As we close the book on 2024, we welcome you to our Holiday Edition, where we unwrap the biggest stories that defined a whirlwind year in AI and cyber affairs—a celebration of relentless innovation, jaw-dropping rivalries, and high-stakes power plays that kept us captivated all year round.
Cisco faces fallout from a massive data leak exposing critical files, while China accuses the U.S. of cyber espionage amid rising tech tensions. AI governance sparks debate as Europe enforces strict rules, and ASIC sues HSBC for $23M scam failures. Global cyber affairs take center stage this week.
ASIC is suing HSBC Australia over $23M in scam losses, alleging systemic failures in fraud detection and delays in resolving complaints. Meanwhile, Singapore's proposed anti-scam law aims to freeze accounts of scam victims to prevent further losses, sparking debate on privacy and autonomy.
As we close the book on 2024, we welcome you to our Holiday Edition, where we unwrap the biggest stories that defined a whirlwind year in AI and cyber affairs—a celebration of relentless innovation, jaw-dropping rivalries, and high-stakes power plays that kept us captivated all year round.
As we close the book on 2024, we welcome you to our Holiday Edition, where we unwrap the biggest stories that defined a whirlwind year in AI and cyber affairs. This isn’t just a recap—it’s a celebration of the relentless innovation, jaw-dropping rivalries, and high-stakes challenges highlighting power and policy that have kept us captivated. From the race to dominate AI chips to the fiery debates over global cyber governance, this year has been nothing short of a digital drama fest. Consider this your backstage pass to the highs, lows, and moments that left us all asking, “What’s next?”
Until the very last days of the year, the editorial room was in overdrive. TikTok stole the spotlight with a legal cliffhanger as the U.S. Supreme Court gears up to decide its fate in America, adding fuel to fiery debates on national security and data privacy. To spice up the saga, it’s unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will pursue the ban with the same zeal as Biden’s team. Meanwhile, Broadcom casually hit a jaw-dropping $1 trillion valuation, and ByteDance’s daring 85% price slash for AI tools sent shockwaves through the industry.
Across the Pacific, Microsoft flexed its muscle with an insatiable hunger for Nvidia chips, while Chinese tech titans turned the AI market into a gladiator arena, slashing prices and redefining the rules of engagement. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions flared, data breaches kept us on edge, and breakthroughs in transportation and legislation hinted at a future where AI is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.
As we look ahead to 2025, we invite you to stay curious, stay inspired, and buckle up for another thrilling ride through the ever-evolving digital revolution. From all of us at Cyber News Centre and AI Diplomat, thank you for being part of our journey this year. Here’s to another 12 months of bold storytelling, sharp insights, and exploring the uncharted frontiers of cyberspace. Now, let’s dive into the stories that held the spotlight right up to the final days of this incredible year!
In a landmark move, the U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to hear arguments on January 10 about the constitutionality of a potential TikTok ban. This decision could either secure the app’s foothold in the United States or sound its death knell—pending a mandate for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to divest or shut down operations stateside. The timing couldn’t be more dramatic: the Court’s ruling will arrive just days before the federal law enforcing such action takes effect.
Passed with bipartisan support in April, the law is fueled by fears that TikTok is a national security Trojan horse—a vessel for the Chinese government to surveil Americans or manipulate public opinion. Critics of TikTok point to its sprawling data collection practices, warning of potential misuse. But the platform isn’t going down without a fight. TikTok immediately challenged the law, though the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it unanimously earlier this month, setting the stage for this constitutional showdown.
Meanwhile, free speech advocates are sounding the alarm, decrying the law as a brazen attack on First Amendment rights. “Where’s the proof?” they demand, noting the absence of publicly disclosed evidence linking TikTok to genuine national security threats. It’s a classic American legal battle: liberty versus security, transparency versus suspicion.
Adding a political twist, the TikTok saga is now playing out against the backdrop of presidential transition drama. While the Biden administration has championed the crackdown, the incoming Trump administration could chart a very different course. Former President Trump—famous for his flip-flops on TikTok—recently held court with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago. From issuing an executive order in 2020 demanding TikTok’s sale to now saying the app holds “a warm spot” in his heart, Trump’s evolving stance underscores just how polarizing and unpredictable the debate has become.
For TikTok's 150 million U.S. users, the stakes are personal. From cat videos to viral dances to small-business success stories, the platform is more than an app—it’s a cultural phenomenon. The Supreme Court’s decision will not only decide TikTok’s fate but also set a precedent for how America navigates the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and freedom of expression in the digital age.
Will this be the final curtain call for TikTok in the U.S., or a vindication of the app’s right to dance, meme, and connect without borders? The clock is ticking.
