Copyright TechTarget - All rights reserved ComputerWeekly’s best articles of the day https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html Techtarget Feed Generator en Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:08:01 GMT https://www.computerweekly.com editor@computerweekly.com <p>The UK’s <a href="https://ico.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">information commissioner</a>, John Edwards, has been temporarily stripped of his responsibilities in the wake of a workplace investigation into as-yet undisclosed allegations.</p> <p>Edwards initially stepped back from his day-to-day role at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at the end of February 2026, and according to the regulator, an independent probe has now found that although there is no finding of any wrongdoing, there is a case to answer.</p> <p>As such, said the ICO, although he has continued to receive updates from his support team and was available if required, Edwards can no longer act in fulfilling his role for the remainder of the process.</p> <p>“Throughout this complex and unprecedented situation, our priority has been to provide a safe and supportive environment for our staff that enables them to carry out their important regulatory work,” said ICO chief executive Paul Arnold.</p> <p>“I’ve been enormously proud of the professional way in which our work has continued across the past months, and the steps we have taken today will ensure that continues to happen.”</p> <p>Under the ICO’s Scheme of Delegation, Arnold will temporarily take on Edwards’ non-delegable responsibilities, but given the commissioner is accountable to Parliament and not directly employed by the ICO, the next steps in the process will now be determined by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), said the data and privacy watchdog.</p> <p>Computer Weekly understands Arnold has also been designated as temporary acting accounting officer for the ICO.</p> <p>In all other regards, the regulator said, the board, chief exec and executive team are continuing to lead the body to ensure continuity in its core work.</p> <p><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-watchdog-lead-draws-200000-salary-for-no-work-john-edwards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to <i>Politico</i></a>, which was first to break the story <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/head-of-uk-data-watchdog-voluntary-steps-aside-amid-hr-probe-john-edwards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back in April</a>, Edwards has returned to New Zealand at this time, although he continues to draw his £200,000 annual salary, which exceeds that paid to the prime minister.</p> <p>Based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), <i>Politico</i> said ICO staffers were initially kept in the dark and told the commissioner was on an extended leave of absence, which it said appeared somewhat at odds with the office’s wider commitment to public transparency.</p> <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7453709974826020864/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In a LinkedIn post</a>, Edwards said he was “fully cooperating” with the investigation.</p> <p>An information law specialist with 20 years of practice experience, Edwards was named the UK’s new information commissioner by Westminster <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252505879/NZ-privacy-lead-John-Edwards-named-new-information-commissioner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in August 2021</a>, succeeding the outgoing Elizabeth Denham – whose term in office had previously been extended during the Covid-19 pandemic.</p> <p>Hailing originally from New Zealand, Edwards previously served as the Kiwi privacy commissioner from 2014 to 2021, and was also chairman of the Global Privacy Assembly from 2014 to 2017.</p> <p>He took up the role as the work of the ICO became increasingly publicly visible after the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and as the sudden rapid digitisation of daily life brought about by the pandemic threw data privacy issues into stark relief.</p> <p>More recently, Edwards has overseen the office’s response to the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366625476/UK-ICO-publishes-AI-and-biometrics-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last year launching a strategy</a> covering areas such as the use of automated decision-making (ADM) systems and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366630181/ICO-publishes-summary-of-police-facial-recognition-audit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the use of facial recognition by law enforcement</a>, among other things.</p> <p>The ICO said that in order to protect the parties involved and maintain the integrity of the process, it was unable to provide any further details on the matter at this stage.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about the ICO's work</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>The ICO has levied a reduced fine on South Staffordshire Water following cyber improvements in the wake of <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642957/ICO-fines-Cl0p-victim-South-Staffs-Water-over-data-breach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Cl0p ransomware attack</a>.</li> <li>The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has won an important appeal relating to data protection obligations arising from a 2017-18 cyber attack <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639299/ICO-wins-appeal-over-data-protection-obligations-in-Currys-cyber-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at electronics retailer Currys PC World</a>.</li> <li>Outsourcing giant Capita hit with £14m fine over 2023 cyber attack, but costs could rise <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632591/ICO-fines-Capita-14m-after-ransomware-caused-major-data-breach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as legal actions continue</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> The UK's information commissioner John Edwards has been temporarily stripped of his responsibilities in the wake of a workplace investigation. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/LeMagIT/hero_article/security-threat-cyber-attack-1-adobe.jpeg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644121/ICO-strips-commissioner-Edwards-of-responsibilities-in-HR-inquiry Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:41:00 GMT <p>The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640828/CMA-to-launch-strategic-market-status-investigation-into-Microsoft-Amazon-Web-Services-off-the-hook">open a Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation</a> into Microsoft’s <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/resources/Software-as-a-Service-SaaS">business software ecosystem</a> marks a defining moment for the UK digital economy.</p> <p>Designating Microsoft with SMS under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act is a legal and economic necessity. Only last week, Microsoft announced a “bring your own licence” scheme for AWS’s relational database service. This ended a practice where, for many years, users had to “double pay” for licensing if they wanted to use a fully-managed database service on a rival cloud.</p> <p>This kind of concession, made ahead of the CMA’s investigation, is a classic. For too long, Microsoft has used the tactic of making small and immaterial concessions to delay, narrow, or diminish regulatory processes while continuing to harm consumers, competitors, and the wider industry. Its legacy licensing models have enforced artificial <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642583/Microsoft-explains-value-of-E7-usage-based-pricing">pricing</a>and functionality asymmetries for years. The UK cannot afford to mistake token adjustments for meaningful reform.</p> <p>At the Open Cloud Coalition – a group of almost 30 Cloud businesses from across the UK and Europe – we see four clear tests for the success of the CMA’s investigation.</p> <p>These are:</p> <p><strong>Enforceable remedies, not voluntary commitments. U</strong>ltimately, the success of this intervention hinges entirely on the CMA resisting the temptation of a box-ticking exercise. This cannot conclude with perfunctory compliance or empty, voluntary corporate pledges. Historically, tech giants under scrutiny deploy a well-rehearsed playbook that circumvents regulators by re-packaging bundles and introducing superficial tweaks to preserve the underlying commercial harm. Only legally binding, enforceable remedies will restore genuine market contestability.</p> <p><strong>Pricing parity and functional equivalence</strong>. Enforceable remedies must mandate absolute pricing parity and remove any artificial discounts or licensing architectures that make running workloads on Azure systematically cheaper than on a rival. These remedies must also guarantee functional equivalence to ensure Microsoft’s competitors receive the same level of performance, security, interoperability, and system support as <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641533/Azure-customers-up-in-arms-over-full-UK-South-region">Azure</a>, without any degradation or delay.</p> <p><strong>Maintain the full scope of the investigation</strong>. The CMA must maintain the full breadth of its proposed scope and ensure its interventions are future proofed. Microsoft’s software-to-cloud leveraging is actively expanding into next-generation enterprise workflows. By embedding Copilot and agent-based AI functionalities into its dominant identity and productivity layers, customers are locked into a single, self-reinforcing commercial stack. If the CMA fails to extend its remedies to enterprise AI now, today’s cloud distortions will permanently anchor tomorrow’s AI monopolies.</p> <p><strong>Finally, the CMA must</strong> <strong>move at pace</strong> to develop remedies in parallel with the investigation rather than waiting until 2027. Digital markets move too rapidly for protracted bureaucracy.</p> <p>In fast-moving digital markets, delayed regulation is failed regulation. The UK's new digital regime was built specifically to bypass traditional, sluggish anti-trust frameworks. The CMA must now wield these powers decisively to secure a vibrant, open, and resilient cloud and AI ecosystem - judging success not by formal corporate compliance, but by real-world outcomes that enable genuine customer choice.</p> <p><em>Nicky Stewart is senior advisor to the Open Cloud Coalition.</em></p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about the CMA&nbsp;</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Why-the-CMA-must-act-now-on-cloud-before-the-UK-loses-its-digital-future">Why the CMA must act now on cloud before the UK loses its digital future</a>. The UK competition watchdog is prevaricating over tackling the dominance of AWS and Microsoft in the cloud market - it needs to enforce change soon or UK businesses will suffer.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640828/CMA-to-launch-strategic-market-status-investigation-into-Microsoft-Amazon-Web-Services-off-the-hook">CMA to launch strategic market status investigation into Microsoft; Amazon Web Services off the hook</a>. CMA to investigate whether Microsoft should be given strategic market status. Amazon escaped, but both companies will need to make changes to egress fees and interoperability.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p></p> Big tech companies often find ways out of regulatory directives, so the CMA must come up with enforceable commitments, across the whole investigation, and quickly https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/German/article/acquisition-monopoly-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/The-UK-cannot-afford-a-box-ticking-solution-to-cloud-dominance Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:07:00 GMT <p>Anthropic’s Claude Mythos has quickly become the latest <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/Take-a-breath-A-CISOs-Claude-Mythos-advice-for-CIOs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flashpoint in the AI security debate</a>: a supposedly gated frontier model whose capabilities raise questions about whether it represents a step-change risk to enterprise security, or simply the next iteration of an already visible trend.</p> <p>The reality sits somewhere in between.</p> <p>On one hand, the decision to restrict access to a model signals that capability thresholds are being crossed. Frontier models are now demonstrably capable of complex reasoning, code analysis and multi-step problem solving at a level that demands caution. That alone should prompt CISOs to pay attention.</p> <p>But the underlying techniques driving this concern are not new. Multi-agent AI systems, where specialised models collaborate to map targets, analyse vulnerabilities, and validate findings, are already in use today. The industry has moved beyond single-model experimentation into orchestrated pipelines that produce meaningful, and in some cases high-severity, security outcomes. In that sense, Mythos is less a breakthrough and more a marker of direction.</p> <p>Where this becomes material is in vulnerability discovery and exploitation. AI is compressing the time between identifying a weakness and weaponising it. Tasks that once required days of expert effort, such as analysing cryptographic implementations or building proof-of-concept exploits, can now be accelerated dramatically. <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642503/AI-is-widening-the-asymmetry-between-attackers-and-defenders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The barrier to entry is lowering for both defenders and attackers</a>, impacting the economics of vulnerability research.</p> <p>For UK organisations, this has immediate implications. Software supply chain risk moves firmly back into focus. Most organisations have made progress in cataloguing their assets and dependencies, but visibility alone is no longer sufficient. The ability to continuously interrogate those assets for weakness and prioritise remediation based on business impact becomes critical.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Claude Mythos</h3> <ul style="list-style-type: square;" class="default-list"> <li>Anthropic's Claude Mythos has generated buzz and alarm among CIOs and CISOs, who fear the model could expose vulnerabilities and drive&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/Take-a-breath-A-CISOs-Claude-Mythos-advice-for-CIOs">unprecedented levels of hacking</a>.</li> <li>As AI tools such as Claude Mythos Preview can speed vulnerability discovery for attackers, CIOs are&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/ais-cybersecurity-paradox-how-CIOs-can-keep-up-with-change">automating detection and response to keep pace</a>.</li> <li>Claude Mythos has the potential to enhance global cyber security or undermine it by becoming a weapon&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.techtarget.com/healthtechsecurity/news/366643379/Health-ISAC-How-Claude-Mythos-could-impact-healthcare-cybersecurity">in the hands of threat actors</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p>This is where Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) comes into play. Strong asset visibility, enriched with business context, allows organisations to understand not just what is vulnerable, but what truly matters. CTEM extends beyond infrastructure into CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices, ensuring application-layer vulnerabilities are assessed alongside traditional IT risks. Without this joined-up view, organisations risk misallocating resources while high-impact exposures remain unaddressed.</p> <p>At the same time, the fundamentals of security operations are becoming more important. There is no “silver bullet” emerging from AI. Organisations that already struggle with patching and vulnerability management will feel the pressure most acutely as exploit timelines shrink. The speed at which known vulnerabilities are remediated becomes a defining factor in resilience.</p> <p>Detection and response must also evolve. AI-driven attack paths are increasingly multi-stage and adaptive, requiring organisations to invest in anomaly-based detection and deeper telemetry across networks and endpoints. However, technology alone is not enough. The ability to respond decisively in the early stages of an incident remains critical, as poor coordination and delayed decision-making can quickly outweigh even the most advanced technical capabilities.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more in this series</h3> <p>John Bruce, Quorum Cyber: <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Claude-Mythos-forces-the-conversation-on-defensive-AI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claude Mythos forces the conversation on defensive AI.</a></p> </div> </div> <p>Looking ahead, these AI-driven pipelines will only become more sophisticated and accessible. Even if the most advanced models remain restricted, the techniques will continue to diffuse across the ecosystem as baseline model capabilities improve.</p> <p>The takeaway for CISOs is that Mythos signals that the operating environment has already changed. Organisations do not need access to frontier models to respond. They need to strengthen what they should already be doing as well as maintain continuous visibility of their assets, integrate AI into existing security workflows, improve patching and remediation speed, and rigorously rehearse incident response.</p> <p>In an AI-accelerated threat landscape, resilience will not come from chasing the latest model. It will come from executing the fundamentals, faster and better than before.</p> <p><em>Martin Riley is CTO at <a href="https://www.bridewell.com/uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bridewell</a>, a managed security services provider.</em></p> The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers if Anthropic’s Claude Mythos frontier AI model is a benefit or barrier to achieving resilient enterprise IT security, and how security leaders need to adapt. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Security-Think-Tank-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Mythos-is-turning-up-the-heat-on-risk-not-rewriting-the-rules Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:49:00 GMT <p>Europe’s debate over <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642487/Cloud-and-data-sovereignty-caught-in-a-paradox">cloud sovereignty</a> has moved from ideology to engineering. The question is no longer whether organisations should control their data and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, but whether their governments have built the frameworks that make such control possible in practice.</p> <p>The answer, according to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-merz-ba804280/">Martin Merz, president of Sovereign Cloud at SAP</a>, depends entirely on where you are.</p> <p>“It starts with each and every country,” Merz told Computer Weekly at <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643794/Sapphire-2026-SAP-executives-admit-route-change-on-high-road-to-business-AI">SAP Sapphire Europe</a> in Madrid. “They have their own regulations, their own national security requirements, and I think that needs to be honoured.”</p> <p>He understands the frustration that comes with this reality. European politicians, he said, regularly point out that 450 million citizens and a combined budget of comparable scale to the US should make Europe a formidable force. But the US is one country. Europe is not, and its cloud sovereignty landscape reflects that.</p> <p>For SAP, sovereignty is not a single property but a stack of four distinct obligations: data sovereignty, which requires that data and metadata remain within the country or region; operational sovereignty, meaning that only individuals with the appropriate nationality and security clearances handle that data; technical sovereignty, including an in-country control plane rather than a centralised one; and legal sovereignty, ensuring that the applicable regulatory framework is the one the customer and government actually signed off on.</p> <p>Sovereign cloud, in SAP’s definition, is not a configuration choice. It is a compliance state. “Either it’s sovereign, or it’s not sovereign. You can’t have it halfway,” said Merz.</p> <p>That positioning sounds straightforward. The European reality is considerably messier.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Different speeds, different distances"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Different speeds, different distances</h2> <p>France and Germany have each moved beyond policy aspiration, though they are at different stages of maturity. France built its sovereign cloud framework around SecNumCloud, the certification standard maintained by cyber security agency ANSSI that sets strict requirements for data isolation, operational control and legal sovereignty.</p> <p>In March 2026, SAP launched its sovereign cloud offering in France on the Bleu platform, a joint venture between Orange and Capgemini that runs Microsoft Azure technology under French ownership and is working towards full SecNumCloud qualification.</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> [Cloud sovereignty] starts with each and every country. They have their own regulations, their own national security requirements, and I think that needs to be honoured </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Martin Merz, SAP</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>Germany’s Delos Cloud, an SAP subsidiary operating Microsoft Azure infrastructure under active oversight of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), launched for productive use in early 2026. The platform is designed specifically for Germany’s public sector and meets the cloud platform requirements set by the BSI, which also monitors and controls outgoing telemetry.</p> <p>Merz confirmed he met with Germany’s digital minister, Carsten Wildberger, two weeks before Sapphire to work through sovereign deployment requirements. Both countries have defined architectures and active deployments. The frameworks exist, and public sector organisations are running on them.</p> <p>The Netherlands is not at that stage. The country has been active in European sovereignty discussions, most visibly through a non-paper adopted by the Dutch Council of Ministers calling for stronger cloud sovereignty frameworks for public administrations.</p> <p>But the document is telling in what it does not do: rather than setting out a Dutch national framework, it asks Brussels to define one. The Netherlands, it argues, believes the definition and criteria for cloud sovereignty are best established within the proposed EU Cloud and AI Development Act.</p> <p>A January 2025 report by the Netherlands Court of Audit <a href="https://english.rekenkamer.nl/documents/2025/01/15/dutch-central-government-in-the-cloud">found that</a> two-thirds of government cloud services examined had not completed a mandatory risk assessment, leaving digital sovereignty and data protection inadequately assured. The findings echoed concerns <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366626105/Dutch-cloud-pioneers-face-the-hard-limits-of-digital-sovereignty">reported by Computer Weekly</a> in June 2025, when independent experts warned that <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366626105/Dutch-cloud-pioneers-face-the-hard-limits-of-digital-sovereignty">Dutch sovereign cloud initiatives remain too fragmented</a> to serve critical infrastructure at scale.</p> <p>The court’s vice-president warned bluntly that foreign governments, including the US, could potentially access or modify information held on Dutch government systems.</p> <p>When asked directly whether any Dutch critical infrastructure operator is currently running on SAP sovereign infrastructure at a comparable level to deployments in France or Germany, Merz was notably cautious. “We work with the Netherlands,” he said. He did not name a certified deployment.</p> <p>That gap matters because the stakes are not abstract. The Netherlands is home to some of Europe’s most strategically significant critical infrastructure, and organisations across those sectors have already made significant investments in cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP).</p> <p>The question of what sovereign protection those deployments carry is one that regulators, boards and procurement teams across the Dutch public and regulated private sector will need to answer.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The hyperscaler paradox"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>The hyperscaler paradox</h2> <p>One reason the conversation is complicated is that SAP’s sovereign cloud offering does not resolve neatly into a simple alternative to hyperscale infrastructure. SAP offers sovereign deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS), on Microsoft Azure via partnerships such as Delos, on its own cloud infrastructure, and on-premise for customers such as intelligence agencies that require data to stay within their own facilities.</p> <p>Which option is sovereign depends entirely on what the relevant regional cyber security agency has approved.</p> <p>“If AWS is approved by the cyber security agency, then it’s sovereign for us,” said Merz. Some military customers in Europe, he noted, are comfortable running sovereign workloads on AWS provided the regulatory sign-off is in place. Others are not. The result is that sovereignty is defined not by the underlying infrastructure but by a compliance status that varies by sector, by nation, and by the specific requirements of each organisation.</p> <p>“There are customers for whom none of these options is valid,” Merz acknowledged. “They want it solely in their own datacentre. Only then is it sovereign for them.”</p> <p>That compliance question does not stop at the infrastructure layer. As SAP pushes its Autonomous Enterprise vision, the governance of AI agents introduces a parallel accountability gap that organisations in regulated sectors cannot afford to ignore.</p> <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-herzig/?locale=en">SAP’s chief technology officer, Philipp Herzig,</a> addressed this directly in a media roundtable at Sapphire. When an autonomous agent makes a wrong call, he said, accountability does not sit with SAP alone.&nbsp;“At the end of the day, that’s a shared responsibility,” Herzig said.</p> <p>AI governance, he explained, sits primarily with the customer, through the AI Agent Hub, where IT departments set the policies, architecture and boundary conditions that govern what agents can and cannot do.</p> <p>For organisations in regulated sectors, that governance layer is not optional, and it has to be designed before AI is switched on.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="An industrial speed bump"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>An industrial speed bump</h2> <p>The operational consequences of Europe’s fragmented sovereignty landscape are visible at the company level.</p> <p>Damen Shipyards, the Dutch maritime group that builds vessels for navies and commercial operators across more than 20 countries, has spent several years consolidating around 80% of its entities onto a single SAP S/4Hana Cloud platform via Rise with SAP. The roll-out is largely complete, and the focus has shifted to unlocking AI value across finance, procurement, supply chain and project management.</p> <p>Han Coenraad, who oversees the SAP programme at Damen, described genuine enthusiasm for the direction, particularly around SAP Joule. “Young professionals are using it, and the acceleration they get from it is really something to see,” he said.</p> <p>But Damen Naval, the division that designs and builds warships for European defence ministries, remains on an on-premise SAP instance. Defence compliance rules require personnel to be screened by Dutch intelligence services in first- and second-line support, a standard that current cloud deployment models do not yet structurally accommodate.</p> <p>“We see internally already a difference in adoption speed developing,” said Coenraad. “And that is not what we want.”</p> <p>His colleague Kenny van Sleuwen, system architect for ERP, sees SAP Sovereign Cloud as a potential route to bringing both environments onto a common platform, and expects Dutch defence to follow Germany and France in formalising such requirements. But until that framework exists, the gap remains.</p> <p>That is not a technology problem. It is a policy problem.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The pragmatism trap"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>The pragmatism trap</h2> <p>Merz is not without sympathy for the difficulty of European convergence. He acknowledged that the US operates as a single regulatory market, while Europe is attempting to coordinate sovereign cloud standards across member states with different legal traditions, different national security agencies and different threat assessments.</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> The most successful countries and customers are those who start in a pragmatic way. Fulfil the requirements but stay open for new technology </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Martin Merz, SAP</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>His prescription is pragmatism. “The most successful countries and customers are those who start in a pragmatic way,” he said. “Fulfil the requirements but stay open for new technology.”</p> <p>The challenge with pragmatism as a long-term strategy is that it tends to lock in the advantages of those who moved earliest. France and Germany have invested heavily in building sovereign cloud infrastructure that meets their own standards. Organisations in those countries, including defence contractors and critical infrastructure operators, can adopt cloud and AI at a pace that regulators have approved. The Netherlands is still building the framework that would allow equivalent certifications to take place.</p> <p>Merz said he would welcome one regulation for the whole of Europe. He was not optimistic about the timeline. For Dutch organisations that cannot wait for convergence, the practical questions are what sovereign cloud looks like under the current Dutch framework, whether that framework is developing fast enough, and what the cost of the delay is in terms of AI adoption that the most regulated and strategically significant sectors cannot yet pursue.</p> <p>Those are questions that SAP’s engineering teams cannot answer. They are questions for The Hague.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Dutch digital independence</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Dutch politicians raise concerns over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366616381/Dutch-politicians-raise-concerns-over-Big-Tech-reliance">Big Tech reliance</a>.</li> <li>The Netherlands starts <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366558412/Netherlands-starts-building-its-own-AI-language-model">building its own AI language model</a>.</li> <li>Dutch universities have found themselves&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366623843/Dutch-universities-call-for-reduced-dependence-on-Big-Tech">in the grip of American tech giants</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> France has an established sovereign cloud framework and Germany launched one earlier this year, whereas the Netherlands is still just building its policy foundation https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Europe-map-adobe.jpeg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644008/Dutch-critical-infrastructure-lags-Europes-cloud-sovereignty-divide-SAP-executive-warns Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:46:00 GMT <p>Drawing an analogy with the pleasing aesthetics of St Pancras and King’s Cross railway stations, the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642254/Science-Innovation-and-Technology-committee-chair-questions-UKs-tech-sovereignty-approach">UK government’s minister for artificial intelligence and online safety</a>, Kanishka Narayan MP, used his presentation at this week’s <a href="https://london.theaisummit.com/">AI Summit</a>, part of <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366625836/London-Tech-Week-More-funding-fellowships-and-skills">London Tech Week</a>, to encourage datacentre builds that people can be proud of.</p> <p>“Our industrial legacy is written into the British landscape,” he said. “Infrastructure shapes how people feel about the places they live in. Those of you who have the misfortune of arriving here via Euston Station would appreciate this truth.”</p> <p>Narayan pointed out that St Pancras was built for the railway age – to move people, goods and opportunity across the country. “But it was also built with civic ambition and enhanced London and embodied the ambition of our communities,” he said.</p> <p>In contrast, Narayan described Euston as “a functional, but frankly bland and ugly building” – a symbol of what happens when architects forget the civic purpose of infrastructure.</p> <p>“<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Meeting-the-UKs-compute-capacity-needs-Alternatives-to-hyperscale-datacentre-builds">Datacentres are the new railway stations</a>, power stations, telephone exchanges of the intelligence economy,” he said. “They will power the models, the services, the business and public tools that will define the next industrial revolution. They are also set in real places, near real communities.”</p> <p>Rather than being buildings that communities tolerate or put up with, Narayan called for datacentres’ build design to be something people can be proud of.</p> <p>Narayan used his speech to announce the RIBA x DSIT Data Centre Design Challenge, a government-backed design competition run by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) that seeks to ensure that as datacentres grow, they deliver for the communities around them too. &nbsp;</p> <p>The idea is to encourage collaboration between architects, designers, engineers and communities to raise the bar on high-quality design, meaningful public engagement and sustainable environmental outcomes, which, according to DSIT, will reimagine datacentres not just as critical national infrastructure, but as places of genuine civic value.</p> <p>He said the competition aims to raise the bar of datacentre design and is the first government-backed competition where architects, designers and engineers are being asked to design datacentres “with meaningful public engagement, strong environmental outcomes and genuine civic value”.</p> <p>He added: “If a community is helping power the AI age, it should be able to see that contribution with pride.”</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="AI that works for workers"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>AI that works for workers</h2> <p>Along with the datacentre design competition, the UK government is also encouraging a more pro-work approach to AI deployment.</p> <p>During his speech at the AI Summit, Narayan said the government is launching a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pro-worker-ai-adoption-prize-how-to-nominate">Pro-Worker AI Adoption Prize</a>, which he said would celebrate organisations adopting pro-worker AI, encouraging other firms to follow their lead.</p> <p>“We want businesses, workers, unions and investors to nominate organisations at the cutting edge of <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/How-businesses-can-get-ahead-of-potential-AI-deskilling">pro-worker AI adoption</a> – not just adopting AI, but using AI to create new products, new jobs and new tasks in a way that boosts the demand for human expertise,” he said.</p> <p>The top 50 organisations nominated will be shortlisted by an expert panel of judges, chaired by the Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist Simon Johnson.</p> <p>“Business cases of pro-worker AI adoption will be written up and taught in leading UK business schools so the next generation of people in this country look at pro-worker AI adoption too,” Narayan added.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about datacentre developments</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>The <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/The-great-datacentre-backlash-The-campaigners">great datacentre backlash – the campaigners</a>: In part one of a series looking at attitudes to datacentres, we look at the organisations that oppose new builds.</li> <li>Could an environmental legal challenge derail UK government’s <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366630427/Could-an-environmental-legal-challenge-derail-governments-fast-track-datacentre-builds">fast-tracked datacentre builds?