Accenture/ZDNETResearch from 2025 finds that 77% of executives believe unlocking the true benefits of AI will only be possible when it is built on a foundation of trust, according to theAccenture Technology Vision 2025report.The Accenture Technology Vision 2025 explores how the future is being shaped by AI-powered autonomy. As adoption of AI accelerates across all businesses and society at a rate faster than any prior technology, 69% of executives believe AI brings new urgency to reinvention and how technology systems and the processes it enables are designed, built, and operated. The ripple effect of AI and its impact will be felt across multiple dimensions, including technology development, customer experience, the physical world, and the workforce.Accenture identifies four key emerging trends in AI, autonomy, and trust, focused on the following: what happens when AI acts autonomously at the center of enterprise technology, speaks on behalf of your brand, inhabits robotic bodies, and collaborates on behalf of employees.The Binary Big Bang: When AI expands exponentially, systems are upended - As generative AI becomes central to enterprise tech, development costs plummet, new systems abound, and digital agents gain autonomy -- transforming applications as we know them.Your Face, in the Future: Differentiating when every interface looks the same - AI agents can personalize customer interactions at scale, but brands must protect their unique voice to avoid becoming generic.When LLMs Get Their Bodies: How foundation models reinvent robotics - Robots with embedded LLMs have generalist versatility, enabling them to take on new tasks in human spaces beyond today's highly programmed use cases.The New Learning Loop: How people and AI are defining a virtuous cycle of learning, leading, and creating - When generative AI is diffused through an organization, every employee has the full power of their organization behind them, which expands the autonomy of both people and AI over time. AI: A declaration of autonomy Accenture Technology Vision Report 2025AI: A Declaration of AutonomyThe focus of this article will be on the binary big bang and the agentic AI revolution in the enterprise. Accenture notes that AI will drive new levels of autonomy throughout business, evolving the ability to reinvent with tech, data, and AI -- a limitless opportunity for innovation and growth. The key disruption here is "AI cognitive digital brains."AI "cognitive digital brains" will completely reshape the role technology plays across the enterprise and in people's lives. Accenture defines cognitive digital brains at multiple levels: For individuals, the cognitive digital brain will operate as a co-pilot or sidekick, something that will understand their job, learn their preferences, and get to know them through its interactions, in service of helping them become an enhanced version of themselves. For businesses, it might seem more like a central nervous system -- an evolution of the enterprise architecture into something that can capture the collective knowledge of the business, its unique differentiators, and its culture and persona, and become a key orchestrator (and even autonomous operator) for parts of it.What makes a Cognitive Digital Brain? The cognitive digital brain will become the central nervous system for enterprise decision-making and continuous learning. Used to power enterprises' future ambitions, like intention-based architectures, it is comprised of four interconnected layers that together organize, process, and act on information.Knowledge: Technologies like knowledge graphs and vector databases gather, organize, and structure data from across the enterprise and beyond.Models: Large-scale generative AI models, as well as classical machine learning and deep learning models, perform critical thinking and reasoning functions to turn data into actionable outcomes.Agents: Designed to be problem-solvers, tackle tasks with minimal human input, and learn and grow over time, AI agents bring planning, reflection, and adaptability to the mix.Architecture: A comprehensive backbone is what turns AI experiments into enterprise-grade solutions. It scales intelligence across the organization and into existing workflows, enabling repeatability so solutions can be made once and reused.Accenture emphasizes the importance of trust, which may be the most important limiting factor for businesses to achieve autonomy with AI. First, enterprises need to bolster the cybersecurity and trust of their digital systems. The second dimension of the roadmap is thinking about building trust in AI itself. Lastly, the third and uncharted part of the trust roadmap is finding a new path to people-driven trust. The Binary Big BangAccording to Accenture, the Binary Big Bang tracks the emergence of language models coupled with agentic systems and how they challenge conventions around building software and crafting new digital ecosystems. The trend dives into a generational transition, as leaders rethink how digital systems are designed -- building the foundation for the cognitive digital brains that will become an essential part of enterprise DNA. The result will be a dramatic increase in technology diffusion touching every aspect of business, consumer, and societal interactions. It sets the stage for the emerging AI era, where we will rapidly expand digital ecosystems and increasingly trust autonomous systems to find new ways to innovate with us.Accenture highlights Salesforce as the moment we entered the Binary Big Bang:"In September 2024, Marc Benioff announced thatSalesforce would 'hard pivot' to Agentforce, a platform for building and deploying autonomous AI agents. It's rare for a company of such scale to pivot like this. But Salesforce realized something groundbreaking and formidable that every company needs to recognize too: We have just entered the Binary Big Bang." -- Accenture Technology Vision 2025.Accenture defines three forces -- abundance, abstraction, and autonomy -- emerging as the pillars of tomorrow's technology.Abundance: With coding agents, the creation of digital systems is getting much cheaper and faster.Abstraction: If speed and efficiency will expand the proliferation of technology, abstraction will expand who and how we use it, meaning modern AI systems will serve as a new bridge between people and machines.Autonomy: Today's architectures are designed to execute a singular and rigidly defined purpose. Autonomy breaks us out of that, as systems that can build and execute code on their own are poised to become powerful orchestrators and operators of business. Accenture notes that autonomy means we might not know how or why a system makes particular decisions -- but we have to trust them to make the right ones. This is why trust is so important.A warning: The Binary Big Bang will feel hectic. There will no longer be a reference point for how an architecture should look. Accenture's guidance: Every company must be prepared to forge a new technological footprint, founded on AI -- a unique DNA identifying and differentiating them as they launch into tomorrow's technology landscape. The Binary Big Bang is the moment to get your footing -- but it won't last long. How can you take advantage of it today?The technology that will define the Binary Big Bang is Agentic Systems, Digital Core, and, Generative UI.Agentic Systems - What is it? AI agents and agentic systems offer a powerful way to leverage LLMs and other foundation models to complete complicated and compound tasks. Agentic systems take the power of language models and extend them by integrating methods for reflection, tool use, planning, and collaboration. These methods transform the models from simple prompt-and-generate functions into reasoning engines that can tackle a wide variety of challenges.Digital Core - What is it? The digital core is the critical technological capability that can create and empower an organization's unique reinvention ambitions. Key to this is a composable architecture that emphasizes modularity and interoperability. Composability relies on independent, self-contained components that can be connected to build high-level functions and applications. They can come from internal systems, PaaS and SaaS providers, and other external parties. But in all cases, these components need to operate independently, be trusted and verifiable, and be discoverable and usable by composers. Being prepared for reinvention is crucial in an AI-first future. I recently shared my thoughts onAccenture's researchon architecture and the mindset needed to adapt a strong digital core.Generative UI - What is it? Generative UI is the concept of leveraging AI techniques to generate user interfaces, commonly with the goal of offering a personalized experience. The long-term vision is a system that dynamically generates interfaces in real time, based on an individual's context and needs. This is not just about populating a predefined layout with user-specific content but completely changing the structure, flow, and interaction methods. These capabilities can be applied to websites, applications, or even agentic systems, and could rely on text, voice, or other intuitive interactions.Accenture notes that agentic AI systems will be most effective when connecting components across the enterprise, turning them into new sources of customer value, automated workflows, or more. The Binary Big Bang is still just beginning, and we don't know the exact end state of all that will change -- but the disruption is upon us, and enterprises need to start building tomorrow's strategy. But there is no denying the agentic AI revolution is here now.In amachine-led economy, relational intelligence is key to success. AI agents will change work forever. To embrace that change, business leaders must focus on what matters most -- designing and cultivating healthy and sustainable relationships.How to prepare for the new technology paradigmAccenture recommends the following for businesses to prepare for the new technology paradigm of abundance, abstraction, and autonomy:Define your new digital ecosystem (early adopters)Identify the highest value opportunities in tomorrow's technology landscape (early adopters)Map out ecosystem partners' agentic offerings (preparing to start)Start experimenting with agents internally (preparing to start)Prepare your digital core for agents (a slower approach)Watch signals to predict upcoming industry impacts (a slower approach)To preserve trust: Monitor autonomous systems' activity and train autonomous systems to make good decisionsIn summary, Accenture emphasizes the following key takeaways:Leaders must prepare today for an imminent world in which AI is everywhere and acting autonomously on behalf of people.New autonomy for AI also means new autonomy for systems and people, along with a refined relationship with trust.Opportunities will be lost unless business leaders secure enough trust from employees and consumers to engage with AI's unprecedented capabilities.To learn more about the Accenture Technology Vision 2025, visit here.

