Technology

• Magico completely reworks its A3 floorstanding speaker
• The new model brings refined design and all-new drive units
• Oh, and it costs the amount of a small holiday home

Californian audio brand Magico has impressed us a lot in the past with its expensive but amazing-sounding speakers. We loved the company's $560k Magico M7 and its $200k Magico S7, and now it has something that's (relatively) affordable (but still quite expensive).

Meet the Magico A3 2027 which, as the name suggests, is a reimagined version of an existing speaker. The original A3 released in 2017, and the upgraded model makes changes to basically every part of the speaker.

When I called these "affordable", I was speaking relatively: they are set to go for $25,000 / £28,998 (about AU$60,000) per pair. Thanks to my idle Rightmove searches in the Cairngorms (a mountainous range in Scotland), I know for a fact that the UK price would cover a small holiday home, so it's still a huge cost for most of us.

But that's the floor-stander thing, isn't it? They're never especially cheap, and these really are only for people to whom money is no object.

I get a strange Magico

The Magico A3 2027 has a 28mm tweeter, 5-inch midrange driver and dual 7-inch woofers, in a total overhaul of the previous model's audio set-up. The latter three speakers use aluminum-honeycomb cores.

It's not just the drive units which are new, and it sounds like the biggest overhauls came to the design. And I'm not just talking about that space-age cuboid look , with rounded corners and a soft elegance.

I'm talking about the architecture. Magico has used Constrained-Layer Dampening, along with smart brace and bolt placement, to create a quiet structure that avoids unwanted resonance. The drivers also come with motor systems to stabilize them, avoiding distortion in music.

Lots of these systems come from the brand's pricier M9, so you're getting refined hi-fi intelligence for a (relatively) low price.

I think I'd still choose the holiday cottage if I had that kind of money (just), but if you don't want a small cabin in the mountains, the Magic A3 2027 could be the next best thing.

Despite living in an age of seamless connectivity, our workplaces have never been more disconnected.

Not literally, of course. We are surrounded by relentless barrage of message pings, overflowing email inboxes, and the ability to speak to anyone, anywhere, instantly. But beneath this surface-level digital noise is a crisis: winning and retaining people’s attention.

According to a recent Gallup poll, global employee engagement has cratered to just 20%, its lowest level since 2020. To some this may seem like a soft HR metric, but it is in fact a hard financial reality with a tangible economic impact. In 2025 alone, this engagement deficit is estimated to have erased $10 trillion from the global economy in lost productivity.

These figures tell us that traditional corporate communication is failing. If you can’t command the attention of your employees, you can’t execute strategy, align culture, or drive transformation. The employee engagement deficit is a challenge that leaders must address to compete in the modern enterprise ecosystem.

To tackle this problem head on, businesses need to stop thinking like traditional corporate communicators and take inspiration from an industry that has been captivating audience attention for almost a century: broadcast media.

Creative, captivating corporate communication

Professional broadcasters have always operated under the foundational truth that if you want an audience to retain information and connect with a message, the delivery must be as visually compelling and dynamic as possible. Broadcasters spend millions on high-production set designs, real-time data graphics, and seamless visual transitions because they know that the moment a screen becomes static, viewer attention starts to wane.

Yet, in 2026, many of the world's largest enterprises still communicate their most critical messages using flat, text-heavy slide decks and passive, one-way video presentations.

This goes further than just being uninspiring, and in the modern hybrid working environment actually constitutes a business risk. In a remote and hybrid work environment, employees are not sitting in an auditorium with their eyes locked on the stage. They are at their desks, surrounded by competing digital stimuli. A static slide deck is an invitation for an employee to open another tab, check their phone, or clear their inbox.

To win the battle for attention, enterprise communications must evolve from basic information delivery into immersive visual storytelling.

The economics of engagement

The economics of engagement refers to the relationship between how much content costs to produce, how effectively it connects with the audience, and what value that connection actually generates. For the pragmatic technology buyer, the first question that comes to mind is “does high-quality visual storytelling deliver a tangible return on investment, or is it merely an expensive aesthetic upgrade?”

Today, businesses can look at ROI through engagement and business outcomes. Firstly, technology has allowed businesses to gather more accurate data on metrics such as active viewing duration and number of Q&A interactions. This means that organizations can have a clearer picture of whether their communication is actually reaching and engaging employees.

Keeping employees invested in corporate communications is also about more than just making sure they are paying attention during a townhall presentation. These meetings are usually where businesses unveil a new strategy or direction for the overall organization, and these can often be complex.

If ideas aren’t communicated clearly, employees can leave with different interpretations of what they have heard, which can lead to inconsistent action. Creating more engaging presentation and making sure the message lands properly is essential for allowing business leaders to execute their overall strategy.

