Welcome to our latest round-up of news from the technology and hosting world. Here’s what we’ve discovered this month.
Deepfake Growth
Fraud using deepfake technology has reached an industrial scale, according to recent analysis from the AI Incident Database. Affordable AI tools now enable scammers to create realistic impersonations in bulk, with common examples including targeted business scams, AI-generated medical endorsements and fake videos of celebrities promoting investment schemes.
Research shows that fraud and manipulation make up the majority of AI-related incidents reported over the last year. Much of this is due to voice cloning and synthetic video tools that enable criminals, including those with limited technical skills, to carry out highly personalised attacks. These include impersonating executives during video calls and recruitment scams featuring AI-generated candidates.
While deepfake videos still have noticeable flaws, experts warn that the quality is improving quickly. This advancement raises significant concerns about digital trust, corporate security and online identity verification.
AI Jobs Gap
A new study shows that the UK is experiencing greater AI-related job losses than other developed countries. Analysis by Morgan Stanley reports that British companies that have been using AI for over 12 months have seen an average workforce reduction of 8% in the past year. This is the biggest drop among the countries studied, including the US, Japan, Germany and Australia. The analysis covered businesses in sectors like consumer retail, real estate, transport, healthcare equipment and automotive.
While the average UK business has seen productivity increase 11.5% thanks to AI, a similar figure to those in the US, American companies have managed to create more jobs than they eliminated. UK firms, on the other hand, are more inclined to reduce their workforce, with most of the roles cut by automation being entry and junior-level jobs.
Additional research, meanwhile, reveals that more than a quarter of UK workers are worried their jobs could disappear within the next five years due to AI. With UK unemployment reaching a four-year high and hiring pressures mounting because of rising employment costs, it shows that AI-driven change is having an uneven economic impact in different countries.
AI Growth Zone
North Lanarkshire has been chosen as a new AI growth zone, with over £8 billion in private investment expected in the coming years. The hub, which will be built at the DataVita data centre campus in Airdrie, is expected to create about 2,600 construction jobs and 800 permanent AI-related roles.
Job opportunities at the site will include researchers, engineers and data centre operations staff, together with apprenticeship programmes. A long-term community fund, projected to be about £543 million over 15 years, will be set up to support training programmes, digital skills initiatives and local projects as more capacity becomes available.
In a bid to improve the project’s sustainability, the hub will use renewable energy generated on-site, and any extra heat will be used to power the nearby University Hospital Monklands.
Orbital Data Centres
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced plans to launch up to a million orbital data centre satellites to help tackle the growing demand for AI computing power. With AI processing demand already exceeding what can be managed on Earth, a space-based setup could offer a more affordable and energy-efficient alternative to conventional ground-based data centres.
The proposed network would operate in low-Earth orbit, massively boosting SpaceX’s existing Starlink constellation, which has nearly 10,000 satellites. Entirely solar-powered, the system could provide computing capacity for billions of users worldwide, making large-scale processing far more sustainable than at present.
While such a network would have obvious benefits, there are still worries about launch costs, safeguarding hardware in orbit, the function of cooling systems, and the growing risk of space debris. SpaceX and US regulators will need assurance over these matters before the project can go ahead.
More Cybersecurity Jobs
Cybersecurity has become one of the fastest-growing UK careers, with new data from Socura showing a 194% rise in the number of security professionals since 2021. With the total number of experts now around 84,000, cybersecurity is the fastest-growing IT role in the country. The rise has been driven by increasing worries over cyberattacks and executives having a greater focus on digital risk management.
The ratio of cybersecurity professionals to companies has also greatly improved, from just one expert for every 196 businesses in 2021 to one for every 68 today. With organisations facing more complex threats and regulatory demands, security expertise is seen as an integral cyber resilience investment.
However, despite the rise, there are still significant skill shortages. Government statistics indicate that nearly half of UK businesses still have gaps in basic cybersecurity skills, while studies show that the training graduates receive at university doesn’t meet industry needs, especially for mid-level and specialised positions. As a result, apprenticeships, reskilling programmes, and on-the-job training are now being seen as essential pathways to enhance the UK’s long-term cyber workforce capacity.
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