Category: Tech

The European Commission (EC) has been ignoring calls to reassess Israel’s data adequacy status for over a year, despite “urgent concerns” about the country’s data protection framework and conduct in Gaza.

In April 2024, a coalition of 17 civil society groups coordinated by European Digital Rights (EDRi) signed an open letter voicing their concerns about the commission’s January 2024 decision to uphold Israel’s adequacy status (see box), which permits the continued free flow of data between the country and the European Union (EU) on the basis that each has “essentially equivalent” data protection standards.

Despite their calls for clarification from the commission on “six pivotal matters” – including the rule of law in Israel, the scope of its data protection frameworks, the role of intelligence agencies, and the onward transfer of data beyond Israel’s internationally recognised borders – the groups received no response, prompting them to author a second open letter in late June 2025.

“Since then [April 2024], Israel’s legal and political trajectory has only deepened our concerns, including the adoption of new laws undermining independent oversight, escalating human rights violations in Gaza, and the continued erosion of the rule of law and judicial independence,” they wrote.

“The combination of legal reforms, unchecked intelligence access and the operational deployment of EU-linked data in repressive practices further undermines the credibility of Israel’s adequacy status.”

Given the country’s tech sector accounts for 20% of its overall economic output and 53% of total exports, according to a mid-2024 report published by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), losing adequacy could have a profound effect on Israel’s overall economy.

“From a global perspective, high-tech’s centrality in the Israeli economy is a unique phenomenon,” the IIA said. “Its share of Israeli GDP … is similar to that of natural minerals such as oil and gas in the economies of those counters that rely on them. Considering the centrality of high-tech, changes in the sector may influence the entire economy.”

Economic significance

According to a consultation on privacy laws launched by the Israeli Ministry of Justice in November 2022 – which proposed a number of changes to Israel’s data protection framework specifically designed to retain Israel’s adequacy status – data adequacy “is of broad economic significance to the Israeli economy, as well as great importance in aspects of the State of Israel’s foreign relations”.

Similar concerns have also been raised by MEPs in the European Parliament, who asked the commission in January 2025 whether “the ongoing use of personal data [by Israel] in ways contrary to GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] principles” (including for “large-scale surveillance” and “to target individuals in Gaza”) means it will reassess its adequacy decision.

European commissioner Michael McGrath responded that, based on its evaluation, the commission does not believe the decision needs to be modified or revoked.

“The commission’s analysis covered all relevant elements of the privacy framework and of the broader institutional and legal system … the commission also negotiated a significant strengthening of privacy safeguards and individual rights in Israel, developed to specifically apply to data transferred from the EU and implemented in Israeli law before the start of the Israel-Gaza war,” he said.

“Israel has then extended the application of these reinforced requirements also to data that is processed in a domestic context.”

McGrath added that the commission closely monitors the application adequacy decisions, and “has tools to react if the protection afforded to data transferred from the EU would be weakened, including the possibility to propose the amendment, suspension or repeal of the decision”.

No response

Despite its attempts to raise concerns, EDRi confirmed to Computer Weekly that, since sending the second open letter on 24 June 2025, there has been no response from the commission.

The European Commission told Computer Weekly it is aware of the EDRi’s open letters, but did not answer questions about why it had not responded, and claims it is unwilling to uphold its own standards when politically inconvenient. 

“In the context of an adequacy finding under the GDPR, the commission is required to look at the protection of data transferred from the EU by commercial entities to commercial entities in third countries,” said a commission spokesperson.

“As for any adequacy decision, the commission closely monitors the application of this adequacy decision and has tools to react if the protection afforded to data transferred from the EU would be weakened,” they continued. “The commission evaluated in 2024 the adequacy decision for Israel in line with the GDPR regulation, and concluded, based on this assessment, that the protection regime was adequate.

“As is the case for all countries with an adequacy decision in place, we follow the situation as regards any changes in the legislative framework that may be relevant for ensuring an adequate level of data protection and have tools to react if the protection afforded to data transferred from the EU would be weakened, including the possibility to propose the amendment, suspension or repeal of the decision.”

According to the coalition, the commission’s “continued failure to engage” not only undermines transparency, but also raises serious questions about its commitment to upholding the GDPR and fundamental human rights.

EDRi also noted how since its last letter, Israel’s military actions in Gaza have only intensified, with the United Nations (UN) Special Committee confirming in November 2024 that its warfare methods are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”

The group added that a variety of technologies – including artificial intelligence (AI) systems and biometric databases – are used to “monitor, restrict and categorise Palestinian individuals, often in ways that raise concerns of racial profiling and automated decision-making without human oversight”.

Such digital tools also contribute directly to lethal military operations, with AI-driven targeting systems that process vast amounts of data being used to generate target lists for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

As a result, they say if the commission fails to reassess Israel’s adequacy, it will not only violate its own legal standards (particularly around the need for independent data protection oversight, adequate redress and effective limitations on national security access), but also risk “contributing to the entrenchment of an unlawful situation through the provision of digital infrastructure”.

