UN Report Calls for Stronger Measures to Detect and Combat AI-Driven Deepfakes

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The United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has urged companies to adopt advanced tools to detect and eliminate misinformation and deepfake content, highlighting the growing threats these pose to elections and financial security. The call was made in a report released on Friday during the ITU’s “AI for Good Summit” in Geneva.

Deepfakes—AI-generated images, videos, and audio that convincingly mimic real people—are increasingly used to spread false information, the ITU warned. To tackle this, the report recommended robust standards for combating manipulated multimedia and urged platforms like social media sites to implement digital verification tools to authenticate content before sharing.

Bilel Jamoussi, head of the ITU’s Standardization Bureau’s Study Groups Department, noted that public trust in social media has dropped sharply because users struggle to distinguish truth from fake. Generative AI’s ability to fabricate realistic multimedia makes combating deepfakes a particularly pressing challenge.

Leonard Rosenthol from Adobe, a leading digital editing software company addressing deepfakes since 2019, emphasized the need for content provenance—information about the origin of digital media—to help users judge trustworthiness. “When scrolling feeds, users want to know: ‘Can I trust this image or video?’” he said.

Dr. Farzaneh Badiei, founder of Digital Medusa, a digital governance research firm, stressed the need for a coordinated global response, noting the lack of a single international body focused on detecting manipulated media. She warned that fragmented standards could make harmful deepfakes more effective.

The ITU is developing standards for watermarking videos—which constitute 80% of internet traffic—to embed provenance data such as creator identity and timestamps.

Tomaz Levak, founder of Swiss firm Umanitek, called on the private sector to proactively adopt safety measures and educate users. “AI will become more powerful and faster… We must upskill people to avoid them becoming victims,” he said.

Google Set to Offer Significant Cloud Service Discounts to U.S. Government, FT Reports

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Google is preparing to offer steep discounts on its cloud computing services to the U.S. government, with a deal possibly finalized within weeks, according to the Financial Times. This move aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader push to reduce federal spending.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Oracle will provide federal agencies with a 75% discount on its license-based software and a substantial reduction on its cloud services through the end of November. Google’s upcoming cloud contract is expected to offer similar discounts, the FT said, citing a senior official from the General Services Administration (GSA). Discounts from Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are also anticipated to follow soon.

The GSA official told the FT, “Every single one of those companies is totally bought in, they understand the mission. We will get there with all four players.”

Neither Google nor the GSA immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment outside business hours. In April, Google agreed to provide a 71% discount on its business apps package for federal agencies through September 30, a deal that could yield up to $2 billion in government-wide savings if broadly adopted.

Bitcoin Hits Record High Fueled by Institutional Demand and Crypto-Friendly U.S. Policies

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Bitcoin surged to an all-time high on Friday, driven by strong demand from institutional investors and supportive policies from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The leading cryptocurrency reached a peak of $116,781.10 during the Asian trading session, marking a gain of over 24% for the year. It was last traded around $116,563.11.

Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association, attributed the record rally to “relentless institutional accumulation,” noting that major investors are buying large amounts of Bitcoin, reducing available supply on exchanges.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies and has appointed crypto-friendly officials, including SEC Chair Paul Atkins and White House AI czar David Sacks. Trump’s family businesses have also entered the crypto space, with the Trump Media & Technology Group planning to launch an exchange-traded fund investing in various crypto tokens, including Bitcoin, according to a recent SEC filing.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also experienced a strong rise, climbing nearly 5% to $2,956.82 and earlier reaching a five-month peak of $2,998.41.