Feed aggregator

Microsoft has been one of the latest to put an estimated timeline on the arrival of a commercially viable quantum computer, predicting it will be as early as 2029. For businesses, that’s as little as ten quarterly board meetings away.

Every new prediction reignites debate about when Q-Day will finally arrive, but what’s more pressing is the preparation window it gives businesses.

Quantum readiness is not something organizations can achieve overnight. By the time a cryptographically relevant quantum computer arrives, businesses will already need to have identified vulnerable systems, mapped critical data and begun their migration. Q-day isn’t when preparation starts, it’s when preparation will be judged.

Treating quantum as tomorrow’s problem risks repeating a mistake many organizations made with Y2K. Boards need to recognize it as a critical business risk. The debate about timelines is a distraction we cannot afford when we know there may already be adversaries out there collecting data to decrypt at a later date.

How trust in business data could be swept away overnight

For long lived data - such as financial records, intellectual property or identity data - the risk doesn’t just begin when a quantum computer is able to break today’s encryption. The risk already exists through ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ attacks, where adversaries collect encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it once sufficiently powerful and viable quantum computers become available.

Many businesses brush off this potential risk for one of two reasons. Some assume that even if encrypted data is being harvested, the sheer volume involved limits the threat. But what they might not have considered is the power of AI and quantum working together.

AI has made it possible to sift through terabytes of data almost instantly, helping to identify high-value information at scale. And that’s exactly what bad actors will do once quantum is available to break the encryption.

Others assume they’re not at risk because they have little long-lived data worth stealing. Yet the impact of a compromise will extend beyond the exposed information itself. Once the integrity of data is brought into question, confidence in the systems, contracts, transactions and even the intellectual property built on that data will quickly erode. At that point, the issue becomes a loss of trust.

Why risk doesn’t only fall on the shoulders of the CISO

For many boards, quantum security still sounds like a specialist technology challenge. In reality, it’s a leadership one that touches governance, resilience, compliance and corporate accountability.

The consequences extend as far as regulatory exposure, supplier risk, customer trust, operational resilience and ultimately, confidence in the data underpinning strategic decisions and AI models that many businesses are built on. If sensitive information can no longer be trusted, neither can the decisions, transactions or services built upon it.

As organizations invest heavily in AI tools and automation, trust in data has become a business asset in its own right.

That is why quantum readiness cannot sit solely with the CISO. Security teams play a critical role in identifying exposure and planning migration, but accountability for long-term resilience ultimately rests with leadership.

Good governance means staying ahead of material risks before they become urgent. Delaying PQC migration is one of the most significant technology risks of the decade and boards that act now will be able to demonstrate exactly how important it will be to the future security of an enterprise.

Why migration will start paying dividends now

One reason organizations and business leaders underestimate the challenge ahead is the assumption that quantum readiness simply means replacing one encryption algorithm for another. In reality, cryptographic systems are highly interconnected, meaning changing one component often has implications elsewhere.

Before any organization can claim to be quantum ready, it must understand and have full visibility of its entire cryptographic estate. That includes where encryption is used, how systems interact and therefore which assets would be affected by change. Without that knowledge, it’s impossible to plan an effective migration strategy.

While the journey to quantum readiness isn’t a quick one, the process delivers immediate value. Mapping cryptographic dependencies often reveals existing security weaknesses and governance gaps that organizations can and must address today.

So in many cases, the work required to prepare for quantum threats also strengthens resilience against current ones, offering businesses ROI far quicker than many might expect.

What should boards be doing now?

Boards don’t need to become cryptographers overnight, but they do need to start asking better questions and accept that quantum security is a present-day issue.

They should be asking the right questions of the right people. This includes:

• Who is leading our quantum readiness strategy across the business?
• Do we know how to identify where we are most exposed throughout supply chains?
• Which of our data assets would still be sensitive if exposed in ten or twenty years’ time?
• Where do we rely on cryptography across the organization?
• Do we have a plan for identifying and replacing vulnerable systems and supplier dependencies?
• Do we understand the difference in cost, complexity, competitive position and reputational risk between starting today versus waiting until 2029?

Organizations on the front foot will be the ones that use this warning period to understand their exposure and modernize their cryptography, putting them in a position where they can prove they took reasonable action while they still had time.

