Salesforce is making AI a bit more accessible by announcing that its Agentforce for Small Business tools will now be available in all its Salesforce Suite plans.

More specifically, small businesses will now have access to powerful AI functionalities that have become common, albeit expensive, in business platforms like Salesforce.

Features like advanced pipeline summaries, email content generation for easy follow-ups, and AI assistant access to guide small business owners through the CRM platform.

Salesforce Announces Agentforce for Small Businesses in Suite Plans

Announced in a company blog post, Salesforce is officially bringing its AI-powered Agentforce for Small Business features to the Suite plans available from the popular CRM.

“Teams can quickly understand what’s happening with customers, follow up faster, and act on insights, all from the same place you already run your business.” – Salesforce announcement

The AI features will be available on the Starter Suite and Pro Suite plans, as well as the Free Suite plan, which allows you to get started at no cost for up to two users.

Check out our Salesforce Free Suite review to learn more

What Can Agentforce for Small Businesses Do?

Adding AI to business software is all too common in 2026, but Salesforce provides some truly helpful tools that can supercharge small business to make sales, analyze analytics, and streamline communication.

Again, all of these tools will be available in all Suite plans, even the free option.

• Sales summaries – Users will be able to get “instant, high-level summary” of deal status, so you’ll know exactly where you stand before every meeting.
• Generated follow-up emails – You’ll be able to generate follow-up emails based on “customer data and business context” to follow up with clients quickly.
• Employee Agent – This AI assistant works like conversational chatbots to provide “summaries, draft personalized communications, and log activities.”

Making AI Accessible

To say free AI features in business software is rare would be quite an understatement. Typically, these automation-focused tools cost extra or require credits, which creates a substantial barrier to entry for small businesses on a budget.

Heck, even Salesforce pricing shows that the Agentforce functionality is typically reserved for the most expensive paid plan, with the Agentforce 1 Sales plan costing $550 per user, per month.

That’s why this announcement is such a big deal for small businesses. It’s one of the few examples of a CRM platform providing AI features at absolute no additional cost. And, in the case of the free plan, no cost at all.

The impact of AI in the workplace could be brutal for workers everywhere, a new study indicates, with over half of companies in the US saying they plan to reduce worker compensation by the end of this year, due to AI.

Not only did 54% of the surveyed companies say they would be reducing their pay, but another 26% say they plan to entirely lay off workers.

These insights come after years of white collar job reductions across the tech industry and serve as another reminder that our lengthy timeline of AI-related job insecurity has not yet come to an end.

Half of US Companies Plan Compensation Reductions

The new survey is out from ResumeBuilder.com, which polled 866 US business leaders to conclude that “54% of companies have or will reduce employee compensation to free up capital for AI spending in 2026.”

According to the report, this trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future, as “the vast majority expect further AI investment at the expense of employees.”

Of the companies that are cutting back on compensation due to AI, opinions are mixed on the exact reason. 75% say AI offers a competitive advantage, while 74% specifically point to revenue growth thanks to AI tools.

In addition, 57% say they “risk falling behind competitors without significant AI investment.”

Bonuses May Be the First to Go

Bonuses are in danger across the largest amount of companies. Here’s how the various types of compensation being reduced, according to the report:

• Bonuses (61%)
• Equity or stock awards (60%)
• Raises (59%)
• Benefits (53%)
• Base salaries (43%)

It’s worth noting that these are all self-reported claims. We’ll have to wait to see if compensations really are reduced to this extent.

An Overwhelming Majority Plan on Future Layoffs

One last troubling statistic from the new report? 94% of the surveyed companies say they “expect to reduce headcount as AI takes over more functions.”

In other words, half of the companies may be planning compensation cuts in 2026 — but an overwhelming majority are planning on even more layoffs at some point in the near future.

Last year, we covered British computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton’s view that AI will “very likely” cause mass unemployment.

We’ve already seen plenty of headline-grabbing mass layoffs due to AI, from Accenture to Duolingo. Executives’ minds seem to be made up. They’re operating in lockstep, moving towards a goal of lowering headcounts while relying on AI to pick up the slack.

Cyber crime threats have reached a global “tipping point,” with the acceleration of AI a major factor, according to startling new research from Armis.

Among the findings, it is revealed that more than half of surveyed organizations (54%) have already been impacted by an AI-generated or AI-led attack in the last 12 months, with a further 50% confirming that they’ve been unable to “adequately secure” their organization post-attack.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence that, at the moment, AI is transforming cybersecurity for the worse. Recently, it was reported that 68% of professionals believe that existing security tools are unsuitable to mitigate rising cybersecurity threats.

Armis Warns of Global Cyberwarfare ‘Tipping Point’

Armis, a leading cybersecurity management company, has issued some stark warnings to the business sector with its latest report, A World Under Pressure: Cyberwarfare in an Age of AI-Fueled Escalation.

The research paints a grim picture about the cybersecurity landscape, which it argues has reached a “global tipping point.” The overwhelming majority (89%) of surveyed IT leaders, for instance, are concerned about the impact of cyberwarfare on their organizations — representing an increase of 35% compared with their 2024 findings.

According to Armis co-founder and CTO, Nadir Izrael:

“Geopolitical tensions, AI acceleration, and unresolved security gaps are colliding, bringing the state of cyberwarfare to a boiling point…organizational leaders must heed the call and immediately enhance their proactive cybersecurity operations before it’s too late.”

AI Acceleration a Major Factor in Crisis

Reportedly, the rapid development of AI is a massive contributor to the escalating crisis. Nearly eight in ten respondents (79%) are concerned about the ability of nation states to use AI to develop “sophisticated” and “targeted” cyberattacks,” representing a 6% increase on the 2025 report.

Meanwhile, more than half of respondents (54%) have already been impacted by AI-driven threats in the last year, with 50% acknowledging their failure to adequately secure their respective organizations in the wake of these attacks.

The report also observes a concerning disconnect between the scale of this threat and individuals’ perception of their ability to handle it. 76% of IT leaders believe they are ready to “mitigate” AI-led threats — a confidence that simply doesn’t stack up with the other findings.

Evidence of Cybersecurity Crisis Impossible to Ignore

There’s a growing body of evidence that’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore — the business sector is in cybersecurity crisis. With the rapid development of AI, cybercriminals are evolving their tactics to continuously stay one foot ahead of the defense. In fact, AI figures prominently in our list of the top cybersecurity trends of 2026.

To navigate this changing landscape, businesses need to take some urgent steps. First, they should increase their cybersecurity budgets as a matter of priority. This will allow them to invest in top talent, as well as the latest technology, to combat the rise of AI-led threats.

Crucially, organizations need to invest time and resources into upskilling their existing employees on how to spot and nullify threats. Every single employee represents a potential attack vector, and alarmingly, senior leaders are just as culpable as juniors.

