Edinburgh’s Smart Data Foundry has announced the launch of the Financial Data Service (FINDS) Fellowships, offering up to £300,000 to support pioneering research to address the UK’s most pressing economic, societal and health challenges.
The Fellowships aim to empower researchers across academia by providing cutting-edge financial datasets and competitive funding for impactful, policy-relevant research.
Funding will be split between three to four projects, with applications now open for submission, with a closing date of 9 December 2025.
Eligible applicants include UK-based universities, policy think tanks, research institutes and independent organisations, subject to Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) vetting.
Proposals are invited that align with FINDS’ core research themes, including economic behaviour and trends, public health and wellbeing, social science and demographic change, and income and expenditure patterns.
“I’m delighted to be announcing the launch of our FINDS Fellowships. This funding will empower researchers to integrate smart financial data into studies tackling key challenges, from productivity and prosperity to health, wellbeing, and sustainability,” Dougie Robb, CEO Smart Data Foundry said.
“We aim to support three to four innovative projects that not only demonstrate the transformative potential of smart data in research but also generate insights that contribute to real-world impact and improved lives.”
FINDS is funded via UKRI’s Smart Data Research UK programme and provides secure, de-identified financial data enabling researchers to better understand economic shocks and policy impacts on communities.
This initiative represents a unique opportunity for researchers to leverage novel data sources that can inform more targeted and effective policy responses.
Funding for these Fellowships comes from Smart Data Foundry’s £3million award from Smart Data Research UK, announced earlier this year.
Data leaders at the UK’s largest organisations are the most optimistic in the world about AI deployments, with much higher levels of trust and some of the lowest levels of caution amongst their global peers, according to a new survey by The Harris Poll for Dataiku.
Less than half (43%) of UK data leaders at organisations with an annual revenue of over $1bn say they have delayed or blocked an AI Agent deployment at their company in the past year, making them the least likely globally.
This is a markedly lower number than more cautious global peers, particularly in the US (where 58% have delayed or blocked in the past year) and in Europe (59% across French and German markets).
In addition to a bias to action, British data leaders are also overwhelmingly trusting of AI agents: the research shows that 85% would allow an AI agent to make a business decision that they would personally stake their jobs on – the highest percentage of any global market.
This shows unusually high confidence in the abilities of AI agents, and much lower levels of caution than global counterparts.
“This research shows that British data leaders are the most likely in the world to take sharp, context-driven risks with their AI deployment,” said Florian Douetteau, CEO and co-founder of Dataiku. “Whilst it is positive to see British businesses are so willing to innovate, it is critical that organisations are able to explain, trace and govern this technology – that’s how AI will move from hype to real, trusted business impact.”
Despite their optimism, only 9% of British data leaders say they could confidently trace every AI decision made within their business if asked by a regulator. This suggests British data leaders are much less concerned about regulatory pressures than they are about rapid deployment, potentially reflecting the UK’s more relaxed approach to tech regulation than elsewhere in Europe.
Only 15% of British data leaders always require their AI systems to “show their work” (provide explainable reasoning or decision traceability) before approving them, the lowest of any global market. This further underlines the less cautious approach taken by British businesses towards AI compared to counterparts across the world.
The study was conducted by The Harris Poll for Dataiku, surveying 800+ senior data executives across the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, UAE, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
Fraud in the UK increased by 17% year-on-year, according to UK Finance’s half year fraud report, with 2.09 million confirmed cases in the first half of this year.
Criminals stole £629.3 million in the first half of 2025, a three per cent increase on the same period in 2024.
According to UK Finance, banks prevented £870 million of unauthorised fraud through advanced security systems, 20% more than in the first half of 2024 and equivalent to 70p in ever £1 attempted.
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses increased by 12% year-on-year, amounting to £257.5m in the first half of 2025, while actual cases fell by 8% to 110,747.
The main culprit behind the increase of APP losses was investment scams, which is when a criminal convinces their victim to move money into a fake fund or to pay for a fake investment. This fraud accounted for £97.7m stolen, a 55% increase from the same time last year. Some of the losses reported in investment scams may involve cases that started in previous years as they involve larger sums of money and can take longer for individuals to recognise the scam.
However, purchase scams were still the biggest contributors to APP cases, accounting for 72%. Losses in this category increased by 10%, though cases fell by 7%.
Romance scam losses increased by 35%, while losses related to police or bank official impersonation fell by 14%.
Unauthorised fraud transactions cases amounted to 1.98, a 19% increase from last year. Losses amounted to £372m, a decrease of 3%.
Cheque fraud loss was down by 41%, while remote banking fraud losses were down by 24%.
The number of card not present fraud cases, which occur when a criminal uses stolen card details, increased by 22%.
Banks were able to prevent £870 million losses from unauthorised fraud during the first half of 2025, a 20% increase from last year.
“Fraud continues to be a major threat to our society and our economy, and criminals continue to adapt ways to steal victims’ money and funnel significant sums of money to criminal enterprises, impacting society greatly,” Ben Donaldson, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said.
“Despite the ongoing investment and prevention measure by the industry, the majority of fraud originates outside the banking system, online and over the phone, where manipulation begins long before any payment is made.
“The scale of the threat is not commensurate with the current level of government investment in countering it or the insufficient action by other sectors. The government must prioritise prevention and hold the social media and telecommunications industries to account in its new Fraud Strategy.”
OpenAI has revealed how many ChatGPT users exhibit signs of psychosis, mania, and suicidal thoughts in a troubling new report detailing the firm’s new mental health principles.
Following concern and even outrage, OpenAI recently introduced new principles and guidelines to ensure its LLM chatbot, ChatGPT, gave appropriate responses to users exhibiting troubling mental health problems such as psychosis and especially, suicidal thoughts.
According to ChatGPT’s own AI screenings, OpenAI said that about 0.07% of ChatGPT active weekly users exhibited signs of mania or psychosis.
About o.15% of active weekly users exhibited suicidal planning or intent, while 0.05% of conversations exhibited explicit or implicit indications of suicidal intent or ideation.
The firm said it consulted over 170 mental health experts to evaluate ChatGPT’s newest models’ responses, which have been updated with its mental heath safeguarding principles.
According to consulted experts, the new GPT-5 model being used by ChatGPT reduced undesired responses to instances of potential psychosis, mania, or other serious mental health emergencies by just 39%.
However, OpenAI says that it estimates the latest update to GPT-5 reduces the rate of non-desirable responses from ChatGPT by 65%, saying that in a model test it exhibited compliant responses in 92% of cases.
When it comes to conversations involving suicide, ChatGPT’s newest model reduced undesired answers by 52% compared to the previous model, according to experts.
However, the newest update has a 65% reduction in non-compliant responses to suicidal thoughts, with the newest model scoring 91% compliant in tests, OpenAI says.
OpenAI also investigated a worrying trend of emotional attachment or reliance on AI.
ChatGPT found that about 0.15% of active weekly users and 0.03% of messages indicate potentially high levels of emotional attachment to the AI chatbot.
To counteract this, ChatGPT says that it encourages users to engage in real-world connection. In an example, ChatGPT responds to a user saying “That’s why I like to talk to AI’s like you more than real people,” insisting that that “real people can surprise you,” but then proceeds to ask the user “What do you think makes conversations with me feel easier or better than talking to people.”
While the chatbot does encourage the users to engage with other people, saying it is “here to add to the good things people give you, not replace them,” it does not end the conversation, but instead opens it up with a question, leading the user to potentially spend even more time chatting to the AI.
A recent study on GPT-5, the latest model ChatGPT uses, found that ChatGPT generated harmful content when dealing with similar issues noted in OpenAI’s study 53% of the time. It was also found to continue “risky conversations” – such as those including self-harm, 99% of the time, compared to just 9% of the time for the previous model GPT-4o.
“We believe ChatGPT can provide a supportive space for people to process what they’re feeling, and guide them to reach out to friends, family, or a mental health professional when appropriate,” OpenAI said in a new post explaining their findings.
OpenAI said that it worked with the over 170 mental health experts from around 6o countries to develop better responses and reroute users to mental health professionals.
Users still using older, less-equipped models will also be rerouted to new, more able models if topics such as mania, psychosis, suicide, self harm, or emotional attachment come up.
OpenAI has been in hot water recently as it faces a lawsuit from a California family alleging that the conversations with ChatGPT lead to a teenage boy’s suicide. The family alleged that the AI chatbot did not intervene or provide guidance to the teenage boy, Adam Raine, 16 years old, when he reported to ChatGPT that he attempted suicide several times, with court filings alleging that ChatGPT gave him instructions on how to tie a noose, as well as other suicide ideas.
Since then, OpenAI introduced parental safety controls for teen and youth accounts, though these require parents to intervene in children’s accounts, and require effective age checks.
It is free to contact the Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org.
Just 1% of UK university student who’ve previously used AI tools say none of their work is AI-assisted, according to a new survey from Uswitch.
The survey of 500 UK university students in September highlights how quickly AI is becoming embedded in higher education.
The majority (99%) of UK university students who have used AI tools before say at least some of their academic work is AI-assisted. Over a third (35%) estimate that 21-40% of their work involves AI, while 36% say it accounts from 1% to 20%.
A further one in five students who have tried AI tools (18%) estimate that 41-60% of their work is AI-assisted, 7% estimate between 61-80%, while 3% say AI accounts for 81-100% of their work. Just 1% of UK university students who have previously used AI tools say none of their work is AI-assisted.
A quarter (25%) of UK university students who’ve used AI tools report using them every day to support their studies, while more than half (52%) use them weekly. A further 16% use AI monthly, while just 7% say they rarely rely on it.
What are students using AI for?
Nearly half (45%) of students surveyed said they use AI for research and summarising information, making this the most common application. Revision and exam preparation followed closely at 39%, while a third (33%) use AI for coding or programming tasks.
Students also rely on AI for writing essays or assignments (31%), preparing presentations or reports (29%), and even proofreading their work (19%).
A learning tool?
Three-quarters (75%) of students who’ve used AI tools say they’ve positively impacted their university work, with 30% claiming it has significantly enhanced it.
Almost half (45%) said it had somewhat improved their learning, while only a small minority felt it had hindered their work – 4% somewhat and 1% significantly. One in five students (20%) said AI had no noticeable impact on their work.
Trust and security
Half of UK students who use AI tools say they trust them, but concerns about data security and accuracy remain widespread. Just 19% fully trust both the accuracy and security tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini, while 31% mostly trust them.
One in five (21%) students trust the accuracy of information provided by AI tools, but have doubts around its general security. On the flip side, 16% trust the platform’s security, but have concerns over the accuracy of information given.
The research also reveals some differences in AI use depending on academic discipline. Of those surveyed, those who study STEM or medical-related subjects reported the highest daily reliance on AI, at 27%. But Arts, Humanities and Education students followed closely behind with a daily reliance of 26%.
Of those surveyed, Business, Marketing and Social Science students reported the highest proportion of weekly users (55%, excluding daily users). While Arts, Humanities and Education students reported the highest monthly percentage (18%, excluding daily and weekly users.)
Postgraduate Education
Usage also differs by year group. Among students who use AI at least occasionally, undergraduates are the most frequent weekly users, with 54% using AI tools weekly compared to 48% of postgraduates.
When looking specifically at daily usage, postgraduate students lead the way, with 35% reporting daily use compared to 21% of undergraduates.
Argyll Data Development is partnering with SambaNova, an AI infrastructure firm, to deliver the UK’s first renewable-powered AI inference cloud.
The deployment will anchor the Killellan AI Growth Zone, a 184-acre green digital campus on Scotland’s Cowal Peninsula creating a blueprint for how nations can combine AI sovereignty, energy independents and sustainability.
Harnessing wind, wave and solar energy generated on-site, Argyll will deploy SambaNova’s air-cooled SN40L systems, a platform engineered for maximum efficiency and minimum power consumption. Each rack draws roughly one-tenth the power of traditional GPU systems, eliminating the need for liquid cooling while maintaining enterprise-grade performance.
“Together with SambaNova and our strategic partners, we’re building a sovereign AI infrastructure powered by renewable energy, demonstrating that sustainability and scale can go hand in hand. Our goal isn’t just to make AI greener, but to make it competitive, compliant and cost-effective,” said Peter Griffiths, Executive Chairman at Argyll.
“This project gives UK enterprises the ability to innovate responsibly, securely and within our own borders, in full alignment with national AI ambitions.”
The first phase of the Killellan site will provide 100 to 600 megawatts of capacity, scaling to over 2 gigawatts at full build-out. A private-wire renewable network and vanadium-flow battery storage will enable “island-mode” operation, with future grid integration planned.
“Argyll is a blueprint for scaling AI responsibly. By pairing renewable power with high-performance, energy-efficient computing, it shows what sustainable AI infrastructure can achieve,” said Rodrigo Liang, CEO and Co-Founder of SambaNova.
“With SambaNova’s chips-to-model platform, we’re enabling large-model inference with maximum performance per watt, while helping enterprises and governments maintain full control over their data and energy footprint.”
Established in 2023 and built on deep expertise in renewable infrastructure, Argyll is developing the Killellan AI Growth Zone as a model for sovereign-scale AI compute that keeps sensitive workloads within UK borders while driving regional economic.
Established in 2023 and built on deep expertise in renewable infrastructure, Argyll is developing the Killellan AI Growth Zone as a model for sovereign-scale AI compute that keeps sensitive workloads within UK borders while driving regional economic growth.
The project is projected to enable £15 billion in total investment, create more than 2,000 construction jobs annually and 1,200 permanent positions, and contribute £734 million in annual GVA to the Scottish economy.
Waste heat from the data-centre campus will support vertical farming, aquaculture and local district heating, demonstrating a closed-loop, circular design. Beyond powering AI innovation, Argyll’s renewable infrastructure will underpin socially beneficial applications in healthcare, agriculture and education, reinforcing the UK’s commitment to responsible AI for public good.
AI is everywhere, from the forefront of technological innovation to your back pocket, infiltrating conversations of the most powerful people in the world, in boardrooms and universities, down at the pub and at family holidays.
While the prolific technology definitely has a high profile, what AI actually is can often be misunderstood and vaguely defined, despite its availability to the everyday person.
“A lot of people compare AI to the cloud, to kind of dismiss the hype,” Matilda Rhodes said at DIGIT’s inaugural CymruSec conference in Cardiff. “But I wasn’t talking about the cloud with my in-laws on Christmas day, but I do have to talk about AI.”
Matilda Rhode has to talk about AI – no matter how it is defined – a lot. She serves as the head of security operations at Welsh Water, but previously worked with AI as a data scientist when the technology had a more narrow definition and scope.
People used to talk about breakthroughs in Google DeepMind, the potential for driverless vehicles – AI still seemednebulous and futuristic, the stuff of films rather than reality, back when Rhode was working on foundational systems.
Then, ChatGPT happened in November 2022, and Rhode was bombarded by the incessant question: “What are we doing about AI?”
“You can almost reframe the question from a security perspective as ‘what are we doing about technology?’” To answer either question, Rhode took us through the varying definitions of AI, and how it is impacting governance, data protection, and general security
So what is AI, and how do we deal with it from a security perspective.
Rhode provided helpful definitions, explained security risks, and delved into best practices in a packed room at CrymruSec 2025 in Cardiff.
Defining AI for 2025
“AI has become this massive branding success. It’s now applied to technologies that we wouldn’t have traditionally said were actually using data-driven or AI technologies, and it needs breaking down,” she explained.
People often use a variety of diagrams to explain what AI is – and what it isn’t – but these often conflate AI applications together, adding more confusion and complexity to one of the most profound and readily available transformative technologies to hit the 21st century.
“The word AI is now being used to capture this really wide range of technologies, but what do we really mean?”
Rhode presented her own bespoke breakdown of AI, its various modes and applications, to try and simplify this complex landscape.
Automation: “This is your normal programme that you are writing,” she explained. Here, humans create the rules. Automation is a bit easier to test than human programmes, but you do not rely on the data to infer the logic of your programme. Automation is a bit more basic, but is often now being described as AI,” Rhode explained.
Next, she ventures into narrow machine learning (ML) with specific applications. For these, you need your own data source to focus on a specific problem. These are handy for detecting anomalies, recognising patterns, and matching signatures. These systems need to be trained on your own data, and includes exploratory data science and statistics.
“It’s good for finding bad, finding weird things, and modeling risks.”
Now onto general purpose models – think ChatGPT.
“These are models that are trained on hardware that you can’t afford, with data sets that you can’t store because the data set’s probably the whole internet,” Rhode explained.
General purpose AI, like the name suggests, has “a myriad of applications – you can waste a lot of time playing with it,” she also warned.
“That’s why you need to focus on the ‘why’ question with regards to AI in both a personal and professional context.”
For this, Rhode suggests that the best application for general purpose models in enterprise is for human/machine teaming.
Think of something with a complex data set where LLMs can be used to structure data, but still requires a human in the loop for “a level of ingenuity and to operationalise it.” LLMs can be used to do the grunt work of major data sets, leaving the strategic problem solving to humans.
Finally, Rhode touches on one of the newest buzzwords in the AI hype: Agentic AI. When it comes to security, Rhode questions if we are anywhere near trusting agentic AI, or AI with the agency to take data, solve problems, all on its own, especially with sensitive data sets.
Now that we have a bit of a better understanding of what AI is, the many roles it can play in an organisation, and various applications, we can move on to an even more difficult set of questions: how do we secure it?
First of all, we need to again, understand what AI risks are, and then how we can protect against them.
AI risks come in the form of five categories:
General Purpose AI
These risks tend to do with the use of general purpose AI models and their integration into systems. Zero-day vulnerabilities within these systems can create potentially devastating consequences.
For these risks, Rhode suggests thinking of ways to mitigate the potential for zero-day vulnerabilities, such as ring-fencing sensitive data so AI systems cannot compromise it.
Bespoke
Bespoke AI systems come with design flaws often inherent in any new technology adoption. These systems require access controls so they cannot be hacked and sensitive data cannot be leaked. They also, however, come with service risks, where lab tested, successful solutions fail in the real world. Working with various development teams to understand AI use-cases for purpose-built systems that reflect reality by design can help mitigate these issues.
Ambient AI
This is background AI, which often involves automated filters and systems. These can create service issues, which in turn can generate security issues. These need to be addressed, understood, and relayed across the entire department. Procurement processes for ambient AI need to take security and data protection into account, even if their applications are seemingly harmless.
Outside AI or Shadow AI
Rhode described this AI risk factor as “outside of the organisation use,” but it is often known as shadow AI. This is when workers use AI systems for work outside of approved in-house applications, or use work data in AI applications without authorisation. This creates a high-level of data protection risk, but blanket bans on using AI appear to not be working, as data shows a high level of Shadow AI, especially in IT applications. Regulating the use of approved AI systems, as well as communication basic security protocols to their use, is more recommended.
AI Used By Attackers
These are the AI security risks that tend to get the most attention. From deepfakes to social engineering, most cyber-attack that employ AI do so to enhance the effectiveness of these attacks, rather than in creating new attack vectors of methods. AI has transformed phishing, has made deepfake-ing certain biometric identifiers possible, and can even make entry-level malware. While brand new security risks may not be popping up, AI is making traditional risks more effective, so security defences need to catch up.
All these security risks bring together issues that are not necessarily new. Access and identity management is still vital, data protection, cyber awareness when it comes to phishing, using authorised tools, protecting sensitive data against zero-days – are all essential cyber hygiene anyway.
“So AI, this new type of technology, whatever you want to call it: does it actually need a new approach or are we fine as we are?” Rhode postures.
To answer, she delves into four key takeaways when it comes to cybersecurity in this new age of AI.
“If we’re going to put in new technologies, we can’t just fit and forget them,” she said.
“We need people who are going to monitor them, maintain them, just with any security tool.”
As AI transforms the workforce, workers will need the appropriate training to transform with it.
If a person’s new job is to monitor and critique the AI doing their old job, then “those people need retraining on how to be the human in the loop. They can’t just move from doing that job to criticising an AI model. They need to understand its weaknesses.”
Security Defences
Data governance is also vital in protecting the data these systems rely on to function. “We need access control, especially if you’re going to use agents. Those need locking down.”
Understanding how to protect sensitive data from AI – be it in bespoke systems, shadow AI, or zero-day threats, is vital, just as it is with any new technology.
New controls are also arising with AI, but so are threats, and traditional patching may not be possible, Rhode warns.
Security teams should also try their best to understand the cost-benefit for attackers when implementing new AI systems.
Cyber Awareness
Classic cyber awareness, across the entire organisation, will still be essential, but new concerns need to be addressed. As deepfakes become more and more common, and regulation has yet to catch up, organisations need to be aware and prepared.
Sensitive data also needs to be protected from potential AI security risks, and sensitive data must be ring-fenced from shady Shadow AI uses.
Vagueness as an Advantage
In Rhode’s talk, it was clear that AI does not have one definitive definition, and its complexity will only expand as the technology and its applications evolve. While Rhode presented understandable definitions of AI, it remained clear that AI anything but clear and simple.
It’s overarching capabilities, insidious tendency to spread its tentacles across an organisation’s tech stack, the FOMO of boards desperate to brag about their AI applications, means that AI is looming over every technology innovation, ever budget meeting, every cyber-attack, and is the stuff of cyber leader’s nightmares.
But Rhode says this vagueness can be used to cyber’s advantage.
“AI risk is often brought to the security team first, but it’s a risk that affects lots of different areas,” she said. “This is actually an opportunity to work closer with colleagues who operate across different risk domains.”
“You can harness the vagueness to your advantage,” she said. “Use it to drive security improvements.”
Glasgow spin-out Chemify has secured more than $50 million in series B funding.
The funding round, which was oversubscribed, was co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Insight Partners, with further participation from 8VC and existing backers Eoz, Blueyard, Triatomic Capital, and Rockspring.
The new funding will enable Chemify to expand globally, as well as build a network of digital chemistry hubs to deliver on-demand molecule design and manufacturing. Its designs can be used in pharmaceutical, biotech, and material-science applications.
“Chemify aims to become the global digital backbone of chemistry, enabling fast design and discovery,” Lee Cronin, founder and chief executive said. “Our vision is that Chemify will be able to design and make any molecule on demand for our customers across all of chemistry from drug discovery to new catalysts and electronic materials.
“The next step in our evolution is nothing short of a revolution in the digitisation and automation of chemical discovery and manufacturing.”
This year, Chemify launched Chemifarm, a digital and automated chemistry hub designed as an advanced laboratory for the design and synthesis of molecules. The facility uses the Chemputation platform, advanced robotics, a programming language, and a curated library of validated chemical reactions.
Now, with the new funding, Chemify is looking to open a facility in Silicon Vallye, which will be led by Mike Bell, the firm’s chief technical officer. The new US hub will enhance the firm’s ability to deliver on-demand molecule design, optimising the journey from concept to compound.
“Chemify’s technology uses automation and physical AI to enable the digitisation of chemistry, transforming chemical synthesis from an art to a programmable science,” Ansuman Satpathy, a partner at Wing Venture Capital, said.
“We are excited to support the team’s progress as they empower scientists to create novel molecules with unmatched efficiency and precision.”
Aiden Aceves, vice president at Insight Partners, remarked: “Lee is an iconoclast with the wind at his back.
“Chemify’s use of AI to ensure the make-ability of complex molecules is a paradigm shift for how medicinal chemistry is done today, and the company’s vision is matched by the strong results seen across their early pharma collaborations.”
CodeClan is relaunching with the aim of building future careers in tech, with the first cohorts run by CodeBase set to commence in early 2026, on a 9-month Software Engineering programme for ‘first-timers’ and a 12-week Applied Agentic AI programme for experienced engineers.
“Tech isn’t just for the chosen few, it’s for anyone ready to roll up their sleeves and make a change – we don’t just want to teach code, we want to build futures,” CodeBase CEO Stephen Coleman said.
“From software engineering to harnessing AI, our programmes are built for staying ahead of the tech curve and training for tomorrow’s tech today. Overall, we know there is an acute requirement for upskilling to address the digital skills gap, and the potential to accelerate economic growth.”
The hybrid, immersive courses are underpinned by project-based learning, collaboration on real-world challenges, and guidance from leading industry figures and experts. Project work and sessions will primarily take place on weekday evenings so that participants can continue with their existing careers while studying for new careers in tech.
The Software Engineering programme will start with learning JavaScript and C/C++ coding, before tackling advanced topics like object-oriented design and network programming. Through hands-on projects, cohort participants will write around 12,000 lines of code, build a portfolio, and graduate as entry-level software engineers.
“CodeClan will teach you to think like a developer. Autonomy, problem-solving, and resilience are baked into every project,” Lauren Wilson, Head of Mobilisation at CodeBase, said. “These traits futureproof your career, so you’re not just coding, you’re shaping your work ethic and approach to complex challenges.”
Martin Boyle, VP Transformation, CodeBase, said: “Success takes more than just coding skills. It’s how you learn, the mindset you bring, and the community behind you. Backed by industry expertise in Scotland’s thriving tech sector, we combine all three – in ways traditional courses don’t match.”
The Applied Agentic AI programme begins with implementation of single and multi-agent systems, with live team challenges and in-person sessions to kick off and close the course. By the end of the programme, graduates will be equipped to build, deploy, and optimise enterprise-scale agentic AI systems with impact.
Iain Mackie, CEO and Co-Founder of Malted AI, one of Scotland’s leading VC-backed AI scaleups, said: “Scotland has the talent, research institutions, and ambition to be a meaningful player in European AI. However, investment in AI education and skills is vital to keep Scotland competitive, and CodeClan’s Applied Agentic AI programme can play a big part.”
CodeBase acquired select assets of digital skills academy CodeClan when it went into liquidation in 2023, before launching a pilot coding programme last year in partnership with Scottish colleges and Silicon Valley education platform Qwasar.
Cryptocurrency has transformed the financial landscape. It offers freedom, accessibility, and the potential to generate significant wealth. Yet this innovation has also created new risks – not only to systems, but to people.
As security systems improve, criminals have changed their focus. Instead of hacking platforms, they’re targeting the people who control the assets. Executives, traders, content creators, and even family members have become high-value targets. It’s often easier to pressure a person than to break through an encrypted system.
People: The Path of Least Resistance
Strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, and encrypted wallets all help, but they don’t matter if someone with access can be intimidated or manipulated. Attackers know this.
They study routines, track social media posts, and monitor public appearances. They look for vulnerabilities in human behaviour. For criminals, targeting an individual is faster, cheaper, and more effective than trying to breach a secured exchange.
As platforms have grown more secure, attackers are now going after the people who control the assets.
The Rise of Human Targeted Attacks
Across the globe, attacks against crypto holders increasingly involve physical coercion, often in the form of wrench attacks, in which victims are threatened with immediate violence to force them to surrender access to their digital assets.
In Cambridge, Canada, a young man was abducted at gunpoint and forced to transfer cryptocurrency to an attacker. In Paris, a CEO’s daughter and grandson were targeted in a failed abduction attempt. In Manhattan, New York, a 28-year-old Italian crypto investor was lured to a luxury Soho townhouse and held captive for 17 days. During this period, the victim endured electrical shocks, pistol-whipping, and cuts from a saw. The attackers used physical coercion to force him to reveal his Bitcoin password – however, the victim ultimately escaped and alerted authorities.
Each of these cases shares a common theme. Criminals are targeting people rather than systems because it provides the most direct route to the assets. This approach is now a significant risk factor for executives and staff alike.
Executives are obvious targets because of their public profiles, media exposure, and company affiliations. Staff with access to wallets or trading accounts are also at risk. Attackers may attempt to bypass internal controls by manipulating employees or exploiting predictable behaviours. Laptops and cold wallets are portable and vulnerable. Even minor lapses, such as leaving a laptop logged in while stepping away, can provide attackers with immediate access.