Another key ROI point lies in integrating broadcast capabilities directly into existing enterprise workflows. Rather than requiring employees to adopt new, proprietary viewing platforms, modern systems inject high-production-value graphics, dynamic lower-thirds, and multi-source video feeds directly into the collaboration tools employees are already using, such as Zoom.

By elevating the tools already in place, businesses can expect higher adoption and lower friction, maximizing the value of their existing software licensing.

AI-enable scalability, without specialization

Until recently, the barrier to achieving broadcast-quality communication was very high for most businesses. It required a dedicated physical studio, expensive hardware, and a fleet of broadcast engineers with specialized knowledge. However, AI has broken these barriers down and democratized access to broadcast-level production.

Today, intelligent software can now take on many of the technically complex elements of production, from managing layouts and multi-camera switching to generating real-time closed captions and incorporating real-time graphics. This means that much smaller comms teams can produce a live broadcast that matches the production value of a cable news network, for example.

A business shouldn’t need a production crew every time they want to deliver a high-quality update. By removing the need for specialized engineering and creative talent, enterprises can scale custom, high-impact communications across the entire business.

The technology should sit in the background and allow the global division lead can host a polished quarterly update, or a sales director can deliver an interactive pitch, all while maintaining a consistent brand identity.

A creative solution to the engagement problem

The numbers don’t lie. The $10 trillion productivity drain caused by disengaged workforces is a clear signal that the old ways of corporate communication are no longer fit for purpose.

As we look further into 2026, the competitive divide between organizations won’t just be defined by their products or strategies, but by their ability to align and inspire the people behind them. The businesses that continue to rely on flat, uninspiring mediums will continue to lose the war for attention.

Conversely, the enterprises that embrace the tools of modern broadcasting, democratized by AI, secured by robust IT governance, and integrated into daily workflows, will transform their corporate communications from a passive exercise into a driver of strategic alignment, culture, and measurable business growth.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

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The Prime Big Deal Days sale is officially over for another year, but I checked Amazon's homepage this morning, and many of the best deals are still available. All the top offers I'd still recommend are right here, including big savings on Amazon smart home tech and several record-low prices from Shark, Nintendo, Lego, and Oral-B.

• See all of today's best deals at Amazon UK

This smart home bundle was one of the best-selling deals during the event, so I'm surprised it's still available today. You can get a Blink Outdoor 4 Camera with Blink Video Doorbell for £24.99 (was £129.98), which is a super-low price for a home security starter kit that will let you see and respond to visitors at your door from your phone or other smart devices.

I'm also still surprised that this record-low price for the Nintendo Switch 2 is still live, so I'd grab one soon before it goes back up if you were thinking of picking up the console. This price isn't guaranteed to be back over Black Friday, especially with all the other price hikes we've seen on game consoles over the last few months.

Check out all 27 of the best Prime Day deals that are still available below. A lot of these are scheduled to end at the start of next week, though they could expire quicker than that if stock runs out. Either way, these will likely be the lowest prices we see until the Black Friday sales get underway in November.

27 best Prime Day deals still available

Outdoor 4 Camera with Blink Video Doorbell: was £129.98 now £24.99
This excellent value bundle includes a Blink Outdoor 4 security camera and a Blink Video Doorbell at an incredibly low price. It's one of my top picks if you want to dabble with some cheap smart home tech. The 4th-generation outdoor security camera features two-way audio, a two-year battery life, and works with Amazon Alexa for hands-free control and interconnectivity with other smart devices. Meanwhile, the Blink Video Doorbell is a cheap and easy way to get alerts on your phone when motion is detected or when guests are at your door.View Deal

i02 Duo Electric Toothbrushes: was £160 now £59.98
Look past the dated "his-and-hers" colour palette and this pair of mid-range electric toothbrushes is a solid pickup while it's less than half-price on Amazon. These brushes don't boast many advanced high-end features, but they do have the basic ones you really need to brush your teeth effectively and efficiently, including a two-minute timer and three cleaning modes.View Deal

Amazon has the Nintendo Switch 2 at its lowest price ever for Prime Big Deal Days. Given that the console was only recently hit with a price hike, I'm surprised that you can score such a big price cut on it right now, so definitely take advantage while you can if you've been thinking of picking it up, as this price almost certainly won't be beaten all year.View Deal

PowerPro Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum: was £299.99 now £199
I own a similar Shark vacuum, and I can't praise them enough for the Anti-Hair Wrap tech that has saved me so much time unclogging the brush roll compared to my old vacuum. Flexology tech makes it a good option for reaching under furniture and battery life is an impressive 50 minutes.View Deal

The latest version of the standard Kindle is on sale as part of the Prime Big Deal Days sale. It's a basic ereader, but it still boasts a four-week battery life and space for thousands of books. Given it's significantly cheaper than the Paperwhite, this is clearly a better pick for the infrequent reader who's after a more budget-friendly option. At £85, though, this deal is a little underwhelming, given it's been as low as £69.99 before.View Deal

