AI, power availability and Intel’s future

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AI, power availability and Intel’s future

6) Liquid cooling takes off The heat generated by AI systems has already driven the need for liquid cooling because air cooling is simply not enough. But it’s not just GPUs that run hot – new CPUs from Intel and AMD are pretty toasty as well. I expect to see an increase in self-contained liquid […]

6) Liquid cooling takes off

The heat generated by AI systems has already driven the need for liquid cooling because air cooling is simply not enough. But it’s not just GPUs that run hot – new CPUs from Intel and AMD are pretty toasty as well. I expect to see an increase in self-contained liquid cooling that will go into existing data centers and not require a hefty retrofit. I also think that HPE and Dell will finally do their own liquid cooling, similar to Lenovo’s Project Neptune. Up until now, HPE and Dell have been content to leave liquid cooling to third parties, but they may have to finally do their own thing.

7) Intel splits

There’s just no way around it. Intel must spin off its fabrication business just like AMD did in 2008. It was expensive, painful and necessary for long-term success.Gelsinger simply didn’t have the bandwidth to manage Intel foundries and Intel products, and all three suffered for it: The fab business was slow to get started, the chip business fell behind AMD, and Gelsinger’s tenure was cut short. It’s time to cut the fabs loose, Intel.

8) Continued predictions of on-prem exodus

This completely inaccurate prognostication will continue, and it will continue to be wrong. There are too many reasons to keep an on-premises data center, starting with data privacy and integrity. Repatriation of data from the cloud to on-premises infrastructure goes on every year. On-premises data centers will die when mainframes do.

9) GPU utilization becomes paramount

Nvidia is showing no signs of cutting power draw, so it’s up to others to make these things work as efficiently as possible. That means maximum utilization and scaling of hardware. As a result, maximizing GPU utilization will become the primary design goal for modern data centers. This will drive innovations in hardware and software to sustain the infrastructure necessary for training and minimize latency, lagging, and other issues that cause pauses in training. Success will be measured by how effectively data centers can keep their GPU resources utilized.

10) Power constraints impact data center locations

With almost 500 data centers in the Virginia area, it’s safe to say that region is reaching its limit. The same applies for Texas and Santa Clara. The demand for large-scale processing of data for AI, data analytics, and quantum computing will shift where new data centers are built. The good news is that these applications, especially AI training, are not latency sensitive, so they can afford to be placed in a remote location that has a lot of land and a lot of cheap power. This will largely involve data centers dedicated to massive computational processes, so there’s no need to worry that your colocation provider will open up shop in the Sierra Mountains.

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OpenAI tests Google TPUs amid rising inference cost concerns

Barclays forecasts that chip-related capital expenditure for consumer AI inference alone is expected to approach $120 billion in 2026 and exceed $1.1 trillion by 2028. Barclays also noted that LLM providers, such as OpenAI, are being forced to look at custom chips, mainly ASICS, instead of GPUs, to reduce the

Oncor to propose rate increase, says 5-year capital expenditures could ‘soar’ by $12B

Dive Brief: Oncor Electric said Thursday that it will ask Texas regulators to increase its base rates by approximately $834 million to support Texas investments that include the utility’s $36 billion five-year capital spending plan — though that spending figure is likely to climb, officials said. In February, Oncor announced a

Chronosphere unveils logging package with cost control features

According to a study by Chronosphere, enterprise log data is growing at 250% year-over-year, and Chronosphere Logs helps engineers and observability teams to resolve incidents faster while controlling costs. The usage and volume analysis and proactive recommendations can help reduce data before it’s stored, the company says. “Organizations are drowning

Cisco CIO on the future of IT: AI, simplicity, and employee power

AI can democratize access to information to deliver a “white-glove experience” once reserved for senior executives, Previn said. That might include, for example, real-time information retrieval and intelligent process execution for every employee. “Usually, in a large company, you’ve got senior executives, and you’ve got early career hires, and it’s