The good news is that getting started on PQC migration is much easier than boards may realize. The first step is mapping the business’ entire cryptographic estate. And more than a future investment, this will help to identify current vulnerabilities, too.

The important thing is taking the first step sooner rather than later, as it is a long process that won’t happen overnight. The question boards should be asking themselves now is, “if quantum arrived tomorrow, what would it expose about your organization?”. If leadership can’t answer that with confidence today, then there’s work to be done.

We've featured the best firewall software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

The B2B sales process has transformed in recent years, spurred on by agentic AI developments.

These always-on systems identify sales cues and act in real-time, alongside automating orchestration and timely cross-business interactions, reducing latency.

Intelligent, critical thinking-led AI debriefs are also helping sales representatives capture customer insight.

In this model, AI underpins a hyper personalized, efficient and timely B2B sales experience which ensures every customer interaction is captured, understood and acted on.

The sales process: why traditional feels transactional

Business-to-business (B2B) sales experience looks and feels dated in this era of hyper personalized consumer selling. Sales representatives continue to record information within CRM platforms after any customer or prospect interaction, but this traditional method means that depth of information is limited to customer names, key dates, completed sales and other basic details.

This process ends up lacking the depth of the human touch and judgement, meaning the result is transactional and functional, and not always successful.

On top of this, deals take months to close, requiring input from multiple decision-makers and internal stakeholders. Sales representatives have to rely on memory and interpretation of previous interactions and also spend hours updating the wider business teams, coordinating activity and chasing for vital updates.

Often, elements of the customer experience, such as delays in delivery or incomplete orders, which directly influence the current relationship and future sales, are often not communicated down the line.

Agentic AI is changing this. Instead of relying on fragmented information and manual coordination, agentic AI presents businesses with an intelligence-led model that supports faster, more informed customer engagement.

How agentic AI is switching on customer engagement

To truly succeed in B2B sales, there must be effective collaboration throughout the business to allow rapid recognition of buying signals and swift, personalized responses. Agentic AI is switched on, constantly monitoring for these signals by tracking product usage, highlighting billing friction, checking email sentiment and, critically, prioritizing these events and orchestrating the response.

By creating quotes, sending updates to colleagues and generating prompts to help B2B revenue teams engage more effectively, agentic AI also plays a critical role in transforming productivity. By automating these tasks, representatives are free to focus on providing a more personalized customer experience, alongside improving the overall timeliness of decision-making and enhancing engagement and outcomes.

The technology can also initiate routine debriefs. Automating this after every sales visit enables the seamless capture of nuance, human judgement and subtle sales cues, for example: colleagues who may influence the decision, customer business issues that will impact the timeline or a billing dispute. All of this information would have likely been missed previously.

The agentic AI also then drives action forward, for example, triggering a pre-brief ahead of the renewal call and creating a customer-ready response and automatic update of the sales forecast in the case of a billing dispute.

It’s time to transform sales performance

Clearly, agentic AI has the potential to completely transform sales performance, capturing and contextualizing every customer interaction and empowering representatives to be more productive and successful. To achieve this, data from across the business must be structured, enriched and pulled together so that it can detect signals, prompt the correct actions and allow the business to make smarter, more timely decisions.

However, technology and the right data alone isn’t enough to ensure success. In fact, recent research has highlighted that agentic AI projects have a high failure rate, with over 40% expected to be cancelled by the end of 2027. But what is the cause for this?

To create a successful agentic AI tool, it requires complex, ground-up builds that take a significant length of time to deliver, challenging the desired Return on Investment. Instead, many organizations are now turning towards pre-built, subscription-based systems, which are changing this by offering rapid deployment and measurable impact within quarters.

As sales cycles become longer and buying committees become larger, the ability to identify signals, coordinate responses and surface insight in real time becomes increasingly valuable. This value isn’t replacing humans, but rather removing the friction that prevents representatives from selling effectively.

By combining human judgement with automated signal detection, orchestration and insight, agentic AI becomes a foundation for a responsive, personalized and truly successful B2B customer experience.

We've listed the best free CRM software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

In fact, experts recommend it because it can keep you off the hamster wheel of debt. Here's how to find the money in your budget to put toward savings and credit card payments.

