Category: Biz Tech

Cisco has issued an urgent security fix for a maximum-severity flaw in Secure Workload that could let unauthenticated attackers obtain Site Admin privileges and reach sensitive enterprise resources through internal REST API endpoints.The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20223, has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0, the highest rating under the widely used severity system. It is classified as CWE-306, or missing authentication for a critical function, a category that signals a failure to enforce identity checks before allowing

Samsung Electronics is preparing one of the largest employee bonus packages in the global technology sector after a last-minute wage agreement with unions averted a threatened strike at its South Korean chip operations, where soaring demand for artificial intelligence memory has transformed the company’s earnings outlook.The tentative deal could channel about 40 trillion won, or roughly $26.6 billion, to semiconductor employees this year, implying an average payout near $340,000 for eligible workers if profit targets are met and the distribution

OpenAI will commit more than S$300 million, or about US$234 million, to build its first Applied AI Lab outside the United States in Singapore, marking a significant step in the company’s international expansion and the city-state’s push to become a global centre for practical artificial intelligence deployment.The multiyear partnership with Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information will operate under the “OpenAI for Singapore” initiative, aimed at bringing frontier AI into public services, finance, healthcare, digital infrastructure, education and small

Elon Musk has lost a major legal battle against OpenAI after a federal jury in Oakland, California, found that he waited too long to bring claims accusing the artificial intelligence company and its leaders of abandoning its founding mission.The unanimous verdict delivered a significant courtroom victory to OpenAI, chief executive Sam Altman, president Greg Brockman, the OpenAI Foundation and Microsoft, all of whom were targeted in Musk’s case. Jurors found that the claims were barred by statutes of limitations, ending

Ultra-light gaming laptops are moving from niche showpieces to a mainstream performance category as chipmakers, display suppliers and PC brands push more power into thinner machines without abandoning battery life or portability.The shift is being driven by a convergence of faster mobile graphics processors, AI-assisted rendering, high-efficiency CPUs, brighter OLED displays and more sophisticated cooling systems. Models weighing around 1.5kg to 2kg are now targeting users who want credible AAA gaming performance, content creation capability and everyday mobility in the

OpenAI and Anthropic have pushed their rivalry deeper into corporate technology budgets by launching dedicated enterprise deployment ventures aimed at turning powerful AI models into production systems for businesses.The moves mark a shift from selling access to chatbots and application programming interfaces towards embedding engineers, consultants and workflow specialists inside companies that want AI to reshape operations rather than sit on the edge of office software. Both companies are trying to solve the same problem facing large organisations: many executives

KnowBe4 has launched CAPY, a free online family cyber safety hub aimed at helping children, parents, older adults and everyday internet users build stronger defences against scams, phishing, cyberbullying, sextortion and AI-driven abuse.The programme, formally called Cyber Awareness Program for You, marks a shift by the Tampa Bay-based digital workforce security company from corporate training into a broader public education model. It arrives as online risks once treated as workplace security issues are increasingly reaching homes through messaging apps,

SpaceX is moving towards a record-breaking stock market debut that could value Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence empire at about $1.75 trillion, placing public investors before one of the most ambitious and complex listings ever attempted on Wall Street.The company is preparing to list on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX as early as June, with plans that could raise roughly $75 billion. Such a deal would eclipse Saudi Aramco’s 2019 market debut and transform SpaceX from a closely

Malta has struck a landmark agreement with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Plus access across the country, making it the first government-backed national rollout of the paid artificial intelligence service tied to a public AI literacy programme.The partnership, announced on 16 May 2026, will allow eligible Maltese citizens to use ChatGPT Plus at no personal cost for one year after completing a free course on artificial intelligence. The programme is scheduled to begin in May and expand as participants complete the

Lumen Technologies is expanding its long-haul fibre network with a new Seattle-to-Minneapolis route designed to carry heavier artificial intelligence and cloud traffic across a growing northern US data corridor.The project, named NorthLine, is expected to be available by the end of 2026 and will initially support 100G and 400G wavelength services. The route is being positioned as a low-latency link between the Pacific Northwest and central US markets, giving enterprises, cloud providers and AI infrastructure operators a more direct path

Claude has overtaken ChatGPT in paid adoption among US businesses for the first time, marking a shift in the enterprise artificial intelligence market as companies move beyond experimentation and begin choosing tools for daily operations.Payments data covering more than 50,000 businesses showed Anthropic’s Claude products used by 34.4 per cent of firms in April, ahead of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and related services at 32.3 per cent. Overall paid AI adoption among the surveyed businesses reached 50.6 per cent, underlining how quickly