According to our own research, a shocking 98% of bosses can’t identify all the signs of a phishing attack, indicating that this is a major problem felt organization-wide.

US logistics businesses have reported the highest level of operational pressure since April last year, shows the latest Tech.co data.

Major unforeseen circumstances are the root cause of this increased pressure, as businesses deal with severe weather events, such as Storm Fern.

To combat pressure, businesses are turning to vehicle maintenance measures, securing their day-to-day operations against an increasingly volatile environment.

Operational Pressure Felt by US Logistics Businesses Reaches All-Time High

US logistics businesses are facing the highest amount of operational pressure since last April. 

Tech.co’s ‘Operational Pressure Index’ reached 44 in February 2026, the highest figure recorded in our data so far. The figure is indicative of a sharp and rapid spike in operational strain over the past month.

Tech.co has been tracking operational pressure within the logistics industry since April last year. Our ‘operational strain’ score evaluates levels of freight demand, issue severity, and business stance across surveyed logistics firms.

Major Unforeseen Circumstances Root Cause of Pressures

In our research, 30% of logistics businesses cited major unforeseen circumstances as a cause for the rise in operational pressure.

Severe weather is likely to have contributed to this rise. Significantly, late January saw the surge of Storm Fern across the South and North East of the US, causing major disruption to the freight market.

Unforeseen events such as severe weather can cause knock-on effects for the industry, including loss of power for warehouses and labor challenges as drivers deal with more challenging road conditions.

Businesses Focus on Vehicle Maintenance Amidst Pressure

Vehicle upkeep rose by 3 percentage points from January to February, positioning maintenance as a priority as businesses face a spike in operational pressure.

Among the firms prioritizing vehicle upkeep, 70% are focusing on preventative maintenance as their top strategy. This indicates that logistics businesses are solidifying their current operations to help secure them against further disruptions.

“With the industry currently volatile, we’re seeing companies are taking steps to invest now and protect themselves in the future. The move is an essential one, as companies look to maintain some semblance of control where they can, in the face of ever more challenges and disruption to the supply chain.” Jack Turner, Editor at Tech.co

Behind preventative maintenance, logistics businesses are also employing methods such as addressing mechanical issues (52%) and upgrading/replacing components (51%). As pressure rises, this further shows logistics businesses are in a state of pre-emptive strengthening.

Intuit, the global fintech company behind accounting solution QuickBooks, is partnering with Anthropic to introduce custom AI agents to customers. The two institutions announced the “game-changing” partnership this week.

According to the press release, the multi-year partnership will allow businesses that use Intuit’s suite of products to build “secure, accurate” AI agents that support compliance and streamline complex workflows. At the same time, Intuit’s financial and marketing tools will be available to users of Anthropic tools, including its flagship chatbot Claude.

The Intuit-Anthropic deal is the latest in a long line of partnerships between big tech firms and AI startups. From a business perspective, AI has demonstrated a clear aptitude for automating repetitive tasks and boosting worker efficiency, even as concerns mount that its increasing prevalence could lead to mass unemployment.

The Intuit and Anthropic Partnership

Intuit and Anthropic have announced a new multi-year partnership to bring custom AI agents to businesses that use Intuit products. The two companies announced the news this week via a press release, with Intuit Chief Technology Officer, Alex Balazs, calling it a “groundbreaking partnership.”

As per the new agreement, customers of the Intuit suite of products — which includes QuickBooks, TurboTax, Credit Karma, Mailchimp, and Intuit Enterprise Suite — will get the benefits of Anthropic’s flagship chatbot, Claude, directly in the platform.

At the same time, Anthropic’s products — Cowork, Claude for Enterprise, and Claude.ai — will gain access to Intuit’s extensive expertise and tools across finance and marketing.

A Highly Personalized Experience

Intuit hopes that this new partnership will deliver “highly personalized experiences” for its business customers. In particular, customers will be able to build and deploy their own AI agents, which are specifically designed to accommodate each business’s specific needs, while maintaining regulatory compliance.

The press release gives the example of a regional restaurant chain with 15 sites, which could use Claude to combine third-party sales and inventory data with Intuit data, including food costs, payroll, and workforce hours. Ultimately, this would establish a picture of which locations were performing efficiently and allow the business to make decisions based on intelligent insights.

Anthropic users, meanwhile, will get the benefit of Intuit’s tools and expertise. A microbusiness owner, for example, could feed a list of their transactions into Claude, which could turn them into a branded, pay-enabled invoice, thanks to Intuit.

Customers Win — But Workers Lose

Increasingly, big tech firms are teaming up with AI startups in a bid to bolster their services and gain a first-move advantage in an AI-saturated marketplace. The Microsoft-OpenAI agreement was arguably the first of its kind, and the likes of Amazon, NVIDIA, and Meta have since followed suit.

The benefits are clear for both parties. Tech firms get priority access to innovative new technology; AI startups get access to new markets. And ultimately, the customer is the winner.

However, the increasing convergence of AI and business does potentially spell disaster for one demographic: the workers. There’s already mounting evidence that companies are laying off employees in favor of automation. With the partnerships trend going nowhere, this is likely to become more pronounced.

According to a new report from Experian and Forrester Consulting, 68% of business leaders believe that their current security tools aren’t up to the task when it comes to fending off cyber attacks.

However, as threats evolve in 2026, many businesses are turning to machine learning to close the gap, and the results have been quite promising.

The main benefit businesses are seeing is real-time fraud detection, as well as the ability to provide better customer service and improved accuracy when it comes to detecting threats.

Leaders Aren’t Confident in Security Tools

A new report from Experian and Forrester Consulting has revealed that 68% of business leaders believe their current security tools can’t keep up the pace when it comes to navigating the evolving threat of fraud attacks.

This remains a huge concern for businesses, particularly as 67% expect more fraud attacks in 2026 than in the previous year.

Businesses Are Turning to Machine Learning for Security

According to the report, businesses are investing in machine learning as a way to bolster security in 2026. 

71% of businesses are investing more in technology rather than human analysts, suggesting that the potential limitations of traditional methods are becoming more obvious.

In particular, businesses are turning to machine learning to help process the large datasets being produced for more accurate fraud detection measures. And, they’re seeing great benefits, with 70% of respondents agreeing that machine learning has improved their ability to detect fraud that a rules-only system would have missed.

Likewise, 66% of businesses say that machine learning has improved their ability to identify new types of fraud faster than before. This positions machine learning as a key element of security protocols for the future, as threats develop more with AI.

Benefits of Machine Learning in Combatting Fraud Attacks

The main benefit businesses identified in using machine learning to tackle fraud is through real-time detection measures, which was cited by 54% of respondents. Models can identify and flag anything suspicious much faster than a traditional system can.

