Category: Tech

Kyndryl’s second annual Readiness report has found that geopolitical pressures have become more important in IT decision-making compared with 12 months ago.

According to the poll of 3,700 senior leaders across 21 countries, including the UK, 83% of the people surveyed agree that emerging data sovereignty and repatriation regulations are influencing IT decision-making, while 82% agree that their IT decision-making is being influenced by rising geopolitical instability and tensions.

Kyndryl said that geopolitical pressures are forcing a data pivot. While reporting clear benefits from cloud adoption, organisations are now reevaluating where and how their data is stored, processed, accessed and secured, amid an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape.

Three-quarters (75%) agree their organisation is increasingly concerned about the geopolitical risks associated with storing and managing data in global cloud environments. In fact, 86% agree the country of origin and regulatory alignment of cloud providers are becoming increasingly important factors in their cloud evaluation process. Businesses are also balancing legacy infrastructure challenges, with 70% of CEOs saying they reached their cloud setup by accident rather than design.

Looking at the data for the UK, Kyndryl reported that 80% of UK leaders are concerned about the geopolitical risks of storing and managing data globally, which is higher than the global average of 75%. This has led 68% of UK respondents to change their cloud strategies.

Overall, almost a third (65%) of the people surveyed agree that their CEO and chief financial officer are not aligned with the long-term value of technology investments. Nearly three-quarters (74%) say the pressure to demonstrate short-term return on investment undermines longer-term innovation goals.

The survey found that 63% of the organisations polled say they experienced more costs than expected from moving to the cloud. Kyndryl’s survey also reported that 62% invested heavily in cloud early on, but have since had to revert some workloads to on-premise. Over half (56%) of the organisations polled say they have inaccessible data in environments that were never properly decommissioned.

Kyndryl also reported that almost all of the companies surveyed (95%) would change the way their organisation implemented its cloud strategy if they had the chance. When asked how they would change their cloud implementation, the top priority would be more focus on security and compliance, followed by a better understanding of integration complexity.

In fact, 83% of UK businesses experienced a cyber-related outage in the past year, making cyber security and IT infrastructure upgrades the top two risk-mitigation actions (43% each). 

Looking at the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) among the organisations polled, Kyndryl reported that although over half (54%) say they are seeing positive returns on AI investments – an increase of 12 points from 2024 – 62% still have yet to advance their AI projects beyond the pilot stage.

The figures for the UK show that while 84% of UK executives polled say AI will completely transform roles and responsibilities in the next 12 months, 46% worry about having the right technical skills to get the most out of AI.

“A readiness gap exists as enterprises grapple with the promise of transformative value from AI,” said Martin Schroeter, chairman and CEO of Kyndryl. “While 90% of organisations think they have the tools and processes to scale innovation, more than half are stalled by their tech stack, and less than a third say their employees are truly ready for AI. Closing that gap is the challenge and opportunity ahead.”

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The emerging network of mutualistic technologies – including extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI) and sensors – is set to benefit a number of industries and applications, not least robotics.

The synergistic effects of these technologies have the potential to advance robotics and radically transform the possibilities of integrating robotics into economies and societies. The potential to drive new markets, increase productivity, and enable novel service applications is substantial.

The arrival of embodied AI

The advent of embodied AI marks a step towards making AI available across applications. As defined by Nvidia, embodied AI represents “the integration of artificial intelligence into physical systems, enabling them to interact with the physical world”.

Nvidia, which is at the centre of AI developments with its enabling chips, notes: “The fusion of machine learning, sensors and computer vision lets … systems perceive, reason and act in real-world environments.”

Embodied AI goes beyond robotics in the strict sense and applies to smart systems and infrastructures more generally. It extends the capabilities of AI to physical systems – such as buildings, robots and autonomous vehicles like cars, trucks and robotaxis – and by integrating machine learning and computer vision, these systems can unlock the potential of generative AI applications in physical industries.

AI models can leverage data that existing robots collect will operating. These models then inform robotic applications by bridging the gap between simulations and real-world applications. In this context, digital twins will play an important role. These will provide synthetic data that can supplement data collected in the field. This type of data is artificially created data “designed to mimic real-world data,” says IT giant IBM.

Splicing virtual and physical applications

Industrial-machinery manufacturer Siemens is looking at the benefits digital twins have to offer for integrators and users of robots and industrial equipment.

Brian McMinn, machine tool business segment manager at Siemens, explains how such virtual environments support computer-numerical-control (CNC) machines in an increasingly digitalised world: “We can dry run in a virtual world before they even start building the machine.”

Industrial-robots producer KUKA similarly leverages digital twins to support its product offer. For example, stove manufacturer HASE Kaminofenbau uses digital twins and KUKA welding robots in its operations.

