OpenAI has moved proactively to strengthen ties with European regulators by offering the European Union early access to its latest cybersecurity-focused AI model, GPT-5.5-Cyber, while rival Anthropic continues to withhold preview access to its own powerful system, Mythos.

The announcement on Monday represents a notable diplomatic gesture by OpenAI amid heightened EU scrutiny of frontier AI systems, particularly those with dual-use potential in cybersecurity. Under the arrangement, European partners, including businesses, national governments, cyber defense authorities, and EU institutions such as the EU AI Office, will gain access to the specialized model.

OpenAI said it is initially rolling out GPT-5.5-Cyber in a limited preview to carefully vetted cybersecurity teams and organizations. The move comes one month after Anthropic released Mythos, a development that triggered significant concern across Europe over the potential for highly capable AI to be used in offensive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, government systems, and private networks.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier welcomed the step, stating at a Monday press briefing: “We welcome OpenAI’s transparency and intent to give Commission access to new model.”

He confirmed that initial exchanges had already taken place and that further technical discussions are scheduled this week.

“This will allow us to follow deployment of the model very closely, and address security concerns,” Regnier added.

In contrast, discussions with Anthropic remain at an earlier stage. Regnier noted that while the Commission has held “four or five” meetings with the company, the talks have “not yet [reached] the same stage as the solution we have on the table from OpenAI.”

George Osborne, OpenAI’s Head of OpenAI for Countries and former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, framed the decision as part of a broader commitment to responsible AI development in Europe.

“AI labs like ours shouldn’t be the sole arbiters of cyber safety as resilience depends on trusted partners working together,” Osborne said. “The latest cyber AI capabilities should be available for Europe’s many defenders, not just the few, and we want to help make that happen.”

Through the newly launched “OpenAI EU Cyber Action Plan,” the company pledged to collaborate with European policymakers, institutions, and businesses to democratize access to defensive AI tools while aligning development with European values and security priorities.

Diverging Approaches Between AI Leaders

The contrasting responses from OpenAI and Anthropic highlight deepening differences in how the two leading American AI labs navigate European regulation. OpenAI appears to be pursuing a more collaborative and transparent approach, likely aimed at building long-term trust and avoiding harsher regulatory measures under the EU AI Act.

Anthropic, known for its strong emphasis on safety and alignment research, has taken a slower, more guarded approach to releasing advanced models in regulated markets. While this caution has earned praise from some safety advocates, it is beginning to create friction with European officials eager to assess capabilities and risks in real time.

Mythos’s release last month sparked particular alarm because of its reported strength in offensive cybersecurity tasks, including code exploitation and vulnerability discovery. European governments and critical infrastructure operators have grown increasingly wary of a scenario in which such tools fall into the wrong hands or are misused by state actors.

The development, amid pressure from Washington to cut U.S. tech companies a slack, underscores the EU’s determination to maintain oversight of powerful AI systems operating within its borders. As cyber threats from nation-states and criminal groups continue to evolve, European authorities are keen to avoid being left behind in both defensive and offensive AI capabilities.

However, the outreach serves multiple purposes for OpenAI: it helps mitigate regulatory risk, builds goodwill with key policymakers, and positions the company as a responsible partner in Europe’s digital sovereignty push. It is also expected to give the company a competitive edge in winning contracts and partnerships with European governments and enterprises.

The situation also reflects wider transatlantic tensions over technology governance. While the U.S. has traditionally favored a lighter regulatory touch, the EU continues to assert greater control through the AI Act, GDPR, and other digital regulations.

Against this backdrop, how Anthropic responds in the coming weeks could have significant implications for its standing in Europe and its broader global expansion strategy. As discussions continue, the EU will be looking not just for access, but for meaningful transparency, risk assessments, and the ability to impose safeguards if necessary.

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We strongly encourage members not to wait until the final day before initiating transfers or completing documentation, as last-minute payment and transfer challenges can occur. The 18 startups are here https://capital.tekedia.com/lesson/active/

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Microsoft’s plans for a landmark $1 billion data center in Kenya have been significantly delayed following disagreements with the Kenyan government over financial guarantees and the project’s enormous energy requirements, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

The U.S. technology giant, in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based AI firm G42, had sought firm commitments from Kenya to pay for a guaranteed volume of data center capacity on an annual basis. When the government was unable to provide guarantees at the scale Microsoft demanded, talks broke down, the people said.