Similarly, 52% of respondents say that better customer experience with less security friction is another key benefit. Machine learning allows businesses to make faster security decisions, and it allows them to carry out passive fraud checks regularly.

51% of respondents also noted an improved accuracy in their detection of fraud when adopting machine learning, especially when compared with rules-based systems alone. As models can be continually retrained and improved, businesses can be sure that the system won’t miss any new threats.

When adopting machine learning into a security stack, the report claims the most important element is having sufficient, high-quality data available, in order for the system to be as effective as possible.

It’s official; artificial intelligence is making cybersecurity more difficult, with a recent report finding that the average AI-powered cyber attack is deployed in only 29 minutes, a 65% decrease since 2024.

To make matters worse, AI-powered cyber attacks — like advanced phishing schemes and automated reconnaissance — are becoming more and more common, with an 89% increase since last year.

Luckily, the report does provide some recommendations for protecting your business from these new, advanced attacks, like eliminating blind spots between systems and being proactive about shoring up your AI models.

AI-Powered Cyber Attacks Are Fast

According to the 2026 Global Threat Report from CrowdStrike, AI-powered cyber attacks have gotten a lot faster over the last few years.

More specifically, cyber-attacks were found to have an average breakout time of only 29 minutes in 2025, which represents a 65% increase since 2024.

That’s only the average, though. In the research from CrowdStrike, the fastest AI-powered cyber attack clocked in at only 27 seconds, with data exfiltration beginning within four minutes of initial access.

AI-Powered Cyber Attacks Are on the Rise

The report also found that speed isn’t the only thing on the rise when it comes to these kinds of attacks. Frequency is apparently rising at an even faster rate, with AI-powered cyber attacks seeing an 89% increase year-over-year.

“Although successful use typically requires technical proficiency and the expertise to identify errors in AI-generated output, threat actors have demonstrated increasing fluency with AI tools. Most threat actors that have integrated AI into their operations have increased their attack volume.” – CrowdStrike report

As for what kind of AI-powered cyber attack you should be on the lookout for, the report notes that “AI accelerated phishing and automated reconnaissance” are particularly common with this technology.

How to Protect Your Business from AI-Powered Cyber Attacks

Businesses around the world have been adding AI technology to their operations. From vibe coding platforms to AI chatbots, the technology is already heavily ingrained in the business world.

That’s part of the problem, though. These attacks take advantage of these new systems, but there are some ways that you can make sure your business remains safe.

• Secure your AI models – These models are just like an system at your business; they need to be heavily secured to ensure that cyber criminals can’t gain access.
• Close operational blind spots – The beauty of AI in 2026 is that systems can work together, but this collaboration can leave blind spots in your security that are ripe for hacking.
• Treat SaaS as the primary target – SaaS platforms represent the clearest battleground for cyber criminals, with most housing a bounty of data and operations that are very valuable.

Perhaps most important, though, is to be proactive when it comes to AI-powered cyber attacks. Reacting to hacks is a lot harder and more expensive than being proactive. Make sure you’re investing in cybersecurity before the risks present themselves, rather than after.

AI might be eating its own, as Anthropic says that three China-based AI companies — DeepSeek, MiniMax Group Inc., and Moonshot — all violated the terms of service for Anthropic’s Claude AI.

Anthropic claims that its AI rivals have prompted Claude for a combined total of over 16 million times across thousands of fraudulent accounts.

The goal, allegedly, was to train and improve their own AI models using Claude’s responses, a process called “distillation” in the AI business.

Over 16 million Exchanges From 24,000 Accounts

Writing in a Monday blog post, Anthropic said that the “industrial-scale campaigns” from the three AI laboratories generated “over 16 million exchanges with Claude through approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts, in violation of our terms of service and regional access restrictions.”

The three labs weren’t equaling invested in Claude distillations, according to Anthropic, which claims in its post that DeepSeek generated “over 150,000 exchanges” with Claude, while Moonshot AI generated “over 3.4 million” and MiniMax generated “over 13 million.”

Ever since DeepSeek launched its competitive and affordable R1 model in 2025, China has paved the way for many more text, video, and image AI models that cost far less than their US alternatives, undercutting software adaptation. Now, those US companies are trying to stop them.

OpenAI Argued Against DeepSeek Distillation, Too

Anthropic is leaning into the concept of an multi-national AI competition, and they’re not alone.

The company’s biggest US rival, OpenAI, told US lawmakers earlier in February that DeepSeek was relying on distillation as a part of its “ongoing efforts to free-ride on the capabilities developed by OpenAI and other US frontier labs,” reports Business Insider.

OpenAI and Anthropic may be in competition, but it seems they can set aside their differences to

How Big of a Problem Is Distillation?

Not everyone agrees that distillation is bad for a few different reasons.

One response has been to point out that distillation can help one AI model catch up to another, but it will never help that model surpass the model that it is distilling. From this perspective, it’s not a tactic that will actually lead to the innovation that any AI company needs to demonstrate in order to get ahead of the competition.

Another perspective argues that distillation is inherently good, since it encourages competition by functioning to prevent any single AI lab from getting too far ahead of the rest.

Nevertheless, this new accusation from Anthropic takes the ongoing conversation about AI into a new direction.

AI still isn’t making as much of an impact on employment as CEOs would like, with another survey showing that as much as 90% of businesses aren’t gaining or losing jobs due to the tech.

Regardless, the business world is still betting big on the technology, with AI usage continuing to soar year-over-year, despite these suggestions that it’s not triggering aan immense surge in productivity or revenue.

In its modern form, AI has had a few years to really make an impact, but the majority of businesses are still waiting in the wings.

Large Majority of Businesses Are Keeping Their Workers

According to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 90% of businesses state they have made no changes to their workforce as a result of AI advancements. That’s good news for workers concerned about keeping up with the artificially intelligent Joneses.

Why? Well, the technology may not be there, judging from the 89% of businesses that have seen no impact from AI in regard to the productivity of their team.

All in all, the survey found that the effects of AI in 2026 have been pretty negligible when it comes to the job market and productivity, the two things experts say should be impacted the most.

AI Usage Continues to Rise

Despite the survey’s findings about the lackluster productivity gains of AI, it seems that isn’t slowing anyone down when it comes to actually using the technology.

In fact, according to the survey, 78% of US businesses use AI tools on a regular basis, with other countries like the UK (71%), Germany (65%), and Australia (59%) all seeing the majority of businesses getting on board with the tech.

As for which industries are using it the most, the professional and scientific industries (87%) are currently leading the pack, with finance and insurance (86%) and information and communications (85%) also using AI quite a bit.

AI vs Productivity

In the last few years, AI has become unimaginably popular because of its potential. Unfortunately, that’s all it has been so far, with the expectations far outpacing the reality of AI in 2026.

