August 2025 | Here's what's happened in the last month.
AI Use Rising in Countries With Least Resilient Internet
One might assume that greater use of generative AI chatbots for news would go hand-in-hand with more robust Internet infrastructure, but a recent guest post by Picture of Abhishek Vajjala suggests otherwise.
Abhishek and his co-author, Anirudh Tagat, compared the country usage of AI Chatbots for reading the news (collected by Reuters for the Digital News Report 2025) with the country's overall Pulse Internet Resilience Index (IRI) score.
The correlation (see interactive version) shows that countries with a higher proportion of news consumers experimenting with AI tools do not consistently have the most resilient networks; there’s a slight, albeit erratic, inclination in the opposite direction.
The data points are also widely dispersed: for example, the United States shows very high AI usage alongside only average Pulse IRI scores, whereas smaller European nations (like the Netherlands or Denmark) exhibit lower AI adoption but possess top-tier connectivity.
Although this is only one specific measure of AI usage, it captures many consistent and comprehensive ways in which AI–human interactions are being captured in data. Ideally, country-level data on usage statistics of large-language models (LLMs) or similar would be best to understand if there is any correlation between AI use and Internet resilience and availability.
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Exams were again the most common reason governments ordered the Internet to be shut down in July, affecting Internet users in Iraq, Sudan, and Syria.
Pakistan, 3 August—Ongoing: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reportedly ordered Internet Service Providers to suspend mobile Internet services in the Balochistan region due to security concerns.
Syria, 21 June—3 August: Since June, Syria has experienced 10 national Internet shutdowns, corresponding with national elementary school exam days.
Iraq, 20 May—27 August: Iraq is again experiencing a new wave of regional and national Internet shutdowns corresponding to public school exam days. Since May, Iraq has experienced 31 national and regional Internet shutdowns.
Togo, 26 June—Ongoing: Amid political unrest in Togo, the government is limiting access to multiple services.
Panama, 20 June—Ongoing: Panama's telecom regulator has ordered telecommunication and Internet service providers to suspend services amid unrest in the province of Bocas del Toro.
Iraq, 18 Feb—Ongoing: Iraq authorities have reportedly ordered upstream providers to suspend Internet connectivity to Kurdistan ISP KorekTel due to “non-compliance with paying outstanding debts and continued violations.”
India, 24 Nov—Ongoing: Internet services have reportedly been suspended in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
Pakistan, 15 Nov—Ongoing: Local authorities have suspended mobile Internet services in multiple areas of Balochistan amidst an ongoing military operation.
India, 5 Sep—Ongoing: Residents in Jainoor continue to be without Internet access as part of an undeclared Curfew.
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