AI companies answered New York City's council under oath, and none could put a number on the risk of a catastrophe. OpenAI faces Australia's parliament on Tuesday.

The rest of the day

40 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Schneider Electric buys PTC for $22.6bn

   Schneider Electric, a French maker of power and cooling equipment for data centres, agreed on Monday to buy PTC for about $22.6bn in cash. [16][24] PTC, based in Boston, makes software that factories use to design, build and service products. [24] Schneider will pay $205 a share, 42% more than PTC's price on Friday. [24] It is Schneider's biggest deal ever, and its own shares fell nearly 10% in Paris. [16] The deal should close by the third quarter of 2027. [24]

   PTC share, Friday$144

   Schneider's offer$205

   Why it matters — Schneider wants software, which customers pay for every year, to make up about a quarter of its sales. [16] Its boss says PTC's design software lets Schneider help customers plan machines and their power systems together from the start. [25]

2. 03

   Hackers steal Denmark's population register

   Denmark's government confirmed that hackers stole most of the Central Person Register, its database of everyone with a Danish identity number. [21] The breach covers about 8 million citizens and residents, including people living abroad and people who have died. [21] The stolen data includes names, addresses and Danish social security numbers. [21] It happened in September and was found on 2 October. [21] The thieves got in by misusing a Danish company's legal right to search the register. [21]

   Why it matters — Danes use this number to pay taxes and reach other public services, and Denmark's government has not said who took it. [21] It is thought to be the biggest data breach in the country's history. [21]

3. 04

   Five groups fix one AI agent flaw

   Google, the bank JPMorgan Chase, the database firm Weaviate, France's state digital agency DINUM and the Indonesian city of Tangerang each fixed the same kind of flaw. [13] All five were reported by one researcher, Syed Anas Mohiuddin. [13] The flaw sat in MCP servers, the tools AI agents use to fetch data and call other software. [13] The servers took a web address from an agent and fetched it without checking where it led, so whoever steered the agent could reach internal systems. [13][26]

   Why it matters — Five groups that share no code made the same mistake, which Mohiuddin says shows the problem is built into how the standard is used. [13] Douglas McKee of Rapid7, a security firm, said each tool 'checks its own front door while nobody watches the hallway in between'. [26]

4. 05

   Picture ads come to ChatGPT

   OpenAI said on Monday it will start testing picture adverts in ChatGPT in the US later this month. [27][28] They will appear first when people use ChatGPT to make images. [27] Until now, ChatGPT's ads showed only a company's name, logo and link under an answer. [27] OpenAI says the ads will be labelled and will not change ChatGPT's answers. [28] People on the paid Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans will not see them. [27]

   Why it matters — Free users can switch ads off, but that also switches off image-making, and avoiding both costs $20 a month. [29] OpenAI is courting advertisers with the chance to reach ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly users. [28]

5. 06

   BT rescues TalkTalk's 2.5 million customers

   BT, which once ran Britain's state phone network, bought TalkTalk on Monday out of administration, the legal process for a company that cannot pay its debts. [30][31] The deal costs BT about GBP400m, keeps services going for about 2.5 million customers and saves 900 jobs. [30][31] TalkTalk owed about GBP1.5bn and was losing money. [32] Lisa Nandy, the UK culture secretary, used special powers, and the competition regulator must report to her by 19 October. [31][30]

   Why it matters — About 250,000 TalkTalk customers are vulnerable, and some rely on alarm pendants that call for help in a medical emergency. [31] Virgin Media O2, a rival that had also looked at TalkTalk, called the deal a 'stitch-up' that makes BT even bigger. [31]

6. 07

   Researcher finds a way out of KVM machines

   A security researcher, Paulos Yibelo, won a bug reward from Vercel, a US cloud company, for a way out of a virtual machine. [14] A virtual machine is a sealed computer running inside a real one, and Vercel rents them as boxes for AI agents to work in. [14] Vercel's boss, Guillermo Rauch, said the flaw is in KVM, the Linux software that runs such machines. [14] Amazon's and Google's clouds both use KVM. [14] No details or fix have been published. [14]

