EU and U.S. moves this fall signal a potential softening of AI rules: the European Commission is reportedly weighing pausing parts of the AI Act—under pressure from U.S. officials and firms such as Meta and Alphabet—including a leaked Digital Omnibus draft that could exempt narrow/procedural uses from high‐risk registration and grant a one‐year grace period for some obligations beginning after August 2027; the AI Act has been in force since August 2024 with key high‐risk duties slated from August 2026. In the U.S., the White House’s July 2025 AI Action Plan urges discouraging state AI laws while a proposed 10‐year House moratorium was removed by the Senate on 2025‐07‐01. These shifts matter for product launches, compliance costs, competitive advantage, and regulatory certainty; the final Omnibus on Nov 19, 2025 and state/federal moves in early 2026 are the next milestones to watch.

On November 5, 2025, a Princeton University team led by Andrew Houck, Nathalie de Leon and Robert Cava reported in Nature a superconducting qubit made from tantalum on high‐purity silicon with coherence exceeding 1 ms—about three times longer than prior lab best (0.3–0.4 ms) and roughly 15× higher than many current processors. Longer coherence reduces error‐correction overhead and allows more operations before errors, improving prospects for fault tolerance; related devices showed T1 up to 1.68 ms, Q ≈ 1.5×10^7 (peaks 2.5×10^7) and single‐qubit fidelities of 99.994% (MIT reported 99.998%). Princeton projects that integrating this design into processors like Willow could yield ~1,000× performance gains. Immediate outlook: raise two‐qubit fidelities (target >99.9%), demonstrate logical‐qubit break‐even in 2026, and standardize tantalum‐on‐silicon fabrication in early 2026.

On October 13, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 243, the first U.S. state law setting comprehensive rules for “companion chatbots” in California: operators must disclose chatbot identity (with reminders to minors every three hours), may not imply licensed medical/professional status, must prevent sexual content with minors, detect self‐harm and provide crisis referrals, and begin annual reporting to the California Office of Suicide Prevention on July 1, 2027; many provisions take effect January 1, 2026. The law creates a private right of action (damages, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees), raising litigation, compliance and operational costs—prompting firms to revise product definitions, age‐verification, safety engineering, transparency and reporting processes and set aside budgets for liability. Key uncertainties include the “reasonable person” standard, scope of “companion” exclusions, and potential interaction with pending federal proposals.

As of July 3, 2025, tokenized real‐world assets (RWAs) reached $12.83 billion total value locked (TVL), up from $7.75 billion at the start of the year—a 65% YTD rise driven by real estate, bonds and climate‐linked tokens and led by protocols such as BlackRock’s BUIDL (~$2.83 billion across six blockchains), Ethena USDt ($1.46 billion) and Ondo Finance ($1.39 billion). Institutional activity—illustrated by Mitsubishi UFJ’s tokenization of a 30‐story Osaka office under Japan’s security‐token framework—signals integration with traditional finance. Material risks include fragmented regulation, limited secondary‐market liquidity, custody and compliance gaps. Over the next 6–12 months stakeholders should monitor new legal regimes, institutional product launches, infrastructure interoperability and liquidity metrics; firms, investors and policymakers need to align with regulatory clarity, build interoperable custody/standards and prepare for wider mainstream adoption.

On 2025-07-01 the U.S. Senate voted 99–1 to remove a proposed 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation from a major tax and spending bill, preserving states’ ability to pass and enforce AI-specific laws after a revised funding-limitation version also failed; that decision sustains regulatory uncertainty and keeps states functioning as policy “laboratories” (e.g., California’s SB-243 and state deepfake/impersonation laws). The outcome matters for customers, revenue and operations because fragmented state rules will shape product requirements, compliance costs, liability and market access across AI, software engineering, fintech, biotech and quantum applications. Immediate priorities: monitor federal bills and state law developments, track standards and agency rulemaking (FTC, FCC, ISO/NIST/IEEE), build compliance and auditability capabilities, design flexible architectures, and engage regulators and public comment processes.

