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Chinese teenagers flock to tech frontline to touch the future amid AI study-tour boom <br> &nbsp;On a summer day, cheers erupted as clusters of children watched robots race across a soccer pitch, battling it out in playful matches, at a science center in Jiaxing, east China&#39;s Zhejiang Province. At a nearby workbench, nine-year-old Zhang Qihang was busy assembling a robot of his own. &quot;Building robots is awesome! I can let my imagination run wild,&quot; he said, beaming with excitement. This was the scene at an artificial intelligence (AI) summer camp -- part of a new wave of study tours gaining traction across China. Moving beyond textbooks, students are flocking to tech giants, university labs and science centers, eager to get hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI technologies and see firsthand how the future is taking shape. AI study-tour boom During this summer vacation, AI-themed study tours have begun to gain ground, with bookings surging ...

Austrian Mountain Town Finds Niche In AI Boom <br> Nestled in the wooded hills of Austria&#39;s Styria region, the town of Leoben oozes tradition with its pastel-coloured buildings and quaint central square boasting a 13th-century church. But on the edge of town, engineers peer through giant magnifying glasses while robotic arms manipulate sheets of copper to develop components used in some of the world&#39;s most advanced AI systems. AT&amp;S, an electronics company based in Leoben, makes integrated circuit (IC) substrates, the boards that connect chips to computer memory and power supplies -- a crucial component in the race to develop AI and high-speed data processing. The company&#39;s shares have surged more than 450 percent this year, making it one of the most striking beneficiaries in Europe of the AI boom. For chief executive Michael Mertin, this success shows that Europe can still &quot;occupy important niches&quot; in the AI race, even if...

Robots can outrun humans, but can they plug in a cable? <br> China&#39;s humanoid&nbsp;robots&nbsp;have shown they&nbsp;can&nbsp;run quicker than the fastest&nbsp;humans. Now comes the real test:&nbsp;can&nbsp;they also handle packaging and warehouse operations while reliably performing precision tasks like connecting cables designed to evaluate their ability to work like&nbsp;humans&nbsp;in less flashy jobs? The five-day World Humanoid Robot Games, which began Saturday in Beijing, combine events modelled on human sports with those designed to test the&nbsp;robots&nbsp;in simulated factories, restaurants, offices and in emergency situations. The games, heavily promoted in Chinese state media, feature 51 events, including 30 sports competitions and 21 scenario-based contests. More than 40% require&nbsp;robots&nbsp;to operate fully autonomously, according to Huawei, a tech partner of the games. On Saturday, two&nb...

From science fair to strategic showcase: a decade of China’s robot games <br> &nbsp;It&rsquo;s been called the Robot Olympics. But unlike the human Olympics, Team China is collecting almost all the medals. Over the past decade, robotic competitions in China have provided a window into the advances of a now-surging sector &ndash; and the importance of its success as a strategic industry singled out by ​President Xi Jinping. Once a curiosity organized by academic teams and hobbyists, China&rsquo;s robot games have become a national showcase celebrated by state &zwnj;media &mdash; and, increasingly, a proving ground for commercial products from companies looking to show real-world applications beyond the spectacle. The five-day World Humanoid Robot Games &ndash; the latest and biggest incarnation of the competition &ndash; began on Saturday in Beijing. Here&rsquo;s a timeline of how the competitions, and the underlying technology, have de...

Tesla and others begin record vehicle recall in China <br> Tesla and 10 other automakers launched software updates on Friday and said they would recall nearly 4.3 million vehicles over concerns it may be difficult to open doors in an emergency, in China&#39;s largest automotive recall to date. Beijing has this year increased oversight of the EV industry and introduced tougher safety requirements, as automakers, locked in a fierce price war, roll out technologies in the world&#39;s largest vehicle market. It has also said it will ban concealed door handles from 2027, making it the first country to phase out a design popularised by Tesla and widely adopted by domestic Chinese EV makers. Most of the actions, classified as product recalls under Chinese regulations, address concerns that emergency mechanical door release handles may be difficult to locate or operate during emergencies. Warning labels and software fixes Nine of the 11 automakers, including Tesla and ...

UK cinemas restricting Meta AI and other smart glasses over piracy concerns <br> Cinema operators in Britain are introducing policies to prohibit ​or restrict camera-enabled smart glasses, including &zwnj;Meta&#39;s&nbsp;AI-powered eyewear, the UK Cinema Association said on Thursday, citing privacy and ​film piracy concerns. The move follows ​growing scrutiny of smart glasses over ⁠their recording capabilities, with courts ​in England and Wales this month ​prohibiting Meta smart glasses because of restrictions on taking images and videos in courts. Policies ​vary by venue, with operators ​introducing prohibitions and/or restrictions rather than a single &zwnj;industry-wide ⁠rule. The UK Cinema Association said operators recognise smart glasses can provide benefits to those with specific access ​requirements. The association ​said it ⁠would continue working with members to ensure their ​approach &quot;remains relevant and proportionate.&quot; Else...