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A study published in Harvard Business Review suggests that instead of making work easier, AI may be giving some workers what researchers are calling "brain fry." As businesses use more multi-agent systems, employees are finding themselves toggling between more tools, and contrary to the promise of having more time to focus on meaningful work, juggling and multitasking could be set to become the definitive features of working with AI. AI brain fry, defined as "mental fatigue that results from excessive use of, interaction with, and/or oversight of AI tools beyond one's cognitive capacity," was most commonly reported by employees in marketing, HR, operations, engineering, finance and IT in the study.

 

Harvard Business Review

CBS News

The Data Security Gap Behind Red Hat’s $100M Lesson

Red Hat’s costly cybersecurity incident reveals a risk many organizations still underestimate: your data is only as secure as its most vulnerable state.

While most companies encrypt data at rest and in transit, it can still be exposed when it’s being processed or analyzed. That moment—when data is in use—is where traditional security measures often fall short.

This article explores the hidden vulnerability many CISOs and CIOs overlook and why relying on partial encryption isn’t enough. Learn how sensitive data can become exposed during normal operations and what leaders should consider to ensure protection across the full data lifecycle.

Read the article

 

Anthropic has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government after being designated a "supply chain risk" over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology. Anthropic filed two separate lawsuits Monday, one in California federal court and another in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., each challenging different aspects of the Pentagon's actions against the company. "The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech", Anthropic wrote. "No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here."

 

Techcrunch

The Globe and Mail

U.S. News

Home and auto insurer Allstate is to face a privacy lawsuit which accuses the company of violating the Federal Wiretap Act by illegally tracking drivers through their cellphones without consent, using their data to raise premiums or deny coverage, and selling ​the data to other insurers. Drivers in the proposed class action can also try to show that the insurer's data analytics unit Arity violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act by inaccurately ​reporting their driving behavior.

 

Reuters

The Securities ‌and Exchange Commission ‌(SEC) has agreed to settle its civil ​fraud case against Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun. One of Sun's ‌companies ⁠will pay a $10m penalty to resolve the SEC’s claims that its employees manipulated the market for a crypto asset known as TRX. The agency had alleged that Sun’s employees engaged in fraudulent trading, known as wash trading, which made the token appear more liquid and popular with traders. The SEC sued Sun and his ​companies Tron ​Foundation, ​BitTorrent Foundation ‌and Rainberry in March 2023.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration's changes to the U.S. visa system for highly skilled immigrants are set to be tested with the upcoming H-1B lottery. This year, sponsors must pay a $100,000 fee, which is expected to disadvantage IT consulting firms that have previously dominated the visa allocation. “This is going to be a bit of a sea change,” observed Peter Bendor-Samuel, the executive chairman of global research firm Everest Group, which works with companies that routinely use the H-1B program. Companies such as Cognizant have already reduced their reliance on H-1Bs, while others are prioritizing hiring immigrants already in the U.S. Hiba Anver, a partner with Erickson Immigration Group, said: “There are several changes that taken collectively will diminish the tech industry's ability to attract and retain key talent . . . [this] will result in a smaller talent pool for tech companies.”

 

Los Angeles Times

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is proposing English proficiency requirement for overseas employees. Carr said the proposed rules would encourage communications providers regulated by the agency to bring call center jobs back to the U.S. “Americans get frustrated when they call a U.S. business and end up connecting with a call center located abroad,” he said. “Language and communications barriers often make it difficult for callers to promptly and efficiently get the results they want. And these foreign-based call centers often create a heightened security risk as well.” The proposal includes requirements that call center workers “be proficient in American Standard English and otherwise be trained appropriately for resolving issues with U.S. customers.”

 

Bloomberg

Oracle is planning thousands of job cuts as the enterprise software company faces a cash crunch from a massive ​AI data center expansion effort. The job reductions will affect divisions across the company and may be implemented as soon as this month, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Bloomberg

U.S. retail sales fell 0.2% in January to $733.5bn, according to the Commerce Department, continuing a weak trend in consumer spending since late 2025. The decline was smaller than economists’ expectations for a 0.4% drop but followed flat sales in December. The downturn was largely driven by a 0.9% drop in motor vehicle and parts sales. Excluding auto dealers and gas stations, retail sales actually rose 0.3%, with gains at general merchandise stores up 0.4% and online retailers up 1.9%. Economists are watching closely for signs of strain among consumers, who have been spending faster than their incomes have grown, reducing savings. With a weak February jobs report and rising unemployment, some analysts warn that households may soon cut back spending, posing risks for the consumer-driven U.S. economy.  

 

CNN

Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal

​Postmaster General David Steiner has told Reuters that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is hiring restructuring advisers as it could run out of money in early 2027. Consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal was hired for a brief ​engagement to help with planning for all scenarios, Steiner said. "We are out of cash in 12 months if ​we don't do anything different," Steiner explained. "I do not want to be in a ⁠position where we're six weeks out from running out of cash, and we say, Oh heck, what are we going ​to do?"

 

Reuters

The Ministry of Justice and Security in the Netherlands pulled a report assessing the risks of Amazon's European Sovereign Cloud service after critics said it underestimated the service's dangers. The European Sovereign Cloud is a service offered by Amazon Web Services in response to Europe's desire for greater digital independence from the United States. The service is specifically delivered in data centers on European soil with European employees. A legal analysis had been commissioned from law firm Greenberg Traurig, which suggested U.S. access to data is possible but unlikely. A week later, the Ministry republished the research with a memo stressing that it was “not a policy recommendation or compliance assessment,” and “no risk assessment” is made based on the report. 

 

NL Times

Europe is preparing for a potential increase in immigration from the Middle East due to ongoing conflict in the region, according to Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration. European governments are keen to adopt a proactive approach to manage the situation, especially given rising anti-immigrant sentiment. Pope said it was too soon to estimate how many people would flee from the region. “Right now people are primarily moving inside their countries - within Iran, within Lebanon, which is probably the place we're the most concerned about,” she said. Pope also drew attention to the “often forgotten” foreign workers that constitute large parts of the population in many Gulf countries and whom she said “are often not provided with the same level of support and attention and information as the nationals of a country.”

 

Luxembourg Times