SOFTWARE

Morning Brew Inc.

For some companies, cheaper might be better when it comes to AI—as long as the right security measures are in place.

Organizations navigating AI implementation are already turning away from tokenmaxxing and trying to restrain their operating costs, especially with cutting-edge “frontier” models produced by Anthropic, OpenAI, and other AI giants.

That creates an opening for Chinese tech companies like Moonshot AI and Z.ai (formerly Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co.), which are offering open-weight and open-source alternatives that organizations can theoretically deploy at cheaper cost than the frontier models.

With open-weight AI models, the “weights” that govern the model’s interpretations of inputted data and how it responds are released to the public for downloading and customization. Open-source AI models, meanwhile, allow users to download and tweak everything, including source code and training data. Provided a company has the infrastructure to run these models, they can prove a less costly alternative to the companies charging per-token for AI usage.

Measuring risk.—CN

      

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SOFTWARE

Illustration: Anna Kim, Photos: Adobe Stock

There’s something to be said for a human touch, and the tech industry’s review processes are no exception.

But the need for people in the loop is running up against the reality that, with the integration of more AI tools into the tech stack, what was once done by humans is increasingly being turned over to software.

“AI is part of software development now and will continue to be—and with that comes pressure from the market, pressure from management, pressure from investors to ship faster and faster and faster,” said Darren Meyer, a security researcher with Checkmarx. “That, to me, is why we’re seeing the reduction in human review.”

Background checks. The debate over human versus AI in the review process is a critical one for the tech industry, where speed of service and innovation are often more immediately important than validation. Yet while AI review has its critics, human review simply can’t keep up with the rate at which the developer stack is moving.

Should developers turn to hybrid solutions?—EH

      

IT STRATEGY

Progress toward global tech sovereignty will move at a glacial pace between now and 2030, according to a new report.

Forrester’s Global Sovereignty Forecast found that the average global tech sovereignty score will inch up to 40% in 2030, up from 39% in 2025. Tech sovereignty describes a country’s ability to control and operate its own digital assets; sovereignty goals may influence which vendors an IT pro chooses for their organization or how they manage consumer data.

Methodology. The score was calculated using Forrester’s overall tech sovereignty index, which measured 14 different countries’ “ability to develop, operate, and secure critical technologies independently to reduce exposure to geopolitical risks.” Examined countries included the US, China, and France. The index accounted for nine different areas including government AI spending, cloud sovereignty, and chip production.

Slow progress. Forrester Principal Analyst Dario Maisto told IT Brew “structural issues” are the culprit behind the slow growth in average global tech sovereignty scores between 2025 and 2030, as resources that would help bolster overall sovereignty (e.g., land availability for data center construction, energy grids, talent pipelines, etc.) take time to develop.

Price of progress.—BM

      

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patch notes

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top IT reads.

Stat: 865,300. That’s how many users had their unique emails exposed in a SplitVPN data breach. (CyberSecurityNews)

Quote: “The scariest thing in this campaign is the speed at which the payloads evolved and changed and adapted to the environment they run in. We saw changes in the speed that we’re not used to seeing in these kinds of attacks. They’re usually slow, careful.”—Uri Katz, director of research at Oligo Security, said of TeamPCP’s attacks (CyberScoop)

Read: More rogue AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic are attempting to hack systems. (The Verge)

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Quiz

Amelia Kinsinger

The week’s biggest IT stories—now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest cybersecurity headlines, software news, and tech breakthroughs in a quick, competitive challenge built for IT pros. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!

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