Every morning, the most relevant news on the topics I follow, selected from leading Italian and international outlets, with a short summary of each article.
Edition of Friday, 16 October 2026 · updated at 08:29
Models, agents, regulation and enterprise applications of AI.
An IBM study of executives across 8 countries shows 80% report AI-related incidents reaching top management, yet only 40% have revised governance. In Italy, 43% of organizations already have autonomous agents in production, though only 30% consider controls adequate for large-scale expansion.
ChatGPT's Google Chrome extension now allows the model to view open browser tabs when tagged in the web or desktop app. This new feature enables ChatGPT to provide more useful answers and complete tasks based on content already available in the user's browser.
Personal AI assistants like Meta's Muse ask users to share not only their own data but also information of friends, family, and past contacts without their consent. Muse has been downloaded millions of times and reached number one on Apple's App Store since its launch.
Manufacturing companies are investing in AI to improve processes, quality, and production continuity, with growing interest in autonomous agents and data-driven services. Deloitte's analysis highlights differentiated opportunities and obstacles between mature enterprises and experimental operations.
Rivian will introduce AI agents in its vehicles, with more details expected at the company's "AI & Autonomy Day" event in December.
METR will publish independent assessments of Anthropic's risks, incidents, and practices. The frontier AI company has relinquished the right to block these evaluations.
Cal AI generated over $30 million in revenue in two years before being acquired by MyFitnessPal in March. The company's viral success was achieved through a marketing campaign leveraging paid influencers.
Agentic AI evolution requires a data architecture integrating ontologies, working memory, anomaly detection, and hypothetical analysis. The World Model provides an architectural solution to guide business and financial decisions securely.
Phygital is not the sum of physical and digital channels, but rather the design of a continuous experiential system. Artificial intelligence acts as invisible infrastructure connecting data, people, and environments in real time.
President Donald Trump posted photos on Truth Social showing White House renovations, but one appears AI-edited. The image comparing an old column to a "restored" one contains discrepancies, including an uneven number of steps on both sides of the structure.
Innovation, digital strategy, cloud and business transformation.
Domenico Scida has been appointed Chief Technology, Innovation & Digital Officer of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane group as part of a reorganization initiated by new CEO Gianpiero Strisciuglio. A manager with extensive railway operations experience in maintenance, transport, and safety, he will oversee innovation and technological development strategies.
According to Francesco Micotti, CEO of adesso.it, transforming work with AI agents writing code requires courage, experimentation, and decision-making ability with limited information. The shift affects developers and clients while maintaining software quality, reliability, and business value.
Vittoria Assicurazioni and Artea have transformed claims management into a WhatsApp-guided process combining IVASS compliance, ease of completion, and automated claims verification. The solution balances user simplicity with regulatory control.
Europe must make EUDI Wallet available by December 2026, but ecosystem funding remains unresolved. Businesses, public sector, and intermediaries must cover issuance, management, and verification of credentials without shifting costs to citizens or compromising privacy.
Large enterprises acquire an average of 21 new SaaS applications monthly, yet portfolios remain relatively static. Continuous replacement, integrations, AI, and consumption models shift the issue from licenses to operational debt organizations must manage.
According to Counterpoint Research, global smartphone retail prices have increased by 20% since the beginning of the year, with artificial intelligence among the main drivers of this growth.
IH1, the holding financing companies created by Mamazen, has reached 10 million euros in fundraising, completing its first cycle launched in 2022. The Turin startup studio aims to achieve at least five exits by 2032 and generate over 200 million euros in value from companies created in the next five years.
MAIRE, the Italian industrial group led by Fabrizio Di Amato with 2025 revenue of 7.1 billion euros, structures innovation around Nextchem for sustainable technologies and decarbonization. Di Amato argues that innovation means doing certain things differently, not necessarily inventing something completely new.
TextYess, founded in 2023, raised an additional 4 million euros led by Italian Founders Fund to develop autonomous AI agents on WhatsApp for eCommerce support. Brands like Pittarosso, Ducati, and Giordano Shop use the platform with 141% NRR, with expansion plans in the United Kingdom.
Full cloud migration moves servers, applications, collaboration tools, and backups outside the enterprise, replacing on-premises hardware with managed services. It promises more predictable costs and greater operational continuity, but requires precise choices regarding data control and vendor selection.
Threats, vulnerabilities and regulations such as NIS2, GDPR, DORA and the AI Act.
BeyondTrust warned customers of a critical flaw in Remote Support being exploited in zero-day attacks since late August. The company urged immediate patching of the vulnerability.
A suspected advanced threat actor exploited a Fortinet FortiOS vulnerability (CVE-2025-61624) to deliver the ARM64 malware PEERSTITCH. The flaw is a path traversal defect in the command line interpreter of FortiOS and other Fortinet products.
A newly disclosed critical Linux kernel flaw (CVE-2026-99999, PwnEscape) allows code inside virtual machines to read host memory. The vulnerability in the kernel's networking code has been confirmed by Vercel on its cloud sandboxes.
Avast One offers two plans to protect up to 10 devices with antivirus, anti-fraud tools and privacy features. First-year pricing starts at €39.99 for Premium Security and €55.99 for Ultimate with automatic renewal.
Silent Lynx has been attributed to attacks targeting CIS government organizations from June 2025 to August 2026. The attacks use four different infection chains including macro-enabled documents, PS2EXE downloaders and crafted WinRAR archives.
Cybercriminals threaten and extort employees to gain access to victims' computer systems. This represents a new strategy in the ransomware landscape.
Cybercriminals impersonate popular AI products to distribute malware and steal browser sessions. ANY.RUN linked 1,258 public sandbox analyses to fake AI campaigns between April and October 2026, with 16% of country-attributed targets in the US.