</a> The government is under fire after details emerged that it waved through three large-scale datacentre planning applications without conducting an environmental impact assessment first.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Speaking at the AI Summit in London, Kanishka Narayan launches a competition to encourage UK datacentre designs people can be proud of https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/HeroImages/architect-building-design-blueprint-NanoStockk-getty-RF-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644212/UK-minister-of-AI-calls-for-more-attractive-datacentre-builds Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:52:00 GMT <p>At London Tech Week, deputy prime minister David Lammy announced the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) legal assistants for use in Crown Court cases, alongside an AI tool for judges to identify cases ready for trial.</p> <p>At the end of December 2025, the Crown Court backlog was 80,200 cases in England and Wales, the highest level recorded since 2016, <a target="_blank" href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8372/" rel="noopener">according to Minstry of Justice (MoJ) figures</a>. The backlog in magistrates’ courts was 379,400.</p> <p>The MoJ said in a statement that AI legal assistants will be developed “in partnership with the UK’s top legal experts and leading AI developers”. It is said that the assistants will support legal professionals with routine casework, including research and case analysis.</p> <p>Before being used in the Crown Court, the technology will be trialled to ensure the software meets the standard required by judges and lawyers before being considered for roll-out in the courts system, the MoJ said.</p> <p>Lammy said: “Artificial intelligence has the power to transform how we live, work and govern for the better. This impact for good can be seen in our justice system – with thousands of days of admin work saved for our probation staff, and the advent of new tools which aim to cut court backlogs and deliver swifter justice for victims.”</p> <p>He will also announce that every probation officer in England and Wales has been equipped with Justice Transcribe, described as an AI tool that automatically records and transcribes conversations with offenders.</p> <p>The MoJ said the tool could free up the equivalent of 18,750 calendar days of time every year, allowing frontline staff to spend more time monitoring offenders. A similar tool is being trialled in the Immigration and Asylum Tribunals, the department said. It is one of the projects forming part of the prime minister’s “AI Exemplars programme”, which are examples of how the government wants to use AI across the public sector.</p> <p>In August 2025, the MoJ announced it had hired a chief&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366623117/UK-MoJ-crime-prediction-algorithms-raise-serious-concerns">artificial intelligence</a>&nbsp;(AI) officer as part of a three-year action plan to deploy AI. The plan included setting up the Justice AI Unit, described as an interdisciplinary team comprising experts in AI, ethics, policy, design, operations and change management.&nbsp;</p> <p>The unit’s website, <a target="_blank" href="https://ai.justice.gov.uk/" rel="noopener">ai.justice.gov.uk</a>, is used to provide updates on what the MoJ is looking at in terms of AI. On the site, Lammy is quoted as saying: “Trials in the probation system with Justice Transcribe had helped record meetings between offenders and officers,&nbsp;saving 25,000 hours of time&nbsp;by helping transcribe more than&nbsp;150,000 meetings.”</p> <p>A probation officer said: “For once, I feel that I actually have time to look at the person in front of me and they feel that they’re being listened to”.</p> <p>Lammy was appointed deputy prime minister and secretary of state for justice in the 2025 cabinet reshuffle on 5 September 2025, following the resignation of Angela Raynor. In February 2026, Lammy <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639522/Deputy-prime-minister-vows-to-reform-justice-system-with-AI">vowed to reform the justice system with AI</a>. Speaking at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639308/Microsoft-CEO-opens-up-London-AI-tour-with-Copilot-push">Microsoft AI Tour</a>, Lammy said the justice system is in “desperate” need of renewal.</p> <p>This week, the government also announced testing environments called <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644113/UK-government-pumps-200m-into-AI-skills-and-adoption">AI Growth Labs</a>. These might enable the UK’s “lawtech” sector to develop and refine AI products in “secure, controlled settings” before bringing them to market.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about the UK government and AI</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>UK government <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644113/UK-government-pumps-200m-into-AI-skills-and-adoption">pumps £200m into AI skills and adoption</a>.</li> <li>UK government and Cisco unveil <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643929/UK-government-and-Cisco-unveil-AI-digital-skills-initiative">AI, digital skills initiative</a>.</li> <li>UK government’s £500m <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641682/UK-governments-50m-sovereign-AI-fund-bids-to-commercialise-research">sovereign AI fund bids to commercialise research</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> Deputy PM David Lammy announces AI legal assistants for Crown Courts and AI tools for judges to tackle record backlogs https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Justice-law-court-davidfranklin-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643991/Lammy-announces-AI-legal-assistants-for-Crown-Courts-at-London-Tech-Week Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:22:00 GMT <p>Dutch bank ING is removing laborious manual processing for mortgage applications through an increased use of its latest artificial intelligence (AI) agent.</p> <p>The bank is extending its use after successfully piloting AI for mortgages, saying it will now be able to make faster mortgage decisions through AI taking over the gathering and checking of documents and moving cases between different systems.</p> <p>The AI agent looks over applications to understand them, explain possible outcomes and ways to move forward, and then a human employee will make final assessments and decisions. The AI agent for mortgage processing was piloted in March this year and the bank is now prepared to roll it out to the live environment.</p> <p>Around 12 months ago, Marnix van Stiphout, ING chief operating officer (COO), told Computer Weekly about work being done around the use of AI in mortgage generation.</p> <p>“We will look at agentic AI for products like mortgages, redoing the way we work with clients on getting mortgages from us,” he <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366626743/ING-Bank-transforming-operations-through-agentic-AI">said at the time</a>. “They will no longer need to speak to a person but a digital agent in terms of getting all the data from them and doing credit checks.”</p> <p>ING said: “Buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions people make, and waiting for a mortgage decision can be one of the most uncertain moments along the way. Much of that waiting happens behind the scenes – gathering and checking documents, and moving cases between systems and experts.”</p> <p>Tom Degen, head of mortgages at ING Netherlands, said the AI agent’s use will enable people to “focus on complex applications and personal contact with brokers<i>...</i>with the agentic mortgage assistant, we are taking the next step in supporting mortgage applications to deliver faster decisions and clearer outcomes for customers and brokers.”</p> <p>The AI agent for mortgages is a sign of things to come at the bank, with ING saying it is “testing ideas in real settings and scaling what adds value for customers”.</p> <p>Speaking to Computer Weekly last year, Stiphout said he expect certain work in operations to be done by 25% fewer people when AI is implemented, but said the 25% can be used for growth and more complex tasks.</p> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366622971/Interview-Daniele-Tonella-CTO-ING">In an interview with Computer Weekly</a> last year, ING CTO Daniele Tonella said the bank is enabling development around AI in five areas: know your customer (KYC), call centres, in wholesale banking to improve customer due diligence, in retail for the hyper-personalisation of offerings, and inside tech for engineering.</p> <p>A recent survey by Zopa and Juniper Research found that generative AI (GenAI) will save 187 million labour hours, mainly in back-office roles, and that 27,000 jobs could be displaced by 2030.&nbsp;</p> <p>For example, Commerzbank recently announced it will cut 3,000 jobs – around 8% of its workforce – as it increases AI investment, set at €600m over the next four years. The bank expects €500m in additional value to be added each year through the AI investments from 2030 onwards.</p> <p>Banks are gaining huge benefits from AI today, with Lloyds Banking Group’s&nbsp;<i>Financial institutions sentiment survey for 2025</i> finding that <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366630147/Number-of-UK-banks-reporting-AI-driven-productivity-improvements-doubles">59% of surveyed firms reported AI-driven productivity gains</a>&nbsp;in the past 12 months, compared with 32% in the 2024 survey.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about AI at ING</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Daniele Tonella, global head of IT at ING Bank, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366622971/Interview-Daniele-Tonella-CTO-ING">tells Computer Weekly about his first nine months in the job</a>, which has so far seen him navigate four layers of tech.</li> <li>Netherlands-headquartered international bank is <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366626743/ING-Bank-transforming-operations-through-agentic-AI">using artificial intelligence throughout its operations</a>.</li> <li>ING bank is <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637057/Interview-How-ING-reaps-benefits-of-centralising-AI">using generative AI-powered chatbots</a> with a human in the loop to streamline mortgage applications. It is also testing speech-to-speech models.</li> </ul> </div> </div> Bank using artificial intelligence to speed up mortgage applications as the company introduces the technology across its business https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Mortgage-house.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644173/ING-increases-use-of-AI-in-mortgage-application-process Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:22:00 GMT <p>The rising cost of using <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/LLMs-explained-A-developers-guide-to-getting-started">large language models (LLMs)</a> is now giving enterprises pause for thought. As artificial intelligence (AI) models have become more sophisticated, queries are costing businesses significantly more in “<a href="https://www.theserverside.com/tutorial/An-introduction-to-LLM-tokenization">tokens</a>” and, in some cases, ratcheting up disastrously large bills.</p> <p>And their inherent variability means it is no longer possible to predict how much each task will cost. The same prompt one day could produce an instant response, but an almost identical prompt on another day could take five minutes and burn through 10% of your monthly token budget, says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/donschuerman/">Don Schuerman</a>, chief technology officer (CTO) at Pegasystems.</p> <p>Enterprises have incentivised employees to maximise their use of AI without fully considering the benefits that it produces for the organisation. Such “<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/CW-Developer-Network/Pega-targets-token-tax-on-agentic-application-development">tokenmaxxing</a>” has left companies with unexpected bills.</p> <p>Last month, for example, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs">Axios reported</a> that a single unnamed enterprise spent over £500m on AI tokens for <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641789/A-tsunami-of-flaws-When-frontier-AI-and-Patch-Tuesday-collide">Anthropic’s Claud AI platform</a> in one month after failing to put a cap on its employees’ IT use.</p> <p>And in April, Uber’s CTO disclosed that the minicab and delivery service had burned through its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-macdonald-ai-token-spending-harder-justify-2026-5">entire budget for Claude Code for 2026</a> in the first three months of the year.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="AI token cost rising"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>AI token cost rising</h2> <p>Commercial pressures to fund AI datacentres and increasing energy costs have led AI suppliers to raise their prices in recent months, leading organisations to question where the value of spending on AI lies.</p> <p>In some cases, Schuerman says companies have replaced people with AI only to realise that AI is costing them more than the people they replaced.</p> <p>Last week, <a href="https://www.frbsf.org/our-people/leadership/office-of-the-president/">Mary Daly</a>, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, put it succinctly in an <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/news/4600787-productivity-growth-is-everywhere-except-in-the-data-says-mary-daly-regarding-ai">interview with Bloomberg</a>. “Productivity growth is everywhere except in the data,” she said.</p> <p>“What’s happened is the models have gotten more sophisticated,” Schuerman tells Computer Weekly. “The model reasons with itself, sometimes it dispatches other agents to do other things, and as it does that, it’s continuously running the token meter.”</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Enterprises waking up to AI costs"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Enterprises waking up to AI costs</h2> <p>He argues that enterprises are waking up to the fact that the cost of AI does not increase linearly with the number of calculations the model makes. “Every step is adding quadratically to the cost of the process,” he says.</p> <p>If you use AI to work out a business process, the first step might take 500 tokens, but the context of the first step will need to be carried over, so the second step will require 1,000 tokens. The third step will use 1,500 tokens, and so on, says Schuerman.</p> <p>As calculations become more complex and require more context, not only does the cost increase, but the risk of AI hallucinating or behaving unpredictably also increases.</p> <blockquote> <div class="imagecaption alignLeft"> <img src="https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/Don-Schuerman-Pega-140x180px.jpg" alt="Photo of Don Schuerman, Pegasystems"> </div> <p><span style="color: #34495e;"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The best possible use of AI is to help me get that repeatable process right – help me define it, help me design it, help me ensure it follows best practices. And it turns out I don’t need much AI for that”</span></strong></span></p> <p><em><span style="color: #34495e;">Don Schuerman, Pegasystems</span></em></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/CW-Developer-Network/Pega-targets-token-tax-on-agentic-application-development">Pegasystems’ answer to keeping the costs of AI</a> under control is to use the technology in a more strategic way.</p> <p>Pega supplies Fortune 500 companies with low-code platforms to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643849/Enterprises-that-succeed-in-agentic-AI-start-by-reimagining-business-process-finds-Pega-research">automate their business processes</a> and manage relationships with their customers.</p> <p>This week, the company announced that it would charge its customers for business outcomes, rather than charging them for how many AI tokens they use.&nbsp;Schuerman argues that at least 60% to 70% of the high-volume mission-critical processes enterprises need can be automated using rules-based approaches.</p> <p>“The best possible use of AI is to help me get that repeatable process right – help me define it, help me design it, help me ensure it follows best practices,” he says. “And it turns out I don’t need much AI for that.”</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Designing workflows"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Designing workflows</h2> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366625045/Interview-Pegas-Blueprint-for-breaking-the-curse-of-legacy-IT">Pega’s Blueprint software</a>, for example, uses AI to help people design automated workflows for their organisations. Because AI does the bulk of its work at the point of design, AI agents don’t have to rethink the process from scratch each time the process runs.</p> <p>The workflows can, however, call AI agents to execute specific tasks – summarising a document or seeking input from a human, for example – giving enterprises the ability to use AI reasoning in a controlled way.</p> <p>Pega has now made its automated workflows compatible with the open source Model Context Protocol (MCP). This means companies can give AI agents built on other platforms – such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, OpenAI, AWS AgentCore, and others – access to Pega’s processes.</p> <p>Schuerman says that for Pega, adding MCP was a “relatively light lift”. Pega is agnostic about how organisations access its workflows. Organisations can already access Pega workflows through other software, such as Salesforce, for example, without having to use Pega as a front end.</p> <p>But for businesses, the change is huge, he says. They can take their existing AI agents and use them to follow Pega’s workflows.</p> <p>“Once I’ve connected in the Pega MCP, that agent is going to follow the rules, it’s going to do it without excessive reasoning [by making] that relatively simple call to find the right workflow and finding the skill,” says Schuerman.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="From banks to pizza"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>From banks to pizza</h2> <p>Companies, including the Dutch bank Rabobank, are using MCP calls to convert chatbots into intelligent agents that complete tasks for customers, such as checking an account balance or potentially making a payment.