Broadcom’s CEO, Hock Tan, isn’t mincing words—he sees Big Tech’s AI spending binge rolling full steam ahead until the decade’s end. With Broadcom’s AI revenue skyrocketing 220% to $12.2 billion this year and the company crossing the $1 trillion valuation mark, Tan has every reason to celebrate. His Silicon Valley clients are racing to invest in AI infrastructure over the next three to five years, convinced that the formula for AI success equals more data, more computing, and, you guessed it, more chips. "They’re going full tilt," Tan quipped, though he adds with a grin,
“They’ll stop when they run out of money—or patience from shareholders.”
For Broadcom, the AI boom is all about scale, and Tan sees no slowdown in sight. While Nvidia might be the reigning champ in AI chips, Broadcom is carving its niche with custom processors for tech giants like Google, Meta, and TikTok’s parent, ByteDance. And with whispers of projects involving OpenAI and Apple, the future looks shiny and silicon-filled. Even as chatter of a Broadcom-Intel tie-up makes the rounds, Tan is staying laser-focused on AI semiconductors, dubbing it his “hands very full” priority.
The CEO has played down the prospect of a Broadcom bid for Intel, saying he had his “hands very full” in AI semiconductors. “That is driving a lot of my resources, a lot of my focus,” Tan said, adding that he had “not been asked” to get involved with Intel.
Despite Broadcom joining an elite group of just eight US companies worth more than $1tn, Tan said he felt “nothing new”.
“Value lies in the eye of the beholder. One must learn not to get too hung up on it,” he said. “But it’s great recognition. . . . I guess it’s not just me who believes that generative AI has some more legs to go.”
The AI arms race isn’t just heating up in 2024—it’s exploding, with hyperscalers like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google turbocharging their dominance of global AI tech. Nvidia’s GPUs are the golden tickets driving this surge, and Big Tech’s insatiable appetite for them shows no signs of cooling off. Microsoft, the undisputed leader of the pack, has snapped up nearly 500,000 of Nvidia’s Hopper chips this year alone, a jaw-dropping move that puts it light-years ahead of rivals. The Azure-powered AI juggernaut is leaving competitors scrambling to secure their own slice of silicon in a market where demand continues to dwarf supply.
What’s driving this frenzy? AI is becoming the next industrial revolution, with hyperscalers investing billions to create the infrastructure for generative AI, autonomous systems, and mind-bogglingly smart computing. Meta, Amazon, and Google aren’t sitting still—they’re accelerating their own chip deployments while dabbling in custom silicon to break Nvidia’s stranglehold. Meanwhile, Chinese players like ByteDance and Tencent are innovating around export restrictions, snapping up tweaked versions of Nvidia’s GPUs to keep their AI ambitions alive. The result is a global sprint, with Big Tech laying down roots that will shape AI innovation well beyond 2030.
If 2024 is anything to go by, this isn’t just a race—it’s a tech stampede. From Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI to Meta’s grand metaverse aspirations, every hyperscaler is betting that the more chips they hoard, the further they’ll dominate. With tens of billions being funneled into data centers, the AI landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, setting the stage for a decade-long showdown that could redefine the future of technology. The hyperscalers have only just begun, and the stakes? They couldn’t be higher. Strap on —the AI race is here to stay.
In the battle to own the podium in the global AI race, TikTok parent ByteDance has thrown down the gauntlet. The company’s jaw-dropping 85% price cut for its visual AI model, Doubao, isn’t just a business move—it’s a dare to competitors. With prices as low as 0.003 yuan (US$0.00041) per thousand token uses, ByteDance is rewriting the rulebook on what it takes to compete. At an event on Wednesday, ByteDance cloud unit head Tan Dai revealed the strategy behind the company’s aggressive pricing:
“The new technology revolution is … AI and large language models. Our goal is to become No. 1 in the area, and we’re marching towards that direction.”
With Doubao processing a mind-blowing 4 trillion tokens daily, ByteDance is leading a democratization charge in AI that’s hard to ignore.
The global AI contest now stands at a crossroads. Will the future of AI belong to DeepMind-style frontier breakthroughs—where cutting-edge technology creates exclusive and expensive systems—or to the ByteDance model of cheap, scalable, and accessible tools for all? Starting midyear, Chinese tech firms like Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, and start-ups such as Zhipu AI have slashed their AI model prices, some even offering free services under certain conditions. This isn’t just a price war; it’s a full-scale revolution. ByteDance’s Doubao family, with its visual understanding, spatial reasoning, and even music composition capabilities, is aiming to become the everyman’s AI tool. And with 60 million monthly active users already on board, it’s clear this strategy is resonating.
