OMM Newsroom
According to AnewZ’s Nov. 13 technology roundup, Australian agencies were affected by a disruption in Microsoft systems during the week, Google restricted access to South Korea’s map data, and a group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit opposing the development of advanced artificial intelligence. Nvidia also faced a leadership crisis following the resignation of its chief, Jensen Huang.
Nvidia chief resigns as Microsoft services go down in Australia
Jensen Huang has stepped down as chief executive of Nvidia following reports linking him to a Chinese businesswoman whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for Beijing. China has rejected the accusations.
Company Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim chief executive. Huang will also leave Nvidia’s board of directors. His departure has shaken investor confidence, triggered a sharp drop in the company’s shares and heightened concerns about the future of the chipmaker and the AI industry as a whole.
A global Microsoft outage disrupted services worldwide, affecting Australia’s intelligence agency and federal police. Users were unable to access Microsoft 365, Outlook and Teams for several hours.
Australian officials said Microsoft did not believe the disruption was caused by a cyberattack. The government activated an agreement with the company to prioritize restoring services in Australia.
Lawsuit against AI and cyberattack allegations
A group of nonprofit organizations has sued OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta and SpaceX’s AI division, seeking to halt the development of advanced AI models. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, says AI technology could pose serious risks to humanity and accuses the companies of unfair business practices.
The organizations are seeking a court order to halt the development of AI products, including ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, until safety concerns are addressed.
Google has removed South Korea’s latitude and longitude coordinates from Google Maps and Google Earth to comply with government security requirements. The move came after Seoul allowed Google to export high-precision map data in February, following restrictions that had lasted about two decades.
Google must also remove Street View images of sensitive military and security sites. South Korea has warned that serious violations could lead to the suspension or revocation of the permit.
France has accused Iran of cyberattacks that disrupted refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets in October. According to French officials, about 700 commercial sites were targeted, at least 15 fires were reported and food supplies suffered significant damage.
France summoned Iran’s ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and warned that the European Union could impose additional sanctions. Iranian officials have denied involvement in malicious cyberoperations.
