Author: Art Ryan

Alibaba is reportedly moving to ban employees from using Anthropic’s Claude Code for work-related tasks, putting another spotlight on the growing security concerns around AI coding assistants. The ban is expected to take effect on July 10, with Alibaba employees being directed to use the company’s own AI coding assistant, Qoder, instead. That sounds like a normal internal software policy at first. It is not. This is one of those moments where the AI coding race becomes less about who has the smartest tool and more about who gets trusted inside the company firewall. Claude Code is built to help…

Meta appears to be testing a new AI-powered app called Pocket, and this one did not arrive with the usual big-stage announcement, polished launch video, or executive thread. It surfaced more quietly through Meta’s own Help Center documentation, which describes Pocket as an app for creating, sharing, and discovering “gizmos” with friends. A gizmo, according to Meta, is an interactive, playable AI-generated experience that users can either create themselves or interact with inside the app. That quiet rollout is interesting on its own. Meta usually does not move silently when it wants attention. With Pocket, the company seems to be…

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – The Global AI Show Riyadh held from 29-30th June,2026 cementing its status as the definitive anchor for the Kingdom’s newly designated “Year of Artificial Intelligence.” Defying the challenges of the prevailing geopolitical landscape, organized by VAP Group and powered by Times Of AI, the event emerged as a resounding success. Co-located with Global Blockchain Show Riyadh and Global Games Show Riyadh, the two-day summit attracted 15,000+ registrations, welcomed 6,723 attendees, featured 100+ global speakers and 100 exhibitors, and convened a 70% CXO-level delegation from 80+ countries. The unprecedented international participation reinforced Kingdom of Saudi…

Skyscanner is pushing further into AI-powered travel planning with new beta tools and updated product features designed to make summer travel easier, cheaper, and less stressful for users. This marks a significant step in the evolution of AI travel discovery, as the company, already known for helping travellers compare flights, accommodation, and car hire, is now experimenting with tools that feel less like traditional search boxes and more like travel assistants. This is where travel technology is heading. People do not always want to start with fixed dates, fixed airports, or one perfect destination in mind. Sometimes they just want…

Artificial intelligence was everywhere at Business Travel Show Europe, but the more interesting message was not really about AI itself. The bigger point was uncertainty. How do travel managers help people make better decisions when business travel keeps getting messier, more expensive, and more exposed to disruption? That question sat underneath the event’s discussions on travel management, procurement, supplier relationships, traveller safety, geopolitical pressure, data, and technology. Business travel has always cared about savings and compliance. Those still matter. But the industry now seems to be moving toward something more human: making travel feel clearer, safer, and less frustrating for…

Visit Orlando is bringing artificial intelligence into the trip-planning process with the launch of OPAL, short for Orlando Planning Assistance by Locals. The new AI trip planner is now live on VisitOrlando.com and gives travelers another way to organize their Orlando vacations without paying for a planning service. It is available 24/7 and sits alongside Visit Orlando’s existing free resources, including one-on-one consultations, multilingual support, live chat, and local travel advice. This is not just another travel chatbot dropped onto a tourism website and left to guess. OPAL is designed around local knowledge. Visit Orlando says the tool is trained…

Microsoft is putting serious money behind one of the biggest problems in enterprise AI right now: actually getting the technology to work inside companies. The company has launched a new operating business called Microsoft Frontier Company, backed by a $2.5 billion commitment. The goal is not just to sell AI tools, licenses, or cloud capacity. Microsoft wants to help large enterprises deploy AI in ways that produce real outcomes, not just more pilots sitting in corporate slide decks. That difference matters. A lot of companies have already tested generative AI. Many have experimented with chatbots, productivity tools, coding assistants, and…

Anthropic is reportedly exploring a new custom AI chip with Samsung, a move that says plenty about where the artificial intelligence race is heading now. It is no longer just about who has the best chatbot, the biggest model, or the cleanest enterprise pitch. The harder fight is happening underneath all of that, inside the hardware stack. According to a TechCrunch report citing The Information, Anthropic has been in contact with Samsung about a possible collaboration around a future custom chip. The company has not yet decided what the chip would be used for, how it would fit into servers,…

Meta’s AI spending has been hard to ignore. Huge data center plans, massive compute needs, and an investor base that keeps asking the same uncomfortable question: when does all this money start coming back? Now Meta may have an answer, or at least the beginning of one. The company is reportedly exploring a cloud business that would allow it to sell excess artificial intelligence computing capacity. The idea is simple on the surface. Meta has been building enormous AI infrastructure for its own models and products. If some of that compute is not being used, why let it sit idle?…

South Korea is putting serious money behind physical AI, and this is not the usual soft policy announcement that disappears after a press briefing. The country is planning around $10.3 billion in financing for physical AI sectors, with the expansion of LS Cable’s subsea cable project selected as the first project under the effort. The plan is tied to South Korea’s National Growth Fund, which is being used to back strategic industries seen as important for the country’s next phase of economic growth. This matters because physical AI is not only about chatbots, apps, or software platforms. It is AI…