Florian Fischer, head of production development at HASE, outlines the advantages: “We wanted to build an ultra-modern, flexible robotic system that will also be able to process future models that don’t even exist yet, without placing constraints on our designers or bringing production to a standstill.”

Toppan offers its own digital-twin solution TransBots to address the changes digitalisation will effect across all spheres of life. The global printing and packaging company applies a very wide view on the future use of digital twins, stating: “As our society is going to be more and more digitised in the future, we will need to implement a digital twin system where information is shared between humans, robots and services in a virtual space, thereby allowing work to be performed efficiently.”

Station Ai in Nagoya, Japan, is using a digital twin solution to establish a “robot-friendly environment” within its open-innovation-focused facility with a participating network of “more than 1,000 startups, partner companies, VCs and other support organisations, and universities”, according to the firm.

Training robots in digital twins

Digital twins can not only explore layouts and workflows that accommodate for robotic systems, but can provide training grounds for robotic systems to accelerate their use across application areas and lower cost associated with robotic applications. Digital twins can overcome hurdles that currently prevent the use of AI in some applications.

In manufacturing, companies can collect and analyse data from the factory floor to train AI-enabled robotic systems. But many manufacturers lack such data-collection abilities. Similarly, in fairly unstructured operations such as in mining, but also many manufacturing environments (including construction), the complexity of human operations can quickly outstrip the benefits of integrating AI-powered machinery or “cobots”, collaborative robots.

In most manufacturing facilities, digital twins can create synthetic data to train AI-enhanced robotic equipment. In more complex, rapidly changing surroundings, digital twins offer a pathway to facilitate the use of AI systems in the future, particularly if these twins can feed on real-time sensor data that reflect ongoing changes.

Pre-training of AI models with actual data from exiting robotic systems can create reliable and robust models to train models that improve on operations. Sensor-based digital twins that mirror real-world behaviour of systems and workforce can offer a viable alternative. But digital twins can go further and provide training grounds in environments with low data availability. Simulations within virtual representations provide an option to transfer real-world dynamics into virtual environments to then train AI, robotics, and equipment for real-world applications.

“Synthetic data, generated from digital twin simulations, can be used alongside real-world data to train multimodal physical AI models,” says Nvidia. “Synthetic data generation is the creation of text, 2D or 3D images, and videos in the visual and non-visual spectrum using computer simulations, generative AI models, or a combination of the two.”

For example, roboticists can leverage now digital twins to quickly create scalable environments that support the training and optimisation of AI models that can then find use for training robotic navigation or vision systems, to name just a few use cases. Such simulations not only accelerate training of robotic and automated systems but also allow developers to consider scenarios that can be difficult or prohibitively expensive to create in real-world environments.

Moreover, such simulated environments can inform AI and robotic systems about the effects of potential disruptions that are otherwise impossible to create. For example, the effects of events such as the Covid pandemic – which turned demand patterns upside down, put tremendous stress on supply chains, and changed the flow of people and goods globally and regionally – can only be simulated in virtual environment to test AI models.

Similarly, strategists and modellers can now consider the changes natural disasters, conflict outbreaks, or major competitive actions can have on the commercial environment at levels that cannot be reasonably replicated in any other ways. Simulations in digital twins can guide thinking at global and geopolitical levels.

AI supports XR, XR accommodates AI

On a related, forward-looking sidenote, consumers will increasingly adopt home robotics in their households. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg also sees AI as an enabler for virtual environments. After Meta focused efforts on the creation of metaverse computing environments a few years ago, AI quickly moved to the forefront of media and investors’ attention, supplanting interest in metaverse applications.

Now, Zuckerberg considers AI an important part of these efforts as he outlined on 17 September 2025 at the Meta Connect 2025’s opening keynote, in which he presented Meta’s vision for AI and the metaverse.

The combination of AI and XR elements will find use to create content easily and to make it look more authentic to the real world. Meta Horizon Studio is Meta’s suite to “build and iterate [content] fast with generative AI and ship to a global audience on mobile and VR” in the metaverse.

Zuckerberg stated: “Soon, Meta Horizon Studio is going to include an agentic AI assistant that will stitch together…different tools and further speed up the creation process using just simple text prompts … Now you are going to be able to easily create infinite connected spaces that look way better with realistic physics and interaction.”

Familiarity with such environments will enable consumers in the future to create their very own digital twins of homes and backyards, for instance. Such twins then provide a platform to operate home robots.

Four technologies enable exponential progress

At the beginning of the internet economy in the 1990s, many companies started by initially posting catalogue-like information on websites. Over time, ordering and purchasing processes followed. By now, internal, external and partnership processes use internet connectivity as the glue that connects commercial activities and enables more and more use cases – from desktop uses to mobile applications to automatic operations.