(Image credit: Reina Takahashi for NPR)

• Beyerdynamic announces new DT 275 Pro wired headphones designed for use in "challenging" and noisy environments thanks to passive noise reduction
• The have a frequency range from 5Hz to 24kHz, and weigh under 200g, so they're nice and portable — and their 45-ohm impedance means they're easy for devices to drive
• They launch on July 28th 2026, and are priced at £99 (about $131 / AU$188) — as a user of Beyedynamic's more expensive headphones, I'm intrigued

Beyerdynamic has launched a new pair of on-ear headphones designed for audio and video professionals in "challenging" and noisy environments, such as live music venues, location recording and mobile production. The DT 275 Pro promise to deliver professional audio and noise isolation without a premium price tag: they're just £99 (about $131 / AU$188).

I'm a big fan of Beyerdynamics' studio headphones, so much so that they're my go-to for recording, mixing and mastering music (TechRadar's Audio Editor Becky Scarrott loved the Beyerdynamic DT 72 IE earbuds), but I don't have to do any of my music-making things on location or in noisy environments, and these new closed-back headphones have been designed for exactly that.

Beyerdynamic DT 275 Pro: key features and specs

The Beyerdynamic DT 275 Pro have an impedance of 45 ohms, making them easy to drive, and they have a quoted frequency range of 5Hz to 24kHz.

Maximum sound pressure is 125dB SPL, and they reduce ambient noise by a claimed 22dBA thanks to their closed-back, on-ear design.

Despite the slightly chunky appearance, these headphones come in just under 200g, so they should be comfortable for long shifts, and the supplied cable can be attached to the left or right ear cup and locked into place. The cable is 1.5m (4.9 feet).

The rotatable ear cups are made from sweat-resistant leatherette, which makes sense for mobile working — the velvety material used in many of the firm's studio headphone earcups isn't something you'd want to have on your head in the heat of a venue or club.

(Image credit: Beyerdynamic)

And key components such as the cup cushions are replaceable so the headphones should remain hygienic and last for a long time.

These are very much a niche product, so if you don't need the isolation and toughness I'd recommend one of the more indoor DT Pro pairs.

But if you need accurate audio when you're out and about, in a venue or on location these look like they'll be just the job — and for far less than you'd expect to pay for pro headphones that I use.

The Beyerdynamic DT 275 Pro will be available from 28 July 2026 with a list price of £99.99 / €119.00 (about $131 / AU$188).

Democrats are making the case that now is the time to tackle anti-corruption reforms — to serve as a check on Donald Trump and to overhaul a system voters say is co-opted against their interests.

(Image credit: Dustin Chambers)

It is widely accepted that technology investment is a key driver of innovation and productivity, with businesses of all sizes striving to achieve the optimal balance between modernizing their IT infrastructure with day-to-day operational priorities.

This can be a challenge and is exacerbated by the pressure to spend on AI. Organizations need to approach their IT modernization strategy in a measured way, as unfettered AI spend does not automatically equate to effective progress.

Recent industry research from Deloitte highlights the profound impact that the AI boom is having on technology investment decisions. AI is commanding a growing share of IT budgets, with 74% of organizations prioritizing investment into these areas well above other IT fundamentals such as data management, cloud platforms and enterprise resource planning.

Inevitably this raises some questions about how businesses are approaching their technology investments. With limited budgets, there are concerns that organizations are pursuing AI at a cost to operational necessities. It also highlights how IT strategies may not align fully with business objectives.

The global climate of economic uncertainty and geopolitical change has also compounded these issues. Decision making is more complex and budgets are more stretched than ever before, making it tough for any organization to implement an effective IT transformation.

Why modernization is a fine balance

In reality, it is not a viable option for the majority of organizations to modernize their entire IT infrastructure and systems in one go. Quite simply, this would be too costly and too disruptive to business operations. Instead, organizations most often opt for a more pragmatic, gradual approach that modernizes IT in planned phases.

Taking this path enables any organization to extend the life of its existing infrastructure, integrating new technologies and platforms with legacy IT along the way.

However, one of the pitfalls of this is when businesses want to add new AI technologies. They find that they are not ready to support these in terms of operational maturity or data reliability and are ill-prepared to innovate as and when needed.

