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By Jaspreet Singh (Reuters) -Palo Alto Networks is expanding its artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity offerings, as clients seek to secure their business operations from rising hacking incidents. The company's AI tools, combined with its planned acquisition of Israeli peer CyberArk Software, are deepening its security offerings amid a wave of high-profile cyberattacks that has hit global companies, including F5 and UnitedHealth Group. Chief Executive Nikesh Arora said some recent breaches underscore how back-end infrastructure compromises can expose thousands of customers by revealing vulnerabilities in shared source code. Palo Alto launched new versions of its cloud security platform, Cortex Cloud, and AI application security platform Prisma AIRS on Tuesday. The company said Prisma AIRS 2.0 integrates technology from its recently acquired Seattle-based startup Protect AI, creating a combined platform to secure AI applications from development to deployment. It also uses AI systems to automatically find loopholes in other such systems. The Cortex Cloud 2.0 now incorporates agentic platform Cortex AgentiX and a cloud command center, its unified view of cloud assets to showcase risks and threats across cloud services of multiple providers. Customers will have the ability to tailor those agents for specific user roles, Arora said, adding the pricing of the new agentic AI offerings would be consistent with the company's existing Cortex XSOAR platform that unifies and automates incident response across all security tools. "We're not going to take actions where the customers can't reverse them, or the customers can't have that a human in the middle type of activity. So most of our agents will have humans in the middle," he added. The agents are trained on 1.2 billion real-world security incident responses. Palo Alto's standalone AgentiX platform is expected to launch early next year, the company said. Shares of the company were up around 1%. They have risen about 21% so far this year. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos to account for what the Vermont independent said were hundreds of thousands of potential lost jobs due to automation. "If Amazon succeeds on its massive automation plan, it will have a profound impact on blue-collar workers throughout America and will likely be used as a model by large corporations throughout America," Sanders wrote in a letter to Bezos, which was exclusively reviewed by Reuters. Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, was referring to a New York Times article published earlier this month that cited documents and interviews showing that Amazon executives believe 500,000 jobs could be cut over time by replacing warehouse workers with robots. Amazon employs 1.55 million people, the majority of whom are hourly workers. An Amazon spokesperson said the company had no immediate response to the letter. However, Amazon has said its automation goals are to assist workers and create new jobs. On Monday, Reuters reported Amazon planned to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as it pares expenses. It announced an initial cut of some 14,000 jobs tied in part to efficiency gains from its use of artificial intelligence software, according to a note posted to the company's website. In the letter, Sanders asked Bezos whether Amazon planned to provide laid-off workers with sufficient severance payments and some continuation of their health-care coverage. He also noted that Amazon workers have received federal subsidies for food, housing and health care and the company has received “billions of dollars” in federal contracts. “What are Amazon’s plans to provide help and support for the many hundreds of thousands of workers you’ll be replacing with robots and AI?” said Sanders, referring to artificial intelligence software. Bezos is now executive chairman and no longer runs day-to-day operations at Amazon after the company appointed Andy Jassy as chief executive in 2021. Jassy said earlier this year that advancements in AI would lead to a shrinking corporate workforce at the Seattle-based firm. Sanders has frequently sparred with Amazon and Bezos, particularly over warehouse working conditions, but also what he has called union-busting tactics. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chizu Nomiyama )