The groups also highlighted how, as specified in recitals to the GDPR, the commission must take into account how a particular third country respects international human rights norms and standards.

“Reports indicate that data-driven targeting, biometric surveillance and other digital technologies are being used to facilitate human rights abuses and systematic oppression,” they said. “These actions demonstrate how the unregulated flow of data, facilitated in part by the EU’s adequacy decision, contributes to ongoing violations.”

Speaking with Computer Weekly, EDRi policy advisor Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal said it is “deeply concerning” that the commission continues to ignore formal requests from civil society to reassess Israel’s adequacy status, despite mounting evidence.

“It has now been over a year since we first raised the alarm, and despite escalating rights violations and a growing body of international legal findings, including from the [International Court of Justice] ICJ, the commission hasn’t responded to our demands,” she said.

“Several members of the European Parliament recently echoed these concerns and called on the commission to act. This is not simply a case of bureaucratic delay, but signals a broader unwillingness to uphold the EU’s own standards when they become politically inconvenient.”

Adequacy concerns

Elaborating on their concerns, the civil society groups highlighted how the renewal of Israel’s adequacy status risks breaching the EU’s international obligations by enabling the use of personal data from the bloc to further an “unlawful occupation”.

They added that while the initial 2011 adequacy decision for Israel explicitly limits the scope of the agreement to its 1967 borders, there is no effective mechanism to ensure this territorial limit is observed in practice.

More specifically, they highlighted how Israel’s control of the occupied Palestinian Territories and other annexed land is problematic when considering the operational realities of its governance and surveillance infrastructure.

“For example, the headquarters of both the Israeli police and the Ministry of the Interior are located in occupied East Jerusalem, a territory not recognised by the EU as part of Israel,” they said.

“Similarly, Israel’s national surveillance command and control centre – which integrates facial recognition technologies, AI-based monitoring systems and real-time data flows – is based in the Gilo settlement, which is also located in occupied West Bank.”

They added the fact that data processing operations tied to law enforcement, biometric surveillance and national security are anchored in illegally annexed territory undermines claims the application of Israeli law in these areas is legally neutral or administratively irrelevant.

“In the absence of territorial safeguards, there is a tangible risk that personal data transferred from the EU may be accessed or processed within these facilities, thereby implicating the EU in the extension of Israeli jurisdiction over occupied territory and violating the obligation of non-recognition,” they said.

Lack of protection

Other concerns revolve around deficiencies in Israel’s own data protection framework, including the lack of protection for data transferred from the EU when being accessed by intelligence services, and legal amendments to reduce the powers of the country’s data protection authority during election periods.

“The European Commission’s continued silence in the face of these urgent concerns is untenable,” they wrote. “The absence of any meaningful response undermines trust in the EU’s commitment to fundamental rights and erodes confidence in its data protection framework.

“We therefore expect a swift and comprehensive response from the commission on this matter. Failing that, we will seek remedy through the appropriate oversight mechanisms, including the European Ombudsman.”

Independent data protection experts have also raised concerns about the EU-Israel data adequacy decision.

This includes Douwe Korff, an emeritus professor of international law at the London Metropolitan University, who published a legal analysis in April 2022 arguing that Israel’s data protection laws do not provide “essentially equivalent protection” to the GDPR, and Michael Veale, an associate professor at University College London, who said on X in May 2024 that the commission’s “re-affirmation of Israel’s data protection ‘adequacy’ status with little reporting or public analysis needs serious scrutiny”.

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The Austrian government is likely to face legal challenges after it succeeded on its fifth attempt to pass a law this month that gives the country’s intelligence service legal powers to deploy spyware on phones and computers.

Civil society groups are holding discussions with MPs on far-right Freedom Party (FPO) and the Greens, both of which voted against the new surveillance measures, regarding a legal challenge to Austria’s constitutional court.

Austria’s lower house passed the law on 9 July 2025, giving the Austrian intelligence service – the Directorate of State Protection and Intelligence (DSN) – the capability to deploy spyware, known as “a state trojan”, to monitor encrypted communications on services such as WhatsApp and Signal.

The three coalition governing parties, ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS, agreed to changes to the State Protection and Intelligence Service Act (SNG), the Telecommunications Act 2021, the Security Police Act (SPG) and other laws to allow the state to spy on encrypted messages and gather other data stored on electronic devices.

The coalition government, headed by chancellor Christian Stocker, argued that Austria should have a legal framework to enable it to monitor encrypted messaging services in line with countries such as the UK and the US.

Austrian politicians pressed the case after a tip-off from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) warning of an impending attack at a Taylor Swift concert, part of the Eras Tour, in August 2024 led to the cancellation of three concerts in the country. US intelligence reportedly identified that one of the suspects pledged to ISIS-K on the Telegram messaging app.

