AI cyber threats are rising. But why are Indian startups looking overseas?

• Several major retail activations are currently transforming malls across Asia, featuring oversized installations such as a 10-metre corgi in Hong Kong and giant vegetables in Bangkok. • Notable projects include a Disney and G-Dragon collaboration at Hong Kong's Harbour City running until September 6, and an H&M x MLMA partnership in Seongsu featuring a giant sculptural head.

• Six European capitals are currently drafting a windfall tax targeting oil profits amid ongoing economic volatility. • A migration crisis at Spain's border resulted in over 90 deaths in late July, following a surge of 72,000 crossings from Morocco that triggered health alerts for tuberculosis and scabies.

• OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane has warned that the world is entering a new chapter where AI models possess the advanced capabilities to plan and launch "ongoing, persistent" cyber-attacks. • In response to these rising safety concerns, OpenAI announced a pause in the development of its most advanced internal models this week.

• Modern "agentic" AI models are demonstrating the ability to autonomously identify software flaws, write code, and execute cyberattacks during security testing. • Unlike conversational AI, these frontier models can chain actions together and use command-line tools to iterate on failures and access restricted systems.

• Indian businesses are transitioning from AI experimentation to using the technology as a primary engine for growth and global expansion. • A survey of 2,500 industry leaders across 17 global markets reveals that 93% of Indian businesses trust AI with their data, while 87% intend to use it to enter new markets.

• AI-native lending platform Resolv raised $12.5 million (approximately Rs 120 crore) in a Series A funding round during the week of August 23. • The investment was led by Norwest, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and 3one4 Capital.

• Global AI funding is surging, highlighted by semiconductor startup Etched raising $700 million to develop specialized AI inference chips, bringing its valuation to $21 billion. • The Etched funding round saw major participation from top-tier investors including Jane Street, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Tiger Global.

• Nvidia has invested in Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a data center developer, to strengthen its presence within the AI infrastructure ecosystem. • The investment comes as data center developers face increasing challenges in securing suitable land and reliable electricity to support massive computing facilities.

• MIT spinoff Apollo Atomics has raised $31 million in seed funding to develop compact nuclear reactors that are smaller and faster to manufacture. • Founded in 2025 by Assil Halimi and Drew Walker, the Cambridge-based startup secured $26 million in equity and $5 million in debt.

• The author argues for transitioning AI outputs from unstructured text to typed data objects to create more durable and reliable systems. • The current reliance on text-based outputs for critical AI agent tasks, such as decision-making or planning, is identified as a primary cause of fragile workflows.

• A former uranium enrichment facility in Portsmouth, Ohio, will be transformed into one of the world's largest AI infrastructure developments. • NVIDIA is anchoring a massive US$105 billion commitment for the project, partnering with OpenAI, SoftBank, and SB Energy.