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Digital Cooperation Organization to Hold 3rd General Assembly in Bahrain 

Bahrain will host the 3rd General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) on Wednesday. (SPA)
Bahrain will host the 3rd General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) on Wednesday. (SPA)
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Digital Cooperation Organization to Hold 3rd General Assembly in Bahrain 

Bahrain will host the 3rd General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) on Wednesday. (SPA)
Bahrain will host the 3rd General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) on Wednesday. (SPA)

Bahrain will host the 3rd General Assembly of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) on Wednesday.

Chaired by Bahrain’s Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and DCO Chair of the Council Mohammed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, the event will discuss the organization's plans and initiatives aimed at promoting digital prosperity.

In a statement, DCO said ministers and officials representing the 15 DCO Member States and DCO's Secretary-General Deemah AlYahya, high-level delegations from partners and observers, representatives from guest countries and international organizations will attend the event.

They are expected to discuss strategic initiatives to foster global digital cooperation, shed light on the status of the digital economy and ways to overcome challenges faced in achieving inclusive and sustainable growth in this vital sector.

Bharani Minister Mohammed Al Kaabi said: "We are honored to host the 3rd General Assembly of the DCO, bringing together Member States and distinguished guests to discuss achievements and kick off new initiatives that aim to achieve digital prosperity and growth."

Through joint international action and fruitful cooperation, the General Assembly will seek to promote inclusive and sustainable growth of digital transformation and maximize all countries' gains from the opportunities and initiatives available to develop the digital economy, he added.

As a founding member of the DCO, Bahrain is committed to sharing its knowledge and expertise that has contributed to enhancing its economic growth, he stated.

During Bahrain's 2023 presidency, Qatar and Bangladesh joined the DCO as new Member States. Manama also launched the Digital Prosperity Awards to encourage cooperation and facilitate innovation and digital transformation among Member States.

Secretary-General AlYahya emphasized the importance of holding the General Assembly in Manama, saying: "Digital cooperation is essential for harnessing the benefits arising from the opportunities presented by the digital economy.”

“The 3rd General Assembly will serve as a strategic platform for the participation of Member State governments, the private sector, and civil society in drawing a roadmap for the current year. This includes addressing growing challenges and exploiting opportunities to facilitate digital prosperity for all,” she stated.

She added that she was looking forward to meeting with all representatives from DCO members observers, partners, and guests in Manama to review 2023 DCO achievements and to discuss 2024 initiatives, serving to propel the organization toward accomplishing the goals outlined in its 2030 Strategic Roadmap.

The General Assembly will explore the growth of markets and their impact on the digital economy; the value of data as a strategic resource in the digital age and how to use it effectively to achieve growth; and ways to achieve a sustainable digital economy contributing to improving the quality of life and emphasizing the pivotal role of humans as an essential element in the development process.

The General Assembly will discuss the DCO's plan for 2024 and new initiatives that it will implement as part of its 2030 Strategic Roadmap to advance global digital cooperation towards an inclusive and sustainable digital economy. It will also discuss financial and administrative reports submitted by the organization's General Secretariat.

The previous DCO General Assembly was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in February 2023. The DCO brings together ministries of communications and information technology from 15 countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Djibouti, Gambia, Ghana, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar and Rwanda.

Together, DCO Member States represent more than $3.3 trillion in GDP and a market of nearly 800 million people, more than 70% of whom are under the age of 35.

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Technology

Humanoids Dance and Thread Needles as Japanese Robotics Developers Look to Outdo Chinese

A humanoid robot poses for photo at the Humanoids Summit 2026 in Tokyo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP)
A humanoid robot poses for photo at the Humanoids Summit 2026 in Tokyo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP)
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Humanoids Dance and Thread Needles as Japanese Robotics Developers Look to Outdo Chinese

A humanoid robot poses for photo at the Humanoids Summit 2026 in Tokyo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP)
A humanoid robot poses for photo at the Humanoids Summit 2026 in Tokyo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP)

Mechanical hands dexterous enough to thread a needle, childlike dancing robots and adult-sized ones to help with deliveries were on display Thursday as the Humanoids Summit Tokyo opened.

Among the dozens of companies taking part, including well-known players like Boston Dynamics and Toyota Motor Corp., the big stars now were clearly the Chinese.

Chinese newcomers, like Booster Robotics and LimX Dynamics, took the technology initially developed in Japan and the US and fine-tuned it, often for cheaper mass production. It’s a repeat of what happened in other Japanese industries, from consumer electronics to cellphones and electric vehicles. In humanoids, Japan was initially ahead but then failed to produce major commercial solutions.

Tim Hornyuk, author of “Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots,” who was at the event, categorized it as the so-called “Galapagos syndrome,” referring to how innovative Japanese products evolve in isolation and end up not translating for the international market.

“I really hope that Japan can come up with a Ford Model T-version of humanoid roots. But I think China has already stolen their lunch. It’s a bit too little too late,” he said.

The dancing and wiggling Mini Pi Plus robot from High Torque of China, for instance, still can’t help at an auto plant or do your dishes. But it’s cute. And it doesn’t come with an eye-popping price tag, starting at $5,500.

One telling example of Chinese robotics use in Japan was GMO, a Tokyo-based AI and robotics company working on a humanoid with camera eyes that will help with Japan Airlines cargo and other chores at an airport.

The key is to have the robot do the work in the same way as people so they would be interchangeable, an initiative meant to tackle the labor shortage problem that is increasingly serious in Japan.

The inner robotics workings were all courtesy of Unitree, a Chinese outfit, which is also working on a four-legged dog-like “stellar explorer.”