Former chancellor Karl Nehammer also cited Austria’s biggest spying scandal, the Egisto Ott affair, as a reason for the DSN to be given more tools to act against foreign intelligence services, including the ability to intercept encrypted messaging services.

The new law has been criticised by civil society groups and some technology companies, which argue that the introduction of a “state trojan” will undermine internet security for Austrian citizens.

In July, 50 civil society groups from 16 countries wrote an open letter to MPs and the Austrian National Council, warning that the move to increase state surveillance would be a historic step backwards for IT security.

The civil society groups said the draft law was based on a “legal fiction” that would mean that, rather than protecting the population from cyber security risks, the state would instead promote and maintain security vulnerabilities, which will inevitably be discovered and exploited by hackers and hostile nation-states.

They point to the WannaCry ransomware attacks, which exploited a security vulnerability developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to infiltrate computer systems, causing severe disruption of hospitals, trains and mobile phone networks in 2017.

Thomas Lohninger, executive director of digital rights organisation Epicenter.Works, told Computer Weekly, that his organisation will “try everything” to challenge the new law in Austria’s constitutional court. This includes bringing a constitutional challenge from the opposition Green Party and far right FPÖ MPs before the law is enacted – a move that requires support from a third of MPs.

The law only allows individual messages, but of course, technically speaking, you have to hack the whole smartphone. That gives you far more access than what is legally allowed Thomas Lohninger, Epicenter.Works

He said there is an intrinsic problem with state spyware that requires the state to invest taxpayers’ money into making people’s devices less secure and exposes critical security vulnerabilities in essential infrastructure.

Security vulnerabilities would be ‘huge problem’

“We see this as a huge problem, and legally speaking, it’s also a reversal of the interest the government is supposed to take in keeping us safe, and that also includes the IT security of our infrastructure,” he said.

Lohninger is concerned about intelligence services going further than the law allows, as once they deploy a state trojan on a target phone, intelligence agents will be able to do far more than simply read messages.

“The law only allows individual messages, but of course, technically speaking, you have to hack the whole smartphone. That gives you far more access than what is legally allowed,” he said.

There are also concerns that the DSN will be legally able to deploy spyware to target individuals before there is a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Immigrants or climate activists could be targeted, Lohninger suggested.

Spyware used against journalists, lawyers and politicians

European governments have used spyware to monitor journalists, lawyers and political opponents. In Spain, the secret service uses the Israeli spyware Pegasus to monitor the phones of activists, journalists, politicians and supporters of Catalan independence.

In the “Predatorgate” scandal, the Greek intelligence service used spyware to monitor politicians and journalists. And Pegasus spyware was deployed in Poland against 600 individuals, including opposition figures and lawyers.

The Austrian spyware law requires the DSN to seek approval from a panel of three judges who will assess whether its deployment is proportionate. A legal protection officer, usually a retired judge, will have oversight of the use of the spyware when it is deployed.

Lobbying by civil society groups and opposition MPs has ensured that the new law contains protections for judges and lawyers, to ensure that legally privileged material is not compromised, and for journalists, to protect confidential journalistic sources and material.

Conflict of interest

However, critics point out that the legal protection officer’s oversight function is part of the Ministry of Interior, the same department responsible for deploying government spyware, rather than a fully independent body, raising potential conflicts of interest.

Austria’s DSN intelligence agency is responsible for vetting legal protection officers and, in effect, can veto candidates for the role, raising further questions about independent oversight.

Lohninger said a law to allow state use of spyware in Austria would not have been necessary to detect the threat to Taylor Swift, as US agents infiltrated a chat group on Telegram, which was not encrypted.

Austria’s failed attempts at spyware laws

The Austrian Parliament has made several previous attempts to introduce laws to permit the use of state-sponsored spyware.

In 2016, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) attempted to introduce a state trojan, but abandoned the idea after the proposal attracted widespread criticism.

In 2017, a second attempt failed to get off the ground.

In 2018, Austria adopted a state trojan law to permit law enforcement to deploy spyware for criminal investigations, until it was repealed by Austria’s Constitutional Court in 2019.

The court found that the legal protection mechanisms in place for monitoring encrypted communications were inadequate and they lacked proper oversight from the courts and an independent oversight body.

The 2024 coalition government attempted to resurrect a law that allowed state spyware by Austria’s intelligence service, prompting widespread criticism from lawyers, the high court and academics.

In February 2025, a new coalition government, made up of the centre-right ÖVP, the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal NEOS, succeeded in pushing the new law through, allowing the deployment of spyware for intelligence gathering.

The Austrian government plans to issue a tender for monitoring technology and is expected to begin deploying spyware in 2027. It has a budget of €50m to run the operation between 2025 and 2030.

The DSN has not disclosed what spyware it will deploy, but is expected to buy off-the-shelf spyware – such as Pegasus, which continues to be supplied by the Israeli NSO Group.

Austrians have also speculated that Dream Security, a security company founded by former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and NSO Group co-founder Shalev Hulio, might also be in the running for a contract.

