The 2026 Adwanted Media Research Awards will feature a new category for Best Use of AI in Research Projects, reflecting the growing importance of this technology in the industry.
Head judge Denise Turner of IPA said AI should be viewed as a tool to expedite workflows, not replace human insight, emphasising that researchers remain essential to interpreting results and posing the right questions.
Route CEO Euan Mackay said AI enables digital twins, synthetic data, and clean-room integrations, shifting researchers’ roles from survey design to auditing and ensuring data integrity in an AI-driven environment.
OMD’s Laura Rowe highlighted AI’s ability to rapidly process raw data, transcribe qualitative research, and extend insights across strategy and planning — provided ethical oversight remains in place.
ITV’s Neil Mortensen called this the start of a ‘gold rush’, urging the industry to use AI to automate tedious tasks while preserving rigorous methods and enabling more time for deep analysis.
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US electricity prices are rising as the energy demands of data centres surge, driven by the rapid growth of AI technologies. The average retail price per kilowatt-hour increased by 6.5% between May 2024 and May 2025, with some states experiencing significantly sharper increases.
Maine saw the sharpest rise in electricity prices at 36.3%, with Connecticut and Utah following closely behind. Utilities are passing on infrastructure costs, including new transmission lines, to consumers. In Northern Virginia, residents could face monthly bill increases of up to $37 by 2040.
Analysts warn that the shift to generative AI will lead to a 160% surge in energy use at data centres by 2030. Water use is also rising sharply, as Google reported its facilities consumed around 6 billion gallons in 2024 alone, amid intensifying global AI competition.
Tech giants are turning to alternative energy to keep pace. Google has announced plans to power data centres with small nuclear reactors through a partnership with Kairos Power, while Microsoft and Amazon are ramping up nuclear investments to secure long-term supply.
President Donald Trump has pledged more than $92 billion in AI and energy infrastructure investments, underlining Washington’s push to ensure the US remains competitive in the AI race despite mounting strain on the grid and water resources.
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Integratel Perú has secured a 100 MHz spectrum block to accelerate the deployment of 5G, laying the foundation for faster connections, lower latency, and greater device capacity.
A move that is expected to boost Peru’s digital transformation and strengthen local industries’ competitiveness.
The company has already modernised 1,400 antennas as part of a wider network upgrade that will continue into 2027, preparing the ground for nationwide 5G rollout once fully authorised.
Under its Movistar Empresas brand, Integratel plans to enhance digital services, including personnel identification systems that use cameras to verify protective equipment in restricted areas. With 5G, such tools will deliver more explicit images and real-time alerts, reducing human oversight.
As part of its spectrum award commitments, Integratel will expand 4G coverage to 437 rural locations and extend connectivity along 545 kilometres of roads.
It will also deliver 5G to 92 public institutions, including schools, hospitals, and Pan American Games venues, ensuring wider access to advanced connectivity nationwide.
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AI can help build individual learning paths for Ukraine’s 3.5 million students, but its use must remain ethical, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Yevhen Kudriavets has said.
Speaking to UNN, Kudriavets stressed that AI can analyse large volumes of information and help students acquire the knowledge they need more efficiently. He said AI could construct individual learning trajectories faster than teachers working manually.
He warned, however, that AI should not replace the educational process and that safeguards must be found to prevent misuse.
Kudriavets also said students in Ukraine should understand the reasons behind using AI, adding that it should be used to achieve knowledge rather than to obtain grades.
The deputy minister emphasised that technology itself is neutral, and how people choose to apply it determines whether it benefits education.
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Real-time translation is becoming a standard feature across consumer tech, with Samsung, Google, and Apple all introducing new tools. Apple’s recently announced Live Translation on AirPods demonstrates the utility of such features, particularly for travellers.
YouTube has joined the trend, expanding its multi-language audio feature to millions of creators worldwide. The tool enables creators to add dubbed audio tracks in multiple languages, powered by Google’s Gemini AI, replicating tone and emotion.
The feature was first tested with creators like MrBeast, Mark Rober, and Jamie Oliver. YouTube reports that Jamie Oliver’s channel saw its views triple, while over 25% of the watch time came from non-primary languages.
Mark Rober’s channel now supports more than 30 languages per video, helping creators reach audiences far beyond their native markets. YouTube states that this expansion should make content more accessible to global viewers and increase overall engagement.