This poses the question about how organizations should balance spending on phased technology replacement with achieving predictable long-term value to business operations. Front of mind for businesses is that operational efficiency is a necessity for successful and timely innovation that will stand the test of time, less so a focus on constant technology replacement.

Mitigate against pricing unpredictability

For IT leaders, while pricing concerns are in the spotlight, it is overall cost unpredictability that truly impacts innovation efforts.

Licensing models, support options and hardware pricing can change overnight, so those organizations that reduce their exposure to sudden cost hikes and have kept their options open are in a much stronger position to navigate through these scenarios and continue on their IT investment pathway.

It is not uncommon now for organizations to choose shorter term agreements or more versatile deployment paths. This might increase spending in the near term, but reduces valuable longer-term risk. Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in the virtualization market demonstrates this point.

With major changes to areas including licensing models and pricing, this spurred many IT leaders to reassess their infrastructure strategy for the longer term.

Together, these considerations are impacting decision-making about infrastructure, and the in-depth investment planning that goes hand in hand with this. This might mean more focus on evidence-driven technology purchasing, more rigorous cases to support ROI and long-term cost exposure before senior leaders sign off on any modernization projects.

Innovation is not purely about technical ambition

Under closer scrutiny, it is no surprise that organizations are becoming more wary of setting false hopes with transformation initiatives, or large-scale replacement projects. Historically these were built on optimistic longer-term assumptions and a stable global economic climate, with little requirement to ensure that business cases were based on thorough due diligence.

Not so now. While the world’s businesses continue to innovate, there has clearly been a shift in mindset about how businesses are modernizing and the way that they are reaching longer-term goals.

Decisions are less driven by sheer technical ambition, and are more firmly grounded in risk mitigation, business resilience and financial predictability. All of these help to lay solid foundations for any new implementation more dependably than blue sky thinking.

Overall, the organizations reaping the most reward in the next three to five years will be those that modernize sustainably while managing stability in core operations combined with careful budget management. Incremental IT modernization is a highly practical approach that allows innovation at the same time as minimizing disruption and the risk of cost spirals.

In a temperamental technology market with no certain change on the horizon, the businesses that understand the inextricable link between innovation and financial discipline, and apply this fast to their modernization strategies, will be the ones most set up for future success.

We've featured the best AI tool.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

Dr. Kenneth Ngure, president-elect of the International AIDS Society, says, "We have had very good scientific advances ... yet the funding cuts have also taken us back."

(Image credit: Pablo Porciuncula)

The meeting comes as both face pressures at home. Netanyahu is up for reelection, embattled in part due to his deteriorating relationship with Trump. Trump is under pressure to end an unpopular war.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

The summer holidays are here, but for most of us, that doesn’t mean work stops.

Despite booking multiple days off and roping in anyone I can help with childcare, it is inevitable that, at various points over the next six weeks, the kids will be cooped up in my office with me while I try to work.

As someone who likes to plan, I’ve already invested in several items to help keep my little ones happy and occupied whilst I keep serving up insightful content on small business tech.

I’m keen to provide them with retro-style pastimes and give them some options that get them creative and active, without creating too much noise. That said, I am already eyeing up a £300+ gaming console to get myself some quiet time – and it’s only week two (it's all about balance, right?)

Below you'll find the list of products I'm using, or planning to use, to survive the summer holidays. Half are under £20, with the rest requiring a bit more of an investment.

Of course, there is still a chance that by week six, you'll find me in the playpen playing Pokémon whilst my kids run riot.

Under £20

Silvine A4+ Classic Scrapbook

Pritt Glue Sticks

MACMILLAN The Gruffalo and Friends: Amazing Animals Sticker Book

CiaraQ Air Dry Clay

Daimeitec Catching Sticks Game

EarFun Kids Headphones Wireless

JOYIN Rock Painting Kit for Kids

Kiztoys 26 Inches Kids Dart Board Set

Over £20 (but worth it)

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro Tablet

Nintendo Switch 2 Console

Neuro Wiz Balance Board for Kids

Gupamiga Playpen

Hot Wheels Stunt and Go Transporter Truck

Heromask VR Headset for Kids 5-12

Gemmicc Magnetic Tiles

Logicraft Smart Playpal 17-In-1 Screen-Free Electronic Handheld Game

French President Emmanuel Macron said France was "facing a completely unprecedented fire," describing the situation as France's worst fire-related crisis since World War II.

