The AI boom is fuelling a datacentre expansion, but local communities are pushing back. In the UK, residents are raising concerns about noise, pollution, and blocked sunlight, putting the spotlight on the environmental costs of powering the AI revolution. With hundreds of facilities planned across the UK, the debate over who benefits and who bears the cost is growing.

Meanwhile, two critical PHP vulnerabilities exposed millions of websites and servers to potential cyberattacks. The flaws, undetected for years, triggered an urgent patching exercise, with experts warning that AI could make it easier to uncover and exploit similar weaknesses.

On the AI front, Block, a fintech company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, has unveiled Dessa, a voice model that captures human nuances such as laughter and pauses. It can listen and speak simultaneously and run on consumer-grade hardware, but is being tested by AI safety researchers before wider release. 

In other news, five companies are set to launch IPOs between October 26 and 29, aiming to raise nearly ₹2,600 crore, while Swara Baby Products, backed by FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions, is among the other companies in the IPO pipeline and is expected to announce its launch plans by November 5. The upcoming issues come amid strong primary-market activity, with 104 companies raising over ₹1.4 lakh crore through IPOs so far in 2026.

Here’s your trivia for today: What two-word term describes the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a person, product or activity? (Scroll down for the answer)

Venture capital funding into Indian startups fell sharply in the third week of October, as deal activity slowed and large-value transactions remained scarce.

Source link