Every morning, the most relevant news on the topics I follow, selected from leading Italian and international outlets, with a short summary of each article.
Edition of Saturday, 31 October 2026 · updated at 07:29
Models, agents, regulation and enterprise applications of AI.
Generali, Grenke Italia, Unipol and Sada Cavi implement agentic AI in business processes from claims management to contract automation, with measurable results and human oversight at varying autonomy levels.
Ariston, operating in over 70 countries with 10,000 employees, develops conversational agents and coding agents to transform shipping, logistics and training while addressing internal digital divide.
OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic adopt a common standard allowing publishers to opt out of AI training through a signal in robots.txt, avoiding individual preference configurations.
Zest's AI concierge combines user preferences, puts restaurant options to a vote and completes reservations via text message.
DoorDash states openness to working with third-party AI agent makers, having received limited orders from this channel so far.
As investors grow nervous about AI spending, Nvidia the chipmaker offers to cosign the loan for the data center project.
Ollie, an AI assistant focused on user privacy, will shut down within a week as the market becomes increasingly crowded with competing assistants.
OpenAI CEO acknowledges impact of AI-generated results on mathematicians but refuses to slow down, stating the world deserves to understand the universe.
Google's satellite equipped with TPUs generated its first response from space, running the Gemma 4 model to create a haiku as part of Project Suncatcher.
Starbucks will explore personalized digital menus at drive-thrus that recognize participating customers, similar to technology being tested by Taco Bell and McDonald's.
Innovation, digital strategy, cloud and business transformation.
Document disposal is crucial in the document lifecycle, but no Italian public administration has yet completed their first digital disposal process. Regulatory uncertainties, metadata management issues, and fragmented archives are causing administrations to defer action.
Unipol is shifting open innovation from awareness-building to execution, focusing resources on targeted pilots and scalable solutions. The Digital & Open Innovation team uses OKRs and ROI metrics to measure innovation's contribution to different business units.
Bending Spoons, a Milan-based startup founded in 2013 by five engineers, debuted on Nasdaq in July 2026 valued at $11 billion. The company has completed strategic acquisitions exceeding $1.9 billion, including AOL and Eventbrite, and received a $330 million investment from Berkshire Hathaway.
A selection of titles not to miss among global offerings across streaming, satellite and digital terrestrial services in November.
In 2026 Italian startups raised capital through multiple rounds across diverse sectors including space, health-tech, cybersecurity, AI, and foodtech. Funding supports industrialization, R&D, and internationalization of innovative companies.
FoodSeed 2026 selected 7 startups (5 Italian and 2 US-based) from 225 applications to develop innovative agri-food solutions. Each receives an initial €250,000 investment for projects ranging from greenhouse robots to autonomous guidance systems to new ingredients.
Alphabet's stock collapse and negative reactions to Amazon and Intel earnings reignite volatility in the tech sector. The market increasingly values growth less and shows growing concern about capex, free cash flow, and actual demand for AI services.
Lenovo has expanded its AI Library with five validated solutions for retail, manufacturing, customer support, and productivity. The applications aim to reduce implementation timelines and deliver infrastructure cost savings according to analyses by Signal65 and The Futurum Group.
The EU Court of Justice clarified access rules for the Register of Beneficial Owners, confirming a selective model balancing corporate transparency, money laundering prevention, and personal data protection. The Register remains a support tool for due diligence by obligated entities.
A Naples tax ruling denied probative value to responses from generative systems used by the Tax Authority. The case raises questions about human oversight, accountability, traceability, and taxpayer rights in the use of AI in tax proceedings.
Threats, vulnerabilities and regulations such as NIS2, GDPR, DORA and the AI Act.
Researchers at Parameter discovered a ChatGPT vulnerability allowing attackers to execute malicious code in authenticated users' sessions via shared links, accessing private conversations. OpenAI fixed the flaw within eight days of the October 18 report and rated it P1, its most serious category.
Cloudflare revealed a significant increase in DDoS attacks in Q3 2026, with approximately 8,226 network-layer attacks per hour. The company mitigated 18.2 million L3 DDoS attacks and 14.4 trillion HTTP DDoS requests, averaging 197,400 attacks daily.
Ransomware group Panzer claims an attack on PQE Group, stealing 200 GB of encrypted backups. The incident highlights the risk of storing encryption keys on backup systems, which can compromise data protection even when archives are encrypted.
Researchers at Anthropic developed an exploit for a critical Linux kernel vulnerability allowing unauthenticated attackers to remotely execute commands as root on servers running Multipath TCP (MPTCP) listeners.
A high-severity remote code execution vulnerability in WordPress Core versions 4.7 through 7.1.3 faced nearly 63,000 exploitation attempts shortly after patches were released. The flaw, lacking a CVE identifier, carries a CVSS score of 8.1.
Drupal warned administrators to patch a critical access bypass vulnerability in the Commerce Core module that attackers are actively exploiting in the wild.
Effective October 31, ACN closes the NIS2 late declaration channel. Determination 314287/2026 simplifies obligations for already-registered companies and introduces 2027 procedures, maintaining update requirements and administrator liability.
TeamViewer fixed a vulnerability allowing a controlled machine in a remote session to attack the connecting user's computer. A malicious or compromised host could exploit the flaw to crash TeamViewer and potentially execute code depending on the platform.
The TraderTraitor hacking group, linked to North Korea, claims an attack on Binance stealing $6.36 billion in 20 minutes. The incident affects Italian users and requires risk mitigation measures.
Flaws in SS7 and Diameter signaling protocols allow attackers to track phone locations, intercept calls and SMS codes, and impersonate subscribers without compromising devices. Cape explains how these attacks exploit inter-network trust.
