Capacity development

Four new Echo devices debut with Amazon’s next-gen Alexa+

Amazon has unveiled four new Echo devices powered by Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant. The lineup includes Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11, all designed for personalised, ambient AI-driven experiences. Buyers will automatically gain access to Alexa+.

At the core are the new AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips, which feature AI accelerators, powering advanced models for speech, vision, and ambient interaction. The Echo Dot Max, priced at $99.99, features a two-speaker system with triple the bass, while the Echo Studio, priced at $219.99, adds spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.

The Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 introduce HD displays, enhanced audio, and intelligent sensing capabilities. Both feature 13-megapixel cameras that adapt to lighting and personalise interactions. The Echo Show 8 will cost $179.99, while the Echo Show 11 is priced at $219.99.

Beyond hardware, Alexa+ brings deeper conversational skills and more intelligent daily support, spanning home organisation, entertainment, health, wellness, and shopping. Amazon also introduced the Alexa+ Store, a platform for discovering third-party services and integrations.

The Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio will launch on October 29, while the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 arrive on November 12. Amazon positions the new portfolio as a leap toward making ambient AI experiences central to everyday living.

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Deutsche Börse and Circle join forces for stablecoins

Deutsche Börse and Circle signed an MoU at SIBOS 2025 to integrate EURC and USDC stablecoins into Europe’s financial markets. The partnership links digital payments with traditional systems, delivering innovative, regulated solutions.

The partnership leverages the MiCAR with Circle being the first major global issuer to comply. Stablecoins will trade on Deutsche Börse’s 360T 3DX exchange and Crypto Finance, boosting efficiency and cutting settlement risks for banks and asset managers.

Clearstream, Deutsche Börse’s post-trade business, will provide institutional-grade digital asset custody, with Crypto Finance’s German entity acting as sub-custodian. The setup securely manages stablecoins, streamlining trading, settlement, and custody for market participants.

The collaboration aims to transform financial markets by offering faster, cost-effective, and transparent solutions. Bridging traditional and digital finance, the initiative creates a unified ecosystem for seamless, regulated access to both asset types.

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New AI agent boosts game testing

Researchers from Zhejiang University and NetEase Fuxi AI Lab have developed Titan, an AI-powered agent transforming MMORPG testing. Using large-language-model reasoning, Titan navigates MMORPGs, efficiently completing tasks and identifying issues.

In trials across two commercial games, Titan achieved a 95% task completion rate and uncovered four previously undetected bugs. Outperforming human testers in speed and coverage, the AI agent offers a faster, more thorough approach to quality assurance in game development.

Titan mimics expert testers by perceiving game states, selecting actions, and diagnosing problems. Using simplified text and screenshots, it reasons through objectives, streamlining a traditionally costly and time-consuming process that can consume millions in labour.

Already integrated into QA pipelines, Titan signals a shift toward AI-driven game testing. As studios increasingly adopt AI tools, such agents could redefine efficiency across PC and mobile game development.

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Visa unveils stablecoin pilot for faster payments

Visa unveiled a stablecoin prefunding pilot for Visa Direct at SIBOS 2025, enabling faster, more flexible global payments. By integrating stablecoins, the pilot aims to modernise treasury operations, offering a solution tailored for the digital-first economy.

Traditional cross-border payments often rely on slow, costly systems that require businesses to hold large fiat balances in advance. The pilot lets companies pre-fund Visa Direct with stablecoins, cutting friction and boosting liquidity for active, efficient capital.

Financial institutions, banks, and remitters benefit from this approach, as stablecoins provide a consistent settlement layer, minimising exposure to currency volatility. Funds move in minutes, not days, enabling dynamic liquidity and predictable treasury for high-volume payouts.

Set to expand in 2026, the pilot builds on Visa’s global network and blockchain programmability, transforming how businesses handle cross-border transactions. Recipients still receive payments in local currency, ensuring seamless integration with existing systems.

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Google unveils smarter AI Mode for visual searches

Google’s upgraded AI Mode in Google Search now supports conversational queries and image uploads, delivering highly relevant visual results. Launched in the US in English, the feature allows users to refine searches naturally, perfect for finding inspiration or specific items effortlessly.

AI Mode simplifies shopping; users describe items like ‘barrel jeans, not too baggy,’ to get tailored, shoppable results. Google’s Shopping Graph, boasting over 50 billion product listings, provides details like reviews, deals, and availability, with 2 billion listings refreshed hourly.

The update harnesses Gemini 2.5’s advanced multimodal capabilities and a ‘visual search fan-out’ technique, enabling deeper image analysis. The approach identifies subtle details and secondary objects, ensuring results align closely with the user’s intent and the image’s full context.

On mobile, users can dive deeper by searching within specific images, asking follow-up questions to explore creative ideas or pinpoint exact items. The intuitive experience transforms how users seek inspiration or shop online, making searches more natural and precise.