XRG Consortium’s Bid to Acquire Australia’s Santos Progresses

Santos Limited said it has entered into a process and exclusivity deed with a consortium led by XRG P.J.S.C. related to its non-binding indicative proposal to acquire 100 percent of the issued shares of Santos for $5.76 (AUD 8.89) per share in cash. XRG, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), is the lead investor of a consortium that includes Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company and Carlyle. The process deed governs the basis upon which the XRG consortium “will have the opportunity to undertake due diligence and provides for the parties to negotiate in good faith, in parallel with the due diligence, a binding scheme implementation deed to implement the potential transaction,” Santos said in a news release. The consortium has been granted exclusive due diligence access for a period of six weeks from June 27. The exclusivity provisions include customary “no shop”, “no talk”, “no due diligence” and “notification” obligations that apply during the exclusivity period, Santos said. A fiduciary exception applies enabling the Santos board to deal with other proposals from competing acquirers starting four weeks from June 27, the company said. The consortium has also agreed to a confidentiality agreement with Santos, the company stated. “The proposal is for the acquisition of all of the ordinary shares on issue in Santos for a cash offer price of $5.76 per Santos share”, which would be adjusted for dividends paid before a final proposal comes into force, Santos said in an earlier statement. The price had been increased from two confidential offers of $5.04 per share and later $5.42 per share in March, the company noted revealed. XRG said in a separate statement that the consortium “aims to build on Santos’ strong and longstanding legacy as a trusted and reliable energy producer, unlocking additional gas supply for

JERA, Muji Brand Operator to Establish Renewable Energy Firm

Japan’s JERA Co. Inc. and Muji brand operator Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. have agreed to establish Muji Energy LLC, a special purpose company (SPC) focused on renewable power generation, including the development and operation of solar power generation facilities through joint investment. Ryohin Keikaku has also agreed with JERA subsidiary JERA Cross Co. Inc. to enter into a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) for renewable energy, JERA said in a news release. The electricity will be provided to Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX). The agreement will allow Ryohin Keikaku to use the solar power generated by the SPC and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the electricity consumption at the company, including Muji tenant stores, according to the release. Muji Energy plans to develop approximately 13 megawatts (MW) of power generation capacity within one year of establishment. This is equivalent to 20 percent of Ryohin Keikaku’s annual electricity consumption and is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 8,000 tons per year, JERA said. Ryohin Keikaku is targeting a 50 percent reduction in its total Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by fiscal 2030 compared to fiscal 2021 by installing rooftop solar power generation systems at standalone MUJI stores and utilizing renewable energy utility plans, according to the release. JERA Cross, a wholly owned subsidiary of JERA, “offers assistance for corporate green transformation building on its strategic and technical expertise and renewable energy supply capabilities as a one-stop partner,” the company said. It offers support in areas such as renewable energy, energy supply and demand management, developing green transformation strategies and co-creating business models. CCUS Agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Meanwhile, JERA and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI) said they have entered into a memorandum of understanding related to a joint study aimed at building a carbon capture, utilization

Industry Bodies Look at Texas Upstream Employment in May

New data from the Texas Workforce Commission indicate that upstream oil and gas employment climbed by 2,200 in May compared to April, and by 7,300 jobs through the first five months of 2025. That’s what the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) said in a statement sent to Rigzone by the TXOGA team last week, adding that, at 208,200 upstream jobs, compared to the same month in the prior year, May 2025 employment rose by 5,000. In the statement, TXOGA noted that, “since the Covid-low point of September of 2020”, the sector has added 51,200 Texas upstream jobs, which TXOGA pointed out is a 33.7 percent increase and an average growth of 875 jobs per month. “Since the Covid-low point, months of increase in upstream oil and gas employment have outnumbered months of decrease by 40 to 15,” TXOGA added, noting that oil and gas jobs pay among the highest wages in Texas. TXOGA President Todd Staples said in the statement, “in these times of geopolitical uncertainty and military conflict, Texas remains not only a supplier of barrels but a builder of confidence”. “It is encouraging to see job growth and for Texas and America to be seen as a stable trading partner. As global economic conditions and trade relationships realign, adjustment in employment, capital expenditures, and production are outcomes that provide for long term stability in energy production,” he added. “As the nation’s top producer and a world leader, Texas is well positioned to meet power demands with the massive infrastructure system that continues to grow,” he continued. TXOGA noted in its statement that the upstream sector involves oil and natural gas extraction and excludes other industry sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities. The organization added that employment shown also includes Support