The CIO of this pioneering research organization says an iterative approach to emerging technology is the best way to build trust in generative AI.

While all generations have witnessed a fair share of churn, the exit of Generation Z employees has touched a raw nerve.

In many instances, information threats don't seem outlandishthey align with normal business operations, expected behavior and even past interactions.

Drug pricing is influenced by numerous factors, but technology has the potential to strike the critical balance between affordability and innovation.

What just happened? Acer has unveiled the absolutely massive Nitro Blaze 11 at CES a handheld gaming PC with a ludicrous 10.95-inch display. If that sounds a bit excessive for a portable device, there's also the relatively compact 8.8-inch Nitro Blaze 8. Let's start with the big guy the Nitro Blaze 11. Acer has shared a photo of a person holding the device, and let's just say it almost looks comical in human hands. But then bigger is (almost) always better for gaming, so we aren't complaining.Under the hood, the handheld rocks an AMD Ryzen 8040HS processor, 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, up to 2TB storage, and dedicated Radeon 780M graphics. Its 10.95-inch WQXGA touchscreen has a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and can hit 500 nits of brightness. Radeon Super Resolution and AMD's FidelityFX upscaling tech also keep games looking sharp at high frame rates.The handheld also features detachable controllers with Hall Effect joysticks, back buttons, and rumbling force feedback. There's even a built-in kickstand for propping it up.With all that hardware and the massive display, it's no surprise that the device tips the scales at a whopping 1,050 grams.If you prefer something more portable, Acer has you covered with the Nitro Blaze 8. While much more portable at 8.8 inches, it still flexes impressive muscle under the hood. You're getting the same powerful AMD chip, up to 16GB RAM, 2TB storage, and a 144Hz WQXGA display, albeit in a smaller package. However, it lacks detachable controllers and the stand. // Related StoriesAs for connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and USB4/3.2 ports on both devices.Both models also include Acer's Game Space app for quickly accessing and managing your game library. To sweeten the deal, Acer is bundling three months of PC Game Pass, meaning you get day-one access to major upcoming titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, plus games from EA's library.The Nitro Blaze 8 will start at $899 in North America when it launches in Q2 2025, while the Nitro Blaze 11 will have a $1,099 starting price. European pricing is set at 999 and 1,199 respectively.

