Bangladesh has announced plans to release its maiden artificial intelligence (AI) policy in February at the opening day of the 5th General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO) in Kuwait.

“We are working on the AI policy, and hopefully this will be in place within the month of February,” said Shish Haider Chowdhury, secretary of the Information and Communication Technology Division, on Wednesday.

He noted Bangladesh’s progress in AI, saying the country began its digital transformation journey 15 years ago and has already prepared an AI strategy. The two‑day assembly, hosted by Kuwait, brought together representatives from 16 member states across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, alongside guest countries. Participants called for responsible and inclusive adoption of AI to mitigate risks and ensure equal access to benefits.

Discussions covered billion‑dollar investments, regulatory frameworks, AI universities, data centres and ethical concerns. The participants said AI technology is already shaping economies, societies, and potentially the perceptions of the next generation. They also highlighted AI’s potential use in social engineering, threatening social and political stability if the technology is not embraced ethically. Omar Saud Al-Omar, Kuwait’s minister of state for communication affairs, chaired the discussion.

“Digital transformation makes governments responsible for delivering seamless services to citizens, businesses, and companies,” he said.

AI technology will gradually engulf the world, the participating countries noted, calling for mature use of the technology, drawing on experiences of others who employed it in education, agriculture, science, public service, and even government purchases. DCO Secretary‑General Deemah Al Yahya stressed the need for cross‑border cooperation to counter “real‑time misinformation and disinformation”, warning that failure to act could widen the digital divide.

“The opportunity is clear, but so are the risks. If we fail to act with urgency and coordination, the digital divide will widen,” she added.

The International Digital Cooperation Forum (IDCF), the DCO’s multi-stakeholder platform, also hosted plenary dialogues and side events on artificial intelligence, digital skills mobility, tech safety, and inclusive growth. Speakers stressed that AI risks transcend borders and that the technology is advancing faster than governments’ collective capacity to regulate it.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, addressing the assembly in a brief recorded video message, said at a time of rising geopolitical fragmentation, evidence-based digital cooperation is more important than ever.

Speakers, however, pointed out that national AI regulatory frameworks, often relying on voluntary commitments, are far from being enough to deal with the issues at hand. They warned that AI-driven social engineering could undermine democratic institutions and public trust.

Jordan showcased its national AI ecosystem, noting that over 90 percent of startups in the country specialise in AI, with 27 universities offering AI degrees and more than 11,000 students enrolled by 2025. The country has established a National Council for Future Technologies, chaired by the prime minister and adopted a national AI code of ethics.

“Trust is at the heart of AI adoption,” said a delegate from Pakistan, which is due to take on the DCO presidency next year. Saudi Arabia called for frameworks to govern cross-border data flows, while Bahrain and several other member states urged an inclusive international AI treaty. Azerbaijan highlighted its paperless government system. Initiatives taken by the country have produced more than 1,000 AI engineers and product managers.

Speakers also stressed human-centred AI governance, with pilot projects underway in health, education, and public services. Morocco boasted a 50 MW data centre, opening a window of tests and trials of AI. Delegates also highlighted AI’s potential role in climate resilience, calling for international support to deploy AI in environmental monitoring and adaptation.

The assembly concluded with the agreement that while AI is no longer a future technology, governance, trust, and inclusion must advance at the same pace as innovation if the digital economy is to benefit all. The Palestinian representative reminded the participating countries that their digital infrastructure had faced total destruction in many places, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank.

He said the Palestinians face the “worst-case scenario” of digital disconnection. He called for the protection of digital infrastructure as a “global humanitarian need” so that no nation is left in the “digital blind spot”.

“Let us not let AI erase our narrative,” he said.

Founded in 2020, the DCO is headquartered in Saudi Arabia and represents 16 member states with a combined population of nearly 800 million and GDP of $3.5 trillion. The theme of this year’s assembly was “Inclusive prosperity in the age of AI”.

Dhaka police detectives have arrested three Chinese nationals for allegedly running an illegal iPhone assembly factory in the capital’s Uttara and Nikunja areas. The arrestees were identified as Tan Jian, Wu Jun, and Dong Hongwei. During drives conducted yesterday, DB officials seized 363 iPhones of various models, a large cache of spare parts, machinery used for assembling phones, eight bottles of foreign liquor, and Tk 26,000 in cash.

Mohiuddin Mahmud Sohel, Detective Branch deputy commissioner of Mirpur Division, disclosed the information during a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre today, saying that a gang had been operating this clandestine business for one year and a half, evading taxes and deceiving customers by selling assembled phones as original products.

