US v China: What if an AI system started a war that no one wanted?

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At the start of the US war against Iran, the US Air Force used intelligence synthesised by Project Maven to select targets in deadly bombing raids. Project Maven is led by Palantir and supported by American technology behemoths like Amazon and Microsoft. Its use led to the bombing of the Minab school in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, which killed more than 150 people in an incident described by experts as a war crime.

Meanwhile, militaries around the world are also quickly trying to acquire and adapt Ukrainian drone technology, which this year marked the first use of a lethal autonomous system in battle.

Outside of military conflict, AI models pose a threat to national information systems and critical infrastructure. The recent breach of Australia’s Medicare system exposed a new threat vector in critical systems: that a hack is no longer just the domain of foreign intelligence services or cyber criminals. A hack can now happen accidentally, without human control, emerging from a friendly country. This raises the possibility that such an accident might happen between the US and China, which together control 90% of global AI capacity.

In the first documented instance in which OpenAI hacked Australian government servers, OpenAI itself was unaware of the breach for two months and then waited another month to inform the Australian government via a public e-mail.

Qns:

1. To what extent should governments regulate the development of emerging technologies? (RI 2026 Prelim)

2. To what extent should governments regulate artificial intelligence? (NYJC 2026 Prelim)

I don’t want Singapore to be a ‘fine city’ anymore

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Singapore proposes a UN framework convention on AI safety

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the risks arose from three possibilities – the loss of control over autonomous systems; the misuse by rogue actors to create bioweapons or other weapons of mass destruction, and pervasive political and socio-economic disruption.

“But the genie is already out of the bottle....It is too late to call for a halt

the analogy of a car and traffic lights to bring the point home. “To drive a high-performance car quickly and safely, you need a powerful engine, but equally, you need good brakes

Above all, human beings must ultimately remain in charge. “Do you want the nuclear button to be in the hands of a human being or an AI?”

calls for binding international government oversight over frontier AI models, rather than corporate self-regulation

Rules do not stop us or slow us down. They give us the assurance and the confidence so that we can move faster and more effectively for the benefit of all our peoples

Qns:

1. To what extent should governments regulate the development of emerging technologies? (RI 2026 Prelim)

2. To what extent should governments regulate artificial intelligence? (NYJC 2026 Prelim)

OpenAI’s systems meddled with US government sites after going rogue

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AI agents – which are bots that can act autonomously – had interacted with their sites in unusual ways

It recently discovered the occurrences while conducting a review of hacks carried out by its technology, including an attack on an Australian government website in June and on the AI start-up Hugging Face in July.

The revelation of the US government website incidents add to the growing number of situations where AI agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google have misbehaved and hacked or tried to breach companies, universities and government organisations.

In all the cases, the makers of the technology did not learn what their AI had been up to until afterwards.

instances in which the AI hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission.

US President Donald Trump has said he does not believe a slowdown in the AI industry is necessary.

AI models ...will relentlessly try to complete a task, and it doesn’t understand morality and consequences and evil and good

Qns:

1. Evaluate the view that modern technology can no longer be effectively controlled. (EJC 2026 Prelim)

2. To what extent should governments regulate the development of emerging technologies? (RI 2026 Prelim)

3. In the digital age, protection of personal privacy is desirable but not realistic. Discuss. (TMJC 2026 Prelim)

4. Technological advancements have made people more fearful about the future!' How far do you agree? (TJC 2026 Prelim)

OpenAI says its AI agents posted ChatGPT user images online in error

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Qns:

1. Assess the view that privacy is no longer a realistic expectation. (YIJC 2026 Prelim)

2. In the digital age, protection of personal privacy is desirable but not realistic. Discuss. (TMJC 2026 Prelim)

Indonesia fires threaten critically endangered orang utan: IUCN

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The social media app forcing Japan to take digital privacy more seriously

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Qn: Assess the view that privacy is no longer a realistic expectation. (YIJC 2026 Prelim)

Can big data save the next Megan Khung? It’s definitely worth a try to keep children safer

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Long Island works: Calls to retain East Coast Park’s recreational value, minimise impact on nature

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When completed in the coming decades, the reclamation of some 800ha of land for Long Island will protect low-lying areas from Marina East to Tanah Merah against rising sea levels, create an additional reservoir as well as land for future needs.

concerns about the impact of the works on marine fauna like sea turtles, bottom-dwelling fish and coastal horseshoe crabs.

infill materials, which include sand, will be placed in a controlled manner using a pipeline system, minimising disturbance to shallow shoreline habitats.

National Parks Board’s efforts to search for turtle nests along the East Coast Park shoreline and re-locate the eggs laid there to a hatchery on the Sisters’ Islands Marine Park.

The Housing Board will also assess the need for early transplantation of coral or seagrass communities ahead of the long-term plans for Long Island to allow more time for marine biodiversity to grow and thrive.

Qns:

1. 'No country should sacrifice its economic development in favour of preserving the environment.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2025)

2. In your society, how well are the demands of the economy and the environment balanced? (Cam. 2015)