45W 10.000mAh Portable Charger: was £21.98 now £18.63
It's always handy to have a portable charger to take with you when you're on the go, and this 10000mAh one from popular brand Inui is a smart buy in my eyes. For starters, it's small and super-slim, making it easy to carry around in a pocket or slip into your bag, while still offering enough juice to charge some of the latest phones and tablets to above 50%. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A, meaning you can charge multiple devices at once. There's even a handy detachable USB-C cable included for free.View Deal

The Blink Video Doorbell is now £3 more than its lowest-ever price on Amazon, which is great news if you're interested in buying your first smart doorbell. This latest model comes with a head-to-toe HD view, infrared night vision, and two-way audio – all you'd want in a basic video doorbell. You can watch packages get delivered and answer the door in real time from the Blink app, but you can't save footage without a Blink Subscription or a Sync Module (which is included here). Thankfully, you get a 30-day Blink Subscription Plan trial with your purchase, so you can try before you buy.View Deal

The new Blink Mini 2K+ has a couple of nice upgrades compared to the previous model, including a built-in spotlight, night view in colour support and the option to use it outdoors with the weather-resistant adaptor. Aside from that, it offers the same raft of security features such as motion detection, two-way audio and smartphone app integration. Get it now for a record-low price.View Deal

The Blink Outdoor Camera 2K+ is packed with the essentials. It has 2K video quality, so you can see what’s going on more clearly. You can also zoom in on what’s happening with 4X zoom, and use the two-way audio to talk to a delivery person or whoever is visiting. It’s simple to set up and weatherproof, with two AA batteries powering the device for up to two years. Plus, this bundle includes a free Blink Battery Doorbell.View Deal

Battery Video Doorbell + Ring Indoor Camera: was £129.98 now £44.99
This excellent value bundle includes the latest version of the Ring Video Doorbell and a Ring Indoor Camera Plus for a cheap and easy way to get started with home security. We've tested these and have been impressed with the video quality, high zoom, and night vision colour, but it's a shame that some of this device's value is only usable with a Ring Protect subscription. However, if you're fine with paying for a subscription or already using a Ring-based home security system, it's worth the cost.View Deal

The newest Ring Battery Doorbell Plus model drops to £50 in Amazon's latest sale. Its camera features 1536p HD resolution, night vision with color, and an improved motion sensor. It also includes an increased head-to-toe field of view of 150 by 150 degrees.View Deal

Indoor Camera Plus: was £49.99 now £24.99
This half-price offer gets you an easy-to-install Ring Indoor Camera for a new low price. The Alexa-enabled plug-in security camera features motion-activated notifications, 2K resolution video support, a privacy cover and two-way talk to allow you to see, hear and communicate throughout your home.View Deal

Echo Dot (5th Gen): was £54.99 now £29.99
Amazon's best-selling Echo Dot is down to under £30 for Prime Big Deal Days. This is an OK offer, but far from the previous record-low of £22.99. Nevertheless, the Echo Dot offers an improved audio experience, plus a new temperature sensor and all the handy features from Alexa, like playing music, answering questions, and checking the weather completely hands-free. As far as a cheap and cheerful smart speaker goes, it's one of the better options out there.View Deal

Amazon's Echo Spot smart clock is down to its record-low price for Prime Big Deal Days. As well as a time display and wake-up alerts, this compact bit of kit can play music, check the weather and control other smart devices throughout your home.View Deal

Fire TV Stick HD: was £59.99 now £19.99
You can get the upgraded version of Amazon's standard Fire TV Stick for £19.99 — that's just £3 more than the record-low price. In our Fire TV Stick review, we found the original version was a cheap way to add essential smart features to your TV, including access to streaming apps in HD, Alexa voice controls, and the ability to control other smart home devices.View Deal

Fire TV Stick 4K Select: was £64.99 now £21.99
Amazon's newest 4K streaming stick is down to within £2 of its lowest-ever price for Prime Big Deal Days. Considering it's only a few quid more than the cheaper HD version, you might as well pay for the upgrade and get access to higher resolution streaming — as long as you have a 4K TV. It lacks a few premium features found in the more expensive Plus and Max models, such as improved Wi-Fi and Dolby Atmos, but this is more than enough to cover general everyday use.View Deal

Amazon's new Fire TV Stick 4K Plus streams shows and movies to your TV in ultra-high-definition 4K resolution. This updated version now supports Dolby Vision for improved colours, Wi-Fi 6 for better connectivity, and includes 2GB of RAM for faster performance. This offer isn't particularly great, given it was £10 cheaper during the last Prime Day, but it's still good value for an all-around streaming device.View Deal

This is £9 more than the record-low price for Amazon's premium streaming device. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max streams the same content at the same quality as the standard 4K version, but the extra power inside delivers faster app navigation. Plus, it uses Wi-Fi 6E technology to deliver a more stable, consistent streaming experience.View Deal