</p> <p>Blueprint has opened the door for more companies to become Pega customers, more quickly.&nbsp;In the past, it might have taken several years for Pega to develop prototype workflows and for companies to decide whether to use Pega software.</p> <p>“It often took a long set of conversations and really skilled salespeople to help the customer understand how their business problem fit into our platform,” he says.</p> <p>With Blueprint, the software can take a description of what they do as a business, scan material from the company website, and within minutes design workflows that make sense to the business.</p> <p>Schuerman won’t put any numbers on it, but says Pega has made a conscious decision to sell its platform to a broader range of companies, partly directly and partly working through business partners.</p> <p>Previously, Pega specialised in supplying its platforms to highly regulated industries such as banks, insurance companies and healthcare. But now it is seeing opportunities from companies like Papa John’s, the pizza chain, which was seen among the attendees of Pega’s annual conference.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="AI can’t create the extraordinary"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>AI can’t create the extraordinary</h2> <p>Schuerman is adamant that AI is not going to replace human creativity as enterprises become more automated.</p> <p>Unlike people, AI does not create things that are extraordinary or show genuine creativity. “It just averages everything else that it has read in the past,” he says.&nbsp;“What we want to do is continually compress the time from an idea to that idea making a meaningful change in how my employees work and how customers engage with us.”</p> <p>That leaves people free to focus more on strategy, ideas and creativity.&nbsp;There is too much focus on the next version of ChatGPT or Claude, when last year’s version was just fine, according to Schuerman.</p> <p>“The hard work is in turning all this AI potential into realities for people, and that’s where I think the interesting work is,” he says.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Pegasystems</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366629123/Vodafone-Greece-automates-deals-for-customers-saves-500-staff-days-of-work">Vodafone Greece automates deals for customers, saves 500 staff-days of work</a>: Vodafone Greece hired an implementation partner for a business process management project while its own staff observed and learned how to use the technology.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366604883/Wells-Fargo-bank-turns-to-AI-to-help-families-settle-estates-after-a-death">Wells Fargo bank turns to AI to help families settle estates after a death</a>: Wells Fargo bank is winning customers after using business automation software and artificial intelligence to help people manage the estates of relatives following a bereavement.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366541863/Citis-US-Personal-Banking-turns-to-AI-to-delight-customers-with-personalised-services">Citi US Personal Banking turns to AI to ‘delight’ customers</a>&nbsp;with personalised services: Citigroup’s US Personal Banking business has created a repository of customer data and is rolling out a decision engine.&nbsp;</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366589418/Bupa-turns-to-data-to-provide-personalised-health-services">Bupa turns to data to provide personalised health services</a>: Private healthcare provider Bupa says a project to deploy business process automation is bringing it closer to APAC customers.</li> <li><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/news/366643870/Pegasystems-refines-Blueprint-agent-builder-expands-marketing-tools?_gl=1*lqprof*_ga*MTMxMDQ1OTgxMi4xNzc3OTY4NDc4*_ga_TQKE4GS5P9*czE3ODA5Mzk5MTckbzg2JGcxJHQxNzgwOTM5OTYxJGoxNiRsMCRoMA..">Pegasystems refines Blueprint agent builder, expands marketing tools</a>: Pegasystems emphasises ‘derisking’ agentic buildouts for its customers in regulated industries.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Pegasystems offers an alternative take on how enterprises can use artificial intelligence to automate their business processes without burning through their budgets https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/LeMagIT/hero_article/Hero-Danger-by-InfiniteFlow-Adobe-10.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644133/Interview-Pegasystems-Don-Schuerman-on-how-to-keep-the-lid-on-skyrocketing-AI-costs Wed, 10 Jun 2026 07:50:00 GMT <p>The UK government is attempting to improve public trust in its <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637124/What-will-happen-with-Starmers-digital-ID-scheme-in-2026">digital ID proposals</a> and rebuild relations with industry by setting up a new advisory group and establishing regular meetings with private sector stakeholders.</p> <p>In the King’s Speech last month, the government unveiled <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643097/Kings-Speech-paves-the-way-for-digital-ID">plans for a Digital Access to Services Bill</a>, which will form a legal framework under which it can create, issue and use digital IDs.</p> <p>The proposals have <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366635513/Mandatory-digital-ID-paves-way-for-surveillance-and-exclusion-MPs-hear">faced significant criticism</a> and opposition from civil society and privacy groups, while MPs on the Home Affairs Committee described the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643374/Government-digital-ID-launch-was-a-fiasco-report-finds">launch of the government’s policy as “nothing short of a fiasco”</a>, adding that the initial plan to make the scheme mandatory – and the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Computer-Weekly-Editors-Blog/UK-governments-U-turn-on-digital-ID-was-inevitable-from-the-start">subsequent U-turn</a> – “undermined what existing public support” there was for digital ID.</p> <p>While stakeholders wait for the results of a recent <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639956/Whitehall-launches-digital-ID-consultation">consultation process</a>, chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones – the minister in charge of the digital identity policy – has convened an independent group of experts with a remit to “provide accountability and insight” to help ensure the digital ID scheme is “inclusive, useful and trusted”.</p> <p>The experts range from familiar faces who sit on other digital government advisory groups to business and political leaders (<a href="#Members"><i>see box, below</i></a>). At first glance, the group appears to lack one significant factor – any direct experience of developing, operating or implementing digital identity systems. However, Computer Weekly understands that this was a deliberate decision to keep the group free of any commercial interest.</p> <p>According to the Cabinet Office, “The advisory group will meet quarterly for the duration of the digital ID programme to provide external scrutiny and strategic insight and will challenge the government on emerging ideas or policy decisions to ensure the system works for everyone.”</p> <p>The government is also starting a process of regular engagement with industry bodies and key stakeholders in the digital identity and financial services sectors to “inform” the programme as it develops.</p> <p>The government has <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Computer-Weekly-Editors-Blog/Digital-ID-providers-are-placated-again-as-anticipation-builds-towards-government-consultation">caused significant friction with the digital verification sector</a> over the past 18 months, and has faced criticism for its lack of communication and announcements that made the government’s plans for identity apps appear to be in competition with industry offerings.</p> <p>Behind-the-scenes lobbying by industry bodies has now led to a more formal process of engagement to address supplier concerns and to listen to “lessons and insights” from the sector.</p> <p>“This new programme of engagement will ensure we benefit from the insights and experience of experts as we build a system that is secure, useful and for everyone – and that supports public services that are there for you when you need them most,” said Jones.</p> <p>Parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office, James Frith, added: “We want digital ID to work for everyone – something that is useful, inclusive and trusted. That is why we’re working with industry, civil society and others to get this right. Our programme of engagement will run throughout our development of the programme, ensuring we hear from as many people and organisations as possible.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading"><a id="Members"></a>Members of the UK government’s advisory group on digital ID</h3> <p><strong>John Fallon</strong> – former CEO of global education publisher Pearson, where he led the company’s transition from print to digital learning platforms. Fallon is also the lead Cabinet Office non-executive board member.</p> <p><strong>Anne-Marie Imafidon</strong> – co-founder and CEO of Stemettes, a social enterprise helping people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.</p> <p><strong>David Rogers</strong> – a cyber security expert and member of the faculty at Columbia Business School.</p> <p><strong>Emma Wright</strong> – an expert in digital regulation law, she is director and co-founder of the Interparliamentary Forum on Emerging Technologies and a partner at law firm Crowell &amp; Moring.</p> <p><strong>Justine Roberts</strong> – founder and executive chair of Mumsnet and Gransnet.</p> <p><strong>Victor Dominello</strong> – former New South Wales minister for digital government and now CEO and co-founder of the Future Government Institute.</p> </div> </div> <p>Tech sector trade body TechUK will host a discussion with Frith this month to “identify the technical details required to ensure an interoperable, secure and seamlessly integrated system”, according to TechUK CEO Julian David.</p> <p>As part of the consultation process, the government has also convened a “people’s panel” – which it says was “selected to be broadly representative of the whole British public” – to gather feedback and opinions from citizens on digital identity.</p> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Building-the-foundations-A-national-roadmap-for-digital-identity-and-sovereign-data">David Crack, chair of the Association of Digital Verification Professionals</a>, welcomed the government’s belated commitment to regular engagement with the industry.</p> <p>“The UK already has a vibrant and innovative digital verification services (DVS) market operating under the UK’s <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366635638/Use-of-digital-ID-in-UK-achieves-statutory-status">DVS Trust Framework</a>. Our members are delivering trusted identity solutions today, helping citizens access services more easily while supporting businesses and public bodies to reduce fraud, improve security and enhance user experience,” said Crack.</p> <p>“We stand ready to work constructively with government, policymakers, regulators and industry partners to support the continued implementation of the Trust Framework and the successful development of the government’s digital ID programme.”</p> <p>He added: “As the programme develops, it will be important that engagement is broad, meaningful and ongoing, drawing on the practical experience of organisations already delivering trusted digital identity services at scale. By working together, government and industry can help ensure the UK develops a digital identity ecosystem that is secure, inclusive, interoperable and trusted by citizens.”</p> <p>Earlier this month, Computer Weekly revealed that <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643785/Property-sector-plans-for-digital-ID-collapse-over-government-policy-concerns">a property sector initiative to introduce a digital identity scheme is being scrapped</a> due to concerns over UK government policy and a lack of consumer benefits.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about the government’s digital ID plans</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643374/Government-digital-ID-launch-was-a-fiasco-report-finds">Government digital ID launch was a fiasco, report finds</a>: Back-to-front policy and a rushed launch destroyed public confidence, as Home Affairs Committee is sceptical government has capacity to implement the digital ID programme.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366636254/MPs-maul-digital-ID-plans-in-parliamentary-debate">MPs maul digital ID plans in Parliamentary debate</a>: MPs brand the government’s digital ID plans ‘un-British’ and ‘an attack on civil liberties’ during debate on the controversial policy.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634197/Industry-calls-for-clarity-on-government-digital-ID-plans">Industry calls for clarity on government digital ID plans</a>: The digital identity industry asks UK government for transparency on its digital identity scheme and proposes a formal collaboration agreement.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640072/The-UK-governments-digital-identity-scheme-Dystopian-nightmare-or-modernised-public-services">The UK government’s digital identity scheme: Dystopian nightmare or modernised public services?</a> Critics and supporters of digital ID are honing their arguments for the government’s consultation – but it’s the public that will decide. How should you choose?</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Computer-Weekly-Editors-Blog/Who-knew-How-Starmer-kept-his-digital-ID-plan-secret-for-months">Who knew? How Starmer kept his digital ID plan secret for months</a>: When prime minister Keir Starmer announced on 26 September that the government was to introduce a mandatory national digital ID scheme, it came as a surprise to many people.</li> </ul> </div> </div> After mounting criticism of its digital identity policy, the government is convening an independent advisory group and improving engagement with industry stakeholders in an attempt to improve public trust https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/London-parliament-digital-mobile-adobe.jpeg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644120/UK-government-invites-experts-and-industry-groups-to-advise-on-digital-ID-plans Wed, 10 Jun 2026 06:36:00 GMT <p>Prince William’s homelessness programme, <a href="https://homewards.org.uk/">Homewards</a>, is teaming up with Salesforce and LandAid, a property industry charity, to set up a Homelessness Data Lab.</p> <p>The Homewards charity, launched in 2023, works in six locations: Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Lambeth, Newport, Northern Ireland and Sheffield. It is supported by <a target="_blank" href="https://royalfoundation.com/" rel="noopener">The Royal Foundation</a>.</p> <p>The<b> </b>Homelessness Data Lab is described in a joint statement by Homewards, LandAid and Salesforce as a first-of-its-kind national collaboration, designed to use data and technology to prevent homelessness.</p> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632839/UK-Salesforce-execs-Agentforce-begins-to-stoke-new-business-forms">Zahra Bahrololoumi</a>, CEO of Salesforce UK and Ireland, will join William on the AI Arena stage at <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366625615/Starmer-opens-London-Tech-Week-with-1bn-AI-boost">London TechWeek</a>&nbsp;today to launch the initiative and talk about how IT can put an end to homelessness.</p> <p>In the statement, she said:<b> </b>“Our work with Prince William’s Homewards programme and the launch of the Homelessness Data Lab represents a definitive shift in how society can tackle its most complex challenges. Over 430,000 people across the UK are currently facing homelessness – but this isn’t inevitable.</p> <p>“Homelessness is rarely random. It can be predictable, which means with the right tools and support, it can be preventable. At Salesforce, we are proud to contribute our technology and expertise to frontline services, identify risk earlier, and help make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated.” </p> <p>The project involves more than 25 organisations drawn from business, technology, government, local authorities and frontline services. The lab will explore practical homelessness prevention schemes in the six Homewards locations.</p> <figure class="main-article-image half-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.computerweekly.com/rms/computerweekly/Tech-Week-2026-Homewards-PR-800px-h.jpg"> <img data-src="https://www.computerweekly.com/rms/computerweekly/Tech-Week-2026-Homewards-PR-800px-h_half_column_mobile.jpg" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.computerweekly.com/rms/computerweekly/Tech-Week-2026-Homewards-PR-800px-h_half_column_mobile.jpg 960w,https://www.computerweekly.com/rms/computerweekly/Tech-Week-2026-Homewards-PR-800px-h.jpg 1280w" alt="Photo shows Homewards presence at London Tech Week" height="217" width="279"> <figcaption> <i class="icon pictures" data-icon="z"></i>Homewards at London Tech Week </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> <i class="icon" data-icon="w"></i> </div> </figure> <p>Bloomberg, VodafoneThree, Accenture and NatWest Group are involved in the venture and will develop projects whose aim is to show that homelessness can be predictable and preventable. The projects are intended to focus on improving coordination between frontline services, developing a better understanding of why people become homeless, and getting support to them at the first signs of difficulty.</p> <p>This will be the first time that homelessness has been discussed at London Tech Week. The panel the Prince of Wales is participating in will also include business leaders and feature a “pitch” session where five entrepreneurs will present uses of data and technology aimed at preventing homelessness.</p> <p>At an <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366569394/Why-open-data-is-needed-in-the-battle-to-address-homelessness">open data conference in London in 2024</a>, a researcher at national youth homeless charity Centrepoint related how it had to send freedom of information requests to more than 300 local authorities in England to access information about the scale of homelessness among the young, which is also a hidden problem, in that they might be sofa surfing with friends.