Category: Biz Tech

Commercial artificial intelligence models are advancing quickly in vulnerability research and exploit development, sharpening concern across the cybersecurity industry that tools built for productivity and defence could also lower the barrier for offensive misuse. A study by Forescout’s Vedere Labs found that commercial systems now outperform open-source and underground alternatives in identifying software flaws, while more than half of the models tested were able to generate exploits with varying degrees of autonomy or user guidance.That marks a notable shift

Netflix is set to roll out a redesigned mobile app by the end of April, adding a vertical video discovery feed that mirrors the swipe-driven format popularised by short-form platforms as the streaming group pushes to make browsing faster and more intuitive on phones. The company disclosed the change in its April 16 shareholder letter, saying the updated mobile experience follows a period of testing and is meant to reflect a broader entertainment offering while making it easier for members

Google has extended its Personal Intelligence system to the Gemini app’s built-in image generation tools, allowing users to create tailored visuals shaped by data from their own Google services, including Google Photos, rather than relying only on long text prompts or manual uploads. The update ties a more personal layer of context to Nano Banana 2, Google’s latest image model, as the company pushes harder to make AI assistants more useful in everyday consumer tasks.The move builds on Personal

Anthropic has rolled out Claude Opus 4.7, an upgraded version of its top broadly available artificial intelligence model, pitching it as a stronger tool for advanced software engineering just days after keeping its more powerful Mythos Preview behind tight access controls because of cyber-risk concerns. The move gives developers a more capable coding model while signalling that Anthropic is trying to balance commercial momentum with a more cautious approach to frontier releases.The company said Opus 4.7 improves on Opus

Alibaba Group Holding has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model aimed at building 3D environments and interactive video, widening its challenge to Tencent in one of the most commercially sensitive corners of China’s technology market: games, cloud services and creator tools. The model, called Happy Oyster, was introduced on Thursday as a “world model”, a system designed to generate explorable digital scenes rather than only short clips, according to Bloomberg’s report on the launch.The move matters because it shifts

Comcast customers notified about the company’s 2023 Xfinity data breach are being offered cash payments, reimbursement for documented losses and identity-protection services under a proposed $117.5 million class-action settlement, opening what could become one of the largest consumer redress exercises tied to a telecom cyber incident in the United States. The settlement applies to people in the United States and its territories who were sent individual notice of the breach around December 18, 2023, with claims due by August 14,

YouTube is changing how advertising appears during livestreams, pulling back commercial interruptions at moments when audience activity is surging or when viewers are paying to support creators. The move marks a notable adjustment in how the platform balances revenue with viewer experience, and it signals a wider push towards automated ad placement shaped by what is happening on screen and in chat in real time.Under the update, YouTube says viewers who buy Super Chats, Super Stickers or gifts will

OpenAI has launched GPT-5.4-Cyber, a new version of its frontier model tailored for defensive cybersecurity work, moving quickly to answer growing concern that ever more capable AI systems could help both defenders and attackers in a widening digital arms race. The release came a week after Anthropic disclosed Claude Mythos Preview under its tightly controlled Project Glasswing programme, setting up a new contest over who can best position advanced AI as a shield rather than a threat.OpenAI said the

Amazon has struck an $11.57 billion deal to buy Globalstar, a move that would give the technology group a sharper edge in satellite communications, deepen its rivalry with SpaceX’s Starlink and place it at the centre of the next phase of smartphone connectivity, including services tied to future iPhone and Apple Watch models. The proposed acquisition, announced on April 14, would fold Globalstar’s satellites, spectrum assets and operational capabilities into Amazon’s low-Earth-orbit network, now branded Amazon Leo.The transaction matters

SoftBank Group’s push to raise broader backing for a $40 billion loan tied to its investment in OpenAI is drawing fresh attention to how far global lenders are willing to support Masayoshi Son’s debt-heavy bet on artificial intelligence. More banks are being approached to join the financing, extending a syndication effort that began after SoftBank secured the bridge facility in March, in what has become a major test of confidence in both the Japanese group’s balance sheet and the commercial

A new study by Pearson and Amazon Web Services has sharpened concerns over whether universities are keeping pace with the demands of an AI-driven labour market, finding that 53% of employers say their main difficulty is hiring graduates with the right AI skills. The report, released on April 13, surveyed 2,711 learners, higher-education leaders and employers across the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Vietnam, pointing to a widening gap between academic confidence and workplace expectations.