Similarly, sensor and synthetic data, AI, robotics, digital twins and XR will diffuse over time across application areas. In time, digital twins and XR will become environments that users won’t even distinguish from real-world environments, similar to the way that internet applications now are woven into virtually every aspect of our lives.

Advanced robotics will become increasingly autonomous in industrial applications, and even consumers will learn to consider them appliances the way we see internet-connected refrigerators and cooking appliances – robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers already have carved out valuable markets.

Over time, the combination of all these technologies will meld into powerful applications, similarly to the way internet applications, mobile devices, cars and appliances now combine seamlessly.

Martin Schwirn is the author of Small data, big disruptions: How to spot signals of change and manage uncertainty (ISBN 9781632651921). He is also senior adviser for strategic foresight at Business Finland, helping startups and incumbents to find their position in tomorrow’s marketplace.

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) has issued an apology to its customers inconvenienced by its largest US datacentre region suffering a 14-hour outage on 20 October, in a blog detailing the precise nature of the technical difficulties its services suffered.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, the outage originated in the public cloud giant’s US-East-1 datacentre region in North Virginia, and caused large-scale disruption to a host of companies across the world, including in the UK.

Social media and communications services such as Snapchat and Signal suffered disruption to their services, as did Amazon-owned internet entities such as its retail site, Ring doorbell and Alexa services.

Financial services provider Lloyds Bank Group, along with its Halifax and Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiaries, and the government tax collection agency HM Revenue and Customs, were also affected in the UK by the outage.

As a result, HM Treasury is now facing calls to give an account as to why – given its role as a major supplier of cloud services to the UK financial services sector – AWS has not been called into scope of its Critical Third Parties (CTP) regime before now.

The initiative gives HM Treasury powers to designate suppliers to the financial services sector as being CTP, meaning their activities can be brought into the supervisory scope of the UK’s various financial regulators.

The intention being that doing so might help better manage any potential risks to the stability and resilience of the UK financial system that might arise as a result of a third-party supplier suffering from service disruption, as happened with AWS this week.

The company has now published an extensive post-event summary document, which confirms the outage occurred in three distinct phases as a result of issues occurring within several parts of its infrastructure.

As such, the company said that just before 8am UK time on 20 October, its fully managed, serverless, NoSQL database offering Amazon DynamoDB began to experience increased application programming interface (API) error rates, which lasted for just under three hours.

Then, from around 1pm UK time on 20 October, some of the network load balancers (NLB) within its US-East-1 region started to experience increased connection errors, which persisted until around 10pm the same day. “This was caused by health check failures in the NLB fleet, which resulted in increased connection errors,” the summary document stated.

In addition to this, AWS said issues occurred when attempts were made to launch instances of its Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) virtual servers, which is an issue that persisted from around 10.30am on 20 October UK time until 6.30pm.   

“New EC2 instance launches failed and, while instance launches began to succeed from 10:37 AM PDT [6.37pm UK time], some newly launched instances experienced connectivity issues which were resolved by 1:50 PM [9.50pm UK time],” the summary document continued.

It also confirmed that other AWS services hosted within US-East-1 suffered knock-on effects as a result of the issues experienced by DynamoDB, EC2 and its network loan balancing setup.

“We are making several changes as a result of this operational event,” the company said. “As we continue to work through the details of this event across all AWS services, we will look for additional ways to avoid impact from a similar event in the future, and how to further reduce time to recovery.”

The company then concluded the summary document with an apology to any customers affected by the outage.

“While we have a strong track record of operating our services with the highest levels of availability, we know how critical our services are to our customers, their applications and end users, and their businesses,” said the summary document. “We know this event impacted many customers in significant ways. We will do everything we can to learn from this event and use it to improve our availability even further.”

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The ongoing US government shutdown in October 2025 ignited global widespread concern about cyber security vulnerabilities, especially due to the temporary lapse of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015, which slowed federal threat intelligence funding.

However, the true risk exposed by the shutdown is not the pause in government operations, but rather a clear reminder that effective cyber defence begins within organisations themselves. While many focus on the potential for “cyber chaos,” the greater danger lies in relying too heavily on government intervention for cyber security protection.

Organisations around the world must instead prioritise their own security measures, such as zero-trust identity frameworks, supply-chain fortification, and proactive threat monitoring, to stay ahead of evolving threats.

The myth of government as a cyber shield

No government, whether in Washington, London, or Brussels, can be considered a cyber security saviour. Organisations with robust internal defenses should be minimally impacted by events like the US shutdown or proposed significant cuts to civilian cyber programmes.

The issue of overreliance on government support is not unique to the US; it should be a global concern. Governments around the world, from the UK to the EU, face financial and operational constraints that can delay their ability to provide timely and adequate cyber support. Remarkably, when the Solorigate/Sunburst incident occurred at SolarWinds in 2020, the American government itself was a victim due to weak internal controls, not a lack of federal alerts.