Experts say Japan, with its finesse in manufacturing, proved a good breeding ground for robotics development. The sociological backdrop of a public receptive to robotics also helped.

A recent Pew global survey showed that people in Japan are highly aware of AI but are less anxious about it, at about 28%, than people in the US at 50%.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., a leader in robotics with its walking humanoid Asimo, first shown in 2000, was demonstrating a motorized four-fingered robotic hand that could screw on and off tiny bolts, or thread a needle.

It didn’t seem to bother Keisuke Tsuta, assistant chief engineer, that similar mechanical hands were on display galore near his booth, many of them from Chinese makers.

Japanese robotics show their prowess

The technology Honda had developed is more durable and powerful than rival offerings, and the Japanese have historically shown they can excel at quality mass production, according to Tsuta.

The looming threat of a Chinese robotics domination didn’t seem to phase Osaka University Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, who has worked on humanoids for decades, including one that’s his clone.

“What’s significant is that Japan has a culture that’s receptive to robotics. If we’re going to really start using robots in society, Japan is the ideal place,” he said, stressing that Japanese don’t discriminate against robots.

His robotic counterpart, dressed all in black like the professor, did as good a job, if not better, of answering a key existentialist question on the meaning of robots.

“I think robots will coexist with people. Robots are the mirror of human beings,” the robot replied in a slightly monotonous but human-like voice.

Earlier, the professor had answered a similar question, but a bit differently.

“No one is interested in me. All everyone cares about is my robot,” he said, sitting next to his twin-like humanoid.

“As long as people identify with what I have produced, I am a success,” he added.

Technology

Introducing Argus, a Robot with 20 Legs and Eyes Built to Move and See in Any Direction Instantly

Jiaxun Liu, a PhD student, works on a robot named Argus at Duke University's General Robotics Lab in Durham, NC, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP)
Jiaxun Liu, a PhD student, works on a robot named Argus at Duke University's General Robotics Lab in Durham, NC, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP)
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Introducing Argus, a Robot with 20 Legs and Eyes Built to Move and See in Any Direction Instantly

Jiaxun Liu, a PhD student, works on a robot named Argus at Duke University's General Robotics Lab in Durham, NC, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP)
Jiaxun Liu, a PhD student, works on a robot named Argus at Duke University's General Robotics Lab in Durham, NC, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP)

A robot being developed at Duke University is almost ready to face the world, in any direction.

Instead of trying to copy symmetrical shapes from nature by building robots that look like people, dogs or insects, engineering professor Boyuan Chen and his team focused on uniformity in action, or what he calls "dynamic symmetry."

The result was Argus. The roly-poly robot named after a mythological many-eyed giant has depth-sensing cameras attached to 20 telescoping legs that radiate from a central core. With no front, back, top or bottom, it can see and move in any direction instantly.

"Instead of measuring how your legs are arranged around a different part of your body, we’re measuring how fast you can move in any direction," Chen said. "Who said, you know, if you have a robot to help us in a most effective way, it has to look like us?"

In experiments, Argus has navigated sandy beaches and forest undergrowth, rolling over obstacles and stabilizing itself after being pushed. It can climb between parallel brick walls by alternating bracing and thrusting motions with its legs. If one or more motor dies or a leg breaks, it continues to function.

"Watching Argus move is unlike watching any other robot we’ve worked with," said Jiaxun Liu, a graduate student and co-author of a study about Argus published online Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics. "The first time we saw it navigate among trees and rough terrain, even under heavy collisions, we knew this was something different."

As part of their work, researchers developed a new design principle called dynamic isotropy that rates robots on a scale of 0 to 1 based on how uniformly they can accelerate in every direction. Most robots in use today, including humanoids and drones, score below 0.6. Argus scores 0.91.

"When a robot can accelerate equally well in every direction, it stops needing to face the world in any particular way," said Chen, who hopes the same principle could guide the development of search and rescue robots, underwater or aerial vehicles or robots with the ability to grip objects.

"Instead of building a robot hand that looks like a human hand ... one idea is to think about having Argus be the hand itself, and it can manipulate objects in any direction," he said. "The knowledge we can transfer to the rest of the world is much more deeper than building an existing robot or copying an existing species."

Technology

YouTube Says Will Flag AI-generated Content

A picture taken on October 5, 2021 in Toulouse shows the logo of YouTube social media displayed by a by a tablet and a smartphone. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
A picture taken on October 5, 2021 in Toulouse shows the logo of YouTube social media displayed by a by a tablet and a smartphone. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
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YouTube Says Will Flag AI-generated Content

A picture taken on October 5, 2021 in Toulouse shows the logo of YouTube social media displayed by a by a tablet and a smartphone. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)
A picture taken on October 5, 2021 in Toulouse shows the logo of YouTube social media displayed by a by a tablet and a smartphone. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)

YouTube will in future automatically detect AI-generated content and flag the information to viewers on its platform, the Google-owned company said Wednesday.

The move reverses a previous policy of relying on video creators to self-report if they had used generative AI tools.

"If a creator doesn't specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label," YouTube said in a blog post.

The video platform's last steps on generative AI date back to 2024, when it requested that creators flag content where they had used the technology, Reuters reported.

Since then there have been major strides in producing photorealistic images and video, with widely available AI models including Google's Veo 3.1 and Seedance from TikTok's parent company ByteDance.

Creators will be able to challenge the new flags if they think their content has been unfairly labelled as AI, YouTube said.

The platform added that the flags would have no impact on its algorithm for recommending videos to users.

Other platforms and social networks to introduce automatic flagging of AI content recently include music streamer Spotify.

Many online spaces are flooded with AI-generated images, video or audio, which is growing increasingly difficult to tell apart from human creations as the tools become more capable.