Legal challenge before 2027

Lohninger said there was a “high likelihood” that opposition MPs would agree to bring a joint legal challenge before 2027. If that fails, a legal challenge could be brought by an Austrian citizen targeted by state spyware.

Kee Jeffreys, co-founder of Session, an encrypted messaging app based in Switzerland which runs on a decentralised network, said that the Austrian government stockpiling vulnerabilities for use in spyware posed wider security risks.

“If those vulnerabilities don’t get exposed or don’t get told to the developers of software, you are leaving those vulnerabilities out there for non-government hackers or other government hackers,” told Computer Weekly.

He said it was disproportionate to monitor people’s encrypted messages without grounds for suspicion.

“Does that mean that to catch criminals who undertake crimes in households we should install security cameras in every single house and monitor those feeds at all times so that we can catch a lot more criminals?” he said.

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Vadym Plysiuk/Getty Images

The iPhone is an incredible smartphone that gets better with each new generation. From improved UI and faster processors to enhanced camera tech, Apple always brings something new and exciting to the table. But when it comes to battery life, the iPhone could use a little help, especially if you’re the type of person who has multiple apps running at the same time. Everything from web browsing to listening to music to calling someone has an impact on your iPhone’s remaining battery, and you’d be surprised just how much power a function as mundane as making a phone call can deplete.

Fortunately, there’s an underrated iOS feature that can help extend your iPhone’s battery life: Charge Limit. Introduced with the iPhone 15, this lesser-known setting may end up netting you an extra year or two on the total life of your phone battery. That definitely beats having to carry a portable charger everywhere you go or hoping there’s a wall outlet wherever life takes you and your iPhone that day.

How to use the Charge Limit setting

Wongsakorn 2468/Shutterstock

As mentioned, the Charge Limit setting is only available on iPhone 15 models or later, as part of the iOS 17.0 rollout. (Even if you’re using an older iPhone that’s been upgraded to iOS 17, Charge Limit still won’t be available.) To access this feature, open the Settings app, then tap Battery > Charging. You’ll then be taken to a screen with a Charge Limit slider, which can be adjusted to 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100%.

Even switching from 100% to 95% is going to make an impact because of good old-fashioned science. The lithium-ion battery in your iPhone is designed to last longer when it’s not fully charged all the time. The chemicals that make up your phone’s internal power pack have less moving around to do when you set the charge limit to a lower threshold, leading to less degradation over time.

And capping the charge limit at around 80% is also a great way to cut down on heat generation. This is particularly useful for those of us rocking iPhone cases with minimal heat dissipation, such as a heavy-duty OtterBox products. It’s also helpful if you happen to live in an area that’s prone to hotter temperatures, especially during the spring and summer months.

More ways to extend your iPhone battery life

chainarong06/Shutterstock

While the Charge Limit setting is reserved for iPhone 15 or later, there are still a few things you can do with older iPhone models to improve the longevity of the battery. First and foremost, there’s the Optimized Battery Charging setting, which you can access by tapping Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. You can think of this feature as “Charge Limit Lite.” 

How it works is instead of putting a hard cap at whatever charge level you choose, your iPhone will automatically monitor your daily charging habits so the device won’t charge past 80% until that final 20% is needed. The iOS Battery dashboard also has a Low Power Mode setting that can be toggled on or off. When enabled, your iPhone reduces background activity (e.g., downloads, mail fetch) until your device is fully charged.

You can try keeping your screen backlight at 70% brightness or less as well, or selecting a faster Auto-Lock duration by tapping Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. You may also want to turn off Auto-Brightness (Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size) to prevent your iPhone’s ambient light sensor from taking over.

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Senator Ron Wyden has written to the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, urging her to provide Congress and the American public with a “frank assessment” of the security risks posed by UK surveillance to the US.

The letter, which follows disclosures that the UK Home Office issued a secret notice to Apple to gain access to its users’ encrypted data, raises new concerns that the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) may allow it much wider access to data on US citizens than previously reported.

Android phones may have ‘backdoors’

In a letter to Gabbard yesterday, Wyden claimed the Home Office may also have issued a secret order against Google to introduce “backdoors” to the encrypted backup service used by billions of Android phone users worldwide. Following the publication of Wyden’s letter, Google said it had received no such order from the UK.

The letter also raises questions about Home Office powers to issue orders to secretly under the Investigatory Powers Act force US companies to store data belonging to US citizens in the UK, “where it could be then seized by the UK government”.

Wyden’s intervention comes as president Donald Trump, who has criticised the Home Office’s order against Apple as something China would be expected to do, met with prime minister Keir Starmer at Trump’s Turnberry Golf Club in South Ayrshire.

Wyden and Republican congressman Andy Biggs first wrote to Gabbard in February 2025, after a leak in The Washington Post revealed that home secretary Yvette Cooper had issued an order, known as a technical capability notice (TCN), against Apple, requiring it to introduce backdoor access to users’ data stored on its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted storage service.