Hopes are still high, though. The survey found that most professionals believe AI will start seeing some gains, forecasting that AI will be able to “boost productivity by 1.4%, increase output by 0.8% and cut employment by 0.7%.”

It’s hard to deny that AI is having a big impact on the business world, but so far that has only been in investments. If we want to avoid all the stress about a bubble popping, we’re going to have to start to see some results.

Supply chain vulnerabilities and AI-powered phishing attacks are the latest trends in cybersecurity, according to a new threat report.

Among the top threats in the new analysis are the vulnerabilities inherent to the digital supply chain, and the third-party suppliers that compose it. In fact, third-party software represents a 20% increase in risk over direct internal attacks.

Meanwhile, AI tools are behind a massive 80% of phishing events recorded worldwide in 2025. Here’s what to know.

Moderate Risks Can Still Lead to a $100M Loss

The new analysis, titled “2026 Cyber Threat Landscape Report,” emerged last week from risk intelligence company Dataminr.

Last year alone, the company processed 6.3 million external threat alerts,  4.8 million vulnerability alerts, and 3.1 million digital risk alerts. The dangers of third-party vulnerabilities were one of their top takeaways.

“One in four modern breaches now exploits a third-party vulnerability (CVE), escalating the risk magnitude by 20% compared to direct internal attacks. This ‘Vendor Pivot’ is characterized by extreme velocity; 96% of these vulnerabilities are weaponized within the same calendar year of disclosure, frequently bypassing internal detection and resulting in twice the data impact per incident.” -the report

In some cases, the risk of a CVE is moderate… but financial losses from the potential data breach or ransomware event “could easily exceed $50M to $100M+.”

AI-Powered Phishing Is Rising Concern

Other takeaways from the threat report?

• Valid credentials, not break-ins: A big chunk (30%) of cyber intrusions now come through the use of valid credentials — attackers log in with stolen details rather than try to break in through a backdoor.
• Phishing resilience: Phishing is still the biggest intrusion vector in 60% of cases.
• Artificial intelligence powers phishing attacks: AI-supported phishing campaigns represented over 80% of observed social engineering activity around the globe in 2025.
• Refusal to pay is trending: 63% of organizations opted not to pay ransoms last year, an uptick up from 59% in 2024.
• Fewer attacks but bigger impacts: “From a financial loss perspective, 2025 marked a clear shift from frequent but contained cyber losses toward fewer events with materially larger financial and mission impact,” says the report.

AI and the Future of Cybersecurity

It’s no wonder Gartner’s recent cybersecurity predictions for 2026 made sure to call for stronger governance and increased oversight of AI tools to reduce the potential security risks they pose.

With usage of AI agents only set to increase in 2026, cybersecurity professionals are once again on the cutting edge of unprecedented security problems.

Businesses can respond with increased training and more security tools. Plus, 94% of respondents in one recent survey say that AI can spearhead positive changes in cybersecurity in 2026.

Still, with AI voices and video footage becoming more convincing by the day, phishing attacks will likely continue to grow as a problem.

Asset tracking software is the most popular fleet technology today, according to new data from Tech.co’s monthly industry surveys.

In December 2025, 48% of fleet professionals said their fleet was looking to adopt asset tracking systems — a big jump up from the 27% that said the same just one month earlier.

Why the sudden shift? It’s likely due to rising risks of cargo theft. Asset tracking software provides a centralized, easy-to-manage list of assets, and alerts that can help locate them if they’re stolen.

Asset Tracking Interest Surges to 48% From 27%

The data comes from Tech.co’s regular survey of more than 260 professionals in the US shipping and transport sector, aimed at getting a snapshot of their thoughts on challenges and priorities in the industry.

Our poll data for December 2025 is just in, and practically half of them are aiming to adopt asset tracking systems, with 48% saying they are looking to get the technology.

That’s the highest that interest has ever gotten across 2025, according the monthly surveys that we first started in April of that year. It suggests asset tracking is solving major hurdles for logistics professionals.

Cargo Thefts Are on the Rise

Cargo theft has been an increasing concern in the logistics industry for some time. According to one assessment from Verisk CargoNet, this type of theft has already risen a massive 82% between 2020 and 2024.

More recently, cargo theft has surged at the end of the last year, due to the “closures, reduced staffing, and increased freight dwell time” during the holiday season.

GPS-powered asset tracking systems can combat the threat, with trackers for recovery in the case of a theft of tractors and trailers themselves, as well as alerts that can catch asset misappropriation by flagging unauthorized movement or geofencing violations for any equipment that has an asset tag on it.

Logistics Professionals Take a Proactive Approach

Given this information, perhaps it’s no surprise that nearly half of the hundreds of fleet professionals we surveyed were considering asset tracking.

This shift in technology is just one part of a broader trend. Amid a long downturn in freight volumes, fleets are increasingly interested in proactive strategies in order to stay in the black.

Early in 2025, Tech.co’s industry surveys tracked a rising interest in managing finances. Now, that interest is dropping (down month-over-month from 20% to 15% in December), replaced by a focus on adopting technology (up month-over-month from 16% to 18% in December).

This might look like redoubling efforts to maintain federal compliance standards and upgrading or replacing aging vehicle components. It definitely includes investing in asset tracking.

Base44 can officially do it all, after the vibe coding platform finally made it possible for users to publish their generated apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

That’s not all, though, with Base44 announcing a whole range of new features aimed making it easier than ever to create apps, from the new Plan Mode to simple integration with Gmail.

With Base44 debuting a Super Bowl commercial this year, the improvements could pave the way for vibe coding to become more mainstream than ever before.

You Can Finally Publish Apps With Base44

Announced in a press release this morning, Base44 has added new functionality to its vibe coding platform, including the ability to publish your generated creations to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The press release explains that the platform now allows users to “scan your app against Apple and Google guidelines, use the Base44 AI chat to improve any problem areas, then generate the files you need to submit your app in your Apple and Google developer accounts.”

If you want to learn more about how to get your app published on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, check out the explainer from the Base44 site that will walk you through the whole process.

Other New Features Available From Base44

While the ability to publish apps to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store is inarguably the most important new features available from Base44, the vide coding platform did add some other functionalities that will greatly improve the app creation process for users.

Here are some of the new features added to Base44 in the February update:

• Plan Mode – If you aren’t sure where to start with your app, the new Plan Mode in Base44 allows users to clarify intent with a few broad questions before you actually start building.
• Gmail integration – Base44 now allows users to connect Gmail integration to their apps, so you can “build workflows that read, send, and organize email right inside your product.”
• Improved issue resolution – If you run into a problem, Base44 now allows users to type “something is wrong,” which will prompt it to start asking questions to resolve the problem.
• Easy inspiration – Base44 now allows users to paste a URL from another site to create editable blocks, so you can more easily get inspiration for your app from established options.