The partners are now considering scaling back the project’s ambitions.

But Kenyan officials insist the project is not dead. John Tanui, principal secretary at the Ministry of Information, said discussions are ongoing.

“It is not failed or withdrawn,” he said. “The scale of the data center they wanted to do still requires some structuring.”

Power requirements are also still under discussion.

The setback is a notable stumble for Microsoft’s aggressive global push to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure into emerging markets. The Kenya facility was intended to be the cornerstone of a broader commitment to boost artificial intelligence capabilities across East Africa, including workforce training and development of localized AI models.

Announced in 2024, the project envisioned a large-scale, geothermal-powered data center that would significantly expand cloud computing capacity in the region. The initial phase was planned for roughly 100 megawatts, with long-term ambitions to scale up to 1 gigawatt — a massive leap that would have positioned Kenya as a digital infrastructure hub for East Africa.

Kenyan President William Ruto has publicly drawn attention to the project’s daunting energy demands. At a recent event in Nairobi, he remarked that fully powering the facility would require “switching off half the country.”

Philip Thigo, Kenya’s special envoy for technology, clarified that Ruto’s comments were not a rejection of the project but a realistic acknowledgment of the infrastructure challenges involved in supporting next-generation digital projects.

Talks for a smaller, 60-megawatt facility with local developer EcoCloud are continuing, according to one of the people familiar with the situation.

The Kenya project carried significant weight. It represented the first major collaboration between Microsoft and G42 following Microsoft’s $1.5 billion investment in the Emirati AI champion in 2024. As part of that deal, G42 agreed to divest from Chinese holdings and remove Chinese equipment — a key geopolitical realignment.

For Microsoft, the initiative was part of a broader effort to counter China’s growing technological influence across Africa while expanding Azure’s footprint in high-growth emerging markets. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, had called the project “the single biggest step to advance the availability of digital technology” in Kenya’s history when it was first announced.

The project was an important milestone in G42’s ambition to evolve from a regional player into a global AI cloud provider.

Deep Challenges in Africa’s Digital Buildout

The difficulties in Kenya highlight the formidable obstacles Big Tech faces when expanding into Africa, despite the continent’s immense long-term potential. While Africa boasts a young, tech-savvy population and rapidly growing digital adoption, many countries struggle with chronic power shortages, underdeveloped grids, and limited fiscal capacity to provide the kind of long-term payment guarantees that hyperscale data center operators typically demand.

Data centers are extremely power-intensive, especially those designed for AI workloads. Securing reliable, low-carbon energy at scale remains one of the biggest bottlenecks for tech companies in emerging markets. Kenya has advantages in geothermal energy, but scaling generation and transmission infrastructure fast enough to meet hyperscale demand has proven difficult.

The request for sovereign payment guarantees also underscores a fundamental tension: Western tech giants want revenue certainty to justify massive capital outlays, while many African governments operate with constrained budgets and political sensitivities around long-term financial commitments.

What’s Next for Microsoft in Africa?

It remains unclear whether Microsoft and G42 will proceed with a significantly smaller project in Kenya, explore alternative locations in East Africa (such as Ethiopia or Rwanda), or temporarily pause their regional ambitions.

But across the continent, where several nations are actively courting Big Tech investments in digital infrastructure, the outcome has become one of the most anticipated events of the year.

However, analysts expect the Kenya situation to influence how Microsoft and its partners approach similar projects elsewhere in Africa and other emerging markets. A more phased, incremental approach could become the norm as companies balance ambition with practical realities on the ground.

Saudi Aramco has delivered one of the starkest warnings yet about the fallout from the U.S.-Iran war, saying the global oil market has effectively lost around one billion barrels of supply over the past two months and that the resulting energy shock will not disappear quickly even if diplomacy eventually succeeds.

The comments from Aramco CEO Amin Nasser underscore how the conflict has evolved far beyond a regional military confrontation into a structural crisis for the global energy system, exposing vulnerabilities in shipping routes, inventories, and long-term energy investment.

“Our objective is simple: keep energy flowing, even when the system is under strain,” Nasser said in a statement after the company posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

But he cautioned that markets were underestimating the depth of the disruption already inflicted on global supply chains.

“Reopening routes is not the same as normalizing a market that has been deprived of about one billion barrels of oil,” Nasser said.