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Claude Sonnet 4.5 expands developer options with rollbacks and longer-running agents

Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 4.5, featuring a suite of new upgrades designed to enhance coding, automation, and creativity. The update enhances Claude Code, extends Computer Use, and introduces experimental tools to boost productivity and facilitate real-world applications.

Claude Code now features checkpoints, allowing developers to roll back projects to earlier versions. The Claude API has also been expanded, supporting longer-running agents to generate files such as slides, spreadsheets, and documents directly within chats.

The model’s Computer Use function has been strengthened, enabling agents to operate applications for up to 30 hours autonomously. Anthropic says Claude Sonnet 4.5 built a Slack-style app with 11,000 lines of code in one session.

A new feature, Imagine with Claude, focuses on generating creative software. The system produced a Shakespeare-themed desktop with customised scripts and performance schedules from a single prompt, highlighting its versatility.

Anthropic has maintained steady pricing for free and premium users, positioning Sonnet 4.5 as its most practical and feature-rich release yet, combining reliability with expanded creative and developer-friendly tools.

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Gen Z most vulnerable to phishing scams

A global survey commissioned by Yubico suggests that younger workers are more vulnerable to phishing scams than older generations. Gen Z respondents reported the highest level of interaction with phishing messages, with 62 percent admitting they engaged with a scam in the past year.

The study gathered responses from 18,000 employed adults in nine countries, including the UK, US, France, and Japan. In the past twelve months, 44 percent of participants admitted to clicking on or replying to a phishing message.

AI is raising the stakes for cybersecurity. Seventy percent of those surveyed believe phishing has become more effective due to AI, and 78 percent said the attacks seem more sophisticated. More than half could not confidently identify a phishing email when shown one.

Despite growing risks, cyber defences remain patchy. Only 48 percent said their workplace used multi-factor authentication across all services, and 40 percent reported never receiving cybersecurity training from their employer.

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Rising stress leaves cyber professionals at breaking point

Burnout is a significant challenge in the cybersecurity sector, as workers face rising threats and constant pressure to defend organisations. A BBC report highlights how professionals often feel overworked and undervalued, with stress levels leading some to take extended leave.

UK-based surveys reflect growing strain. Membership body ISC2 found that job satisfaction among cybersecurity staff dropped in 2024, with burnout cited as a key issue. Experts say demands have increased while resources remain stretched, leaving staff expected to stay on call around the clock.

Hackers are becoming more aggressive, targeting health services, retailers, and critical national infrastructure. Nation-state actors, including North Korean groups linked to large crypto thefts, are also stepping up activity. These attacks add to the psychological burden on frontline defenders.

Industry figures warn that high turnover risks weakening cyber resilience, especially in junior roles. Initiatives like Cybermindz call for better mental health support, while some argue for protections akin to those for first responders.

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MIT explores AI solutions to reduce emissions

Rapid growth in AI data centres is raising global energy use and emissions, prompting MIT scientists to cut the carbon footprint through more intelligent computing, greater efficiency, and improved data centre design.

Innovations include cutting energy-heavy training, using optimised or lower-power processors, and improving algorithms to achieve results with fewer computations. Known as ‘negaflops,’ these efficiency gains can dramatically lower energy consumption without compromising AI performance.

Adjusting workloads to coincide with periods of higher renewable energy availability also helps cut emissions.

Location and infrastructure play a significant role in reducing carbon impact. Data centres in cooler climates, flexible multi-user facilities, and long-duration energy storage systems can all decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, AI is being applied to accelerate renewable energy deployment, optimise solar and wind generation, and support predictive maintenance for green infrastructure.

Experts stress that effective solutions require collaboration among academia, companies, and regulators. Combining AI efficiency, more innovative energy use, and clean energy aims to cut emissions while supporting generative AI’s rapid growth.

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Harvard researchers develop AI for brain surgery

Harvard researchers have developed an AI tool to distinguish glioblastoma from similar brain tumours during surgery. The PICTURE system gives surgeons near-real-time guidance for critical decisions during surgery.

PICTURE outperformed humans and other AI, correctly distinguishing glioblastoma from PCNSL over 98 percent of the time in international tests. The tool also flags cases it is unsure of, allowing human review and reducing the risk of misdiagnosis, particularly in complex or rare brain tumours.

The AI works on frozen tissue samples, commonly used for rapid surgical evaluation, and can identify crucial cancer features such as cell shape, density, and necrosis.

Accurate tumour differentiation helps surgeons avoid unnecessary tissue removal and choose the proper treatment- surgery for glioblastoma or radiation and chemotherapy for PCNSL.

Researchers envision PICTURE could be used in surgery and pathology to aid AI collaboration, train pathologists, and improve access to neuropathology expertise. Further studies are planned to test its accuracy across more diverse populations and potentially extend its application to other cancer types.

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