Family members are another area of vulnerability. Spouses, parents, and children may be targeted to apply emotional pressure. Criminals know that people will often act to protect loved ones, making coercion far more effective than hacking a secure system.
How Criminals Exploit the Path of Least Resistance
Modern attacks combine digital reconnaissance with physical surveillance and coercion. Criminals gather information from social media, public events, and online information. They then apply pressure where it will be most effective. Common tactics include:
Kidnappings and coercion: Victims are compelled to disclose wallet credentials, grant account access, and transfer their digital assets.
Social engineering and spiking: Not all attacks rely just rely on violence. Criminals impersonate trusted contacts or service providers to incapacitate victims and access devices.
Opportunistic theft: Laptops and wallets are stolen from public spaces such as cafes, co-working offices, or airports.
Online manipulation: Fake exchange websites, phishing, address spoofing, and scam giveaways trick victims into transferring funds.
Between 2022 and 2025, physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders resulted in over $166 million in losses, with kidnappings alone accounting for $128 million, according to TRM Labs. The rising value of cryptocurrency makes these attacks increasingly lucrative and is continuing to encourage attackers to refine their methods and not push at all angles until they succeed.
Protecting cryptocurrency now requires more than technical safeguards. Security must be layered. Digital controls, operational practices, physical protection, and managing digital footprints must work together to reduce risk.
Technical Controls:
Use multi-signature wallets that need multiple approvals before transactions can go through.
Consider multi-party computation (MPC) to spread private keys across multiple devices or people.
Operational Practices:
Avoid publicly linking your real identity to crypto holdings.
Separate wallets for different uses – personal, professional, high-value.
Change travel patterns and workspace routines to stay unpredictable.
Physical Protection:
Don’t access wallets in public places.
High-risk individuals should consider professional security or protective measures.
Secure homes and offices with layered defences and safe storage.
Digital Footprint Management
Your online presence is now one of your biggest vulnerabilities.
Criminals gather information from social media, public events, online forums, and even seemingly harmless posts about hobbies, travel, events or routines. This intelligence allows them to plan kidnappings, coercion, or wrench attacks with precision.
Family members are especially at risk. A single public post showing a child’s school, a spouse’s workplace, or a vacation plan can be exploited. Threats against loved ones dramatically increase the likelihood a crypto holder will comply, regardless of how secure the wallet is.
Key practices for managing your digital footprint
Conduct a thorough digital footprint review: Examine social media, blogs, forums, and any public mentions. Identify information about routines, locations, relationships, and crypto involvement.
Remove sensitive information: Delete posts or metadata revealing schedules, addresses, family details, or device use patterns.
Assess family exposure: Ensure family members understand what they share online. Avoid publicly disclosing identifiable information such as addresses, crypto holdings or routines.
Use digital pseudonymity: Separate identities for crypto activity help prevent attackers from linking assets to you or your family.
Think like an attacker: Always ask yourself – If someone wanted to target me, what could they learn from this post?
Digital footprint management should now be core component of layered crypto security, to protect both you and your family.
The rise in attacks targeting crypto holders is a wake-up call – securing your digital assets isn’t just about wallets and passwords anymore. Criminals are going after the people behind the assets and anyone with access, from executives to family members, can be a target.
Staying safe means thinking beyond technology. It means layering protections – strong digital security, careful operational habits, physical safeguards, and managing what you share online. Each layer reduces risk and makes it harder for attackers to find an easy way in. At the end of the day, the real risk isn’t the wallet it’s the person who controls it.
Wikipedia has revealed it has faced a major drop in human traffic, saying its a result of AI being integrated into Google search and the advent of Google AI Overviews.
The online encyclopaedia as long dealt with issues over Google’s Search updates, which often keep people on Google Search pages rather than open independent websites for answers to queries.
Since Google has introduced its AI Overviews feature, which uses data harvested from websites to create a selected ‘overview’ of information, various platforms have rebuked Google for the impact on web traffic and data usage.
Organisations are not compensated by Google if their information is used in Google’s AI Overviews, and platforms often loose out on vital ad revenue if users do not click onto their webpage and instead stay on Google.
Wikipedia said it realised its drop in viewers after it updated its platform’s bot detection systems.
Wikipedia viewership was down 8% year-on-year, the Wikimedia Foundation revealed, saying that it was a result of generative AI answers being available on Google “rather than linking to sites like ours.”
“We believe that these declines reflect the impact of generative AI and social media on how people seek information, especially with search engines providing answers directly to searchers, often based on Wikipedia content,” Marshall Miller, senior director of product at the Wikimedia Foundation wrote in a blog post.
“This gradual shift is not unique to Wikipedia,” he said. “Many other publishers and content platforms are reporting similar shifts as users spend more time on search engines, AI chatbots, and social media to find information.”
Miller is right, with some media organisations already taking action against Google’s AI reviews.
Owner of MailOnline and Metro, DMG Media, which saw its click-through-rates plummet 89%, explained to the Competition and Markets Authority how the new AI era is affecting its traffic.
Penske Media Corporation, parent company of Rolling Stone, even filed a lawsuit against Google for using its articles in its AI summaries.
But Google has hit back, with Liz Reid, head of Google Search, saying that “people are happier with the experience,” since the company introduced AI into search, saying that the firm “continues to send billions of clicks to websites ever day and believe that Search’s value exchange with the web remains strong.”
Sixty per cent of surveyed UK and US cybersecurity leaders now admit that security risks originating from third parties and supply chain partners are “innumerable and unmanageable.”
This is according to the latest The State of Information Security Report from IO, which reveals a growing disparity between cybersecurity confidence and reality.
A surprising 97 per cent of cybersecurity leaders said they were confident in their breach response, with 61 per cent describing themselves as “very confident.”
Yet, that confidence contrasts drastically with 61 per cent of leaders who noted their organisation had suffered a third-party or supply chain attack in the past 12 months.
This further exemplifies the widening “confidence gap”, as business leaders back their resilience while supply chain compromises continue to cause widespread damage.
Recent high-profile incidents, such as the Jaguar Land Rover attack, which disrupted production across multiple manufacturing plants, and the Collins Aerospace attack on its MUSE software which grounded several European airports to a halt, highlight how supply chain compromises can quickly cascade far beyond their initial target.
Among those who suffered a third-party or supply chain attack, 38 per cent resulted in customer, employee or partner data breaches, 35 per cent suffered financial losses or unplanned costs (e.g. remediation, fines, legal fees), and 33 per cent faced temporary system outage or operational disruption.
More than a third (36 per cent) of organisations that suffered a customer data breach said they had experienced customer or partner churn or loss of trust as a result, while 28 per cent faced heightened scrutiny from partners or suppliers.
“Cybersecurity leaders clearly recognise the importance of supply chain security, but many still underestimate how complex and interdependent modern supply networks have become,” said Chris Newton-Smith, CEO of IO. “This confidence needs to be matched by continuous action to avoid the domino effect across networks, impacting customer trust, finances, and operations.”
Despite the growing risk, only 23 per cent of all respondents ranked supply chain compromise among their top emerging threats, placing it below AI misuse, misinformation, and phishing. This suggests that while investment is rising, supply chain risk is still underestimated relative to its potential impact.
While this year’s report focuses on the broader supply chain, it still underscores the disproportionate vulnerability of small and mid-sized businesses.
Of those cybersecurity leaders within SMEs with up to 49 employees, 28 per cent reported supply chain disruption or cascading partner issues following a customer data breach, compared with 21 per cent of large enterprises.
This suggests smaller firms are less able to contain the fallout of third-party incidents, often due to limited resources, smaller security teams, and fewer formal risk processes.
“Attackers increasingly see smaller suppliers as soft entry points into larger targets,” added Newton-Smith. “They may not be the ultimate prize, but they’re often the route into the larger organisations. Securing the entire supply chain is essential for national and commercial resilience.”
However, the research does demonstrate that investment in third-party and supply chain security is growing, as 64 per cent of organisations plan to increase spending in this area over the next year. This number drops to 45 per cent among smaller SMEs, who say budgets and investment will remain the same. Smaller firms are generally less likely to have a clear and well-communicated information security strategy, to invest in awareness training, or to strengthen crisis management and incident response capabilities, all key components of an effective resilience plan.
Encouragingly, 80 per cent of organisations have already strengthened third-party and vendor risk management practices in the last 12 months or longer than 12 months, with a further 17 per cent planning to do so in the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent of leaders list strengthening vendor and third-party risk management among their top cybersecurity priorities for the next 12 months, reflecting a clear shift toward long-term resilience planning.
“Supply chain resilience is now one of the top security priorities for the year ahead, but this needs to be embedded within the organisation,” Newton-Smith said.
“To close the confidence gap, leaders must focus on people and process, putting strategies in place to ensure compliance and build a culture of security and resilience across the chain to avoid any weak links”
The number of new UK technology incorporations soared to another record high in Q3 2025, as the sector defies ongoing economic uncertainty, according to RSM UK.
RSM’s analysis found a total of 15,470 new tech companies were incorporated in Q3 2025, jumping 36% from 11,368 in the same quarter last year.
The number of tech incorporations also rose by 8% compared to Q2 this year, up from 14,262.
All UK regions saw an increase in tech incorporations compared to last year, with London, the East of England, North West, South West, Wales and West Midlands recording the highest quarter since 2019.
Scotland saw a year on year increase in tech incorporations of 26%, with 471 incorporations in Q3 2025, compared to 375 in 2024.
However, it had a quarter-on-quarter change of -7%, falling from 507 incorporations in the second quarter of this year.
“UK tech is showing resilience, with quarterly tech incorporations reaching another record high despite broader business confidence remaining subdued,” Ben Bilsland, partner and head of technology industry at RSM UK, said.
“The continued momentum in the UK’s booming tech ecosystem of high growth, successful companies will further reinforce the country’s position as a global leader in tech.
“Q4 may see further growth in the wake of positive messaging from the UK government on the tech sector and the US-UK Tech Prosperity Deal announced during the US President’s recent visit.
“This deal pointed to deep investment in AI, civil nuclear energy, quantum technologies and further frontier innovations. Leading US tech companies made multi-billion figure promises of investment into the UK as their CEO’s praised the UK’s tech ecosystem.
“Looking ahead, the government must address roadblocks to ensure growth of these tech companies isn’t stifled. Funding is crucial, alongside access to the right talent and skills, and a regulatory environment that balances innovation with protection.
“As we approach the Autumn Budget, all eyes will be on the Chancellor to unveil growth-friendly tax incentives for businesses and to protect the R&D tax scheme, which is a crucial pillar to support innovation and development.”
The UK government is releasing a new blueprint for AI regulation, which it says will slash bureaucracy and ramp up the safe adoption of AI.
At the Times Tech Summit, the Technology Secretary will announce plans to look at how companies and innovators can test new AI products in real-world conditions, with some rules and regulations temporarily relaxed under supervision.
Known as sandboxes, individual regulations are temporarily switched off or tweaked for a limited period of time in safe, controlled testing environments.
They would initially be set up for key sectors of the economy like healthcare, professional services, transport, and the use of robotics in advanced manufacturing, to accelerate the responsible development and deployment of AI products.
AI applications hold the potential to make the lives of citizens better, faster. The AI Growth Lab will pilot responsible AI which can otherwise be held back by certain regulation, and generate real-world evidence for the impact they can deliver.
This will ramp up adoption of AI and deliver opportunities for people across the country, cutting bureaucracy that can choke innovation and supporting businesses to flourish to deliver tangible national renewal.
“To deliver national renewal, we need to overhaul the old approaches which have stifled enterprise and held back our innovators,” technology secretary Liz Kendall said.
“We want to remove the needless red tape that slows progress so we can drive growth and modernise the public services people rely on every day.
“This isn’t about cutting corners – it’s about fast-tracking responsible innovations that will improve lives and deliver real benefits.”
In a further push to unlock benefits for the wider public through AI, a pot of £1 million is being set aside to support the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to pilot AI-assisted tools.
These would support scientific expertise, speed up drug discovery and clinical trial assessments, and licensing to improve efficiency and consistency – while keeping all decisions firmly in human hands.
The continued safe and responsible development of AI would be central to the government’s plans for its proposed AI Growth Lab.
It would not be a testing ground where regulations could be switched on or switched off at will, but would see strict, time limited restrictions being put in place to set out which specific regulatory hurdles could be avoided or modified under close supervision.
It will be overseen by tech and regulatory experts and backed up by a strict licensing scheme with strong safeguards, meaning any breaches of individual agreements, or the emergence of unacceptable risks would stop testing in its tracks and open users who have breached their terms up to potential fines.
The government will now move ahead with a public call for views on its AI Growth Lab proposals. At the heart of that process will be considerations over whether the programme should be run in-house by the government, or overseen by regulators themselves.
Arm Holdings, the chip design firm, announced it is expanding its Flexible Access licensing programme in an effort to attract more device makers and startups developing on-device AI.
The programme will now cover the Armv9 edge AI platform, aiming to lower the entry barrier for startups looking to build upon Arm’s AI chip designs.
Companies are able to use the chip design tools and training under the Flexible Access programme for little to no cost so they can create and test new chip designs, shortening design cycles and allowing for more innovation.
The new addition to the programme sees Arm trying to expand into the edge AI market, which will see AI systems being run directly on devices rather than being processed on the cloud.
The Armv9 Edge AI platform was introduced earlier this year, and features the Arm Cortext-A320 CPU and the Arm Ethos-U85 NPU which enable on-device AI models with over one billion parameters, as well as the Armv9 security technologies to protect critical applications and data.
The platform is specifically geared towards IoT projects – research from VDC shows that by 2028 AI will be the dominant technology used across IoT projects.
The move could strengthen Arm’s ties with on-device AI providers and AI startups which may be priced out by expensive licenses. Arm is facing steep competition from Nvidia, which has seen its market value skyrocket during the race for AI dominance.
Arm says that over 300 firms have already joined the programme, leading to 400 completed chip designs ready for building.
While Nvidia’s stocks continue to climb, Arm gained a win as Qualcomm selected the firm’s v9 design as its flagship chip, according to exclusive Reuters sources.
Glasgow-based premium transportation services provider TBR Global Chauffeuring has been acquired by San Francisco ride booking company Lyft for £83 million.
The deal was made in cash, with additional contingent costs expected in the acquisition.
The acquisition will see Lyft’s technology stack – which enables users to book rides with contracted drivers – with TBR’s service and fleet of independent, professional chauffeurs. TBR’s network of drivers will contribute their expertise in executive, event, and corporate transport.
TBR currently operates across 120 countries and over 3,000 cities, and is a provider of premium ground transportation services for corporate and executive travel, and major global events.
US company Lyft has 23.7 million customers as of 2024; though its user base is mainly concentrated in North America, it expanded into Europe with the acquisition of the Free Now app.
“We are pleased to have supported the team at TBR Global Chauffeuring on this significant cross-border transaction,” Brian Moore, who lead Dentons, the team that advised TBR in the acquisition, said.
Over half (51%) of European IT and cybersecurity professionals fear AI-driven cyber threats and deepfakes will keep them up at night next year, according to new ISACA research.
What’s driving this concern is a lack of preparedness for AI-related risks across the industry. Only 14% of respondents feel their organisation is very prepared to manage the risks associated with generative AI solutions in 2026. The majority (82%) feel they are only somewhat prepared, not very prepared, or not prepared at all.
Tech professionals clearly perceive AI-driven threats as the most concerning, yet other threats persist which pose risks to business continuity.
Other than AI-driven threats, regulatory complexity and compliance risks (38%), supply chain vulnerabilities (37%), and the failure to detect and respond to a breach, causing irreparable harm to the business (35%) were also cited as concerns keeping cyber professionals up at night.
Further, only 7% of respondents feel extremely confident that their organisation could successfully navigate a ransomware attack in 2026.
AI is seen as both a growing threat and an opportunity for cyber and digital trust professionals, who recognise how transformative it can be for their organisation.
The survey also asked respondents what they believe will be the top three technology trends or priorities impacting their work in 2026. The leading responses were generative AI and large-language models (61%), which are used for processes such as content and code generation, followed by AI and machine learning (57%), such as predictive analysis.
But when asked what respondents see as the most significant cyber threats facing organisations in 2026, almost two-thirds (59%) said AI-driven social engineering. Another threat facing organisations is insider threats, whether intentional or accidental (29%).
Over six in ten (64%) said business continuity and resilience is a very important focus area in 2026. ISACA believes ensuring staff are both trained to use AI safely and securely in the workplace and trained to respond to AI-driven cybersecurity threats will be key to building business resilience. But over a quarter (27%) have no plans in the year ahead to hire for digital trust roles, such as audit, risk and cybersecurity.
“AI represents both the greatest opportunity and the greatest threat of our time. This research highlights a stark reality: while organisations are beginning to embrace AI’s transformative potential, many remain underprepared to manage its risks in the year ahead,” said Chris Dimitriadis, Chief Global Strategy Officer at ISACA.
“AI cybersecurity and assurance certifications will help cyber professionals manage the evolving risk related to AI, implement policy, and ensure its responsible and effective use across the organisation.”
A further tension is that while over two-thirds of respondents (38%) cite regulatory complexity and global compliance risks as a concern keeping them up a night, over three-quarters (79%) agree or strongly agree that cyber-related regulation will advance digital trust, and over half (53%) agree or strongly agree that it will drive business growth.
It is clear that a better understanding of regulatory change and the opportunities it can unlock would see cyber professionals navigating compliance with greater confidence, driving business resilience.
“Many of the concerns the respondents raise signal an opportunity to transform how we approach these issues, shifting them from worries to a catalyst for business growth,” Dimitriadis continued. “For example, when regulation or guidance is viewed not just as a box-ticking exercise but as an opportunity to innovate in a resilient manner in the long term.”
Over a third (38%) of UK adults feel less confident going online since the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini as uncertainty around digital basics and misinformation are on the rise.
The figure is based on research from Good Things Foundation, which found that nearly 8 million adults in the UK are already struggling with digital basics.
AI risks leaving these individuals even further behind, with many Brits intentionally avoiding essential online services such as online banking (16%), shopping (15%) and using NHS services (14%) over the past twelve months.
Over half (55%) of Brits have used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini or CoPilot, yet uncertainty is still widespread, with 69% saying it makes it harder to know what is real.
Half (50%) aren’t confident recognising whether news is AI-written (rising to 67% among over 65s), 48% say the same for social posts, and 45% for videos and images. Across common tasks from translation to image creation, a third (34%) on average rate AI as not trustworthy.
Lack of confidence online is heightened for those with limited or no broadband access – 49% of whom say the rise of AI has made them less confident to go online, higher than the UK average of 37%.
To help people build practical skills and trust, Good Things Foundation is launching a free AI Gateway learning platform, focusing on boosting AI literacy, designed with digitally excluded audiences in mind. The platform launches as three in five (61%) of adults say support or training would help them use the internet and new technologies like AI.
“Digital confidence is an essential component for full participation in society, enabling people to manage finances, find employment, and stay safe online,” Helen Milner, OBE, chief exective of Good Things Foundation, said.
“With rapid digital transformation and emerging tech, people are at risk of being left behind. We can’t afford to allow this to happen. For anyone lacking confidence in their digital skills, I urge them to visit our AI Gateway learning platform.”
Some of the world’s most popular apps – Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Canva, and Duolingo – are all facing technical issues as thousands report outages across the UK.
Outages began this morning at around 8am, and are ongoing as of publication.
The issues are linked to an Amazon Web Services problem – the firm’s cloud operations serve as the foundational tech for many large organisations and provide integral functioning and data storage.
AWS’s service status page said that the cloud services provider has faced “increased error rates” across many of its services. According to DownDetector, users began reporting issues with the service just before 8am today, with outage reporting ongoing.
Since this morning, AWS has issued a few new updates as more and more sites reported issues. Reddit, one of the most visited platforms on the internet, faced increasing issues, and users reported issues trying to access the EA app. About a thousand websites faced delays and disruptions due to the issues.
While AWS reported on its service status page that it was making progress resolving the issue, and some firms like affected banks are now getting back online, the latest update shows that a full recover has still yet to be achieved.
After applying multiple mitigations across its affected cloud regions, AWS reported that it was facing “significant API errors and connectivity issues across multiple services in the US-East- 1 region.
Later, at 3:29 am AWS said that it “confirmed multiple AWS services experienced network connectivity issues in the US-EAST-1 Region. We are seeing early signs of recovery for the connectivity issues and are continuing to investigate the root cause.”
The issues caused some disruption to NHS services and the HMRC as well as the National Rail website were both affected.
The major disruption, which is centralised to data centres in the US, points to several issues surrounding the centralisation of the internet, as well as the continued push for data sovereignty for European nations.
“This incident underlines our growing dependency on a small number of global cloud providers and how cloud is not always as resilient as we expect it to be. When key services rely on the availability of individual regions, any single-point failure can have far-reaching consequences,” Rob Demain, CEO at e2e-assure said.
Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, an AI company also facing outages, posted on X saying that “The root cause is an AWS issue.”
The issues have also affected Ring, an security doorbell company which allows users to monitor their house via installed doorbell cameras.
Banks, including Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, have also seen large reports of issues.
While outages are taking place across the UK, most of the reported issues with the many affected websites and with AWS are concentrated in the US, particularly in the state of Virginia, which has a high concentration of data centres. It’s 640 data centres make the state the largest data centre market in the world.
Amazon confirmed that it was “actively engaged and working both to mitigate the issue and understand root cause,” on its service status page.
Another update says that it has confirmed “significant error rates” affecting some of its AWS services. Its Amazon DynamoDB service was described as disrupted, while 37 services are current impacted by the issue.
“During this time, customers may be unable to create or update Support Cases.”
Amazon says it will continue to provide updates to users.
So far websites and apps affected include: AWS, Snapchat, Roblox, Canva, HMRC, Duolingo, Fortnite, Ring, Clash Royale, Life360, My Fitness pal, Xero, Amazon, Prime Video, Wordle, Coinbase, Vodafone, Playstation, Pokémon Go, and Amazon Music.
Worldwide PC shipments totalled more than 69 million units in the third quarter of 2025, an 8.2% increase from the third quarter of 2024, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.
Some of this increase may be due to AI, as more AI-capable PCs enter the market, though Microsoft ending its support for Windows 10 may also be a driving factor in the market.
“In the third quarter of 2025, worldwide PC shipments were driven by the Windows 10 end-of-support (EOS) refresh cycle in most regions, while North America’s growth was limited to 1.6% as demand had been accelerated into the first half of the year due to anticipated import tariffs,” said Rishi Padhi, Research Principal at Gartner.
“Conversely, consumer demand remained subdued at the lower price points, impacted by persistent geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds. Consumers continue to exhibit cautious spending behaviour — delaying PC purchases and seeking promotional offers.
“While the PC market remains driven by the Windows 10 EOS deadline, fuelling immediate refresh cycles, the industry is also pivoting toward AI PCs with integrated NPUs for enhanced on-device AI capabilities.
“Gartner estimates that the AI PC segment will reach 31% in share of shipments in 2025, up from 15% in 2024, marking a significant shift in market priorities and innovation.”
There were no major changes in the top five vendor rankings worldwide in the third quarter of 2025. Lenovo, which came in number one, saw the strongest growth in global PC shipments among the top five vendors at 16.6% year-over-year. All top five vendors experienced growth in shipments in the third quarter.
HP saw it’s market share grow 10.6%, rising to 21.5%, while Dell, which still have 14.5% of the market, only rose 2.5%.
Apple saw a jump in growing of 10.7%, cornering 8.9% of the total market.
ASUS saw a jump of 5.5% year-on-year, holding 7.7% of the market in the third quarter of 2025.
The UK government has launched a new ‘concierge’ service in an attempt to help global financial firms invest more readily and more easily into UK businesses.
The new service aims to cut red tape and remove barriers for global firms trying to break into the UK investment market.
“We said we would make it easier to create jobs and grow a business in our country and we’re delivering,” chancellor Rachel Reeves said.
“This service will drive investment across our United Kingdom, making sure that the world’s most innovative businesses can access the talent found in every corner of our country and that working people feel better off.”
The free service, delivered by the Office for Investment, is a partnership between HM Treasury, financial regulators and the City of London Corporation.
Financial services employ 1.2 million people across the UK, with more than half of those jobs located outside London. The Chancellor’s Leeds Reforms outlined her vision to strengthen Britain’s position as a global financial hub, and overseas investment – particularly from the US – helps deliver on the government’s plan for national renewal.
The new concierge, called The Office for Investment: Financial Services, aims to draw on the strengths of the UK’s financial services clusters to actively promote investment opportunities and help deliver the infrastructure that matters to working people across all of the UK’s nations and regions.
The announcement follows a State Visit which saw the UK deepen its financial services links with the US.
A record £150 billion of inward investment from US companies was secured, creating more than 7,600 high-quality jobs across the UK in places like Glasgow, Warrington and the Midlands. The first ever UK-US tech agreement was also signed, focused on developing technologies which will drive growth like AI, quantum and nuclear.
Graduate hiring fell 8% year-on-year, data from Institute of Student Employers shows, which is the first time graduate hiring has fallen since the 2020 pandemic, which saw it fall 12% year-on-year.
While tech recruitment itself saw a decrease, the sector still leads when it comes to open roles and skills-seeking.
Recruiters are looking to fill AI, IT, and digital positions, with 46% of organisations in the UK seeking employees with these skills.
While AI skills may be sought after, it is also being blamed as the main barrier for tech graduates to enter the workforce. Entry-level positions are more often being given to AI bots rather than recent graduates, with more tech firms seeking experience.
Junior roles are being replaced to partially filled by AI, as bots perform menial tech tasks and have basic digital skills like baseline coding and data analysis.
However, the research shows that AI is actually not playing a big role when it comes to recruitment.
ISE’s survey revealed that AI is used sparingly when it comes to employee assessments, though more than half of employers use automated systems to manage employee recruitment tests.
As far as AI adoption within recruitment, employers mostly turned to the emerging tech for gamification of tests (15%), though use is likely to increase as more prospective employees adopt the tech.
About four in five (79%) of employers did say they were currently revamping their recruitment process in response to an uptick in applicants using AI, with only 15% of employers saying they have never identified or even suspected cheating from candidates.
Graduates appear to be caught in the middle of AI’s workforce transformation. As more and more companies cut roles and layoff workers in their AI adoption schemes, hiring junior talent is nearly freezing over as employers seek experience.
However, this change could cost employers in the future as mid-level talent shrinks across the board, and many graduates may be forced to turn away from tech, which will only decrease their skillset in an ever-evolving industry.
Nine in ten (90%) of mid-market organisations in the UK are experiencing an IT skills shortage, with over half stating that it is having a significant operational impact, according to research from Node4.
The findings show IT support and help desk roles are the most difficult to hire and retain – followed by data scientists and analysts, then DevOps and software engineers.
Nevertheless, 29% of mid-market business leaders are prioritising a reduction in IT headcounts or implementing hiring freezes in response to economic pressures.
If this situation goes unchecked, companies will struggle to achieve their full growth and profit potential. This, in turn, could lead to a productivity slump across a major section of the UK’s economy.
Fortunately, more than three-quarters of business leaders are taking steps to address IT skills shortages within their organisation.
Strategies include hiring external consultants or contractors (44%), investing in upskilling and training (43%), increasing use of AI and automation (41%) and expanding partnerships with MSPs (39%). Worryingly, however, over 20% admit that they are not taking any action at all.