Gabbard told the lawmakers that she shared their “grave concern” about the UK ordering US companies to create backdoors that would allow access to the encrypted data of US citizens. Such a move would “be a clear and egregious violation of American citizens’ privacy and civil liberties” and would create cyber vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hostile actors, she added.

Wyden stated in the letter that companies that receive orders under the UK’s IPA are legally prohibited from disclosing their existence, making it impossible to confirm which US technology companies have received such orders from the UK, “much less the extent to which they may be complying with them”.

Apple’s ADP service is disabled by default, making it likely that only a “very small” proportion of Apple’s customers “benefiting from this important cyber security defence” would be affected by a Home Office order.

However, Wyden raised the prospect – since denied by Google – that the Home Office has also issued an order requiring Google to provide backdoor access to encrypted backups made by billions of Android smartphone users that are protected by end-to-end encryption by default.

“When my office asked Google about backdoor demands from the UK, the company did not answer the question, only stating that if it had received a technical capabilities notice, it would be prohibited from disclosing that fact,” Wyden wrote.

This is in contrast to Meta, which offered Wyden an “unequivocal denial” when asked the same question on 17 March 2025, stating: “We have not received an order to backdoor our encrypted services, like that reported about Apple.”

Home Office hacking powers could impact US

Wyden has raised further concerns that the threat to US data posed by UK surveillance laws is not limited to demanding that US companies weaken their encryption with backdoors.

The British Embassy in Washington has not denied claims that the UK could use the IPA to force US companies to store newly created US customer data in the UK. “Such UK-located data could then be seized by the UK government,” he added.

Wyden has also raised concerns that the UK can use the “equipment interference” (hacking) provisions in the IPA to demand that companies “infect their customers with spyware to hack Americans” – a capability which the British Embassy in Washington has, again, not denied.                                                                                            

“The cyber security of Americans’ communications and digital lives must be defended against foreign threats,” Wyden told Gabbard. “The national security implications are serious, not least because the communications of US government officials could be subject to both weakened encryption and storage in the UK,” he said.

Commenting on Wyden’s letter, Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, which is campaigning against UK’s moves against encryption, said the Home Office’s orders impact the security of people worldwide.

“Google’s refusal to answer senator Wyden is extremely worrying for Android users who rely on encryption for their privacy and security,” he added.

Update 21:00 29 July 2025:

Following publication of this story, Google told The Washington Post that the British government has never asked it for special access to users’ private messages and data.

A spokesperson told The Washington Post: “We have never built any mechanism or ‘backdoor’ to circumvent end-to-end encryption in our product,” adding: “If we say a product is end-to-end encrypted, it is.”

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The UK’s AI Security Institute is collaborating with several global institutions on a global initiative to ensure artificial intelligence (AI) systems behave in a predictable manner.

The Alignment Project, backed by £15m of government funding, brings together an international coalition including the Canadian AI Safety Institute, Schmidt Sciences, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Anthropic, Halcyon Futures, the Safe AI Fund, UK Research and Innovation, and the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). 

This reflects a growing global consensus across government, industry, academia and philanthropy that alignment is one of the most urgent technical challenges society faces, and that expanding the field is a shared international responsibility. 

In January, the government published its International AI safety report ahead of the AI Action Summit, which took place in Paris on 10-11 February 202. The report notes that AI experts are undecided as to when major societal risks of AI will appear. Some, according to the report’s authors, predict they are decades away, while others think that general-purpose AI could lead to societal-scale harm in the next few years.

“Recent advances in general-purpose AI capabilities – particularly in tests of scientific reasoning and programming – have generated new evidence for potential risks such as AI-enabled hacking and biological attacks, leading one major AI company to increase its assessment of biological risk from its best model from ‘low’ to ‘medium’,” the report’s authors noted.

AI alignment is focused on making sure AI systems behave in the best interest of humanity. Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said this is at the heart of the work the AI Security Institute has been leading since day one, which involves safeguarding the UK’s national security and ensuring the British public are protected from the most serious risks AI could pose as the technology becomes more and more advanced.

Given the pace of AI advancement, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) notes that today’s methods for controlling AI are likely to be insufficient for tomorrow’s more capable systems as the technology continues to develop, which, it said, is why there is the need for co-ordinated global action to ensure the long-term safety of citizens. 

Kyle said: “Advanced AI systems are already exceeding human performance in some areas, so it’s crucial we’re driving forward research to ensure this transformative technology is behaving in our interests.”

The funding includes up to a grant of up to £1m for researchers across disciplines from computer sciences to cognitive science. It also provides dedicated compute resources from AWS and Anthropic and access to investment from private funders to accelerate commercial alignment.

Geoffrey Irving, chief scientist at the AI Security Institute, said: “AI alignment is one of the most urgent and under-resourced challenges of our time. Progress is essential, but it’s not happening fast enough relative to the rapid pace of AI development.