Acting on a tip-off, a detective unit conducted a drive at a house in Sector 13 of Uttara West around 3:30pm yesterday. They arrested Tan Jian and seized 58 iPhones from his possession. Based on information provided by him, the team raided a house in Nikunja-1 under Khilkhet Police Station around 5:30pm, where they arrested Wu Jun and Dong Hongwei and discovered a “secret lab”. Police recovered another 305 iPhones, spare parts, and assembly machinery from the Nikunja residence.

DC Mohiuddin said the gang used to import iPhone parts separately to evade taxes. They would then assemble these components in their secret lab to create counterfeit phones that looked identical to the original ones.

“These phones were then supplied to the local market and sold as original iPhones,” the DC said.

“They have been running this fraud for about a year and a half. It is suspected that they have already supplied a large number of fake phones to the market during this period,” he added. When asked if any Bangladeshi nationals were involved, the DB official said they had found the names of some local individuals during the preliminary investigation. “However, we cannot disclose the names at this moment for the sake of the investigation.”

Police said legal action against the arrestees is underway. The DB official also urged the public to remain cautious while purchasing mobile phones. He advised customers to buy phones only from authorised showrooms or reliable sources to avoid being duped by cheap offers for “original” devices.

YouTube has announced it will shut down its Trending Page on July 21, nearly 10 years after its launch in 2015, citing a significant drop in user engagement. In a blog post on the YouTube Help page, the company revealed that visits to the Trending Page have decreased sharply over the past five years as users increasingly discover popular content through other features like recommendations, search suggestions, Shorts, comments, and Communities.

“YouTube’s Trending Page Help Center has revealed that the Trending Page will be shut down on July 21,” the company stated.

Going forward, YouTube will highlight trending content through YouTube Charts. While currently limited to music, users can explore Trending Music Videos, Weekly Top Podcast Shows, and Trending Movie Trailers, reports says.

More content categories will be added over time. Gaming videos will continue to appear on the Gaming Explore page. In addition to Charts, YouTube said it will offer personalised video recommendations, allowing a “wider range of popular content” to be shown to users based on individual preferences.

Non-personalised trending content will still be available via the Explore Page, creator channels, and subscription feeds. Content creators have long used the Trending Page to promote videos and monitor viral trends. For them, YouTube said the Inspiration tab in YouTube Studio will continue to offer personalised content ideas.

The platform also announced an update to its monetisation policy, aimed at curbing inauthentic, mass-produced content. The new rules take effect on July 15.

Alphabet’s Google has hired several key staff members from AI code generation startup Windsurf, the companies announced on Friday, in a surprise move following an attempt by its rival OpenAI to acquire the startup. Google is paying $2.4 billion in license fees as part of the deal to use some of Windsurf’s technology under non-exclusive terms, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. Google will not take a stake or any controlling interest in Windsurf, the person added.

Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some members of the coding tool’s research and development team will join Google’s DeepMind AI division. The deal followed months of discussions Windsurf was having with OpenAI to sell itself in a deal that could value it at $3 billion, highlighting the interest in the code-generation space which has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI applications, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.

OpenAI could not be immediately reached for a comment. The former Windsurf team will focus on agentic coding initiatives at Google DeepMind, primarily working on the Gemini project.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” Google said in a statement.

The unusual deal structure marks a win for backers for Windsurf, which has raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook.

Windsurf investors will receive liquidity through the license fee and retain their stakes in the company, sources told Reuters. Google’s surprise swoop mirrors its deal in August 2024 to hire key employees from chatbot startup Character.AI.

Big Tech peers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, have similarly taken to these so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny. Microsoft struck a $650 million deal with Inflection AI in March 2024, to use the AI startup’s models and hire its staff, while Amazon hired AI firm Adept’s co-founders and some of its team last June. Meta took a 49% stake in Scale AI in June in the biggest test yet of this increasing form of business partnerships.

Unlike acquisitions that would give the buyer a controlling stake, these deals do not require a review by US antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. Many of the deals have since become the subject of regulatory probes.

The development comes as tech giants, including Alphabet and Meta, aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of AI.

Windsurf’s head of business, Jeff Wang, has been appointed its interim CEO, and Graham Moreno, vice president of global sales, will be president, effective immediately. The majority of Windsurf’s roughly 250 employees will remain with the company, which has announced plans to prioritize innovation for its enterprise clients.