Floci has crossed 10,000 GitHub stars as software teams look for a free, no-account alternative to LocalStack for local AWS emulation after a licensing and distribution change disrupted established development workflows.The milestone, reached on May 15, 2026, marks a sharp rise for the MIT-licensed project, which presents itself as a drop-in replacement for LocalStack’s former community edition. The shift has drawn attention from developers running automated tests, integration suites and CI/CD pipelines that depend on simulated cloud services rather than

A Bitcoin holder’s claim that Anthropic’s Claude helped unlock a college-era wallet containing 5 BTC has stirred fresh debate over artificial intelligence, digital forensics and the vast store of cryptocurrency believed to be stranded behind forgotten passwords.The pseudonymous user, posting on X, said access was regained after more than a decade of failed attempts to recover an old wallet created during college years. At current market levels, the recovered coins are worth about $396,000, though the exact value would move

Jurors in Oakland are set to begin deliberations on Monday in a closely watched trial over whether OpenAI’s leadership broke charitable-trust obligations as the maker of ChatGPT shifted from its nonprofit origins into a profit-seeking artificial intelligence powerhouse.The nine-person jury will consider claims brought by Elon Musk against OpenAI, chief executive Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman after three weeks of testimony that exposed deep divisions over the company’s founding mission, commercial growth and control of advanced AI systems.

Two vulnerabilities in the Avada Builder plugin have exposed around one million WordPress websites to attacks that could reveal sensitive files or extract database information, prompting urgent calls for administrators to update to the fully patched version 3.15.3.The flaws affect Avada Builder, also known as Fusion Builder, a widely used page-building plugin bundled with the Avada WordPress theme. The higher-rated issue, tracked as CVE-2026-4798, is an unauthenticated time-based SQL injection vulnerability affecting versions up to and including 3.15.1. The second,

Singapore will host the first stop of a new Sea and OpenAI Codex hackathon series across Asia Pacific, placing the city-state at the centre of a wider push to accelerate AI-native software development among experienced builders.The Sea x OpenAI Codex Hackathon is scheduled for 6 June 2026 and will bring together more than 150 developers, engineers and AI builders working in up to 40 teams. Participants are expected to build practical AI applications using Codex and related coding-agent tools, with

Global companies are moving AI agents into sensitive cyber security workflows faster than many can secure them, raising fresh concerns over identity systems, privileged access and recovery readiness after a breach.A global survey of 1,100 organisations across the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Singapore found that 93% either already use or plan to use AI agents for security tasks such as password resets and VPN access. The finding points to a rapid shift from experimental AI use

Meta has begun rolling out an incognito chat mode for WhatsApp users who want to speak with its AI assistant without leaving a stored conversation trail, marking a significant privacy shift as technology companies compete to make generative AI feel safer for everyday use.The new feature, called Incognito Chat with Meta AI, is being introduced on WhatsApp and the Meta AI app over the coming months. It allows users to start a temporary conversation with the chatbot in a protected

OpenAI has launched Daybreak, a cybersecurity initiative designed to use frontier AI models and Codex Security to find software flaws, generate fixes and verify remediation before attackers can exploit weaknesses in code.Daybreak marks a sharper push by the ChatGPT maker into defensive cybersecurity, where AI systems are being positioned not merely as coding assistants but as tools for secure-by-design software development. The service is built around the idea that security should be embedded at the start of the software

Alphabet is preparing its first yen-denominated bond sale as the Google parent broadens its financing base to support a sharp increase in artificial intelligence spending, underscoring how the world’s largest technology groups are moving beyond domestic debt markets to fund the infrastructure race.A term sheet shows the planned multi-tranche offering may include notes with maturities of three, five, seven, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 years, though one or more tranches could be dropped depending on investor demand and market

TikTok has begun offering UK adults a £3.99 monthly option to use the short-video app without advertising, marking a significant shift in how one of the world’s largest social media platforms balances user privacy, advertising revenue and regulatory pressure.The subscription, called TikTok Ad-Free, is being rolled out gradually to users aged 18 and above. Those who sign up will no longer see adverts on the platform, and TikTok says their data will not be used for advertising purposes. Users who

Dubai-founded OTT Cybersecurity LLC has secured a place in Anthropic’s Cyber Verification Program, giving its Lyrie. ai platform formal recognition within a controlled framework for dual-use cybersecurity work involving advanced AI systems.The company also released the Agent Trust Protocol, an open cryptographic standard designed to verify the identity, authority and integrity of AI agents as they operate across digital systems. The protocol is being positioned as a trust layer for autonomous agents that can read emails, write code, trigger transactions,

Dubai has honoured more than 47 Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors for helping attract international and regional business events, reinforcing the emirate’s drive to turn knowledge exchange into a core pillar of economic growth.The annual gala, organised by Dubai Business Events, the city’s official convention bureau under the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, took place at The Lana, Dorchester Collection, Dubai. The ceremony recognised ambassadors whose work supported bids for conferences, congresses, meetings and homegrown events across healthcare, technology, academia,