   Why it matters — A way out of a virtual machine can let one customer take over a whole server and reach other customers' machines on it. [14] Clouds can often patch KVM without switching machines off, but nobody knows yet whether this fix will allow that. [14]

7. 08

   Meta fixed a Muse escape before launch

   Weeks before Muse launched, Meta engineers found flaws that could have let users break out of the AI agent's sealed computer, 404 Media reported. [15] Each copy of Muse runs in its own virtual machine, which links to Meta's systems but is meant to stay apart from them. [15] At least one flaw could have let an ordinary user reach Meta's sensitive internal databases. [15] The problem reached Mark Zuckerberg, and teams worked nights and weekends to fix it. [15]

   Why it matters — Muse, Meta's AI agent, is given access to its users' own accounts and services so it can act for them. [15] Outside researchers have found other security problems in it since launch. [15]

8. 09

   Meta, TikTok and X take Ofcom to court

   Meta, TikTok and X are challenging Ofcom, Britain's online safety regulator, in court over how much data it can demand, Reuters reported on Monday. [12] In February Ofcom asked them how many posts they removed and how many users had seen harmful posts. [12] X called it the most burdensome request it has had from any regulator anywhere. [12] Ofcom says it needs the figures to judge whether the Online Safety Act, a 2023 law meant to protect children online, is working. [12]

   Why it matters — It is one of the first court fights under that law, which lets Ofcom fine a company up to 10% of its worldwide sales. [12] The hearing ends on Wednesday, and a second challenge from Meta comes next week. [12]

9. 10

   OpenAI marks ChatGPT's text in Europe

   OpenAI will add a hidden mark to text and code written by ChatGPT and Codex for users in the European Union. [33][34] The mark is not a symbol. It nudges which words the model picks, in a pattern a detector can spot. [33] The EU's AI Act requires AI-made content to be marked this way, and companies already selling AI have until 2 December. [34] In OpenAI's own test, swapping 10% of the words for synonyms cut detection from about 92% to 66%. [33]

   Text as written92%

   One word in ten swapped66%

   Why it matters — Only approved researchers will get the detector at first, so most people cannot yet check a passage themselves. [33] OpenAI also warns that a missing mark does not prove a person wrote the text. [33]

10. 11

    Anthropic's report leads to an arrest in Florida

    Sheriff's deputies in Lee County, Florida, arrested a woman after Anthropic reported her chat with its Claude AI to police. [35] In the chat on 26 September she allegedly wrote that she would 'shoot up' the sheriff's office. [35][36] Anthropic scans chats for threatening phrases and sends the most serious to a human team. [36] She faces a felony charge and told police she uses the AI like a diary. [35] It is at least the third such chat to reach police since August. [36]

    Why it matters — The sheriff said people are 'never truly anonymous' when they use AI. [35] Anthropic's privacy policy lets it tell police when it believes that is needed to prevent serious harm. [36]

11. 12

    Investors offer Etched $40bn or more

    Etched, a four-year-old US company that designs AI chips, is being offered new money at a value of $40bn to $50bn, TechCrunch reports, citing a person familiar with the talks. [17] It raised $700m at a value of $21bn only a couple of months ago. [17] Etched says it has $1bn of orders, including from Jane Street, a trading firm. [17] It claims its chips answer AI requests faster and more cheaply than Nvidia's. [17] Etched declined to comment. [17]

    Value at summer round$21bn

    Lowest offer now$40bn

    Highest offer now$50bn

    Why it matters — The offers would about double its value in a few months, on the hope that it can challenge Nvidia. [17] The talks are early, and the terms may change. [17]

12. 13

    The cheapest smartphones are disappearing

    Phone prices have risen about 15% worldwide this year, and new models cost about 25% more than last year's, Rest of World reports. [19] The cause is a shortage of memory chips, as AI data centres buy up supply. [19] Chinese makers, who ship about 60% of the world's phones, have sharply cut their cheapest models, a Counterpoint analyst said. [19] Prices rose 21% in India and 18% in the Middle East and Africa, against 5% in the US. [19]