The figure is significant because it points to how cumulative supply disruptions are beginning to reshape the balance of global energy markets. The world is no longer dealing with a short-term shipping interruption. Instead, traders and analysts increasingly view the Hormuz crisis as a prolonged supply shock capable of influencing inflation, industrial production, and central bank policy well into next year.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes, has remained severely constrained after Iran tightened control over shipping lanes during the war. The blockade has disrupted exports from major Gulf producers, sent insurance premiums surging, and forced shipping companies to reroute vessels at far higher cost.

The consequences are now spreading through the wider global economy. Airlines are paying sharply more for jet fuel, freight companies are facing escalating bunker fuel costs, and manufacturers are seeing rising transportation and petrochemical expenses feeding into consumer prices.

The crisis has revived memories of historic oil shocks that triggered wider economic slowdowns and inflationary spirals. What makes the current situation more dangerous, according to energy executives, is that global spare capacity and inventories were already under pressure before the war began.

Nasser pointed directly to that problem.

He said “years of underinvestment” had compounded pressure on already-low global stockpiles, suggesting the market entered the conflict with little margin for error.

That statement reflects a growing argument among major oil producers that the global push toward energy transition discouraged investment in conventional oil infrastructure too aggressively, leaving the market vulnerable to geopolitical disruptions.

The crisis is now strengthening the hand of oil-producing nations that have long argued energy security should take priority over rapid decarbonisation efforts.

For Saudi Arabia, the conflict has also highlighted the enormous strategic importance of infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. Aramco has increasingly relied on its East-West Pipeline, which transports crude from Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The system allows exports to continue without passing through Iranian-controlled waters.

Nasser described the pipeline as essential to stabilizing global supply.

“Our East-West Pipeline, which reached its maximum capacity of 7.0 million barrels of oil per day, has proven itself to be a critical supply artery, helping to mitigate the impact of a global energy shock,” he said.

The infrastructure has effectively become one of the most strategically valuable energy assets in the world during the conflict. Few countries possess alternative export routes of similar scale. That advantage has allowed Saudi Arabia to continue supplying key Asian customers even as regional shipping flows remain constrained.

Still, the strain is becoming increasingly evident.

Saudi Arabia has cut production by around 2 million barrels per day during the crisis after Iran’s blockade disrupted wider Gulf export operations. The East-West Pipeline is now operating at full capacity, with about 5 million barrels per day available for export after domestic refinery demand is met.

Aramco’s Q1 Result and What Lies Ahead

Aramco reported first-quarter net profit of $32.5 billion, a 25% increase from a year earlier and above analyst expectations. Revenue climbed nearly 7% to $115.49 billion as higher oil prices and stronger refined-product sales offset broader market instability.

The earnings demonstrate how major oil exporters are financially benefiting from elevated prices even as the wider global economy absorbs mounting costs.

Aramco also announced a first-quarter dividend of $21.9 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year, reinforcing the company’s role as the financial engine of the Saudi state.

The Saudi government directly owns more than 81% of Aramco, while the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund controls another 16%. That means Aramco’s cash generation is central to financing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s massive domestic spending agenda and Vision 2030 economic diversification projects.

Yet beneath the strong earnings lies growing anxiety about the durability of global demand. Nasser stressed that “reliable energy supply is critical,” a comment that increasingly appears aimed not only at customers but also at policymakers pushing aggressive shifts away from fossil fuels.

Energy executives fear that prolonged high prices could eventually trigger the same pattern seen during previous oil crises: slowing economic growth, weaker consumer demand, and eventual recession.

Already, economists are warning that higher fuel and shipping costs are beginning to feed into a broader second wave of inflation across major economies.

The situation also carries major geopolitical implications. The Hormuz crisis has stoked Asia’s vulnerability to Middle Eastern supply disruptions, particularly for countries such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea that remain heavily dependent on Gulf crude.

Nasser reiterated that Asia remains central to Aramco’s long-term strategy, signaling Saudi Arabia intends to preserve and deepen its dominance in the region even as global energy politics become more fragmented.

Even if a peace deal is eventually reached, restoring confidence in shipping routes, rebuilding depleted inventories, and stabilizing pricing mechanisms may take months. And with spare capacity already stretched thin, energy markets are entering that uncertain period with little room left for another shock.