Amazon's best-selling Echo Show 5 is down to £54.99 for Prime Big Deal Days — its lowest price in almost two years. The latest version of the Echo Show 5 features a compact 5.5-inch display but packs impressive sound with deeper bass and clearer vocals. Voice controls are enabled through Amazon Alexa, while you can use the smart screen to listen to podcasts, watch movies, stream videos, play music, and more.View Deal

Ember TV 32-inch 2-Series HD TV: was £249.99 now £129.99
Amazon's Prime Day sale includes this 32-inch TV on sale for a record-low price of £129.99. While the Amazon 2-Series TV is just a basic HD display, you get smart capabilities with the Fire TV experience and Amazon Alexa on board for hands-free control at a bargain price. It's far from the best TV in the world, but if you need something small and basic for the kitchen or a kid's room, then this is fine for the job.View Deal

Ember 50-inch 4-Series 4K TV: was £499.99 now £279.99
The 50-inch Amazon Ember TV is the mid-sized version of the budget-friendly 4-Series range and it's now down to its lowest-ever price. It's a nice buy if you're on a budget, as the premium 4K resolution delivers excellent clarity and picture quality for TV shows, movies, sports and general viewing. All major streaming apps are ready to go, too, plus there's voice control support through Alexa. It's an all-around solid TV for the price that I'd buy if I needed an affordable and capable display.View Deal

Ember TV 55-inch Omni Mini-LED TV: was £849.99 now £599.99
Amazon has taken the biggest step up in terms of quality with its latest Omni Mini-LED Series Fire TVs. That's clear in the price, which puts these very close to top-end OLED displays from the likes of Sony, Samsung and LG. However, you still get a lot for your money with this Amazon option, including a large 55-inch Mini-LED panel that boasts fantastic contrast, colors and image sharpness, a 144Hz game mode for a fast and responsive experience on consoles, and smart features.View Deal

Ember 55-inch QLED TV: was £749.99 now £429.99
Amazon's Ember QLED Series is a big step up in the otherwise cheap and cheerful range of smart TVs. This set boasts premium features, including a QLED display for better brightness and contrast, HDR and Dolby Vision for brighter and more vivid colours, local array dimming for richer blacks and HDMI 2.1 support to deliver a top-quality picture for all-around viewing and fast response times for gaming. It's not always easy to find a TV of this size and with these high-end features for just over £400, so it's an excellent buy for the budget-conscious without compromising on quality.View Deal

As we said in our Amazon Fire TV Soundbar review, "viewers looking to add a single soundbar to improve upon their TV's built-in speakers won't be disappointed, and when Prime Day discounts arrive Amazon's soundbar could end up being even better value." And lo, Prime Day arrived, and the discounts did deliver. This is a great first soundbar for simple setups.View Deal

Ideal for younger gamers, the Nex Playground comes with games ready to play out of the box, such as Fruit Ninja, Whac-a-Mole, and more. It's now down to a record-low price at Amazon. This neat little console relies on intuitive motion controls and is a locked-down system designed specifically with young children in mind.View Deal

RAM and graphics card prices have been dreadful lately, but at least the same issues haven't impacted CPUs just yet. As an example, this AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is down to its lowest price in months for Prime Big Deal Days. It's a solid mid-range CPU for general use and gaming — and it's even the one I'm using right now in my PC. I've been very impressed with it, and at this price, it's hard to beat for value for money.View Deal

As someone who grew up playing one of these on family holidays, I can't help but be incredibly tempted to pick up the super-cool Lego Game Boy as a display piece while it's over £10 off at Amazon. And I'm sure many other retro gamers out there would love it as a gift this Christmas.View Deal

This Warmco Portable handheld fan is a slightly more high-tech and serious-looking device. Again, we haven't reviewed it, but it does have good Amazon reviews and the price is right thanks to this current deal. According to the user reviews, this looks to be a surprisingly powerful little fan that's capable of 3 to 13 hours of operation per charge.View Deal

When Anthropic's threat intelligence team ranked a year of AI-enabled cyberattacks, the most dangerous operation in the dataset didn't stand out by the measure the security industry has relied on for years.

Mapped against MITRE ATT&CK, the state-sponsored espionage campaign Anthropic disrupted in November 2025 used 30 techniques across 13 tactics, comparable to many medium-risk actors in the same dataset. Against Anthropic's own risk methodology, the same campaign scored the maximum of 100.

The fact that the highest-risk actor looked unremarkable by technique count exposes a weakness in conventional detection thinking. Technique breadth alone tells defenders relatively little about risk. More useful insight comes from understanding how techniques are combined, sequenced and executed over time.

The indicator was always the fragile part

Security operations spent two decades getting very good at recognizing evidence an attacker had already used. Malware hashes, malicious IP addresses and suspicious domains gave teams a practical way to identify known threats and block repeat attacks. Once an attacker exposed part of their infrastructure, thousands of organizations could benefit.