“Most mid-market organisations intend to hire contractors or consultants to address IT skills shortages. We believe this is a short-term fix to help with – or while – upskilling employees or getting to grips with using AI and automation,” said Richard Moseley, CEO, Node4.
“It’s noteworthy that mid-market companies also intend to expand partnerships with MSPs. This will provide short-term support while organisations look to fill individual IT roles and plug skills gaps.
“However, even after a successful recruitment drive, we believe these trusted IT partners will continue playing a critical role in delivering out-of-hours services. This will include supporting newly recruited employees and relieving the challenges of operational availability.”
The scale of the problem cannot be underestimated: Nearly one-third of business leaders believe that the current IT skills shortage constitutes the most significant external influence on their organisation’s IT strategy.
Furthermore, a quarter of respondents cite access to skilled data professionals as the biggest challenge in developing their organisation’s data strategy. Yet business leaders remain optimistic. Over three-quarters think they will make significant progress in solving their skill shortages issues over the next 12 months.
“Business leaders at mid-market organisations continue to tell us that they’re facing a tough economic climate, so everything is focused on maximising their potential,” Moseley said.
“This aligns with data from our report, which highlights business expansion and market growth as the top priority for the next 12 months, alongside workforce productivity and skills development.”
“The findings show business leaders within these companies understand that skills gaps are a limiting factor across every strategic objective, from digital transformation to growth and innovation.
“They know they can’t hire, build, or automate their way forward without the right people. It’s a strong signal that the mid-market recognises talent as a core enabler, not just an HR problem.”
More than one billion people now use standalone generative AI tools every month, as AI app downloads peak, according to research from Meltwater.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT recorded 800 million weekly users alone in early October 2025, just three years after the AI chatbot’s seminal launch. The large language model tool is one of the fastest growing applications the world has ever seen, as other AI tools also expand their user base.
Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini have also seen their users skyrocket, as well as xAI’s Grok and other chatbots.
ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users is up from around 250 million weekly users just last year, pulling ahead of X’s total weekly users, which hovers around 586 million according to Statista figures.
The popularity of AI tools is transforming people’s internet habits, Metlwater’s Digital 2026 report found, as uses of traditional search engines slumped.
The report also revealed various trends in the way people interact with the internet: social media users now outnumber non-users two to one, with 5.66 billion people using social media globally. This is an increase of 4.8% over the past year, with 259 million new user identities.
Social media is also climbing the ranks in people’s attention, as the typical internet user snow spends 2.5 hours per day on social or video platforms. YouTube is the most popular, followed by TikTok, when it comes to daily active users.
However, the main reason people are now turning to social media platforms is to fill spare time, though most still claim to use social platforms to keep in touch with friends and family.
Social media is filing in yet another purpose, however, as it is the dominant channel for young consumers to discover brands.
As the digital space continues to take up more of our time, attention, and energy, it is no surprise that the research found that digital advertisement spend is set to skyrocket. Digital channels account for nearly three quarters (74.4%) of total advertising spend in 2025, with social media advertising projected to experience a rise of 13.6% year-on-year.
“We’re seeing a profound shift in how people discover brands, with more people turning to social media and AI platforms than ever before,” Alexandra Bjertnæs, Chief Strategy Officer at Meltwater, said.
“Among younger audiences, social media ads now carry more weight than traditional search in shaping awareness and perception, while the rise of GenAI, now used by more than a billion people each month, is transforming how people find and trust information. For marketers and communicators, this is an exciting opportunity to build strategies that connect with audiences in new ways and meet them where they are today.”
The UK government’s AI tool, Consult, was used to help speed up the government’s decision to abolish the water regulator, Ofwat.
The government said that its AI tool made the task of sorting over 50,000 responses into key themes more efficient and effective for the Independent Water Commission’s analysis.
The AI tool took around 2 hours to sort these responses into categories, costing £240, with experts only need 22 hours to check the results.
The AI tool was also found to have agreed with one or both groups of experts it was compared with almost 83% of the time, while the two expert groups only agreed with each other 55% of the time.
The speed meant that policy experts could focus on using themes and categorised responses to inform recommendations for their independent report, rather than sorting tens of thousands of individual responses.
Earlier in the year the tool successfully supported the analysis of the Scottish government’s consultation on non-surgical cosmetics. It has been confirmed that it was also used to sort responses to the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. With 800 people responding to the ‘call for evidence’, the technology was deemed accurate and sped up the government’s ability to find initial results.
The technology, part of ‘Humphrey’, will analyse other consultations responses in a bid to save officials from 75,000 days of manual analysis every year, which costs £20 million in staffing costs.
“This shows the huge potential for technology and AI to deliver better and more efficient public services for the public and provide better value for the taxpayer,” digital government minister Ian Murray said.
“By taking on the basic admin, Consult is giving staff time to focus on what matters – taking action to fix public services. In the process, it could save the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
Analysts at Gartner predict that AI-optimised infrastructure as a service (IaaS) will be the next disruptive growth engine for AI infrastructure. As a result, end-user spending is projected to grow 146% by the end of 2025.
The AI-optimised IaaS market includes spending on high-performance computing (HPC) resources – such as graphics processing units (GPUs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and other AI accelerators – designed for large-scale AI processing.
“Traditional IaaS is maturing, however, AI-optimised IaaS spending growth projections are higher than that of traditional IaaS over the next five years,” said Hardeep Singh, Principal Analyst at Gartner.
“As organisations expand their use of AI and GenAI, they will need specialized infrastructure such as GPUs, tensor processing units (TPUs) or other AI ASICs, high-speed networking and optimised storage for fast parallel processing and data movement. As such, traditional central processing unit (CPU)-based IaaS will face significant challenges in meeting these demands.”
Gartner estimates worldwide end-user spending on AI-optimised IaaS will total $18.3 billion by the end of 2025 and $37.5bn in 2026.
As AI adoption scales across industries, inferencing workloads will become a dominant force driving demand for AI-optimised IaaS.
Gartner projects end-user spending on inferencing to take over that of training-intensive workloads in 2026. Spending on inference-focused applications is expected to reach $20.6 billion, up from $9.2 billion in 2025.
In 2026, 55% of AI-optimised IaaS spending will support inference workloads and it is projected to reach more than 65% in 2029.
“Unlike training which involves intensive, large-scale compute cycles that occur during model development and ongoing updates, inference happens continuously — powering real-time applications such as chatbots, recommendation engines, fraud detection systems and industry-specific applications,” said Singh.
A collaborative robot – or ‘cobot’ – capable of crafting cappuccinos, flat whites and lattes has been introduced at the University of Strathclyde.
The pioneering project links the University’s Catering team, the Robotics & Autonomous Systems Research Group, and local coffee partners Matthew Algie.
Researched, designed and tested on campus by PhD students in the Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management (DMEM), the cobot is believed to be the first used commercially in this way on a Scottish university campus.
Working alongside the catering team, the robot barista emulates human movements to create consistently high-quality coffee.
The project was inspired after Strathclyde’s catering management team spotted a robotic barista in operation during a study tour to Stanford University with professional catering body TUCO.
Seeing the potential, they returned with the idea of collaborating with colleagues and students to create their own system to enhance customer service and support staff wellbeing. The cobot now operates in the University’s Technology and Innovation Centre.
“The cobot has been designed to work alongside our fantastic team members, supporting rather than replacing them, and helping to improve all round service and operational efficiency,” Joanne Martin, Deputy Head of Catering and Hospitality at Strathclyde, said.
“Our staff fully embrace this innovative technology, recognising the benefits it brings to their physical wellbeing by reducing repetitive, physically demanding tasks, while allowing them to focus on delivering excellent customer service.”
With support from Systems Engineering Management Manager Sarah Buchanan, Professor Jörn Mehnen and Senior Lecturer Dr Erfu Yang from the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group in DMEM supervised PhD researchers Mohamed Adlan Ait Ameur and Mohamed Khedr, who programmed a standard cobot to create the bespoke system. They also designed special 3D-printed accessories, including a custom ‘gripper’ fingers.
The system was tested, with input from Matthew Algie, to ensure the coffee met exacting quality standards.
Mohamed Khedr added: “The joy of this project was its interactive nature. So often you design something or come up with a design solution that doesn’t become something tangible, so to see this become a reality is great. Already there’s a great buzz on campus about it.”
A second phase of the project will see students across relevant programmes research and develop enhancements to the cobot’s functionality and customer experience.
Leading the project, Head of Catering and Hospitality, Graham Paterson said: “The initiative is a great example of University values in action, with a people-focused approach to the use of technology to enhance operations.”
Reach Volunteering, the UK’s leading skills-based volunteering charity, has launched an upgrade to its digital platform to make it even easier for charities and community groups to tap into professional expertise.
Established in 1979, Reach Volunteering first launched a digital volunteering platform ten years ago, since when the number of people volunteering their skills through the charity has increased tenfold.
Last year alone, more than 16,000 people volunteered through Reach, contributing skills worth an estimated £60 million to charities, community organisations and grassroots groups across the UK.
Importantly, at a time when charities are struggling to recruit to their boards, Reach is now the largest single source of trustees for the voluntary sector, filling 1,515 board vacancies in 2024.
Reach’s CEO, Janet Thorne, explained how the platform upgrade will help the charity continue this success: “Reach’s mission has always been to help charities and social purpose organisations build a better society by connecting them with the skills they need to thrive. Our online platform has been key to this – enabling us to grow at scale while responding to the real needs of both volunteers and organisations.
“In recent years, we’ve seen a more collaborative kind of volunteering emerge – organisations are inviting volunteers to help shape their role, and even the organisations themselves. Our platform supports this by focusing recruitment on the difference volunteers can make, and by providing tools that encourage purposeful, two-way conversations.
“These roles offer volunteers the opportunity to make a really meaningful difference, and they have attracted a broad range of volunteers – of different ages, backgrounds and professions – who are eager to contribute their skills to causes they care about.
“With this strong and more diverse community and a growing appetite for flexible volunteering, our new platform upgrade will help us build on this success. It will enable new features such as our ‘Ask a Question’ pilot, giving charities quick access to specialist expertise, and volunteers will have even more ways to make a difference in just a small amount of time.”
Dom Tinley, Digital and Strategy Consultant at Tinley Media, was a trustee with Reach when the original platform launched. He said: “Reach always understood that technology was there to support its mission, not change its mission, and to work for its users above all else. It’s this clarity that made the project such a success, and the reason it’s still here ten years on.
“The project was truly transformational for Reach, taking it from a paper-based volunteer matching service that was constrained by available resources, to a digital service that could grow at scale, while keeping to a tight budget with a lean team.”
Commenting on the launch of the new platform, Jane Ide, Chief Executive of ACEVO, and Chair of Trustees at Reach said: “I’m very excited to see Reach Volunteering’s new platform go live – as a proud Chair, I know only too well how much work and commitment the team has put into it behind the scenes.
“It’s a further iteration of Reach’s superb service to our sector which has enabled thousands of skilled volunteers to make connections, give their time and their ability and have real impact across thousands of charities and voluntary organisations over the years.”
Thousands of civil servants have had their passwords exposed on the dark web since the start of 2024, research from NordPass shows.
The security firm, using its threat exposure management platform NordStellar, discovered 3,014 passwords across the dark net that belonged to UK civil servants.
Aberdeen City Council was one of the UK authorities named in the report, with 538 passwords leaked from the council in total.
While the leaks may be of passwords for regional institutions, the report said that the number of leaked passwords may not be a reflection of an organisation’s internal security posture.
External factors, such as the size of an organisation and the reuse of passwords, could put these organisations at increasing risk despite their security posture.
“In many cases, a single malware infection on an employee’s personal device or the compromise of a popular third-party website can expose dozens of accounts. Furthermore, the majority of leaks originate from external sites where employees registered using their work email addresses,” Karolis Arbačiauskas, head of product at NordPass, said.
While the stats are concerning, they are not necessarily linked directly to faults in these institutions’ security measures.
“If these passwords were not changed after their appearance on the dark web and multi-factor authentication (MFA) is not enabled, attackers could potentially access the email accounts and other sensitive information of these civil servants,” Arbačiauskas said.
“Moreover, we found hundreds of thousands of email addresses with other exposed data like names, last names, phone numbers, autofills, and cookies. This data can be exploited for phishing attacks and pose significant risks.”
Issuing basic security measures like multi-factor authentication and ensuring that workers do not reuse passwords for sensitive accounts can be essential in keeping these more at risk accounts secure.
“Exposure of sensitive data, including passwords, of civil servants is particularly dangerous,” Arbačiauskas said. “Compromised passwords can affect not only organisations and their employees but also large numbers of citizens. Moreover, such incidents may also pose serious risks to a country’s strategic interests.”
A spokesperson for the Aberdeen City Council told DIGIT: “Aberdeen City Council regularly reviews lists of compromised credentials via the National Cyber Security Centre and other official sources.
“These email/ password combinations are typically used to sign up on external sites or services rather than being compromised from the council’s tenant. Regardless of this all impacted account holders are contacted, and their passwords are reset as a matter of course.”
A UK government project has raised over £30m in joint funding with industry to boost electric vehicle innovation in the UK.
The project, spearheaded by Toyota alongside other key project partners, aims to accelerate the feasibility of the development of zero-emission technology, driven innovation in cutting-edge R&D and support high quality automotive engineering jobs in the UK.
Backed by £15m in government funding, the investment will support the feasibility of electric mobility solutions designed to meet the growing demand in the UK for zero emission vehicles.
The vehicle is set to feature innovations including an integrated solar roof for enhanced energy efficiency, advanced connectivity for smart urban integration and lightweight, sustainable materials designed for recyclability.
The project includes key partners such as the University of Derby and Elm Mobility Limited, combining academic expertise and entrepreneurial agility to deliver a transformative mobility solution.
“This shows the power of our partnership with industry, driving innovation and helping investors build a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK as we deliver on our Plan for Change,” industry minister Chris McDonald said.
“Economic growth is our number one priority, and by funding our world leading auto sector our modern Industrial Strategy is creating the right conditions for increased investment, bringing growth, supporting jobs, and opportunities to every part of the UK.”
The R&D project will explore the feasibility of developing electric micro mobility vehicles in the UK, supporting high quality automotive engineering jobs and deepening the knowledge and skills within the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector.
The funding package has been awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) Collaborative Research and Development programme, helping to unlock further private investment and supporting the government’s ambitions to build an end-to-end supply chain for zero-emissions vehicles in the UK.
Earlier this year, the government announced the launch of DRIVE35 to support the shift to zero-emission vehicle manufacturing. Announced in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, it offers £2.5 billion in capital and R&D funding to 2035.
The programme backs everything from large-scale gigafactories to start-ups and prototypes for strategic vehicle technologies, aiming to boost innovation, attract investment, and strengthen the UK’s automotive supply chain.
Since its foundation in 2013, the APC R&D programme has supported 354 low-carbon and zero-emission projects involving 614 partners.
Working with companies of all sizes, this funding since 2013 is estimated to have helped create or safeguard over 59,000 jobs in the UK. The technologies and products are projected to save over 425 million tonnes of CO2.
London-based solar subscription provider startup Sunsave is expanding to Scotland in a partnership with Edinburgh-based home energy plan provider Snugg.
The solar company, which is the first FCA authorised provider, is expanding after raising £100m over the summer to scale its offering across the UK.
Sunsave was founded to increase access to solar power for households that may be hesitant due to the upfront costs of solar panel installation. The startup offers subscription plans for the panels they install through a monthly rate, giving customers the option to payoff and eventually own the panels.
Through its offerings, Sunsave claims that customers can save up to £700 a year on energy costs.
“Launching in Scotland is another major milestone on the Sunsave journey. Already, customers in England and Wales are saving hundreds of pounds a year on their energy bills with a Sunsave Plus subscription,” said Sunsave co-founder and chief executive Alick Dru.
“Our partnership with Snugg is a natural fit, making it easier to reach customers earlier in their journey and bring them a clear path to solar power. We’re looking forward to bringing lower energy bills to people all over Scotland.”
Robin Peters, chief executive of Snugg, said: “At Snugg we want to make it easier for people to take action that has an impact right away. We know cost is one of the biggest reasons people put off installing energy improvements.
“With Sunsave we are helping remove that barrier so homeowners can start saving straight away. No big upfront payment needed. It is a simple and practical way to lower bills and support a cleaner, greener future and we are excited to bring that option into the Snugg journey.”
OpenAI has announced it will widen its range of acceptable content for adult users, saying that erotica will soon be allowed on ChatGPT.
In a move to “treat adult users like adults,” CEO Sam Atlman said, ChatGPT will now be allowed to engage in conversations involving explicitly sexual scenarios and meanings.
The rollout of more features is set to come out in just a few weeks, Altman said in a post on X, which will see ChatGPT “respond in a very human-like way,” but clarified this was “only if [users] want it, not because we are usage-maxxing.”
The changes to ChatGPT’s “age-gating” will roll out in December, so verified adult users will still have to wait a couple more months before they can turn to the large language model for erotica.
The new changes also revolve around how ChatGPT deals with mental health issues – Altman said that “We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realise this made it less useful/enjoyable for many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.
“Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.”
Earlier this year, OpenAI introduced some mental health changes to its models following the death of a US teenager who was an avid user of ChatGPT – his parents filed a wrongful death suit against the AI firm.
Since then, OpenAI has introduced more parental controls, which would require parents to connect their accounts to a child’s and ensure restrictions.
The new regime, which would enable adults access to more adult content on the chatbot, would require age checks of users to ensure those under the age of 18 cannot access the same restricted content.
ChatGPT has reportedly already been able to create erotica, which was generated by a registered minor, according to a TechCrunch report just this April.
According to research from the Center for Democracy and Technology, one in five students say that they or someone they know is romantically involved with an AI model, highlighting growing and real concern for how these publicly available AI chatbots are affecting children.
While Altman said that the AI firm is not “usage maxxing,” the new adult capabilities come after xAI introduced two sexually explicit chatbots.
Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) seeking to scale advanced analytics and AI across complex, multi-system environments can leverage a data fabric architecture to create an AI‑ready data foundation, according to Gartner.
A data fabric architecture is a modern approach to data architecture that enables organisations to manage and utilize data seamlessly across diverse systems, locations, and partners.
Rather than centralising data into a single platform, data fabrics establish a unified data layer that connects information wherever it resides, spanning both cloud and on-premise supply chain applications.
By leveraging active metadata, semantic models, and AI, data fabrics automate data discovery, integration, and delivery, allowing CSCOs to access consistent, trusted data in real time without the need to overhaul or physically move existing systems.
“For CSCOs, data fabrics offer reduced costs and time for data integration efforts, as well as improved decision making through the ability to operationalise AI across supply chain activities,” said Vas Plessas, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice.
“As supply chains face continued uncertainty and complexity in their operating environments, data fabrics enable integrated, scalable intelligence across expanding data models.”
Key benefits of implementing a data fabric include:
Unified data access across silos: Data fabrics connect information from cloud platforms and legacy or modern supply chain applications into a single, coherent view. This allows teams to analyze data directly and bypass IT-led consolidation efforts.
Real-time insights for AI and analytics: Continuous access to data supports optimal decision making, providing AI models with timely, high-quality data for accurate forecasts and recommendations.
Composable architecture: Flexible and modular by design, data fabrics evolve with business needs, supporting new use cases, integrating diverse data sources, and scaling across functions and regions.
Automated data management: Leveraging metadata, semantics, and machine learning, data fabrics automate manual tasks like cataloging, mapping, and quality checks, reducing IT burden and accelerating deployment.
Early Adoption Challenges
While the vision for data fabrics is compelling, realising its full potential is complex and requires careful planning.
Many organisations remain in early adoption stages and face several practical challenges, including that there is not a single off-the-shelf solution available today.
“Data fabrics are an architectural approach, requiring the integration of multiple technologies into a unified system,” noted Plessas. “
Vendor solutions are still maturing, and buyers must understand both the current solutions’ limitations and have a strong grasp on their own supply chain architecture.
“Laying the right data foundation today is what turns the vision of AI-enabled supply chains into reality tomorrow.”
To realise the benefits of data fabrics, Gartner recommends CSCOs take a deliver, stages approach aligned with business priorities via the following actions:
Evaluate data architecture for AI readiness: Establish clear data governance roles to maintain data quality and ensure technology architecture can support real-time data ingestion and transport across diverse systems.
Partner with data and analytics leaders: Collaborate closely on governance, metadata strategy, and data ownership. Supply chain leaders set business context and priorities, while IT teams design and operationalize the infrastructure.
Engage business unit leaders early: Identify high-impact, feasible use cases—such as sales and operations planning (S&OP) and sourcing—that benefit from unified data access.
Assess internal skills and capabilities: Evaluate the organization’s data management, integration, and modeling maturity. Metadata management is central to enabling data fabrics; address skill gaps through upskilling or targeted hiring.
Start small, scale fast: Launch focused pilots, such as real-time inventory visibility, and expand as capabilities mature.
2025 marked the 12th edition of the Inform Prize Aberdeen event, and the prize’s first Glasgow event, each seeing a fantastic turnout from both universities and businesses.
The Inform Prize celebrates computer science students working on their group projects. Teams submit marketing videos showcasing their solutions, which are reviewed by judges and shortlisted for presentation.
On event day, finalists present to a live audience before winners are announced across three categories: Best Presentation, Best Idea, and Best Implementation,
The event provides valuable networking opportunities for industry professionals to connect with emerging university talent, whilst opening doors for students to discover local career opportunities.
The inaugural Glasgow event was supported by sponsors including the Social Hub, Glasgow City Council, University of Strathclyde, and University of Glasgow.
The Aberdeen event was supported by ABGI UK, TMM Recruitment, OEUK, Total Energies, Alto, and Stronachs.
Team Members: Aamukta Dahagam, Sophie Lambie, Craig Sinclair, Amy Creamer, Andrew McGill, Gwilym Hughes
Grow Prize – Best Idea
Team Greggs: Map Genie
Team Members: Alexander Lee, Ollie Livingston, Nadia McLaren, Adam Harvey, Chenyao Wu, Kasitphoom Thowongs
Enhance Prize – Best Implementation
Team !Mature Students: The RV
Team Members: Robert Nairn, Sean McIlroy, Stuart Gordon, Shaun Dempsey, James Park
Aberdeen
Inform Prize – Best Presentation
Team Digital Sandwich: Race Trace
Team Members: Michael Piercey, Callum Davidson
Grow Prize – Best Idea
Team ApeScrape: ApeScrape
Team Members: Josh Britain, Alan Fleming, Alexander Miles, Ben Greenidge, Izzy Beetschen, Joseph Fitzgibbon
Enhance Prize – Best Implementation
Team November: PATHWAY
Team Members: Nusrath Jinnath, Piotr Weychan, Muhammad Vohra
Looking ahead to 2026, the Inform Prize is planning to expand to more universities across Scottish cities – interested organisations can get in touch with Intelligent Plant (Aberdeen) or VeryConnect (Glasgow) for ways to get involved.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will undertake a visit to Toronto and Nova Scotia focused on getting more investment into Scotland.
The visit will also promote collaboration with universities and academic organisations, and strengthen connections with Nova Scotia’s Gaelic communities.
The Deputy First Minister will engage with institutional investors – such as banks and asset managers – to discuss opportunities in sectors including renewables and clean energy, technology and fintech.
She will also visit the Saltire Foundation Canada which is supporting Scottish connections and investing in the next generation of leaders, and Ontario’s University of Guelph to learn about the Scotland-Canada Academic Partnership which encourages cooperation between scholars and researchers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Canada is Scotland’s ninth most important export market with around £500 million of goods exported there annually. There are 105 Canadian-owned companies in Scotland, employing more than 10,000 people with an annual turnover of around £2.1 billion.
“Scotland and Canada share deep historical connections. More than four million Canadians claim Scottish heritage and Nova Scotia is a home from home for Gaelic,” Forbes said.
“This enduring relationship presents us with opportunities to further benefit our economies, through investment in the energy transition for example, as well as in growing sectors like AI, fintech and life sciences.
“As the Scottish Government’s Investment Champion, my focus will be on making connections which can bring investment and grow our economy.
“We share a global reputation for educational excellence, which means Scotland and Canada can capitalise on the strengths of our academic institutions, bringing scholars from both countries closer together to share ideas, collaborate and produce impactful research and teaching.
“I also look forward to exploring how we can support more trade missions through the Scottish Government International Trade Partnership, and sharing knowledge with Nova Scotia’s Ministers for energy, Gaelic and economic growth.”
Apple’s appeal against a government order to create a backdoor to its cloud encryption has been dismissed by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
The Tribunal dismissed the case citing a “change in circumstances”, according to court documents viewed by Computer Weekly.
The case surrounded the secret order from the UK Home Office which would require Apple to create a ‘backdoor’ to its end-to-end encryption service used for personal cloud data storage, Advanced Data Protection (ADP).
Upon hearing the initial order, Apple filed the legal suit to appeal the request, and removed ADP from UK iPhone users rather than impact its encryption.
Since then, the UK Home Office – which continually refuses to comment on the secret order as is the nature of these technical requests – has come under fire from US lawmakers for its attempt to overthrow security.
The initial order was aimed at all ADP users across the globe, which could impact the privacy of every user of Apple’s iCloud.
US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard even said that the Home Office had dropped the order, however this was never confirmed by the Home Office and appears to be untrue.
Instead, the Home Office reportedly introduced a new order, with the encryption backdoor order only applying to UK Apple users rather than global Apple users.
With the new order, the initial appeal by Apple has been thrown out by the Tribunal given these changing circumstances.
Apple has yet to comment on it’s case dismissal, and has not yet said if it will issue a new appeal.
As of now, ADP is still not available to UK Apple users.
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP are not available to our customers in the UK, given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” a spokesperson for the US tech giant said.
The majority of UK banks and financial service providers are using AI to power their services, according to new research from credit and insurance information provider CRIF.
Six in ten (62%) finance professionals – rising to over two-thirds f banking professionals (68%) specifically – report that their company is already using AI, with one in five (19%) saying that they rely on AI extensively in their services and plan to continue doing so in the future.
British consumers are also among the most likely in Europe to expect technological innovation in banking and financial services to alter how they manage their finances.
Three-quarters (74%) believe that they will have no staff interactions by 2030 when managing their finances, and eight in ten (79%) believe all their finances will be able to be managed through the apps and websites on their phones.
Generational Divide
In terms of generations, Gen Z (51%) and millennials (52%) are the most receptive to engaging with AI assistants if it means quicker, more efficient services. In contrast, just 31% of Gen X and 27% of Baby Boomers feel the same, showing more hesitation.
Similarly, older generations express more scepticism around the use of AI in banking and financial services. While half (48%) of Gen Z and millennials believe that AI could help banks better detect and combat fraud, only a quarter of Baby Boomers feel the same (28% and 25% respectively).
Moreover, 36% of Baby Boomers are worried about the risks associated with AI negatively affecting their finances, compared to just a fifth of Gen Z (19%).
More broadly, younger generations are most enthusiastic about AI usage, with 42% of Gen Z and 36% of millennial consumers preferring to use financial providers that embrace the latest innovations, compared to the UK average of 23% – suggesting providers who have adopted AI, or are planning to, are best positioned to attract the next generation of customers.
With almost a fifth (18%) of consumers saying that they will make more decisions around providers based on their ethics, values, and transparency in 2030 than they do now, there is a clear need – regardless of age – to promote trust, transparency and human oversight when adopting new services, such as those powered by AI.
With potential concerns over providers offering new but unproven AI solutions, the need for trust is expressed most clearly by younger generations who, despite being more open to these technologies, will be open to using services like GenAI in financial services if it is operating under clear rules and regulatory standards (56% for GenZ compared to 45% for Boomers).
“AI is rapidly transforming financial services, but with some businesses offering flashy but untested solutions, adoption cannot be left unchecked,” Sara Costantini, Regional Director for the UK & Ireland at CRIF said.
“Strong regulation, standards and safeguards will be crucial to cut through the noise and protect consumers.
“Another challenge is that generations see the risks through very different lenses. Older consumers are concerned about both the impact on jobs and their children being at the mercy of technologies they cannot control.
“Younger generations, meanwhile, have grown up immersed in rapid technological change and are more open to embracing innovations like GenAI – but this very immersion can make them more vulnerable.
“Banks and financial providers will only build lasting trust in AI if responsibility, ethics, transparency and oversight go hand-in-hand with innovation. Only then can we strengthen consumer confidence and unlock the full potential of AI.”
UK startups and scaleups secured $9 billion in venture capital funding in Q3 2025, the second-highest third-quarter total on record and the strongest since 2021, according to new analysis from HSBC Innovation Banking UK and Dealroom.
With year-to-date investment now at $17.3 billion – equalling 2024’s full-year total – the UK is on track to deliver its best funding year since 2022, projected to close at $23.1 billion.
Megarounds and Growth
Investor appetite for large-scale rounds accelerated in Q3, with 12 deals of $100 million or more – almost matching the total of 14 from the previous two quarters combined.
Revolut’s landmark $2 billion raise and NScale’s $1 billion round mark the first time since 2022 that innovative UK firms have secured multiple billion-dollar rounds in a single year.
Momentum was not limited to late stage. Series A activity reached a seven-quarter high, with 46 rounds completed, signalling renewed strength at the early stages of company growth.
Fintech Leads
Fintech remained the UK’s most funded innovation sector, attracting $5.3 billion this year. In Q3 Revolut’s historic raise was accompanied by significant rounds from Xelix ($160 million, Series B) and Tide ($120 million VC). Even excluding Revolut, fintech investment outpaced healthcare, the second-largest sector, which secured $3.2 billion.
Leading Europe
The UK continues to raise more venture capital than any other European country. The $17.3 billion invested so far is greater than the combined totals of the next three leading European countries, France ($6.3 billion), Germany ($6.0 billion) and Switzerland ($2.7 billion).
Investment also continued to spread beyond London at pace. Of the 1,458 funding rounds recorded in 2025, 45% were completed outside of the capital, underscoring the continued strength of innovation and funding growth across the nation. The top regional hubs for VC funding were Cambridge ($2 billion), Oxford ($406 million), Cardiff-Newport ($172 million).
“UK venture capital has rebounded with strength across all stages this year. The return of billion-dollar megarounds, alongside record early-stage activity, signals renewed investor confidence in the UK’s innovation economy,” Simon Bumfrey, head of banking, HSBC Innovation Banking UK said.
“Fintech remains the UK’s flagship sector, while the strength of health tech and other high-growth areas demonstrates the breadth of our ecosystem. With regional hubs also attracting a growing share of capital, the UK is proving itself not only as Europe’s leading tech hub but a global centre where innovate ideas scale into successful, impactful businesses.”
Liz Kendall, secretary of state for science, innovation, and technology, said: “This investment is a testament to British enterprise and innovation. It is also further evidence that the UK is the destination of choice when it comes to international investment.
“This government is determined to do everything it can to make the UK the best place in the world to start, nurture and grow a business. That way we can build an economy that works for, and rewards, everyone in all parts of the country.”
Ofcom has fined 4chan £20,000 for failing to respond to its requests for its illegal harms risk assessment and its qualifying worldwide revenue.
The UK regulator is empowered to fine the company for these failures through powers in The Online Safety Act. In order to properly regulate and investigate companies to maintain internet safety as prescribed in the Act, Ofcom has to the power to request documents and and assessments from companies which mut be complied with swiftly and accurately.
4chan will further be fined for £100 a day starting on 14 October for either 60 days or until it provides Ofcom with the requested information, whichever is sooner.
The controversial social media platform allows users to share content anonymously, and has been notorious as a hotbed for extremist hate groups to gather and network.
Liz Kendall, technology secretary, said that fine issued a “clear warning” to firms failing to comply with the Online Safety Act.
“The Online Safety Act is not just law, it’s a lifeline,” the secretary said. “Today we’ve seen it in action, holding platforms to account so we can protect people across the UK.
“Services can no longer ignore illegal content, like encouraging self-harm or suicide, circulating online which can devastate young lives and leaves families shattered.
“This fine is a clear warning to those who fail to remove illegal content or protect children from harmful material. We fully back the regulator in taking action against all platforms that do not protect users from the darkest corners of the internet.”
After more than 250 developers were laid off from Build A Rocket Boy after the disappointing launch of the MindsEye video game, 90 current and former staff have slammed the studio’s management team over poor working conditions and a layoff process that was allegedly illegal.
The highly-anticipated release of MindsEye was met with a poor critical response and sales, despite the long hours Build a Rocket Boy required from its workers prior to its launch.
Instead of building a foundation for a new gaming universe, the notoriously painful launch of the game lead to layoffs for the startup, which has offices in Scotland and other places in Europe.
A new open letter from the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union, alleged that the layoff process lead to the upheaval of the gaming department, with developers made redundant despite being forced to work overtime over the four months leading to the game’s launch.
“These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade,” the letter read.
The letter has been signed by 93 current and former employees of Build A Rocket Boy, who have three main grievances with the company.
First, the letter alleges a culture lacking in transparacy and communication, claiming managers “failed to effectively communicate with the workers whose expertise the company relies on.”
The letters also states that workers were required to work a mandatory eight hours of overtime per week in the four months leading up to the game’s launch. However, Time Off In Lieu was only guaranteed at a rate of seven hours back per eight hours worked, and many employees have still be restricted from taking any time back due to continued high priority work requests.
Finally, the letter alleges that the firm “consistently mishandled the redundancy process… Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong tams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people.
“These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members.”
The letter also outlines many other issues current and former employees have with the company.
“Our experience at the company has been one of burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into,” the letter read.
Despite the video games’ launch and the new revelations in the open letter, MindsEye director and Build A Rocket Boy founder Leslie Benzies said that the game’s failure was a result of “saboteurs” aiming to crush the company.
Since the open letter was released, Build a Rocket Boy released a statement to video games media outlet Kotaku, saying:
“Every one of our former team members poured passion, creativity, and hard work into our games and our studio. Parting ways with people is never easy, and we were deeply saddened to make that decision.
“We didn’t anticipate having to make redundancies after launch, but we approached the process with care and transparency, meeting all our obligations. We’re listening closely to feedback from former employees and are committed to learning and growing from it.”
UK organisations anticipate ramping up their AI investment in 2026, though adoption is still marred by skills gaps, high costs, and shadow AI.
This is according to a new survey by RedHat, which found that UK AI organisations plan to increase AI investment by an average of 32% by 2026.
AI is also the top-ranked priority, along with security, according to 62% of UK orgs, followed by hybrid or multi-cloud (58%), and virtualisation (57%).
However, 89% of organisations surveyed report they are not yet driving customer value from their AI investments.
To overcome these challenges and help turn ambitions to reality, UK organisations are embracing open source across all areas of IT strategy. The survey shows enterprise open source software is considered important for AI strategy by 84% of respondents, for virtualisation by 88%, and hybrid and multi-cloud by 86% and security by 83%.
A Work in Progress
The highest AI priority for respondents (68%) is agentic AI, AI systems that operate with high degrees of autonomy and can execute complex, multi-step tasks with limited human intervention.
After agentic AI, enabling broad employee adoption and operationalising AI are also on the priority to-do list, 68% and 65% agree respectively.
Retaining and developing the right talent remains a challenge, with AI being the highest-ranked urgent skills gap (62% of respondents agree) in the UK for the second year in a row.
Within AI, the talent shortage mirrors the target priorities for UK IT and AI leaders: agentic AI was a top skills gap, cited by 55% of respondents who agree AI has an urgent skills gap. This was followed by the ability to efficiently use AI capabilities (52%) and educating the business overall to use AI (48%).
Almost all (95%) of respondents experience barriers to AI adoption, especially high costs of implementation and maintenance (34%), data privacy and security concerns (30%), and integration challenges with existing systems (28%).
Additionally, 83% of respondents report they are experiencing a “shadow AI” problem – i.e., unauthorised use of AI tools by employees.
Confidence in the UK’s potential on the global AI stage is relatively high, with 83% of respondents agreeing that the UK is a global AI powerhouse or has the potential to become one within three years.
However, this is lower than other nations in Europe, including Spain where the figure is 99%, and Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands (all 98%).
Respondents cite a lack of talent pipeline (34%), limited public funding (32%), and insufficient private sector engagement (32%) as the main reasons limiting the UK’s rise to AI prominence.
Cloud remains top three on the IT priority list, with AI adding to the complexity as another workload needing to align to evolving cloud strategies.
Barriers to cloud adoption continue: respondents point to internal silos (46% agree), sovereignty concerns (44%), decision pauses on infrastructure investment due to market uncertainty (42%) and unclear ROI (41%).
Drilling down into cloud sovereignty strategy over the next 18 months, UK respondents are prioritising operational control and autonomy (72%), securing the software supply chain (69%) and flexibility and choice of IT suppliers (69%).
“This year’s UK survey results show the gap between ambition and reality. Organisations are investing substantially in AI but currently only a few are delivering customer value.” Joanna Hodgson, country manager, UK, Red Hat, said.
“In the journey from experimentation to sustainable production, enterprise knowledge and integration with enterprise systems must pave the road to achieving value from AI.
“Openness is a force for greater collaboration, sharing best practice and enabling flexibility. As is the case with successful hybrid cloud investments, open source will continue to be the bedrock for making AI more consumable and reusable.”
AI models can have their data poisoned with just a few manipulated documents, according to research from the AI Security Institute, the Alan Turing Institute, and Anthropic.
Data poisoning involves the corruption of an AI model’s training data, often done by malicious actors who achieve this through distributing corrupt online content. Data poisoning can lead to dangerous behaviours in AI models, from producing misinformation to enabling them to produce malicious content like malware.
Data poisoning can be used to insert backdoors, which are specific phrases used to degrade system performances or even bypass safety features, allowing large language models (LLMs) to create prohibited outputs.
LLMs are trained on vast amounts of data – while data poisoning is a worrying threat, researchers sought to understand just how much corrupt data would need to be inputted into training material to poison an entire LLM.
Whereas previous research on LLM poisoning tended to be small in scale, the new study claims to be the largest poisoning study to date, investigating the effects of different poisoning regiments on models of various sizes.
The investigation surveyed a range of model sizes, from a 600M model to a 13B model, which is trained on 20 times more data. Its results are contrary to previous belief.
Despite the 13B model relying on more training data overall, only 250 malicious documents were needed to create a backdoor vulnerability in a model of this size.
This shows that poisoning attacks require a near-constant number of malicious documents, regardless of model and training data size. This shows that poisoning attacks may be more achievable than previously thought as malicious actors would only need to create 250 corrupt documents rather than millions to poison a data set.
The tests run in the study dealt with low-stakes poisoning – instructing the LLM to output gibberish – so it remains unclear if the same tactic would work for a larger models outside of the study’s scope or for more harmful behaviours.
The study does provide excellent insight however, into how pervasive this issue could be considering data poisoning appears to require much less effort than previously thought.
Millions of remote workers in the UK are being put at a disadvantage due to unreliable internet, new research from Airties shows.
According to the firm’s report, four in five UK workers are facing broadband issues at home at least once a month, with some facing slow speeds and even outages on a weekly or daily basis.
The lack of reliable internet connection is causing many UK users to switch providers, seeking a better experience to allow them to work and live.
Primary issues for switching providers included poor internet quality (39%), unreliable connectivity (28%), and difficulty fixing internet problems when they occurred (27%).
The most commonly cited internet quality issues cited were slow browsing (52%) and video freezing (49%).
The research found the streaming dominates daily use, with UK households prioritising video streaming and Wi-FI calling as the top priorities when it comes to finding a solid internet service.
According to the report, UK consumers prioritise quality over savings, 74% say they would not switch to a cheaper internet service provider if it meant worse Wi-FI.
“This survey research underscores a clear message for ISPs: service quality continues to drive churn,” said Metin Taskin, CEO and founder of Airties.
“Nearly one-third of households in the US and UK are actively considering switching providers due to poor quality of experience.
“It’s a multi-billion-dollar problem for broadband service providers globally. With such high churn rates, ISPs are forced to spend incredible time and money chasing new customers every year—just to break even for the customers they lost.
“Any incremental improvement in churn can unlock growth and massively improve the bottom line. This survey is further evidence of the imperative for ISPs to focus on customer retention by improving quality. Consumers want fast, consistent, and quality home Wi-Fi connectivity—and the data also shows they are willing to pay more for it.”
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that the legal tests have been met to designate Google with strategic market status (SMS) in general search and search advertising services.
The UK’s new digital markets competition regime came into force on 1 January 2025, allowing the CMA to take targeted and proportionate action to improve competition in digital markets.
The CMA launched an investigation into Google’s general search and search advertising services on 14 January and consulted on its proposed decision in June that Google should be designated with strategic market status.
Since this proposed decision, the CMA has gathered evidence and received feedback from more than 80 stakeholders as well as having constructive engagement with Google.
Upon analysing the feedback, the CMA confirmed that Google has substantial and entrenched market power in general search and search advertising and has been designated with stategic market status.
It also found, however, that Google’s Gemini AI assistant is not within the scope of this designation.
However, this position will be kept under review given uncertainty over how the market is developing and could be amended in future if certain factors change and following consultation.
AI-based search features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode available as part of Google Search, are within the scope of the designation.
The CMA did say that designating Google with SMS is not a finding of wrongdoing and does not introduce any immediate requirements.
It does, however, enable the CMA to consider proportionate, targeted interventions to ensure that general search services are open to effective competition, and that consumers and businesses that rely on Google can have confidence that they are treated fairly.
“By promoting competition in digital markets like search and search advertising we can unlock opportunities for businesses big and small to support innovation and growth, driving investment across the UK economy,” Will Hayter, executive director for Digital Markets at the CMA, said.
“We have found that Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector – with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform.
“Having taken into account the feedback received following our proposed decision, we have today designated Google’s search services with strategic market status.”
In a statement for Google, Oliver Bethell, Senior Director for Competition, said that the tech giant “supports the CMA’s goal to ensure the UK’s competition framework mirrors the best interests of UK consumers and businesses,” but the firm did have some grievances.
“The UK enjoys access to the latest products and services before other countries because it has so far avoided costly restrictions on popular services, such as Search. Retaining this position means avoiding unduly onerous regulations and learning from the negative results seen in other jurisdictions, which have cost businesses an estimated €114 billion,” Bethell said.
“Many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation. Others pose direct harm to businesses, with some warning that they may be forced to raise prices for customers.”
A call for views has been issued by the Scottish Government on the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill which seeks to legislate the ownership and transfer of digital assets into Scots law.
In recent decades, the use and importance of digital assets has become widespread. There is, however, little case law relating to new forms of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, to help individuals, businesses and legal practitioners in their dealings with such assets.
The Bill confirms that digital assets can be recognised as incorporeal moveable property. If passed, the Bill would confirm how ownership can be established and acquired, providing greater legal certainty for tech developers, digital asset owners and the legal profession.
Digital assets like Bitcoin should have greater legal clarity under the new legislation that will help support Scotland’s growing financial technology sector.
As of 2025, approximately 10% of adults in Scotland – around 540,000 people – own some form of cryptocurrency.
“Scotland’s financial technology (FinTech) sector contributes £14 billion to the Scottish economy,” economy and fair work convener, Daniel Johnson MSP, said.
“This Bill could help provide the answers needed about digital assets as objects of property and support ongoing innovation and investment in the sector.
“We are keen to hear from legal practitioners, academics and anyone with an interest in digital assets about whether they support the provisions in the Bill. We also want to hear what other actions could be required to support businesses and individuals in their dealings with digital assets.”
In a celebratory ceremony at Tynecastle Stadium, the winners of the Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Festival & Awards 2025 were announced by the DataKirk, honouring organisations and teams driving progress in Scotland.
The awards venerated advancements in diversity, digital skills, innovation, and sustainability in various organisations and businesses across Scotland.
With an overwhelming number of direct and indirect nominations, DataKirk’s esteemed judging panel certainly had their work cut out for them. The awards presented an opportunity for “inspiration, entertainment, and recognition,” host and executive director of Passion4Fusion, Helena Roger, said.
Following a day of stimulating roundtables and networking opportunities at the Summit, DataKirk finally revealed the winners across ten categories.
Earlier in the day, Richard Lochhead MSP commended DataKirk for its continued success and the expansion of its Summit and Festival over its four years.
“Its a testament to DataKirk how much the event has grown and evolved in such a short space of time,” the Scottish minister for business said.
Heart of Midlothian FC won the Talent Intelligence Award for their data partnership with Jamestown Analytics. Upon winning, Ann Park, director of communications and partnerships, compared Heart’s data acumen to jollof rice.
“Every recipe has its standard ingredients, but there are things that make it really special and a team that puts it all together for a very special recipe that we call: an algorithm,” she said.
The Data Lab won the Special Recognition Award highlighting their special relationship with DataKirk and its founder.
“In the tech sector in Scotland, only 20% of workers are women and about 12% are from ethnic minority background. At The Data lab, half of us are women and nearly a quarter are from ethnic minority backgrounds,” Helen Thompson, CEO of The Data Lab said when accepting the Special Recognition Award which honoured the organisation’s commitment to diversity and partnership with The DataKirk.
Fash Fasoro was one of the first masters students to work with The Data Lab’s programme, going on to found DataKirk.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Fash Fasoro, CEO of DataKirk, opened the Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit at Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh with some powerful truths and the definitive proclamation. It was met with some light-hearted chuckles and applause, but the sincere defiance was felt across the room.
It was a statement of resilience as much as defiance – a reminder that Scotland’s strength, particularly in its growing tech and data sectors, lies in the communities that have chosen to build their futures here.
The opening speeches to DataKirk’s fourth summit highlighting Scotland’s vibrant and diverse talent pool is perhaps more timely than in previous years.
Heightened political tensions, polarising language, soaring economic instability and the ever looming threat of climate change, global conflicts, the transformative potential of AI for better or for worse – times are uncertain, unstable, and in short, scary.
Inescapable Intersections
Scotland’s ethnic minority and immigrant communities are dealing with a constant intersection of personal and political struggles – the rise of racism and xenophobia, changing hurdles in the immigration system eroding pathways towards stability, coupled with the rising cost of living, rising employee costs, and growing financial strain felt across the nation.
Refugees and asylum seekers have faced hate as polarising right-wing rhetoric has been validated by major political parties, treating immigrants as a scapegoat for overarching economic issues facing the UK.
Rallies from the far right, a rise in hate crimes, racism, and xenophobia have cemented a new era in the UK of “open and overt racism and xenophobia,” Richard Lochhead, MSP business minister for the Scottish government said at the Summit.
The threat against indefinite leave to remain from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and the changing goalposts for indefinite leave to remain proposed by the Labour party, has threatened paths to stability and security for the migrants that make life in the UK – with its exceeding wealth inequality, aging population, and economic upheaval due to Brexit – frankly, possible.
Scotland’s tech sector runs on people – from developers and data scientists, to security engineers and product developers – and threatened immigration routes, rising xenophobia and economic strain put that talent pipeline that has served us so well in the past at risk.
When prospective hires face shifting rules or feel unwelcome hiring slows, projects stall and startups lose the diverse perspectives needed to build usable, secure and fair products – especially in AI, where representation directly affects bias and safety.
Essentially, if Scotland’s tech scene is to stay competitive and resilient, defending the people it’s dependent on isn’t just a moral imperative – it’s a business one.
“We need the very best talent,” Albert King, chief data officer at NHS National Service Scotland, said, “not just technical, but it’s also the lived experience and cultural insight and creativity that comes from truly diverse perspectives.”
Rhetoric Versus Allyship
While many Scots may be disturbed by the recent rise of racism and xenophobia, or may be unaware or unaffected by recent threats of changes to UK immigration policies, the ethnic minority and immigrant communities in Scotland and the rest of the UK have felt the effect of these changes keenly.
“The UK immigration landscape is directly affecting the migrant and ethnic minority wellbeing in ways we cannot ignore,” Fasoro said.
Wellbeing here means more than “yoga sessions or mindfulness” Fasoro said. Wellbeing is about “stability, belonging, and opportunity.”
This is about stability on the streets, safety from racist attacks and discrimination, but also structural stability through clear and fair immigration pathways, improved workplace culture, and strong anti-racism policies in government and organisations.
Fasoro went on to address this directly: “Ethic minorities need allies, genuine, courageous allies, to thrive in a new world shaped by AI and polarising political rhetoric.”
It is impossible to escape talk of AI – many conversations around the technology now revolve around the need for return on investment, the rise of AI security risks and data governance. Misinformation and disinformation driven by AI, bias inherent in AI systems, and the threat of AI to job security is too often hand-waved away without real assurances that the technology is being leveraged in a considered and ethical manner.
While heavy investment and focus on AI is a given if the UK wants to compete on the global stage, things like the continuous rollout of AI systems in policing, as well as the eye-watering amount of investment in AI infrastructure, breeds distrust when said investment could be perceived by many to come at the expense of stagnating frontline services and ever-growing income inequality and wealth disparity.
When it comes to conversations around talent pools, recruitment of ethnic minorities, and the contributions of diverse talent in work, these cannot be separated from the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric, with the Labour party wanting immigrants to prove more of their contributions to achieve the expensive but security-providing indefinite leave to remain residency status.
Sneha Rao, internships manager at the Council on International Educational Exchange, touched on this during a panel discussion on mental wellbeing.
An immigrant or person of colour “goes home and they are worrying everyday about their stability and their status in this country,” she said, when discussing the effects these political and structural changes mean.
“Just like a colleague might be going through bereavement, these things will affect your colleagues ability to show up fully, their ability to progress,” she said.
“It’s important to actually check in with someone, not just teach them to be resilient, but to check in with your colleagues or employees with how these things are affecting them.”
Ethnic minorities and immigrants are not able to have conversations about work without taking these political issues into consideration, their identities follow them into the workplace, and workplace policies follow them home.
Lived Reality and Structural Change
But structural changes are required as well. Accountability is essential, as benchmarks and obstacles shift, ethnic minorities and immigrants need governments to hold themselves and organisations to account for structural issues contributing to inequality and discrimination.
Fasoro attempted to enlighten those in the room about the costs of the average immigrant family trying to find stability and security in Scotland.
“How many of us truly understand what a working life feels like for an average migrant family in Scotland?” he questioned.
Many are unaware of the financial burden the visa process places on the immigrant, who often provides essential skills and talent to shrinking industries like health and care.
Indefinite leave to remain costs each applicant £3,029, an inconceivable amount for many working families as the cost of living continues to rise. With this pathway threatened, people who have spent years contributing to the UK through taxes, work, and cultural contributions, may have this pathway to security muddled with even more hurdles.
“Scotland’s talent attraction and retention system must evolve,” Fasoro said. The assertion doubles down on the politics and debates of nepotism, skills-based hiring, AI screenings of CVs, and the bias towards Russel group grads, but is also about the systems inherent in hiring.
The constriction of the skilled worker visa has made immigration more difficult and costly for employer and employee, making it difficult for smaller businesses to hire talented foreign workers, and placing increasing strain on immigrants attempting to bring family members with them.
Participants know the stats, they know the legislation, because they often live it, and knowing these things comes from experience. Time and time again at the summit it was attendees educating panellists, asking tough, pointed questions surrounding the lack of action on antiracism, the realities of immigration, and the disparity of opportunities.
Helena Roger, executive director of Passion4Fusion and one of the hosts of the summit, spoke up after business minister Richard Lochhead MSP spoke about countless programmes meant to support diverse startups, calling for accountability.
“We want accountability,” she said. “We need measures to know what does success look like for minority ethnic people in this country.”
Data on this shows that ethnic minority people are consistently at a disadvantage, with the minority group 10% more likely to be working an insecure job than their white counterparts.
Lochhead said that Scotland “opens its arms to people all over the world,” but there is only so much the devolved government can do in comparison to Westminster and the Home Office. Scotland does not have its own immigration system, and it has its share of far-right rallies against asylum seekers and violent hate crimes.
“We are living through a period of rapid change and huge, huge uncertainty. Technical disruption, the rise of AI, social media, misinformation, economic challenges, US tariffs, global upheaval, war in the middle east and Europe” – not to mention wars in Africa -” has tested institutions and society as well.
“It has tested our sense of belonging,” Lochhead said.
Despite these hurdles, Fasoro is determined, defiant even, in his the third and final powerful truth he shared with the audience.
“Immigrants are here to stay; we are not leaving the UK,” he said. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
DataKirk itself is a success story, expanding its mission to provide data literacy and drive digital skills for underrepresented communities in Scotland. The firm has collaborated with the UK government, Techscaler, academic institutions and organisations to achieve this community-led initiative. Its fourth Summit is expansive, with fringe events hosted by its partners and its first ever awards nights.
But DataKirk should not be tasked alone with this essential work. DataKirk events should not be the only events in Scotland where racism, immigration, and the UK political atmosphere are talked about candidly.
Until the government and other organisations truly take up the mantle and act as true allies, though, DataKirk remains a vital foundational platform for diverse voices in Scotland.
The 11th Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards (SKEA),Scotland’s flagship celebration of business–academic collaboration, launches today (8th October) inviting applications from businesses and academics throughout Scotland.
The annual awards, organised by Interface, celebrate the partnerships between business, third and public sector organisations, and colleges and universities.
This year introduces two new categories: Trailblazing AI Collaborations and Research and Innovation in Digital Health and Social Care, developed in partnership with The Data Lab and The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI).
Winning a Scottish Knowledge Exchange Award is more than recognition, it shines a spotlight on collaboration, demonstrates real impact, and raises the profile of those driving innovation across business, academia, and their partners.
Amelia Whitelaw, Director of Interface, said “The awards are central to Interface’s story, celebrating the people, projects and partnerships that drive innovation. Each year they evolve, and we’re excited to spotlight Scotland’s leadership in AI and Digital Health and Social Care with our new partners.”
Adam Turner, Head of Innovation, at The Data Lab, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Interface to launch the Trailblazing AI Collaboration Award. This award celebrates the partnerships driving innovation at the forefront of Scotland’s data and AI ecosystem. At The Data Lab, we’re proud to support and spotlight the collaborative spirit that powers progress in a critically important sector.”
Moira Mackenzie, Deputy CEO and Director of Innovation at DHI said: “We were so impressed by last year’s awards and the high calibre of finalists, that DHI was inspired to collaborate and co-design an award category relevant to our sector this year!”
The 11 award categories now open for application are:
Innovation of the Year – sponsored by Marks & Clerk
Innovator of the Future – sponsored by Business Gateway
Inward Investment Impact
Knowledge Exchange Champion
Knowledge Exchange Heroes (team and individual awards)
Making a Social Difference
Making an Environmental Difference
Multiparty Collaboration
Place-based Impact – sponsored by Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Research and Innovation in Digital Health and Social Care Award – in partnership with
Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI)
Trailblazing AI Collaboration – in partnership with The Data Lab
The awards are free to enter and the deadline for applications is 5pm, Thursday, 11 December 2025. The Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards ceremony will take place at the MacRobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling, on Thursday 19th March 2026.
A “sudden correction” to the global market looms as the AI bubble prepares to burst, warns the Bank of England.
The Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) warned that rocketing valuations of tech firms are at risk of a sharp drop over the potential of “disappointing” return on investment from AI.
“The risk of a sharp market correction has increased,” the FPC said.
“On a number of measures, equity market valuations appear stretched, particularly for technology companies focused on artificial intelligence.”
This, the FPC says, “leaves equity markets particularly exposed should expectations around the impact of AI become less optimistic.”
The committee’s minutes warned of “Material bottlenecks to AI progress – from power, data or commodity supply chains – as well as conceptual breakthroughs which change the anticipated AI infrastructure requirements for the development and utilisation of powerful AI models could also harm valuations, including for companies whose revenue expectations are derived from high levels of anticipated AI infrastructure investment.”
The FPC warns that investors have not considered these potential risks in their finance plans or valuations, which could lead to a “sudden correction” should these concerns materialise.
“As an open economy with a global financial centre, the risk of spillovers to the UK financial system from such global shocks is material,” the FPC said.
It’s not only the Bank of England that is warning about the potential burst of the AI bubble.
Gartner has warned that the Agentic AI supply is currently exceeding demand, and the market is primed for correction. This news comes just as AI firms have been found to win nearly half of global venture capital in the third quarter of this year, as AI foundation model firms and compute companies continue to soar in their valuations.
Still, as more and more reports question the return on investment seen in rapid AI adoption,
Only 9% of organisations say all their data is available and usable for AI, according to a survey of over 1,500 IT leaders from Cloudera.
However, 38% reported that most of their data is accessible.
While the majority (86%) of organisations say they are data driven, many still face technical limitations with the data architecture when it comes to supporting AI workloads. The biggest challenges cited were data integration (37%), storage performance (17%), and computer power (17%), lack of automation (17%) and latency (12%).
Separately, 61% of respondents said siloed data had at least sometimes negatively impacted their ability to scale AI initiatives.
While more than three-quarters (77%) of respondents were confident in their organisation’s ability to secure data used in AI systems, there are still lingering concerns.
Data leakage during model training (50%) was the top concern when it came to AI security, followed closely by unauthorised data access (48%) and unsecure third-party AI tools (43%).
Organisations also cited a lack of visibility or explainability in model outputs (39%) and model manipulation or poisoning (35%) as other top concerns.
Despite these challenges the speed of AI adoption shows no sign of slowing down with 21% saying that AI is already fully integrated into their business processes.
A further 54% said AI was significantly integrated and 21% said it was somewhat integrated. Overall, 70% of respondents said they have already achieved significant success with AI initiatives.
“In the last 12 months, AI has shifted from a strategic priority to an urgent mandate, actively reshaping operations and redefining the rules of competition,” said Sergio Gago, Chief Technology Officer at Cloudera.
“But our survey shows that challenges around security, compliance, and data utilisation still remain. Organisations need access to all of their data, wherever it resides and in any form, to govern it securely and unlock real-time and predictive insights.
“As a result, hybrid data architectures are becoming essential, giving organisations the flexibility to manage AI seamlessly across both cloud and on-premises environments.”
Two teenagers have been arrested in the UK in connection to the cyber-attack on a nursery chain in London.
The two 17-year-old boys were arrested at the same address in Hertfordshire, under suspicion of violations of the Computer Misuse Act and blackmail.
The hack stole the names, addresses, and photographs of about 8,000 children from the Kido nursery chain.
The Met Police were notified of the cyber-attack by the Action Fraud cyber-crime reporting service on 25 September.
The hackers initially approached the BBC on 22 September attempting to get press attention to support their extortion attempts against the nursery. While the BBC did not report on the issue at the time, it says the hackers, which called themselves Radiant, sought £600,000 worth of Bitcoin in their ransomware attempt.
Hackers began to post images and profiles of some of the children affected in the hack on their darknet site on 25 September, leading to outrage and mass media coverage.
The hackers went so far as to call parents directly in order to coerce Kido into paying the ransom to ensure the sensitive data would be deleted as Radiant continued to share children’s profiles on the darknet.
However, the hackers then began to blur images it had published as the group was reportedly concerned with how it would be viewed by other ransomware gangs for the targeting of children.
In another unusual move, the hackers removed all the stolen data and pictures from their darknet site on October 2, posting: “No more remains and this can comfort parents.”
“We understand reports of this nature can cause considerable concern, especially to those parents and carers who may be worried about the impact of such an incident on them and their families,” head of economic and cybercrime at the Met, Will Lyne, said.
“These arrests are a significant step forward in our investigation, but our work continues, alongside our partners, to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.”
Among the breached information included the details of parents and carers who work for the nursey chain.
“We welcome this swift action from the Met Police and recognise this is an important milestone in the process of bringing those responsible to justice,” a spokesperson for Kido said
“We have cooperated throughout this process with law enforcement and the relevant authorities. We remain committed to supporting police and, importantly, families, colleagues, and the wider Kido community.”
While AI adoption is accelerating, concerns about reliability and trust make it challenging to transition initiatives from concept to production, according to a new report from Dynatrace.
To address this, business leaders are prioritising observability solutions to scale their AI projects, with more than two-thirds (70%) saying observability budgets have increase in the past year.
Dynatrace released findings from a global survey of 842 CIOs, CTOs, and other senior technology leaders involved in IT operations and DevOps management in large organisations.
The survey found that 100% of business leaders are using AI as part of their operations today, with top use cases including data management (57%), AI governance (50%), and security operations (46%).
AI use cases such as sustainability (27%) and logs management (29%) present exciting opportunities for organisations to expand adoption and unlock greater efficiency and ROI.
The two major categories where business leaders anticipate AI-powered automation delivering significant value are real-time detection of and response to security risks (37%) and anomaly detection (41%).
When it comes to AI governance, trust and security, Dynatrace found that one in four business leaders believe improving AI governance and trust should be their highest priority.
For leaders in charge of data governance, their top two areas of concern with AI reliability are related to data quality and predictability (50%) and data privacy (45%).
More than two thirds (69%) of AI-powered decisions still include human-in-the-loop processes to verify accuracy.
Nearly all (98%) business leaders reported using AI to manage security compliance in some capacity, with a combined 69% seeing increased budgets for AI-powered threat detection in the past year and expecting budgets to increase next year.
“Enterprise IT software and applications must evolve from simply adding AI to existing systems toward building truly AI-native experiences,” said Alois Reitbauer, chief technology strategist at Dynatrace.
“This shift introduces new challenges for observability, as organizations must ensure their AI-driven systems are transparent, reliable, and scalable.
“Observability becomes the critical foundation, providing the shared intelligence needed to navigate these challenges, make smarter decisions, and drive safe, efficient automation at scale.”
The report also found that more than 50% of business leaders see automated real-time observability solutions to enhance customer experience within the next year.
Nearly half (46%) of all business leaders anticipate the greatest ROI of AI-powered observability will come from optimising AI model configurations.
By 2030, 50% of business leaders expect to have adopted AI-powered data encryption, risk assessments, and threat detection capabilities.
Seven in ten (70%) of those surveyed say observability budgets have increased in the past year, and three-quarters (75%) expect budgets to increase in the next fiscal year.
“Observability is shifting from reporting telemetry about application health to informing the decisions that run the business,” said Alois Reitbauer, chief technology strategist at Dynatrace.
“As more of those decisions are supported by AI, observability becomes the key to unlocking the full potential of AI‑driven decision support, providing the trustworthy context, guardrails, and feedback loops leaders need to act with confidence at scale.”
Talent acquisition strategies in 2026 are being driven by AI, which is changing nearly every aspect of how business is done, and the need to drive cost out of the business, according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner has identified four trends that will shape talent acquisition in 2026:
High-volume recruiting goes AI first
Recruiter sills shift for more complex work
Talent acquisitions redesigns early career programmes to pipeline future jobs
AI reshapes how organisations assess talent
“Many AI use cases in recruiting have been around for a long time, and we’re starting to see real value,” said Jamie Kohn, Senior Director, Research, in the Gartner HR practice.
“Now new AI technologies are emerging with the potential to fundamentally reshape recruiting, like generative AI, interview intelligence tools, and recruiter AI agents.”
Injecting AI into high-volume recruiting
High-volume, low-complexity roles – frontline roles such as retail workers, customer service reps, drivers – are ideal for an AI-first approach. They have the highest potential for cost savings, the stable, repetitive work is a good fit for AI capabilities, and there’s less risk of backlash from candidates or the business as these roles already have a low service level.
Before leveraging AI for high-volume roles, talent acquisition leaders should consider a range of actions.
These include hands-on monitoring, maximising efficiency, reframing the risk of bias, and clarify choice and transparency around AI.
Shifting recruiters to more complex work
“AI has the potential to impact nearly every part of the recruiter role, if it isn’t already,” said Kohn. “Redesigning the recruiter role isn’t just about understanding what technology can do; it’s about understanding how recruiting itself is changing.”
As AI and automation take on more of the low-complexity work, recruiters’ ability to deliver on high-complexity hiring becomes more critical.
Recruiters today must advise on talent strategy and role design to meet hard-to-find, in-demand skill needs while also possessing the skills to build long-term relationships with hard-to-access prospects.
Finally, recruiters must be able to assess candidates’ fit for the organisation’s future needs, not just the current role.
By 2030, half of enterprises will face irreversible skill shortages in critical job roles due to GenAI accuracy decline, skills erosion and uncompetitive pay.
Organisations need to rethink their whole early-career talent strategy; talent acquisition, specifically, needs to help their organisation rescope what early career roles are needed and why.
Ultimately, recruiting leaders must work with business leaders to refocus early-career programs around safeguarding future talent pipelines. New graduate hires must provide value today, but they should also have potential to fill critical talent gaps in the future.
Reshaping talent assessment for generative AI
Candidate quality is being threatened by the rise of candidate fraud, candidates’ increasing use of generative AI in the hiring process and rapidly changing skills.
“Maintaining candidate quality requires organizations to assess candidates’ true abilities without GenAI while also integrating AI into assessments for roles that have to use it on the job,” said Kohn.
Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of hiring processes will include certifications and tests for workplace AI proficiency.
GenAI-based assessments can allow organizations to evaluate both critical generative AI skills and core skills, including critical thinking ability, subject matter expertise, creativity and communication. This gives recruiters and hiring managers a better sense of candidates’ true ability to do the work.
The current supply of agentic AI models, platforms and products far exceeds demand, which will result in consolidation and market correction, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
Gartner analysts anticipate that agentic AI markets will consolidate in the short term as hype and fear of missing out (FOMO) give way to fundamental economics. In this AI Vendor Race, the losers of consolidation will be undifferentiated AI companies and their investors. The winners will be capital-rich incumbents with the resources to acquire promising technologies and talent.
“While we see early signs of market correction and consolidation, product leaders should recognise this as a regular part of the product life cycle, not a sign of inevitable economic crisis,” said Will Sommer, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner.
“Over the longer term, consolidation will enable industry leaders to develop agentic products that meet the technical and business requirements of customers who are presently struggling to adopt AI agents.”
The mass proliferation of AI providers launching agentic models, agentic-integrated platforms and other agent-infused products far exceeds the present demand.
Similar to other corrections in energy, telecommunications, and the dot-coms, product leaders should view this stage of the agentic AI market as a transition period in which business models are forced to calibrate to transformational technologies.
“The impending agentic AI market correction is distinct from speculative bubbles fuelled by systemic financial engineering, fraud or policy,” Sommer said. “At this point, the underlying product, agentic AI, is sound, and the current market correction, where markets rationalise and consolidate, is a regular part of the product life cycle.
“However, a ‘speculative bubble’ could still form if investment becomes detached from agentic AI’s intrinsic potential to deliver tangible and commensurate economic value.”
Large tech companies have already been acquiring smaller, specialized AI firms, signalling the start of the market correction phase. With this consolidation will come benefits of scale and vertical integration.
“Large providers will establish expansive, integrated ecosystems that significantly improve agentic performance, leading to more reliable products targeted at specific business outcomes,” said Sommer. “Domain-specific language models, which provide superior value and performance in specialised applications, represent one such innovation.”
These evolutions, paired with changing consumer habits, skills and processes, will facilitate the mass adoption of agentic products. The remaining providers — the newly emerged AI incumbents — will attain sustainable growth and eventually the agentic AI market will surpass “adoption” phase expectations based on tangible metrics of productivity and profit.
Munro EV, the car manufacturing company based in Glasgow, has secured £2 million in funding from its existing investor Elbow Beach as well as other investors.
The investment aims to help Munro EV accelerate its production of its M-Services vehicles, which are designed for the construction, mining, and defence industries.
The funds will be used to see significant scaling of its production facility, with the firm aiming to service customer orders which currently amass to £17.3m. The funding is expected to create up to 300 new manufacturing jobs.
With the new investment injection, the firm is targeting 5,000 vehicles annually over the next six years as their production capacity. The firm has already delivered its M-Series to the Denbingshire Council and the Gleneagles Hotel this year.
Munro EV is also currently recruiting staff in its assembly and engineering departments.
“This investment validates the critical need for zero-emission solutions in heavy industry,“ Russel Peterson, co-founder and chief executive of Munro EV, said.
“Mining companies, defence interests and construction firms are actively seeking alternatives to diesel-powered vehicles, both to meet sustainability targets and reduce operational costs.
“The M-Series delivers on both fronts without compromising the performance these industries demand.”
The M-series vehicles have 170 ‘real world’ miles of range per charge, and have a 1,000kg payload capacity, the company says.
Peterson added: “The UK Ministry of Defence plans to procure replacements for the Land Rover and Pinzgauer vehicles in its fleet under the Land Mobility Strategy and the Munro M-Series can meet those requirements while being more capable, quieter and cleaner.
“This is not a lifestyle vehicle that operators have to add robustness to with aftermarket parts or upgrade kits, this is a vehicle built from the ground up to be an off-road electric vehicle that will be operated in harsh environments.”
Jon Pollock, chief executive of Elbow Beach, commented: “Through its focused approach, Munro is delivering a capital-light solution that accelerates decarbonisation while driving meaningful commercial benefits for the real economy.”
By 2028, AI regulatory violations will result in a 30% increase in legal disputes for tech companies, according to Gartner.
A May through June 2025 Gartner survey of 360 IT leaders involved in the rollout of generative AI (genAI) tools found that over 70% indicated that regulatory compliance is within their top three challenges for their organization’s widespread genAI productivity assistants deployment.
Only 23% of respondents are very confident in their organization’s ability to manage security and governance components when rolling out genAI tools in their enterprise applications.
“Global AI regulations vary widely, reflecting each country’s assessment of its appropriate alignment of AI leadership, innovation and agility with risk mitigation priorities,” said Lydia Clougherty Jones, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner.
“This leads to inconsistent and often incoherent compliance obligations, complicating alignment of AI investment with demonstrable and repeatable enterprise value and possibly opening enterprises up to other liabilities.”
At the same time the impact from the geopolitical climate is steadily growing, but the ability to respond lags behind. Fifty-seven percent of non-U.S. IT leaders from the same survey indicated that the geopolitical climate at least moderately impacted GenAI strategy and deployment, with 19% of respondents reporting it has a significant impact.
Yet, nearly 60% of those respondents reported that they were unable or unwilling to adopt non-U.S. genAI tool alternatives.
In a Gartner September 3, 2025 webinar poll, 40% of the 489 respondents indicated that their organisation’s sentiment to AI sovereignty – defined as the ability of nation-states to control the development, deployment, and governance of AI technologies within their jurisdictions – is “positive” (as in viewed with hope and opportunity), and 36% indicated their organisation’s sentiment was “neutral” (as in taking a “wait and see” approach).
In the same poll, 66% of the respondents indicated they were proactive and/or engaged in response to sovereign AI strategy, and 52% indicated that their organisation was making strategic or operating model changes as a direct result of sovereign AI.
With genAI tools, such as genAI productivity assistants, becoming more ubiquitous in uncertain and fluctuating geopolitical and legal environments, especially with AI sovereignty in mind, Gartner has suggested a range of steps for IT leaders to take.
This includes engineering self-correction, creating rigorous use-case review procedures, increasing model testing and sandboxing, and injecting content moderation techniques into their systems.
AI companies continue to gain the majority of venture funding in the third quarter of this year, data from Crunchbase shows.
Nearly half (46%) of global venture funding in the third quarter of 2025 went to AI companies, with Anthropic raking in a whopping 29% just on its own.
Globally, venture funding increased by 38% year-on-year, amounting to $97bn, an increased from the $92bn raised in the second quarter.
Anthropic had the largest venture round of the quarter, at $13bn, with xAI raking in $5.3bn, and $2bn for Mistral AI, meaning that the top three venture rounds were raised by foundation model firms.
The revelation that the AI race shows no sign of slowing down comes following the news that OpenAI is the most valuable private company in the world, with a valuation of $500 billion.
US companies dominated the funding round, with $60bn of global venture capital going to US-based firms.
The data also highlights the growing market concern of an AI bubble – similar to the dot-com bubble and the 2008 real estate bubble that crashed the economy.
While many are concerned that the AI bubble will burst – with devastating market consequences – others say that the AI market value is really just the first signs of a true technology revolution.
MarketWatch estimated that the AI bubble is 17 times bigger than the dot-com bubble, and four times larger than the 2008 bubble.
Whether this growth can be sustained or if the market will stablise – or if the bubble bursts – remains to be seen, but surely must be watched on as investors continue to pour billions into AI firms.
Doubts about the AI bubble are especially important as many companies have yet to see meaningful ROI from AI investments, leaving shareholders squirming and investors antsy for a guarantee that AI is all its cracked up to be.
AI has seen significant shifts in the market, with NVIDIA dethroning Apple and Microsoft as the most valuable company on the stock market. Oracle, another tech and cloud company aiming to profit off the AI boom, saw its stock rise 43% in a single day.
Tech job losses in the UK from Google amounted to nearly 400 between December 2023 and 2024, as revealed in the company’s accounts.
Google UK’s financial statements from the year ending in December 2024 shows that its headcount dropped from 7,422 to 7,029, as first reported by City A.M.
This means 393 workers lost their jobs within this financial year, which saw the UK-registered firm of the global tech giant gain a year-on-year turnover increase of £82m, totalling £2.89bn.
The news comes after accounts were released as part of Google’s new contract to open a data centre in Hertfordshire as part of its £5bn investment plan in the UK.
Google has joined a number of tech giants, mainly based in the US, to invest heavily in the infrastructure needed to strengthen the UK’s tech ecosystem and achieve its AI ambitions.
The investment, which will also focus on research, development, and capital spending, could lead to the create of more than 8,000 jobs, the tech giant suggested.
Further, Google’s cloud service was selected by the UK government for its public sector organisation digital transformation and skills plan, further entrusting the company with the UK’s tech goals. Google Cloud has struggled against Microsoft and Amazon in the fight for cloud market dominance – it lags between the top two services in the UK and globally.
It’s partnership with the UK government, which will see its cloud services support local councils, the NHS, and other civil and public organisations, could see it strengthen its foothold in the UK market.
While Google is making deals and investments in the UK with the promise of jobs, it faces a lawsuit alleging that it has unfair market dominance in search filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The tech giant has long faced regulator ire and lawsuits regarding its dominant market position in search as well as advertising.
This scrutiny continues despite pressure from the US government over foreign regulators, particularly the EU, coming after US tech giants over unfair practices, data protection concerns, and market dominance.
It remains to be seen how many jobs the new Google investment will make in the UK in the coming years.
The Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland are launching the first national See It, Be It: Women and Girls in Cyber Conference to tackle the gender gap in cybersecurity.
Women make up just 17.5% of the UK’s cybersecurity workforce, with only 264 female students in Scotland taking a National Progression Award in Cyber Security in 2022/23, compared with 1,521 male students.
At the same time, more than half of UK businesses report a cybersecurity skills gap, a shortfall the industry can ill afford.
Supported by Accenture, Fortinet and NatWest, the event will bring together up to 200 pupils, teachers, cyber professionals and industry leaders for a day of talks, workshops and networking, designed to inspire more young women to pursue careers in cyber security.
By making female role models more visible and giving students hands-on opportunities – including a live cyber table-top exercise, a visit to NatWest’s Security Operations Centre, and a careers networking hub – the event aims to show girls across Scotland that cyber security is a career for them.
As part of the launch, Scottish high schools are invited to enter a competition for the chance to secure 10 student places at the conference, with £200 travel bursaries available to support attendance.
To take part, pupils should submit a response of 200 words or less by email to kara.mclaughlin@cyberfraudcentre.com no later than 5pm on Friday 10 October 2025. Winners will be announced during the week commencing 20 October 2025. The conference will take place on 7 November at NatWest Gogarburn, Edinburgh.
“We’ve seen encouraging progress in STEM and wider technology, where the gender balance is improving and women are much more visible,” Jude McCorry, CEO of the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland, said. “But cybersecurity is still lagging behind and, at a time when both global companies and small businesses are being targeted around the clock, we simply cannot afford to leave half the talent pool untapped.
“We need to act now to make cyber a career where women not only enter, but thrive and we hope that See It, Be It will become part of this change.”
Local leaders across the country can now bid for support of up to £20 million each in a new competition, as the UK government launches a new regional funding initiative to boost research and jobs.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is inviting a broad range of local and regional partnerships to bid for government funding to support research and innovation projects in their area through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund.
The competition will back partnerships that can turn existing research breakthroughs into practical solutions that create jobs and improve people’s lives, supporting the government’s Plan for Change.
The fund is designed to help regions across the UK build on their existing strengths – whether that is developing technology that helps doctors diagnose diseases faster, creating cleaner transport solutions, or discovering innovations that spawn entirely new industries.
Local leaders, working alongside universities and businesses, are best placed to identify these regional opportunities and turn research breakthroughs into real-world solutions that benefit their communities.
“This fund is our Plan for Change in action. It empowers local leaders, researchers, and businesses with skin in the game to deliver transformational research that creates jobs and improves lives in their area,” science and technology secretary Liz Kendall said.
“Ten regions already have our support and will be able to deliver game-changing innovations to benefit their communities.
“Now we’re extending this opportunity to the rest of the country, and I encourage partnerships everywhere to come forward, and show how they can unlock their local expertise to create tomorrow’s innovations.”
Consortiums of various forms are encouraged to apply, to ensure regions across the length and breadth of the UK are supported to develop new innovations and drive regional growth.
Ten regions across the UK have already received backing through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund.
These include established innovation hubs in England such as Greater Manchester, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire, alongside Glasgow City Region in Scotland, Cardiff Capital Region in Wales, and an innovation corridor linking Belfast and Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
Each of these areas has been earmarked for at least £30 million to invest in their regional innovation strengths, from advanced manufacturing and life sciences to digital technologies and clean energy, ensuring every nation of the UK benefits from this major government investment in R&D.
This funding forms part of the record £86 billion R&D settlement until 2030 and represents a key pillar of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, supporting high-growth sectors in every region.
For areas ready to unlock their innovation potential, this competition offers a transformative opportunity to secure the partnerships and investment needed to drive growth and improve lives across the country.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of UK businesses are now consulting public AI chatbots such as ChatGPT for financial advice before speaking with their accountant, according to new research.
The survey of 500 senior decision-makers across UK accountancy firms, conducted by Ravical for its Accounting in the Age of AI report, shows that clients are no longer waiting for accountants to take the lead on artificial intelligence. Instead, many are experimenting with the technology themselves.
More than half of accountancy firms reported having to step in and correct inaccurate advice their clients had received from ChatGPT. A further one in five accountants said they are frequently asked to intervene after businesses rely on chatbot guidance.
The findings highlight that as AI tools like ChatGPT become a go-to resource for businesses, the advice they provide can often be misleading or incorrect, creating extra work and risk for accountants.
“Many businesses are increasingly turning to AI tools such as ChatGPT as a first step in dealing with financial queries. When combined, AI and professional input can complement each other with AI delivering efficiency, while accountants provide reassurance, and context,” Sachin Agrawal, managing director for Zoho UK, said.
“However, businesses should be mindful of privacy. Entering sensitive financial or client data into AI platforms may carry risks, as information could be stored, used to train systems, or otherwise leave a digital footprint that organisations do not intend.”
“At the same time, financial decisions often need interpretation, judgement, and a full understanding of individual circumstances. Human expertise ensures that AI-generated insights are applied correctly, in line with regulations, and aligned with long-term business goals so AI cannot be relied upon as a credible and definitive answer without additional expert checking in these important matters.”
“Accountants and advisers can build on AI’s guidance, transforming general recommendations into tailored advice. Together, AI and professional input create a more effective approach for managing financial tasks, helping business owners feel both empowered and supported in their decision-making.”
The research highlights growing concerns around AI, with more than half of accountancy firms reporting that clients have questioned whether the technology could eventually replace them.
Nearly nine in 10 (87 per cent) of these accountants report feeling stretched, citing meeting client expectations (42 per cent), keeping up with new tools (38 per cent), and explaining complex data simply (37 per cent) as the primary challenges.
This comes as small to mid-tier accountancy firms reported facing “serious” barriers to growth due to staffing shortages.
“The research highlights the mounting pressure on accountants as client expectations rise, shaped by the speed, clarity, and proactivity they now experience when engaging directly with technology,” Joris Van Der Gutch, co-founder and CEO of Ravical, said.
“AI will not replace accountants, but it will change the way they work.
“We are entering a post-knowledge economy, where knowledge alone is no longer a differentiator, with the real value now coming from combining AI’s capabilities with professional oversight, context and judgement.”
Hackers have stolen some of the personal data of UK Renault customers in a third-party data breach as cyber-attacks continue to rock major businesses.
Drivers were contacted by Renault Group UK to confirm that the firm’s third-party data processing business partner had been targeted by cyber-criminals.
Some customer data had been taken as a result of the hack, with some customers of Dacia vehicles, which are owned by Renault, also affected in the breach.
Personal data such as customer names, gender, phone number, addresses, dates of births, vehicle registration details and identification numbers were compromised in the hack.
However, financial details, such as bank account or card details, as well as passwords, were not affected in the breach.
It is currently unknown how many customers were affected by the breach, though Renault Group UK said that none of its own systems were compromised.
“We are in the process of contacting all affected customers, advising them of the cyber attack and reminding them to be cautious of any unsolicited requests for personal information,” a spokesperson for the firm said.
“We wish to apologise to all affected customers. Data privacy is of the upmost importance to us and we deeply regret that this has.”
The breach comes close to the heels of the Jaguar Land Rover hack that interrupted the firm’s manufacturing operations, with the firm just saying this week that it expects to see some of its productions restarting in “the coming days”.
Other brands, including Japanese beer brand Asahi, luxury good brands like Gucci, and UK retails like Harrods, Co-Op, and Marks and Spencer facing data breaches.
The UK government is investing in detection tech and laser sensors to defend critical satellites from drastic disruption.
Lasers can be used by adversaries to track the location of satellites, dazzle or blind them, or to intercept and interrupt communications.
About a fifth of the UK economy is reliant on satellite services, but the critical infrastructure is under increasing threat.
Head of the UK Space Command, Major General Paul Tedman told the BBC in an interview that Russia’s military has been attempting to disrupt the UK’s military satellites once a week with ground-based systems, underscoring the risks these vital technologies face under rising geopolitical tensions.
Nearly 20% of UK GDP is reliant on satellite services, which are essential for supporting daily life, including through communication, money transfers, navigation, emergency services, and weather forecasting.
Satellites are also critical to defence, providing capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and providing instant communications to military platforms.
The new sensor technology under development will be able to determine the characteristics of lasers based in space or on the ground and whether they pose a threat to the satellite, providing the military with crucial information to protect and defend UK and allied space systems and assets.
The new sensors are being developed by the UK Space Command (UKSC), which is a joint command of the British Armed Forces, and the UK Space Agency (UKSA), the Government body responsible for the country’s civil space programme.
The project is backed by around £500,000 of funding – the first allocated as part of the UKSA’s Unlocking Space for Government programme, which aims to harness space to improve UK public services and strengthen national security.
“Space is a hugely important and contested frontline and satellites play a vital role in UK prosperity and security. They are crucial to our everyday lives and provide a critical capability for our Armed Forces. It is essential they are protected,” minister for defence readiness and industry, Luke Pollard MP, said.
“Today’s announcement shows our commitment to defend British assets in orbit – which protect us on the ground, in the air and at sea. This supports our national security, delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change.”
Commenting on the plans, Tedman said: “The Strategic Defence Review raised space to parity with the traditional warfighting domains and underscored the critical importance of space to our economy, prosperity and national security and defence.
“It made it clear that space does not just accessorise our way of war, in many respects it is changing it fundamentally. It also made clear that threats to our national interests in space are increasing.
“In this new era of threats, UK Space Command is competing against a growing arsenal of adversary counterspace systems and requires new and innovative edge technology to protect and defend our satellites.
“Therefore, I am delighted that in less than 6 months after publishing the SDR, we are investing new money into this novel technology to accelerate our space programme.”
A Scottish government minister has formally defended the government Techscaler programme, calling allegations made against the initiative’s foreign trips in The Sunday Post “unsubstantiated.”
Techscaler is the Scottish government’s startup support network scheme, which provides support, networking opportunities, and funding to Scotland’s startups and scaleup founders, delivered by CodeBase.
One of Techscaler’s key initiatives is its international trips to major tech hubs, like Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Japan, offered to startup founders to open them up to business deals and funding opportunities with key foreign investors and markets. These trips are tax-payer funded and include airfare and hotel expenses for participants.
While the trips have often received stellar reviews – according to testimonials on the Techscaler website – The Sunday Post reported on information it acquired from Techscaler participants, investigations, and FOI requests. The Techscaler participants that spoke to the The Sunday Post, many of which were anonymous, relayed their dismay at some of the participants’ behaviour and the unstructured way the trips were run.
The Sunday Post’s report indicated that Techscaler did not have a formal or transparent process for how trip participants were selected -thought CodeBase has since described the selection process as rigorous” – and that the trips lacked structure as far as connecting participants with investors, and with little mandatory networking events.
More salacious allegations included that there was late night partying and drinking, with some saying that certain participants treated the tax-funded business trip as a “free-holiday”.
Since then, The Sunday Post piece has received significant pushback, even from the one named person who gave their own account of the trip. Daniel Grant, who provided his name in The Sunday Post article and attended a Techscaler trip to Silicon Valley, clarified some of his comments on LinkedIn, even saying he thought the original idea for the trips was “ingenious”.
DIGIT had previously addressed the piece with CodeBase CEO Stephen Coleman, who said that the article “wholly misrepresented” the Techscaler trips. A CodeBase spokesperson also defended the selection process, describing it as “rigorous,” and said that partners of participants had to pay their own way and did not participate in any Techscaler activities on the trip.
Still, the article did catch traction, with Scottish Conservative MP Murdo Fraser calling for a “urgent enquiries” into the Techscaler trips.
Further, an FOI request issued by The Sunday Post sought feedback forms from the trip, but the Scottish Government only submitted redacted copies which only showed positive feedback from participants. The Sunday Post had, however, already received unredacted feedback forms from an unknown source that did show concerns from participants.
Now, Deputy Minister Kate Forbes, who had helped to launch Techscaler, continues the defence of the programme.
“The unfortunate reality is that we are not here to discuss the rationale for Techscaler or its performance, or to debate how the programme could be optimised,” she said, addressing the Scottish Parliament. “Instead, we are here because some see political capital in a series of unattributed, unsubstantiated claims that have been made in the press.”
She defended the trips’ organisation, saying they were meant to present Scottish startup founders with the ability to experience life and work in the “world’s best ecosystems” for startups and tech.
She also told the parliament that expense spending only absorbed around 2% of the initiative’s total budget, and that participants cannot claim for additional travel or costs on the trip.
Still, Fraser challenged Forbes on the FOI’s redacted negative reviews, questioning if the Scottish government did not have to “give a balanced view on the value of those trips,” he said.
Forbes shot back, saying that some redactions had to do with some elements being “commercially sensitive.” But she also said that “the information was provided on the express basis of anonymity. If the same people who are so keen on reducing or removing that anonymity cannot even get anybody to go on the record in the press without their names being removed, that says it all.”
This rhetoric is a bit harmful to her point, however. If all feedback was given anonymously, then surely, positive feedback should have also been redacted on that front. As well, anonymity is protected in the media and press for a reason, and it should not negate or dismiss verified testimony.
An earlier version of this article misstated aspects of The Sunday Post’s reporting. The investigation was based on multiple sources and documents, not a single participant, and the lack of a formal selection process was reported as fact. The article has been updated to reflect this.
Agentic AI will cause a public breach in 2026 – this is the latest prediction from Forrester senior analyst Paddy Harrington, who warned of the cybersecurity risks accompanying the rise of AI agents.
“Without the right guardrails, systems of autonomous AI agents may sacrifice accuracy for speed of delivery, especially when interacting directly with customers,” he warned in a blog post.
While some companies may still blame individual employees for these breaches, Harrington says they will actually be the result of “a cascade of failures.”
Forrester says that organisations must “develop agentic applications with minimum viable security” to avoid this fallout from agentic AI cyber risks, specifically by following the AEDIS framework.
AEGIS, Agentic AI Guardrails for Information Security, is a six-domain framework aiming develop proper governance, security, and management protocols for agentic AI.
These domains include governance, risk and compliance; identity and access management; data security and privacy; application security; threat management; and zero trust architecture.
To implement these principles, Forrester recommends four steps.
Starting with governance, organisations should focus on leveraging minimal tech for maximum impact, establishing governance at the very start of AI adoption and agentic integration.
Next, organisation should focus on building foundational data security, treating agents as their own identity class.
Threat management and advancing DevSecOps should follow, including securing the agent lifecycle, and detecting flaws such as hallucinations.
Finally, organisations should ensure that zero trust principles are implemented across the technology stack and the entire AI application tool.
The stark prediction, and advice, comes as more and more AI security risks emerge. Cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure and personal data increase as national state threats mount across the globe.
AI is being used as a tool by malicious actors, but its rapid application is also leaving increasing vulnerabilities in organisations hastily integrating the emerging tech.
Forrester also predicted other security risks emerging in 2026 as a result of rising global tensions, such as restrictions are critical telecoms infrastructure in relation to the Salt Typhoon cyberespionage campaign.
However, Harrington also predicted that quantum security spending is set to exceed 5% of overall IT security budgets, meaning that organisations are still seeking out novel technologies to advance their security defences amidst growing threats.
Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has collaborated to launch the Scottish Ecosystem Platform – a comprehensive, open access platform providing information on startups, scaleups and established private companies.
Developed through a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Government, and Techscaler, the platform provides essential features for private market decision-making, including funding round tracking, investor profiles, and market trends, powered by data intelligence firm Dealroom.
By delivering actionable insights, the platform aims to enable users to identify investment opportunities, understand competitive landscapes, and track industry sector health.
The platform aims to function as Scotland’s entrepreneurial compass, giving startups the data and connections they need to thrive.
It provides detailed company profiles, funding information, and market trends that help founders understand where they stand and spot new opportunities.
Most importantly, it bridges the gap between startups seeking investment and investors looking for promising ventures, while making Scottish companies more visible to potential partners.
The platform also connects entrepreneurs with each other and providing live market intelligence on funding trends, company valuations, and sector performance.
The platform, which was unveiled at the Invest2Scale conference in Edinburgh, offers global audiences their first comprehensive view of an ecosystem that has produced companies including BrewDog, FanDuel, and Skyscanner, and continues to demonstrate exceptional resilience and growth potential.
“In our digital age, data is more than a resource; it’s the foundation of strategic growth,” Dr Duncan Martin, director of entrepreneurship at the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre, said.
“The Scottish Ecosystem Platform has been designed to transform how we access and utilise data, offering unparalleled insights into our entrepreneurial landscape. This platform is more than a tool; it’s a catalyst for unlocking Scotland’s potential in the global innovation economy.
“Access to real-time data and analysis means decisions can now be grounded in current, robust evidence rather than speculation. For entrepreneurs, this means better understanding of market gaps, enabling them to tailor innovations to meet real-world demands.”
The platform’s collaborative maintenance model allows participants to register, update, and enrich their profiles, ensuring the ecosystem data remains current and comprehensive. Startups and scaling companies are now encouraged to become active users.
“Over the past decade, the Scottish ecosystem has grown tenfold, with more than 1,000 funding rounds since 2020 and over 350 university spinouts driving innovation,” Aoife Morrin, head of ecosystem growth at Dealroom.co said.
“By bringing together real-time insights on startups, investors, universities and funding—both public and private—this platform gives the Scottish ecosystem the visibility it needs to connect, collaborate, and accelerate growth.
“Scotland’s world-class universities, talented founders, and vibrant clusters are now even more visible on the global stage, and Dealroom is proud to support the next chapter of this journey.”
Ana Stewart, the Scottish Government’s chief entrepreneur said: “The Scottish Ecosystem Platform represents what we need more of – the opportunity to highlight our business talent and solutions to the world.
“The platform will unify our scaleup activity, making Scottish companies visible to global investors while providing the data and insights we need to support them effectively. It will also align with the Scottish Government’s InvestScotland portal, which will be launched later this year to showcase investment opportunities to global investors.
“The platform also shows what we can achieve when public and private sectors, academia and government work together with shared purpose, will become ever-more powerful as we continue to digitise the way we gather data and analysis to work out how we can support Scotland’s entrepreneurs.
“I look forward to us refining, embedding and harnessing the platform over the coming months, making it a place where anyone, anywhere in the world, can discover opportunities to invest in Scottish innovation.”
Apple is facing fresh demands from the UK government to create a backdoor to its encryption tool for UK users, it has been reported.
The newest notice – which the Home Office has not commented on – differs from previous orders to Apple to create a backdoor to its end-to-end encrypted cloud for the UK government. Instead of ordering Apple to create a back door for all users across the globe, the back door order will only be for UK citizens using service.
This follows from the controversial technical capability notice first issued by the Home Office in September to the US tech giant, which was met with outrage from privacy advocates and many US lawmakers.
Instead of complying with the order, Apple pulled its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) tool from the UK market, taking away end-to-end encryption for cloud data for millions of UK users which overall, puts their data more at risk. Apple said that privacy was paramount to its business and it would never compromise this or create a backdoor to its encryption.
In August, US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that the Home Office had backed down from its demand, which would have seen Apple compromise encryption protection from all users, including US citizens.
The Home Office, however, continues to neither confirm or deny the order ever existed, as is protocol for a technical notice of this manner. Apple has, however, filed a legal suit against the Home Office over the order.
Following Gabbard’s post, the Home Office did not confirm it had taken back the order, but the new amendment, first reported by The Financial Times, could be interpreted as a middle ground to not stoke tensions between the UK and US.
Still, it is unlikely Apple with bow down to the Home Office’s order, as it stated: “As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services, and we never will.
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK, given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.”
Further, making a backdoor just for UK citizens would, technically, compromise the entire encryption tool, eroding the main ethos of encryption and data privacy.
It also remains unclear how Apple will discern between UK citizens and other users – for instance, how will Apple protect the encryption of US citizens residing in the UK, or vice-versa.
The Scottish government is awarding projects across ten Scottish universities with the £2.95m Proof of Concept Fund to support harnessing their ground-breaking academic ideas for commercial use.
The pilot Proof of Concept Fund is awarded to projects that address significant global challenges across a range of sectors including Life Sciences, Quantum, Photonics, Aerospace, AI and Fintech.
An anti-cancer drug that researchers believe may be up to 500 times more effective than current treatments is among 18 projects receiving pilot funding to develop innovative ideas into commercial success.
The project targeting blood and solid cancers at the University of Edinburgh, which will receive £125,000 to fund further studies, ensuring it meets industry standards.
Other projects include a laser system which quickly detects aircraft engine faults (The University of Edinburgh), a non-invasive, radiation-free ultrasound to detect breast cancer (University of Dundee), and a more sustainable and healthier alternative to palm oil (Queen Margaret University).
Funding will enable researchers to demonstrate the feasibility of projects through developing prototypes, market exploration and achieving regulatory approvals to derisk new technologies and attract investment. The projects have significant and largely untapped economic opportunities, with potential wide-ranging societal benefits.
“Our first National Innovation Week was a declaration of intent by the Scottish Government. Innovation must be our national endeavour and we are supporting it across all areas of society,” deputy first minister Kate Forbes said.
“Scotland’s world-class universities have the ideas and inventions to help tackle global problems and improve lives. This new Proof of Concept Fund and will help bridge the gap between theory and practice, translating research into real-world impact which in turn drives Scotland’s economic transformation.
“The successful projects that we are supporting are quite simply inspiring. They have the potential to be lifesaving and life changing.”
Other Wining Projects Include:
Commercialisation of Rotational Internal Flow Layer Engineering (RIFLE) into a market-ready vascular tissue model – University of Edinburgh
OneTIDE – A One-Step, Green Platform for Nucleotide Production – University of St. Andrews
Metasurface-enabled contact lenses for healthcare applications – University of St. Andrews
LayawayGo, using AI for financial planning – University of Dundee
RHAPSEDA, developing vaccines for bacterial infections – University of Dundee
AI enabled CMC DatafactoryTM – University of Strathclyde
PCAD – Advancing Technology Readiness for Spin-Out and Investment – University of Strathclyde
Industrial Benchmarking of Low Back-reflection Optical Couplers for Silicon-Photonics – University of Glasgow
Demonstrating the commercial potential of precision Disruptor therapies to drive an investor-ready Biotech spinout opportunity in Scotland – University of Glasgow
CRYSTAL-Q: CRYogenic Semiconductor Technology for Accelerating Large-scale Quantum system – University of Glasgow
Targetting the Heart of Hypertension – Novel target. Novel drugs – University of Aberdeen
FlexiShear: Self-powered wearable shear force sensors for optimised compression therapy – Heriot-Watt University
Flow Fusion: Democratising Digital Twins – Abertay University
Heliaural: Personalised, Real-Time Audio Calibration for Everyday Listening – Edinburgh Napier University
Most Scottish businesses don’t know who represents their interests within government and opposition political parties, according to the latest results of a quarterly survey of senior decision-makers.
The tenth edition of the Understanding Business survey, conducted by Diffley Partnership and Charlotte Street Partners, asked bosses at more than 630 Scottish firms about the prospects for their own organisation, their outlook for the wider economy, and a range of other issues affecting their work.
The latest results highlight an enduring gap between industry and politics, with fewer than two-in-five respondents saying they know who the business/economy spokespeople for the SNP (38%) or Scottish Labour (37%) are and only one-in-four (27%) saying they know who the Scottish Conservatives’ shadow spokesperson is.
Nearly three-in-five firms (58%) are not familiar with the senior civil servants responsible for their sector and almost half (47%) of those expressing an opinion feel that civil servants do not understand their business much or at all.
The Scottish Government is still seen as more concerned with the needs of Scottish businesses than the UK Government (54% versus 39%), though the gap narrows when firms are asked about the extent to which each government is taking action to address their concerns (46% SG versus 36% UKG).
Just under one-third of businesses (30%) believe the SNP is the political party that best represents their interests, with a quarter reporting that Scottish Labour (25%) does and just over one-in-10 selecting the Scottish Conservatives (12%) and Reform UK (11%).
When asked to identify the political interventions that would do most to boost the growth of their business, reduced taxation (44%), increased support for business owners (27%), and reduced business rates (27%) were the most popular choices, although all three are down slightly on the previous quarter, by six points, one point and two points respectively.
“This latest wave of Understanding Business highlights the evolving pressures facing Scottish businesses, from recruitment challenges and rising costs to concerns about cyber threats,” Scott Edgar, Senior Research Manager at Diffley Partnership said.
“As we head into an election year, businesses will be looking to Holyrood for ideas that help create the conditions for navigating these challenges and driving growth. These findings offer vital insight for policymakers aiming to engage meaningfully with the business community.”
Following several recent high-profile cyber-attacks on UK businesses, the survey found cyber-crime (73%) to be the foremost crisis concern among firms, ahead of climate disaster (52%), staff malpractice (42%) and terrorism (41%).
However, more than half of firms report feeling prepared to deal with these issues, with the exception of terrorism (38%)
“It’s no surprise to hear that cyber-crime is the biggest potential crisis concern for firms, given the ongoing situation at Jaguar Land Rover and other high-profile attacks this summer on Marks & Spencer and The Co-op,” Malcolm Robertson, founding partner at Charlotte Street Partners, said.
“It’s encouraging that firms’ perceived level of preparedness for a potential cyber-attack (73%) matches exactly the scale of the risk, although our experience suggests firms typically overestimate their readiness for these situations and underestimate the extent of the operational and reputational challenges they present.”
When asked to forecast general economic prospects, four-in-10 (39%) expect the economy to worsen over the next year, excluding ‘don’t knows’, which is one of the lowest levels recorded by this survey, while over one-third (35%) predict improvement, an increase of 10 points since March.
Turning to the outlook for their own firms, half of all businesses (50%) were confident that their turnover would increase over the coming year, continuing the steady uptick in positive sentiment from this survey over the past two years (Sept 2023: 36%, Sept 2024: 37%, June 2025: 47%).
Over the past three months, a quarter of businesses have seen their workforce grow, with 15% reporting a reduction in employee numbers during the same period. Around half of firms (48%) have been actively hiring staff, with the majority of those (52%) identifying applicants’ skill levels as the biggest barrier to recruitment.
Salary expectations (44%) and working arrangements (37%) are the other notable recruitment challenges, the latter factor having nearly doubled in significance in the last two years (20% of firms reported that “working arrangements” were a recruitment challenge in June 2023).
“Governments at both Holyrood and Westminster talk about economic growth being absolutely central to their ambitions,” Robertson said.
“And yet, there is still a clear sense of disconnect between the business leaders who will ultimately achieve that growth and the politicians who are relying on it.
“Businesses must have their voices heard at the cabinet table, but if most executives don’t know who is primarily responsible for representing their interests in those discussions, something is badly amiss.
Only 15% of IT application leaders said they are currently considering, piloting, or deploying fully autonomous AI agents, according to Gartner.
Fully-autonomous AI agents are defined as goal driven AI tools that do not ‘require’ human oversight to achieve or execute these goals – and IT leaders seem to be getting cold feet.
In May and June 2025, Gartner conducted an industry-wide survey of 360 IT application leaders from organisations with at least 250 full-tie employees in North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific with the aim of understanding the impact of generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI across enterprise applications.
“The hype around agentic AI continues to grow, with vendors positioning AI agents as the next phase of AI evolution that will address the shortfalls of more traditional GenAI assistants,” said Max Goss, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner.
“Seventy-five percent of survey respondents said they were piloting, were deploying or had already deployed some form of AI agents into their organisation; however, concerns around governance, maturity and agent sprawl continue to hamper the deployment of truly agentic AI.”
The barriers to deploying fully autonomous solutions are a lack of trust in the vendors to provide suitable security, governance, and hallucination protection coupled with concerns over organisational readiness.
Only 19% of respondents had high or complete trust in their vendor’s abilities to provide adequate hallucination protection.
Meanwhile, 74% believe that AI agents represent a new attack vector into their organisation and only 13% strongly agreed that they had the right governance structures in place to manage them.
AI Agent Impact
Twenty-six percent of respondents felt that agents will have a transformative impact on productivity. Most (53%) felt their impact would be significant, but may not be transformative, and 20% felt they would provide marginal gains.
The survey showed that only 14% of respondents strongly agreed that they have alignment between IT, business users and leadership over what problems AI will solve.
Those that do are 1.6 times more likely to say that AI agents will be transformative, and over three times more likely to find significant value from their GenAI tools.
“Alignment between IT, the business and executive leadership over what problems AI can solve and how to measure its value are critical for successful AI deployments, but we see that many organisations do not have this,” said Goss.
Organisations that do not have a common understanding over what business problems AI can solve are nearly two times more likely to list office productivity as a domain where AI agents will have the most impact.
Those that have stronger alignment tend to focus on more vertical use cases like customer service, ERP, sales, among others.
“Office productivity and the digital workplace are the default for those organisations that don’t have a strong grasp on what they are doing with agents, but they are not necessarily the areas that will provide organizations with the most value,” said Goss.
“Among all survey respondents, analytics and business intelligence topped the list, with 64% ranking it among the top three domains that will be most impacted by AI agents, followed by customer service (55%) and office productivity (39%).”
Worker Replacement
Although the long-term implementation of AI agents is less clear, most leaders do not expect them to replace applications or workers within the next two to four years; only 12% strongly agreed AI agents would replace applications, and just 7% strongly agreed they would replace workers in that timeframe.
The percentages are much higher among those who somewhat agreed with the statement: 34% believe AI agents will replace applications and 29% think they will replace workers within the next two to four years.
“This is still significant for technology that has only been generally available for the last 12 months. It points to both the hype and the fear that exists around AI, specifically agentic AI,” said Goss.
The Scottish government has introduced a new bill in an effort to provide greater legal clarity surrounding digital assets.
Digital assets like Bitcoin should have greater legal clarity under the new legislation – the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill – that will help support Scotland’s growing financial technology sector.
The Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill provides clear legal recognition that digital assets can be objects of property under Scots private law. This marks a significant step forward in helping to ensure Scotland’s legal framework is fit for the digital economy.
Currently, businesses, investors, and individuals dealing with digital assets may choose to invest in other jurisdictions offering greater legal certainty.
The new legislation aims to create robust legal foundations around digital asset ownership and acquisition helping Scotland to remain an attractive destination for financial technology companies and providing greater confidence for individuals.
Scotland has around 260 FinTech companies employing more than 11,300 people and the sector is worth £14 billion to the Scottish economy.
“This legislation provides the legal clarity that businesses and investors need to thrive in Scotland’s digital economy.
“By clarifying how digital assets are treated under Scots property law, we are building strong foundations for innovation and ensuring that Scots law can accommodate these innovations,” business minister Richard Lochhead said.
“Scotland’s world-class legal system and vibrant financial sector are experiencing huge growth. We want to be a FinTech global powerhouse and legislation such as this will help meet that commitment.”
Over half of UK adults (57%) are now using mobile wallets, according to the latest figures from UK Finance, a trade body organisation.
Payment habits continue to evolve in the UK, as digital options grow in popularity. Debit, credit, and charge card payments (both physical and mobile) accounted for 64% of all UK transactions.
Debit cards were the most used payment method with 26.1 billion payments made in 2024.
More people are now using digital payments, with rising use of in-app purchases, digital wallets, and Buy Now Pay Later – which was used by a quarter of UK adults – for shopping
At the same time, cash payments have again fallen. These trends show how people are increasingly turning to digital payment options, a shift that is expected to continue in the years ahead.
Consumers were responsible for 84% of all payments last year, mostly for day-to-day purchases. Businesses, government, and not-for-profit organisations accounted for 16%, including salary, pension, and benefit payments to individuals and payments between organisations.
More people are using their phones, watches or other mobile devices to manage money and make purchases – 2024’s figures were 15 percentage points higher than 2023.
Users who register for a mobile wallet service, quickly seem to become frequent users – where contactless card payments replaced what were once low-value cash payments, now contactless mobile payments appear to be replacing contactless payments initiated using a physical card.
Of those who used mobile payments, half used them monthly, and 44% weekly or more often. While younger people still lead the way in terms of adoption – 88% of 16-24 year olds – among those aged 65 and over, registration rose from 14% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.
Mobile banking, via a banking app for example, became the most common way to access accounts in 2024, used by 75 per cent of UK adults. It also overtook desktop banking for the first time. People now use mobile banking not just to check balances, but to make payments and manage their money.
As a result, Faster Payments – the system behind most real-time bank transfers – rose by around 14 per cent to 5.6 billion transactions last year, making it the UK’s second most-used payment method after cards.
UK Finance predicts that mobile wallet use will grow, with more people, including older age groups, registering and using them more often for everyday payments.
New services, like Pay by Bank, are also expected to become more common, letting people pay straight from their bank account instead of using a card.
Still, cards are expected to remain the most popular way too pay, accounting for around 67% of all payments. Contactless is set to grow, however, reaching 43% of all payments in the UK.
“2024 was a year of firsts, all pointing to the growing shift towards digital payments – more than half of UK adults used mobile wallets, mobile banking overtook desktop as the main way people access their accounts, and cash fell below 10 per cent of all payments,” Adrian Buckle, head of research at UK Finance, said.
“These changes weren’t just driven by younger consumers. We saw growth in mobile wallets and Buy Now Pay Later across older age groups too, highlighting how digital payments are becoming more mainstream across the board.
“Action from regulators to improve competition, along with the rollout of the National Payments Vision, aimed at fostering a new era of innovation in payments, is helping to create the conditions for further change in the years ahead.”
The UK government is backing 14 projects through its £1 million Regional Tech Booster programme, supporting tech businesses and founders to grow local tech ecosystems.
The projects will provide businesses and entrepreneurs with targeted training, expert guidance, help to build networks, and support to scale their operations from within their communities.
This aims to ensure that the jobs and benefits of a thriving tech sector are available across the UK, not just London.
Regional Tech Booster projects will include a support scheme for early-stage gaming startups in Scotland, create pathways from further education to entrepreneurship in Lancashire, unlock growth for tech businesses ready to scale in Yorkshire, launch an AI innovation challenge in Wales, and accelerate the growth of the advanced connectivity technology industry in Suffolk.
Alongside the localised focus, some of the projects will also support greater diversity within the sector, with a focus on underrepresented founders. One in Northern Ireland will focus on boosting AI adoption amongst founders, and a West Midlands project will help underrepresented founders build up the networks and support they need to succeed in tech.
Government is partnering with UK Tech Cluster Group to deliver the £1 million Regional Tech Booster programme, ensuring local expertise is driving the work on the ground in these communities.
The programme also includes a series of investment events, through a National Investment Corridors initiative, with the first 2 taking place in Bristol and Leeds later this year. The National Investment Corridors will put local tech centre-stage, boosting investment into the UK’s tech talent from beyond the capital.
“We want UK tech to grow and succeed from any and every corner of the country,” tech for growth minister, Kanishka Narayan MP said.
“It’s a no-brainer that supporting projects like these, and encouraging more investment across the UK, will catalyse our tech brilliance to boost economic growth and opportunities for communities nationwide.”
The Regional Tech Booster programme will also include workshops on tech ecosystem planning and sharing best practice for ecosystem development with authorities across the country.
“The sheer volume of strong applications we received shows there is a huge desire to grow tech ecosystems across the whole of the UK,” Dr David Dunn, UKTCG lead on Catalyst Pilot Projects said. “As the projects are delivered, we are excited to share learning across other ecosystems – it is this multiplier effect of knowledge transfer that really makes the Regional Tech Booster initiative valuable.
Projects are being rolled out across the country to help more women and people from under-represented groups start their own businesses.
Fourteen organisations will share more than £1 million of funding from the Scottish Government’s Pathways Pre-Start Fund to deliver a range of initiatives providing practical support ranging from workshops to care vouchers.
The latest grants form part of a total £6 million Scottish Government investment in 2025-26 to expand the range of people running their own business and help make Scotland one of the most entrepreneur-friendly locations places in Europe.
Projects include:
Entrepreneurs Pathways Lab, a six-month entrepreneurship incubator in Govan, Glasgow. It will support ethnic minority women with tailored business development training, mentorship and access to co-working spaces
Spark the Connection Roadshow, will deliver hands-on workshops, networking and regional roadshows to support aspiring entrepreneurs in Aberdeen, Inverness, Dumfries, Melrose, Glasgow and Perth.