A hot potato: It seems that Meta is going to become a lot more like X, at least when it comes to what you can say on the company's platforms. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the suspension of the fact-checking program, a reduction in the amount of censorship, and the recommendation of more political content across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. In a video announcing the changes, Zuckerberg says Meta has built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, "But the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes."Zuckerberg adds that accidentally censoring just one percent of posts can affect millions of people, and that we're at the point now where there have been too many mistakes and "too much censorship."View this post on InstagramA post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)"The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing free speech," Zuckerberg continued.Coming to the US first in the next couple of months, Meta's biggest change is the replacement of third-party fact checkers with community notes, which have gained popularity on X. Zuckerberg claims that fact checkers have become too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created. // Related StoriesThe notes will appear as labels on posts indicating that there is additional information. To prevent bias, the note will "require agreement between people with a range of perspectives." Meta is also dialing back the prominence of content warning labels.Meta is also going to "simplify" its content policies, removing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender that "are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.""What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it's gone too far. So I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms."Another change is the way Meta enforces its policies on platforms. Filters that used to scan for any policy violation will now focus on illegal and high-severity violations such as terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud, and scams. The company will rely on users to report lower-priority violation before it takes any action. Zuckerberg believes this will dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on the platforms.The final change is the return of civic content, which was removed in 2021 due to political misinformation concerns. Zuckerberg said Meta will work to keep civic and political discourse "friendly and positive."The next change is to move Meta's Trust and Safety and Content Moderation teams from California to Texas and other US locations. Zuckerberg said as Meta works to promote free expression, it will help build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about bias from the teams.Finally, the CEO said Meta will work with President Trump to push back against governments around the world that have been "going after" American companies and pushing to censor more. He claims that Europe's ever-increasing number of censorship laws make it difficult to build anything innovative in the continent. Zuckerberg specifically mentions Latin American courts and China trying to push more censorship.The announcement comes days after former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said he was resigning as Meta's president of global affairs, replaced by Republican Joel Kaplan. The company has also appointed UFC CEO Dana White to its board.While Meta's changes will likely be welcomed by the incoming president, Trump has had a strained relationship with Zuckerberg in the past. Facebook banned the president-elect for two years shortly after the January 6 insurrection in 2021. Trump has also called Facebook the enemy of the people, accused Zuckerberg of plotting against him during the 2020 election, and said he would "spend the rest of his life in prison" if he ever did it again. But Zuckerberg was quick to congratulate Trump on his re-election. Meta also donated $1 million to an inauguration fund for Trump.

Valentines Day is a time for love and romance. In theHeart Eyestrailer, the holiday becomes a killing ground for a masked murderer in this slasher romantic comedy.Set to an eerie cover of Cant Take My Eyes Off Of You,Heart Eyesfollows a pair of co-workers who find themselves in the fight of their lives on Valentines Day. The Seattle-based duo is stalked by the Heart Eyes Killer, a murderer wearing a mask with heart-shaped red lights over the eyes. The Heart Eyes Killer specifically hunts and kills couples.Recommended VideosHeart Eyes stars Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa, and Jordana Brewster. Brewsters character, who is in law enforcement, says, Hes like Cupid with a kink, as she investigates a crime scene. Holt plays one of the unlucky girls being stalked by the killer. However, her character knows the only way to eliminate the killer is to face him head-on.Please enable Javascript to view this contentHes going to keep killing people. We end it here, Holts character emphatically states as the Heart Eyes Killer wreaks havoc at a drive-in movie.HEART EYES - Official Trailer (HD)Josh Ruben directsHeart Eyes froma screenplay by Phillip Murphy,Christopher Landon, andMichael Kennedy. Reuben is best known for directing several comedy-horror films, including 2020s Scare Me and 2021s Werewolves Within. Landon, the director of Happy Death Day, produced Heart Eyeswith Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks. Heart Eyesstems from Spyglass Media Group, the production banner behind Screamand Scream VI.RelatedHeart Eyesopens theatrically on February 7, 2025, one week before Valentines Day.Editors Recommendations

The U.K. competition regulator said it could approve Synopsyss $35 billion purchase of Ansys after the companies offered to sell off business units to ease regulators concerns.

The $20 million deal gives the chip supplier a toehold in the life-sciences market, a strategy it plans to replicate in other industries.