Future of work

AI assistants drive a powerful shift in modern work

AI assistants have become a standard feature of modern working life, increasingly used across business, education, and government for writing, analysis, research, and learning tasks. Their widespread adoption reflects a broader shift in how digital tools support productivity and knowledge work.

As their use expands, AI literacy is emerging as a key professional competence. Understanding how to work effectively with AI assistants is becoming essential for workforce readiness, skills development, and long-term employability.

The growing reliance on AI assistants also raises important questions around responsibility and oversight. While these tools can significantly improve efficiency, they generate content rather than verified facts, making human judgment, accountability, and fact-checking indispensable.

Understanding how AI assistants function is therefore critical. Built on large language models, they predict language patterns rather than think or reason like humans. This technical reality underpins discussions on transparency, reliability, and appropriate use in professional contexts.

In parallel, AI assistants are moving from standalone chatbots into embedded features within workplace software, including documents, spreadsheets, and collaboration platforms. This shift strengthens their role as in-context work tools, while also increasing the need for clear organisational guidelines on their use.

The AI assistant ecosystem is also expanding globally, with platforms offering different approaches to privacy, integration, and governance. This diversity gives users more choice but complicates alignment across regulatory and organisational environments.

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Agentic AI drives structural change in customer care

Customer care is undergoing structural change as agentic AI moves from experimental pilots to large-scale deployment. Advances in AI capabilities, combined with growing organisational readiness, are enabling companies to integrate AI systems directly into core customer service operations, particularly in call centres.

The increasing use of agentic AI is elevating customer care to a strategic management issue. Senior leadership, including CEOs, is paying closer attention to customer operations as a source of resilience, efficiency, and competitive differentiation, rather than viewing it solely as a support function.

At the same time, a growing divide is emerging between organisations that can scale AI effectively and those that remain at an early stage of adoption. AI leaders are investing in internal capabilities, governance structures, and workforce readiness, allowing them to deploy AI consistently across customer interactions.

Agentic AI is increasingly shaping end-to-end customer care models. Instead of being used for isolated automation tasks, AI systems are becoming the coordinating layer for customer service, managing interactions across channels and supporting more complex service processes.

Automation levels in customer care are rising rapidly. Some organisations are automating a majority of customer contacts, driven by improvements in natural language processing, decision-making, and integration with enterprise systems. This trend is changing how customer demand is managed at scale.

Human roles in customer care are evolving alongside automation. AI tools are being used to support agents in decision-making, reduce handling time, and improve service consistency. As a result, human agents are increasingly focused on cases requiring judgement, empathy, and contextual understanding.

Despite the rapid adoption of AI, customer satisfaction remains the primary objective. Efficiency gains, cost reduction, and revenue growth are important outcomes, but they are increasingly assessed based on their impact on customer experience and service quality.

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Robots edge closer to human-like movement

Engineers are working to make robots move with greater balance and fluidity, bringing machines closer to human-like motion. Progress depends heavily on actuators, the components that convert energy into precise physical movement.

Traditional electric motors have enabled many robotic breakthroughs, yet limitations in efficiency, safety and responsiveness remain clear. Machines often consume too much power, overheat at small sizes and lack the flexibility needed for smooth interaction.

Major manufacturers including Schaeffler and Hyundai Mobis are now designing advanced actuators that provide better control, real-time feedback and improved energy efficiency. Such innovations could allow humanoid robots to operate safely alongside workers and perform practical industrial tasks.

Researchers are also experimenting with softer materials and air-powered systems that behave more like muscles than rigid machinery. Continued advances could eventually produce robots capable of natural, graceful movement, opening new possibilities for everyday use.

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New AI training platform for Olympians unveiled by Google Cloud

Google Cloud has launched an AI-powered video analysis platform designed to help US Ski & Snowboard athletes refine performance ahead of major international competitions.

Built using Gemini and advanced Google DeepMind models, the system analyses the biomechanics behind high-speed freestyle skiing and snowboarding manoeuvres.

Traditional motion capture required specialised suits and controlled lab environments. Google’s platform converts smartphone footage into biomechanical analysis, mapping body positioning, trick amplitude, and edge control within minutes.

Coaches and athletes can query performance data conversationally for immediate insight.

Near real-time delivery marks a significant shift in training methodology. Analysis can be reviewed on the slopes shortly after a run, enabling faster technical adjustments.

The technology is also supporting athlete preparation for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, where marginal gains can determine podium outcomes.

Applications extend beyond winter sports. Similar AI biomechanics systems could support physical rehabilitation, robotics engineering, and industrial safety environments where precision movement analysis is essential.

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Dubai hosts launch of AI tools for university students

The UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has partnered with Microsoft to develop AI agents to help university students find jobs. The initiative was announced in Dubai during a major policy gathering in the UAE.

The collaboration in the UAE will use Microsoft Azure to build prototype AI agents supporting personalised learning and career navigation. Dubai-based officials said the tools are designed to align higher education with labour market needs in the UAE.

Four AI agents are being developed in the UAE, covering lifelong skills planning, personalised learning, course co creation and research alignment. Dubai remains central to the project as a hub for higher education innovation in the UAE.

Officials in the UAE said the partnership reflects national priorities around innovation and a knowledge based economy. Microsoft said Dubai offers an ideal environment to scale AI driven education tools across the UAE.