EIA Sees USA Crude Oil Production Rising in 2025

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released last month, sees U.S. crude oil production, including lease condensate, rising to an average of 13.42 million barrels per day in 2025. Lower 48 states, excluding the Gulf of America, are projected to contribute 11.17 million barrels per day to the 13.42 million barrel per day figure, the STEO showed. The Permian region is expected to make up 6.54 million barrels per day of the 11.17 million barrel per day figure, while the Bakken region is expected to make up 1.19 million barrels per day, the Eagle Ford region is expected to make up 1.17 million barrels per day, the Appalachia region is expected to contribute 0.17 million barrels per day, the Haynesville region is expected to make up 0.03 million barrels per day, and the rest of the Lower 48 states are projected to contribute 2.07 million barrels per day, the STEO highlighted. The EIA noted in its STEO that regional production is based on geographic regions and not geologic formations. The Federal Gulf of America is projected to make up 1.81 million barrels per day of the 13.42 million barrel per day figure, and Alaska is expected to make up 0.43 million barrels per day, the EIA’s latest STEO showed. The EIA forecast in its June STEO that U.S. crude oil output will average 13.52 million barrels per day in the second quarter of this year, 13.41 million barrels per day in the third quarter, and 13.43 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter. This STEO highlighted that U.S. crude oil production averaged 13.29 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2025 and 13.21 million barrels per day overall in 2024. Lower 48 states, excluding the Gulf of America, made

LNG Canada Dispatches First Cargo

Shell PLC and its LNG Canada partners announced Monday they had dispatched the first cargo from the Kitimat, British Columbia project, saying the milestone introduces Canada as an exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). With a capacity of 14 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) from two trains, the facility targets the Asian market. “With LNG Canada’s first shipment to Asia, Canada is exporting its energy to reliable partners, diversifying trade, and reducing global emissions – all in partnership with Indigenous Peoples”, Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “By turning aspiration into action, Canada can become the world’s leading energy superpower with the strongest economy in the G7”. British Columbia Premier David Eby said, “With abundant resources the world needs and a strategic location to deliver them, shovel-ready projects like this are how B.C. will become the engine of a newly revitalized, more independent, and growing Canada”. LNG Canada Development Inc., the joint venture, said it is evaluating the potential for a two-train expansion that would double the capacity. “Each LNG Canada joint venture participant will provide its own natural gas supply and individually offtake and market their respective share of liquified natural gas from LNG Canada, starting today”, LNG Canada said. Shell is the biggest owner in the project at 40 percent through Shell Canada Energy. Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd. holds 25 percent through North Montney LNG LP. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and China’s state-backed PetroChina Co. Ltd. each have 15 percent through Diamond LNG Canada Partnership and PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership respectively. Korea Gas Corp. owns five percent through Kogas Canada LNG Partnership. The Haisla Nation is also involved in the project as site host. Contracts awarded for the project have exceeded CAD 5.8 billion ($4.27 billion). “This includes more than CAD$4.9 billion to Indigenous-owned and local area businesses”, LNG Canada said.

Equinor Approves Johan Sverdrup Phase 3 in Norwegian North Sea

Equinor ASA and its partners have agreed on a NOK-13 billion ($1.29 billion) investment to proceed with the third phase of Johan Sverdrup to increase recoverable volumes from the North Sea field by 40-50 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). The majority state-owned energy major said Tuesday the consortium had submitted a development plan to Norwegian authorities. Phase 3 is targeted to start production 2027. Phase 3 is designed to have two new subsea templates in the Avaldsnes and Kvitsoy areas, each with six well slots. However, phase 3 would only develop eight wells, consisting of seven for production and one for water injection. These wells would be tied back to existing templates and pipelines to the P2 platform for processing and export. Trond Bokn, senior vice president for project development at Equinor, said, “By building on the technologies, solutions, and infrastructure from phases 1 and 2 of Johan Sverdrup, we can carry out an efficient development with a rapid start-up of production. The project increases the recovery rate and value creation from Johan Sverdrup, one of the world’s most carbon-efficient oil and gas fields”. “At the same time, it contributes to stable energy supplies to Europe”, Bokn added. The company said, “To ensure optimal resource utilization, the project leveraged artificial intelligence to analyze field layouts and well paths. This technology has enabled faster decision-making and resulted in cost savings of NOK 130 million for the phase 3 project”. “The project also facilitates future value creation at Johan Sverdrup by adding extra well slots, and opportunities for connecting additional subsea templates”, Equinor added. Newcastle, England-based TechnipFMC PLC won phase 3’s engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract, valued NOK 5.3 billion. “Additional contracts, including platform modifications and the drilling of eight wells, are planned to be awarded later in 2025”, Equinor

Oracle inks $30 billion cloud deal, continuing its strong push into AI infrastructure.