“Misaligned, highly capable systems could act in ways beyond our ability to control, with profound global implications. By providing funding, compute resources and interdisciplinary collaboration to bring more ideas to bear on the problem, we hope to increase the chance that transformative AI systems serve humanity reliably, safely and in ways we can trust.” 

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US software developers specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) engineering appear to be earning significantly more than their peers in other countries, the latest global survey from Stack Overflow has reported.

The survey of 49,000 responses from 177 countries found that in the US, the median salary for an AI and ML engineer is $189,500 per annum, over $50,000 more than the global median.

UK AI and ML developers who took part in the survey earn $149,756, almost $40,000 less than those who work in the US. In France, the salary gap is higher, with the median annual salary for French AI and ML engineers at $104,413. In India, AI and ML engineers can expect to earn just $17,434 a year.

While 47% of the developers who took part in the survey say they use AI tools daily, Stack Overflow reported that more developers actively distrust the accuracy of AI tools (46%) than trust them (33%).

The survey found that experienced developers are the most cautious, with the lowest “highly trust” rate (2.6%) and the highest “highly distrust” rate (20%), indicating a widespread need for human verification for those in roles with accountability.

The majority (54%) of the 11,202 developers who responded to questions about how they use AI in their workflow say the primary use is to search for answers. Just over a third (35%) use AI to generate content or synthetic data, while 33% use it to help them learn new concepts.

The other main use is around documentation, with 31% saying they use AI to document their code and a quarter using AI to create or maintain documentation. Around a fifth of the developers polled use AI for debugging and to learn about the codebase.

However, based on the responses of 31,476 developers, the biggest single frustration among the people polled (66%) is dealing with “AI solutions that are almost right, but not quite”, which often leads to the second-biggest frustration: “Debugging AI-generated code is more time-consuming,” at 45%.

In a future with advanced AI, three-quarters of the developers surveyed say the primary reason they would still ask a person for help is when they do not trust answers provided by an AI. According to Stack Overflow, this positions human developers as the ultimate arbiters of quality and correctness.

“The growing lack of trust in AI tools stood out to us as the key data point in this year’s survey, especially given the increased pace of growth and adoption of these AI tools,” said Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow. “AI is a powerful tool, but it has significant risks of misinformation, or can lack complexity or relevance.

“With the use of AI now ubiquitous and ‘AI slop’ rapidly replacing the content we see online, an approach that leans heavily on trustworthy, responsible use of data from curated knowledge bases is critical. By providing a trusted human intelligence layer in the age of AI, we believe the tech enthusiasts of today can play a larger role in adding value to build the AI technologies and products of tomorrow.”

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Apple Inc.

Released late last year as part of iOS 18.2, the Share Item Location feature for Apple’s AirTag has been one of the most useful additions introduced during the iOS 18 cycle. It’s now easier than ever to share the location of an AirTag I’m using with friends, family, and even airlines, which can help to ensure you never lose an item or a piece of luggage again.

With summer upon us, more people are finding out about this helpful feature as they head to the airport to go on vacation. Even better — this feature isn’t only available in the U.S. or on U.S. airlines. Since the Share Item Location feature launched in 2024, 30 airlines around the world have partnered with Apple to support it.

The feature helps bring peace of mind to your travels. After all, even before this feature was available, I was already tossing AirTags into all of my suitcases and contacting airlines in case they lost my luggage (which I’ve dealt with more than once). While we already taught you how to share a lost AirTag using the Find My app, here’s the list of airlines that support AirTag’s Share Item Location feature.

30 airlines support AirTag’s Share Item Location feature

José Adorno for BGR

At the time of writing, there are 30 airlines that officially support Share Item Location. That said, more airlines should be join this list soon — for example, Saudia just announced it now offers support for the feature. With that said, these are the countries and airlines that can track your AirTag:

U.S. airlines:

• American Airlines
• Breeze Airlines
• Delta
• JetBlue
• United

Australia airlines:

Austria airlines:

• Lufthansa Group/Austrian Airlines

Belgium airlines:

• Lufthansa Group/Brussels Airlines

Canada airlines:

Finland airlines:

Germany airlines:

• Lufthansa Group/Eurowings
• Lufthansa Group/Lufthansa

Hong Kong airlines:

India airlines:

Ireland airlines:

Netherlands airlines:

New Zealand airlines:

Saudi Arabia airlines:

Singapore airlines:

Spain airlines:

Switzerland airlines:

Taiwan airlines:

Turkey airlines:

• Ajet
• Pegasus
• Sun Express
• Turkish Airlines

UK airlines:

• IAG/British Airways
• Virgin Atlantic

With AirTag’s Share Item Location feature, Apple’s Find My network provides an updated location of the Bluetooth tracker as long as one of your Apple devices is signed into your Apple Account and online. We are also still anxiously awaiting the release of AirTag 2, as it seems it’s only a matter of time before Apple upgrades its popular item tracker.