Vibe Coding Is on the Rise

This past Sunday, Base44 ran a Super Bowl ad that highlighted exactly how easy it to build an app, even if you don’t know how to code.

While generative AI technology has certainly been prominently featured in the mainstream media for the last few years, vibe coding platforms are just now getting their moment in the spotlight. After all, the term saw a 6,700% increase in search volume recently.

With improvements to the platforms like the ones Base44 rolled out this week, it’s safe to say that vibe coding could become as synonymous for budding businesses as ChatGPT in the near future.

New Tech.co data has revealed that 61% of logistics professionals have either delayed or cancelled Electric Vehicle (EV) trials, following the latest government rollbacks on diesel.

In early December, President Trump eased efficiency standards for diesel cars and trucks, ultimately making them a cheaper option for logistics companies than EVs.

Professionals have reacted immediately to this change by wavering in their adoption of EVs, which shows how much influence government policy has on sustainability initiatives within the logistics sector.

Logistics Industry Slows EV Adoption Following Trump Diesel Rollbacks

Our data shows that trialing for EVs in November more than tripled, with 38% of logistics professionals stating they were trialing the technology.

However, our December data indicates a shifting mindset. Trialing for EVs among logistics professionals has since dropped to 11%, suggesting that the sector is no longer intending to move to more sustainable methods in the long-term.

Likewise, for the first time in our research, trialing alternative fuel among logistics professionals dropped to 0%, suggesting a wider acceptance of diesel following the new laws.

Trump Lowers Fuel Efficiency Standards, Making Diesel Cheaper

Our data suggests a correlation between the number of EV trials and recent changes in US regulation surrounding heavy trucks. In early December, President Trump lowered the standards of the amount of pollution cars and trucks can emit.

This change made diesel trucks cheaper for logistics businesses, because they would no longer need to purchase expensive and complex emission-reduction technology alongside them.

Therefore, it becomes more cost-effective for professionals to invest in diesel, and makes the prospect of adopting EVs much more expensive comparatively.

Not only is the upfront cost of diesel trucks compared to EVs far less, but it also can take years of investment and use for businesses to actually see return-on-investment.

Is Sustainability Within Logistics Dependent on Government Policy?

As the percentage of EV trials being delayed or cancelled increased, so did the percentage of businesses claiming adapting to regulations as their top priority in December. Meanwhile, the percentage of professionals claiming sustainability was their top priority, regressed to 6%.

This suggests that logistics professionals are more concerned with navigating a new regulatory environment than investing in sustainable initiatives, and that the US government has a significant impact on the priorities of logistics professionals.

But does this hold concerns for the future of the industry, particularly when it comes to sustainability? It’s very likely that logistics professionals will only start to take more bold steps towards a more sustainable future when the government makes it in their best interest to do so.

AI agents will be a key cybersecurity risk in 2026, according to new research from Gartner. The consultancy published the findings as part of a report on the top cybersecurity trends of the year, with other key trends spotlighting “regulatory volatility” and “postquantum computing.”

According to the firm, the uptake of AI agents and recent proliferation of vibe coding platforms will create new attack surfaces for cybercriminals to exploit. Gartner believes a higher level of governance and oversight is required to prevent a potential cybersecurity catastrophe.

The rapid ascent of AI has given rise to innumerable opportunities, but it has not been without its risks. As the technology is relatively new, development has not been able to keep pace with deployment. Consequently, existing safeguards are not fit for purpose, with mounting evidence that AI agents are vulnerable to exploitation.

AI Agents Open New Attack Vectors for Cybercriminals

AI agents will be a key target for cybercriminals in 2026 — and organizations need to tighten up their oversight and governance to nullify the rising threat, according to a new report from Gartner.

Published as part of a cybersecurity trends report, the institution believes that the rise of agentic AI — and particularly the explosion of no-code and vibe coding platforms — will create new “attack surfaces” for hackers to target.

AI-assisted vibe coding platforms, which allow users to spin up their own apps and programs from a simple written prompt, have democratized access to app-building software — and in the process handed cybercriminals unfettered access to swathes of unsecured code.

Scale of Problem Likely Much Worse Than Feared

Businesses have a problem. Not only are agent development and adoption growing, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of whether or not employees are actually using them.

“While AI agents and automation tools are becoming increasingly accessible and practical for organizations to adopt, strong governance remains essential. Cybersecurity leaders must identify both sanctioned and unsanctioned AI agents, enforce robust controls for each and develop incident response playbooks to address potential risks.” – Alex Michaels, Director Analyst at Gartner

Recent research suggests that as many as 28% of staff would continue to use tools like ChatGPT even if explicitly prohibited from doing so. This means that the scale of the threat is likely much worse than predicted — and action is required as a matter of urgency.

Cybersecurity Pros Face Uphill Struggle

It’s a perilous time to be in the cybersecurity business. With new technologies emerging all the time, the threat landscape is in a constant state of flux — and security personnel are having a hard time keeping up.

The yawning skills gap is only making a bad problem worse. Recent research illustrates that as many as 88% of professionals in this space have experienced a “significant” impact of the hiring and retention problem, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

In this climate, businesses are under pressure to upskill their existing employees on how to spot cyber risks. With 98% of senior leaders unable to identify all the signs of a phishing attack, this will not be an easy task — but if catastrophe is to be averted, it’s an urgent one.

The new year is in full swing, with more and more businesses getting on board the AI bandwagon. As a result, mass layoffs have become quite common, as many companies are already laying off employees in favor of AI.

There is still hope for workers that want to stay employed for the foreseeable future, though. CEOs and presidents have noted that employees who are proficient with AI tools are poised to stay competitive, and that could be you.

That is, of course, if you commit to upskilling with free AI training courses, like the ones we’ve collected below.

Google AI Essentials Specialization

⌛Length: 4 hours

As one of the largest and most recognizable companies in the world, it’s understandable that you would want to get your AI education from Google. After all, Gemini has become one of the most popular models in the world, with Apple now planning to use it to supercharge Siri.

If you want to use it to power your own AI upskilling, though, you’ll need to know some essentials, and this course is perfect for that. This beginner level, five-course program will give you all the basics you need to “help develop ideas and content, make more informed decisions, and speed up daily work tasks.”

Even better, this course is available in 18 different languages, and you’ll get a LinkedIn course certificate when you’ve completed it, which you can use to convince prospective hiring managers to bring you on.

Check out Coursera to learn more about this course.

AI for Business Professionals – HP Life

⌛Length: 1 hour

You may not hear HP mentioned a lot in the AI discussion, but the company is betting big on the technology by integrating it into its PCs and launching the HP AI Companion for content generation.

With this course, you’ll learn about how to use AI to improve your business and streamline productivity in a meaningful way. You’ll also learn about the role of AI in business in 2026, how to use specific tools and features to optimize operations, and create a plan to bring AI into your enterprise.