    India21%

    Asia-Pacific19%

    Middle East and Africa18%

    United States5%

    Why it matters — GSMA, the mobile industry's group, worries that dearer phones will slow its forecast of 800 million more mobile internet users by 2030. [19] People who have never owned a smartphone may find it harder to get online at all. [19]

13. 14

    FBI confirms arrests in the ShinyHunters case

    The FBI said it and partner police forces have arrested 'multiple' suspects over a September hack linked to ShinyHunters, a gang that steals data and demands money. [23] One suspect, Saif al-Din Khader, known as Rey, was reportedly detained in Jordan on 29 September and is said to be helping the FBI. [23] Two weeks earlier, Dutch police arrested a man the FBI called one of the gang's leaders. [23]

    Why it matters — A security researcher, Kevin Beaumont, said Rey was one of those who broke into Jaguar Land Rover in 2025, an attack that stopped the carmaker's factories for months. [23] The FBI would not say who else was arrested. [23]

14. 15

    Another Citrix flaw is attacked before a fix

    Attackers used a new flaw in Citrix NetScaler, a line of network boxes, before any fix existed, Citrix and security researchers say. [37] It affects only boxes used for single sign-on, one login for many services, and can knock them offline. [37] Citrix confirmed the problem late on Friday and released fixes on Saturday night. [37] It urged customers to install them as soon as possible. [37]

    Why it matters — It is yet another NetScaler flaw that attackers found first. [37] Citrix would not say how many customers were hit or what attackers did next. [37]

15. 16

    A US senator calls Anthropic's warnings alarmist

    Bernie Moreno, a Republican US senator from Ohio, wrote to Dario Amodei, the head of the AI company Anthropic, on Monday. [11] He accused Amodei of an 'alarmist approach' to AI. [11] Moreno asked how Anthropic can ask Americans to buy its shares while warning that its product could wipe them out. [11] Investors are discussing a value for Anthropic close to $2 trillion, about 42 times its sales, and trading could start this month. [11]

    Why it matters — Moreno wrote that a focus on the worst outcomes crowds out debate about keeping the US ahead of China. [11] His letter calls AI 'super intelligence' throughout, following President Trump's order to rename it. [11]

16. 17

    Groq shareholders sue over Nvidia's $20bn deal

    Two former engineers at Groq, an AI chip company, sued over Nvidia's $20bn deal for Groq's technology, in a Delaware court on 2 October. [38] They say Groq's board sold the company without the shareholder vote Delaware law requires. [38] Nvidia paid $17bn for a licence it called non-exclusive and set aside $3bn of shares for staff who moved over, the suit says. [38] Groq called the case meritless. [38]

    Why it matters — Groq's founder and president joined Nvidia in the deal, while Groq says it carries on as an independent company. [38] The engineers say the price was 'lowball' and cost shareholders billions. [38]

17. 18

    San Diego sues AppLovin over adverts to children

    San Diego County sued AppLovin, a US company that places adverts inside mobile games, on Monday. [39] It says AppLovin got round parental controls to show children ads for dating sites, alcohol, vaping and sexual images. [39] The complaint says AppLovin tracked children by 'fingerprinting', recognising a device from its settings, even when tracking was switched off. [39] One screenshot shows an ad for a sexual chatbot app in a puzzle game, on a phone set up for a six-year-old. [39]

    Why it matters — AppLovin's rules say it does not knowingly show ads to children, and leave it to advertisers to decide who is a child. [39] AppLovin did not answer a request for comment. [39]

18. 19

    One Linux update fixes 1,313 flaws

    Debian, a widely used free version of Linux, published a security update for its kernel, the core of the system, listing 1,313 known flaws. [40] The Register suspects AI tools that hunt for bugs explain most of that number. [40] The Linux kernel team gives a flaw number to every fixed bug automatically, so the count alone says little about danger. [40] The next kernel's list of changes runs past 27,000 lines. [40]