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José Adorno for BGR

Recently, OpenAI rolled out its new Agent Mode in ChatGPT for Plus, Pro, and Enterprise users. While we eagerly await for the upcoming GPT-5 models, this new feature brings the AI one step closer to completing tasks autonomously. This is especially beneficial because it evolves the tool from the standard searching and gathering data to actually saving people’s time on those tedious everyday tasks, such as thinking about what to make for dinner, booking a trip, finding the right pair of shoes to buy, and so on.

ChatGPT’s Agent Mode is especially useful when it comes to repeated routines, gathering information from the web, organizing results, and reminding users when it’s time to do something. It’s almost like having an actual personal assistant to run your errands for you.

If you’re a bit cautious about the amount of data you might be sharing with ChatGPT but want to get your head start with Agent Mode, I gathered some examples that could be a great way to get started with ChatGPT’s vision for the future. But before we jump into the prompts you should try with ChatGPT Agent Mode, you can only access this mode on the web, and you need to be a paid subscriber.

Easy prompts to get started with ChatGPT Agent Mode

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Recipe rescue: Leave those nightly panic attacks because you don’t know what you’re cooking for dinner behind. You can ask ChatGPT to create a list of recipes for you by sharing the ingredients in your fridge and pantries. You can even take a photo of your fridge (with the door open) and type in a prompt like this:

• “Every night at 6 PM, ask me what ingredients I have at home. Suggest 2 dinner ideas that take under 30 minutes to make.”

In time, the Agent will understand what you like and what you’d rather not have again, and the suggestions will improve as you continue to work with the AI agent.

Weekend chore planner: At some point every weekend, I’ll clean my house, do groceries, and complete other chores. ChatGPT’s Agent Mode can help you plan it all out with ease with a prompt as simple as this one:

• “Every Friday, make a quick weekend checklist: groceries, cleaning, and a fun activity. Keep it simple, and no more than 5 items.”

Easy enough, and it won’t overwhelm you.

Subscription reminder: When the bill comes due at the beginning of every month, it usually becomes clear that I have more subscriptions than I actually need. Agent Mode can help you manage that with this prompt:

• “On the last day of the month, remind me to check my subscriptions. Make a list of common services to review (you can add some suggestions) and ask if I want to cancel anything.”

Save yourself some money by having the AI remind you to cancel the services you’ve stopped using.

Agent Mode is easier to use than you might expect

OpenAI

While you can go more advanced, I’d say these are interesting ways to enjoy Agent Mode. Other possibilities include:

Grocery price tracker: Make sure you’re getting the best prices and visiting the right grocery store for your budget and shopping list before you leave the house by using a prompt such as this:

• “Every Thursday, check three local supermarket websites. Compare prices for [insert the products]. Make me a shopping list with the cheapest store highlighted.”

Morning news condenser: If you want to stay on top of local, national, and world news, you can ask the ChatGPT Agent to go through your favorite news sources and get a summary of the top headlines for the day. Try this prompt:

• “Every day at 7:30 AM, scan [insert the websites you usually check]. Summarize the top 5 headlines in 5 bullet points, and send them here.”

These are great ways to get started with ChatGPT’s latest tool.

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When it comes to lightweight computing, it’s amazing how much you can do with a Chromebook. Made famous by brands like Asus, Dell, and Lenovo, most Chromebook models deliver fast boot times and zippy web performance, the latter being one of the main advantages of ChromeOS. In addition to apps like the Chrome web browser, most Chromebooks also have access to the Google Play Store. This means you’ll be able to download additional apps and games, including platforms like Netflix and Spotify, and video-conferencing tools like Zoom.

But what if there’s a test version of an Android app you’re dying to add to your Chromebook, and it’s not officially available on the Google Play Store yet? Fortunately, thanks to a process called sideloading, you’ll be able to install APKs (Android Package Kit) files on your Chromebook. Think of this as a backdoor method for manually uploading Android files to your machine. With APKs, you’ll be able to do things like access test builds of apps and install region-locked apps. You can also download an earlier version of an app, instead of the current version on the Play Store.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take much know-how to get your Chromebook ready to install APK files, and there are two methods to do so: activating your Chromebook’s Developer Mode or using ADB (Android Debug Bridge) with Linux.

Installing APKs in Developer Mode

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Turning on Developer Mode isn’t too tricky, but doing so can be incredibly risky for the health of your Chromebook. First and foremost, you’ll want to triple-check you have all your most important files backed up to the cloud or an external drive, because once you activate Developer Mode, all of your Chromebook’s local data will be erased.

Developer Mode also disables a number of built-in system protections provided by ChromeOS, making your Chromebook far more prone to picking up a harmful virus or malware when you’re sideloading apps. Still, if you’re feeling brave enough, getting into Developer Mode is relatively simple. To get started, make sure your Chromebook is turned off. Then, press and hold both the ESC + Refresh keys, followed by the Power button. Don’t release the ESC + Refresh combo until you see a recovery message.