(Image credit: Emma Da Silva)

As a keen fitness junkie who likes to keep track of my runs and cycles, I was amazed to learn that Amazfit finally officially launched in Australia earlier this month by way of an Amazon AU storefront. The brand specialises in fitness trackers and wearables, and looks to challenge the likes of Garmin, Apple, Samsung and Google with its budget-friendly models that have excellent health tracking.

While the launch headlined its newest Amazfit Active 3 Premium and the Helio Strap — a screenless wearable taking aim at the Fitbit Air and Garmin Cirqa — Amazon has discounted a couple of older Amazfit models for a limited time, making them even more affordable.

The Amazfit Active 2 is my top pick, and is currently 20% off, bringing the price down to justAU$159.20. Even at full price it was a great buy, but this discount makes the already affordable smartwatch even more enticing.

Our Amazfit Active 2 review gave the watch a perfect 5 stars thanks to its classic design, excellent health tracking and 10-day battery life. We’ve also named the Active 2 the best overall cheap smartwatch, beating out the likes of the Apple Watch SE 3 and the Garmin Forerunner 165. Be quick, as there are only a few hours left before the deal ends tonight.View Deal

For less than AU$160, you’ll be getting a 1.32-inch AMOLED screen with 2,000 nits max brightness, downloadable maps, 160-plus workout modes, an AI coach, a heart health tracker, a cycle tracker and nutrition tracking, to name a few. There’s also voice control and message replies, which you can’t find in most Garmin watches.

Our reviewer said they were “frankly astounded” at the amount of features in the Active 2 considering its price, even saying it’s impressive for a smartwatch of any price tag, let alone one with an RRP of less than AU$200. Features like ECG and on-device GPS were highlighted as standout features that are usually found in pricier watches.The review also praised the Amazfit Active 2’s classic stainless steel design that looks more subtle and understated compared to other smartwatches, although they found the fit of the leather strap wasn’t perfect.

One nitpick they had was the absence of NFC for on-device card payments via Zepp Pay, as the feature is only available in the Amazfit Active 2 Premium model, but that’s hardly a complaint for something this affordable — especially with this discount.

Want something even cheaper? The 4-star Amazfit Bip 6 is also discounted at AU$103.20.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 28.

Samsung's 9100 Pro 2TB SSD has dropped to AU$434.47 at Amazon Australia, well below the typical AU$699 pricing it's selling for at other retailers. Even on Amazon it was AU$644.83 before the current discount.

This isn't a deal to snooze on either, with the sale due to end at 12pm on July 29. Just note that it ships from Amazon US, so delivery can take up to two weeks.

AU$434 is still a lot to spend on a 2TB SSD, particularly if you remember how cheap storage was until relatively recently.

But SSD prices have shifted hugely since last year, and these days this is an excellent deal on Samsung's flagship PCIe 5.0 drive, which can reach sequential read speeds of up to 14,700MB/s and writes of up to 13,400MB/s.

The Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB is a great option for anyone after one of the fastest PCIe 5.0 SSDs around, particularly if you regularly work with large files or other demanding workloads.

At AU$434.47, it's a huge, and real, drop compared to the previous price at other retailers. Just keep in mind that it ships from Amazon US, so delivery can take up to two weeks.View Deal

In our review of the 9100 Pro we said, "Samsung's first true PCIe 5.0 drive is the best there is", as well as "This is a very professional-specific drive in ways that previous Samsung Pro SSDs were not. If you're not a professional user, there are better PCIe 5.0 drives out there, but for pros, there's none better than the 9100 Pro."

This is a premium 2TB SSD, so it's aimed at those who can actually take advantage of its performance, whether that's moving huge files, working with demanding creative projects or running workloads that benefit from very fast storage.

But what makes this deal particularly compelling is that the 9100 Pro is currently cheaper than some of Samsung's slower PCIe 4.0 drives. At the time of writing, the 2TB 990 EVO Plus is AU$446 at Amazon, while the 2TB 990 Pro is AU$517.67.

You don't necessarily need a PCIe 5.0 system to take advantage of the deal either. The 9100 Pro is backwards compatible with PCIe 4.0, so it'll work just fine in an older machine, albeit with its performance capped by the slower interface.