Fake DDR5 memory modules fitted with plastic dummy chips have surfaced in online hardware checks, raising fresh concern across PC component markets already strained by tight memory supply and rising prices.The counterfeit modules appear at first glance to resemble legitimate DDR5 sticks, carrying printed labels and layouts that imitate recognised brands. Closer inspection by hardware testers showed that the supposed DRAM packages were not functional silicon but plastic pieces or bare board sections placed where memory chips should be. Some

Alphabet has moved within striking distance of becoming the world’s most valuable company, as investor confidence in its artificial intelligence strategy reshapes Wall Street’s view of Google’s parent after years of concern that it had fallen behind rivals in the AI race.Shares of the company have surged this year, lifting its market value to about $4.86 trillion by the close of trading on May 8, 2026. Nvidia remains ahead at roughly $5.27 trillion, but the gap has narrowed sharply as

SpaceX has moved closer to a vast semiconductor manufacturing project in Texas that could require as much as $119 billion if fully built, placing Elon Musk’s companies at the centre of a high-stakes push to secure advanced chips for artificial intelligence, robotics, vehicles and space-based computing.Filings in Grimes County show Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is seeking a property tax abatement for a proposed facility at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir and surrounding areas, about 20 miles east of Bryan-College Station. The

Amazon Web Services has moved to give AI agents the ability to pay for digital services during a task, unveiling Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe as technology companies race to build the financial plumbing for autonomous software.The preview launch, announced on 7 May 2026, allows developers using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore to connect AI agents to wallets, set spending limits and let those agents make controlled payments for web content, application programming interfaces, Model Context Protocol

Anthropic has struck a major compute agreement with SpaceX that will give its Claude artificial intelligence platform access to more than 300 megawatts of capacity and over 220,000 Nvidia graphics processors, marking one of the largest infrastructure moves yet in the race to support commercial AI demand.The deal, announced on May 6, gives Anthropic use of all compute capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data centre within the month. The company said the additional infrastructure has enabled immediate increases in usage

Adnoc Distribution will roll out an artificial intelligence-powered self-checkout system across 50 Oasis by Adnoc convenience stores from the second quarter of 2026, marking a new phase in the company’s push to turn its fuel-station retail network into a digitally enabled mobility and convenience platform.The agreement with UAE-based DTEK. ai will introduce SWIFT, a computer-vision and machine-learning checkout system designed to recognise products instantly and allow customers to place, pay and leave in under 30 seconds from the start of

Cisco has patched a high-severity denial-of-service flaw that could allow unauthenticated attackers to knock key network management systems offline by flooding them with connection requests, raising operational risks for service providers and large enterprises that rely on automated orchestration platforms.The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20188, affects Cisco Crosswork Network Controller and Cisco Network Services Orchestrator, two products used to manage complex, multi-vendor networks and automate service provisioning. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5, placing it in the high-severity

Snap has confirmed the quiet end of its $400 million artificial intelligence partnership with Perplexity, removing a high-profile growth lever from its 2026 outlook just as the Snapchat parent faces pressure from uneven advertising demand, geopolitical disruption and a deeper push for cost discipline.The agreement, announced in November 2025, was designed to bring Perplexity’s conversational answer engine into Snapchat’s Chat interface, allowing users to ask questions and receive AI-generated responses inside one of the app’s most used communication surfaces. Perplexity

Anthropic has struck a major compute agreement with SpaceX that will give the maker of Claude access to all capacity at the Colossus 1 data centre, adding more than 300 megawatts of power and over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs within a month.The deal is aimed at easing capacity pressure on Claude as demand rises for AI assistants, developer tools and enterprise services. Anthropic said the extra resources will directly improve access for Claude Pro and Claude Max users, while allowing higher

OpenAI is reportedly accelerating work on a ChatGPT-centred smartphone, raising the prospect that the artificial intelligence company could move from software into mass-market consumer hardware as early as 2027.Supply-chain checks point to a device designed around AI agents rather than the familiar app-led smartphone model. The project is being described as OpenAI’s first AI agent phone, with mass production targeted for the first half of 2027 if development remains on track. The shift would place OpenAI in direct competition with

Google Home is being reshaped into a more conversational smart home platform as Google rolls out Gemini 3.1 for its connected-home assistant, alongside camera, automation and notification upgrades aimed at making household devices faster and easier to manage.The update marks another step in Google’s attempt to replace the older Google Assistant experience on compatible speakers and displays with Gemini for Home, an AI-driven system designed to interpret longer commands, handle follow-up questions and manage several household tasks in one request.