He pointed out that, in addition to its continued growth, OCI has a remaining performance obligation (RPO) — total future revenue expected from contracts not yet reported as revenue — of $138 billion, a 41% increase, year over year. The company is benefiting from the immense demand for cloud computing largely driven by AI models. While traditionally an enterprise resource planning (ERP) company, Oracle launched OCI in 2016 and has been strategically investing in AI and data center infrastructure that can support gigawatts of capacity. Notably, it is a partner in the $500 billion SoftBank-backed Stargate project, along with OpenAI, Arm, Microsoft, and Nvidia, that will build out data center infrastructure in the US. Along with that, the company is reportedly spending about $40 billion on Nvidia chips for a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas, that will serve as Stargate’s first location in the country. Further, the company has signaled its plans to significantly increase its investment in Abu Dhabi to grow out its cloud and AI offerings in the UAE; has partnered with IBM to advance agentic AI; has launched more than 50 genAI use cases with Cohere; and is a key provider for ByteDance, which has said it plans to invest $20 billion in global cloud infrastructure this year, notably in Johor, Malaysia. Ellison’s plan: dominate the cloud world CTO and co-founder Larry Ellison announced in a recent earnings call Oracle’s intent to become No. 1 in cloud databases, cloud applications, and the construction and operation of cloud data centers. He said Oracle is uniquely positioned because it has so much enterprise data stored in its databases. He also highlighted the company’s flexible multi-cloud strategy and said that the latest version of its database, Oracle 23ai, is specifically tailored to the needs of AI workloads. Oracle

Datacenter industry calls for investment after EU issues water consumption warning

CISPE’s response to the European Commission’s report warns that the resulting regulatory uncertainty could hurt the region’s economy. “Imposing new, standalone water regulations could increase costs, create regulatory fragmentation, and deter investment. This risks shifting infrastructure outside the EU, undermining both sustainability and sovereignty goals,” CISPE said in its latest policy recommendation, Advancing water resilience through digital innovation and responsible stewardship. “Such regulatory uncertainty could also reduce Europe’s attractiveness for climate-neutral infrastructure investment at a time when other regions offer clear and stable frameworks for green data growth,” it added. CISPE’s recommendations are a mix of regulatory harmonization, increased investment, and technological improvement. Currently, water reuse regulation is directed towards agriculture. Updated regulation across the bloc would encourage more efficient use of water in industrial settings such as datacenters, the asosciation said. At the same time, countries struggling with limited public sector budgets are not investing enough in water infrastructure. This could only be addressed by tapping new investment by encouraging formal public-private partnerships (PPPs), it suggested: “Such a framework would enable the development of sustainable financing models that harness private sector innovation and capital, while ensuring robust public oversight and accountability.” Nevertheless, better water management would also require real-time data gathered through networks of IoT sensors coupled to AI analytics and prediction systems. To that end, cloud datacenters were less a drain on water resources than part of the answer: “A cloud-based approach would allow water utilities and industrial users to centralize data collection, automate operational processes, and leverage machine learning algorithms for improved decision-making,” argued CISPE.

HPE-Juniper deal clears DOJ hurdle, but settlement requires divestitures

In HPE’s press release following the court’s decision, the vendor wrote that “After close, HPE will facilitate limited access to Juniper’s advanced Mist AIOps technology.” In addition, the DOJ stated that the settlement requires HPE to divest its Instant On business and mandates that the merged firm license critical Juniper software to independent competitors. Specifically, HPE must divest its global Instant On campus and branch WLAN business, including all assets, intellectual property, R&D personnel, and customer relationships, to a DOJ-approved buyer within 180 days. Instant On is aimed primarily at the SMB arena and offers a cloud-based package of wired and wireless networking gear that’s designed for so-called out-of-the-box installation and minimal IT involvement, according to HPE. HPE and Juniper focused on the positive in reacting to the settlement. “Our agreement with the DOJ paves the way to close HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks and preserves the intended benefits of this deal for our customers and shareholders, while creating greater competition in the global networking market,” HPE CEO Antonio Neri said in a statement. “For the first time, customers will now have a modern network architecture alternative that can best support the demands of AI workloads. The combination of HPE Aruba Networking and Juniper Networks will provide customers with a comprehensive portfolio of secure, AI-native networking solutions, and accelerate HPE’s ability to grow in the AI data center, service provider and cloud segments.” “This marks an exciting step forward in delivering on a critical customer need – a complete portfolio of modern, secure networking solutions to connect their organizations and provide essential foundations for hybrid cloud and AI,” said Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim. “We look forward to closing this transaction and turning our shared vision into reality for enterprise, service provider and cloud customers.”