More importantly, the class also focuses on the difference between AI tools and AI-integrated features, as well as the importance of ethics when bringing the technology in your business.

Check out HP Life to learn more about this course.

ChatGPT Prompt Engineering – Udemy

⌛Length: 1 hour

ChatGPT is still the most popular AI model in the world, with 800-900 million active users globally using it on a weekly basis.

You’re only as good as your prompts, though, which is why taking this ChatGPT prompt course could make a big difference. It provides users with all the tools they need to effectively prompt ChatGPT (and other AI models) with pointed, specific queries that will get you what you actually need.

This course goes beyond just teaching you what prompts to use, too. You’ll get hands-on experience with real-life examples that will bring your prompts to life in a practical and helpful way, and you’ll get tips on how to actually turn those prompts into actual applications.

Check out Udemy to learn more about this course.

Embark on Your AI Journey with Free AI Tools from Microsoft Education

⌛Length: 3 hours

Microsoft was one of the first big tech firms to get on the AI bandwagon with substantial investments in OpenAI after launching ChatGPT. Subsequently, it stands to reason that the company would provide some of the most valuable information when it comes to learning how to use AI.

This specific AI course is aimed at educators that want to bring AI tools into the classroom. According to the description, the class will help learners “create engaging lesson plans, provide detailed feedback, save time, or develop future-ready skills” for their students.

Those that take the course will learn how to use tools like Microsoft Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and the AI features within other Microsoft platforms like Teams and even Minecraft.

Check out Microsoft Education to learn more about this course.

AI Literacy and Compliance – University of Helsinki

⌛Length: 1 hour

If you want to ensure that your team is equipped with the knowledge necessary to use AI in the modern world at their jobs, this course from the University of Helsinki could be the way to go.

This course covers everything that your staff would need to be prepared for the new AI normal, including how to be AI ready at work, what large language models are capable of, and how to use AI models at your job.

There’s also a chapter within this course that focuses on AI safety in the workplace, including how to use it ethically, how to protect company data and intellectual property, and how to customize your own company’s AI policy.

Check out the Elements of AI page to learn more about this course.

Why You Need to Learn AI in 2026

If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you might be confused about why all this emphasis is being put on AI in the business world in 2026.

If you’ve been paying attention, though, you know that generative AI technology has completely changed how we do business and that employees need to get on board quick or be left behind.

As many as 12% of US workers are currently using AI on a daily basis at work, and 68% of CEOs plan to increase their spending on AI in the new year.

All that to say, AI has become an absolute must for businesses and employees alike, and we don’t recommend falling behind in the long run.

LinkedIn has just announced a team-up with three vibe-coding platforms – Lovable, Relay.app, and Replit – that will give users the ability to connect their coding accounts with their LinkedIn account.

The benefit? Users can advertise their abilities through certificates that will be visible on LinkedIn and helpful for potential employers.

Here at Tech.co, we’ve researched and tested the platforms in question. You can even check out our comparison pages for Replit and for Lovable vs Base44, another popular brand, before you jump into updating your LinkedIn.

How the New LinkedIn/Vibe Coding Team-Up Works

LinkedIn has always had certificates of various accomplishments, thanks in part to their paid “LinkedIn Learning” hub, which offers video courses on any skill under the sun.

However, this new partnership means that the AI coding certificates will be essentially underwritten by the vibe coding platforms themselves. Users can’t self-report their skill — it’s being confirmed (or denied) by the actual AI coding companies.

According to the LinkedIn announcement, Engadget reports, the exact skill-measurements will vary depending on the coding platform: Lovable might award someone a “bronze” score while Replit uses numbers and Relay.app calls them an “intermediate.”

What Skills Will the Certificates Cover?

Lovable and Replit are coding apps, so certificates from them will indicate that someone has AI experience with software coding or debugging.

In contrast, Relay.app is for creating and maintaining AI agents for dedicated tasks like personal assistance or social marketing — so a skills certification from Relay.app indicates a wider application beyond companies that create code as a part of their workflow.

LinkedIn is positioning the new feature as just one of a series of ways to tell who actually has the AI skills that are in demand right now:

“This is less about replacing any of those other existing signals, and more about showing new ways that people are doing work. And how do we give a verifiable signal to both hirers and other people looking at their profile, that they actually are using these tools on a regular basis.” – Pat Whealan, Head of Career Products at LinkedIn

Another platform, the video and podcast editor Descript, is also included in the new integration, giving users a chance to show off their media editing knowledge in addition to AI coding experience.

Why Should Your Business Care?

These new certificates offer a quick way for businesses to figure out which potential employees have the AI coding know-how they need.

In 2026, AI is everywhere, and many businesses are hoping to pick up a few benefits from the tech. Granted, we may be in an AI bubble that will eventually pop, but everyone wants to hedge their bets.

If you’re getting a new white-collar employee anyway, it can’t hurt to pick up one who has some experience with an established vibe coding app such as Lovable, Relay.app, and Replit.

A new report has found that organizations see AI as the biggest factor changing cybersecurityin the new year.

While AI does have the potential to solidify security procedures, AI-driven attacks are a concern and the technology looks to increase the sophistication of existing cyber threats such as phishing.

As a result, cybersecurity remains a top priority for businesses in 2026, particularly as new technologies shape the landscape of threat.

AI Will Drive Cybersecurity Changes in 2026

According to a survey from The World Economic Forum, 94% of respondents anticipate that AI will be the most significant driver of cybersecurity changes in 2026.

In conjunction, the percentage of organizations assessing the security element of AI tools before deploying them has increased. 37% of organizations were following this practice in 2025, and this has risen to 64% in 2026.

Overall, only 36% of organizations reported not having any processes in place when a new AI tool is introduced, suggesting a growing validation of AI’s potential security risks.

AI is Strengthening Defenses And Enhancing Offenses

AI is mostly understood in its potential to better productivity and revenue across businesses. However, there also are ways to harness the technology’s strengths in order to bolster a business’s cybersecurity measures.

There are examples of AI being used in automated threat detection, giving experts the opportunity to quickly contain incoming attacks. The technology can also be used to monitor network traffic, and even predict potential security breaches, so that teams can beef up their security in anticipation.

That being said, on the other side of the coin, organizations are realizing the security risks that come with deploying AI. The report found that 87% of experts identified AI-related vulnerabilities as the fastest growing cyber risk over the course of 2025.

Think, for instance, of SpamGPT — an AI-powered platform designed to orchestrate mass phishing campaigns. Or, even deepfakes, that already have a record of causing disruption within organizations.

Cybersecurity Remains a Critical Focus for Businesses

As a result of the conflicting nature of AI, it’s no wonder cybersecurity remains a serious focus for businesses. The report found that 73% of respondents had had someone in their network personally impacted by cyber-enabled fraud over the course of 2025.