David Bianco's Pyramid of Pain outlined this weakness in 2013. The indicators defenders find easiest to consume are also the cheapest for attackers to discard. A hash can change when you modify a file, while an IP address can simply be replaced. The techniques and procedures an attacker relies on to reach an objective are far harder to change.

Generative AI has made indicator-based detection more vulnerable by driving down the cost of variation. Code-generation tools can produce new malware variants quickly, phishing content can be created at scale, and offensive tooling can be assembled with far less specialist effort. Defenders increasingly work with indicators whose useful life may be shorter than the process required to identify, publish, and act on them.

None of which retires the IOC feed. It remains valuable for blocking known-bad in volume, enriching investigations and hunting retrospectively once a campaign becomes public. What it can no longer do is carry the weight of the detection program.

Individual techniques are weak signals

Anthropic’s study examined 832 accounts banned for malicious cyber activity between March 2025 and March 2026, mapping 13,873 observed actions across 482 techniques and all 14 ATT&CK tactics. The accounts represent a subset of total bans with enough detail for thorough assessment.

There was little correlation between an actor's skill and the number of techniques they used: the least capable actors in the dataset averaged around 16 distinct techniques, the most capable around 20. The platform an attacker worked through made no difference either.

That tracks with how enterprise environments actually behave. Account discovery appears in attacks, and also in legitimate administration. Remote services enable lateral movement and routine infrastructure management alike. Almost every individual technique requires interpretation before it supports a conclusion.

The information appears when activities connect. Account discovery, followed by credential access, followed by movement into another system and data staging within a compressed window, describes something the same activities spread across several days of routine work do not. Sequence becomes part of the detection logic, along with the identity involved, the systems touched, and what happened immediately afterwards.

AI is moving deeper into the attack

AI introduces another consideration: the speed at which an attack unfolds. Automation can compress the time between actions, changing how otherwise familiar activity should be interpreted.

Human-led attacks have always used some degree of automation, but an operator still has to interpret results and decide what to do next. As AI systems take on more of that decision-making, the time between stages of an attack can shrink considerably. That makes the speed and sequence of activity useful information in its own right.

Anthropic's data shows where this pressure is being applied. Across the study period, AI use shifted away from gaining access and toward what happens after. Use of AI tools for account discovery inside compromised environments rose 8.9 percent while AI-assisted phishing fell 8.6 percent. Post-compromise techniques that once demanded real expertise are being performed on behalf of less capable actors.

The proportion of actors Anthropic classified as medium risk or higher rose from 33 percent in the first half of the study to 56 percent in the second, roughly a 1.7-fold increase in twelve months.

Speed alone proves nothing. A sequence plausible over several hours from an administrator carries different weight when the same actions cross multiple systems in minutes. Time belongs in the detection model alongside the activity.

This is the thinking behind APEX, or Adversarial Pattern Extraction and Correlation, a behavioral detection framework developed around the Anthropic findings. Rather than treating an individual ATT&CK technique as the unit of detection, APEX looks at combinations of techniques, the order in which they occur, the time between them and the entities involved.

The premise is that these behavioral chains provide a more durable basis for detection than the individual indicators or techniques attackers can change more easily.

The frameworks have not caught up either

Anthropic's research also exposes a limitation in the frameworks used to describe attacker behavior. MITRE ATT&CK can map the individual techniques used during an intrusion, but it does not currently capture the agentic orchestration that links those techniques together.

An AI system that interprets results, selects its next action and moves through multiple stages of an attack with limited human involvement is therefore difficult to represent within the existing framework. Anthropic is now working with MITRE on how that behavior could be incorporated.

For security leaders, the practical consequence arrives sooner than any framework revision. Recognizing a behavioral chain means correlating evidence across endpoints, identities, networks and cloud platforms, each producing telemetry in a different shape.

That is a substantially harder data problem than checking a value against a list, and it is worth asking whether the telemetry required to see those chains is available, correlated and timely, rather than assuming volume will suffice.

What attackers cannot change

AI makes an attack's observable features easier to change, but the underlying operational requirements remain relatively stable. An attacker seeking to steal data still needs to gain access, understand the environment, obtain sufficient privileges and move information out. The tools and infrastructure may vary, but those requirements are much harder to eliminate.

Bianco pointed to the industry at the top of the pyramid more than a decade ago, and the principle has held. Frameworks such as APEX are now attempting to turn that principle into practical detection logic by focusing on the sequence, timing and context of attacker behavior. AI has made that work considerably more urgent.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Blizzard Entertainment says it's monitoring real-money trading (RMT) in World of Warcraft: Forever
• The studio says it has devised penalties for gold buyers that could result in a permanent ban
• Blizzard is "watching very closely" and says "engaging in RMT is not worth putting your account at risk"

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that it's actively working to combat botting issues in World of Warcraft: Forever, particularly those related to real-money trading (RMT).