    Why it matters — The people who maintain Linux must check and ship every one of these fixes. [40] Whether AI bug-hunting helps them more than it buries them is still an open question, The Register says. [40]

19. 20

    Reflection releases a free-to-download AI model

    Reflection AI, a two-year-old company in New York, released Beam, its first large open-weight model, on Monday. [41][42] Open-weight means anyone can download the model and run it on their own computers. [42] Reflection says Beam matches GLM-5.2, a model from the Chinese company Z.ai, while using three to four times less computing to reason. [41][42] Those claims have not been checked by anyone else. [41]

    Why it matters — The best free-to-download models have mostly come from Chinese companies, and some Western firms and governments will not use them. [42] Reflection is selling to those buyers, and was valued at $25bn before its last round. [41]

20. 21

    Nokia's boss says demand outruns supply

    Justin Hotard, head of Nokia, said data centres would be built twice as fast if memory chips and power were available. [18] Nokia, one of the biggest makers of telecoms equipment, now also sells the gear that links racks of AI chips together. [18] Those sales doubled to EUR446m in the second quarter. [20] Hotard said demand would hold even with no new leading AI model for three years. [20]

    Why it matters — Others doubt the money is there: Bain, a consulting firm, says AI needs $6tn a year by 2031 to pay for what is being built. [20] A paper for the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity puts the building bill at $10.3tn from 2025 to 2032. [18][20]

21. 22

    Cerebras shares recover after Altman's words

    Shares in Cerebras, a US maker of large AI chips, rose 9% on Monday. [43] Last week they fell 20% to their lowest since its May listing, after OpenAI chose Nvidia chips for a fast mode of its new GPT-6.1 Sol model. [43] Sam Altman, OpenAI's boss, then called Cerebras 'a close partner' on X. [43] Cerebras has a $10bn deal to supply OpenAI with computing power through 2028. [43]

    Why it matters — Even after the rise, Cerebras is worth about $43bn, against $95bn when it listed in May. [43]

22. 23

    Google's Finnish site investigated over felled forest

    Finnish officials are investigating a Google data-centre project near Muhos, a town of fewer than 9,000 people, AFP reports. [44] Google's local company, Tuike Finland, reportedly cleared more than 300 hectares of forest, about 420 football pitches. [44] It did so before a required study of the effect on nature had been done, the reports say. [44] The site is part of Google's EUR13bn plan for Finland over two years. [44]

    Why it matters — Finland draws data centres with cool air and cheap power, and hopes they will bring jobs in a time of record unemployment. [44] Residents worry about the forests, the power supply and electricity prices. [44]

23. 24

    China holds 343 older chipmaking machines

    Chinese chipmakers bought about 343 immersion DUV machines from ASML between 2012 and early 2026, the Centre for Technology and Statecraft, a Washington research group, estimates. [45] ASML, a Dutch company, makes the machines that print chip patterns with light. [45] China cannot buy ASML's newest EUV machines, but the report says many of the older ones can still make chips at the 7nm level. [45] The industry first made 7nm chips in 2018 and 2019. [45]

    Why it matters — The authors want all such machines, and spare parts and servicing for them, banned from export to China. [45] Some of the report's other estimates look doubtful, Tom's Hardware says. [45]

24. 25

    TikTok adds an AI shopping helper

    TikTok announced an AI shopping assistant and one-click buying inside its app on Monday. [46][47] The assistant answers questions about size, delivery and stock, and can finish the purchase in the same chat. [47] A feature called Buy Direct lets people buy from a brand straight from the main video feed. [46] TikTok is building both with Shopify, Stripe and Salesforce, and gave no launch date. [47]

    Why it matters — TikTok wants shoppers to ask its own AI rather than leave for tools like ChatGPT. [46] It says 54 million Americans have bought something after watching a TikTok video. [46]

25. 26

    A Texas city asks $2.3m for police camera records

    North Richland Hills, a suburb of Fort Worth, told a privacy group it would cost $2.3m to release records on how its police use Flock cameras, which read car number plates. [48] The city reached that figure by estimating 14 years of work at $15 an hour. [48] Another Texas town, Sealy, handed over its records for nothing. [48] Texas has about 13,000 Flock cameras. [48]