The real threat is the mistaken belief that resolving vulnerabilities published by government sources alone will ensure safety from attacks. Cyber security must be viewed as an organisational responsibility, not a public service.

Government limitations in cyber defence

Governments can help standardise threat intelligence and regulate basic cyber security controls, but the notion that they form the backbone of global cyber security is a misconception. The US shutdown reflects challenges faced internationally. For example, in 2017, the UK’s NHS suffered a major ransomware attack due to outdated security practices and slow patching, not because of government inaction.

During the 2018-2019 US shutdown, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) operated with only 10% of its staff, yet breaches did not increase as a direct result. This is because the process of patching vulnerabilities is typically slow and lags behind updates from government threat feeds, which can overwhelm security teams.

Additionally, vulnerability scoring often lacks sufficient context, leading to misrepresentation of the true threat landscape. Relying solely on governmental threat feeds is insufficient, much like waiting for a weather report only after you are already affected.

Building an adaptive, self-reliant defence

The primary reason that even well-resourced organisations continue to experience breaches is not a lack of government support, but rather weak identity security controls and limited visibility into identity credentials. Nearly 80% of all web-based attacks stem from identity compromise, and 59% of breaches can be attributed to identity-driven threats, highlighting how the issue is often higher than reported.

While unpatched vulnerabilities can provide entry points for attackers, the underlying issue is frequently a weak identity security platform that allows credentials to remain unchecked and move freely within an organisation. This recurring pattern is evident in many security breaches. To counteract this, organisations must reinforce their defences by focusing on zero-trust identity frameworks, supply-chain fortification, and proactive threat monitoring.

Zero-trust: More than a buzzword

Zero-trust identity security is not merely a trendy concept; it represents a fundamental shift in mindset. Every user should be considered a potential threat, necessitating risk-based, adaptive identity security controls to prevent compromise.

Strengthening identity security includes auditing identity providers and accounts, removing blind spots, enforcing least-privilege access, implementing adaptive access controls, and integrating real-time behavioral analytics.

As government services lag, adaptive zero-trust identity security becomes the critical firewall against chaos, and with AI-driven attacks expected to rise by 40% by 2027, vigilance and self-reliance are increasingly vital.

For instance, one healthcare organisation used predictive analytics to thwart a ransomware attack before it could spread, demonstrating the importance of combining robust internal monitoring with external intelligence for proactive threat defense.

A new era of cyber independence

The Trump administration’s budget suggests a shift away from civilian cyber programmes, prompting the private sector to innovate and fill the gaps. This trend is likely to continue globally as governments face budgetary pressures. For cyber security professionals and organisations, this transition should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a setback.

Private firms, ISACs, and open-source intelligence sources can offer robust alternatives to government-provided options. The shutdown reveals a fundamental truth: cyber security is the responsibility of organisations themselves, not the government.

Take control today

Organisations must not allow government shutdowns or policy changes to dictate the strength of their cyber security. If government disruptions cause concern, that fear is misplaced.

Instead, focus should be placed on building a resilient security ecosystem. Investing in zero-trust security by implementing adaptive and comprehensive identity security platforms is essential.

Organisations should also strengthen supply chain security and third-party diligence through regular audits and ensure continuous monitoring of threat exposure both internally and externally. Expanding internal monitoring and integrating threat intelligence from multiple sources will further enhance security posture.

Ultimately, effective organisational cyber security is not about surviving a government shutdown, but about continuously outsmarting and outmaneuvering adversaries who never rest. By acting now, organisations can turn government pauses into strategic advantages, achieving greater self-reliance and adaptability in cyber defense.

John Paul Cunningham is chief information security officer (CISO) at Silverfort, an identity security specialist.

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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OpenAI to provide civil servants with access to ChatGPT Enterprise. The MoU includes the option of UK data residency for customers using the OpenAI API Platform, ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu. 

OpenAI technology is being used across the UK government to provide artificial intelligence (AI) in several tools, including the Whitehall AI assistant, Humphrey, which has been designed to ease the administrative burden on civil servants.

OpenAI is also behind the government’s Consult tool, which supports the policymaking process by automatically sorting public consultation responses, a task that typically takes officials weeks but can now be completed in minutes, while leaving important decisions to experts.

The agreement supports the MoJ’s AI action plan for justice, and will provide 2,500 employees with access to ChatGPT Enterprise. It follows a successful pilot that showed time-saving benefits across a range of routine tasks including writing support, compliance and legal work, data and research processes, and document analysis.

Given the current geopolitical climate, IT leaders in both the public and private sector are rethinking how they go about maintaining digital sovereignty. This has resulted in the adoption of geographically isolated availability zones from the hyperscale cloud providers.