RMT has long been an issue in WoW, in both retail and Classic. Not only does RMT for in-game items and gold violate Blizzard's terms of service, but it also disrupts WoW's economy by inflating prices and essentially turning the MMO into a "pay-to-win" experience for some.

WoW: Forever is currently in beta and slated to launch next month, so there's a good chance that RMT could become an issue in this game as well. However, in an interview with TechRadar Gaming, the WoW: Forever development team acknowledged the ongoing problem and confirmed it's working to mitigate botting issues.

"One big area we’re working on is limiting the class abilities that facilitate bot gold farming," Blizzard said. "To that end, certain Mage talents and abilities have been changed to make it harder for a single player to farm an instance for gold or experience."

In addition, the studio is monitoring RMT and has already devised penalties that, depending on the action, could result in a permanent ban.

"One other area where we plan to apply more pressure to the RMT market is harsher penalties for Gold Buyers," the team said. "We aren’t going to go into specifics about this right now, but we’ve looked at our policies closely and have come up with a set of penalties that progress much more rapidly for this behavior, including potential permanent bans.

"We’ve got a number of new systems in place to support this as well, but it’s a cat and mouse game, so talking too much about our plans here could tip our hand. Suffice to say, we are watching very closely, and engaging in RMT is not worth putting your account at risk."

Elsewhere, Blizzard has addressed WoW: Forever's controversial Skyborne race and explained why the Elf race is available to both Alliance and Horde.

• Four in five say AI has or will create jobs in the next two years
• Two in five are still worried about AI replacing them
• Managers are more likely to use AI agents

A new HP survey of nearly 20,000 desk-based workers globally has revealed that nearly half (46%) of Brits believe AI has positively affected their lives, with one in two (52%) using employer-provided AI tools daily or weekly – up from 38% last year.

But rather than replacing workers, three in five UK business leaders say AI adoption has actually created new roles – or even entire teams – within their organizations.

Additionally, an extra one in five (19%) expects AI to create new roles over the next one to two years, totally countering previous narratives that AI would wipe out human workers.

HP data shows that AI could actually be creating jobs

On the flip side, just 10% say AI is primarily replacing or reducing roles – and this isn't just a trend that's native to the UK. It aligns broadly with the global average, with 59% of business leaders and 62% of IT decision-makers (ITDMs) reporting job creation.

Agentic AI use is also on the up, with 45% of UK desk-based workers now opting to use increasingly automated systems that would previously have been seen as a threat to their livelihood. However, HP's data does align with other recent research to reveal an organizational disparity – agent usage falls when a worker becomes less senior. Just 38% of knowledge workers use agents, compared with 56% of business leaders and 71% of ITDMs.

"For businesses, the priority now is to help people seize those opportunities by investing in the skills, tools and development they need to adapt and grow," HP UK&I MD Ruth Patterson explained, noting the ongoing shift in job roles.

"Work is changing rapidly, but this year’s findings show that people are adapting with it."

Still, despite the largely positive findings, 38% of UK knowledge workers still worry that AI could replace their roles, with a near-identical number (37%) also worried that they could be replaced by somebody who knows more about AI.

Anyone can now upload a suspicious image to Google’s online tool, but it’s not a foolproof way to check for authenticity.

The next test for AI is not whether it can produce an impressive pilot. It is whether it can work reliably, every day, in the messy and high-stakes conditions of the physical world.

Companies are prepared to spend. BCG’s 2026 AI Radar found that corporations expect to more than double AI spending this year, from 0.8% to approximately 1.7% of revenue. But the value is not keeping pace. According to PwC’s 2026 AI Performance Study, 74% of AI’s economic value is being captured by just 20% of organizations.

The constraint is no longer ambition or budget. It is execution.

For physical AI, that challenge is especially acute. Unlike a tool that drafts an email or summarizes a document, physical AI operates where decisions affect safety, uptime, service delivery and cost. Moving it beyond the pilot phase requires more than a capable model.

Organizations need to choose a problem worth solving, give AI the operational context to understand it, design the technology around how work actually gets done and connect every insight to an appropriate action.

Start with the operational problem:

Much of the enterprise AI conversation has focused on large language models and office productivity. But some of the most consequential and costly business problems exist beyond the office: vehicle collisions, equipment failures, unplanned downtime and disruptions to the essential services people rely on.

Physical AI brings intelligence into these environments by using data from vehicles, equipment, cameras and sensors to understand what is happening and determine what needs attention.

In fleet safety, for example, AI tools can analyze information from connected vehicles and cameras alongside factors such as weather, road conditions and driving patterns. That context helps an organization distinguish an isolated event from a broader pattern and focus its attention where it can have the greatest impact.

