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When AI systems started spitting out working code, many teams welcomed them as productivity boosters. Developers turned to AI to speed up routine tasks. Leaders celebrated productivity gains. But weeks later, companies faced security breaches traced back to that code. The question is: Who should be held responsible? This isnt hypothetical. In a survey of 450 security leaders, engineers, and developers across the U.S. and Europe, 1 in 5 organizations said they had already suffered a serious cybersecurity incident tied to AI-generated code, and more than two-thirds (69%) had uncovered flaws created by AI.Mistakes made by a machine, rather than by a human, are directly linked to breaches that are already causing real financial, reputational, or operational damage. Yet artificial intelligence isnt going away. Most organizations feel pressure to adopt it quickly, both to stay competitive and because the promise is so powerful.And yet, the responsibility centers on humans. A blame game with no rules When asked who should be held responsible for an AI-related breach, theres no clear answer. Just over half (53%) said the security team should take the blame for missing the issues or not implementing specific guidelines to follow. Meanwhile, nearly as many (45%) pointed the finger at the individual who prompted the AI to generate the faulty code. This divide highlights a growing accountability void. AI blurs the once-clear boundaries of responsibility. Developers can argue they were just using a tool to improve their output, while security teams can argue they cant be expected to catch every flaw AI introduces. Without clear rules, trust between teams can erode, and the culture of shared responsibility can begin to crack. Some respondents went further, even blaming the colleagues who approved the code, or the external tools meant to check it. No one knows whom to hold accountable. The human cost In our survey, 92% of organizations said they worry about vulnerabilities from AI-generated code. That anxiety fits into a wider workplace trend: AI is meant to lighten the load, yet it often does the opposite. Fast Company has already explored the rise of worksloplow-value output that creates more oversight and cleanup work. Our research shows how this translates into security: Instead of removing pressure, AI can add to it, leaving employees stressed and uncertain about accountability. In cybersecurity, specifically, burnout is already widespread, with nearly two-thirds of professionals reporting it and heavy workloads cited as a major factor. Together, these pressures create a culture of hesitation. Teams spend more time worrying about blame than experimenting, building, or improving. For organizations, the very technology brought in to accelerate progress may actually be slowing it down. Why its so hard to assign responsibility AI adds a layer of confusion to the workplace. Traditional coding errors could be traced back to a person, a decision, or a team. With AI, that chain of responsibility breaks. Was it the developers fault for relying on insecure code, or the AIs fault for creating it in the first place? Even if the AI is at fault, its creators wont be the ones carrying the consequences. That uncertainty isnt just playing out inside companies. Regulators around the world are wrestling with the same question: If AI causes harm, who should carry the responsibility? The lack of clear answers at both levels leaves employees and leaders navigating the same accountability void. Workplace policies and training are still behind the pace of AI adoption. There is little regulation or precedent to guide how responsibility should be divided. Some companies monitor how AI is used in their systems, but many do not, leaving leaders to piece together what happened after the fact, like a puzzle missing key parts. What leaders can do to close the accountability gap Leaders cannot afford to ignore the accountability question. But setting expectations doesnt have to slow things down. With the right steps, teams can move fast, innovate, and stay competitive, without losing trust or creating unnecessary risk. Track AI use Make it standard to track AI usage and make this visible across teams. Share accountability Avoid pitting teams against each other. Set up dual sign-off, the way HR and finance might both approve a new hire, so accountability doesnt fall on a single person. Set expectations clearlyReduce stress by making sure employees know who reviews AI output, who approves it, and who owns the outcome. Build in a short AI checklist before work is signed off. Use systems that provide visibility Leaders should look for practical ways to make AI use transparent and trackable, so teams spend less time arguing over blame and more time solving problems. Use AI as an early safeguardAI isnt only a source of risk; it can also act as an extra set of eyes, flagging issues early and giving teams more confidence to move quickly. Communication is key Too often, organizations only change their approach after a serious security incident. That can be costly: The average breach is estimated at $4.4 million, not to mention the reputational damage. By communicating expectations clearly and putting the right processes in place, leaders can reduce stress, strengthen trust, and make sure accountability doesnt vanish when AI is involved. AI can be a powerful enabler. Without clarity and visibility, it risks eroding confidence. But with the right guardrails, it can deliver both speed and safety. The companies that will thrive are those that create the conditions to use AI fearlessly: recognizing its vulnerabilities, building in accountability, and fostering the culture to review and improve at AI speed.