</p> <p>“The immediate idea we have [of homelessness] is someone sleeping rough,” the researcher said. “However, there are many more that can actually be considered homeless while not sleeping rough in the streets.”</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> Homelessness is rarely random. It can be predictable, which means with the right tools and support, it can be preventable </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Zahra Bahrololoumi, Salesforce</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>The conference, OpenUK’s State of Open Con 24, shone a spotlight on the bureaucracy that <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Cliff-Sarans-Enterprise-blog/A-powerful-case-for-more-open-data">prevents opening up datasets</a> to tackle the homelessness crisis.</p> <p>The Homelessness Data Lab also involves housing sector organisations Centrepoint, Crisis, the Centre for Homelessness Impact, Community Action Network and Homeless Link, as well as the Ministry of Housing, communities and local government, local authorities, and local organisations in the six locations.</p> <p>Dan Hughes, a trustee at LandAid, said: “The property industry has a real role to play in tackling youth homelessness, and this collaboration is a brilliant example of what’s possible when businesses, government and the sector come together around shared data and a shared goal. By using data to identify warning signs earlier, we can move from responding to crisis to preventing it.”</p> <p>Hazel Detsiny, executive director of homelessness at The Royal Foundation, added: “The Royal Foundation has a proud track record in harnessing brilliant collaboration and the latest technology as a force for change, and this is the time to bring homelessness into such conversations.</p> <p>“We’re proud to be working with LandAid and Salesforce to launch the UK’s first Homelessness Data Lab, where partners are developing and testing practical projects across our locations to use data more effectively.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about data technologies for social good</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Why <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366569394/Why-open-data-is-needed-in-the-battle-to-address-homelessness">open data is needed in the battle to address homelessness</a>.</li> <li>In this guest blog post, Cindi Howson, chief data strategy officer at ThoughtSpot, discusses using <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Data-Matters/Using-data-for-good-not-evil">data for good</a>, not evil.</li> <li>Putting <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Putting-data-at-the-heart-of-policymaking-will-accelerate-Londons-recovery">data at the heart of policymaking</a> will accelerate London’s recovery.</li> </ul> </div> </div> Prince William’s Homewards charity is partnering with Salesforce and LandAid to launch a data lab with the aim of using data technology to predict and prevent homelessness https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/HeroImages/LTW-2026-Leon-Neal-Getty-RM-SINGLE-USE-ONLY-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644097/Prince-William-charity-and-Salesforce-set-up-data-lab-to-tackle-homelessness Wed, 10 Jun 2026 06:09:00 GMT <p>An interview with Nick Clegg during the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643916/SXSW-26-Europe-still-struggles-to-invest-in-deep-tech">South by SouthWest (SXSW) 2026 show in London</a> for <em>The Rest is Money</em> podcast is illustrative of just how out of touch the tech giants are.</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTqy5Z-cPSI&amp;t=1443s">Speaking to ITV political editor Robert Peston</a>, the former UK deputy prime minister spoke about the politicisation of Silicon Valley – and the fact that no one else had any experience in politics.</p> <p>Present at the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Computer-Weekly-Editors-Blog/Trump-has-won-but-he-cannot-defeat-the-inevitability-of-digital-change">inauguration of Donald Trump</a> in 2025 were Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple boss Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Also present was SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who went on to head up the US Department of Government Efficiency, which oversaw the closure of and funding cuts to numerous US government departments and programmes.&nbsp;</p> <p>Looking at the tech sector’s attitude to the new administration, Clegg said: “Rather than shun politics, they have decided to embrace Maga [make America great again] politics for a whole bunch of reasons.”</p> <p>Dell is the most recent company to benefit from its CEO’s open support of the US president. In 2025, after Trump won the US presidential election, <a href="https://x.com/MichaelDell/status/1854190167579295907?lang=en">Dell CEO Michael Dell tweeted</a>: “Congratulations to President Trump on a successful campaign and election win. We look forward to continued progress and opportunity under his leadership and working together toward a strong and unified future for all.”</p> <p>In May 2026, Dell won a $9.7bn contract with the Pentagon, described by the US Department of War’s chief information officer, Kirsten Davies, as a “second-generation blanket purchase agreement” to streamline and consolidate critical Microsoft software and services across the department, the intelligence community and the US Coast Guard.</p> <p>With Trump’s latest executive order of 2 June, which aims to promote advanced artificial intelligence (AI) in the US, questions are being raised over how much the tech giants supporting the US administration will benefit from their closeness to the president.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Political shift in Silicon Valley"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Political shift in Silicon Valley</h2> <p>Clegg joined Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, in 2018 and left in 2025. “When I arrived in Silicon Valley in the autumn of 2018, it was a completely different time. Silicon Valley was still a bit hippy-dippy, very much left-leaning, for better or for worse. But crucially, social media was a social thing. It was about human beings,” he said.</p> <p>In 2025, rather than shun politics, Clegg said the whole of Silicon Valley decided to embrace Maga politics. He said they did this “for a whole bunch of reasons – some high-minded and some more self-interest”.</p> <p>Speaking about Meta specifically, he said: “Certainly the product in the company I work for has changed utterly from being a sort of human-centric product to one which is now much, much more about content, often synthetic content, being algorithmically recommended to you. To put it mildly, it was not exactly the kind of thing that appealed to me.”</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Risk of political change"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Risk of political change</h2> <p>Clegg questioned the longevity of the tech giants, given that they have now shifted from being apolitical to being heavily supportive of the Trump administration.</p> <p>“I’m not talking about my old life as a politician because I wasn’t employed at Meta as a politician, but I actually don’t think it’s sensible for business to flip-flop every time the political weather changes in Washington,” he said.</p> <p>Clegg said it was particularly difficult for a <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642489/Meta-ramps-up-AI-spend-as-it-pushes-advanced-models">social media business like Meta</a>&nbsp;to balance freedom of speech with freedom of expression.</p> <p>“About one half of the US thinks that companies like Meta actively censor and suppress their view of the world, and another half yell at them and say, ‘You’re not censoring enough to keep us safe’,” he said. “There’s a much more polarised debate, and I think if you’re dealing with something as sensitive as speech, and where speech moderation ends and free expression begins, it’s more sensible to refrain from jumping into one political camp or another.”</p> <p>From his experience of working at Meta, Clegg said: “Silicon Valley is always susceptible to ludicrous hyperbole, which, for better or for worse, they then go and act upon. They’re not politicians and, oddly enough, in conversations, I was often the only person who’d ever been elected to anything.”</p> <p>According to Clegg, Silicon Valley considered the Trump victory a paradigm shift. “Everything was different compared to before, and they needed to adjust accordingly.” But the political pendulum will eventually swing the other way and people’s attitudes will change.&nbsp;</p> <p>When asked whether tech bosses were driven purely by money, Clegg said he wasn’t sure it was only about money, adding that they tend to have an undergraduate-level fascination with ancient Rome. “Am I going to be remembered in a thousand years’ time as the person who helped inhabit Mars?” he said, implying that they see themselves as empire-building and want to be recognised for their achievements.</p> <p>“They want to live in a world where great men – and it’s always men – do great things, while the rest of us Lilliputian individuals scurry around in the sort of lower divisions and erect statues, which will last for hundreds of years.”</p> <p>Clegg said this tendency to want to leave a legacy drives their behaviour much more than having an extra few billion dollars compared with a competitor.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more Silicon Valley stories</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>What happens if Silicon Valley’s <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/What-happens-if-Silicon-Valleys-AI-investment-bubble-bursts">AI investment bubble bursts</a>? US tech giants are burning through unprecedented amounts of capital to develop artificial superintelligence, but authoritarian regimes around the world could keep the pursuit of a techno-utopian future alive when the bubble subsides.</li> <li>Tech bros beware – <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Tech-bros-beware-Erin-Brockovich-is-coming-for-you">Erin Brockovich</a> is coming for you: The campaigning heroine of the eponymous movie has AI datacentres in her sights, just as Big Tech spending on memory chips sends PC and mobile prices spiralling up.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg speaks about his tenure at Meta and how the tech giants have turned to Maga https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/German/article/video-streaming-2-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644096/The-politicisation-of-Silicon-Valley Wed, 10 Jun 2026 02:35:00 GMT <p>Microsoft has issued patches for around 200 flaws in its latest monthly <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Patch-Tuesday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patch Tuesday</a> drop, blasting past a previous record high of almost 170 common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632872/Patch-Tuesday-Windows-10-end-of-life-pain-for-IT-departments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set in October 2025</a>. Among a great many others, the latest update from Redmond fixes a total of 32 critical CVEs and three zero-day flaws.</p> <p>Dustin Childs, head of threat awareness at <a href="https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2026/6/9/the-june-2026-security-update-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TrendAI’s Zero-Day Initiative</a>, said: “We are heading into a high-stakes summer for cyber security. June's record-shattering drop…is a stark warning that AI is supercharging flaw discovery at an uncontrollable scale. The current number of CVEs shipped by Microsoft this year exceeds the total number of CVEs shipped in all of 2018. It is extraordinary that Microsoft can produce so many patches in a single month, and I expect many testers are wondering what quality issues may exist.”</p> <p>With the addition of hundreds of CVEs in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium) and other third-party flaws taking the total to almost 600, Chris Goettl, vice-president of security product management at <a href="https://www.ivanti.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ivanti</a>, said talk of a “patch apocalypse” was no longer unwarranted.</p> <p>“<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641789/A-tsunami-of-flaws-When-frontier-AI-and-Patch-Tuesday-collide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We are in the patch apocalypse</a>. The patch apocalypse is now,” said Goettl. “This is not intended to be a scare tactic. It is meant to outline the challenge that many organisations were anticipating, but the new generation of LLMs [large language models] has accelerated significantly in the first half of 2026.&nbsp;</p> <p>“There are going to be more CVEs resolved by vendors at a faster and more continuous pace than we have ever seen previously. Unfortunately, this will also include more zero-day and n-day exploits than previously seen as well. The window from release from a vendor to exploitation had&nbsp;<a href="https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/time-to-exploit-trends-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already shortened to five days as of 2023 threat intelligence data</a>.”</p> <p>Goettl said that many suppliers have acknowledged the need to use AI tools in their security research to identify and resolve flaws, with Oracle, Google Chrome and Mozilla all upping the cadence of their updates. Whether or not Microsoft follows suit remains to be seen.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Zero-days"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Zero-days</h2> <p>This month’s zero-days are tracked as follows, in numerical order:</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45586" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CVE-2026-45586</a>, an elevation of privilege (EoP) flaw in Windows Collaborative Translation Framework (CTFMON);</li> <li><a href="https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-49160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CVE-2026-49160</a>, a denial of service (DoS) flaw in HTTP.sys;</li> <li>And <a href="https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-50507" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CVE-2026-50507</a>, a security feature bypass (SFB) flaw in Windows BitLocker.</li> </ul> <p>All three of these flaws carry CVSS ratings of between six and eight, and all three have been reported publicly, but are not yet known to have been exploited.</p> <p>Alex Vovk, CEO and co-founder of <a href="https://www.action1.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Action1</a>, explained how CVE-2026-45586 could enable a local, authenticated attacker to gain system-level privileges with ease: “The issue is caused by improper link resolution before file access, also known as link following. A low-privilege foothold can become full system control when Windows follows the wrong link at the wrong time.</p> <p>“System access can allow malware installation, defense evasion, credential theft, data modification and deeper movement across the environment. For businesses, this can increase the impact of phishing, stolen credentials or compromised standard user accounts.&nbsp;This patch should be prioritised. Even though active exploitation is not reported, this type of bug can turn a minor local compromise into full endpoint control.”</p> <p>Meanwhile, CVE-2026-49160 in HTTP.sys stems from an uncontrolled resource consumption issue that could allow an unauthenticated threat actor to cause a DoS over the network.</p> <p>“While the vulnerability does not expose data or allow code execution, it can disrupt services that depend on affected Windows systems,” said Action1 president and co-founder Mike Walters.</p> <p>“Successful exploitation could disrupt web services, internal applications, APIs [application programming interfaces] and business systems that rely on affected Windows HTTP services. Outages may lead to downtime, failed transactions, loss of productivity, customer impact and increased operational response costs.”</p> <p>With exploitation considered more likely, CVE-2026049160 is another prime candidate for prioritisation, particularly since it is both network-accessible and requires zero authentication.</p> <p>Finally, CVE-2026-50507 in Windows BitLocker – arising from a protection mechanism failure in how BitLocker handles device encryption – enables an attacker to access encrypted, stored data with no need for credentials, if they have physical access to the device.</p> <p>While the need for physical access will be an effective blocker for many attackers, the potential impact is significant, as Action1 vulnerability research director Jack Bicer noted.</p> <p>“BitLocker is commonly relied upon to protect sensitive business and personal data when devices are lost, stolen or accessed by unauthorised individuals,” he said. “A successful bypass undermines this security control and can expose confidential business information, customer data, intellectual property, financial records and regulated data.</p> <p>“In environments where endpoint encryption is a compliance requirement, exploitation could result in regulatory exposure, breach notification obligations, reputational damage and financial losses.”</p> <p>Businesses with dispersed mobile estates and plentiful remote or hybrid workers&nbsp;should prioritise the fix for CVE-2026-50507, said Bicer.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Patch Tuesday</h3> <ul style="list-style-type: square;" class="default-list"> <li><strong><strong>May 2026: </strong></strong>No zero-day flaws were addressed in May’s Patch Tuesday update but as usual there is much for admins to chew over <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642908/Microsoft-releases-rare-zero-day-free-Patch-Tuesday-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the coming days</a>.</li> <li><strong>April 2026:&nbsp;</strong>Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday update may be one of the largest in history,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641679/April-Patch-Tuesday-brings-zero-days-in-Defender-SharePoint-Server">with more than 160 issues in scope</a>.