels https://restofworld.org/2026/irc-signpost-humanitarian-ai-refugee-assistance/?utm_campaign=row-social

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We mapped the world's hottest data centers. In 21 countries, all data centers are located in climates that are too hot https://restofworld.org/2025/data-center-heat-map/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1781966941

While only 38% of Americans say they are excited about AI, optimism levels reach as high as 84% in China and 80% in Indonesia, signaling a massive regional divide in how the world views the future of tech https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-optimism-asia/?utm_campaign=row-social

As Spotify expands across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the platform is betting on localized pricing and consent-based AI tools to shape its post-English future https://restofworld.org/2026/spotify-global-ai-music-streaming-strategy/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky

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While global electric vehicle sales surged past 20 million last year, sales in the U.S. actually dropped as heavy tariffs cut consumers off from affordable Chinese models https://restofworld.org/2026/us-ev-sales-drop-global-outlook/?utm_campaign=row-social

"When truth becomes contestable and uncertain, it’s those with the greatest institutional power … that are better positioned to assert their version of events." https://restofworld.org/2026/deepfakes-ai-war-disinformation/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social

The U.S. and China control 90% of global compute, forcing other nations to trade data and energy for AI access https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-divide-america-china-world/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1781825460

A proposed undersea cable from Chile to Hong Kong promised to connect South America directly to Asia. Instead, it became a test of how far the U.S. will go to curb Chinese telecom ambitions https://restofworld.org/2026/chile-china-america-google-cable/?utm_campaign=row-social

For $7 an hour, virtual assistants in the Philippines are using AI to write LinkedIn posts and comments on behalf of Western executives, fueling a "thought leadership" content mill https://restofworld.org/2026/virtual-assistant-linkedin-engagement/?utm_campaign=row-social

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A small milestone today: our registration wall is now live at @restofworld.org. We're starting small, collecting data, and will likely lower the threshold over time. This is all about building a direct relationship with our most engaged readers. restofworld.org/inside/why-w...

Chinese tech companies are mobilizing massive local workforces to record millions of hours of human movement data within homes and factories https://restofworld.org/2026/china-ai-robotics-training-data/?utm_campaign=row-social

The UAE is leveraging its post-OPEC oil boom to secure a dominant role in the AI race, investing billions to power high-demand data centers at home and in the U.S. https://restofworld.org/2026/uae-quit-opec-ai-infrastructure-investment/?utm_campaign=row-social

"The aura hasn’t disappeared, but the calculus has fundamentally shifted," says recruiter Anuj Agrawal on why elite Indian engineers starting to choose roles back home over U.S. Big Tech stability https://restofworld.org/2026/silicon-valley-status/?utm_campaign=row-social

"We could not, in our wildest dreams, think that in South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia — we’re actually seeing a premium business model work." https://restofworld.org/2026/spotify-global-ai-music-streaming-strategy/?utm_campaign=row-social

Chinese models are gaining market share because they can handle most common tasks at a fraction of the price of U.S. alternatives https://restofworld.org/2026/when-americans-choose-chinese-ai/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1781720882

Microsoft is exploring using DeepSeek, or another open-source model, as a lower-cost alternative for Copilot Cowork, which is currently powered by Anthropic and OpenAI systems restofworld.org/2026/when-am...

“[…] job cuts at tech companies are often framed as part of an AI-driven transformation, Chinese experts point to[…] economic pressures — […]a slowing economy, weak consumer demand, and a […] property crisis — for these layoffs. The trend also reflects a correction after years of rapid hiring, […].“

What if the next map of AI infrastructure isn't drawn in Silicon Valley? 🌍 In India, Brazil, the UAE, and across Africa, builders are treating compute scarcity as a design problem. From @restofworld.org. restofworld.org/2026/scarcity-is-driving-ai-innovation-outside-silicon-valley

Canada and the European Union are opening their markets to budget-friendly Chinese electric cars, leaving the U.S. increasingly isolated behind a strict tariff wall https://restofworld.org/2026/us-ev-sales-drop-global-outlook/?utm_campaign=row-social

While Silicon Valley's layoffs make headlines, China’s tech giants are carrying out their own massive workforce reductions quietly https://restofworld.org/2026/china-tech-layoffs-alibaba-baidu-ai-pivot/?utm_campaign=row-social

While Washington pushes a narrative of tech decoupling, the CEOs of Tesla, Apple, and Nvidia are proving that the biggest U.S. tech firms remain deeply entangled with China https://restofworld.org/2026/silicon-valley-china-strategy-apple-tesla-nvidia/?utm_campaign=row-social

Some light summer reading for you: eight books that explore how tech is fundamentally reshaping society worldwide https://restofworld.org/2026/what-to-read-a-summer-book-list/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1781697613

A Delhi couple trying to order wine ended up sending money to scammers who had replaced the shop’s phone number on Google Maps. It’s part of a growing fraud wave exploiting people’s trust in tech platforms https://restofworld.org/2026/tech-facebook-google-whatsapp-scams/?utm_campaign=row-social

While a startup founder in Bengaluru can scale operations cheaply using an AI agent, unequal access to top-tier models may harden into new systems of economic dominance https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-agent-inequality/?utm_campaign=row-social

As Spotify expands across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the platform is betting on localized pricing and consent-based AI tools to shape its post-English future https://restofworld.org/2026/spotify-global-ai-music-streaming-strategy/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky