Technology

Brain imaging study finds AI chatbots do not process meaning like the human brain
A study published in eLife, signed by researchers from the University of Melbourne and Hitotsubashi University, compared eight transformer-based language models with 7-tesla functional MRI scans of 30 people reading 108 sentences. The models outperformed a system that ignores word order, but their fit to brain activity was low and lower than that of a model that explicitly represents structural relations between words. The difference concentrated on sentences with inverted semantic roles.
TechnologyInternationalInfobaeOct 25AI
AI expands the internal auditor's role beyond corporate watchdog
Internal audit experts say artificial intelligence is broadening the profession's functions: beyond analysing data, tools interpret contracts, procedures and communications, link evidence and help formulate hypotheses about risks or control weaknesses. The partner at EY's Internal Audit & Risk Consulting says the role must help governing bodies anticipate vulnerabilities without losing independence. Spain's Institute of Internal Auditors notes that AI also requires auditing how AI itself is used and increases the workload.
TechnologyInternationalABCOct 25AI
Town, the enterprise AI assistant, raises US$108 million at a US$1 billion valuation
San Francisco-based Town announced on October 19 a US$108 million Series B that values it at US$1 billion, four months after its public launch. The round was co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Menlo Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Serena Ventures and First Round Capital. Founded in 2024 by Jean-Denis Greze, former CTO of Plaid, and Tony Vincent, the company offers an AI assistant per employee called Townie, with a main plan priced at US$50 per month.
TechnologyInternationalEl Ecosistema StartupOct 25AI
Open-source forum on Reddit bans AI projects and shuts out non-English speakers
The moderators of r/opensource, a Reddit community about open-source software with about 98,000 weekly visitors, banned projects built with artificial intelligence and, in practice, contributions from people who do not speak English. The post "Your tokens are worth nothing: no more AI" requires projects to be at least one year old, actively maintained, have three or more contributors and their own community. It drew nearly 1,400 comments in less than a day and led to the creation of an alternative forum, r/TrueOpenSource.
TechnologyInternationalInfobaeOct 25AI
"Vortex Tech": the acoustic extinguisher by a Mexican student that won gold in Indonesia
Ángela Karime Hernández Venegas, a 17-year-old student at CETIS 78 in Altamira, Tamaulipas, won the gold medal at the ISIF 2026 International Science and Technology Competition in Indonesia with "Vortex Tech", a prototype acoustic extinguisher that uses low-frequency sound waves to put out fires without water or chemicals. The project, created with her uncle José Arturo Hernández Muñoz, beat 110 other entrants at the International Science and Invention Fair in Jakarta.
TechnologyInternationalEl EconomistaOct 25AI
Seat in talks with Aggity to manufacture drones at its Martorell plant
Seat, owned by Volkswagen, is studying entering the defense industry and is negotiating with Catalan technology group Aggity to produce drones at its Martorell plant (Barcelona). Its chairman, Markus Haupt, has said the company has been contacted by the Spanish government and the Catalan executive to put its factories at the service of military needs. Seat has classified the project as "strategic" and is assessing synergies between automotive and defense production. Both companies met with the Ministry of Industry to seek public funding.
TechnologyInternationalExpansiónOct 25AI
AT&T books $2.6 billion impairment on Mexico exit; América Móvil calls Televisa a "strong competitor"
AT&T recognized a $2.6 billion accounting impairment tied to its agreement to sell its Mexican mobile operation to a consortium of Grupo Televisa and Fintech Holdings, according to its third-quarter 2026 balance sheet. Its Mexican unit billed $1.24 billion, up 13.2% year on year, with EBITDA of $236 million. Daniel Hajj, América Móvil's CEO, called Televisa a "strong competitor" and asked for a regulatory "level playing field." Megacable is negotiating agreements with Telcel.
TechnologyInternationalEl ImparcialOct 25AI
Web Summit survey: 60% of tech professionals say AI has increased their workload
A survey conducted ahead of Web Summit, with responses from 1,455 founders, investors, engineers and creators in its global community, shows divided views on AI: 55% of tech professionals believe it strengthens their reasoning capacity, but 60% say it has increased their workload and 42% expect entry-level positions to shrink. 39% expect their sector's headcount to grow over the next two years, versus 33% who expect a reduction.
TechnologyInternationalPortafolio.coOct 25AI
Study warns AI can now design cyberattack plans against power grids and water plants
An investigation by cybersecurity firm Frenos found that some advanced AI models can draft viable cyberattack plans against industrial systems tied to essential services, such as power grids and water treatment plants. The study evaluated ten models with 16,980 tests between October 2025 and September 2026. Three of the most advanced commercial models generated viable plans in 89.5% to 92.9% of planning attempts. The tests were run in simulated environments and not against real facilities.
TechnologyInternationalEl DiarioOct 25AI
Context engineering: the six context failures in AI agents and how to fix them
The author of The Context Engineering Handbook, a book O'Reilly will publish soon, presented at AGNTCon the context failures that degrade coding agents and the fixes already built into the harness. He identifies four classic failures —poisoning, distraction, confusion and clash— plus two new ones: fighting the weights and context inertia. His alert threshold is 200,000 tokens, and his recommendation is to clear the context and preserve the environment's artifacts.
TechnologyInternationalEl Ecosistema StartupOct 25AI
France launches a literary prize for books co-written with artificial intelligence
Cultural institutions and representatives of the French publishing industry announced the creation of a literary competition to recognize works produced through collaboration between human authors and artificial intelligence tools. The jury, made up of computer science specialists, novelists and literary critics, will assess literary quality, originality and the degree of participation of each party. The announcement has drawn opposing views among writers and publishers, and the first edition is expected for the upcoming book fair season in Paris.
TechnologyInternationalDiario del SurOct 25AI
OpenAI speeds up a US$30 billion round ahead of Anthropic's IPO
OpenAI is negotiating to close a financing round of about US$30 billion before its rival Anthropic goes public, according to Reuters. The deal could value the maker of ChatGPT at more than US$1.4 trillion, although FinanceFeeds reports more recent terms near US$1.25 trillion. SoftBank and MGX appear among the investors in talks. Anthropic filed a confidential draft S-1 and its debut is expected in November. OpenAI plans its own IPO for 2027.
TechnologyInternationalEl Ecosistema StartupOct 25AI
Japan tests an autonomous robot dog to scare bears away before they reach populated areas
Researchers at Akita Prefectural University in northern Japan are developing Hacchan, a prototype robot dog that would patrol the boundaries between forests and settlements to detect and deter bears using cameras, sensors and amplified barking, without harming them. The project, presented on October 13 after a technology ideas competition, has not yet proven its effectiveness in real conditions; field tests are planned before the end of 2026.
TechnologyInternationalInfobaeOct 25AI
Germany launches a 500 million euro programme for nuclear fusion
Germany launched the Fusion Milestone Programme, endowed with 500 million euros through 2029 to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion power plants. It is managed by the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, with funds from the Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality (SVIK). The programme supports several competing technologies and requires measurable progress to move toward demonstration plants.
TechnologyInternationalInspenetOct 25AI
NASA speeds up Artemis to return to the Moon in 2028 with docking tests in Earth orbit
NASA accelerated the timeline of its Artemis program to return to the Moon before the end of 2028. Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed that Artemis III will launch in mid-2027 with four astronauts (three Americans and one Italian) who will spend two weeks in low Earth orbit practicing dockings with the landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. The plan includes simplified spacesuits and a permanent base near the lunar south pole. The agency will decide which of the two companies will first carry a crew to the lunar surface.
TechnologyInternationalInfobaeOct 25AI
WhatsApp tests scheduled messages, call filter and a new mentions filter
WhatsApp is preparing scheduled messages, a filter for calls from unknown numbers and new tools to organize chats, according to features spotted in the Android and iOS beta versions reported by WABetaInfo. The features are still in testing and the final design may change. Scheduled messages would arrive first in the iPhone beta, with a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of two weeks. The call filter will allow notifying, silencing or automatically replying to ask the reason for the call.
TechnologyInternationalInfobaeOct 25AI
Saipem tests FlatFish underwater drone in Trieste to monitor subsea stored CO2
Italian company Saipem held a technology demonstration day at its Trieste base on the monitoring of subsea CO2 transport and containment networks, attended by industrial and academic delegations. The focus was the FlatFish underwater drone, an autonomous vehicle that inspects pipelines and injection zones without constant surface assistance, using smart navigation and biogeochemical sensors to detect leaks. The tests are part of the European COREu consortium, which brings together more than forty partners and seeks a logistics corridor to move industrial CO2 to offshore geological storage.
TechnologyInternationalInspenetOct 25AI
FOSDEM 27 opens call for its Digital Dissident room on censorship and privacy
FOSDEM, the annual free software developers' gathering at the Solbosch campus of the Free University of Brussels, opened its call for talks on October 24 for its 26th edition, to be held on January 30 and 31, 2027. It includes the Digital Dissident room, focused on tools for people living under authoritarian regimes. The submission deadline is November 30, 2026, and the program is published on December 7.
TechnologyInternationalEl Ecosistema StartupOct 25AI
Bill Gates warns AI could replace office jobs and physical work too
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said in remarks reported by The Observer that office work and human physical labor skills are at risk from artificial intelligence. According to Gates, companies' "incentive structure", aimed at increasing profits, leads them to "hire the robot, fire the human and forget about it". He warned that physical work, such as construction or factories, could also be affected as humanoid robots become more common, and that governments will need to respond to mass unemployment with education and reskilling.
TechnologyInternational20MinutosOct 25AI
Joe Tsai, Alibaba chairman: "The only way for Europe to achieve technological sovereignty is with open source AI"
Joe Tsai, chairman and co-founder of Alibaba, said at the Wave event in Italy that the only path for Europe to achieve technological sovereignty is open source AI: downloading the weights of an open model, running it on its own infrastructure and training it with internal data so that sensitive information does not leave the company. According to Tsai, Chinese AI companies share their innovation while US labs do not. The article notes that China and the US control around 90% of the world's AI computing infrastructure.
TechnologyInternationalXatakaOct 25AI