</li> <li><strong>March 2026:&nbsp;</strong>Zero-days in .NET and SQL Server, and a handful of critical RCE bugs, form the nucleus of Microsoft’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639784/Microsoft-patches-zero-days-in-NET-and-SQL-Server" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March Patch Tuesday update</a>.</li> <li><strong>February 2026:&nbsp;</strong>Microsoft releases patches for six zero-day flaws in its latest monthly update,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366638958/February-Patch-Tuesday-Microsoft-drops-six-zero-days">many of them related to security feature bypass issues</a>.</li> <li><strong>January 2026:&nbsp;</strong>January brings a larger-than-of-late Patch Tuesday update out of Redmond, but an uptick in disclosures&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637296/Microsoft-patches-112-CVEs-on-first-Patch-Tuesday-of-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is often expected at this time of year</a>.</li> <li><strong>December 2025:&nbsp;</strong>The final Patch Tuesday update of the year brings 56 new CVEs, bringing the year-end total&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366636275/Microsoft-patched-over-1100-CVEs-in-2025">to more than 1,100</a>.</li> <li><strong>November 2025:</strong>&nbsp;An elevation of privilege vulnerability in Windows Kernel tops the list of issues to address in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634166/Microsoft-users-warned-over-privilege-elevation-flaw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest monthly Patch Tuesday update</a>.</li> <li><strong>October 2025:</strong>&nbsp;Windows 10 is no longer supported, but that does not mean it is not impacted&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632872/Patch-Tuesday-Windows-10-end-of-life-pain-for-IT-departments">by the latest Patch Tuesday update</a>.</li> <li><strong>September 2025:</strong>&nbsp;Nearly half the CVEs Microsoft disclosed in its September security update, including one publicly known bug,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/eop-flaws-again-lead-microsoft-patch-day">enable escalation of privileges</a>&nbsp;(Dark Reading).</li> <li><strong>August 2025:</strong>&nbsp;Microsoft rolls out fixes for over 100 CVEs&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366629273/Eight-critical-RCE-flaws-make-Microsofts-latest-Patch-Tuesday-list">in its August Patch Tuesday update</a>.</li> <li><strong>July 2025:</strong>&nbsp;Microsoft patched well over 100 new common vulnerabilities and exposures on the second Tuesday of the month, but its latest update is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366627196/July-Patch-Tuesday-brings-over-130-new-flaws-to-address" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mercifully light on zero-days</a>.</li> <li><strong>June 2025:</strong>&nbsp;Barely 70 vulnerabilities make the cut for Microsoft’s monthly security update, but an RCE flaw in WEBDAV and an EoP issue in Windows SMB Client still&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366625818/June-Patch-Tuesday-brings-a-lighter-load-for-defenders">warrant close attention</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Microsoft has obliterated the record for the largest ever Patch Tuesday drop, with its June 2026 update addressing approximately 200 flaws and three zero-days https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/German/article/upgrade-computer-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644117/Microsoft-smashes-record-for-biggest-ever-Patch-Tuesday-update Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:35:00 GMT <p>As food delivery continues to reshape the restaurant industry across the Middle East, cloud kitchens have emerged as a powerful growth engine for restaurant brands seeking expansion without the costs associated with traditional bricks and mortar outlets.</p> <p>For Talabat, one of the region’s largest food delivery and quick commerce platforms, cloud kitchens are not simply additional real estate, they are data-driven growth hubs powered by <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642038/Using-AI-to-manage-insider-risk-amid-Middle-East-conflict">artificial intelligence (AI)</a>, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchbusinessanalytics/tip/6-top-predictive-analytics-tools">predictive analytics</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/tip/Operational-technology-vs-information-technology-explained">operational technology</a>.</p> <p>Unlike some cloud kitchen providers that own and operate restaurant concepts themselves, Talabat Kitchens has built its model around empowering restaurant partners. “Our model allows restaurant brands to retain full ownership of their recipes, kitchen teams and food quality standards, while we provide the infrastructure, technology and logistics that enable them to expand efficiently,” says Awais Malik, general manager of Kitchens MENA at Talabat.</p> <p>The approach significantly lowers barriers to growth. According to Malik, restaurant partners can expand into new delivery zones at 70% to 90% lower cost than opening traditional dine-in locations. Since launching its first facility in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, in 2020, Talabat Kitchens has expanded to more than 30 hubs across the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan, supporting over 1,000 restaurant partners through more than 500 kitchen stalls.</p> <p>At the centre of this expansion strategy sits Pepper, Talabat’s proprietary technology platform. Pepper serves as the intelligence layer that connects restaurant partners, kitchen operations and delivery logistics in real time. The platform performs multiple functions, including demand forecasting, location analysis, delivery optimisation and operational performance monitoring.</p> <p>“Pepper synchronises the entire customer journey, from order placement through food preparation and delivery,” says Malik. “This gives our partners greater visibility and helps reduce inefficiencies across the operation.”</p> <p>The results have been tangible, Talabat reports that Pepper has contributed to delivery time improvements of 9% in the UAE, 13% in Bahrain and 4% in Qatar. Beyond operational efficiency, the platform provides restaurant partners with detailed business intelligence. Through predictive analytics, partners can better understand demand patterns, identify popular menu items and optimise inventory, staffing and pricing strategies.</p> <p>“The ability to anticipate demand and prepare accordingly is becoming increasingly important for restaurants operating in highly competitive delivery markets,” says Malik.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Data-driven decisions shape expansion plans"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Data-driven decisions shape expansion plans</h2> <p>Choosing where to build a new cloud kitchen is no longer a matter of intuition or demographic assumptions. Talabat relies heavily on <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searcherp/tip/Steps-for-using-predictive-analytics-in-demand-planning">predictive analytics</a> to identify optimal locations for expansion across the Middle East.</p> <blockquote> <div class="imagecaption alignLeft"> <img src="https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/Awais-Malik-talabat-140x180px.jpg" alt="Photo of Awais Malik, Talabat Kitchens"> </div> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><span style="color: #34495e;">“Our model allows restaurant brands to retain full ownership of their recipes, kitchen teams and food quality standards, while we provide the infrastructure, technology and logistics that enable them to expand efficiently”</span></strong></span></p> <p><em><span style="color: #34495e;">Awais Malik, Talabat</span></em></p> </blockquote> <p>The company analyses factors including demand density, cuisine gaps, purchasing behaviour, delivery times, kitchen utilisation rates, rider wait times and long-term unit economics. By combining these datasets, Pepper identifies underserved neighbourhoods and matches restaurant concepts to areas where demand is likely to be strongest.</p> <p>“We use technology to understand not only where customers are ordering from today, but where future demand is likely to emerge,” Malik explains. This approach has helped Talabat develop a strategic network that currently provides access to approximately 95% of UAE customers within a 20-minute drive.</p> <p>While restaurant brands maintain ownership of their food preparation processes, Talabat has established technology-enabled oversight mechanisms to help ensure consistency and compliance across its facilities.</p> <p>On the other hand, Pepper continuously monitors kitchen performance metrics such as preparation times, workflow efficiency and dispatch coordination, enabling operators to quickly identify bottlenecks or operational anomalies before they impact customer experience.</p> <p>“Technology gives us real-time visibility into operational performance while allowing restaurant partners to preserve the authenticity of their brands,” says Malik.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Improving unit economics through AI and forecasting"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Improving unit economics through AI and forecasting</h2> <p>One of the most compelling promises of cloud kitchens is improved profitability, and Malik believes technology is fundamental to delivering on that promise. Predictive forecasting allows restaurant operators to better align staffing levels, inventory purchases and food preparation volumes with expected demand.</p> <p>This reduces food waste, minimises idle capacity and improves kitchen productivity. Additionally, Talabat’s shared infrastructure model helps maximise kitchen utilisation throughout the day by accommodating multiple brands and demand patterns within the same facility.</p> <p>“The objective is to help partners make smarter operational decisions while reducing unnecessary costs,” says Malik. The combination of data-driven planning, localised fulfilment and lower capital expenditure creates a business model designed for sustainable growth at scale.</p> <p>Looking ahead, Talabat Kitchens plans to expand from its current network of more than 30 facilities to 50 cloud kitchens across the MENA region over the next three years.</p> <p>A significant part of this growth strategy will focus on supporting small, home-grown restaurant brands. One example is the company’s recently launched initiative to provide 100 rent-free cloud kitchen spaces in the UAE, removing infrastructure costs and accelerating expansion opportunities for promising local businesses. According to Malik, emerging AI capabilities will play an increasingly important role as the network expands.</p> <p>“Data, AI and predictive analytics will continue to be central to how we support restaurant growth and improve operational performance across the region,” he says.</p> <p>As competition intensifies across the food delivery market, Talabat is positioning its cloud kitchen business not simply as a network of facilities, but as a technology-powered ecosystem designed to help restaurant partners scale faster, operate more efficiently and reach new customers throughout the Middle East.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about UAE tech</h3> <ul style="list-style-type: square;" class="default-list"> <li>At Gitex 2025 in Dubai, the largest tech show in the Middle East, Chiara Marcati, chief AI advisory and business officer at AI71,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632644/Interview-Shaping-the-future-of-AI-in-the-UAE">discusses the UAE’s ambition to become a global leader in artificial intelligence</a>.</li> <li>With its integrated model for research, innovation and commercialisation,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633541/Interview-Inside-Abu-Dhabis-fast-track-formula-for-deep-tech-startups">VentureOne’s CEO says the incubator is helping turn the UAE’s bold tech ambitions into globally competitive companies</a>.</li> <li>Through the Autonomous Racing League, Aspire and the Advanced Technology Research Council are using&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633399/Abu-Dhabi-bets-on-autonomous-racing-to-accelerate-AI-and-mobility-innovation">high-speed competition to test and advance real-world AI and robotics systems</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Awais Malik, general manager for Kitchens MENA at Talabat, explains how the company’s technology-driven cloud kitchen strategy is helping restaurant partners scale faster, reduce costs and unlock growth opportunities across the region https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/food-recipe-cooking-shopping-Nitr-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644019/Talabat-Kitchens-combines-AI-data-and-partnerships-to-scale-in-MENA Tue, 09 Jun 2026 08:05:00 GMT <p>Organisations that succeed in rolling out <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Work-is-broken-Can-agentic-AI-fix-it">agentic artificial intelligence (AI)</a> in their enterprises start by <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643396/Why-business-process-reinvention-is-needed-for-agentic-AI-workflows">rethinking their business processes</a>, according to business and IT decision-makers.</p> <p>A survey of 500 business and IT decision-makers who have successfully introduced agent-powered AI into their businesses found they had several things in common.</p> <p>The companies that succeeded maximised the benefits of their <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366632235/Why-AI-agent-projects-are-stalling-in-production">AI projects</a> by fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, according to a Pegasystems study of successful agentic AI implementations.</p> <p>The successful organisations had a corporate-level strategy and plan for agentic AI execution, and a top-down strategy in place, said Don Schuerman, Pega’s chief technology officer.</p> <p>“There is still a lot of pressure, especially from boards, to drive technology for technology’s sake, as opposed to a specific solution to a specific business problem,” he said.</p> <p>More than half (53%) of business leaders said they had changed their existing business processes to a “significant” extent by reimagining everything their organisation does to gain maximum benefit from their agentic implementations.</p> <p>And 80% of the successful organisations agreed that business and IT teams were willing to embrace new technology, innovation and ideas to explore new possibilities.</p> <p>According to Pegasystems, which carried out the study with research firm Savanta, the companies that succeeded were motivated by a desire to produce consistent, predictable outcomes.</p> <p>Three-quarters (71%) of successful agentic AI implementers said one of their top two pre-deployment objectives was to automate and simplify complex processes so they work consistently and predictably across systems and platforms.</p> <p>Over half (58%) also reported they had already seen predictable outcomes, reduced complexity and improved customer experiences.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Metrics and strategies"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Metrics and strategies</h2> <p>The research showed that companies that had successfully implemented agentic AI projects had clearly defined metrics and strategies.</p> <p>Some 95% of those have a specific corporate-level strategy and plan for execution, and 65% have comprehensive, pre-agreed success metrics tied to business outcomes that are regularly reviewed to monitor implementation success.</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> The winners in the agentic era will not be those who deploy agents wherever and whenever they can. They will be those who reimagine themselves and find new ways to give clients and their customers what they want </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Don Schuerman, Pegasystems</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>Almost two-thirds (61%) said they start an agentic project with the expectation it will “significantly” improve customer experience once fully integrated, which more than half (58%) begin those projects believing they will realise significant, measurable value – including the potential for both increased customer satisfaction and cost reduction.</p> <p>When asked to name leading barriers to achieving a positive agentic project outcome, over three-quarters (77%) pointed to a lack of sufficient resources.</p> <p>Three-quarters (75%) agreed that a lack of knowledge and understanding of the benefits agentic AI can bring to the business is the biggest barrier to agentic AI success.</p> <p>“We’re fast reaching a tipping point with agentic AI where adoption is high within organisations, but maturity is not,” said Schuerman.</p> <p>“The value will come from rethinking ways of working and aligning culture around what AI makes possible. Those changes are what separates the promise of AI technology from the reality of creating truly transformational benefits,” he added.</p> <p>“The winners in the agentic era will not be those who deploy agents wherever and whenever they can. They will be those who reimagine themselves and find new ways to give clients and their customers what they want,” he said.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Pegasystems</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366629123/Vodafone-Greece-automates-deals-for-customers-saves-500-staff-days-of-work">Vodafone Greece automates deals for customers, saves 500 staff-days of work</a>: Vodafone Greece hired an implementation partner for a business process management project while its own staff observed and learned how to use the technology.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366604883/Wells-Fargo-bank-turns-to-AI-to-help-families-settle-estates-after-a-death">Wells Fargo bank turns to AI to help families settle estates after a death</a>: Wells Fargo bank is winning customers after using business automation software and artificial intelligence to help people manage the estates of relatives following a bereavement.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366541863/Citis-US-Personal-Banking-turns-to-AI-to-delight-customers-with-personalised-services">Citi US Personal Banking turns to AI to ‘delight’ customers</a>&nbsp;with personalised services: Citigroup’s US Personal Banking business has created a repository of customer data and is rolling out a decision engine.