OpenAI has told users of its Mac software to update their applications after a third-party supply-chain incident touched the company’s app-signing workflow, prompting a wider effort to replace security certificates and tighten the process that proves its desktop software is authentic. The company said there is no evidence that user data was accessed, that passwords or API keys were exposed, or that its systems, intellectual property or software were altered.The issue centres on Axios, a widely used JavaScript library

Booking.com has confirmed that hackers accessed customer booking information, exposing names, email addresses, phone numbers and reservation details in a security incident that has triggered fresh concern over how much personal travel data is concentrated on large online platforms. The company said it moved to contain the issue, reset reservation PINs for affected bookings and contacted impacted guests directly. It has not disclosed how many customers were affected or when the intrusion began, leaving regulators, travellers and accommodation partners with

Microsoft has lifted prices across its Surface hardware range, making its premium laptops and tablets significantly more expensive as a global memory shortage ripples through the personal-computer market and forces manufacturers to pass higher component costs on to buyers. The move places Microsoft alongside other device makers that have warned of steeper bills for DRAM and NAND components, with the pressure tied largely to booming demand from artificial-intelligence infrastructure and tighter supply for consumer electronics.Several of the increases are

Cisco is closing in on a deal to buy Astrix Security for as much as $350 million, according to multiple reports, in a sign that one of the world’s largest networking and security groups is moving faster to secure the fast-growing risks created by AI agents and other non-human identities inside large organisations. The talks, first reported on April 10, value the Israeli startup at roughly three to four times the capital it has raised so far, though neither company

Apple’s higher-memory Mac mini and Mac Studio models are becoming harder to buy in several markets, as pressure on the global memory supply chain collides with strong demand for AI hardware and growing industry talk of fresh desktop upgrades later this year. Apple continues to sell both desktop lines, but availability has tightened most visibly around customised configurations with larger memory allocations rather than entry-level machines.That shift matters because Apple’s desktop buyers often choose those machines precisely for heavier

OpenAI has accused Elon Musk of staging a last-minute legal manoeuvre ahead of a jury trial due to begin on 27 April in Oakland, California, deepening a dispute that has grown from a fight over the company’s founding ideals into one of the most consequential courtroom battles in artificial intelligence. The latest exchange came after Musk amended his claims against OpenAI and Microsoft, widening the remedies he wants and prompting OpenAI to argue that he is trying to disrupt the

Elon Musk’s X is preparing to launch XChat as a standalone messaging app for iPhone and iPad on 17 April, turning what had been a feature inside the social platform into a separate product aimed at users seeking private, app-first communication. Apple’s App Store listing identifies X Corp. as the developer, describes the service as fully end-to-end encrypted, and says it is built as a focused space for conversation without adverts or tracking.That move matters beyond a product release.

Google has removed Doki Doki Literature Club from the Play Store, setting off a dispute over how major app platforms police games that deal with suicide, depression and psychological distress. The takedown affects the Android version of the cult visual novel, which had only reached mobile devices in December, and comes despite the game carrying a mature rating on Google Play and longstanding content warnings in its official listings.The move has drawn a sharp response from creator Dan Salvato and

Samsung Electronics is weighing a semiconductor packaging and testing project in Vietnam that could be valued at about $4 billion, a move that would deepen the country’s role in the global chip supply chain and expand Samsung’s manufacturing base in one of its most important overseas hubs. Reporting over the past two days has shown that the company is discussing a semiconductor project with Vietnamese authorities, while separate reporting has put the likely investment at roughly $4 billion, with Thai

Metso has launched a new line of flip-flow screens aimed at one of the harder jobs in minerals processing and aggregates production: separating fine, dry and often moisture-laden material without pushing operators towards water-intensive screening. The Finland-based group said its new GFF Series is designed to improve classification accuracy, lower circulating loads and support more energy-efficient plant performance in both mining and sand manufacturing.The launch, announced on April 10, adds another layer to Metso’s screening portfolio at a time

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has sued Colorado in federal court, opening a fresh front in the widening US battle over how far states can go in policing the use of advanced algorithms in decisions affecting jobs, housing, education, healthcare and finance. The complaint, filed on April 9, seeks to block enforcement of Colorado’s Senate Bill 24-205 before it takes effect on June 30, arguing that the law violates constitutional protections for speech, is too vague to enforce fairly

Meta Platforms has unveiled Muse Spark, its first new flagship artificial intelligence model in about a year, marking a pivotal moment in Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt to restore the company’s standing against OpenAI, Google and Anthropic after a period of criticism around its earlier Llama releases. Muse Spark began rolling out on 8 April through the Meta AI app and the meta. ai website in the United States, with integration into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta’s AI glasses due in

