Author: GT

When Visa unveiled its Intelligent Commerce platform for Asia Pacific on November 12, it wasn’t just launching another payment feature—it was building AI commerce infrastructure to solve a crisis most merchants haven’t noticed yet: their websites are being flooded by AI agents, and there’s no reliable way to tell which ones are legitimate shoppers and which are malicious bots. With AI-driven traffic to retail sites exploding by 4,700% in just one year, Visa’s early 2026 regional pilots give businesses 14 months to prepare their payment systems for a world where artificial intelligence handles shopping and transactions on behalf of consumers.Why Asia Pacific, why nowVisa’s strategic…

U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA says federal government departments are not sufficiently patching to protect against an active hacking campaign targeting Cisco firewalls. In an updated advisory published Wednesday, CISA said that it was currently “tracking active exploitation” of two security flaws in Cisco’s Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software, which powers a range of enterprise-grade firewalls used by corporate giants and government agencies to protect their networks from malicious outsiders. CISA said the flaws have been abused by an “advanced” but as-yet-unnamed threat actor since September, which prompted the agency to issue its third emergency directive of the year, ordering agencies…

Google is updating NotebookLM, its AI note-taking and research assistant, with a new tool to help users simplify complex research, along with support for additional file types. The service is rolling out “Deep Research,” a tool that will automate and simplify complex online research. Google says the tool acts like a dedicated researcher, as it can synthesize a detailed report or recommend relevant articles, papers, or websites. Deep Research can take your question, create a research plan, and then browse websites on your behalf. After a few minutes, it will present you with a source-grounded report that you can add…

Key PointsAlibaba plans to use “tokenization” of payments for cross-border transactions in its business-to-business arm.Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com told CNBC the company would work with JPMorgan, which has its own tokenization technology.The cross-border e-commerce unit also launched new AI features to help connect suppliers and buyers on its global platform.Alibaba ‘s cross-border e-commerce unit on Friday announced a new artificial intelligence subscription service aimed at boosting the division’s revenue. Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, told CNBC the division is also looking to use stablecoin-like technology to facilitate global payments, in a move that underscores how major tech and banking…

Meta is overhauling Facebook Marketplace with new collaborative tools, social features, an improved checkout experience, and Meta AI integrations, the company announced Thursday. Marketplace is getting a new “collections” feature that lets users create groups of listings and invite friends to join. Users can get started by saving a listing, starting a new collection, and then choosing whether to make it public or private. They can then add friends to their collection and share updates through Feed, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more. Meta’s also testing collaborative buying, which means users can invite a friend to join their chat with a seller.…

While automakers like General Motors have started to sour on Apple CarPlay, Tesla is reportedly working on integrating the system into its vehicles’ software stack. The feature is in development, according to a Bloomberg report, which noted the effort could be canceled before it is released to the public. The move would mark a dramatic change for the automaker. Tesla has avoided requests from current and prospective customers to add CarPlay capability to its infotainment system. Apple CarPlay, as well as rival Android Auto, allows drivers to project their smartphone and many of its apps onto the car’s infotainment display.…

Early-stage venture fund Betaworks announced the latest 10 companies launching from its prestigious Camp program, the 13-week biannual residence program launched in 2016 that has given way to names like Hugging Face and Graze Social.  The theme for this year’s Camp is Interfaces, as in companies that are designing products that impact how users experience AI. (Previous Camp themes focused on application layers and agents). Applications opened in June, and the camp began in August, with DemoDay being November 4.  These are the companies taking part in the 13th Betaworks Camp: Nora — A browser extension, founded by Sid Banothu,…

Eakarat Buanoi | Istock | Getty ImagesLISBON, Portugal — Top tech executives told CNBC they’re concerned about a bubble forming in the artificial intelligence sector, underscoring growing unease within the industry over soaring valuation.In recent weeks, markets have been reckoning with the notion that too much capital is pouring into the AI boom, clouding the outlook on revenue and actual profit and putting high valuations into question.Up to now, warnings around overstretched valuations have mostly come from investors and leaders in the world of finance. Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick have warned of potential corrections as…

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies coordinated by Europol targeted and took down three cybercrime operations in its latest round of what authorities call “Operation Endgame.” In a press release, Europol said that the police operation targeted the infostealing malware Rhadamanthys, a botnet called Elysium, and the remote access trojan VenomRAT. The authorities say all three “played a key role in international cybercrime.” Police seized more than 1,000 servers as part of the operation.  Europol said police arrested the unnamed “main suspect” behind VenomRAT in Greece on November 3. “The dismantled malware infrastructure consisted of hundreds of thousands of…

Apple announced on Thursday the launch of a new developer program, the Mini Apps Partner Program, which will offer a reduced commission rate of 15% on in-app purchases for the mini applications. The iPhone maker defines a mini app as a “self-contained” experience that’s built using web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript, which are distributed within a larger, native app. The technology has been supported on the App Store for nearly a decade, but this is the first time it’s offered a reduced commission on mini app transactions. Apple in 2017 added a rule to its App Review Guidelines, which lists…