Data center costs surge up to 18% as enterprises face two-year capacity drought

“AI workloads, especially training and archival, can absorb 10-20ms latency variance if offset by 30-40% cost savings and assured uptime,” said Gogia. “Des Moines and Richmond offer better interconnection diversity today than some saturated Tier-1 hubs.” Contract flexibility is also crucial. Rather than traditional long-term leases, enterprises are negotiating shorter agreements with renewal options and exploring revenue-sharing arrangements tied to business performance. Maximizing what you have With expansion becoming more costly, enterprises are getting serious about efficiency through aggressive server consolidation, sophisticated virtualization and AI-driven optimization tools that squeeze more performance from existing space. The companies performing best in this constrained market are focusing on optimization rather than expansion. Some embrace hybrid strategies blending existing on-premises infrastructure with strategic cloud partnerships, reducing dependence on traditional colocation while maintaining control over critical workloads. The long wait When might relief arrive? CBRE’s analysis shows primary markets had a record 6,350 MW under construction at year-end 2024, more than double 2023 levels. However, power capacity constraints are forcing aggressive pre-leasing and extending construction timelines to 2027 and beyond. The implications for enterprises are stark: with construction timelines extending years due to power constraints, companies are essentially locked into current infrastructure for at least the next few years. Those adapting their strategies now will be better positioned when capacity eventually returns.

Cisco backs quantum networking startup Qunnect

In partnership with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs, Qunnect has set up quantum networking testbeds in New York City and Berlin. “Qunnect understands that quantum networking has to work in the real world, not just in pristine lab conditions,” Vijoy Pandey, general manager and senior vice president of Outshift by Cisco, stated in a blog about the investment. “Their room-temperature approach aligns with our quantum data center vision.” Cisco recently announced it is developing a quantum entanglement chip that could ultimately become part of the gear that will populate future quantum data centers. The chip operates at room temperature, uses minimal power, and functions using existing telecom frequencies, according to Pandey.

HPE announces GreenLake Intelligence, goes all-in with agentic AI

Like a teammate who never sleeps Agentic AI is coming to Aruba Central as well, with an autonomous supervisory module talking to multiple specialized models to, for example, determine the root cause of an issue and provide recommendations. David Hughes, SVP and chief product officer, HPE Aruba Networking, said, “It’s like having a teammate who can work while you’re asleep, work on problems, and when you arrive in the morning, have those proposed answers there, complete with chain of thought logic explaining how they got to their conclusions.” Several new services for FinOps and sustainability in GreenLake Cloud are also being integrated into GreenLake Intelligence, including a new workload and capacity optimizer, extended consumption analytics to help organizations control costs, and predictive sustainability forecasting and a managed service mode in the HPE Sustainability Insight Center. In addition, updates to the OpsRamp operations copilot, launched in 2024, will enable agentic automation including conversational product help, an agentic command center that enables AI/ML-based alerts, incident management, and root cause analysis across the infrastructure when it is released in the fourth quarter of 2025. It is now a validated observability solution for the Nvidia Enterprise AI Factory. OpsRamp will also be part of the new HPE CloudOps software suite, available in the fourth quarter, which will include HPE Morpheus Enterprise and HPE Zerto. HPE said the new suite will provide automation, orchestration, governance, data mobility, data protection, and cyber resilience for multivendor, multi cloud, multi-workload infrastructures. Matt Kimball, principal analyst for datacenter, compute, and storage at Moor Insights & strategy, sees HPE’s latest announcements aligning nicely with enterprise IT modernization efforts, using AI to optimize performance. “GreenLake Intelligence is really where all of this comes together. I am a huge fan of Morpheus in delivering an agnostic orchestration plane, regardless of operating stack

Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs). In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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