This week’s stories are about tech, AI and sustainabilityi coming from Europe and the USA

Europe’s slow AI buildout may become a strategic strength

Europe’s cautious pace in deploying artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure—often viewed as a disadvantage compared with the U.S. and China—could ultimately give the region a competitive edge, analysts say.

I read this story at CNBC and the continent faces mounting obstacles in scaling data centers, from electricity shortages to lengthy permitting rules and grid bottlenecks. But those same constraints are forcing developers and investors to construct more efficient, future-proof facilities, according to industry executives interviewed by CNBC.

The tightest choke point remains electricity. Countries with abundant renewable power—including the Nordics, Spain and parts of Italy—are attracting more investment. Markets with severe congestion, such as Germany, the U.K., Ireland and the Netherlands, risk falling behind, the story noted.

Analysts say Europe is unlikely to dominate hyperscale AI training facilities—an area already led by the U.S.—but could excel in cloud-oriented and connectivity-heavy data centers, as well as sites optimized for AI inference. McKinsey estimates about 70% of future AI demand will come from inference rather than training, according to the story.

National efforts to keep AI activity within Europe—a trend dubbed “sovereign AI”—may force governments and investors to expand domestic capacity regardless of cost or complexity. That makes Europe a critical front in the next phase of global data-infrastructure development, said Jim Wright of Premier Miton Global Infrastructure Income Fund.

While Europe’s patchwork of rules and resources defies a single blueprint, analysts say the region has a rare opportunity: scarcity is driving innovation, and constraints are pushing developers toward higher-quality, longer-lasting facilities.

Europe’s slow AI buildout may become a strategic strength

AI tools take center stage in holiday shopping as retailers push new assistants

Major retailers and tech firms are rolling out a fresh wave of artificial intelligence (AI) shopping tools ahead of the holiday rush, aiming to streamline gift buying for consumers and capture a larger share of e-commerce spending.

I read this story at The Associated Press and the features build on updates from AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. One of the season’s most talked-about launches is Google’s new AI agent that can call local stores to check product availability.

Salesforce estimates that AI will influence about $73 billion in global sales from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, up from $60 billion last year, according to Caila Schwartz, the company’s director of consumer insights. (By the way I have a story here about Yollando, a Turkish startup that raised funds in packaging business)

Much of AI’s promise lies in speeding up product discovery. OpenAI has enhanced ChatGPT with a research tool that builds personalized buying guides using product pages, reviews, prices and previous user interactions—especially for complex products like electronics, appliances and detailed beauty or sports items.

Amazon’s virtual assistant Rufus now remembers past user details to tailor suggestions, while Google has upgraded its AI Mode search feature to answer detailed natural-language questions and generate comparison charts from more than 50 billion product listings.

Walmart’s AI tool, Sparky, offers gift suggestions tied to specific occasions, and Target added a holiday-specific AI gift finder within its app.

OpenAI introduced instant checkout within ChatGPT, enabling purchases from Etsy shops and brands using Shopify, including Glossier, Skims and Spanx. A similar partnership with Walmart allows users to buy most items from Walmart’s website, though for now only one item can be checked out at a time, the story noted.

AI tools take center stage in holiday shopping as retailers push new assistants

UN’s “16 Days of Activism” campaign focused on Digital Violence Against Women

The United Nations is marking this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence with a call to confront one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse: digital violence targeting women and girls.

Running from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10 under the theme “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls,” the 2025 campaign highlights rising online harassment, stalking, deepfakes and other forms of technology-facilitated abuse.

Advocates warn that digital abuse — including non-consensual image sharing, cyberbullying, online sexual harassment, doxxing, deepfake pornography and stalking — increasingly spills into offline violence, from coercion to physical harm and, in extreme cases, femicide.

Experts say several factors make digital abuse difficult to prevent and prosecute. They include limited legal recognition of online violence, weak tech-sector regulation, anonymous perpetrators, cross-border harassment and inadequate support services for survivors. The spread of misogynistic online communities and rapid advances in artificial intelligence — which enable sophisticated deepfakes — are also fueling the problem.

For this year’s 16 Days of Activism, the UN is urging governments to enforce laws criminalizing digital violence, safeguard personal data and hold technology companies accountable. The campaign also calls on platforms to remove harmful content, publish transparent reports and improve user safety.

From Nov. 25 to Dec. 10, civil society groups, youth organizations, local governments, academic institutions and private-sector partners are invited to organize events promoting digital safety and justice.

Participants are also encouraged to wear or display orange — the campaign’s symbol of hope and a future without violence.

UN’s “16 Days of Activism” campaign focused on Digital Violence Against Women