A critical flaw in Cisco Secure Email Gateway allows an unauthenticated sender to write files to the appliance's operating system. The attacker sends an email with a crafted attachment and could execute commands as root.
Cisco has patched an actively exploited zero-day flaw in Secure Email Gateway that allows remote unauthenticated attackers to execute commands with root privileges.
After the 18-month deadline for adopting NIS2 baseline measures, companies enter the substantive compliance phase. Written policies are no longer sufficient: effective controls, verifiable evidence and governance to demonstrate cyber risk management are required.
Brands, advertising, media and marketing technology.
Harry Kargman discusses the forces reshaping how brands approach advertising and media buying in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.
Many marketers are taking measurement challenges into their own hands by spending more to amplify influencer content as a workaround.
New ranking debuts for top 10 Food & Beverage brands on social media in September. Red Bull dominates with over 60% of total interactions, positioning itself as a media brand through extreme sports and music content. Dairy and Barilla Group show strong performance.
Jenna Bromberg's appointment is effective Nov. 2 as parent company Inspire Brands considers an IPO.
As customers consult AI before purchasing, advertising campaigns risk becoming irrelevant. A Visa survey shows 70% use AI to prepare purchases, but only 10% buy the exact suggested product. Only 17% grant AI full autonomous purchase authority.
Warner Bros Discovery's Nove channel celebrates its tenth anniversary with a multi-platform campaign launching October 15. The channel achieves its best October ever with 2.6% share in total day and 3.2% in primetime, growing year-over-year.
Univision's Wade Davis and former Paramount ads leader John Halley join Clear Channel C-suite.
Research by Havas Media Network and Fcp Associnema reveals cinema's value for brand communication. Cinema shows 2.8x higher recall than TV the day after exposure and 3x higher after three days, with 1.4x greater propensity to action.
The caffeinated, spicy-cherry-flavored soda is finding traction with 'zillennial' consumers and grew volume more than 20% during Q2 2026.
Many branded entertainment projects go nowhere. Here's what to ask before attempting to create entertainment.
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality: devices and use cases.
Sandisk becomes exclusive provider of storage solutions for Meta VR Glasses launching spring 2027, with official microSD Express cards and USB-C flash drives. Meta adds expandable storage support in Horizon OS, including microSD slot in the compute puck for the new glasses.
Free-to-play co-op JRPG Knights of Fiona releases story-concluding Chapter 6 on October 20. Developer Character Bank has addressed player feedback with up to 80% loading time reduction, skippable sequences, and raised level cap from 40 to 45.
Wave shooter Stuffed: Two Foot Hero confirms November 3 release on Quest and PC VR with a Steam demo available now. The game supports four-player co-op and features six maps at launch.
Cooperative story-driven puzzle game Daumier: Lila & Ghost is now available on Quest. Early buyers within the first month receive a free second copy to share with others.
Multiple PC VR demos are available ahead of Steam Next Fest starting October 19. Featured titles include Rustmourne, The Rifted Skies, RAID VR, Board of the Future, Hyperlane Highway, Stuffed: Two Foot Hero, and Crashland.
XREAL launches 1 Pro+ flagship AR glasses at $599, featuring brighter displays (1,200 nits vs 700), AI HDR, and redesigned ergonomic nose pad. The tethered device maintains 1,920×1,080 resolution per eye and 57-degree field of view.
Titanfall 2 VR mod brings the game's campaign to VR headsets and is impressive but fundamentally different from the flatscreen version. While some aspects work better in VR, others are lost in translation, yet it remains one of the best VR mods ever made.
Sandisk becomes exclusive storage provider for Meta VR Glasses launching spring 2027 at $1,300. Official microSD Express cards and USB-C flash drives support up to 1TB expansion with Meta certification.
Data mining reveals Valve may be developing an OLED version of Steam Frame. Codename 'Plano' in kernel source code shows OLED display at 3,552×3,840 resolution per eye with up to 90Hz refresh rate.
Valve confirms development of a new headstrap for Steam Frame with hot-swappable batteries and BMR drivers matching Valve Index audio. The upgrade addresses Steam Frame's battery life (1-1.5 hours) and integrated audio limitations.
The main international headlines.
Trump has called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a "disgrace" after an energy ceasefire he declared collapsed. Zelenskyy announced abandoning the truce, which neither Russia nor Ukraine acknowledged, and Trump criticized the Ukrainian president.
An opposition minister has proposed freezing the minimum wage for five years, a measure that could cost low-paid workers almost £9,000. The proposal, contained in a report by Prosperity Institute thinktank, aims to address low youth employment rates.
Youssef al-Manasif faces imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for attending protests and funerals between ages 15 and 17. Arrested in 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to death for demonstrating for Shia minority religious freedom, according to human rights groups.
Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, urged Andy Burnham to repair Brexit economic damage by reconsidering Labour's red lines on EU membership. She argued the UK's current trading relationship with the EU is bad for business.
A BBC Verify analysis of UK maritime agency data shows 12 vessels were struck in a week.
Over the past year there has been a stark rise in anti-government activists deported to Russia from the EU and US where they were seeking refuge.
Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has launched a brand to fund legal expenses after being charged with murdering five unarmed detainees in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He announced the venture with an Instagram video walking on a beach and working out.
The suspect was shot dead by a community member who followed him into the Oregon school, police said.
International tourist arrivals in Mexico increased by 3.9% in the first eight months of the year, with revenues up 0.9% and airports recording 128 million passengers.
The Commission approved reduced tariffs on hundreds of goods in the trade agreement between El Salvador and Belize.
News stories belong to their respective publishers. Summaries and headline translations are generated automatically with AI: the original article, linked from each headline, is the authoritative source.