On 2025-11-08 CRISPR Therapeutics reported Phase I results from a 15‐participant, single‐dose in‐vivo ANGPTL3 gene‐editing trial in the UK, Australia and New Zealand showing ~50% reductions in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides lasting at least 60 days; one participant with preexisting heart disease died but the death was not attributed to the treatment and no serious adverse events were linked to the therapy, and Phase II is planned for 2026. Separately, VERVE‐102 (PCSK9 base editing) delivered average LDL reductions of 53% (up to 69% in the highest dose) after one dose and was well tolerated. These early, durable effects move gene editing into common cardiovascular/metabolic markets and prioritize Phase II and long‐term follow‐up data, regulatory pathways, manufacturing scale‐up and pricing/reimbursement strategies.

In the past two weeks the field of agentic-AI governance crystallized around new technical and policy levers: two research frameworks—AAGATE (NIST AI RMF‐aligned, released late Oct 2025) and AURA (mid‐Oct 2025)—aim to embed threat modeling, measurement, continuous assurance and risk scoring into agentic systems, while regulators have accelerated action: the U.S. FDA convened on therapy chatbots on Nov 5, 2025; Texas passed TRAIGA (HB 149), effective 2026‐01‐01, limiting discrimination claims to intent and creating a test sandbox; and the EU AI Act phases begin Aug 2, 2025 (GPAI), Aug 2, 2026 (high‐risk) and Aug 2, 2027 (products), even as codes and harmonized standards are delayed into late 2025. This matters because firms face compliance uncertainty, shifting liability and operational monitoring demands; near‐term priorities are finalizing EU standards and codes, FDA rulemaking, and operationalizing state sandboxes.

Over the past two weeks U.S. federal AI policy shifted decisively: the Trump administration formally revoked President Biden’s 2023 Executive Order 14110 and on 2025-01-23 signed Executive Order 14179, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” directing agencies to review prior AI mandates and to produce an AI Action Plan within 180 days. The new EO emphasizes economic competitiveness and national security while rolling back Biden-era requirements such as safety tests, red teaming, and compute notifications. Simultaneously, Congress and states press on with targeted measures—bipartisan bills like the TAKE IT DOWN Act and the Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act, and California’s AI Foundation Model Transparency Act—raising transparency and copyright debates. Immediate implications include regulatory uncertainty for firms, potential legal scrutiny over bias and misinformation, and a watch-focused window as the Action Plan and legislative responses unfold.

Global energy investment is shifting rapidly to meet surging demand for reliable, carbon‐free power to run AI and data centers. The IEA forecasts ~4,600 GW of added renewable capacity 2025–2030—about 80% from solar PV—with offshore wind adding ~140 GW, and renewables set to overtake coal by end‐2025 or mid‐2026; renewables are projected to supply over 90% of electricity demand growth and reach ~45% of generation by 2030. Corporates are locking 24/7 clean supply: NextEra and Google (Oct 27, 2025) agreed to restart Iowa’s 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant under a 25‐year PPA, targeting a Q1 2029 return. Expansion of long‐duration storage (Form Energy 500 MW annual iron‐air capacity by late 2025; CAES with ~15% experience rates) and policy fixes on permitting and tax credits are now urgent to enable this transition.

Microsoft on Nov. 5, 2025 released its 2025 AI Diffusion Report showing 1.2 billion people now use AI globally while about 4 billion people (≈47%) lack stable internet, reliable electricity, or digital skills. This rapid adoption alongside a deep infrastructure gap risks amplifying economic inequality, limiting access to education, healthcare, financial services and jobs, and creating reputational and regulatory risks for companies. The report urges immediate investment in broadband, power-grid stability, and digital literacy; nations and organizations that close the gap can secure first-mover advantages in education, healthcare and governance, while others may fall behind. Outlook: the trend will drive policy and international development, reframing AI from a technical frontier into a core societal equity challenge.