Artificial intelligence has become faster, bigger, and more deeply embedded in business and government operations. That progress comes with a cost, and the industry is now being forced to look at it more directly. At Global AI Show Riyadh 2026, the fireside chat “Greener Algorithms, Greater Responsibility: Governing AI Ethically” brought this issue into focus. The session was moderated by Abeer Abdalla, Managing Editor at The Saudi Times, and featured Nishanth Kumar Pathi, Director – Cyber Security & Governance at Gulf Air, Ayman Alhabib, CRO at D360 Bank, and Thamer Alrowidhan, CISO at a Government Entity. The discussion looked at…

AI is everywhere now. That is the easy part. The harder part, and the one many companies are still quietly struggling with, is execution. At Global AI Show Riyadh 2026, the panel discussion “AI Is Accessible vs Execution Isn’t: The Infrastructure, Security & Systems Challenge of Intelligence at Scale” looked at the uncomfortable gap between having access to AI and actually making AI work inside large organizations. The discussion was not about hype, demos, or another polished promise that AI will transform everything overnight. It was about what breaks when intelligence has to operate at scale. The session was moderated…

At Global AI Show Riyadh 2026, “HumanOS 2.0: Upgrading the Workforce for an Intelligent World” looked at one of the more uncomfortable questions inside companies right now: what happens to human work when AI agents stop being tools and start acting more like coworkers? The session was moderated by Youssef El Jabri, Digital Transformation Advisor at Saudi Food & Drug Authority, with insights from Fady Sleiman, Group Chief Information & Digital Officer at AlBawani Holding, and Daniel Hill, Chairman & CEO at AQUIVIO. The discussion was not about replacing people in the usual dramatic way. It was more practical than…

AI has moved far beyond the innovation team. That much was clear during the panel discussion “The AI Boardroom: How CIOs, CTOs, CDOs & CISOs Will Lead Together” at Global AI Show Riyadh 2026. The session looked at something many companies are still trying to figure out quietly: who actually leads AI inside the enterprise? Is it the CIO because AI touches systems and operations? The CTO because architecture and engineering matter? The CDO because data is the fuel? Or the CISO because one weak model, one exposed dataset, or one careless integration can open the door to serious risk?…

The panel discussion “VC’s Unfiltered: The Toughest Founder Questions, Answered Live” at Global AI Show Riyadh 2026 brought the kind of conversation founders usually wish they could hear before walking into an investor meeting. For anyone interested in AI startup funding, this was not the polished version. Not the soft encouragement. The real one. The session looked at what venture capital actually wants from AI startups now that foundation models, AI agents, and compute-heavy products are changing the rules. Everyone talks about opportunity. This panel focused more on the uncomfortable part: what is still worth funding, what makes investors hesitate,…

Dubai has taken another serious step into AI-powered city planning with the launch of the Dubai Digital Twin Platform, a project designed to create a living digital version of the emirate. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum witnessed the launch, marking what Dubai officials described as a new strategic milestone in the city’s digital transformation journey. This is not just another government tech platform with a polished name. The Dubai Digital Twin Platform is built to help authorities see, test, and plan the city before decisions move into the real world. Roads, buildings, infrastructure, public assets,…

Anthropic’s Claude is no longer just sitting in the familiar chatbot and API conversation. It is moving deeper into the enterprise infrastructure layer, this time through Microsoft Foundry with support from NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPU systems. The move brings Claude models into Microsoft’s Azure-centered AI ecosystem, giving organizations another route to build and deploy advanced AI agents inside a more controlled enterprise environment. Not just “use a model.” That part is old news now. The bigger story is how AI models are being packaged with compute, cloud infrastructure, security design, and deployment tools. That is where this announcement gets more interesting.…

At Global AI Show Riyadh 2026, the panel discussion “AI Meets Human Touch: Redefining Efficiency, Engagement & Experience” explored one of the more uncomfortable truths in enterprise AI: automation is powerful, but customers still know when something feels cold, careless, or disconnected. The session was moderated by Omar Turjman, Chief Information Officer at Al Rajhi Medicine, with insights from Kamal Farag, Chief Technology Officer at HelloApp, Amro Shawli, Chief Governance, Risk & Control Officer at Bupa Arabia, Sami Sarhan, Chief Advisor at the National Industrial Development Center, and Hamdan. The conversation did not treat AI as a magic customer service…

Cities used to wait for problems to show up. Traffic builds up, then officials respond. Pipes break, then repair teams arrive. Housing pressure grows, then planners try to catch up. But AI in urban innovation is beginning to change that rhythm, making the old reactive approach feel outdated. At the Smart Infra fireside chat “Smart Cities, Smarter Citizens: AI’s Role in Urban Innovation,” the conversation focused on a different kind of city model. One where artificial intelligence helps urban systems act earlier, respond faster, and understand citizen needs in real time. The session was moderated by Mostafa Kol, Chief Technical…

Apple is moving faster with iPhone security updates, and the reason is not just another routine bug fix. The company is responding to a cybersecurity environment where artificial intelligence is making attacks quicker, sharper, and harder to predict. For years, software updates followed a familiar rhythm. Companies bundled fixes, tested them, released them on schedule, and users installed them whenever the notification appeared. That old rhythm is starting to look slow. Maybe dangerously slow. AI has changed the timing. Security flaws that once took skilled attackers longer to study can now be scanned, compared, and reverse-engineered much faster with AI-assisted…