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Japan Today
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Japan Today
Nvidia chief calls AI ‘the greatest equalizer' — but warns Europe risks falling behind
By THOMAS ADAMSON and KELVIN CHAN Will artificial intelligence save humanity — or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest — or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rock star as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. 'AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created,' Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the UK, including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia — the world's most valuable chipmaker — is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a 'technological priesthood' — hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years — Huang pushed back. 'Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize,' he told The Associated Press. 'We lower the cost of access to technology.' As Huang put it, these factories 'reason,' 'plan,' and 'spend a lot of time talking to' themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in ' The Terminator ' movie — vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. 'Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one,' he said. 'Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure.' He added: 'AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state — they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them.' Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind — it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy — building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. 'The data belongs to you,' Huang said. 'It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense.' But fears over AI misuse remain potent — from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check — by itself. 'In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails.' The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
The Paris robbery of Kim Kardashian changed how celebrities think about exposure
By THOMAS ADAMSON The ring gleamed in Instagram posts. So did the diamond necklace and the luxury Paris address. For Kim Kardashian, sharing online was second nature — an extension of her fame. But in the early hours of Oct. 3, 2016, that openness turned against her. Five masked men posing as police officers stormed the residence where she was staying during Fashion Week. They bound her at gunpoint with duct tape and plastic cable ties, locked her in the bathroom and fled with an estimated $6 million in stolen jewelry. The robbery sent shock waves far beyond Paris, reverberating through the fashion world and the celebrity sphere. It marked a turning point in how public figures think about exposure — when curated glamour became a liability, and social media, once a tool of empowerment, became a roadmap for real-world risk. It also shattered the illusion that wealth and fame offered protection. On Tuesday, nearly a decade after the night that left her afraid to be seen in public, Kardashian will take the stand. She will face the men accused of carrying out one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history — a moment she once described as 'the scariest thing' that ever happened to her. What made the robbery extraordinary was not just its high-profile victim but how investigators believe she was targeted. Kardashian had posted real-time updates from her hotel suite. She showed off a 20-carat diamond ring, gifted by her then-husband Kanye West, hours before it was stripped from her hand. The attackers used no digital trackers or hacking tools. Instead, investigators believe they followed Kardashian's digital breadcrumbs — images, timestamps, geotags — and exploited them with old-school criminal methods. It was, some suggested at the time, a blueprint built from her own broadcast. Fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld offered a blunt critique in the aftermath. Speaking to The Associated Press, he blamed Kardashian's hyper-visibility: '(She is) too public, too public — we have to see in what time we live... You cannot display your wealth then be surprised that some people want to share it.' But as chilling details of the heist emerged, public sympathy for Kardashian deepened. During the heist, the attackers dressed as police, spoke only French and overpowered the concierge, who was forced to act as a translator during the break-in. One defendant even later claimed he was unaware of Kardashian's identity during the heist. 'I thought it was terrorists,' Kardashian later told a French magistrate in 2017. 'That they were going to kill me.' While the robbery bore no connection to terrorism, the comment resonated in a city still shaken by the 2015 Bataclan attacks less than a year earlier. Kardashian, once mocked by some of the French press as a reality TV sideshow, is now at the center of a case with deep cultural resonance. The robbery forced her to consider how she lived, posted and protected herself. Her brand had been built on access, her life broadcast to millions. But that strategy had collapsed. 'I learned to be more private,' she later said. 'It's not worth the risk.' Kardashian enhanced her security detail by hiring people with backgrounds in elite protective services, reportedly including former members of the U.S. Secret Service and CIA. She stopped posting her location in real time. Lavish gifts and jewelry all but vanished from her feed. 'I was definitely materialistic before … but I'm so happy that my kids get this me," she reflected on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2017. Later, Kardashian acknowledged that constant sharing had made her a target. 'People were watching,' she said. 'They knew what I had. They knew where I was.' Her retreat set off a ripple effect across Hollywood and the fashion world. Model Gigi Hadid increased her private security detail in the months after the heist. She was spotted at Paris fashion shows flanked by multiple guards. Kendall Jenner, Kardashian's sister, reportedly took similar steps ahead of the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Paris, following new protocols on personal protection and digital discretion. Publicists and managers began advising clients to delay posts, remove location tags and think twice before flashing luxury online. Visibility remained currency, but for some the rules had changed. Surveillance footage helped French police reconstruct the timeline of the robbery, but the breakthrough came from a trace of DNA left on the plastic ties used to bind Kardashian. It matched Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran criminal whose DNA was in the national database. Phone taps and surveillance led police to others, including Yunice Abbas and Didier Dubreucq, known as 'Yeux bleus.' Most of the accused have long criminal records. Investigators say the men acted with detailed planning and discipline. Prepaid phones were activated the day before the heist and abandoned immediately afterward. But in the end, it wasn't enough. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