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EU split widens over ban on AI nudification apps

European lawmakers remain divided over whether AI tools that generate non-consensual sexual images should face an explicit ban in the EU legislation.

The split emerged as debate intensified over the AI simplification package, which is moving through Parliament and the Council rather than remaining confined to earlier negotiations.

Concerns escalated after Grok was used to create images that digitally undressed women and children.

The EU regulators responded by launching an investigation under the Digital Services Act, and the Commission described the behaviour as illegal under existing European rules. Several lawmakers argue that the AI Act should name pornification apps directly instead of relying on broader legal provisions.

Lead MEPs did not include a ban in their initial draft of the Parliament’s position, prompting other groups to consider adding amendments. Negotiations continue as parties explore how such a restriction could be framed without creating inconsistencies within the broader AI framework.

The Commission appears open to strengthening the law and has hinted that the AI omnibus could be an appropriate moment to act. Lawmakers now have a limited time to decide whether an explicit prohibition can secure political agreement before the amendment deadline passes.

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MIT researchers unveil EnCompass for AI agent search

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Asari AI have introduced EnCompass, a framework designed to enhance how AI agents interact with large language models.

The system improves agent performance by automatically backtracking when errors occur and running multiple execution paths in parallel to identify the most effective outcome.

Programming AI agents traditionally requires extensive additional code to handle model mistakes. EnCompass removes that burden by embedding retry and search logic directly into execution.

Developers annotate key decision points, allowing the framework to explore alternative reasoning paths while preserving the agent’s original workflow structure.

Efficiency gains appear significant. Trials show coding effort for search implementation reduced by as much as 80%, while accuracy in code translation tasks improved between 15% and 40%.

Researchers demonstrated the framework’s ability to optimise repository translation and rule discovery across complex digital systems.

Future applications extend to large-scale software maintenance, scientific experimentation, and engineering design. Presented at NeurIPS, EnCompass positions structured search as key to advancing reliable, high-performance AI agent systems.

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Germany fines Amazon €59 million for abusing market power in seller pricing

The German competition authority has fined Amazon €59 million for abusing its dominant position by influencing the pricing behaviour of third-party sellers.

Regulators concluded that Amazon’s pricing algorithms and Fair Pricing Policy breached national digital dominance rules and the EU competition law, rather than aligning with fair marketplace standards.

The authority argued that Amazon competes directly with merchants on its platform while shaping their prices through restrictions such as caps that penalise sellers who exceed certain limits.

Officials described that approach as incompatible with healthy competition since a platform should not influence rivals’ commercial strategies while participating in the same market.

Amazon strongly disputed the ruling and claimed the conclusion conflicts with the EU consumer standards. The company argued that the decision forces the platform to promote prices that fail to reflect competitive market conditions and announced it will challenge the findings.

The case follows a 2025 preliminary assessment and builds on Amazon’s earlier designation in 2022 as a company of paramount significance for competition, a judgement upheld by the Federal Court of Justice in Germany in 2024.

A ruling that marks another step in Europe’s efforts to rein in digital platforms that wield extensive influence across multiple markets.

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Spain faces escalating battle with Telegram founder

The confrontation between Spain and Telegram founder Pavel Durov has intensified after he claimed that Pedro Sánchez endangered online freedoms.

Government officials responded that the tech executive spread lies rather than engage with the proposed rules in good faith. Sánchez argued that democracy would not be silenced by what he called the techno-oligarchs of the algorithm.

The dispute followed the unveiling of new measures aimed at major technology companies. The plan introduces a ban on social media use for under-16s and holds corporate leaders legally responsible when unlawful or hateful content remains online rather than being removed.

Platforms would also need to adopt age-verification tools such as ID checks or biometric systems, which Durov argued could turn Spain into a surveillance state by allowing large-scale data collection.

Tensions widened as Sánchez clashed with prominent US tech figures. Sumar urged all bodies linked to the central administration to leave X, a move that followed Elon Musk’s accusation that the Spanish leader was acting like a tyrant.

The row highlighted how Spain’s attempt to regulate digital platforms has placed its government in open conflict with influential technology executives.

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Claude Opus 4.6 sets new benchmark for enterprise AI

Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.6, its most advanced AI model to date, introducing significant improvements in coding performance, reasoning depth, and long-context comprehension.

Engineering workflows stand to benefit from stronger debugging, code review, and better large-scale repository management, while agentic task execution now runs for more extended periods with greater reliability.

The model’s 1M token context window, now in beta, enables sustained reasoning across vast datasets and extended conversations. Performance gains span multiple benchmarks, leading in agentic coding, multidisciplinary reasoning, and high-value knowledge work.

Information retrieval in long documents has also improved, addressing persistent industry concerns around context degradation.

Operational capabilities extend beyond software development into enterprise productivity. Financial analysis, research, and document workflows gain direct support, with spreadsheet and presentation integrations enhancing daily business use.

Within Claude Code, newly introduced agent teams allow multiple AI agents to collaborate autonomously on complex workloads.

Safety remains central, with expanded evaluations showing low misalignment risk backed by interpretability research and cybersecurity safeguards. Additional tools- adaptive thinking, effort scaling, and context compaction- add flexibility for deploying long-running AI systems at scale.

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