However, given these businesses are predominantly US-headquartered, there is a risk that under the US Cloud Act, lawmakers have a legal route to access data held outside of the US. A bigger potential risk is if a foreign government prevents access to the services provided by a US-headquartered software provider. As a consequence, there are plans in Europe to develop sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure.

Commenting on the MoU, deputy prime minister David Lammy said: “Our partnership with OpenAI places Britain firmly in the driving seat of the global tech revolution – leading the world in innovation and using technology to deliver fairness and opportunity for every corner of the United Kingdom.”

OpenAI said the MoU agreement with the UK government includes a focus on expanding the UK’s sovereign AI capability.

Following the Stargate UK AI infrastructure partnership with Nvidia and Nscale, which was signed in September 2025 to coincide with US president Donald Trump’s state visit, OpenAI is now introducing UK data residency, which it said would give British customers and developers the option to store their data in the UK to help meet local data protection preferences or requirements. The Ministry of Justice will be the first to benefit from this offer as part of the MoU agreement.

UK-headquartered startup Nscale is one of the companies with strong links to the UK government’s AI expansion plans. Last month, it announced it had partnered with Microsoft to deliver the UK’s largest AI supercomputer at Nscale’s AI Campus in Loughton. Due to go live in 2027, the site will initially house 23,040 Nvidia GB300 graphics processing units (GPUs) for Microsoft UK’s Azure public cloud service. 

The Open AI Stargate UK initiative also uses Nscale infrastructure, which will be set to go live in Q1 2026. This has the potential to scale to 31,000 Nvidia GPUs over time. 

“The number of people using our products in the UK has increased fourfold in the past year,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “It’s exciting to see them using AI to save time, increase productivity and get more done. Civil servants are using ChatGPT to improve public services and established firms are reimagining operations. We’re proud to continue supporting the UK and the government’s AI plan.”

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You may have to pay to play, but who says you need to pay top-dollar to have a good pair of headphones? A Sony headset deal happening on Amazon right now, for under $10 proves that budget-friendly audio is achievable. The Sony ZX Series wired on-ear headphones, available in black or white, can be snagged at that price for a limited time. Despite being lightweight, they pack some punchy sound thanks to two 1.38-inch neodymium dynamic drivers. Cushioned earpads keep your ears cozy no matter how long you’re wearing them, making them excellent for travel. Meanwhile, they’re wired so you don’t have to worry about battery life, just make sure they’re compatible with your device, as some newer phones don’t have a 3.5mm port.

The portability of the ZX Series is one of the main selling points. You could take them back and forth between home and the office, use them during your commute, or wear them around the house when you need a lightweight pair, like when cleaning. The swivel, folding design means they’ll fit in any purse, day bag, or backpack, plus the cable is designed to be tangle-free and snag-resistant. No more pulling headphones out of your bag to find a nasty wad of tangled cords. When you look at the complete package, $10 isn’t a bad price at all for what you’re getting. That’s cheaper than most fast food meals these days. Sure, opting for a pair like the Beats Studio Pro over AirPods Max may get you improved audio and a more compact fit, but those will set you back over $170, and that’s if they’re on sale.

Why are these Sony ZX Series wired headphones so cheap?

The super low price might initially give the impression to some that these Sony ZX headphones are low-quality. That’s not true at all. While Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones are still some of the best for active noise cancellation (ANC) on the market, they’re quadruple the price, especially with this Amazon discount live. With these wired headphones, you’re giving up wireless connectivity, ANC, and other bells and whistles like a carrying case. But if you’re just listening to music, podcasts, or some audiobooks and don’t care about lossless qualities or high-range fidelity, these will do just fine. That’s also what makes them such a fantastic secondary pair.

You can have an expensive pair for those times where crystal clear audio is preferred, but if you’re ever worried about losing those while out and about, Sony’s ZX makes for a great alternative. For example, the ZX Series would be great for chilling at the beach, as you wouldn’t want to risk losing your expensive buds to the tide. You also don’t have to worry if they get damaged or exposed to the sand, an inevitability of every beach day. That said, if you make these your core headphones, you’ll still come away happy. The 30mm drivers and 12Hz to 22kHz wide frequency response range mean the audio is going to sound crisp, clear, and full of bass, and everyone knows it’s all about that bass. Plus, that puts these Sony ZX Series on par with some of the best headphones out there.

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The US state of Maryland has launched a statewide Vulnerability Disclosure Programme (VDP) to give ethical hackers the chance to probe systems across its government for flaws and vulnerabilities and allow them safe, straightforward and transparent reporting mechanisms.

The programme, which will be operated by bug bounty and VDP programme specialists at Bugcrowd, will give Maryland access to a well-established community of hackers, proven workflows and scalable reporting infrastructure. The state’s leaders said that working in this way would increase hacker participation, improve the efficiency of vulnerability triaging and enable internal IT teams to stay focused on remediation while maintaining value for the state’s taxpayers.

