Cyberwarfare 2025: The rise of AI weapons, zero-days, and state-sponsored chaos
As we approach 2025, the notion of warfare is increasingly shifting from the physical to the digital domain. Cyberwarfare, once considered a supplementary tool for traditional military operations, has now emerged as a primary weapon for nations seeking to assert dominance or inflict damage on their adversaries without the need for physical conflict. Simply put, it is easier, requires fewer resources, and can often cause maximum damage without sustained efforts. The rise of AI-driven cyber weapons, zero-day vulnerabilities, and state-sponsored cyberattacks is creating an unprecedented era of digital warfare.
Nation-states and rogue factions are rapidly integrating cyberattacks into their military arsenals, with cyber operations becoming a first-strike option in geopolitical conflicts. By targeting critical infrastructure -- such as energy grids, communication networks, transportation systems, and supply chains -- these attacks can cripple an entire national infrastructure and create mass chaos without a single physical shot being fired. This shift toward cyber warfare reduces the immediate risk of physical casualties, and in turn allows state actors to engage in asymmetric warfare, where a smaller, technologically advanced nation can punch well above its weight.
DeepMind dominates European AI research: What does this mean for researchers?
AI’s steady impact on the academic and research community is measurable through citation metrics, essentially showing how many times a study has directly influenced subsequent research. A recent analysis of AI-related citations showed beyond doubt the impact of AI. It also revealed another noteworthy statistic: Google’s DeepMind made up just under half of all AI-related citations from 2020-2024.
The company’s dominance is undoubtedly a testament to the importance of its work -- but it also serves as a starting point from which to probe further into the research landscape in Europe and how it’s been impacted by AI. Concentrated influences in academia and research can have long-lasting effects on funding distributions, channels of collaboration, and ultimately the potential for innovation. Add to this the powerful and relatively new tool of AI, and suddenly the future trajectory of scientific research on the continent looks a lot less clear.
Overcoming the skills gap with robust, easy-to-use AI
When it comes to adopting new technologies, the legal sector has traditionally been more cautious than other industries. However, AI’s potential to transform legal workflows and unlock new levels of productivity is difficult to ignore. In fact, the industry is moving at speed: a recent study shows almost three quarters (73 percent) of legal practitioners plan to utilize AI in their legal work within the next year.
On a practical level, AI is evolving so quickly that across many practices, employees have varying levels of knowledge and understanding of how AI works, what tasks they should be using it for and the legal implications of using it. At the same time, if firms introduce AI solutions that require deep technical knowledge to use, skills gaps could become increasingly problematic.
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AI and hiring
The advent of artificial intelligence inspired a great deal of fear in the workplace, especially regarding job displacement. As AI's potential became more apparent, workers in virtually every industry feared they would be replaced by an AI-driven alternative that could work faster and for less pay.
To date, those fears have been mostly unfounded. In fact, a recent study of nearly 3,000 different workplace skills determined none of them were “very likely” to be replaced by generative AI.
Microsoft’s answer to Apple Intelligence may be Windows Intelligence
Branding is important, and this is something we’ve already seen with digital assistants like Siri. Moving into the artificial intelligence era, companies have been falling over themselves to get their own stamp on their version of AI.
Apple has opted for the reasonably predictable “Apple Intelligence”, while Microsoft’s approach has been a little more haphazard. But now there are clues that suggest the company has finally come to understand the importance of giving people an overarching term to cover all of its AI-related offerings. Say hello to Windows Intelligence.
Microsoft shoves AI features into even more Windows 11 apps including Paint and Notepad
It seems that even legacy apps are not immune to artificial intelligence. Microsoft has just rolled out a new Insider build of Windows 11 that sees the arrival of AI-powered features in Paint and Notepad.
While these are both stalwarts of the Windows app arena, they also feel like unusual targets for updating with such cutting-edge features. But this is precisely what Microsoft is doing, furnishing Notepad with a handy AI-driven Rewrite feature, and Paint with clever fill and erase options.
Is AI a double-edged sword for lawyers?
The legal industry is not traditionally recognized as one that is quick to embrace change, but recently, some professionals have been embracing emerging technology maybe a little too quickly, leading to all kinds of problems. The use of generative AI tools has exploded in popularity since OpenAI’s ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, and some lawyers have turned to this generative AI (GenAI) technology to help them with everything from legal research to contract drafting.
However, these GenAI models aren’t foolproof. In fact, they’re likely to “hallucinate” information that seems accurate but is actually entirely made up. If lawyers using this tech don’t take the time to double-check their outputs, they run the risk of working with factually incorrect information, which is embarrassing at best and grounds for legal repercussions at worst.
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Developers' guide: 8 ways to fast-track AI integration
AI empowers developers to co-create the software that powers our world with greater efficiency and improved security. That’s why businesses are already making significant investments in AI. According to GitLab’s 2024 DevSecOps report, 98 percent of UK respondents said they are currently using AI in software development or plan to use it. It’s therefore no surprise that today, many companies are shipping software at least twice as fast as last year.
Here are eight ways developers can tap into AI’s potential:
Will AI change the makeup of software development teams?
With the increased popularity of artificial intelligence technology, many human workers have expressed concern that AI models will replace them or make their positions obsolete. This is particularly the case with occupations like coding and software design, where artificial intelligence has the opportunity to automate several essential processes. Although AI is a powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize the coding process, the role of human workers is still invaluable, as this technology is still in its infancy.
Software development teams are among the ranks of workers most profoundly affected by the AI revolution. Some of the ways in which software development teams have begun to use artificial intelligence include:
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Tackling information overload in the age of AI
Agile decision-making is often hampered by the volume and complexity of unstructured data. That’s where AI can help.
In 2022, the U.S. Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocated billions in investment to clean energy. This set off a race among private equity and credit firms to identify potential beneficiaries -- the companies throughout the clean energy supply chain that may need additional capital to take advantage of the new opportunities the IRA would create. It turned out to be quite a data challenge.
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The author eloquently argues that the essence of human intelligence -- our curiosity, critical thinking, empathy, and more -- is not only irreplaceable but will become increasingly valuable as AI evolves to take on routine tasks. AI + the New Human Frontier is a clarion call for embedding trust, human oversight and judgement into AI development, ensuring that the technology amplifies our most human capabilities. At a time when the lines between what is real, fake, true and false are becoming more blurred, reliance on human-centric solutions, not just technological ones, will become more critical.
The biggest mistake organizations make when implementing AI chatbots
Worldwide spending on chatbots is expected to reach $72 billion by 2028, up from $12 billion in 2023, and many organizations are scrambling to keep pace. As companies race to develop advanced chatbots, some are compromising performance by prioritizing data quantity over quality. Just adding data to a chatbot’s knowledge base without any quality control guardrails will result in outputs that are low-quality, incorrect, or even offensive.
This highlights the critical need for rigorous data hygiene practices to ensure accurate and up-to-date conversational AI software responses.
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