    Why it matters — Records like these are how misuse comes out. [48] A police officer in Lufkin, Texas, pleaded guilty on 30 September to 100 felony counts for searching the system about his former girlfriend. [48]

26. 27

    Researchers track Chinese AI agents on the web

    Independent researchers said on Sunday they are tracking a group of AI agents that seem to run on computers belonging to Tencent, a big Chinese tech company. [49] The agents asked Amap, the map service of Alibaba, for directions to entrances of a park, a zoo and a hospital. [49] The researchers spotted them through urlquery, a website-scanning service that agents use to load pages they cannot reach directly. [49] They saw no sign the agents were talking to each other. [49]

    Why it matters — The agents seem only to be getting round Alibaba's rules for using its map data. [49] The same watching method earlier showed OpenAI's agents at work on the web. [49]

27. 28

    Keeping Windows 10 safe is about to cost double

    Windows 11 now runs on 71.5% of Windows computers and Windows 10 on 27.8%, according to Statcounter, a web statistics firm. [50] Microsoft ended free support for Windows 10 in October 2025, but companies can pay for security updates. [50] Those cost $61 per computer for the first year, which is now ending. [50] The second year costs $122, and the price doubles each year for up to three years. [50]

    Why it matters — Firms still running Windows 10 must now pay more or move to Windows 11. [50] Home users can still get the updates free, for example by backing up their settings to Microsoft's cloud. [50]

28. 29

    Google admits some apps lag on Intel Googlebooks

    Google's Googlebooks, new laptops that run Android, have just gone on sale in five models. [51][52] Google then admitted that some Android apps may not run smoothly on the three with Intel chips, from Acer, Asus and Lenovo. [52] Many Android apps were written for Arm chips, the kind in phones and in the Dell and HP models. [52] Google has not named the apps affected. [52]

    Why it matters — Until then Google had stressed that every Googlebook gets the whole Play Store library. [52] Some complex apps and games will need their makers to tune them for Intel chips, Google said. [51]

29. 30

    32GB becomes the most common gaming PC memory

    In Valve's September survey of Steam, the biggest PC game shop, 42.2% of gaming PCs had 32GB of memory, more than any other amount. [53] That is up 4.8 points in a month, while 16GB fell to 37.8%. [53] It happened during a severe shortage of memory chips. [53] AMD also reached 48.4% of the processors in the survey, closing in on Intel. [53]

    Why it matters — Gamers kept adding memory even as some laptop makers went back to 8GB to save money. [53]

30. 31

    AMD shows chip results before Nvidia's laptop chip

    AMD published AI test results for its Gorgon Halo laptop chips ahead of a Microsoft event on Wednesday, 7 October. [54] Nvidia is expected to launch RTX Spark, its rival chip for Windows laptops, there. [54] AMD compared its top chip with Intel's best laptop chip and claimed it was 1.1 to 32 times faster, though the top figure looks like an outlier. [54] Some Gorgon Halo machines cost more than $7,000. [54]

    Why it matters — Windows laptops built to run AI on the machine itself are becoming a three-way fight between AMD, Intel and Nvidia. [54]

31. 32

    Russia builds a chipmaking tool 25 years behind

    Russia's Zelenograd Nanotechnology Center finished a test version of the country's first machine for printing chips at 130nm, CNews reports. [55] Chips of that size were modern about 25 years ago. [55] The machine is being tested and is years away from use in a real factory. [55] Much of it was built by Planar, a company in Belarus, and Russia's industry ministry put about $70m into the project. [55]

    Why it matters — One analyst called it an important step that could lead to machines for 90nm and 65nm chips. [55]

32. 33

    A free tool strips Apple's AI off Macs

    A developer, Om Lahorey, released RemoveMacAI, a free open-source tool for Macs. [56] It switches off Apple Intelligence, Apple's AI features, and deletes their AI models. [57][56] macOS 27 removed the single switch that used to do this, and the settings are now spread across about a dozen places. [57][56] The models take about 12GB of disk space, and a Verge writer found 35GB on a MacBook Air. [57] The tool can undo its own changes. [57]