Tan Dai’s announcement is more than a business statement—it’s a philosophical stance in the AI debate. Does success in AI come from building towering, exclusive systems, or from flooding the market with affordable, powerful tools? ByteDance seems to bet on the latter, making AI accessible to developers and users across China, Asia, and the world. As the race intensifies, ByteDance’s move to empower industries like education, e-commerce, and logistics isn’t just about winning market share; it’s about redefining how AI success is measured. In a contest of vision versus value, ByteDance is proving that you don’t have to choose—you can have both. And as the AI Olympics charge toward 2030, one thing is clear: the games have only just begun.
The automotive industry is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). A recent report by Foley & Lardner LLP provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of AI and autonomous driving technology on this evolving landscape. Industry leaders such as Tesla, Waymo, and Chinese automakers like BYD and XPeng are at the forefront of innovation. However, the widespread adoption of these groundbreaking technologies hinges on critical developments in legislation, telecommunications, and the automotive insurance sector. This convergence of innovation and regulation marks the turning point where AI’s potential in transportation begins to take shape, heralding significant societal and economic change.
This week, Cisco became the latest tech giant to grapple with a data leak, as a hacker exposed 2.9 gigabytes of sensitive files on BreachForums. The files—spanning source code, certificates, and internal documentation—highlighted the precarious balance of innovation and security. While Cisco’s response was swift, emphasizing that no customer data was at risk, the incident underscores how a simple misstep can ripple into a full-blown crisis. In an era where trust is currency, even the most robust organizations are one error away from catastrophe.
The cyber cold war between China and the U.S. escalated to new heights this week, with Beijing accusing Washington of launching cyberattacks on cutting-edge research centers and stealing sensitive business data. In retaliation, the U.S. opened a national security investigation into Chinese router manufacturer TP-Link, adding fuel to an already fiery narrative of cyber espionage and geopolitical mistrust. China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team revealed advanced malware attacks and breaches of electronic systems, highlighting the growing risks in a world where state-sponsored hacking has become the norm.
This backdrop of intensifying technological rivalry contrasts sharply with a rare moment of cooperation: on December 13, Washington and Beijing renewed the U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (STA) for another five years, retroactively effective from August 27. First signed in 1979, the STA has fostered breakthroughs in areas like climate science, renewable energy, and public health. The renewal represents a critical step in sustaining scientific engagement, balancing the urgency of collaboration with mounting national security concerns. It signals that even amid rising tensions, scientific diplomacy remains not just possible but essential.
The renewed STA, however, raises pressing questions about the future of global research networks in an era dominated by techno-nationalism. Critical technologies have become the battleground for a new phase of great power competition, shaping economic, military, and geopolitical dynamics. While the STA offers a framework for transparency, data sharing, and intellectual property protection, its long-term success is far from guaranteed. Will scientific cooperation endure, or will the pursuit of technological supremacy fracture these networks beyond repair?
As the U.S. and China navigate this delicate balance, the implications of their actions extend far beyond bilateral relations, shaping the dynamics of global technological competition. In a polarized world where cyber clashes escalate and AI innovation accelerates, the STA’s renewal is a fragile but hopeful reminder that collaboration remains a critical counterweight to conflict. Whether it can withstand the pressures of geopolitical rivalry will ultimately define the trajectory of technological progress and global power in the years to come.
Congratulations, loyal readers—you’ve made it through our first Holiday Edition! As we reflect on a year packed with technological breakthroughs, ambitious AI pursuits, and pivotal shifts in policy and power, we’re here to keep you informed, entertained, and inspired.
Over the next month, we’ll continue breaking down the biggest news and major events, providing thoughtful reflections on this intense year of innovation. Stay tuned for more captivating stories, and get ready for our regular updates to resume in February on Cyber News Centre and AI Diplomat. Thank you for joining us on this thrilling journey—here’s to a joyful holiday season and an exciting year ahead!
ASIC is suing HSBC Australia over $23M in scam losses, alleging systemic failures in fraud detection and delays in resolving complaints. Meanwhile, Singapore's proposed anti-scam law aims to freeze accounts of scam victims to prevent further losses, sparking debate on privacy and autonomy.
The week saw cyber threats shadow Black Friday’s $70B sales, AI reshaping banking, and Meta’s nuclear energy ambitions. ByteDance and Nvidia clashed in the U.S.-China tech war, while Australia pushed Big Tech to fund journalism. A turbulent digital landscape sets the stage for 2025.
This month, the spotlight is on the critical nexus of cybersecurity and geopolitics. From the mysterious sabotage of subsea internet cables threatening global connectivity to South Korea’s pivotal role in countering cyber threats in the Indo-Pacific, power and strategy dominate the digital age.
As Black Friday scams surge, Australians face rising threats with $500K lost to fake sites. Meanwhile, Salt Typhoon targets telecom giants in a global espionage campaign. RomCom exploits zero-day vulnerabilities on Firefox and Windows, while Trump eyes an 'AI czar' to reshape US tech policy.