&nbsp;</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366589418/Bupa-turns-to-data-to-provide-personalised-health-services">Bupa turns to data to provide personalised health services</a>: Private healthcare provider Bupa says a project to deploy business process automation is bringing it closer to APAC customers.</li> <li><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/news/366643870/Pegasystems-refines-Blueprint-agent-builder-expands-marketing-tools?_gl=1*lqprof*_ga*MTMxMDQ1OTgxMi4xNzc3OTY4NDc4*_ga_TQKE4GS5P9*czE3ODA5Mzk5MTckbzg2JGcxJHQxNzgwOTM5OTYxJGoxNiRsMCRoMA..">Pegasystems refines Blueprint agent builder, expands marketing tools</a>: Pegasystems emphasises ‘derisking’ agentic buildouts for its customers in regulated industries.</li> </ul> <ul type="square" class="default-list"></ul> </div> </div> <ul class="default-list"></ul> <ul type="square" class="default-list"></ul> <ul style="list-style-type: square;" class="default-list"></ul> </section> Study of IT leaders finds businesses that succeed in deploying agentic artificial intelligence start by rethinking their business processes https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/strategy_g1151390404.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643849/Enterprises-that-succeed-in-agentic-AI-start-by-reimagining-business-process-finds-Pega-research Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:15:00 GMT In this week’s Computer Weekly, we visit the latest in AI factory technology and construction at TeraWulf’s Lake Ontario datacentre, where a former coal-fired power station is being rapidly transformed. American Express talks about the latest digital innovations being introduced at the credit card giant. And we ask the hyperscalers – can you really deliver a sovereign cloud? Read the issue now. https://www.computerweekly.com/ezine/Computer-Weekly/Inside-the-AI-factory-of-the-future Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT <p>South Oxfordshire Council and Vale of White Horse District Council have completed a wholesale migration of digital infrastructure from a decade-long Capita contract to an <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/resources/Cloud-computing-services">in-house cloud-native</a> model hosted on Microsoft Azure.</p> <p>The two councils brought their 10-year outsourcing agreement with Capita to an end and brought IT back in-house in 2025. The transition, carried out with the help of Microsoft partner <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642876/Node4-AI-and-agentic-the-future-but-culture-the-key-to-unlock-it">Node4</a>, saw the neighbouring authorities in the south of England decouple from a multi-council shared environment to build a bespoke, cloud-first infrastructure.</p> <p>The relationship with Capita – established in 2015 and live by mid-2016 – originally covered five local authorities, including Hart, Mendip and Havant. While the model was initially promoted for its economies of scale, the authorities found the shared-tenant architecture could stifle innovation and slow down projects. Under the arrangement with Capita, any technical change required a “negotiation” phase and consensus across all participating councils, as updates were rolled out universally.</p> <p>UK councils are increasingly migrating away from single managed service providers or large shared IT infrastructures to avoid supplier lock-in, reduce costs and modernise digital services. This transition usually involves bringing IT management in-house or shifting to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643799/Data-dive-Mapping-the-UK-public-sectors-hyperscale-dependence">cloud-first hosting</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>Recent shifts and transformations by UK local authorities include:</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Derbyshire County Council migrating hundreds of applications from an ageing local datacentre to Microsoft Azure.&nbsp;</li> <li>Vale of Glamorgan Council initiating a transition to a hybrid cloud environment to improve agility and reduce ongoing reliance on external service providers.&nbsp;</li> <li>London Borough of Havering and the London Borough of Newham decoupling from a shared IT managed service to tailor systems to their own priorities.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Simon Turner, IT and digital services manager at South Oxfordshire Council and Vale of White Horse District Council, said the contract was no longer flexible enough to meet the councils’ requirements.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Our IT needs at the start of the contract were very different to what we need today,” said Turner. “A single supplier providing IT services to five or more authorities has to have a minimum bench line. And of course, changes made within that environment would have to be agreed by the five councils to go forward.</p> <p>“Everyone has their own version of what IT might be, and different councils have different priorities about what they need to achieve. So, different councils wanted to achieve different things.”</p> <p>The councils used the two years before contract expiry in September 2025 to plan a rebuild of their digital ecosystem. Procurement was handled through the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634470/CCS-under-fire-over-anti-SME-supplier-requirements-for-G-Cloud-15">Crown Commercial Service</a> RM6100 Technology Services 3 Lot 2 framework, which allowed the authorities to bypass traditional open tenders and select Node4 based on its Microsoft specialisms. These centred on moving applications and data from virtual machines in Capita’s datacentres to Microsoft Azure.</p> <p>Another core pillar of the project was a hardware refresh that saw nearly 800 laptops upgraded to Windows 11 and connected to the new network. These devices had to be entirely stripped of existing intellectual property, wiped and reimaged to join a new internal network.</p> <p>By deploying Microsoft Intune and Autopilot, the team established a “laptop factory” and rolled out 200 refreshed devices per week. This standardised approach limited individual user downtime to approximately two hours per person over the four-week deployment window.</p> <p>The migration also involved a complex shift of identity management and server infrastructure. The councils moved away from a legacy hybrid Active Directory and System Center Configuration Manager environment to a cloud identity model using Microsoft Entra ID. This shift was accompanied by a wholesale migration of 790 users from a deskbound legacy telephony platform to a cloud-native Microsoft Teams Calling system.</p> <p>While many of the councils’ core applications were already software-as-a-service-based, 14 legacy servers remained in the provider’s datacentres. These were successfully replicated and migrated into Microsoft Azure during what was described as the most critical part of the exit strategy, as it involved mission-critical data for planning and building control services.</p> <p>One planning application, which was 30 years old and highly embedded across both authorities, required an offline period of four weeks for rigorous stress-testing and database administration (DBA) work on legacy Oracle data. Node4’s specialist data services team provided skills to ensure the application could function in a modern cloud environment.</p> <p>The project was completed ahead of the early July target, with all users migrated and the old environment switched off by the end of June. Turner said the transition was seamless, with no missing calls during the telephony cutover – an outcome he described as “quite unusual” for a migration of this scale.</p> <p>Regaining control of the IT environment has also allowed the councils to build a new internal service culture. When the service was first outsourced in 2015, the entire IT team was transferred out of the councils’ control. Bringing the service back in-house required standing up a new service desk team using the Halo platform and expanding internal cyber security resources.</p> <p>Several staff members who had worked on the Capita contract were transferred back to the councils under TUPE arrangements. Turner explains that these colleagues are now “putting their feet under the same desk” but working within a service-led model rather than a contract-led environment. This allows the IT department to reflect the specific priorities of the council rather than deliver a service dictated by a third-party agreement.</p> <p>The councils are now finalising a 30-page ethical artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to govern the future use of Microsoft Copilot and Power BI. This roadmap includes a trial of agentic AI tools within the service desk to drive further efficiencies. Turner notes that while an in-house model may not be cheaper than the previous provider’s economies of scale, the ability to not trail the market justifies the investment.</p> <p>The move also positions the councils for potential local government reorganisation in Oxfordshire. Having an in-house team and a cloud-native stack allows the authorities to adapt to structural changes without the “slowest member of the pack” limitations inherent in multi-party outsourcing contracts.</p> <p>The partnership with Node4 has been extended to include managed DBA services, providing the councils with specialist database depth that would be unaffordable as a full-time internal resource. Turner concludes that the ability to deploy technology at pace to meet business needs as they arise is now the councils’ primary strategic advantage.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about digital transformation in local government</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366638454/Birmingham-Oracle-project-Data-cleansing-and-resourcing-issues">Birmingham Oracle project – data cleansing and resourcing issues</a>: Councillors at audit committee urged to ensure strong project governance, adequate tech staffing levels and change management procedures.&nbsp;</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366546574/Wirral-Council-set-to-deploy-Microsoft-Fabric-data-platform">Wirral Council set to deploy Microsoft Fabric data platform</a>: The platform, which is being developed in collaboration with Simpson Associates, will be used to aid decision-making and improve operations.&nbsp;</li> </ul> </div> </div> Two councils that were once part of a five-council group outsourced to Capita take back control of their IT to allow for decision-making and IT projects that aren’t bound by the slowest member https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/searchCompliance/regulatory_needs/compliance_article_005.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643926/Councils-exit-10-year-Capita-deal-to-boost-decision-and-project-velocity Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:57:00 GMT <p><a href="https://www.mse.nhs.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust</a> (MSE), which is responsible for sites in Chelmsford, Basildon and Southend, is to contact an unspecified number of its patients whose personal data was stolen in the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366587519/NHS-services-at-major-London-hospitals-disrupted-by-cyber-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2024 Qilin ransomware attack</a> on NHS lab services partner Synnovis.</p> <p>The incident caused chaos across parts of the NHS, with hospitals in South London particularly badly affected, and led to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366593892/NHS-Trusts-cancelled-over-6000-appointments-after-Qilin-cyber-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of cancelled outpatient appointments and elective procedures</a>. The Qilin gang later published <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366589583/Qilin-ransomware-gang-publishes-stolen-NHS-data-online" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 400GB of sensitive data</a> taken from the various NHS bodies to which Synnovis provides testing services.</p> <p>However, while the basic facts of the incident were quickly established, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634454/Synnovis-to-notify-NHS-of-data-breach-after-nearly-18-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it took nearly 18 months</a> for Synnovis to complete its full forensic investigation and to begin to inform downstream NHS organisations that their patients’ data was compromised. MSE was among those bodies informed towards the end of 2025, and it has since conducted its own investigation into the breach.</p> <p>MSE deputy chief executive Dawn Scawfield said: “Records relating to patients who had a mixture of specialist diagnostic tests were affected. Some data is not directly linked to patients, so we are still waiting for confirmation on exact numbers. Once we have established who those patients are, we will be in contact with any who have been affected.”</p> <p>At the time of writing, Computer Weekly understands that approximately 2,380 records are involved, and that while the exact time period during which the affected tests were conducted is yet to be determined, all of the exposed data relates to tests taken before 3 June 2024, the approximate date of the Synnovis attack.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Number of breaches may grow"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Number of breaches may grow</h2> <p>At this point in time, it is not publicly known how many other NHS trusts are impacted, although it is thought likely that others will come forward.</p> <p>Last week, <a href="https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/news/notification-synnovis-cyber-incident/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust revealed</a> that data on just under 30,000 patients, including names, birthdates, patient and NHS numbers, postcodes and test results, was stolen.</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of these timelines is the signal they send. Slow response in a data-rich industry is a clear signal that attacks can be carried out without consequence for years </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Lee Sult, Binalyze</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>In this instance, the data appeared to be from historic testing done before November 2020. However, the trust said, the records themselves are fragmented, incomplete and dispersed throughout multiple files, so it is hard to interpret them accurately.</p> <p>Lee Sult, chief investigator at threat intelligence platform <a href="https://www.binalyze.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Binalyze</a>, said the most worrying aspect of the Synnovis incident was the length of time it has taken to establish the true nature and extent of the stolen data.</p> <p>“If we’re still trying to determine the true scale two years later, it’s less an investigation than a slow-burn crisis. Every month that passes is time NHS numbers, names, dates of birth and test results sit in criminal hands – and nobody knows what’s being done with them,” he said.</p> <p>“Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of these timelines is the signal they send. Slow detection, fragmented investigations and delayed disclosures advertise weakness. State-backed threat actors and organised cyber criminal groups act based on opportunity. Slow response in a data-rich industry is a clear signal that attacks can be carried out without consequence for years.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about the Synnovis incident</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Synnovis, the pathology lab services provider hit by a Qilin ransomware attack in 2024, is notifying its NHS partners that their patient data was compromised, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634454/Synnovis-to-notify-NHS-of-data-breach-after-nearly-18-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">following a lengthy investigation</a>.</li> <li>More cyber attacks against the health service are likely, and will succeed if something isn’t done to address the increasingly elderly NHS IT estate, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366592754/Synnovis-attack-highlights-degraded-outdated-state-of-NHS-IT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experts are warning</a>.</li> <li>The two NHS trusts most heavily impacted by the Qilin ransomware attack on pathology services provider Synnovis have cancelled over 6,000 appointments and procedures <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366593892/NHS-Trusts-cancelled-over-6000-appointments-after-Qilin-cyber-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the past five weeks</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has become the latest NHS body to confirm data on its patients was stolen in a 2024 ransomware attack on lab services partner Synnovis https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/healthcare-doctor-clipboard-adobe.jpeg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644037/Scale-of-Synnovis-breach-widens-as-Essex-NHS-Trust-comes-forward Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:15:00 GMT <p>While we’ve seen a lot of hype about AI in cyber security, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641789/A-tsunami-of-flaws-When-frontier-AI-and-Patch-Tuesday-collide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthropic’s Claude Mythos</a> has suddenly and significantly changed the rules of offensive security.<i> </i>The arrival of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos on 7 April 2026 created a paradigm shift in the economics of a cyber attack. AI has rapidly changed the cyber security landscape – and faster than most risk models assume. The window between discovery and weaponisation has collapsed, with time to exploitation dropping from 2.3 years in 2018 to 20 hours today.</p> <p>AI is making vulnerability discovery, exploit generation, and attack orchestration faster and cheaper. Tools like Mythos show that AI can identify <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/zero-day-vulnerability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical zero-days</a>, generate working exploits, and orchestrate attacks at a speed and scale that traditional security processes were never designed and built to cope with.</p> <p>However, some things have been exaggerated and not everything has changed overnight. The fundamentals remain essential. Mythos is a structural acceleration, not a magic new category of risk. The basics such as identity, segmentation, MFA, patch discipline, zero-trust, secrets rotation, and egress filtering have become even more important, not less.