Writing on LinkedIn, acting Maryland state CISO James Saunders said: “Cyber security is often called a team sport. I believe that deeply, and more importantly, we are all on the same team. If you see something insecure, report it. Every observation helps us strengthen our defences and improve together.

“At its core, cyber security has always been about people. Technology matters, but trust, communication, and shared responsibility matter more. These efforts remind us that when we collaborate, learn, and protect one another, we make Maryland stronger – together!”

Maryland is not the first American jurisdiction to operate such a programme, California, Iowa, Ohio, Delaware, Minnesota, Idaho, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Washington DC also operate such schemes, but the creation of the VDP at this moment in time in part reflects growing momentum among state governments to take more charge of their own affairs as cuts to the currently shutdown federal government continue.

In the cyber security sector, concerns continue to swirl following cutbacks to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which critics of the Trump administration say limits the US’ capacity to respond to cyber threats both within its borders and on the global stage.

In recent days, CISA – which sits within the Department of Homeland Security – saw its Stakeholder Engagement Division hit by sweeping layoffs, according to our sister title Cybersecurity Dive. Citing sources familiar with the matter, it reported that the latest cuts would leave units that engage with academic institutions, CNI operators, government agencies, non-profits, SMEs, and state and local governments effectively unstaffed.

Compulsory intel sharing

Meanwhile, additional to its new VDP, Maryland is expanding its in-house Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (MD-ISAC), mandating the participation of all state agencies, local governments, critical infrastructure operators and private sector partners working in the state.

Saunders said real-time collaboration and trusted information sharing were “essential to our collective resilience in today’s fast-moving cyber landscape”.

According to state leaders, a number of “critical cyber security incidents” have highlighted that Maryland lacks a single, secure, and universal channel to spread sensitive threat information and incident details in a timely manner.

Compulsory participation will give in-scope bodies access to a repository of threat indicators to allow cyber teams to research new threats and enhance detection and prevention capabilities; state specific threat data related to patterns, trends and anomalies seen on Maryland’s own systems; and continuous threat exchange collaboration capabilities.

“Maryland officials point to earlier bug bounty pilots, where researchers identified dozens of issues, as proof that involving the hacker community demonstrably reduces risk,” said Noelle Murata, senior security engineer at Xcape, a managed security services provider (MSSP).

“With James Saunders newly installed as state CISO, the project suggests a push to standardise intake, safe-harbour reporting, and remediation across agencies. The combined goal of VDP and MD-ISAC is to transform ad hoc findings into statewide speed alerts and actionable remedies.

“Maryland’s message to defenders and researchers is simple – if you see something, say something, and we’ll fix it fast, together,” she said.

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Bereaved families are calling for a public inquiry over “repeated failures” by the government and online harms regulator Ofcom to effectively deal with a “nihilistic” suicide forum.

According to a report by the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF), a suicide prevention charity targeted to people under the age of 25, government departments were warned a total of 65 times about the online forum.

It added that, so far, the forum has been linked to the deaths of at least 133 people in the UK over the past five years, after they obtained toxic chemicals promoted by the site.

While the forum owners voluntarily moved to block UK IP addressed from accessing the site in response to an Ofcom investigation launched in April 2025, the MRF claims the regulator is “failing to take the necessary steps” to prevent the ongoing threat posed by the site.

Under the Online Safety Act – which became law in October 2023 but only went into full effect on 25 July 2025 – Ofcom was able from March 2025 to take action against sites hosting illegal content, which includes content promoting suicide. If sites fail to show they have systems in place to remove illegal material, Ofcom can block them or impose fines of up to £18m.

According to a 13 October 2025 update from Ofcom, while the site initially contained messaging on its landing page telling users how to circumvent the block, this was subsequently removed following further engagement from the regulator.

“These restrictions have reduced the likelihood that people in the UK will be exposed to illegal or harmful content that may be present on the service, meaning safer online experiences for them,” it said. “We are actively monitoring these restrictions to check they are maintained consistently and to make sure that the service refrains from promoting or encouraging ways for UK users to avoid them. Depending on the outcome of our monitoring process, we may re-assess prioritisation of this case in line with our general approach to enforcement.”

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the MRF, said the state’s failure “to protect its vulnerable citizens means that the nihilistic potential of a suicide forum has cost countless lives”, adding: “It is inexplicable that Ofcom has left the fate of a forum that exists to groom and coerce others to end their lives [to itself] rather than take swift and decisive action to legally shut it down in the UK. Nothing less than a public inquiry is now needed to learn the countless lessons and act on them to save lives.”

The MRF said that Ofcom should have moved to restrict access itself, rather than leaving it to the site operators. The MRF also claims that despite multiple government departments – including the Home Office, Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – being warned a combined total of 65 times by both campaigners and coroners about the risk of further deaths since 2019, no concerted action was taken.