Organizations also understand that AI is becoming a strong factor in determining cybersecurity practices. 63% of respondents said that a rapidly evolving threat landscape and emerging technologies is their organization’s greatest challenge to becoming cyber resilient.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that businesses are slowing down on AI development, however, even amidst reports of poor ROI.

In general, we’d recommend caution be exercised over excitement, in order for businesses to make effective decisions when implementing, and protecting against, AI.

A new Gallup poll found that 12% of US employees now say that they use AI for work on a daily basis.

Over the last few years, AI has become the driving force of the economy, spawning layoffs and manifesting blockbuster deals the likes of which we’ve never seen. As a result, adoption of the technology has been on the rise by both employees and businesses alike.

Still, return-on-investment continues to be a sticking point for businesses that get on board, which could make these numbers plateau sooner rather than later.

AI Adoption on the Rise

According to a new Gallup poll, more than 1 in 10 US employees now use AI for work every day as of November 2025, a substantial increase from just two years prior.

In 2023, only 4% of US employees were admitting the same, which means that AI adoption could be in the early stages of its mainstream success.

On top of that, 26% of US employees say that they use AI frequently in the workplace, more than a quarter of the 22,000 US workers surveyed.

Business AI Strategy Is a Must

The Gallup poll also found that, as of November 2025, 26% of US employees say that their company has outlined a clear AI strategy to them.

This is another substantial increase over just the last year and a half, with only 15% of employees saying the same in mid-2024.

Suffice to say, if you aren’t in the quarter of enterprises that are not only exploring AI tools for your businesses but also explaining the strategy to your employees, it’s time to make a change.

Other AI Adoption Stats

The Gallup study also published a wide range of other interesting statistics about the adoption of AI in the workplace.

• 9% of US employees say they are “very comfortable” with using AI for work tasks.
• 30% of employees strongly agree that their team’s use of AI is supported by their manager.
• 48% of US employees say that their company has installed AI tools to improve operations.

It’s worth noting, however, that the above stats are true as of August 2025. Given the speed with which AI has spread across the business world, it’s safe to assume those numbers have increased even more in those last few months.

AI Boom or Bust?

This Gallup polls show that AI adoption is clearly on the rise. Usage by employees has tripled over the course of two years, and the number of businesses that are articulating AI strategies to employees has nearly doubled in just a year and a half.

However, other studies have found that AI adoption doesn’t necessarily translate to AI success. In fact, the numbers are not great when it comes to return-on-investment so far, with 56% of CEOs saying that they haven’t seen any revenue or cost benefits from implementing AI.

Clearly, everyone is still figuring out how AI fits in their operation, including AI companies that are losing a lot of money on a yearly basis.

Wix, one of the world’s leading website builders, has launched a new AI-enabled website builder tool. Called “Wix Harmony,” the tool is designed to “bridge the gap” between traditional website builders and vibe coding, according to Wix.

The tool is built around Aria, an AI agent that reportedly understands natural language and the full context of a user’s site. With Aria, users can input a command and the agent will roll out the changes across the entire site, without compromising the underlying architecture or functionality.

The popularity of both AI and vibe coding has skyrocketed in recent years, allowing those of us without coding experience to create professional tools and apps. Wix hopes that its new solution represents a giant leap forward in the unfolding innovation race.

Wix Unveils New AI Website Builder Tool, Wix Harmony

Wix’s new AI website builder tool, Wix Harmony promises a “first-of-its-kind hybrid experience” that combines the company’s existing editing capabilities with vibe coding.

Wix Co-founder, Avishai Abrahami, states: “With Wix Harmony, now anyone can create a beautiful website, design easily with prompts and natural language without sacrificing scalability, security, reliability and performance. This is the benchmark of what a website builder should be.”

The vibe coding approach means that users can simply ‘describe’ their ideal website via a prompt, and have it replicate that vision on screen. If it’s not quite right, the user can tweak the concept until they’re happy with the result.

Wix Harmony Promises to “Reinvent” Website Building, Company Claims

By combining the platform’s flagship drag-and-drop editor with new vibe coding capabilities, Wix hopes that its latest innovation will revolutionize website building.

Wix Harmony is built around Aria, a new AI agent that is capable of processing natural language and executing complex tasks, including generating layouts, page copy, components and design assets. It is built on top of Wix’s existing backend architecture, meaning that any changes it rolls out will not break code, add bugs, or affect the site’s functionality in another location.

“Aria makes vibe coding a website feel effortless. You can give her an idea, and she’ll turn it into sections, pages or custom components, all while you stay in control to tweak and personalize everything.” – Yarin Singolda, Wix Harmony product marketing manager

The company is at pains to emphasize what separates Wix Harmony from other vibe coding platforms and website builders. Namely, it can be used to build fully-functioning, production-ready sites that are secure, reliable, and scalable.

Check out the Best AI Website Builders, including Wix

How Much Does Wix Harmony Cost and How Can You Get it?

Good news. If you think Wix Harmony sounds like the sort of tool that would help you build that dream website, you won’t have to pay an extra dime to access it, assuming you’re already using a Wix website builder tool.

Even if you’re not, you can get access to Wix Harmony today without the need to spend a cent, as Wix has confirmed that it’s included in the entire suite of Wix offerings, even the entry-level free plan. However, it’s worth noting that if you want additional features, such as a custom domain, or eCommerce tools, you will need to upgrade to paid plan.

Wix is Tech.co’s highest rated AI website builder in our research, and we’re excited to try out the new Harmony tools. If you want to too, there’s no wait. Harmony has been rolled out across Wix’s plans already.

Our top rated AI website builders:

The hits keep coming for cybersecurity as we head into a new year. For starters, one report recently found that 48% of cybersecurity leaders failed to report data breaches in the past year, due in part to fears of punitive responses.

At the same time, the US Department of Defense stated in October 2025 that it plans to cut back on several types of cybersecurity training, including annual training that one expert has called “critical.”

We wanted to check in with a wide range of tech experts and C-Suite executives to see if we could figure out what’s coming down the pike for IT teams in 2026.

Artificial intelligence continues to be the buzziest technology around, so it’s little surprise that the large majority of our responses were guessing how AI would impact digital security. Read on to learn about the most interesting trends ahead of time, from shadow AI challenges to autonomous agents to AI-powered malware.

Top Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026:

• IT Systems Will Need Observability And Visibility More Than Ever
• AI Must Be Attributed – Or Risk Being Mistaken For Compromise
• The Rise of Shadow AI
• Regulatory Scrutiny Comes for AI-Created Software
• Cybersecurity Becomes a Core Data Competency
• AI-enabled Malware Will Surge This Year

IT Systems Will Need Observability And Visibility More Than Ever

The term high availability, or HA, refers to an IT system that’s almost always accessible and reliable for use. The goal is to be as close to 100% reliable as possible, and in 2026, that goal’s tougher than ever.

