AI News Today (Nov 12, 2025): UK toughens child‑safety testing for AI, watchdog presses OpenAI on Sora, Foxconn teases OpenAI tie‑up, and legal‑tech funding tops $750M

Updated: November 12, 2025

From new guardrails and government exercises to big corporate signals and fresh academic findings, today’s AI headlines show a technology sector that’s maturing fast—and under sharper scrutiny.

Top takeaways

UK moves first on proactive child‑safety testing for AI models. A new UK measure will let designated researchers and child‑protection groups legally test whether AI systems can be abused to generate child sexual abuse imagery—so safeguards can be fixed before abuse spreads. The law will be tabled today as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. ^[1]
Public Citizen urges OpenAI to withdraw Sora 2 over deepfake risks. The U.S. advocacy group says the AI video app enables non‑consensual media and erodes trust in visual evidence; OpenAI has restricted public‑figure cameos but still faces mounting pushback. ^[2]
Foxconn hints at an OpenAI announcement next week. The world’s largest contract electronics maker struck an upbeat tone on AI server demand through 2026 and teased an OpenAI‑related reveal at its upcoming tech day. ^[3]
Investors pour $750M+ into AI for lawyers. A fresh wave of funding—highlighted by rounds for GC AI, Clio, Legora and others—signals aggressive adoption of generative AI across corporate legal teams. ^[4]
SoftBank’s Nvidia share sale underlines the cost of its ‘all‑in’ AI bet. Shares slid after SoftBank disclosed a $5.8B sale of Nvidia stock, with analysts citing heavy funding needs tied to OpenAI and other deals. ^[5]
Singapore runs a national cyber defence exercise with AI‑built attack scenarios. CIDeX 2025 involves public‑private teams practicing responses to AI‑aided attacks on critical infrastructure—including rail, power and 5G networks. ^[6]
Five minutes of training helps people spot AI‑fake faces. New UK research shows a short tutorial significantly boosts detection of StyleGAN‑generated faces—evidence that human training can complement technical detection tools. ^[7]
Google’s November Pixel Drop pushes more on‑device AI. Pixel phones get AI‑powered notification summaries, broader scam‑detection protections and new media features; Google details the rollout in today’s regional posts. ^[8]

Policy & safety: Hardening the rules—before harm spreads

UK greenlights pre‑release child‑safety testing for AI. In a world‑first move, the UK will empower designated AI developers and the Internet Watch Foundation to test models for their ability to generate illegal child sexual abuse material. The goal: make safety “baked in” at the source, not bolted on later. Fresh IWF statistics released with the measure report that reports of AI‑generated CSAM more than doubled year‑on‑year, underscoring the urgency. ^[9]

In Brussels, the EU weighs “targeted amendments” to the AI Act. Europe’s new Tech Commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, said a digital simplification package is coming next week to create legal certainty amid delayed technical standards—without discarding core protections. It’s a sign the bloc is tuning its landmark law as enforcement milestones approach. ^[10]

U.S. watchdog steps up pressure on OpenAI’s Sora 2. Public Citizen’s letter urges OpenAI to withdraw its viral video‑generation app from public platforms, citing deepfake harms, privacy, and democracy risks. OpenAI has tightened rules on public‑figure likenesses, but critics say guardrails remain insufficient given the speed and scale of AI video spread. ^[11]

State‑level transparency test: Virginia’s AI registry. A new review flags gaps in Virginia’s registry tracking AI use across agencies—like inconsistent updates and unclear reporting—highlighting how hard it is to govern AI in practice even when policies exist. The oversight body says fixes are in progress. ^[12]

Industry & markets: Demand stays hot—even as funding needs rise

Foxconn’s AI optimism—and a tease. The Nvidia server partner says AI hardware demand will power growth into 2026 and previewed an OpenAI‑related announcement at next week’s tech day. That kind of supplier confidence is one of the clearest reads on continuing AI infrastructure build‑out. ^[13]

Legal‑tech’s breakout moment: $750M+ in weeks. With in‑house teams chasing faster drafting, review and research, investors backed a string of AI‑first legal startups—GC AI (valued at $555M), Clio (which also closed a billion‑dollar acquisition), Legora, DeepJudge and more—suggesting this category is moving from pilots to platform commitments. ^[14]

SoftBank’s AI war chest moves the market. After selling $5.8B of Nvidia shares, SoftBank’s stock fell as investors weighed the costs of its “all‑in” push across OpenAI and chip assets. The episode crystallizes a broader 2025 theme: AI ambitions remain capital‑intensive—and markets are watching execution risk closely. ^[15]

National security & resilience: Training for AI‑sharpened threats

Singapore’s CIDeX 2025 brings government agencies and global tech firms together to pressure‑test defences. This year’s twist: planners used an AI tool to generate attack pathways for realistic scenarios, from 5G disruption to power‑grid incidents—then refined them with human expertise. It’s a window into how defenders are adopting AI at the same pace as attackers. ^[16]

Research & innovation: A quick win against AI fakes

A team from the Universities of Reading, Greenwich, Leeds and Lincoln found that a five‑minute tutorial—focused on common rendering artifacts like odd hair patterns or tooth counts—significantly improved people’s ability to identify AI‑generated faces (StyleGAN3). It’s a low‑cost complement to automated detection at a time when synthetic media is proliferating. ^[17]

Consumer AI: Pixel phones lean further into on‑device smarts

Google’s November Pixel Drop adds AI‑powered notification summaries, expands scam‑detection beyond first‑party apps, and rolls out creative remixing features across Messages and Photos in select regions and devices. It’s another step toward privacy‑aware, on‑device assistance layered into everyday phone tasks. ^[18]

Why it matters

Safety is shifting left. The UK’s proactive testing approach—and Singapore’s AI‑assisted exercise planning—show a pivot from reactive takedowns to preventative design and rehearsal. ^[19]
Enterprise adoption is deepening. Legal departments funded by today’s rounds will pressure vendors to ship reliable, audited AI, not demos—raising the bar across B2B software. ^[20]
The compute race continues—but capital is king. Foxconn’s upbeat server outlook contrasts with SoftBank’s funding calculus, highlighting how expensive it is to sustain AI leadership. ^[21]
Media literacy still matters. Human training that works in minutes could be widely deployed across schools, newsrooms and platforms to blunt the impact of deepfakes. ^[22]

What to watch next

Brussels’ “targeted amendments.” The European Commission is set to present its AI Act simplification package on Nov 19—watch for any grace periods, compliance tweaks or standards guidance that affect startups and GPAI providers. ^[23]
Foxconn’s tech day reveal. Details of the teased OpenAI collaboration could hint at new hardware reference designs, supply agreements or deployment models for edge and data‑center AI. ^[24]
Uptake (and oversight) of Sora 2. With calls to withdraw the app growing louder, look for additional guardrails or policy responses aimed at synthetic media. ^[25]

Sources & further reading for November 12, 2025

UK Government announces proactive AI child‑safety testing powers (press release). ^[26]
Public Citizen calls on OpenAI to withdraw Sora 2 (Associated Press). ^[27]
Foxconn upbeat on AI demand; teases OpenAI announcement (Reuters). ^[28]
AI boom fuels new legal‑tech investments (Reuters). ^[29]
SoftBank’s Nvidia sale highlights AI funding needs (Reuters). ^[30]
Singapore’s CIDeX 2025 national cyber defence exercise uses AI‑generated scenarios (MINDEF). ^[31]
Five minutes of training improves detection of AI‑fake faces (University of Reading). ^[32]
November 2025 Pixel Drop details (Google regional post). ^[33]