That makes it a great buy even if you're upgrading a PCIe 4.0 PC today, or using the drive in a handheld device. Plus, if you do move it to a PCIe 5.0 system later, you can unlock the full performance the drive is capable of.

Just keep in mind that this deal is specifically for the 2TB model without a heatsink as the other versions and capacities of the 9100 Pro aren't discounted.

And yes, AU$434.47 is still frustratingly pricey for 2TB of storage by historical standards, but I think getting Samsung's flagship PCIe 5.0 SSD for less than its slower models makes this an excellent deal considering current prices.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 28, No. 673.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 1143 for July 28.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 877 for Tuesday, July 28.

Sen. Rand Paul has released a tranche of Dr. Anthony Fauci's diary entries from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci is set to appear before a Senate committee Wednesday on the origins of the coronavirus.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla)

• Ukraine's State Border Guard Service says its Phoenix unit destroyed a Russian Buk-M3 launcher with a single low-cost drone
• The strike is one of many rather than a first, with Ukraine claiming dozens of Buk systems of this type have been damaged or destroyed
• Drones are increasingly being used to take out high-value military targets for a fraction of the cost

Ukraine's decision to use drones as part of its key asymmetrical war doctrine against Russia continues to deliver dividends for the country on multiple fronts, with its recent success on the battlefield centering around a Russian Buk-M3 launcher that, based on independent estimates, costs between $40 and $50 million.

This is not the first, and probably not the last, Russian Buk-M3 launcher that Ukraine has targeted of late, with Oryx, an open-source intelligence blog, putting the number at over 40 confirmed Buk kills since the conflict began.

Despite being relatively routine, Buk-M3 systems are relatively expensive to replace, and Ukraine claims to have done so with an FPV drone that cost them "only several thousand dollars."

An increasingly tough conflict for expensive military equipment

Ukraine and Russia's turn toward drones has produced one rather obvious casualty: expensive military equipment costing millions of dollars to build, and the Buk-M3 launcher is no exception.

The Buk-M3, also known as Viking in its export form and designated SA-27 by NATO, is Russia's newest medium-range surface-to-air missile system. It was adopted into Russian service in 2016 as the successor to the Buk-M2, and occupies the medium tier of Russia's layered air defense, sitting above short-range systems such as Pantsir and Tor and below the long-range S-300 and S-400.

The M3 fires the 9M317M, a single-stage solid-fuel missile with a more powerful dual-mode motor than the M2's round. That gives it roughly 70 km of range, a ceiling around 35 km, and a top speed near 1,550 m/s. The launcher carries six missiles, compared to four on the M1 and M2, and upgraded electronics are credited with reducing the time to bring the system to readiness.

That makes it a valuable target for Ukrainian drone operators, and an ironic one, since the Buk-M3 is built partly to shoot down aerial threats. Its minimum effective engagement range is roughly 2.5 km, however, so a small drone that closes inside that distance is beneath the floor of what the system's own missiles can engage.

Ukraine has developed a range of methods for reaching Russian airfields, armor, and artillery positions, among them Operation Spiderweb, which Ukraine's security service assessed as having destroyed some $7 billion in Russian military hardware, including aircraft no longer in production.

The Ukrainian Border Guard says this system was struck in transit, moving toward the front and unconcealed. That detail matters more than it appears. Air defense vehicles are at their most vulnerable during relocation, since they cannot engage effectively on the move and their protective screen is degraded, making the transit window a predictable target rather than a lucky one.

The aim behind Ukraine's systematic degradation of Russian medium-range air defense is to open corridors through radar coverage for long-range strike drones and manned aviation, which is why the tempo has increased and why strikes now reach deep into Russian territory.

A Buk-M3 lost to an FPV drone is the kind of incident that illustrates the wider problem Russia faces against a maturing Ukrainian drone industry, in a war that has settled into attrition across multiple fronts.

Let’s get this straight. AI is a disruptor, not a savior. It is not a cure for the world’s ills. When I walk through the streets of New York, I see homeless people, and I know that they don’t have enough. When I look at the statistics and I see 1/7 of the world is living in poverty, I know that there’s no simple or easy solution. Unquestionably, AI is changing everyone’s lives, is changing the world, is changing industry and business. Heck, it’s changing my own work, but it does not have the power to transform how people get goods and services, and the fundamentals of resources and energy.

