AI spending faces scrutiny as adoption expands

AI investment is facing closer scrutiny from businesses and voters. Apple is cutting internal AI usage budgets, while Gartner finds that companies are not saving money with AI. Midterm ballot measures and electoral gains by data center critics point to growing political resistance to infrastructure expansion. Meanwhile, Arm reports sales growth driven by AI demand, and AMD’s forecast exceeds estimates as demand for AI chips rises.

Product development and acquisitions continue across the sector. Meta has acquired AI coding startup Conductor, Adobe is integrating a marketing AI agent into ChatGPT and Claude, and Anthropic is developing tools to confirm AI models’ identities. AI shopping agents could also threaten Amazon and Walmart’s advertising businesses.

Governance and security concerns span public services, education and finance. Concerns about Seattle’s use of AI on emergency calls went ignored, while Google faces backlash over school AI policies. The Financial Stability Board has outlined practices for financial firms’ adoption, and researchers have uncovered prompt adware hidden in an OpenAI Codex jailbreak toolkit.