Category:
E-Commerce
I once attended a slide presentation given by an executive in a telcom company. The presentation was highly technical, but that was not the main problem. It was boring because the speaker was using back-to-back visuals and had zero connection to his audience. When the one-hour session came to an end, the entire audience filed out of the room but the executive kept talking. He was so focused on his visuals that he didnt even realize the audience had left the room. This story illustrates the dangers of using slides. The speaker can easily lose touch with the audience, and the result is that the power you bring as a speaker gets lost. To retain your power when using visuals, follow these five fundamentals. 1. AVOID SLIDES WHENEVER POSSIBLE. First, consider not using slides at all. Strong leaders have no interest in competing with busy PowerPoints. The purpose of a talk should be to persuade and inspire, not simply to convey information. Often you can do that best without any visual props. So avoid slides unless there is a strong argument for using them. Still, there are times when you will need to use slides. It might be part of the corporate culture. Some visuals illustrate a new product or a new building. At times a chart drives home a point. If you are planning to use a deck, the next four guidelines suggest how to do so most effectively. 2. REALIZE THAT YOURE THE BEST VISUAL. Think of yourself as the best visual. You have energy, enthusiasm, vocal reach, and body language that tell your audience you believe what youre saying and they should too. You can bring forward your points with more impact than inanimate slides can. This should encourage you to keep the presentation focused on you and your convictions. Instead of fading into the visuals and reacting to them, lead with powerful statements using your strong presence to bring the presentation to life. Keep your visuals simple and uncluttered. The less time your audience spends reading the visuals the more time theyll spend looking at you and following you. Beware especially of cluttered word slides. Theyre distracting and often hard to understand. Theyll compete with you. Audience members will be reading all that text and tune you out. 3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ONE CLEAR, COMPELLING MESSAGE. Your leadership presence depends on a clear, credible, and well-supported message. The danger of using slides or visuals is that the whole presentation can easily become an information dump. And thats how its usually delivered. Fact after fact after fact. To save your presentation from the information junk heap, introduce a central message early on. For example, you might say: The message of this presentation is . . . and keep that message front and center throughout. Show that everything in your presentation supports this message. The argument on each slide should relate back to the message. At the end, come back to your message and show how it can be implemented. Apple reinvents the phone was the message Steve Jobs wanted his audience to take away when he introduced the iPhone. Thats the reason Apple reinvents the phone was the only message on the slide. And he repeated it several times during the presentation to reinforce it. 4. PRESENT WITH GREAT CONVICTION. Having slides doesnt lessen the need to show your commitment; rather, it doubles that need. Own each visual. Provide a narrative that shows youre in charge and that the deck is just a supporting character. As you walk through the presentation, state the message of each visual before showing it. Say, As youll see, this next slide argues that convincingly. To inspire your audience, strengthen your voice and body language. Your voice should be forceful and varied, in keeping with the substance youre conveying. Emphasize your points by looking at the audience and using pauses, as if to say, Did you get that? Your body language is important. Excellent posture conveys conviction, as do appropriate gestures that reinforce your points. 5. END WITH A CALL TO ACTION. Finally, end with a call to action. The call to action should echo the overall message that you began the presentation with. Explain to the audience what you want from them. Approval of the proposal? Buy-in? Or a full understanding of your argument and its implications for moving ahead. Your call to action might begin I trust you can now see how redoubling our focus on using AI will be the basis for strong growth next year. Whatever your message, show how it can be implemented. If you do this successfully, you will have led.
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E-Commerce
The State Department has enlisted Starlink, the satellite internet service run by the Elon Musk company SpaceX, to support its staff in Jamaica in the event that Hurricane Melissa, a category 5 storm that made landfall Tuesday, disrupts communications on the island nation, the agency says. We have pre-provisioned Starlink in Jamaica and will use it for communications if necessary, a spokesperson for the agency said Tuesday night. If the damage is as bad as expected, the agency is likely to use the service for live service in Jamaica, another State Department official told Fast Company.On-location agency staff are likely to use Starshield — a version of the Starlink service tailored for national-security applications — at the embassy, the second official says. The consumer service Starlink might be used by smaller teams who may need to travel within the country, the person added. The move shows how critical satellite-based internet has become in natural disasters, particularly when ground-based communications services go offline. And it also demonstrates just how much the U.S. government has come to rely on technology made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s technology, which now includes everything from rocket launch services to consumer satellite internet. The State Department is one of a growing number of US government agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security, now using Starlink for a variety of purposes as varied as videocalling, real-time data support, and research in Antarctica. As SpaceX has ramped up sales of Starlink to the government, it has also built Starshield, a national-security-related service used within the Defense Department. The State Department has bought both services, deploying the SpaceX technology at several embassies. (The relationship between the two services has been murky. A Starlink outage earlier this summer also took Starshield offline.) Relatedly, SpaceX often offers free Starlink services during emergencies. When asked what the company was doing to prepare for Hurricane Melissa, the companys media team directed Fast Company to an announcement explaining that people in Jamaica and the Bahamas could receive free service until the end of November. Customers who had already set up accounts, even those that were paused or suspended, will automatically receive a free credit, while those hoping to sign up for the first time can create a support ticket, the company says. While Starlink service can be a life-saving tool during an emergency, critics have raised concerns about the U.S. governments growing dependence on the technology — as well as on Musks influence on SpaceX. Earlier this year, for instance, Musk ordered that some Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian forces be taken offline amid their attempt to retake territory from Russia, Reuters reported.