We do not have unlimited resources. We do not have an unlimited supply of energy. What we’re learning, instead, is that the world is a carpet, and AI is the vacuum, potentially sucking up vast quantities of electricity and water. What we're learning, instead, is that AI sucks an enormous amount of power and resources from the world.

I’m sorry if I sound a little riled up. You can blame Elon Musk, who predicted a world of abundance within 10 years. We won’t need money in 2036. AI will be smarter than us, and so it will usher in an age of abundance. As for how it will do this, well, it’ll ignore the basic rules of economics, the basic rules of resources, and even physics, so somehow, we’ll have unlimited energy. All this, in Musk’s vision, will be thanks to AI and robotic automation, and, I guess, AI’s ability to solve problems and magically produce or protect limited resources like water, energy, and precious metals.

No, the robots won't save us

Speaking of precious metals. You can’t mine them without extreme resources, cost, and labor. Unless Musk believes that the robots that haltingly try to empty a dishwasher and fold clothes will somehow be able to not just dig out the precious metals but properly sort them, and then I’ll shuttle them all the way from mine to the factory and ultimately your phones.

I’m not saying that world can never exist, but even if it does, even if robots are doing that level of work, the fundamentals of our global economy won’t change that easily (if at all). None of this is going to drag people out of poverty and into a world of abundance; that simply is not going to happen thanks to AI. If anything, AI’s rapid use of water and energy could make those resources scarce and more expensive, thereby pushing more people over the poverty line.

Now I do have a thought in between all this. If occasional trillionaire Elon Musk wants to help people with resources and poverty, then maybe he could take some of those billions that he has now and donate them. Musk already has a charitable foundation, but according to some reports, it has zero employees and, for the most part, donates funds to a narrow set of insiders.

I'm not buying what he's selling

So, what exactly is going on here? What is Elon Musk selling? Promising an age of abundance through AI and robots, of course, benefits him and his now publicly traded massive SpaceXAI company, which combines the space company with X and XAI, and Tesla, which is trying to build all those bloodless humanoids. The more people believe that AI is the answer, that robotics is the solution, the more money he will make, and the bigger his company will grow, but scale does not equal a solution.

Look, it’s clear that we are at a tipping point. No one really understands the true power and potential of AI, especially as it relates to what might happen with artificial general intelligence. I mean, we have hints, and they’re not the most positive ones.

Perhaps you’ve heard about OpenAI and Hugging Face and how, when OpenAI was testing a new powerful model, the model basically jumped the fence (it left the sandbox and went online) and went into the Hugging Face system because it knew that it could find the solution for its task there. Then Hugging Face didn’t even have a good US model to combat it, so it used some open Chinese models. It was, to say the least, a terrifying mess.

My point is we expect change, and we expected it to be rapid. What happens next will be unpredictable and unsettling, but it is not going to eliminate the need for goods, services, hard work, creation, and the money to support billions of people in their daily lives with the proper resources like food, water, energy, and housing.

The Age of Abundance is a fantasy sold by an AI charlatan, one who tells the best story to serve his own ends. The cost of labor and resources to build will not magically drop to zero. Water and food shortages won’t suddenly, or even in a decade’s time, be solved. Musk’s vision wishes away the basic laws of commerce, physics, and human need to build an AI/robot utopia.

That world may be possible, but only if the AI and robots truly take over and eradicate us. I sure hope that isn’t the world Musk is envisioning.

Postscript:

Without mentioning Elon's name, I asked Gemini whether AI and robots could possibly bring about a cash-free age of abundance. It shared my skepticism.

"When roughly 10% of the world’s population (over 800 million people) still lives in extreme poverty today, and real-world resources like water, arable land, and rare-earth metals are under intense strain, the concept of a moneyless, AI-driven utopia sounds less like an economic plan and more like a science-fiction fairy tale....The leap from 'AI can write essays' to 'AI can eliminate physical scarcity' ignores the fundamental laws of physics and human nature."

The EV maker says a Supreme Court ruling striking down “Liberation Day” tariffs isn’t enough — it wants a guaranteed refund with interest.