In this episode of IT SPARC Cast, John and Lou cover the EU’s massive $200 billion AI investment, the UK and US refusing to sign an international AI regulation pact, and Workday’s bold move into AI agent management. They also break down TikTok’s sideloading strategy on Android, and in the CVE of the Week, they go ballistic on the UK government’s demand for backdoor access to iCloud—a move that could shatter global privacy.

News Bytes

00:56 - EU Launches InvestAI Initiative

•The European Union commits €200 billion to AI development, hoping to compete with the US and China.

•Plans include AI gigafactories and a 20-billion-euro fund for advanced chips.

•https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/eu-pledges-200-billion-in-ai-spending-in-bid-to-catch-up-with-u-s-china/ar-AA1yO0Su 

03:30 - UK and US Refuse to Sign International AI Declaration

•The UK and US reject an EU-led AI ethics agreement

•The move fuels geopolitical tension in AI development—is regulation helping or hurting progress?

•Lou and John debate whether government oversight slows tech innovation

•https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8edn0n58gwo 

09:44 - Workday Launches a Platform to Manage AI Agents

•Workday introduces AI agent tracking to help enterprises monitor, control, and disable AI agents.

•https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/11/workday-launches-a-platform-for-enterprises-to-manage-all-of-their-ai-agents-in-one-place/ 

15:05 - TikTok Wants Android Users to Sideload Its App

•With TikTok facing bans in multiple countries, ByteDance is now pushing users to sideload its app directly from its website.

•Why is this a security nightmare?

•Bypasses Google’s Play Store security checks.

•Lou and John call this “a reckless move that prioritizes control over security.”

•https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/10/tiktok-wants-android-users-to-sideload-its-app/ 

CVE of the Week

20:40 - The UK Wants Backdoor Access to iCloud

•The UK government secretly orders Apple to provide decryption keys for iCloud data—WORLDWIDE.

•John and Lou go off on why this is a ‘GOBAL vulnerability’ rather than a single security risk.

•Apple is reportedly considering pulling iCloud services out of the UK entirely to resist compliance.

•“This isn’t just about UK citizens—this is an attack on global privacy.”

•https://www.computerworld.com/article/3819834/uk-orders-apple-to-let-it-access-everyones-encrypted-data.html 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.