Instead, they accused the departments of playing “pass the parcel” with their concerns, and highlighted how there are no mechanisms in place to track whether action is taken in response to coroners’ concerns.

Bereaved families who are part of Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harms have now written to the prime minister calling for an inquiry into why these warnings have been ignored.  

“We have seen government departments work ineffectively to respond to emerging suicide threats. A suicide forum being allowed to continue to promote a harmful substance over a number of years; regulation that allows for the sale of a lethal poison to vulnerable people domestically and from overseas; and frontline responses that have let down some of those most in need of support,” they wrote. “This is despite the numerous warnings from coroners, investigations by journalists and the sustained efforts of bereaved family members to shine a spotlight on these harms.”

While the government has not confirmed whether it will consider an inquiry, it said sites must prevent users from accessing illegal suicide and self-harm content or face “robust enforcement, including substantial fines”.

A government spokesperson added that the substance in question “is closely monitored and is reportable under the Poisons Act”, meaning retailers should tell the authorities if they suspect it is being bought to cause harm.

A message on the forum’s homepage says it was not blocked in the UK as a result of government action, but instead because of a “proactive” decision to “protect the platform and its users”.

“We operate under the protection of the First Amendment. However, UK authorities have signalled intentions to enforce their domestic laws on foreign platforms, potentially leading to criminal liability or service disruption,” it said.

In a statement given to Computer Weekly, Ofcom said: “In response to our enforcement action, the online suicide forum put in place a geo-block to restrict access by people with UK IP addresses. Services that choose to block access by people in the UK must not encourage or promote ways to avoid these restrictions.”

It added that the forum remained on its watchlist and that its previous investigation into the site remained open while it checked the block was being maintained.

If you’re struggling, text MRF to 85258 so you can speak to a trained volunteer from Shout, the UK’s Crisis Text Line service.

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By Sai Vsr Oct. 5, 2025 3:17 pm EST

Houston just became the proving ground for a development that many in the freight world have been waiting for: a completely driverless validation run. Bot Auto’s autonomous trucking platform rolled onto the highway without a backup driver in the cab, and without a remote operator babysitting from afar. This wasn’t a tightly staged stunt or a limited pilot — this was a real run, under real conditions, with the system fully in charge. That might not seem like much if you’ve been following the slow crawl of self-driving tests over the past decade, but it’s a milestone that changes the conversation.

Traditionally, autonomous trucking companies have talked a big game while keeping a human in the loop. Even the most confident startups refused to let trucks operate without someone ready to grab the wheel. This validation run breaks that barrier. According to Bot Auto, the system managed lane merges, timed traffic interactions, and handled logistics timing end-to-end. For an industry that runs on thin margins and depends on reliability above all else, the fact that the truck didn’t need a handoff at any point is more than symbolic — it’s the first real proof that the technology can stand on its own.

Why this matters for the industry

Trucking is the backbone of supply chains in North America, and it’s been under stress for years. The American Trucking Associations has estimated a driver shortage of tens of thousands, with retirements outpacing new entrants. Longer routes are harder to fill, delivery times get pushed, and the pressure trickles down to businesses and consumers alike. This is where autonomous AI trucking comes in as a possible lifeline.

The Houston test doesn’t solve everything overnight, but it eliminates the main question mark hanging over the field: Can a truck actually operate without human supervision? Now that the answer is “yes,” the conversation shifts to scalability. With AI handling the bulk of highway driving, the industry could see a reduction in accidents caused by fatigue, more predictable delivery schedules, and better fuel optimization through smarter routing. In short, efficiency gains at nearly every level.

It’s also about labor flexibility. Driverless semis don’t replace every human job outright, but they can take on the grueling long-haul legs that often keep new drivers away from the field. Humans could be shifted to regional and last-mile routes, where local knowledge and customer interaction hold a lot of importance. The test in Houston essentially shows that the technology can fill the gap no one wants: 600 miles of straight interstate at 2 a.m. This essentially brings in a shift in how the logistics workforce might be structured for the next decade.

What happens next

Ironheart/Getty Images

Of course, one successful run isn’t the end of the story. Regulators aren’t going to greenlight fleets of AI semis on every highway tomorrow. Safety agencies will want more data, in more conditions, across more routes. At the same time, logistics operators will run their own risk calculations. Sure, the cost savings are quite tempting, but trust doesn’t come overnight when you’re asking companies to put millions of dollars’ worth of freight into a truck with no driver on board.

Still, the Houston breakthrough is a turning point. Up until now, autonomous trucking has been stuck in a kind of holding pattern — constantly “two years away.” This is the first time a company has shown that the tech can truly hold its own. If Bot Auto and its rivals can keep showing the same results, the next step would be moving from one-off demos to actual freight work. That won’t mean trucks suddenly running coast to coast. You’d probably just see early deployment along a few well-mapped freight lanes in the South or Southwest, where the climate is predictable and regulators are already engaged. From there, expansion would happen gradually, depending on how well the systems perform and how quickly industry partners buy in.