Amazon’s Sparrow robot is moving the company’s automation drive beyond lifting shelves and sorting parcels into one of warehouse robotics’ hardest jobs: selecting individual products of different shapes, sizes and surfaces from bins and placing them into totes for the next stage of fulfilment. Introduced as an AI-enabled picking arm, Sparrow marked a notable step in Amazon’s effort to automate item handling while keeping human workers in roles that require judgement, exception management and oversight.Smarter item picking changes warehouse

OpenAI is projecting a steep new revenue path built around advertising, with the ChatGPT maker expecting about $2.5 billion in ad revenue in 2026 and as much as $100 billion annually by 2030, according to a report by Axios citing investor presentation material. The same projections indicate ad sales could climb to $11 billion in 2027, $25 billion in 2028 and $53 billion in 2029, underscoring how central advertising may become to the company’s commercial model as it tries to

CoreWeave has expanded its artificial intelligence infrastructure relationship with Meta to $21 billion, extending a partnership that underlines how the biggest technology groups are leaning on specialist cloud providers to secure the computing power needed for the next phase of AI development. The enlarged agreement, announced on April 9, runs through December 2032 and builds on a prior deal valued at about $14 billion struck in September.The new arrangement centres on AI inference workloads, the stage at which trained

DataBank and Goodman Group have formed a 50-50 joint venture to build a 32MW data centre in Vernon, California, betting that one of the most capacity-starved digital infrastructure markets in the United States will stay tight as demand from artificial intelligence, cloud and enterprise customers keeps rising. The project is due to begin operations in December 2026 with an initial 6MW, with the remaining capacity scheduled to come online in phases through September 2027.The site, at 3094 E Vernon

Lumen Technologies has used its latest letter from chief executive Kate Johnson to sharpen a message it has been building for more than a year: the company wants investors, customers and partners to see it less as a legacy telecom carrier and more as a high-capacity digital networking platform built for artificial intelligence workloads. In the letter, Johnson said 2025 was a “pivotal year”, set out plans to make Lumen the “trusted network for AI”, and argued that the group’s

Google has begun rolling out vertical tabs and an upgraded reading mode to the desktop version of Chrome, adding two widely requested features aimed at users juggling large numbers of open pages and those seeking a cleaner full-screen reading experience. The company said the changes are arriving for Chrome on desktop platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, with availability expanding gradually rather than landing for all users at once.Desktop Chrome gets a cleaner layout with the new tools focused

Anthropic has launched Project Glasswing, a controlled cybersecurity programme that gives a select group of large technology, finance and security organisations access to its unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model to identify and help fix serious software vulnerabilities in widely used systems. The company says the model has already uncovered thousands of significant flaws across operating systems, browsers and other foundational software, but has stopped short of making it generally available because of the risk that such capabilities could be misused

Alchemy, the blockchain infrastructure company often described in the sector as a crypto equivalent of cloud back-end provider AWS, has launched AgentPay, a new tool aimed at solving a fast-emerging problem in machine commerce: AI payment systems are being built on different rails and often cannot work with one another. The company says AgentPay gives merchants and service providers a single integration layer so they can accept payments from multiple agentic payment protocols without rebuilding their existing APIs.The timing matters

Kuka is stepping up its push into the United States and Asia as its leadership warns that too many manufacturers in Europe are moving too slowly on artificial intelligence, creating an opening for competitors in markets where automation spending and industrial policy are advancing at a quicker pace. The shift, outlined by chief executive Christoph Schell, comes as the Augsburg-based robotics group tries to reposition itself around what it calls “Automation 2.0” while navigating weak factory demand in parts of

 Google has quietly introduced a free iPhone app that pushes its on-device AI ambitions further into everyday productivity, offering voice dictation that works without a network connection while automatically cleaning up spoken text into more polished prose. The app, Google AI Edge Eloquent, is listed on Apple’s App Store as a Google-developed productivity tool for iPhone, described as free and built around local processing using the company’s Gemma technology.The launch is notable because Google has said little publicly about it,

Sony Interactive Entertainment has entered an agreement to acquire Cinemersive Labs, a UK-based machine learning and computer vision company, in a move that signals a deeper push into AI-driven graphics, rendering and visual tools for PlayStation. Sony said the team will join its Visual Computing Group and help advance visual computing inside games, with work aimed at enhancing gameplay visuals, improving rendering techniques and raising visual fidelity for players.The deal, announced on April 2, adds another specialist UK technology