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E-Commerce
NASA wants to reopen competition on its moon lander, a multi-billion-dollar contract for a new space vehicle that will help support one of Americas most ambitious missions yet: going back to the moon — and for good. The space agencys decision to reopen the contract for the Artemis mission moon lander renews competition between SpaceX, which had previously won the award, and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezoss space startup. But it also sets off a competition between Texas and Washington, the two companies respective home states. Politicians long fought over American space spending, as Fast Company explained a while back. But its not clear where they stand, at least for now. Several congressional offices that would be impacted by the space agency opening up the contract did not respond to a request for comment, including the office of Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (the Texas delegation), as well as the Republican and Democratic sides of the Commerce Committee, whose portfolio includes space issues. A spokesperson for Rep. Vincente Gonzalez, the congressman who represents Starbase, Texas where SpaceX is testing its heavy launch vehicle Starship didnt respond to a request for comment. The office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, who represents Washington and frequently touts Blue Origin, also did not respond. Congressional delegations have previously advocated for Artemis contracts to come to their states. Back when SpaceX first won the lunar lander contract, Cantwell pushed for NASA to give a second company a lunar contract, including through legislation. Even amid doubts with SpaceX, Cruz, who represents SpaceX homestate Texas, has said its too late for the U.S. to leave Starship behind. The size of a small building, Starship is the platform that Elon Musk thinks will bring humanity to Mars. Its also the vehicle that, for several years, NASA has been planning to use for an earlier phase of the Artemis program. (The Artemis 3 mission that SpaceX is supposed to work on, currently scheduled for late 2027, will involve a weekslong stay on the lunar surface, though NASA has ambitions for returning to the moon in later years, including to build a lunar base camp). The challenge is that Starship a key part of this plan has suffered failures during several recent test flights. And now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is complaining that SpaceX is behind schedule. A NASA panel said as much in September. Blue Origin still has a lot catching up to do. The company has yet to build a similarly large low Earth orbit satellite network, or to send manned space missions into orbit. (The company has accomplished suborbital flights). But Blue Origin has also won lunar lander work from NASA for the Artemis V mission, a later phase of the new moon program. In the past, NASA has expressed interest in maintaining at least two options in order to ensure a regular cadence of Moon landings, a NASA official said when the government announced an award for Blue Origins lunar platform, which the company calls Blue Moon. Theres also Lockheed Martin, which might also put its hat in the ring. Of course, its unclear what might be going on between policymakers privately, or whether the rift between Elon Musk and the Trump administration has settled. Another factor is growing concern that the U.S. is falling behind China on lunar ambitions. Secretary Duffy has also said that Trump wants some kind of lunar accomplishment before he leaves office. In the meantime, much of NASA is closed because of the government shutdown.
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E-Commerce
Most climate reports are bleak. Temperatures are soaring. Sea levels are rising. Companies are missingor abandoningtheir emissions targets. But a new report from the nonprofit Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit looks at the surprising amount of progress thats happened since the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago. Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. Theres now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar powerroughly as much as 100 million U.S. homes usewhich is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels. One out of every five new cars sold is now an EV; a decade ago, that was one in 100. Even if growth flatlined now, the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028. Dozens of countries have net zero goals that are legally mandated, and comprehensive climate laws. Out of the worlds largest 2,000 companies, nearly 1,300 now have net zero goals in place. Ten years ago, the world was on track to hit a catastrophic 4 degrees of global warming by the end of the century. Now, projections have dropped to 2.6 degreesnot nearly enough, but a major step in the right direction. Typical climate reports, like the U.N.s Emissions Gap Report, focus on how far off track the world is. They say the same thing every time, basically: that were not doing enough, says John Lang, net zero tracker lead at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. Thats one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we have made unbelievable progress, and weve laid the foundations for structural, sustained emissions declines over the next few decades. Ten years ago, projections about the growth of renewable energy were wrong in part because modelers underestimated how the scale of manufacturing in China could help drive costs down. Solar is now 66% cheaper than it was just a decade ago. In 2024, the cost of lithium-ion batteries fell by 20% in a single year. Globally, 91% of renewable energy projects are cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. There are obvious challenges now, particularly the Trump administrations anti-climate push and supply chain bottlenecks from increased protectionism. Still, the markets more powerful than a man, Lang says. Renewable energy will continue to grow. In China, emissions have been dropping since March of last year. China is also exporting clean energy technology to other countries. In the U.S., 19 states representing half of the countrys GDP still have net zero targets in place. The story since 2015 is essentially around innovation, and through constraints, we’re going to see more innovation, he says. So despite the protectionism, I don’t see this unstoppable momentum slowing down. The world still has a very long way to go. The planet has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius, and were seeing the catastrophic impacts, from more severe hurricanes and wildfires to dying coral reefs. Theres little chance that we can avoid heating up more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, one of the goals of the Paris agreement. But every tenth of a degree of warming matters, and theres still time to change the trajectory. This decade was always going to be about laying foundations, says Lang. It’s not as quick as the IPCC would like us to go. But the reality is that this is hard. I always think of Emmanuel Kants quote, From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight has ever been made. This is difficult stuff politically and culturally, and it is the biggest energy transition that humans may ever go through.
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E-Commerce
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