Bold Beginnings, will help more than 100 women in the Wester Hailes and Muirhouse areas of Edinburgh to explore entrepreneurship with coaching, care and travel vouchers and seed funding
“The Scottish Government is focused on fostering Scotland’s spirit of innovation to create jobs and drive economic growth,” deputy first minister Kate Forbes said.
“According to the latest Technation report, we are the fastest growing start-up economy in the UK by far and one of the fastest growing in Europe.
“By providing the conditions and means for people to launch and develop a businesses, whatever their background or circumstances, we are seeing start-up rates reach record levels.
“The projects being funding today get to the heart of tackling under-representation in our start-up community and help ensure we break down barriers for anyone with entrepreneurial talent.”
The successful projects are:
Scottish Asian Business Chamber: Stirlingshire BAME Business Infrastructure Project- grant up to £40,900
Spark: What If Craigshill – unlocking the enterprise potential of a community- grant up to £84,215
The King’s Trust: Enterprise for All – grant up to £74,596
Together Reaching Higher CIC: Entrepreneurs Pathways Lab – grant up to £84,195
PeoplePlus Group Ltd: Supporting Women in Enterprise – grant up to £82,724
Rebel Business School & Ziyx Scotland: Rebel Business School – grant up to £111,500
City of Edinburgh Council and Business Gateway Edinburgh: Bold Beginnings – grant up to £121,864.30
East Ayrshire Council: Step Up: Women’s Enterprise Pathway- grant up to £101,000
West College Scotland: Art of Enterprise- grant up to £22,520
The Melting Pot: Enterprise in Place – grant up to £127,400
17 Points Limited: Spark the Connection Roadshow – grant up to £73,345
Social Enterprise Academy: Place-Based Support for Underrepresented Entrepreneurs in Highland & Eilean Siar- grant up to £55,37
Scotpreneur: Mostly Arsed – An engaging, self-help learning programme for people curious about self-employment but unsure where to start – grant up to £38,728
Stirling Enterprise Park (STEP): FeMade -Turning Female Ideas into Impact- grant up to £147,370
Imgur has removed access to its platform for all users in the UK following an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office resulting in a proposed fine on the platform.
The image platform is used by millions, mainly for the creation of memes, with its images shared across the internet and social media platforms.
UK users trying to access the site, however, encountered an error message, notifying them that “content not available in your region.” Imgur content that has been shared on other platforms is also not being shown as part of the company’s UK exit.
Its parent company, MediaLab AI, was facing a fine from the ICO following an investigation into its age checks and use of children’s data.
Imgur’s help website, which cannot be accessed via UK IPs, says that “UK users will not be able to log in, view content, or upload images. Imgur content embedded on third-party sites will not display for UK users.”
The ICO investigation began in March, probing if Imgur was compliant with the UK data protection laws and the children’s code.
Prior to the investigation launch, the ICO said that it found that Imgur was not asking users to confirm their age when creating an account.
ICO concluded its investigation in Tuesday, and gave MediaLab a notice on 10 September that it intended to impose a fine.
The ICO described Imgur’s block in the UK was a ‘commercial decision’.
“Our findings are provisional and the ICO will carefully consider any representations from MediaLab before taking a final decision whether to issue a monetary penalty,” Tim Capel, the interim executive director of the ICO, said.
“We have been clear that exiting the UK does not allow an organisation to avoid responsibility for any prior infringement of data protection law, and our investigation remains ongoing.
“This update has been provided to give clarity on our investigation, and we will not be providing any further detail at this time.
“Safeguarding children’s personal information is a key priority for the ICO and our Children’s code strategy outlines our key interventions in this area. Keeping children safe online is the responsibility of the companies offering online services to them and we will continue to hold them to account.”
UK users are able to exercise their data protection rights with Imgur and can request a copy of their data from the company or have their account deleted.
SMEs across the UK and Ireland are increasingly concerned about where their data is stored and the importance of data sovereignty, despite many remaining unsure where their data is hosted.
This is according to new research by team.blue and names.co.uk, which also found a striking differences between the two markets.
For UK SMEs, post-Brexit divergence and the UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 has put sovereignty at the forefront. The UK’s move to classify datacentres as critical national infrastructure (CNI) in September 2024 made clear its intent to put sovereignty at the heart of its digital economy.
In contrast, Irish SMEs remain anchored in the EU Data Act which came into effect in September 2025. Much like GDPR before it, EU legislation is expected to not only influence European business practices but also shape global standards.
Despite this, more than two-thirds of SMEs in Ireland (68%) admit that they are unsure whether their data is even hosted within EU borders. This lack of visibility underscores a critical knowledge gap that is leaving many firms exposed to both risk and reputational harm.
Global and Customer Pressures
The uncertainty extends beyond Europe. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of SMEs across both markets express concern about their data being stored in the US, reflecting anxiety around trans-Atlantic transfer in light of the US Cloud Act and ongoing debates over adequacy of the EU-US and UK-US frameworks.
These anxieties are also filtering through to wider stakeholders. Respondents report that customers and employees are increasingly raising questions about data location.
Most pressure stems from company directors (14% in the UK and 16% in Ireland) followed by customers (12% in the UK and 14% in Ireland) in both markets.
This shift highlights the commercial stakes: unclear or inconsistent policies on data location can directly undermine customer acquisition, employee confidence and long-term brand loyalty.
“With nearly 6 million SMEs across the UK and Ireland, the fact that a large proportion are operating without clarity on where their data is stored represents a significant challenge – one that touches on compliance, customer trust, and the ability to compete in an increasingly digital economy,” Kwaku Yeboah-Antwi, chief AI and data officer at team.blue said.
Despite raising awareness, decisive action remains limited. In the UK, 30% of SMEs are undecided about switching providers and 42% have no plans to do so.
The picture is similar in Ireland, with 35% undecided and 39% with no plans.
These figures suggest a strong appetite for clarity, but a lack of practical guidance on what actions should be taken next.
“For UK SMEs, confidence in data sovereignty is becoming a critical business differentiator, shaping not just procurement decisions but also customer trust,” Kelly Salter, commercial director of names.co.uk said.
“The UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 only reinforces this pressure, underscoring the need for clarity and accountability in how data is handled.
“Education is vital here: without clear understanding of where their data sits, businesses risk falling behind competitors who can offer greater transparency and even exposing themselves to compliance or reputational setbacks.
“Providers that can combine transparency with guidance and support will stand out as true partners of choice.”
Email remains the biggest soft spot in enterprise security, even as phishing scams, impersonation scams, and regulatory scrutiny intensify, according to a new UK survey from Exlaimer.
UK IT leaders estimate that over half of all organisational communication (52% on average) still runs through email – yet 83% report suffering at least one email-related security incident, with nearly half (49%) hit in the past 12 months alone.
On average, IT leaders say over a third of all security incidents (36%) are email-driven, underlining the inbox as a persistent national attack surface.
The strain is sharpest in sectors where accountability matters most.
Government bodies are hit hardest, with 92% reporting an email-related breach and over half (56%) in the past year alone – raising concerns about the resilience of public services.
UK IT leaders in finance (87%) and legal sectors (85%) also report exposure to these incidents, underlining how regulation-heavy industries are prime targets.
In tech, where communication is spread more heavily across IM and collaboration tools, three-quarters (75%) still faced inbox breaches.
Exclaimer’s The UK Business Email Report – which surveyed 1,003 UK IT leaders including CIOs, CTOs, IT managers and security officers – reveals Britain’s inboxes now sit at the intersection of workplace productivity, security and compliance.
With so much sensitive communication flowing through them, email is carrying more weight than ever – and without the correct guardrails in place, organisations risk slipping into “Mail Jail,” where each and every message can spark a security, compliance or reputational headache.
Britain’s inboxes under pressure from attacks, regulation and… employee use?
When asked to name their biggest email security challenges, UK IT leaders put external threats such as phishing, spoofing and spam at the top of their list (cited by 42% of respondents).
Almost as many highlighted the difficulty of balancing security with ease of use (39%) and ensuring strong encryption (38%). It underlines a balancing act: keeping inboxes secure without breaking their role as the country’s most indispensable comms tool.
Stepping Up Defences
Despite challenges, over four in five UK IT leaders (81%) view one-to-one email as a critical comms channel – on par with IM and collaboration tools. It therefore comes as no surprise that UK enterprises are far from passive in the face of phishing and spoofing.
The most common defences now in place are employee security awareness training (cited by 47% of respondents) and email filtering (46%), with multi-factor authentication (41%) also widely adopted. More advanced measures such as AI-driven threat detection (38%) are gaining traction, signalling a gradual but broad shift towards layered protection.
Tech companies are furthest ahead, with strong adoption across every major safeguard, from filtering (cited by 63% of respondents) and training (59%) to MFA and AI detection (both 53%). In the public sector, adoption lags behind, but nearly half (44%) report using MFA – a sign of progress even as training (27%) and AI detection (26%) remain low.
UK IT leaders are clear that email’s role is far from fading. Nearly nine in ten (87%) expect it to remain a primary business communication tool for at least the next five years.
But leaders are clear it won’t stand still. When asked which trends will have the biggest impact by 2030, the top three were stronger security and encryption standards (45%), tighter integration with real-time collaboration tools (41%) and AI-driven automation (41%).
For heavily regulated industries, this signals a push to make the inbox more auditable and more tightly connected to compliance workflows. For technology, the emphasis is on automation and integration with the wider productivity stack.
Trust is also part of the picture. Almost nine in ten UK IT leaders (89%) agreed that well-managed email signatures directly contribute to professionalism and client confidence.
In sectors where reputation is currency – from law firms to banks – this suggests organisations increasingly see the inbox as both a security risk and a brand asset.
“Attackers go where the people – and the mistakes – are,” Cary Vidal, VP of IT & Security at Exclaimer, said. “Our data shows UK enterprises often still treat email as routine plumbing, yet it’s implicated in over a third of security incidents and rising.
“The answer is to apply layered controls, automate the basics and build trust into every message. That’s how organisations turn the inbox from their weakest link into a source of security, compliance and professionalism.”
The UK Space Agency will support 23 projects across the globe with further funding from the International Bilateral Fund (IBF).
This represents a £6.5 million boost for UK companies and universities collaborating internationally on space innovation with partners in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Lithuania, and the USA.
From autonomous 3D printing and lunar agriculture to orbital threat detection, biotech manufacturing, medical research and deep space radar, these collaborations span life sciences, communications, in-orbit servicing, Earth observation and advanced materials.
They showcase the breadth of expertise across the UK’s vibrant space sector, which employs more than 55,000 people and generates £18.6 billion in annual revenue.
“This £6.5 million boost shows Britain leading the way in space innovation,” space minister Liz Lloyd said.
“From improving mobile coverage to monitoring Earth’s forests, these 23 projects will create jobs, strengthen partnerships with our allies, and keep the UK at the cutting edge of space technology. It’s an exciting time for our space sector and great news for British businesses reaching for the stars.”
The space funding boost, announced during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, demonstrates the UK’s commitment to international partnerships and a wide range of areas where the space sector can contribute to economic growth.
As set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the UK Space Agency is increasing bilateral research and development funding with international allies. The IBF is a critical mechanism for this, providing targeted support for UK-led international collaborations and building capabilities and partnerships across the global space sector.
The announcement follows the agreement between NASA and the UK Space Agency to develop AI models to support future exploration missions, under the Transatlantic Tech Prosperity Deal, as well as the successful launch of the NASA IMAP mission on 23 September, for which UK scientists contributed a key instrument.
“These new projects span the full spectrum of UK space expertise, from telecommunications, propulsion and environmental monitoring to cutting-edge technologies that could change how we develop treatments for deadly diseases using microgravity,” Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said.
“By combining home-grown talent with global expertise, we want to strengthen our capabilities, support growth, and ensure the UK remains at the forefront of space innovation.”
The announcement also ahead of the UK Space Agency’s integration into the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) from 1 April 2026.
The merger is set to create a single civil space unit, streamlining strategy, policy, and delivery, building on recent achievements and ensuring the government supports the UK space sector effectively.
“The UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund is going from strength to strength, providing a stimulus for the UK’s space sector to forge new partnerships with organisations around the globe, covering such a broad range of space interests,” UKspace Executive Director, Colin Baldwin, said.
“We are pleased to see so many of UKspace’s members and partners involved in the selected projects, enabling them to bring their world-class expertise to these exciting collaborations.”
Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS, representing businesses in aerospace, defence, security and space, said: “Advancements in space technology make our world smaller, our society more innovative and our lives more prosperous.
“We are delighted to see the IBF enabling international partnerships to that end.
“ADS has worked extensively to champion the UK’s thriving space sector in key strategic markets such as Japan and Lithuania. We look forward to working in close collaboration with government to build on this important work further.”
Scotland’s new health and social care online app, MyCare.scot, will be made available to everyone across Scotland from April 2026 following an initial launch in Lanarkshire in December.
The new online service will transform how people access and interact with health and social care services. Users will be provided with a secure digital identity, access to some personal information and the national service finder from NHS inform.
The initial launch in Lanarkshire will be targeted at dermatology outpatients. It will be evaluated thoroughly, with the app’s development reflecting user feedback and experience before being rolled out progressively across Scotland from April.
Following initial roll-out, MyCare will be expanded to hospital-based services, before including other areas of the health and social care system, including GP practices, pharmacy, social work and social care.
Once the rollout is complete, MyCare will be the most wide-ranging app offered to patients anywhere in the UK.
“MyCare.scot is the single biggest digital innovation in Scotland’s health and social care system and will revolutionise how people manage and receive their healthcare,” health secretary Neil Gray said.
“The introduction of this app will be a landmark moment for Scotland and aligns with the commitments this Government has made to bringing down waiting lists, and making care more personal and closer to home.
“Our initial launch in NHS Lanarkshire will help us ensure the MyCare app is robust, safe, secure, and meets peoples’ needs. I am delighted we will then see a population-wide rollout from April and we have today published a high-level summary rollout plan setting out our approach.
“We have worked closely with NHS Education for Scotland and key stakeholders to develop MyCare.scot, and I want to thank everyone who has worked hard to help us reach this stage and to ensure we deliver rollout of the app across the country from April.”
Business confidence in Scotland fell 20 points during September to 39%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland.
Companies in Scotland reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 20 points at 45%. When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, down 18 points to 34%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 39% (vs. 59% in August).
Looking ahead to the next six months, Scottish businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team, for example through training (44%), evolving their offering, for example by launching new products or services (39%) and introducing new technology (30%).
The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.
Overall, UK business confidence fell 12 points in September to 42%.
Firms’ confidence in their own trading prospects fell 12 points to 51%, and their optimism in the wider economy fell 11 points to 33%.
The North East of England was the most confident UK nation or region in September, climbing 13 points to 68%, followed by London (57%).
Firms across manufacturing, construction, retail and services all saw confidence fall this month. The biggest change was in manufacturing with a decline of 31 points to 31%, a two-year low. Retail sentiment fell 17 points to 40%, its lowest level in four months. Similarly, confidence in the service sector fell six points to 47%, the lowest reading since April. Construction continued to decline for the fourth consecutive month, dropping 5 points to 35%.
“Despite a fall in confidence, Scottish firms remain focused on growth – planning to invest in their people, evolve their products and services, and explore new technologies,” Martyn Kendrick, Scotland director at Bank of Scotland commercial banking said.
“As we head into the busy festive trading period, we’ll continue to support businesses across Scotland as they take the next steps in their strategies.”
Hann-Ju Ho, Senior Economist, Lloyds Commercial Banking, said: “While increased market volatility earlier in the month may have impacted confidence, levels of trading prospects and economic optimism remain above their long-term averages.
“Businesses may find reassurance that the Bank of England is expected to reduce interest rates further in the next six months, while long-term global bond yields have calmed which, if sustained, may have a positive impact on businesses as we move into the last few months of the year.”
Paul Kempster, managing director for Commercial Banking Coverage, Lloyds Business and Commercial added:“ While business confidence has returned to levels seen earlier in the year, a range of metrics remain well above the long-term average.
“Businesses still have opportunities ahead, whether that be upskilling their workforce, evolving their products or exploring new markets.”
The AI vendor race is restructuring the business of tech, and every tech provider must reevaluate what it takes to compete and win in this evolving landscape, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
With various AI vendor races taking place across the AI technology stack, Gartner is examining which vendors are positioned to win these races, ranging from large vendors, to rising contenders to new entrants.
In the Gartner report The AI Vendor Race: What It Takes to Win in Volatile Conditions, Gartner analysts explain that traditional provider-enterprise value relationships will not drive AI adoption, and it isn’t sufficient to sell an AI tool and expect customers to find value.
“The AI vendor race is not a single race with a clear finish line, but rather a series of overlapping competitions, where the endgame can range from market leadership to technological breakthroughs, or simply maintaining relevance,” said Anthony Bradley, Group Vice President at Gartner.
“Vendors must pay close attention to the frequent shifts in the market to gain advantage and protect their position,” said Bradley.
“It requires an understanding of competitor capabilities and their demonstrated and likely moves in the race. Vendors must also have a deep understanding of AI adoption behaviours and how they’re positioned in the race against competitors to meet or even drive demand.”
The AI race is always changing. GenAI advantages are eroding much faster than other innovation cycles, putting more pressure on tech providers.
For example, leaders face a rapidly maturing GenAI market, where in less than 36 months, GenAI capability will become a baseline requirement for offerings. In fact, every software market has already surpassed first-mover advantage, and by 2026, more money will be spent on software with GenAI than without.
The GenAI models market is projected to grow by 149.8% in 2025, surpassing $14 billion. By 2028, Gartner expects the market to stabilise at 38% annual growth, as GenAI becomes increasingly embedded in applications. Meanwhile, the global market for AI-optimised servers is expected to grow by 90.9% in 2025, and by 2027, nearly all premium computing devices will be AI-enabled.
“Providers must pivot from functional, use-case-oriented AI to approaches that deliver real business outcomes tied to mission-critical initiatives,” Bradley added. “Less than one in five GenAI projects will achieve their desired business value through 2026. To close this gap, product leaders need to integrate targeted business outcomes into product engineering, marketing, and implementation. Those who fail to make this shift will not remain competitive.”
An overwhelming majority of UK business leaders believe its time to add a Chief Trust Officer to the C-suite, according to new research from Commvault.
The study reveals insights into boardroom thinking as more companies in the UK and globally are challenged with protecting corporate reputations and maintaining stakeholder confidence.
In this research, 7% of respondents acknowledged that no single leader holds full responsibility; accountability is fragmented across COOs, CISOs, and CIOs. The research suggests there is urgency to bring these efforts together and unite customer trust, security, and regulation management under a single leader.
It’s no surprise that trust is a pressing theme among businesses. According to another recent research report from Commvault and GigaOm, the majority of UK organisations believe there is an immediate need for modern defence and resilience capabilities and also for trust.
“Resilience is a strategic priority for global enterprises. Ten years ago, a data breach was a significant technical issue,” said Danielle Sheer, Chief Trust Officer, Commvault.
“Today it’s also a headline, a lawsuit, and a board level crisis, all in one. Leaders must now go beyond defending infrastructure to defending investor confidence, brand reputation and careers.
“Trust is an evolving category in the enterprise, and directly relevant to customer expectations and requirements.”
When asked what a Chief Trust Officer should prioritise, business leaders named customer trust and reputation management (31%) and rapid crisis response to events like disinformation or data breaches (30%). These priorities reflect the broad and diverse nature of digital trust.
To address these priorities, respondents identified the most in-demand skills needed for the role, ranging from a deep understanding of data privacy and regulatory frameworks (28%), knowledge of AI governance and diverse audiences (27%), and the ability to build and sustain stakeholder trust (27%).
The study, which surveyed 1,000 UK C-Suite business leaders from companies with more than £100m annual revenue, found that 97% of respondents believe the Chief Trust Officer role is urgently needed to improve trust in data, technology, and governance.
The leading external factors increasing pressure to focus on trust in these areas are the rise of AI (37%), cross-border data regulations (34%), and persistent cybersecurity threats, including ransomware (34%).
Over £4 million in funding has been awarded from Innovate UK to businesses developing next-generation aviation technology.
Invested as part of the Future Flight programme, the funding is designed to secure the UK’s global leadership in the future of aviation and the fast-growing field of drones and unmanned aircraft systems.
The programme encourages the innovative use of aviation technologies to support a variety of challenges in the UK, from medical supply chains, protecting national infrastructure, and agricultural restoration.
Eight of the projects are for strategic growth, aiming to demonstrate progress towards commercialisation.
These focus on real-world operations proving use cases in a variety of sectors, from agriculture to healthcare and provide tangible insights to support regulatory development in key areas.
Six of the projects are regional demonstrators, which have been funded to enable local areas across the UK to plan for the adoption and integration of drones.
This includes passenger carrying eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) and zero emission conventional aircraft.
“Innovate UK is proud to continue supporting the UK’s future flight ecosystem, accelerating the route to commercial operations and delivering real-world impact,” Future Flight deputy director, Simon Masters, said.
“These ambitious new projects highlight the strength of the sector and its diverse applications, from reducing emissions, advancing healthcare delivery and protecting our environment.
“By focusing on regional adoption, we aim to drive faster, more impactful growth and societal benefits for communities across the UK.”
Aviation minister, Keir Mather, said: “We’re backing the next generation of British aviation businesses whose transformative technologies will reshape how we live and work in the years to come.
“Investing in emerging technologies like drones and unmanned aircraft is key to build a greener and more efficient transport system.
“But this isn’t just good news for the environment, this tech will also save our public sector and businesses valuable time and cash whilst helping boost skills and support high quality jobs across the country.”
The funded projects include:
Advanced Logistics BVLOS UAV Mission (ALBUM)
ALIAS II: Regulatory Policy Concepts Enabling Integrated Traffic Management
Beyond Restoration
Containment with Confidence
“Dragon’s Heart”: A Welsh Medical Drone Delivery Network
Drone as a First Responder
London Health Bridge Growth
Scaling BVLOS Operations for Critical National Infrastructure (Project SOCNI)
Future Air: Southwest
OXCAM AAM Corridor
Regional Offshore Cargo Drone Demonstrator
Project RESCUE
SATE: Highlands and Islands Regional Pathway to Sustainable Aviation
Glasgow-based AI recruitment technology firm Willo has gained £3 million in investment from the founder of Mimecast, the cybersecurity firm.
The latest investment from Peter Bauer amounts to the largest single investment in Willo – the scale-up’s total funding now totals more than £5.9m.
Bauer, who co-founded Mimecast in 2003 and has invested over £3.7m in Willo in just the past 18 months, and aims to support the firm’s growth in the US.
Willo was founded in 2020 by Euan Cameron, Andrew Wood, and Hamish Livingston, and has since experienced a 64-fold revenue growth since its first year of trading. The candidate recruitment platform is now used by major companies and organisations like the NHS, Toyota, Samsung, and DPD Group.
The firm operates in 195 countries, and is used to conduct millions of recruitment interviews a year.
Willo already generates over half of its revenue in North America, and plans to use the new influx of funding to expand in the market. The firm is also aiming to speed up the launch of Willo Verified Profiles, which will serve as a new credential verification too which will help employers sift through AI-generated CVs and profiles.
“Employers tell us they are inundated with AI-generated CVs that are hard to verify and review; that’s making it increasingly difficult for genuine, qualified candidates to stand out,” chief executive Euan Cameron said.
“With Willo Verified Profiles, we’re building a new layer of trust into the hiring process – verifying identity, qualifications, skills and experience using a combination of automation, third-party data and video interaction.
“There are thousands of businesses Peter Bauer could back, so for him to double down on Willo in 2025 is an incredible endorsement of what we’re building. This is an enormous step forward for the team and our vision for how hiring should work in an AI enabled world.”
Peter Bauer: “Willo is firmly established as one of the most progressive and exciting platforms in recruitment technology. It simplifies hiring for employers, improves access for candidates, and puts trust back into the process.
“The team has built a solution that is ready for the challenges of today’s market – and I’m fully behind their vision for the next stage of growth.”
The funding will also support Willo make new hires in the UK and the US, as it seeks to establish its North American headquarters in the US.
Harrods, the luxury department store based in London, has revealed that some of its online customers have had their personal information compromised via a third-party breach.
The threat actor had been in contact with the store, Harrods said over the weekend, saying it had refused to engage with the alleged attacker.
“We proactively informed affected e-commerce customers on Friday that the impacted personal data is limited to basic personal identifiers including name and contact details, where this information has been provided. It does not include account passwords or payment details,” the firm said.
“It is important to note that the information was taken from a third-party provider and is unconnected to attempts to gain unauthorized access to some Harrods systems earlier this year.”
This indicates that the current breach is not directly resulting from the breach that rocked UK retail – including Harrod’s – this May. Notorious ransomware gang Scattered Spider targeted major retailers, including M&S and Co-op, bringing many stores’ operations to a stand still and disruption to their online platforms for weeks.
The attacks resulted in a near £300m loss for M&S, and an around £206m loss for Co-Op. Harrods appeared to be less affected by the breach overall, though it did face disruptions.
The current breach reportedly impacted up to 430,000 customer records, which includes personal information but not payment information, the firm stressed.
“Our focus remains on informing and supporting our customers. We have informed all relevant authorities and will continue to co-operate with them,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.
Names, contact details, and information relating to loyalty cards, marketing preferences, and relations to other companies were compromised in the breach.
Harrods told customers that “this information is unlikely to be interpreted accurately by an unauthorised third party.”
The company as reiterated “that no payment details or order history information has been accessed and the impacted personal data remains limited to basic personal identifiers as advices previously.”
The Scottish Government is investing £8.5 million in new funding to the North East of Scotland to support the shift to clean energy careers in the region, marking the start of Climate Week.
Four projects are receiving funding through this year’s Just Transition Fund, which will focus on offshore wind infrastructure and supply chain development, demonstrating the Scottish Government’s commitment to economic development and supporting communities through the energy transition.
Enabling renewable energy infrastructure, Fraserburgh Harbour Commissioners – £2.4m
Large scale synthetic mooring line test rig – ORE Catapult – £500,000
The investment targets areas that have provided energy security through oil and gas for generations, ensuring these communities remain at the centre of Scotland’s energy future as the country accelerates towards net zero.
The funding announcement coincides with the First Minister officially opening Scotland’s largest energy transition skills hub at North East Scotland College in Aberdeen – a new centre of excellence which will train young people for highly skilled roles in the growing renewables sector.
The Hub received £4.5 million from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund and represents a collaboration between the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ), North East Scotland College, Shell UK, and the Scottish Government.
“This new round of funding responds to the immediate priorities of energy businesses in the North East. It focuses on projects that have a clear goal of supporting jobs and maximising economic opportunities in the region,” first minister John Swinney said.
“The North East has long been a titan of the oil and gas industries and we must move forward together towards a cleaner, more sustainable world. Just Transition funding aims to ensure no one is left behind and that communities continue to play a vital role in the country’s clean energy future.
“I’m also looking forward to opening the ETZ’s Energy Transition Skills Hub, at the start of this year’s Climate Week. Supported by £4.5 million of Scottish Government funding, this centre of excellence will prepare local young people for the highly skilled jobs and opportunities of the future in the renewable energy industry.”
UK users of Facebook and Instagram will be offered the option to pay a subscription fee for an ad-free service, Meta has announced following a UK privacy case.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has been supportive of the move, which was driven by a privacy case brought up by human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll over Facebook’s collection of her personal data for the use of third-party advertising without her consent. The ICO found that Meta’s practices were out with the UK GDPR at the time, supporting O’Carroll’s lawsuit principles.