According to Cassius Rhue, Vice President of Customer Experience at SIOS Technology Corp., observability and visiblity will be essential for keeping complex IT environments up and running. Why is visibility so important these days? The sheer sprawl of modern work.

“As IT infrastructures expand across on-premises, cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, visibility into application performance and health and interdependencies of the elements of the IT stack will become mission-critical,” Rhue says.

“In 2026, observability will emerge as a key differentiator for HA solutions, allowing IT teams to identify and resolve issues before they impact uptime.” -Cassius Rhue, Vice President of Customer Experience at SIOS Technology Corp.

This year, Rhue tells us, the most successful HA platforms will be those that provide deep insights across the full stack—from hardware to application layer.

AI Must Be Attributed – Or Risk Being Mistaken For Compromise

Here’s a scenario for you: Your IT team discovers an identity in its environments that no one has explicitly created and can’t be accounted for.

Until a few years ago, that was an obvious sign that your security had been breached. Today, however, it might just mean that you haven’t kept track of what an AI agent was up to, and it created the identity thanks to its autonomous workflow.

“This creates attribution challenges,” says Paul Nguyen, co-founder and co-CEO at the security platform company Permiso.

“When an identity behaves suspiciously, security teams need to determine: Is this legitimate autonomous behavior or is it compromise? Without clear attribution (human owner, approval chain, business justification), this determination becomes difficult.”

Nguyen foresees that organizations will start to implement attribution tracking to keep track of AI-generated identities. AI agents will need to log their decisions, and tag their creations with their name, timestamp, and business justification.

“By year-end 2026, identity attribution becomes a prerequisite for secure agentic AI deployment.” -Paul Nguyen, co-founder and co-CEO of Permiso

Without this extra regulation, security teams won’t have the audit trails they’ll increasingly need to do their jobs.

The Rise of Shadow AI

The term “shadow AI” refers to any unauthorized employee use of AI tools in the process of doing their jobs. The AI work is powering the company, but the company isn’t aware of the type of tool, time spent, or other variables.

Needless to say, shadow AI use isn’t good news for a company, and it’s a big concern that has driven companies to adapt AI policies over the last few years, to let their employees know what is and isn’t allowed.

Monica Landen, CISO at Diligent, predicts that shadow AI will continue to take root across the new year, despite the significant governance and security risks it poses.

“As investments in AI surge, with a projected increase of 40% in 2026, organizations must take proactive measures to mitigate these security risks and ensure their workforce is aligned with organizational AI policies,” Landen says.

How can companies counter this issue? Landen recommends AI governance policies, lessons to educate employees on the risks and benefits of AI use, and efforts to monitor AI use.

For a hand, see our guide on How to Create an AI Policy

Regulatory Scrutiny Comes for AI-Created Software

“2025 proved that AI can write code faster than ever, but not necessarily safer,” notes Bhagwat Swaroop, CEO of Sonatype.

Some of the AI-driven cybersecurity concerns that Swaroop flags include unverified dependencies, outdated packages, and security gaps that traditional testing won’t catch. Add in shadow AI, and building securely is a bigger challenge than ever.

The response? A push for greater transparency on software that has been developed by LLMs or AI agents, and one that comes with more regulation.

“AI Bills of Material will enter C-level conversations,” Swaroop predicts, while “the EU AI Act and Cyber Resilience Act will push for full transparency in software development, including AI-generated content.”

Organizations can prepare by tracking code provenance and validating model inputs across development lifecycles.

Cybersecurity Becomes a Core Data Competency

John Morris, CEO of Ocient, has yet another way that AI will be impacting cybersecurity: The exponentially-growing data loads fuelled by AI’s real-time analyses will push cybersecurity to a “critical inflection point,” he says.

Organizations will need to hustle to upgrade their infrastructure in order to handle these high-velocity data environments.

“Companies will begin treating cybersecurity as a core data competency, not just an IT concern. In 2026, protecting the data means protecting the business. As the data load snowballs, so too will the urgency to secure it at scale.” – John Morris, CEO of Ocient

Let’s hope companies heed this warning: Cybersecurity strategies must be prioritized in a world where data use is sky-rocketing and threats are emerging with every new system integration.

AI-enabled Malware Will Surge This Year

The bad actors of the software world will also invest in AI in 2026: According to LastPass Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst Stephanie Schneider, more and more threat actors will deploy AI-enabled malware in active operations this year.

Google’s Threat Intelligence team has found that this type of malware can “generate scripts, alter codes to avoid detection and create malicious functions on demand,” Schneider explains.

“Nation-state actors have used AI-powered malware to adapt, alter and pivot campaigns in real-time, and these campaigns are expected to improve as the technology continues to develop,” she adds.

With the malicious technology only set to be become more powerful across the coming year, it’s another sign that cyber defenders will have a challenging threat landscape to navigate.

We say it every year, but it still holds true in 2026: Cybersecurity teams are continuing to compete with threat actors in an ever-escalating arms race. AI may be a powerful tool, but it’s just the latest one in a long line of threats to IT environments everywhere.

Marc Benioff is speaking out about AI, with the Salesforce CEO saying in an interview that “there has to be some regulation” in regard to the world-changing technology.

AI has been evolving at break-neck speeds over the last few years, with a seemingly endless supply of funding from the big tech firms of the world. As a result, some unsettling use cases have arisen, largely due to a lack of regulation.

Hopefully that changes soon, though, with even the head of the largest CRM in the world — with a vast selection of AI features to boot — calling for it to be regulated more substantially.

Benioff: There Has to Be Some Regulation

In an interview with CNBC, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff spoke about the importance of AI regulation, noting that the technology could quick get out of hand without some intervention.

“It can’t just be growth at any cost. There has to be some regulation.” – Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

Benioff pointed to some of the more egregious AI errors as a reason for the government to get involved, like AI models that are coaching children on how to die by suicide.

AI: The Next Social Media

In the interview, Benioff made an apt comparison between the current lack of regulation of AI to a similar refusal to slow down social media innovation when it was taking off. And as we know, that didn’t go very well in the long run.

“Bad things were happening all over the world because social media was fully unregulated, and now you’re kind of seeing that play out again with artificial intelligence.” – Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

Suffice to say, AI is having a similar impact on the world that social media did. People are dumber, scams are rampant, and the only people having a good time are the ones running these companies.

AI Dangers Are Still Too Common

While businesses around the world are trying to get on board with AI in any way they can, the reality is that AI isn’t moving the needle. For one, return-on-investment just isn’t happening for many businesses.

On top of that, though, the errors it makes are quite substantial. One company saw its entire database deleted by its AI model, with even the model itself admitting that the move was a “catastrophic failure.”

Suffice to say, this technology clearly needs to be regulated before any more catastrophes, even if it’s at the expense of high-speed innovation.