Interest is already substantial, but deployment remains limited. In robotics, one of the most prominent applications of physical AI, Capgemini found that 79% of organizations are engaging with the technology, while only 27% are deploying or scaling it.

The right starting point is therefore not, “Where can we use AI?” It is, “What operational outcome do we need to change?” What is causing the problem? Is the necessary data available? What decision or workflow should the technology improve? A pilot without clear answers may demonstrate technical capability without proving business value.

Build the operational context AI needs:

Selecting the right problem is only the beginning. To move beyond a controlled pilot, AI must understand the context in which an organization operates.

Knowing a vehicle’s registration or model is not enough. AI may also need its maintenance history, current location, typical route, driver behavior and operating conditions. It needs to understand how those factors interact and what normal performance looks like across comparable situations.

When that information is fragmented across different systems, delayed or recorded manually, AI sees only part of the operation. Digitizing workflows and connecting operational data create the foundation that more advanced systems depend on.

The significance is not simply the volume of data. It is that the data is available in a shared operational system through which teams can manage vehicles, maintenance and customer commitments. Without that common foundation, even a sophisticated model risks becoming another disconnected tool.

Design for the operation, not the demonstration:

A pilot can be carefully managed. A scaled deployment cannot depend on constant intervention from a technical team.

Physical operations are distributed across vehicles, worksites, warehouses and frontline teams. Technology must be straightforward to install, reliable in changing conditions and connected to the systems employees already use. It must also work for the people expected to act on its output.

That makes change management part of the technical strategy. Employees need to understand what the technology is identifying, how it supports their work and what action is expected of them. Leaders need to establish ownership, measure whether workflows are changing and incorporate feedback from the frontline.

Governance must be designed into the deployment as well. Organizations should define which actions systems may take autonomously, when human review is required and how decisions can be understood or challenged. The level of oversight should reflect the potential consequences of the action.

Close the loop from insight to action:

An insight is not an outcome. Physical AI creates value when it shortens the distance between identifying a problem and doing something about it.

This can be understood through a sense, decide and act model. Connected vehicles, cameras and equipment sense what is happening in the physical environment. AI evaluates that information in context and decides what requires attention. A person or system then acts—whether that means alerting a driver, creating a maintenance work order or adding a damaged road to a repair queue.

A vehicle health warning, for example, can initiate a maintenance workflow and notify the relevant team before a fault becomes a breakdown. Pothole detection technology can use vehicles already travelling across a city to identify and assess road damage, giving public sector teams better information to prioritize repairs and plan maintenance routes.

The appropriate balance between automation and human involvement will vary. Routine, low-consequence actions may be automated within defined parameters. Decisions that could materially affect safety, employment or service delivery should carry proportionate human oversight. The objective is not autonomy for its own sake. It is faster, more consistent action with the right safeguards in place.

Beyond the pilot:

Organizations must close the gap between AI investment and value by treating AI as an operational capability rather than a standalone technology project.

That means starting with a measurable problem, building the contextual data foundation AI needs, designing deployment around the realities of frontline work and connecting every insight to action. When those conditions are in place, physical AI can move beyond isolated demonstrations and begin delivering safer, more efficient and more resilient operations at scale.

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Need the answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword for Oct. 8, 2026?

The program is limited in scope and can only prescribe medication for acne.

Need a Strands hint today? Get the theme hint, the spangram and every answer for NYT Strands No. 949 on Thursday, Oct. 8.

If you’re hoping to replace the batteries in your Apple wearables one day, it might be a tricky fix.

With Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip and platform, Microsoft’s newest laptop is ready to compete with AI heavyweights.

Need a Wordle hint today? Get spoiler-free hints for NYT Wordle No. 1,937 on Thursday, Oct. 8, then the answer, plus yesterday’s word.

Need a Connections hint today? Get a hint for each color group in NYT Connections #1215 on Thursday, Oct. 8, then all four answers.

US adults are juggling higher tech prices with smaller budgets this year. Can the sales help them afford more?

Research by Common Sense Media says that OpenAI’s parent alert system is faulty and that the chatbot doesn’t help kids improve their learning skills.

Bluey’s Happy Snaps is also coming to Game Pass in October 2026 to put a smile on your face.

Rogue AI agents have dominated tech headlines over the past few weeks. We’ve seen stories about concerns that AI models are attempting to deceive their human operators, finding unexpected ways around restrictions in businesses and, in some cases, behaving in bizarre ways their creators didn’t anticipate.

All of this news has been accompanied by ominous warnings about what might happen in the future as AI agents become more mainstream, accessible, capable and are given even more freedom to act on our behalf.

Now, if you’re a fan of sci-fi, it’s hard not to draw parallels with the rogue robots and manipulative AIs we’ve all been watching on our screen for decades. And, of course, when we watch these films from the safety of our sofas, we all think we’d know way better.