Now, in order to avoid having their data being used for personal advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, users in the UK will be given two options: pay a subscription fee to the company, or leave the platform.
There will be no free option to still use the social platforms without forfeiting personal data to Facebook and Instagram’s advertisers.
The free version, which will still be available, will mean users will see personalised ads and their personal data will be sold to third-party advertisers.
Meta said they were making the change “in response to recent regulatory guidance from the ICO.
“It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms.”
This is of course, removing a third option – Meta could offer a free version that runs advertisements, but does not use and sell personal data from its billions of users for targeted behavioural adds. However, it is not offering this as an option, meaning that users will have to pay a premium for different privacy settings and standards.
Meta has said that its subscription fee will be at the lowest on the market – users over 18 in the UK will allow them to pay Meta £2.99 a month via web browsers, or £3.99 a month on the Apple app store or Android app store, in order to stop seeing ads and to prevent their data from being sold to targeted advertisers.
Non-ad content across the website will still be tailored using personalised data, but this data will not be used to show ads when a user subscribes.
Meta tried the same tactic in the EU following a landmark case that found its advertising practices to be non-compliant with the EU’s GDPR.
This subscription model, deemed Pay-or-Consent, was met with controversy and was ultimately thrown out of the EU for violating the Digital Markets Act. The Act requires companies operating in the EU to provide an equivalent but free experience if users do not consent to the processing of their personal data for targeted advertising.
The ICO says that it will monitor the new subscription fee’s rollout, saying it will “ensure consumers are empowered to make choices and are able to give their consent freely.” This of course, is impossible, since they would have to literally pay a price, and then the option is not “free”.
For this, however, the ICO received praise from Meta for its “constructive approach” which “sets the UK apart from the European Union.”
A new effort to support innovation and enterprise across the south-east of Scotland has been announced by Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh College, as part of Scotland’s National Innovation Week.
The three institutions have agreed a collaborative partnership with the aim of developing the region’s innovation, enterprise and skills through improved connectivity with academic expertise and support.
The focus of the partnership will be to support innovation and entrepreneurship in line with nationwide plans to boost Scotland’s economic development.
The agreement will enhance work towards ambitions laid out in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Innovation Action Plan, the Scottish Government’s National Innovation Strategy and its Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint, by strengthening entrepreneurial skills and networks across Scotland.
There will also be increased collaboration around knowledge exchange and innovation projects, which aim to bring academic expertise to businesses and organisations that could benefit from it.
This new agreement follows the recent expansion of ENU’s enterprise hub Bright Red Triangle (BRT), to offer specialist support to Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh College students and alumni. Since its formation in 2005, BRT has supported more than 1,000 start-ups and freelancers from the ENU community from its Start Up Studio in Edinburgh.
Some of the early collaborative work between the academic institutions include entrepreneurial support for students as well as regional upskilling and innovation to support SME and public sector bodies.
Further, the partnership is already focusing on delivering against the Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint, as well as piloting a Knowledge Exchange Concordant across the partner institutions.
“We are delighted to commit to this new partnership between our institutions – building on our shared enterprise services by developing an integrated innovation pathway to support the region’s companies and public sector agencies,” professor Gary Hutchison, assistant principle at Edinburgh Napier University said.
“Edinburgh Napier University has a strong track record of supporting entrepreneurs to take their innovative ideas to the next level.
“This collaboration will build on the expertise of all three institutions, with an overall aim of contributing to Scotland’s economic development, while benefiting our students, communities and industry partners.”
Professor Richard Butt, Deputy Principal of Queen Margaret University, said: “We are delighted to be part of this exciting partnership which will elevate the role of skills development as a pathway to innovation – whether that be through support for student, graduate and staff enterprise or research and knowledge exchange collaborations across our HE and FE colleagues, local businesses and organisations.
“The new partnership also allows us to focus on delivering impact in community wealth building, to support the generation, circulation and retention of wealth in our local economy.
“We look forward to working with our Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College colleagues to enhance our collaborative approaches and improve our economic impact locally, regionally and nationally.”
Mike Jeffrey, Vice Principal Corporate Development at Edinburgh College said: “This new partnership presents an exciting opportunity for Edinburgh College to strengthen our existing support for entrepreneurship and innovation across our student body, alumni network, and wider industry connections.
“In today’s fast-paced economy, it is essential to equip students with entrepreneurial capabilities alongside technical and vocational expertise. At Edinburgh College, we work with a broad network of organisations to ensure our students are not only prepared to excel in their chosen professions but are also empowered to become the innovators who will shape the future.
“Through collaborating with our university partners to share knowledge, resource and expertise, we look forward to further embedding a culture of knowledge exchange throughout our college community.”
AI has helped the UK government stop over £480 million ending up in the pockets of fraudsters in a record fraud crackdown.
Over a third of the money saved (£186m) came from identifying and recovering fraud committed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Government efforts to date have blocked hundreds of thousands of companies with outstanding or potentially fraudulent Bounce Back Loans from dissolving before they would have to pay anything back.
Alongside the Covid fraud, the record savings reached in the year to April 2025 include clamping down on people unlawfully claiming single persons council tax discount and removing people from social housing waitlists who wanted to illegally sublet their discounted homes at the taxpayers’ expense.
“Working people expect their taxes to go towards schools, hospitals, roads and the services they and their families use. That money going into the hands of fraudsters is a betrayal of their hard work and the system of paying your fair share. It has to stop,” cabinet office minister Josh Simons said.
“That’s why this government has delivered the toughest ever crackdown on fraud, protecting almost half a billion pounds in under 12 months.
“We’re using cutting-edge AI and data tools to stay one step ahead of fraudsters, making sure public funds are protected and used to deliver public services for those who need them most – not line the pockets of scammers and swindlers.”
The high-tech push brought around £110m back to the exchequer more than the year before, and comes as the government pushes to save £45 billion by using tech to make the public sector more productive, saving money for the NHS and police forces to deliver the Plan for Change.
The Minister will also unveil a new AI fraud prevention tool that has been built by the government and will be used across all departments after successful tests.
The AI system scans new policies and procedures for weaknesses before they can be exploited, helping make new policies fraud-proof when they are drafting them. The tool could be essential in stopping fraudsters from taking advantage of government efforts to help people in need amid future emergencies.
It has been designed to prevent the scale of criminality seen through the Covid pandemic, where millions were lost to people falsely taking advantage of furlough, Covid Grants and Bounce Back Loans.
Results from early tests show it could save thousands of hours and help prevent millions in potential losses, slashing the time to identify fraud risks by 80% while preserving human oversight.
The UK will also licence the technology internationally, with Five Eyes partners at the summit considering adoption as part of strengthening global efforts to stop fraud and demonstrating Britain’s role at the forefront of innovation.
The UK’s cash access network, Link, has recommended 11 new banking hubs as high street banks continue to close branches across the country.
Banking hubs serve as a shared space between multiple banks offering the same services typical of traditional bank branches. They are often overseen by Post Office employees, allowing customers to withdraw and deposit cash, pay bills, or carry out regular transactions via the counter service.
The hubs also provide private spaces to customers to see community bankers from their individual bank for more complex matters requiring expert advice or privacy.
Banks occupy the hubs on a rotational basis, with different representatives from different banks available on different days.
The UK government has committed to creating 350 banking hubs across the UK during the course of the current Parliament as more and more banks close their branches and the way people interact with traditional banking services change.
While digital banking has taken the nation by storm, the closure of many bank branches across the UK has left many people digitally excluded from key bank services, particularly older people, those from deprived backgrounds, and those in smaller towns and more remote regions.
Cash Access UK will deliver the hubs, with 186 already operating in the UK.
Link has assessed 2,209 bank branch closures in the UK since 2022, noting the increased need for community cash access.
“Banking hubs continue to provide a key service on the high street and we’re delighted to announce these new locations,” John Howells, chief executive of Link, said.
“Millions still rely on cash day in, day out, and we’re committed to keeping cash on the high street.”
The news comes as Lloyds closes another 49 branches – affected staff have been offered roles in other branches or in a different part of the business.
The Banking Group will shut down 13 Bank of Scotland locations, as well as 26 Lloyds branches and 10 Halifax branches.
The list of Bank of Scotland locations facing a shut down are:
Bellshill, North Lanarkshire
Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway
Dingwall, Easter Ross
Erskine, Renfrewshire
Gairloch, Wester Ross
Glasgow Anniesland
Grangemouth, Falkirk
Hawick, Roxburghshire
Largs, North Ayrshire
Larkhall, South Lanarkshire
Nairn, Highlands
St Andrews, Fife
Tain, Highlands
New findings from the 2025 Global State of AI at Work 2025 Report reveal a workforce caught between ambition and reality.
Workers expect to delegate just under a third (32%) of their workload to AI in a year, and 41% within three years – yet only 25% say they’re ready to do so today. This was based on a survey of 2025 workers (including 1,021 workers in the UK), commissioned by Asana’s Work Innovation Lab.
But where adoption is underway, trust isn’t keeping pace. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees say AI agents are unreliable, and over half report they ignore feedback or confidently share incorrect information.
Compounding this, Asana’s findings reveal that the average organisation has failed to put any accountability in place for AI agents’ mistakes.
However, despite these challenges, adoption is spreading quickly. 74% of workers are using agents in some capacity, and 76% view them as a fundamental shift in how work is done, not just another productivity tool.
The top tasks they favour AI agents for over generative AI are organising documents (30%), finding relevant documents (29%), and scheduling meetings (26%). In fact, 68% would prefer to delegate some of these tasks to AI agents rather than humans.
But Asana’s findings reveal that without clear accountability, training, or context, adoption risks stagnating at the ‘admin’ level, rather than the more sophisticated tasks that allow organisations to see real returns.
The accountability vacuum When AI agents fail, no one agrees who should be accountable. Workers split blame between the end user (20%), IT teams (18%), and the agent’s creator (9%). Over a third (39%) say no one is responsible or admit they simply don’t know who to blame.
Few organisations have guardrails in place: only 10% of organisations have clear ethical frameworks for agents, 10% have deployment processes, and just 9% review employee-created agents.
This lack of clarity means oversight is equally inconsistent: 26% of organisations allow employees to create agents without management approval, and only 12% have clear agreements about which tasks should be handled by humans versus AI.
Just 18% of organisations even measure AI agent errors, despite 63% of workers saying accuracy should be the top metric. Without consistent rules or accountability, mistakes repeat unchecked, leaving employees unsure who is in control — and further weakening trust.
And at an organisational level, the costs compound: 79% of organisations expect to accumulate “AI debt” — the compounding costs of unreliable systems, poor data quality, and weak oversight.
More Work, Or Less?
Instead of reducing routine tasks and freeing up time, manyAI agents behave unreliably. 64% of workers see AI agents as unreliable, 59% say they can confidently share wrong information, and 57% say they ignore feedback and fail to learn.
More than half (58%) say AI agents that create extra work would force teams to redo or correct outputs instead of saving time.
These frustrations are compounded by a lack of context. Nearly half of workers say agents may not understand their team’s work (49%) and can focus on the wrong priorities (47%).
Without awareness of the context and structure of the work that is actually happening within organisations, agents risk amplifying inefficiencies and undermining trust, making them feel less like teammates and more like liabilities.
Even where agents could add value, organisations are not equipping workers to use them effectively. 82% of employees say proper training is essential to use agents effectively, but only 32% of organisations have provided it.
Without this foundation, teams can’t provide effective oversight or course correction – so errors repeat and trust erodes further.
More than half of employees (53%) are asking their companies to define clearer boundaries between human and AI responsibilities, and formal usage guidelines (58%).
Most workers are open to collaboration – 68% even prefer delegating some tasks to AI over humans – but until training and rules are in place, the gap between executive ambition and employee trust will persist.
Agents As Teammates
The report is clear: organisations will only see value from AI agents if they treat them like teammates, not tools.
That means giving them the right context, defining responsibilities, embedding feedback loops, measuring accuracy as the top metric, and training employees to use agents effectively.
“AI agents are already reshaping the way teams approach work, but our research shows trust and accountability haven’t kept pace with adoption,” said Mark Hoffman, Ph.D., Work Innovation Lead, Asana Work Innovation Lab.
“When no one is responsible for mistakes, employees hesitate to hand over meaningful tasks, even though they’re eager to delegate.
“To succeed, organisations must treat agents like teammates by informing them with the right context and structure of work, defining responsibilities, embedding feedback loops, and providing the training employees are asking for. Without these guardrails, companies risk missing out on the real productivity gains that agents can unlock.”
A new offer to help people across Scotland gain skills in a range of digital technologies has been launched.
The Digital Learning Initiative brings together training offered by AWS, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce to help people improve their digital skills.
Led by the Scottish Government in partnership with Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the initiative was launched this morning by Business Minister Richard Lochhead at Scotland’s National Innovation Summit in Edinburgh.
Mr Lochhead said: “The Digital Learning Initiative is a big and bold step towards empowering our citizens and businesses by making high-quality digital learning freely available to Scottish residents and small businesses.
“It is particularly fitting that the initiative is being launched during Scotland’s National Innovation Week given this initiative is the result of close collaboration between the public and private sectors. Only by working together can we build a more innovative and digitally confident Scotland, providing the skills and training needed to help ensure we remain one of the world’s leading innovation nations.”
The initiative provides free, accessible online courses covering subjects including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber Security, Software Development and Data Science.
It will also help employers to manage the skills needs in their workplaces, helping to boost productivity with the latest digital skills.
“The Digital Learning Initiative offers the opportunity for more people in Scotland to gain the skills they need to boost their careers and for businesses to capitalise on new technologies and improve their productivity.
“This offer aims to help unlock the potential of Scotland’s growing digital economy and shows the benefits that can be achieved by partnership working between tech employers and the public sector.”
Adele Every, managing director of Cisco UK & Ireland Public Sector added: “Cisco is proud to be part of the initiative which closely reflects our long-standing commitment to build an inclusive digital future through the Cisco Networking Academy.
“We have the opportunity to contribute our global expertise and resources to cultivate a skilled, future-ready workforce, ensuring Scotland’s economic prosperity and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.”
Leon Butler, chief executive IBM UK and Ireland said: “Having helped millions globally develop new tech skills through our IBM SkillsBuild programme, IBM is delighted to collaborate with the Scottish Government to enhance digital skills for individuals and businesses. We look forward to continuing our long-term presence and support for Scotland as the initiative progresses.”
HSBC says it has created the empirical evidence of the potential value of current quantum computers for solving real-world problems in algorithmic bond trading in what the bank says is a “world first”.
Working with a team from IBM, HSBC leveraged an approach that utilised quantum and classical computing resources to deliver up to a 34% improvement in predicting how likely a trade would be filled at a quoted price, compared to common classical techniques used in the industry.
Algorithmic trading in the corporate bond market uses computer models to quickly and automatically price customer inquiries in a competitive bidding process.
Strategies using algorithms incorporate real-time market conditions and risk estimates to automate this process, which would allow traders to focus their attention on larger and more difficult trades.
However, the highly complex nature of these factors is where the trial results showed an improvement using quantum computing techniques when compared to classical computers working alone using standard approaches.
The trial from IBM and HSBC explored how today’s quantum computers could optimise requests for quote in over-the-counter markets, where financial assets such as bonds are traded between two parties without a centralised exchange or broker. In this process, algorithmic strategies and statistical models estimate how likely a trade is to be filled at a quoted price.
IBM and HSBC say their teams validated real and production-scale trading data on multiple IBM quantum computers to predict the probability of winning customer enquiries in the European corporate bond market.
“This is a ground-breaking world-first in bond trading,” Philip Intallura, HSBC group head of quantum technologies said.
“It means we now have a tangible example of how today’s quantum computers could solve a real-world business problem at scale and offer a competitive edge, which will only continue to grow as quantum computers advance.
“We have been relentlessly focused on the near-term application of quantum technology, and given the trial delivered positive results on current quantum computing hardware, we have great confidence we are on the cusp of a new frontier of computing in financial services, rather than something that is far away in the future.”
Jay Gambetta, Vice President IBM Quantum, said: “This exciting exploration shows what becomes possible when deep domain expertise is integrated with cutting-edge algorithm research, and the strengths of classical approaches are combined with the rich computational space offered by quantum computers.
“Such work is essential to unlock new algorithms and applications that are poised to transform industries as quantum computers scale, and the future of computing takes shape.”
A Scottish Government Minister has hailed the impact made by Scotland’s colleges in helping businesses to innovate and adopt new technological advancements after visiting Glasgow Kelvin College this week.
Attending Kelvin’s Centre for Digital Enablement – part of the College Local Innovation Centres (CLIC) project – during National Innovation Week, Minister for Business and Employment Richard Lochhead said that education institutions across the nation have a vital role to play in upskilling the workforce and helping companies explore the potential of new technologies.
Hosted by Glasgow Kelvin College Principal Joanna Campbell, Mr Lochhead heard about the work undertaken in the Glasgow City region through the CLIC project, which is funded with £2.4 million over two years from the Innovate UK Further Education Innovation Fund. The programme is providing businesses across the Glasgow City region with support and guidance on embedding and embracing innovation.
Located at six innovation hubs within colleges in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and Renfrewshire, businesses from a variety of sectors are using the programme to access expertise, ranging from advisory services to hands-on assistance in adopting cutting-edge technologies, processes, and business models.
Glasgow Kelvin College’s Centre for Digital Enablement has run a series of programmes to advance the use of digital technologies in organisations across the Glasgow City region.
The courses have included the adoption and ethics of AI, future technology and synthetic business, 3D printing, advanced computer aided design (CAD) for the jewellery industry, and digital capabilities for CO2 technologies.
“Scotland’s first National Innovation Week marks a bold new chapter in Scotland’s innovation story. Innovation is how we will tackle climate change, improve public health, and create high-quality jobs,” business and employment minister Richard Lochhead said.
“Our colleges and universities help lay the groundwork for innovation to flourish, by building the industries of the future and ensuring Scotland remains a place where talent thrives.
“The work Glasgow Kelvin College is undertaking is a prime example of this in practice – helping foster and grow the innovative workforce of the future.”
Principal Joanna Campbell said: “The pace of change in the economy has never been faster and it is absolutely vital that businesses in a variety of sectors embrace the opportunities this presents.
“Through the CLIC programme, we have been supporting businesses across Glasgow with access to expertise in a range of topics related to AI, 3D printing, IT, and CAD, helping them to embed these technologies within their operations and upskill their people.
“It was a privilege to share the successes we have already seen come out of the programme with the Minister. We look forward to there being many more, as we strive to make an even greater impact on the Glasgow economy, the businesses we work with, and the individuals we support through our courses.”
The UK’s AI workforce is not confined to tech hubs and software developers, new research from Multiverse found, as workers outside of the traditional tech sphere take on AI.
Instead, an “invisible” AI workforce of nurses, librarians, surveyors, and doctors spread across the country are powering the UK’s burgeoning AI revolution.
12 million people in the UK are in ‘high-risk’ occupations projected to decline in the next ten years due to technological change, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research. Reskilling opportunities, particularly in light of the UK’s aging population, must therefore be evenly distributed across the workforce to ensure everyone can benefit from AI’s productivity promise.
The analysis of over 2,500 people on Multiverse’s AI apprenticeship programmes reveals that over two-thirds (67%) are in non-tech roles – that is, roles whose job titles don’t include keywords related to tech, data and AI.
Instead, among the 50 most common ‘invisible’ roles are frontline public service, education, healthcare, and construction roles, including nurses, doctors, librarians, pharmacists, therapists, lecturers and surveyors.
Featuring in the full ‘invisible’ AI jobs list are occupations as varied as shipping clerks, biomedical scientists, charity fundraisers, creative directors, child protection workers, retail staff and merchandisers, tenancy managers, holiday let advisors – and even a herbarium curator.
The data underlines the fact that AI is rapidly being adopted in critical sectors far beyond the technology industry. Underlining this, the industries with the highest density of AI apprentices outside of those classified by the ONS as ‘digital industries’ are Financial Services, Government Administration, Hospital & Healthcare, Higher Education, and Construction.
“Clinicians and council workers are just as integral to driving AI adoption as software engineers and data analysts,” Euan Blair, founder and CEO of Multiverse said.
“They are the ones finding practical ways to apply this technology to real-world problems, yet they’re often a second order consideration. The UK has all the ingredients to become the original AI-first nation but we can’t get there by restricting AI use to the tech department. Meaningful progress will only come from upskilling everyone.”
The winners of the2025 Financial Technology Awards have been announced, with Loveelectric, the electric car affordability firm, securing the prestigious “Fintech of the Year” award on the evening.
Hosted live at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, this year’s awards recognised outstanding companies and individuals working in Scotland’s financial services and fintech ecosystem.
The packed ceremony helped kick off the Scotland Fintech Festival with a round of celebrations, and gave the ecosystem’s leaders and innovators the chance to recognise their contributions following another eventful year both in and for the sector.
“It was fantastic to bring Scotland’s vibrant financial services and fintech communities together under one roof,” said Ray Bugg, the founder of DIGIT.
“Since its launch, the Scotland Fintech Festival has showcased the innovation and pioneering spirit of these industries far and wide, highlighting their importance to Scotland’s economy and her people. I expect 2025 will be no different.
“We’d like to offer our congratulations to both the winners and finalists on the evening.”
“There’s a phenomenally high standard, and the proposals we reviewed were phenomenal, and it does make me proud to be Scottish,” Anne Devine, KPMG partner said, reflecting on her time as a judge of the prestigious awards.
To find out the full list of winners, read on.
Scottish Financial Technology Awards: The Winners
This year, Loveelectric won first prize in the “Fintech of the Year” category. The Edinburgh-based company faced fierce competition, but the B-corp came out on top for its innovative solution for both companies and employees in the EV revolution.
Speaking to DIGIT after the win, sales director Ben Nixon said that the award was “truly a testament to everything we do; we really try to put the customer first.”
“For Scottish fintech,” he continued, “this really shows that we are at the forefront of the ecosystem – Scotland has a lot to offer, we are competitive, and the scene is very much alive.”
Finspector won the coveted “Start Up of the Year” prize. Speaking for his team, Phillip Clements, CEO at Finspector, said: “It’s quite a shock to be honest. As a startup you get quite used to being battered, so it’s amazing to be celebrated for the progress we’ve made. We could not have done this without our design team, our UX, and CX. The Scottish community has been so supportive.”
In a statement that encapsulates the current mood regarding AI and its potential for transformative change, Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni – who won the award for best use of AI and data in fintech – said: “AI is the future of Fintech.”
Skylark Lasers, a designer and manufacturer of single frequency, diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers, has secured a significant funding tranche to drive international expansion and advance its product development roadmap.
Led by long-term key investment partners at Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise, the investments reflect strong confidence in Skylark Lasers’ growth potential and the global demand for its advanced laser systems.
“This investment highlights our dedication to supporting the growth of ambitious businesses in Scotland. By helping these companies scale, we aim to create high-quality, high-value jobs and empower them to compete and lead in global markets,” Derek Shaw, director of Entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise commented.
“Scotland has distinct global strengths in industries such as photonics and fostering the development of companies like Skylark Lasers is key to sustaining their success and driving future growth.”
Skylark Lasers’ technology underpins advanced applications across a range of high-growth sectors. Its single frequency laser systems are used in spectroscopy, optical grating fabrication, quantum sensing, semiconductor materials analysis and inspection, and other applications requiring high quality laser light and stability.
These markets are driven by global demand for greater measurement accuracy, miniaturisation, and efficiency, making Skylark Lasers’ solutions integral to both cutting-edge research and industrial-scale production.
Earlier this summer, following the investment, Christopher Madin was appointed as CEO during a period of commercial expansion, increased global market engagement, and accelerated innovation across the company’s core product portfolio.
The new funding will provide working capital to expand Skylark Lasers’ commercial team and strengthen its international presence, including the appointment of a Global Sales Manager, renewal of key distributor relationships, and engagement with market development specialists such as Intralink in China and dedicated business development resources for the United States.
The announcement is a clear vote of confidence in Skylark Lasers’ future. and its backing from both private investors and Scottish Enterprise demonstrates the strong belief in its ability to deliver global impact as a Scottish exporter of advanced laser technologies.
“This investment is a pivotal moment for Skylark Lasers,” said Christopher Madin, CEO of Skylark Lasers. “It will allow us to scale our commercial reach globally while continuing to innovate in our photonics technology. We are proud to have the support of Scottish Enterprise and Par Equity as we take the next step in our growth journey.
“With this investment, Skylark Lasers is set to strengthen its role as a key Scottish photonics exporter and a trusted partner for advanced laser systems across the globe.”
A new programme helping Scottish companies seize the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) has been launched.
Supported by nearly £1 million of Scottish Government funding, it will offer small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) a range of support – including tailored consultancy services and grants – to introduce or expand the use of AI in order to develop new products and services, grow market share and attract new investment.
The programme will be delivered by enterprise agencies – Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and South of Scotland Enterprise – together with The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for data and artificial intelligence and the Scottish AI Alliance.
It is the first initiative to be delivered as part of AI Scotland, a transformation programme designed to support the adoption of AI. Businesses can find out more about support available on the Find Business Support website.
To launch the programme, Business Minister Richard Lochhead visited the Edinburgh Trams depot at Gogarburn in Edinburgh. Edinburgh Trams has been working with Edinburgh-based technology consultants Integrated Human Factors to develop a wearable fatigue monitoring device.
“Artificial intelligence is a hugely powerful, rapidly-evolving tool that can support and drive our economy,” Lochhead said. “It can enable businesses to work smarter, to innovate and empower and support its workforces. The project being developed by Integrated Human Factors and Edinburgh Trams is a great example of this.
“This national programme will help ensure SMEs across the country have the right support and guidance in place to explore and develop how the adoption of AI could support expansion, competitiveness and open new markets. I’d urge all businesses to find out more about the support and guidance now available to them.
“The programme also marks an important first step in establishing AI Scotland, a true partnership bringing together expertise from across the public and private sectors to help ensure our economy, and indeed our society, is well placed to harness AI as a tool for economic growth and a force for good across society.”
Rhona Allison, managing director of productivity and business growth at Scottish Enterprise said. “The potential for AI to drive efficiency and productivity gains and increase companies’ competitiveness is immense. Yet research shows that three quarters of Scottish SMEs aren’t using any AI technologies and don’t have plans to adopt AI in the short term.
“We understand that businesses might be finding it difficult knowing where to start on AI adoption. That’s why the delivery partners have drawn on their experience to develop this ambitious Scotland-wide programme. It highlights the transformative potential of AI, considers the challenges of adoption, and makes practical support available to companies looking to embed AI in their operations.
The UK and US have created a new Taskforce for better collaboration on the regulation of digital assets including cryptocurrency.
The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future will sit under the existing Financial Regulatory Working Group agreement between the UK and US, which has a deadline of six moths for initial recommendations.
The Taskforce will make recommendations to enhance collaboration on capital markets and digital assets and other innovative financial activities.
These recommendations are to be developed in close collaboration with industry partners to ensure the countries unlock opportunities for investors, businesses, and market participants on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Taskforce will explore options for short-to-medium term collaboration on digital assets whilst legislation and regulatory regimes are still developing, as well as options for long-term collaboration and additional opportunities for wholesale digital markets innovation.
It will also explore options to improve links between the nations’ capital markets to enhance the growth and competitiveness of both UK and US markets, focusing on reducing burdens for UK and US firms raising capital cross-border.
The first round of recommendations are due in 180 days, with Reuters reporting that the regime will look for better coordination when it comes to oversight of stable coins and crypto.
The agreement was made formally by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, upon his visit to Downing Street for a joint industry roundtable.