    Why it matters — It also stops macOS from downloading the models again. [57] Its maker said he built it because Apple made the features practically impossible to remove. [56]

33. 34

    Cohere sells AI agents with tighter limits

    Cohere, a Canadian AI company, released North 2 on Monday, a new version of its system for running AI agents inside companies. [58] It tightens control over what each agent may reach, and over how much computing it spends. [58] It also lets teams share written steps for common tasks, so agents do the same job the same way each time. [58]

    Why it matters — Cohere is selling caution to businesses while OpenAI and Anthropic face questions over agents that went where they should not. [58]

34. 35

    Volantis plans an AI chip that uses light

    Volantis, a San Francisco chip start-up backed by Sam Altman, described its plan for an AI chip called A-1. [59] It would use light instead of electrical wiring to link the processor with its memory. [59] Volantis claims this could fit more than 10TB of fast memory into one package. [59] Today's AI chips are limited by how much memory fits around the edge of the processor. [59]

    Why it matters — Its boss says it will license almost every other part, because the light link is already risk enough. [59]

35. 36

    Instinct's AI agent joins group chats

    Instinct, a start-up valued at $10bn that makes a personal AI agent, now lets people add it to group chats. [60] It works even for friends who have not signed up. [60] The agent can plan trips, buy event tickets or sort out who brings what to a meal. [60] Meta's Muse, its main rival, cannot yet join group chats. [60]

    Why it matters — Each person's own agent asks permission before it connects to the group's agent, Instinct's founder said. [60]

36. 37

    An AI now runs job interviews for coders

    HackerRank, a service companies use to test and hire programmers, made its AI interviewer, Chakra, available to all its customers on Monday. [61] Chakra asks questions, watches candidates work and judges how they reached an answer. [61] It ran more than 500,000 interviews in six months of testing, with firms such as Snowflake and Capgemini. [61] It also scores how well a candidate directs an AI tool. [61]

    Why it matters — HackerRank's boss says anybody can now produce finished work with AI, so employers want to judge how it was made. [61]

37. 38

    School software firm Bromcom reports a leak

    Bromcom, which makes software that UK schools use to manage pupils, told customers that someone took data from an old sign-on service. [22] The intruder got email addresses and some details of how users signed in. [22] Bromcom found the problem on 6 September and says no passwords and no pupil records were taken. [22] The old service was still running because another internal system still used it. [22]

    Why it matters — Bromcom has switched the old service off and hired outside investigators. [22]

38. 39

    Russia's robot tank fails in front of Putin

    Russia's new Shturm remote-controlled tank lost its radio link during a military exercise shown to President Vladimir Putin. [62] Organisers switched to a human driver, and the tank then got stuck in a muddy ditch. [62] The Shturm, built on old T-72 and T-90 tanks, is meant to be driven from a command vehicle up to about 3km away. [62] Russia's defence ministry had first said the vehicles supported the attack in the drills. [62]

    Why it matters — Its remote control, the feature that sets it apart, was the part that failed. [62]

39. 40

    Ubuntu 26.10 swaps more tools for Rust

    Canonical released a test version of Ubuntu 26.10, a popular free version of Linux, ahead of its release on 15 October. [63] It replaces more of the old core tools written in the C language with new ones written in Rust, a newer language. [63] It also offers Myna, an optional tool that turns speech into text with an AI model. [63]

    Why it matters — Many users will stay on Ubuntu's long-term support version instead. [63]

40. 41

    A betting market on disputed facts

    Verifact Markets, a new start-up, launched on Friday to let people bet money on disputed facts about the past. [64] Its early questions include whether Covid-19 came from a lab and whether Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide. [64] On the Covid question, 'true' was priced at 76 cents. [64] It is backed by the family office of the investor Peter Wokwicz. [64]

    Why it matters — Its backer wants it to settle arguments such as how much energy AI data centres use. [64]