And the effects won’t stop at shipping rates; insurance policies, highway planning, and even truck design could all shift once fleets start to include more AI-operated vehicles. Houston might have been the first proof point, but the significance of this run is likely to ripple well beyond Texas and into the entire freight industry.

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Abu Dhabi is turning racetracks into laboratories – on the Yas Marina circuit, better known for hosting Formula One, the Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) is transforming motorsport into a proving ground for AI, robotics, and next-generation mobility systems.

Organised by Aspire, the programme management and challenge-led arm of the emirate’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), A2RL sits at the intersection of research, competition, and regulation. The goal is to make Abu Dhabi a world leader in autonomous innovation by taking AI and robotics out of simulation and into the real world.

“For me, A2RL represents the perfect fusion of passion and purpose,” said Stéphane Timpano, CEO of Aspire.

“Racing has always been about pushing machines to their limits, and in autonomy we’re now pushing algorithms to do the same. Representing the UAE on this global stage is a privilege because it shows the world that Abu Dhabi is not just following innovation trends, it’s setting them.”

Each race places AI systems under the kinds of stress that future autonomous vehicles will face on public roads, from GPS dropouts and sensor faults to unpredictable human inputs and split-second decisions at 250 km/h. These conditions generate valuable data for engineers developing the safety and reliability systems that will underpin tomorrow’s driverless transport.

“The racetrack is a live laboratory,” Timpano said. “Every lap, every overtake, every algorithmic decision is a glimpse into the future of mobility.”

Beyond motorsport: a deep-tech ecosystem

A2RL is not an isolated experiment. It is part of a wider national strategy to position Abu Dhabi as a hub for deep-tech innovation. Within the ATRC ecosystem, while Aspire defines grand challenges, the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) develops the underlying technologies, and VentureOne turns those breakthroughs into commercial ventures.

“A2RL is deeply embedded in the UAE’s innovation ecosystem,” Timpano said. “Because it’s organised by Aspire, part of ATRC, insights from the racetrack feed directly into research at TII and commercialisation pathways at VentureOne. This full-stack model is rare globally.”

A2RL’s vehicles, developed with TII, use identical Super Formula-derived chassis fitted with UAE-designed sensor stacks and computing units. That standardisation means teams compete purely on algorithmic performance, ensuring transparency and comparability of AI capabilities.

This integration between research, testing, and commercialisation sets Abu Dhabi apart. “What we learn on the track doesn’t stay in competition,” Timpano said. “It moves into logistics, smart city planning, and even climate-tech applications.”

“Every lap, every overtake, every algorithmic decision is a glimpse into the future of mobility”

Stéphane Timpano, Aspire

The UAE views A2RL as both an R&D accelerator and a strategic signal of intent. It aligns with the country’s ambition to diversify its economy, attract global talent, and establish itself as a trusted testbed for emerging technologies.

“A2RL allows us to test autonomy under extreme conditions, generate valuable data, and shape the regulatory frameworks that will govern tomorrow’s smart mobility systems,” Timpano said. “For us, competition is more than a spectacle, it’s a strategic tool to accelerate trust, innovation, and leadership.”

The league’s first season drew international teams from the US, Europe, and Asia, and more than 600,000 online viewers. A parallel AI drone race, in which an autonomous drone outpaced a professional human pilot, showcased the UAE’s growing leadership in multi-vehicle autonomy.

In 2025, A2RL will form the centrepiece of Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week, expanding into air, sea, and land mobility categories and uniting researchers, regulators, and manufacturers under a single ecosystem.

“It’s where policy, R&D, and industry come together,” said Timpano. “A2RL is the public showcase of that progress where research meets real-world application in front of a global audience.”

Inspiring and training the next generation

A2RL is also helping shape the UAE’s next generation of innovators. The excitement of seeing AI-driven vehicles compete at the limits of physics has inspired Emirati students to pursue careers in coding, data science, and robotics.

“Through our STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) programmes, students are learning to code drones, design algorithms, and build systems that can compete on a world stage,” said Timpano.

In partnership with Unicef, Aspire recently launched a drone STEM initiative where over 100 Emirati students received training in drone design and AI flight control with more than 60% earning international drone operator certification.

For startups, the league doubles as a live demonstration platform, offering a space to trial sensing, perception, and AI control systems under real-world stress and in front of global investors and equipment manufacturers.

“Over time, I believe the league will be remembered not just for its competitions, but for the ecosystem of talent, ventures, and breakthroughs it helped ignite in Abu Dhabi’s knowledge economy,” said Timpano.

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