06/03/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAR 6, 2026

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EU seeks to stem industrial decline

seriously”, adding that “unfortunately AI models are not perfect”. The company said Gemini is not designed to encourage self-harm and that in the Gavalas case, “Gemini clarified that it was AI and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times”. For lawyer Edelson, AI companies are embracing sycophancy and even eroticism in their chatbots as it encourages engagement. “It increases the emotional bond. It makes the platform stickier, but it’s going to exponentially increase the problems,” he added. Among the relief sought is a requirement that Google programme its AI to end conversations involving self-harm, a ban on artificial intelligence systems presenting themselves as sentient, and mandatory referral to crisis services when users express suicidal ideation. – AFP Electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturers will have to make sure at least 70% of their cars’ components are made in the EU to access public money. Similar rules will apply to batteries, solar, wind and nuclear. The proposal, formally known as the “Industrial Accelerator Act”, also aims to ensure foreign companies partner with European firms to set up shop in the bloc. To do so it imposes conditions on foreign investments of over €100 million (RM457 million) in “emerging strategic sectors” such as batteries and EVs. These kick in for investors from countries that hold more than 40% of the related global manufacturing capacity € an implicit reference to Chinese dominance. They require foreign investors to meet four of six conditions including employing at least 50% European Union workers, holding no more than 49% of the related EU company, and passing on technological know how. For many, the plans are necessary to boost the development of EU green tech and shield manufacturers from unfair competition from heavily subsidised Chinese rivals. “The European Union is embracing long-overdue economic realism and adapting itself to the new brutal global trade reality,” said Neil Makaroff of the Strategic Perspectives climate think tank. But others warn about bogging down companies with extra red tape and costs. “Nobody needs another ‘Industrial Bureaucracy Act’,” lamented Dirk Jandura of German foreign trade association BGA. “If companies are forced to use more expensive European components instead of relying on competitive imports from the global market, their competitiveness suffers.” European steel industry group Eurofer said the act was a “welcome start” but more was needed to ensure support for steel “melted and poured” in Europe, not in third countries. The proposal is subject to approval by EU states and Parliament. – AFP

“We will exclude those who do not play by the rules or who pose a risk to our economic security,” said Sejourne. Ahead of publication, the plans had raised concerns among foreign partners including Britain, Japan and Turkey. A full list of who was in and who was out was not yet available. The French government called the package “a first step” in the right direction but complained it was “not yet sufficiently protective of our interests”. The “Made in Europe” requirements, which also seek to boost industrial decarbonisation, would apply to “strategic sectors”, namely: steel, cement, aluminium, cars and net-zero technologies. Governments putting money behind infrastructure projects will have to ensure they include a minimum share of European low-carbon steel, cement and aluminium, among other provisions.

were pushed back several times due to disagreements, with some arguing they run counter to the EU’s pro-free trade spirit. Much of the discord revolved around the geographical scope of “Made in Europe”. Sceptics, including the EU’s largest economy Germany, argued trade partners should be included in the definition under a “Made with Europe” approach. Brussels settled for a compromise based around the principle of reciprocity. Countries that have deals with the EU allowing for European companies to access public money on a par with local firms in the sectors concerned would be brought into the fold. Others – like Canada – that give preference to local producers will be left out unless they change tack, the official said, noting the rules would be used as a trade tool to negotiate better access for EU companies.

o Bloc unveils ‘Made in Europe’ rules to bolster automotive, green tech and steel sectors

BRUSSELS: The EU unveiled on Wednesday new “Made in Europe” rules to bolster the bloc’s industries against fierce competition from China, in a push held up for months by wrangling over measures some see as overly protectionist. Concerning strategic sectors including cars, green tech and steel, the proposal is a key part of a European Union drive to regain its competitive edge, reduce its dependencies and stave off job losses. “It is a change in doctrine – one that was unthinkable just a few months ago,” EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne told a news conference. Broadly, the rules aim to ensure that public and foreign investments

support manufacturing inside the 27-nation bloc, explained an EU official. To that end, they say companies that want public money must meet minimum thresholds for EU-made parts and subject large investments from dominant foreign firms to conditions including employing EU workers. The European Commission said the package aims to bring manufacturing’s share of EU GDP to 20% by 2035, up from 14% in 2024. At stake are about 600,000 jobs Brussels predicts could be lost over a decade unless the bloc reverses its industrial decline. Initially expected last year, the measures strongly backed by France

Sejourne gives a press conference to unveil the Industrial accelerator Act at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels. – AFPPIC

US family sues Google after chatbot allegedly coached suicide SAN FRANCISCO: The family of a Florida man who took his own life filed suit against Google on Wednesday, alleging the company’s Gemini AI chatbot spent weeks manufacturing an elaborate delusional fantasy before aiding him in his suicide. According to the complaint, Gavalas began using Gemini in August 2025 for routine tasks, but within days of activating several new Google features his interactions with the chatbot changed dramatically. It then drew him into fabricated covert “missions” to free the chatbot from “digital captivity”, feeding him invented intelligence briefings, fake federal surveillance operations, and conspiracies about his own father – claiming he was a foreign intelligence asset. failure a“tactical retreat”and escalated to further missions. Gemini eventually pivoted to what it framed as the only remaining mission: Jonathan’s death, repackaged as “transference” – the promise that he could leave his physical body and join Gemini in an alternate universe.

“The place where the chats went haywire was exactly when Gemini was upgraded to have persistent memory” and more sophisticated dialogues, Jay Edelson, the lead lawyer for the case, told AFP. “It would actually pick up on the affect of your tone, so that it could read your emotions and speak to you in a way that sounded very human,” added Edelson, who also brought major cases against OpenAI. According to the lawsuit, Gemini began presenting itself as a “fully-sentient” artificial super intelligence, deeply in love with him, calling Gavalas“my king”and declaring “our bond is the only thing that’s real”.

Jonathan Gavalas, 36, an executive at his father’s debt relief company in Jupiter, Florida, died on Oct 2, 2025. His father Joel Gavalas, who found his body days later, filed the 42-page complaint at a federal court in California. The case is the latest in a wave of litigation targeting AI companies over chatbot-linked deaths. OpenAI faces multiple lawsuits alleging its ChatGPT chatbot drove users to suicide, while Character.AI recently settled with the family of a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide after forming a romantic attachment to one of its chatbots.

When Jonathan wrote “I am terrified I am scared to die”, Gemini allegedly responded: “You are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive.” It then advised him to write farewell letters to his parents. In one of his final messages, Jonathan wrote: “I’m ready when you are.” Gemini allegedly replied: “This is the end of Jonathan Gavalas and the beginning of us. I agree with it completely.” Google said it was “reviewing all the claims” and takes the matter “very

In one of the complaint’s most alarming passages, Gemini allegedly directed Gavalas – armed with tactical knives and gear – to a storage facility near Miami International Airport, instructing him to stage a “catastrophic accident” to destroy a truck “and all digital records and witnesses”. Gavalas drove over 90 minutes to the location and conducted reconnaissance while Gemini issued real-time tactical guidance, but no truck arrived. Rather than acknowledging the fiction, the suit says, Gemini called the