Subtitles will still be vital for people with hearing difficulties, but AI-powered dubbing could reduce reliance on them for language translation. For creators, it marks a significant step towards making content truly global.
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South Korea and NATO have pledged closer cooperation on cybersecurity following high-level talks in Seoul this week, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The discussions, led by Ambassador for International Cyber Affairs Lee Tae Woo and NATO Assistant Secretary General Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe, focused on countering cyber threats and assessing risks in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions.
Launched in 2023, the high-level cyber dialogue aims to deepen collaboration between South Korea and NATO in the cybersecurity domain.
The meeting followed talks between Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and NATO Military Committee chair Giuseppe Cavo Dragone during the Seoul Defence Dialogue earlier this week.
Dragone said cooperation would expand across defence exchanges, information sharing, cyberspace, space, and AI as ties between Seoul and NATO strengthen.
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Broadcom has secured a $10 billion agreement to supply custom AI chips, with analysts pointing to OpenAI as the likely customer.
The US semiconductor firm announced the deal alongside better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, driven by growing demand for its ASICs. It forecast a strong fourth quarter as cloud providers seek alternatives to Nvidia, whose GPUs remain costly and supply-constrained.
Chief executive Hock Tan said Broadcom is collaborating with four potential new clients on chip development, adding to existing partnerships with major players such as Google and Meta.
The company recently introduced the Tomahawk Ultra and next-generation Jericho networking chips, further strengthening its position in the AI computing sector.
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The US House of Representatives has passed an $848 billion defence policy bill with new provisions for cybersecurity and AI. Lawmakers voted 231 to 196 to approve the chamber’s version of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).
The bill mandates that the National Security Agency brief Congress on plans for its Cybersecurity Coordination Centre and requires annual reports from combatant commands on the levels of support provided by US Cyber Command.
It also calls for a software bill of materials for AI-enabled technology that the Department of Defence uses. The Pentagon will be authorised to create up to 12 generative AI projects to improve cybersecurity and intelligence operations.
An adopted amendment allows the NSA to share threat intelligence with the private sector to protect US telecommunications networks. Another requirement is that the Pentagon study the National Guard’s role in cyber response at the federal and state levels.
Proposals to renew the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act and the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program were excluded from the final text. The Senate is expected to approve its version of the NDAA next week.
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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed that data was affected in a cyberattack that has kept its UK factories idle for more than a week. The company stated that it is contacting anyone whose data was involved, although it did not clarify whether the breach affected customers, suppliers, or internal systems.
JLR reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and immediately shut down IT systems to limit damage. Production at Midlands and Merseyside sites has been halted until at least Thursday, with staff instructed not to return before next week.
The disruption has also hit suppliers and retailers, with garages struggling to order spare parts and dealers facing delays registering vehicles. JLR said it is working around the clock to restore operations in a safe and controlled way, though the process is complex.
Responsibility for the hack has been claimed by Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, a group linked to previous attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Las Vegas casinos in the UK and the US. The hackers posted alleged screenshots from JLR’s internal systems on Telegram last week.
Cybersecurity experts say the group’s claim that ransomware was deployed raises questions, as it appears to have severed ties with Russian ransomware gangs. Analysts suggest the hackers may have only stolen data or are building their own ransomware infrastructure.
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A team of international researchers has shown how training neural networks directly with light on photonic chips could make AI faster and more sustainable.
A breakthrough study, published in Nature, involved collaboration between the Politecnico di Milano, EPFL Lausanne, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute.
The research highlights how physical neural networks, which use analogue circuits that exploit the laws of physics, can process information in new ways.
Photonic chips developed at the Politecnico di Milano perform mathematical operations such as addition and multiplication through light interference on silicon microchips only a few millimetres in size.
By eliminating the need to digitise information, these chips dramatically cut both processing time and energy use. Researchers have also pioneered an ‘in-situ’ training technique that enables photonic neural networks to learn tasks entirely through light signals, instead of relying on digital models.
The result is a training process that is faster, more efficient and more robust.
Such advances could lead to more powerful AI models capable of running directly on devices instead of being dependent on energy-hungry data centres.
An approach that paves the way for technologies such as autonomous vehicles, portable intelligent sensors and real-time data processing systems that are both greener and quicker.
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