</p> <p>AI has lowered the cost and skill barrier for finding and exploiting vulnerabilities faster than organisations can patch them. While defenders must manage every exposure across code, infrastructure, identity, suppliers, and agents around the clock, the attacker only needs to find one route into the organisation. So, today at least, attackers have the advantage. It’s now time for defenders to turn the same tools inward to find and fortify any weaknesses first.</p> <p>So, how can CISOs adapt quickly enough?</p> <p>The first point of call is <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643082/Software-developers-shift-to-AI-code-reviewers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">code review and vulnerability discovery</a>. Organisations should immediately point AI agents at their most critical codebases, then move toward large language model (LLM)-driven review inside continuous integration and development (CI/CD) pipelines. Every piece of code, whether written by humans or generated by AI should go through automated security review before it is merged.</p> <p>Many organisations still treat AI as a productivity tool rather than a change in the threat model. The mistake that many are making is assuming old patch windows, old incident timelines, and old risk assumptions still hold. Organisations are also underestimating AI agents as a new attack surface. Prompts, tools, retrieval pipelines, escalation logic, and agent permissions all need controls before agents should be permitted to enter production.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Claude Mythos</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Anthropic's Claude Mythos has generated buzz and alarm among CIOs and CISOs, who fear the model could expose vulnerabilities and drive <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/Take-a-breath-A-CISOs-Claude-Mythos-advice-for-CIOs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unprecedented levels of hacking</a>.</li> <li>As AI tools such as Claude Mythos Preview can speed vulnerability discovery for attackers, CIOs are <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/ais-cybersecurity-paradox-how-CIOs-can-keep-up-with-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automating detection and response to keep pace</a>.</li> <li>Claude Mythos has the potential to enhance global cyber security or undermine it by becoming a weapon <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/healthtechsecurity/news/366643379/Health-ISAC-How-Claude-Mythos-could-impact-healthcare-cybersecurity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the hands of threat actors</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p>The biggest change CIOs and CISOs need to make in how they approach cyber security is to update their operating model from <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643833/AI-agents-help-Cato-slash-time-to-protect-from-new-CVEs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">human-speed security to AI-speed resilience</a>. This will involve mandating responsible AI adoption across security functions, embedding AI review into software delivery, defending agents as first-class assets, rehearsing simultaneous high-severity incidents, updating board reporting and risk models, and hardening the fundamentals without delay.</p> <p>AI is increasing the speed and volume of software development, so security must move earlier and faster. Security review can no longer be a manual gate at the end of development. It needs to be embedded into the pipeline, with AI agents reviewing code continuously and all code – whether human- or AI-generated – assessed before merge.</p> <p>At the present time, AI is making it both easier and more difficult to find and fix vulnerabilities. But the fact is that the risk is growing faster than most organisations’ ability to respond. AI makes it easier for defenders to discover their own weaknesses, but it also makes it easier for adversaries to find and weaponise them. AI must be used defensively now, preparing for a flood of patches, and building response capabilities that can operate at scale.</p> <p>Being Mythos-ready means limiting blast radius, discovering vulnerabilities before adversaries do, building scalable responses, and empowering teams with AI agents now.</p> <p><em>John Bruce is CISO at <a href="https://www.quorumcyber.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quorum Cyber</a>, an Edinburgh-based managed security services provider (MSSP).</em></p> The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers if Anthropic’s Claude Mythos frontier AI model is a benefit or barrier to achieving resilient enterprise IT security, and how security leaders need to adapt. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Security-Think-Tank-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Claude-Mythos-forces-the-conversation-on-defensive-AI Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:45:00 GMT <p>The UK government has announced an Early Careers Jobs Alliance aimed at helping young people to have access to technology education to give them the skills needed for modern and future roles.</p> <p>The partnership between government, the tech sector and trade unions will assess what businesses and students will need for entry-level roles in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven future, providing businesses with best practice for offering entry roles and giving students training to ensure they can take their first step onto the career ladder.</p> <p>The secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Liz Kendall, said: “My priority is building an AI future that is pro-business and pro-worker, where AI enhances work and people are supported through the jobs transition – not left to cope on their own.</p> <p>“It’s clear the world of work is changing rapidly with the adoption of new technologies, and young people want a future where they can get on, get skilled and get good jobs. I’m determined to give young people the jobs and skills they need to thrive in an era of technological change, and am taking action now to create a future that truly works for all.”</p> <p>There have been concerns that increased adoption of AI has the potential to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Will-AI-wipe-out-entry-level-jobs">reduce entry-level roles</a> as certain tasks are automated. The Early Careers Jobs Alliance will use £20m in funding to consider how AI is affecting entry-level roles and will develop help and best practice for businesses to ensure these roles are still available in an AI-driven future. Once guidance has been developed for the digital and technology sectors, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641901/AI-adoption-is-rapid-but-many-stuck-at-basic-levels-says-AWS">where AI uptake is likely to be more rapid</a>, this initiative will be extended to cover all of the industries in the UK’s eight <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy/industrial-strategy-sector-definitions-list">Industrial Strategy Sectors</a>.</p> <p>The Early Careers Jobs Alliance will also help young people to develop the skills they need for the future of work. Part of the initiative includes free AI bootcamps to provide young people who may otherwise become NEETs (not in education, employment or training) after their GCSEs with a clear career path – these bootcamps will begin in pilot form in Lancashire and Greater Manchester in summer 2026, with the goal of rolling out across England in the 2027/28 academic year. Those who complete these AI bootcamps will be guaranteed a paid AI apprenticeship with JD Sports, BAE Systems, PA Consulting, Agilisys or local councils.</p> <p>As it stands, AI skills are not even widespread among tech workers, and access to AI and the ability to use it depends on many factors including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366627982/AIs-uneven-distribution-widening-diversity-divide">gender and socioeconomic background</a>. In addition, the AI divide is not the only barrier many children face when it comes to effectively accessing education, with many children&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Overcoming-tech-career-barriers-faced-by-underrepresented-groups">not having access to technology at home</a>&nbsp;and families being unable to afford private tutoring.</p> <p>The Early Careers Jobs Alliance will also work in tandem <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366636142/UK-government-funds-80-digital-skills-schemes">with the government’s TechFirst</a> tech skills programme to ensure 400,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds have the skills they need for an AI-powered future workplace. TechFirst will include tech skills sessions, competitions, after school activities and events in partnership with industry to give young people the skills they need for roles in tech and AI.</p> <p>Pat McFadden, secretary of state for work and pensions, said: “Young people deserve every opportunity to build a meaningful career, and that means making sure no one is left behind as our economy changes and technology advances.</p> <p>“For too long, too many young people have faced a future with too few opportunities, which is why through our Youth Guarantee we are ensuring every young person has the chance to earn or learn. By equipping these young people with tech and AI skills, we are making sure that the opportunities created by this technological revolution are open to everyone.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about AI and education</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>To build on plans to introduce <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641842/UK-government-seeks-collaborators-for-AI-tutoring-tools-for-schools">AI tutoring tools in schools</a>, the UK government is searching for companies to develop educational resources.</li> <li>The <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639693/MPs-launch-inquiry-into-use-of-tech-in-education">use of tech and artificial intelligence</a> has the potential to help delivery of education in the UK, so a committee of MPs has launched an inquiry into its opportunities and challenges.</li> </ul> </div> </div> Early Careers Jobs Alliance between the government and industry will provide skills and guidance to ensure young people can begin careers in an AI-focused world https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/HeroImages/recruitment-HR-jobs-interview-resume-CV-sitthiphong-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643999/Partnership-to-ensure-entry-level-jobs-for-young-people Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:12:00 GMT <p>The UK’s Department for Education (DfE) is proposing to reduce the scope of software provided through the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), stating that advances in technology have led to features provided by assistive software now being available for free “as standard” in modern operating systems.</p> <p>Students will still be able to ask for funding for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/How-AI-is-advancing-assistive-technology">assistive technology</a> if there is an “additional disability-related need for it that cannot be met by any other software available to the student”, but will otherwise be encouraged to use free-to-access services.</p> <p>A Department for Education spokesperson said: “As technology has moved on, much of the functionality in the tools DSA currently funds is now freely available and already widely used by university students. We want to modernise the system to reflect this, while ensuring that all students continue to receive further specialist help if they need it.”</p> <p>But there are concerns that this will leave some students without support. More than 88,000 university-level students currently use DSA to access equipment, software and other non-medical help to support them in their studies.</p> <p>Vice-chair of the British Assistive Technology Association (BATA), Nicole Michael, said: “These proposals, if implemented, would be catastrophic for disabled students in higher education. We are not talking about a software preference. We are talking about the tools that enable students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism and mental health conditions to read, write, research and participate in their degrees on equal terms with their peers.”</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> Replacing individually assessed, clinically recommended specialist software with free generic tools is not a modernisation of the DSA system. It is the dismantling of it </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Nicole Michael, British Assistive Technology Association</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling people to be <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637833/UK-government-to-develop-AI-tutoring-tools">more productive in work and education</a>, in many cases providing access to information and strategies they couldn’t use before, but there is <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366627982/AIs-uneven-distribution-widening-diversity-divide">already a gap when it comes to who can readily access</a> and effectively use these services.</p> <p>Assistive technologies offered to students with disabilities through DSA can range from speech-to-text and mind mapping software&nbsp;to research and task management services.</p> <p>The DfE stated in its proposal that higher education providers are increasingly providing students with technology to support their learning, and future policy for issuing DSA will assume students already have access to assistive technologies, apart from in specific circumstances where a student’s disability requires additional software that cannot be found for free.</p> <p>But a Freedom of Information request by Whitehouse Communications asking for documents relating to comparisons between free and paid assistive software and cost-benefit analysis revealed the DfE has not tested whether or not freely available software is comparable with software currently offered through the DSA.</p> <p>The BATA opposed the DfE’s proposals on this basis, stating in a review of the cuts that they are “presented as an efficiency measure” but are in fact a “withdrawal of statutory disability adjustments”.</p> <p>The not-for-profit’s report stated: “Productivity tools enhance the output of general users; specialist assistive technology functionally replaces or scaffolds capacities that a student’s disability impairs. The two are different categories of product addressing different populations, and they cannot be substituted for one another.”</p> <p>BATA’s Michael explained: “Replacing individually assessed, clinically recommended specialist software with free generic tools is not a modernisation of the DSA system. It is the dismantling of it.</p> <p>“The research evidence is overwhelming and consistent: specialist assistive technology improves outcomes, builds independence and supports disabled students into employment. These proposals move in the opposite direction.”</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> Where a student requires support that can’t be met through widely available free tools, they will continue to receive funded software through DSA – no one will be left without the support they need to study with confidence </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Department for Education spokesperson</strong> </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>But a Department for Education spokesperson emphasised that those who cannot use freely available technology will still be given access to paid-for software if necessary for their learning.</p> <p>“Opportunity should be open to every young person in our country, especially disabled students, and the right support must be there to help them reach their potential,” the spokesperson said.</p> <p>“Where a student requires support that can’t be met through widely available free tools, they will continue to receive funded software through DSA – no one will be left without the support they need to study with confidence,” they added.</p> <p>The DfE’s own research found that almost 60% of students who receive DSA said they would not pass without it. Students who have used DSA in the past credit their success at university to the funding, stating that without it, they would either have not been able to fully engage with learning or would have left university altogether.</p> <p>Holly Winter, a DSA recipient, said: “I am not joking when I say that without the resources of the Disabled Students’ Allowance, I would have dropped out of university.”</p> <p>Another DSA recipient, Toby Ferguson, who achieved a degree in interior design, explained: “Through the mentoring support and specialist equipment I received, I was able to achieve a First Class Honours degree. Without this support, my academic performance, well-being and ability to fully engage with university life would have been significantly impacted.”</p> <p>The DfE is seeking consultation on its proposal, and those with concerns and comments have <a href="https://www.bataonline.org/dsa-consultation-bata-resources">until 18 June 2026 to share them</a>.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about tech in education</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing the workplace, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634993/AI-leads-parents-to-change-their-careers-advice-to-children">leaving children and their parents concerned</a> about the potential future of work.</li> <li>The use of tech and artificial intelligence has the potential to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639693/MPs-launch-inquiry-into-use-of-tech-in-education">help delivery of education in the UK</a>, so a committee of MPs has launched an inquiry into its opportunities and challenges.</li> </ul> </div> </div> The UK Department for Education is proposing to reduce access to paid-for assistive technology in favour of free-to-access services https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/online-learning-training-school-1-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643997/DfE-proposes-changes-to-student-funding-for-assistive-technology Mon, 08 Jun 2026 06:59:00 GMT 60 editor@computerweekly.com