Next, press CTRL + D to activate Developer Mode. A pop-up window should appear, asking if you’d like to continue. Once you press Enter, your Chromebook will restart, which could take between 10-15 minutes. Now you’ll be able to install APKs via USB storage or from a developer site. Again, be careful of what you’re downloading, because ChromeOS won’t be there to back you up if a virus eats your Chromebook for lunch.

To revert to normal ChromeOS operations, just press the spacebar on the boot screen. Another pop-up will appear to let you know you’re exiting Developer Mode. Once you confirm, your Chromebook should revert to Normal Mode.

Installing APKs with ADB and Linux

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A safer way to sideload your APK content — that doesn’t involve the scary Developer Mode — is by using your Chromebook’s built-in Android Debug Bridge (ADB) utility. Believe it or not, Chromebooks are fully capable of running Linux, and you’ll need to force yours to do so in order to sideload via ADB. All you have to do is navigate to Settings, then click Developers > Linux development environment (Beta). Toggle Linux on, click Install on the next screen, then follow the on-screen instructions.

To enable ADB mode, click Settings > Linux Beta > Develop Android apps > Enable ADB debugging. You’ll then be prompted to restart your Chromebook, and then it’s time to start uploading APK files.

Once you have one downloaded to your machine, drag and drop the file into My Files > Linux files. Next, open up your Chromebook’s Linux terminal (you’ll find the Terminal app in your app launcher) and enter the command line “sudo apt install adb.” When prompted, press Y, then Enter.

Once Linux finishes installing the packages, type “adb connect arc” to activate ADB mode. Now, when you type “adb install [APK file name].apk” into the terminal, ADB will sideload the APK you’ve chosen.

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The year so far has seen a marked rise in the value and size of an internet of things (IoT) arena that has witnessed new technical standards, devices and evolving market complexities, and a study from Berg Insight has calculated that global IoT connectivity revenues increased by 12% annually to reach €14.2bn in 2024.

In The global M2M/IoT communications market report, the IoT market research firm projects that 2029 will see 6.4 billion IoT devices connected to cellular networks worldwide, generating annual connectivity revenues of €22.4bn.

Berg Insight estimates that the global number of cellular IoT subscribers increased by 14% in 2024 to reach 3.8 billion at the end of the year, corresponding to around 30% of all mobile subscribers. Over the next four years, the number of cellular IoT subscribers is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%, to reach 6.4 billion in 2029. During the same period, cellular IoT connectivity revenues are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9.6%, from €14.2bn in 2024 to approximately €22.4bn in 2029. Meanwhile, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to drop from €0.33 to €0.30.

Another key trend revealed in the report was that IoT connectivity revenues are growing at a slower rate than the number of connections. According to the analysis, key performance indicators released by mobile operators in different parts of the world suggest that global IoT connectivity revenues increased by around 12% in 2024, while monthly ARPU dropped by 5%.

The top 10 mobile operators reported a combined active base of 3.3 billion cellular IoT connections at the end of 2024, accounting for 86% of the total 3.8 billion connections.

The report noted that China was the world’s largest market for cellular IoT connectivity services by volume, and cited China Mobile as being the world’s largest provider of cellular IoT connectivity services, with 1.42bn cellular IoT connections. Arch rivals China Telecom and China Unicom ranked second and third, with 628 million and 625 million connections, respectively.

According to data from the Chinese national telecoms regulator, the installed base in the country grew by 14% year on year to reach 2.7 billion IoT connections at the end of 2024, corresponding to about 70% of the global installed base.

Berg believes the role of the Chinese government is the main reason China is ahead of the rest of the world in the adoption of IoT. Authorities have actively endorsed large-scale IoT deployments as a method for addressing problems affecting society, such as crime, fire safety, energy conservation or traffic management. It added that the private sector is being directed and encouraged to do the same.
 
Vodafone ranked first among the Western operators and fourth overall with 204 million connections, followed by AT&T with 143 million in fifth place. Deutsche Telekom and Verizon had in the range of 56-60 million cellular IoT connections each. KDDI, Telefónica and Orange were the last players in the top 10, with about 49 million, 45 million and 37 million connections, respectively. The installed bases of the largest mobile operators grew at a rate of between 5% and 26% annually.
 
IoT managed service providers were also seen to be playing a key role in the ecosystem. The report noted that most players operate as full mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), typically offering IoT connectivity services based on a mix of roaming and local access agreements, and sometimes value-added services targeted at vertical segments.

Notable examples cited by Berg Insight included 1GLOBAL, 1NCE, Aeris, BICS, CSL Group, Cubic, emnify, Eseye, floLIVE, Giesecke+Devrient, KORE, Monogoto, Onomondo, Semtech, Soracom, Tata Communications, Teal, Telit Cinterion, Velos IoT and Wireless Logic.

Altogether, IoT managed service providers had more than 200 million cellular IoT connections under management at the end of 2024 and around €1.8bn in annual revenues.
 

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