Brands, advertising, media and marketing technology.
Brands and fans connected over shared enthusiasm for Bravo network shows at Fan Fest in Charleston.
Ofcom released assessment of age verification systems ahead of March ban on social media for under-16s, recommending four effective methods across ten major platforms. The measure also requires many adults to verify identity and represents significant cultural change.
Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced closure in Russia on November 9 after years of restrictions. Nobel laureate Muratov accused authorities of killing the outlet as part of the military campaign in Ukraine and dismantling of Russia's Constitution.
Actor Patrick Stewart, despite his Shakespearean credentials, never shied away from starring in commercials.
The app connecting users to healthcare providers will allow AI agents to access its database.
The acquisition would give DoorDash and Instacart combined resources that would be hard for brands to ignore, according to ad buyers.
A roundup of this week's biggest marketing leadership moves.
Pushing the sales event to June and lack of NBA content led to slower ad revenue growth in Q3, though AI agents are not yet disrupting the segment.
Over a quarter of CMOs hired this year have AI skills, compared to just 9% of those hired four years ago, per Findem and CMO Huddles data.
Jean-Briac Perrette announced Skydance's new organizational structure following Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, with Alessandro Araimo expanding to oversee Southern Europe, Turkey and Africa. Seven executives departed and Gerhard Zeiler will not join the new structure.
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality: devices and use cases.
EXOSHOCK, a sci-fi co-op shooter for up to four players developed by POLARITYONE, is now available in Early Access on Quest and PC VR for $20. The game features combat across three starships with some of the largest maps built for VR, semi-procedural objectives, and complications ensuring unique runs.
Ultrawings Remastered ($14.99) and Ultrawings 2 Gold Edition ($19.99) are now available as Quest 3-optimized versions featuring improved graphics, dynamic weather, and day-night cycles. A bundle offers both games for $24.99, $10 cheaper than purchasing separately.
Venture is a new emulator enabling Quest exclusive games to run on any OpenXR-compatible PC VR headset for better performance. Users download a Windows executable, sign into their Meta account, and access a certified game list, though security risks and potential Meta ToS violations remain.
Real VR Fishing's Great Lakes & Oceans DLC adds ten North American fishing locations, 30 fish species including five freshwater monsters and three new sharks. Freshwater monsters can appear randomly during regular fish battles, providing shark-level difficulty in lakes and rivers.
CircuitLord's free Titanfall 2 VR mod launched an open multiplayer beta with NA and EU servers. The mod features interactive weapon reloading, immersive locomotion controls, and support for any OpenXR-compatible PC VR headset, requiring only an original game copy.
PolarityOne's cooperative sci-fi shooter Exoshock is available in Early Access on Meta Quest 3, 3S, and PC VR via Steam for $19.99. The game supports up to 4 players, cross-play across all platforms, and flat screen gameplay.
Spellbound Studio's Vaelorys, a gesture-based dark fantasy RPG inspired by Diablo, launches in Early Access for Quest at $4.99. The game features cooperative dungeon crawling for up to eight players, over thirty unlockable spells, and a multi-class progression system.
XREAL Aura, the first AR glasses running Google's Android XR operating system, launches today starting at $1,099 (regularly $1,279) through December 2026. The glasses feature a 70-degree field of view, 6DOF tracking, hand tracking, and over 150 XR-native experiences.
At a Steam Indie Connect event in Korea, Valve stated it still believes in VR while acknowledging the 'chicken-and-egg' dilemma: developers await market expansion while players wait for more games. Component scarcity and increasingly compelling flatscreen titles remain major obstacles for VR developers.
'The Host', a limited-time Elusive Target mission for Hitman: World of Assassination featuring content creator Jacksepticeye, is available until November 25. Jacksepticeye plays Finn Colton, a controversial creator, whom Agent 47 confronts as reclusive millionaire Tobias Rieper on his podcast.
The main international headlines.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts hail, damaging winds and possible flash flooding across Victoria, NSW and parts of Queensland into Sunday. Storm warnings are in place for multiple Australian capital cities as a severe weather front sweeps across the country.
Eight out of 10 properties in London's most exclusive neighbourhoods such as Mayfair and Belgravia now sell below asking price, according to Coutts research. Property prices in 'prime central London' have dropped 5% in the third quarter of 2026 as the UK property market slowdown hits its wealthiest residents.
King Charles and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham will be greeted with activist messages demanding the UK confront its role in transatlantic enslavement. The Caribbean message will be pervasive at the Commonwealth summit: slavery reparations is not an issue they will be able to dodge.
The UK government has closed a consultation on proposals to restrict louder fireworks to professional users only. The move follows growing calls from campaigners, vets and the National Farmers' Union for tighter regulation of fireworks.
The Spanish Prime Minister is hit by a succession of crises just weeks before a snap general election.
Joseph Kabila has launched a new rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Riot police were locked in a tense standoff with protesters outside Poland's constitutional court after its top judge was suspended in the latest escalation of a decade-long dispute over the court's legal status. The clashes followed a controversial decision to suspend the court's contested president and deputy.
Booking priority regulations have been modified and new measures introduced for the NetZero plan at the Panama Canal.
A century-old paper mill in Témiscaming, Quebec is indefinitely closed after the US imposed 50% tariffs on its products, putting hundreds out of work.
If the accusations are true, the record-making heist shows how powerful suspected North Korean hackers have become.
News stories belong to their respective publishers. Summaries and headline translations are generated automatically with AI: the original article, linked from each headline, is the authoritative source.