The TikTok ban is bigger than just ByteDance

The U.S. clampdown on Chinese-owned companies won't end here.

Singapore’s EV challenge: High prices and high-rises

The country’s new EV push is clashing with long-standing policies to discourage car ownership in general.

Why IBM employees in Brazil are suing to be classified as tech workers

Unions in two Brazilian states are suing IBM in an effort to be recognized as tech employees, giving them access to better wages, benefits, and profit participation.

2023 Impact Report

The global reach and impact of our journalism in 2023

Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

Missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant’s Phoenix expansion.

What it takes to raise a $300 million VC fund for Africa

Tidjane Deme talks about convincing investors to back Africa-focused tech funds amid a global funding slump.

Silicon Valley in Rest of World

Worldcoin is surging in Argentina thanks to 288% inflation

With an economic crisis gripping the nation, people are having their irises scanned in exchange for $50 in crypto.

By Lucía Cholakian Herrera

3 Minutes With

India's largest crypto exchange wants to level the playing field

CoinSwitch’s Ashish Singhal wants to level the playing field between virtual and capital assets.

By Ananya Bhattacharya

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Nearly four billion Internet users live outside the West, building and using tech products & platforms that most Americans have never heard of.

By Rest of World Staff

A phone wireframe showing a Whatsapp chat with the encryption message featured at the top. The background of the image is a pattern of small green and pink squares.

Exporter Newsletter

WhatsApp gives India an ultimatum on encryption

Tracing the origins of messages is more complicated than it sounds.

By Russell Brandom

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The Rise of AI

African universities are failing to prepare tech graduates for jobs in AI

Dozens of new AI training startups are filling the gap, offering online courses, hackathons, and job placement help.

By Kimberly Mutandiro

A phone displaying an augmented reality app that allows users to take a selfie with a politician, held in front of a person standing in front of a green screen with his arm extended outwards.

The Rise of AI

AI companies are making millions producing election content in India

As India’s political parties pay for AI ads, startups say they have set their own “ethical” boundaries around deepfakes.

By Fahad Shah

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The Rise of AI

Rest of World’s 2024 AI elections tracker

As more than two billion people vote, we’re monitoring the way AI is being used in political campaigns, memes, and misinformation.

By Rest of World Staff

AI in entertainment >

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Forget subtitles: YouTube now dubs videos with AI-generated voices

YouTube’s automatic dubbing system is competing with human firms to help creators scale the language barrier.

By Nilesh Christopher and Andrew Deck

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Fans in China used AI to deepfake a pop star’s return to music

Stefanie Sun has not released an album since 2017 — so her audience took her voice into their own hands.

By Viola Zhou

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AI comes for YouTube’s thumbnail industry

Creators like MrBeast pay up to $10,000 for a single YouTube video thumbnail, but the rise of AI tools has some designers anxious about the microeconomy’s future.

By Nilesh Christopher

High-tech surveillance >

Always feel like somebody's watching me

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The home security apps being used to watch and harass domestic workers

MyGate and NoBrokerHood are currently being used in over 40,000 urban residential complexes in India.

By Tanya Maheshwari and Sureet Singh

Singapore’s tech-utopia dream is turning into a surveillance state nightmare

In the “smart nation,” robot dogs enforce social distancing and flying taxis are just over the horizon. The reality is very different.

By Peter Guest

Two police officers watch CCTV cameras during an event in India.

More CCTV, more crime: India’s most-surveilled cities are the least safe

Indore, Hyderabad, and New Delhi are some of the most surveilled cities in the world. But CCTV cameras also pose a threat to data privacy in the country.

By Asma Hafiz

Exporter Newsletter >

The latest on U.S. tech giants and their impact outside the West

A photograph from a drone video showing a large factory complex in the middle of the desert. — Visuals by Cengiz Yar/Rest of World

Regional Champions

Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

Missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant’s Phoenix expansion.

By Viola Zhou

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In this new audio series, we bring you Rest of World's best feature-length articles, narrated by us.

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Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) was slated to open a plant in Phoenix, Arizona in 2024. It aimed to bring thousands of jobs, but the expansion hasn’t taken off. In this story, Rest of World follows the experience of an American engineer, Bruce, as well as others employed by TSMC, and explores how missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant’s Phoenix expansion. Written by Viola Zhou. Narrated by Daniela Dib. Original story: https://restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-arizona-expansion/

Global

China: The world’s shopping cart

From wildly popular e-commerce apps to the rise of livestream shopping, China is changing the way the world shops.

By Rest of World Staff

The TikTok ban is bigger than just ByteDance

Singapore’s EV challenge: High prices and high-rises

Why IBM employees in Brazil are suing to be classified as tech workers

2023 Impact Report

Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

What it takes to raise a $300 million VC fund for Africa

Worldcoin is surging in Argentina thanks to 288% inflation

India's largest crypto exchange wants to level the playing field

Support Our Global Journalism

WhatsApp gives India an ultimatum on encryption

African universities are failing to prepare tech graduates for jobs in AI

AI companies are making millions producing election content in India

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Rest of World’s 2024 AI elections tracker

Forget subtitles: YouTube now dubs videos with AI-generated voices

Fans in China used AI to deepfake a pop star’s return to music

AI comes for YouTube’s thumbnail industry

The home security apps being used to watch and harass domestic workers

Singapore’s tech-utopia dream is turning into a surveillance state nightmare

More CCTV, more crime: India’s most-surveilled cities are the least safe

WhatsApp gives India an ultimatum on encryption

The TikTok ban is bigger than just ByteDance

The regional flavors of labor-on-demand

Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

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Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

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African tech companies are ditching Google for a small Indian competitor

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AI companies are making millions producing election content in India

Bangladesh built a tech park for 100,000 workers. Now it’s a ghost town

Worldcoin is surging in Argentina thanks to 288% inflation

Why IBM employees in Brazil are suing to be classified as tech workers

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How governments are using facial recognition to crack down on protesters

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The war in Gaza is reshaping moderation rules

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Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

Indonesia taps influencers to convince people to move to its new, under-construction capital

Tech platforms are suffocating opposition media

Chinese EV sellers found a loophole to export cars around the world

Why Chinese EV battery manufacturers are flocking to Hungary

The TikTok ban is bigger than just ByteDance

AI “deathbots” are helping people in China grieve

In Southeast Asia, Ramadan is an online shopping bonanza