Maybe you’re sure you wouldn’t have trusted Ava in Ex Machina. Or you definitely wouldn’t have given HAL control of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And you’re probably convinced that you wouldn’t have let M3GAN anywhere near the Wi-Fi. But would you really be so difficult to fool?

Because nowadays, you don’t need to be trapped on a spaceship to encounter convincing AI deception. Things like AI-generated phishing messages, voice clones, deepfakes and sophisticated scams are already making it harder to work out who (and what) you can trust. [can we please include a link to your ‘is it an AI image or not’ image quiz here]

So, let’s imagine the worst has happened: a rogue AI is trying to escape, and you’re the only thing standing in its way. Could you keep it contained? Or would the robot apocalypse somehow end up being all your fault?

Take our quiz below to find out. It’s (mostly) just a bit of fun.

The U.S. government has a new task force devoted to AI — and it's decided that it would now prefer that everyone stops calling it artificial intelligence.

President Donald Trump has announced the creation of the “Super Intelligence Force,” a White House-led group that will spend the next 120 days examining the risks, opportunities, and appropriate federal response to rapidly advancing AI systems. The task force responds to mounting pressure from lawmakers and even AI company executives for stronger safeguards around increasingly capable models.

The group has a formidable remit. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton will lead what is supposed to include work on cybersecurity, biosecurity, and more standards, along with reviewing how AI companies report breaches and hacks.

There is substance buried underneath the comic branding. OpenAI and Anthropic have both been dealing with increasingly uncomfortable demonstrations of what powerful models can do with cyber tools. The new task force is at least an acknowledgment that voluntary promises from AI companies cannot be the entire federal strategy.

A super rebrand

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Elon Musk then entered the naming discussion, responding “Yes, we will make that change,” when asked on X whether SpaceX's AI operation would change its name from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.

This would be the third rebrand for the AI branch of the company and, like those other new names, doesn't actually change the technology or the business.

@XFreeze Yes, we will make that changeOctober 4, 2026

The SI terminology comes directly from Trump. An executive order signed in late September directs executive departments and agencies to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in official communications and other non-statutory documents.

The order argues that today's frontier systems have moved beyond merely imitating or automating human intelligence and that the new terminology better reflects their “promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities.”

For now, the executive order defines “Super Intelligence” as the same technologies already covered by the federal statutory definition of artificial intelligence. It asks officials to develop a possible new federal definition within 60 days, but the immediate transformation from AI to SI is linguistic rather than architectural. And even then, seems unlikely to spread very far. SpaceXAI becoming SpaceXSI is much more about politics and branding than a technological milestone.

Notably, “superintelligence” is already used in AI discussions. It's how researchers refer to a hypothetical artificial intelligence that significantly exceeds human capabilities in many ways.

But language does shape how technology is sold and regulated, and “artificial intelligence” has accumulated plenty of baggage after several years of hallucinations, deepfakes, job anxiety, copyright fights and increasingly unsettling demonstrations of autonomous behavior.

Trump explicitly calls renaming it super intelligence a way to spin the technology more positively as something to “empower Americans, strengthen our economy, and improve the lives of the American people.”

Watchdog with a countdown

(Image credit: RozenskiP / Shutterstock)

The Super Intelligence Force arrives after a White House meeting with AI leaders who signed voluntary commitments covering internal model evaluations, independent external audits, and board-level oversight. But corporate promises alone won't settle any argument about technological abilities or regulation.

Its charter gives it 120 days to develop recommendations, with the possibility that its work could be extended or transferred elsewhere. There is already disagreement about how far oversight should go.

“Greater international oversight is absolutely necessary, but concentrating responsibility in one single, global body isn’t the answer,” Nik Kairinos, CEO and co-founder of RAIDS AI said in a statement. “AI is developing far too quickly and across too many jurisdictions for one organization to effectively police it. A stronger and more realistic model would be decentralized oversight, with a broad and diverse ecosystem of AI companies monitoring and scrutinizing one another.”

The difficulty is making decentralized oversight genuinely independent when many of the organizations scrutinizing one another also share an enormous financial interest in keeping development moving quickly.

The Trump administration appears determined to avoid moving too aggressively. But AI policy has the problem of trying to govern technology that can change substantially between the drafting of a rule and its implementation. A 120-day task force is therefore potentially more useful than another years-long commission producing a report about models that nobody uses anymore.

But trying to rename AI to “SI” does not make today's models superintelligent any more than changing SpaceXAI's name makes the employees more intelligent. The Super Intelligence Force might have some value, but it won't be because of any branding exercise.

“Oversight itself needs to be continuous, distributed and capable of evolving at the same speed as the technology,” Kairinos said. “Rules and standards set by governments are then an important supporting layer. The safest AI ecosystem will be one where responsibility for keeping systems in check is shared, rather than concentrated in the hands of a single watchdog.”