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By Greg Bensinger and Deborah Mary Sophia (Reuters) – Amazon said on Tuesday it will reduce its global corporate workforce by about 14,000 people, with more cuts expected next year, in a major shakeup driven in part by adoption of artificial intelligence at the tech giant.  The online retailer began laying off employees across multiple divisions as part of a plan, first reported on Monday by Reuters, to cut as many as 30,000 employees. The company has not confirmed the broader layoff plan, but in a companywide email indicated further cuts were planned. Amazon is working to compensate for over-hiring during the peak demand of the pandemic and to limit costs as it enters its crucial holiday selling season. The layoffs offer an early look at the possibly broad effects of AI on workforces. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy flagged the potential for  such losses in June, saying increased use of AI tools and agents would lead to more corporate job cuts, particularly through automating routine tasks. Amazon had about 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees at the end of last year. Its corporate workforce includes roughly 350,000 employees.        Workers told Reuters they learned their jobs were eliminated from letters sent to their personal email addresses early on Tuesday morning.  "You are no longer required to perform work on Amazon's behalf," reads the email from Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, which was sent to impacted employees and seen by Reuters.  She said those workers would be given the option to meet with a human resources employee via video call. "Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated and your employment will end after a non-working period." Amazon will offer most affected workers 90 days to look for a new role internally and said its recruiting teams would prioritize those candidates. Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as a surfeit of bureaucracy, including by reducing the number of managers. He spun up an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes. This week's move represents the deepest job cuts since 27,000 jobs were eliminated in late 2022 and early 2023. Departments affected on Tuesday include devices, advertising, Prime Video, HR, operations, Alexa and Amazon's cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS), employees told Reuters.  The full scope of departments affected could not be learned and when contacted for clarification, Amazon redirected Reuters to the post on its website.   It was not immediately clear over what period the full extent of job cuts will take place, but Galetti said in the note that Amazon would continue hiring in certain areas and reducing headcount in other divisions heading into 2026. Over the past two years, the company has been carrying out piecemeal job cuts across divisions including books, devices and its Wondery podcast business. The layoffs so far have already helped teams move faster, Galetti said.      Shares of the Seattle-based company were up 0.8% at midday on Tuesday. The stock has risen about 3.5% this year, making it the worst performer among the "Magnificent 7" group of megacap tech stocks.  AI EFFORTS Galetti's note reiterated CEO Jassy's push to reduce management layers and lean more on AI.  Corporations are increasingly using the technology to write code for their software and adopting AI agents to automate routine tasks, as they look to save costs and cut reliance on people.  "This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before," Galetti said.  Amazon is expected to shell out roughly $118 billion in capital expenditures for the year, with much of it going toward building AI and cloud infrastructure. The company will report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.  Separately, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to account for what he said were hundreds of thousands of potential lost jobs due to automation. Sanders was referring to a New York Times article published earlier this month that reported Amazon executives believe 500,000 jobs could be cut over time by replacing warehouse workers with robots.  Two U.S. senators have also asked Amazon to explain why it is the nation's largest employer of foreign workers using H-1B visas while also cutting jobs. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Deborah Sophia and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Matthew Lewis)

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By Joan Faus BARCELONA (Reuters) -Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is seeing signs of new artificial intelligence features in phones helping boost demand in China and is upbeat about growing in Europe, unfazed by the risk of an AI bubble in the industry, a top executive said on Tuesday. Oppo's Chief Executive for Europe, Elvis Zhou, told Reuters its observation of the Chinese market had led it to believe that "AI will drive people to think about replacing their phones". "So we believe that with AI, we will see that the overall market will also grow in the smartphone industry," he said, speaking in Mandarin through a translator. He spoke during a launch in Barcelona of its phone model Find X9 Pro, which includes AI features. Zhou said company surveys were showing that users under 35 were particularly driven by AI features in their phones, including for translation and photo editing. "I don't think it's a bubble for our industry," he said, referring to AI. Announcements of multi-billion-dollar investments in AI have raised concerns among investors in recent months about the formation of a bubble reminiscent of the 1990s dotcom boom that subsequently crashed. Zhou said Oppo saw the European market as second only to China in terms of growth potential. It would not be driven by prices, as Oppo considers it a market for high-end smartphones, but rather by phone features such as durability, he added. In the second quarter of this year, Oppo ranked fifth among phone brands in terms of shipments to Western Europe, according to data provided by the company. (Reporting by Joan Faus; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Aidan Lewis)

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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Finland's Nokia said on Tuesday that Nvidia would make a $1 billion equity investment in the Finnish telecom equipment maker. Nokia and Nvidia will collaborate on AI networking solutions and explore opportunities to incorporate Nokia's data-center switching and optical technologies in Nvidia's future AI infrastructure architecture, the Finnish company said in a statement. Shares in Nokia were up 14% at 1539 GMT. (Reporting by Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Gareth Jones)

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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Finland's Nokia said on Tuesday that Nvidia would make a $1 billion equity investment in the Finnish telecom equipment maker.  (Reporting by Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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(Reuters) – Microsoft and OpenAI reached a deal to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, valuing OpenAI at $500 billion and giving it more freedom in its business operations. The deal removes a major constraint on raising capital for OpenAI that existed since 2019, when it signed a deal with Microsoft that gave the tech giant rights over much of OpenAI's work in exchange for costly cloud computing services. As its ChatGPT service exploded in popularity, those limitations became a notable source of tension between the two companies. Here are reactions from analysts and investors:  RAIMO LENSCHOW, ANALYST, BARCLAYS, NEW YORK "We see Microsoft shares acting better again. The new OpenAI agreement creates a solid framework for years to come, and removes an overhang that has pressured shares in recent months. We hope that solid earnings tomorrow will be the next driver to put Microsoft back on investors' radar." "Although Microsoft will lose its right of first refusal as a compute provider, we view the large service commitment (from OpenAI) as a significant positive for the company's cloud business." DAN MORGAN, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, SYNOVUS TRUST, ATLANTA "This is very important as it clarifies the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, and creates a path to profitability for OpenAI. As of the first half of 2025, OpenAI generated $4.3 billion in revenue but also reported a significant net loss of $13.5 billion." MICHAEL ASHLEY SCHULMAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, RUNNING POINT CAPITAL "The right of first refusal on compute goes away, which sounds like Microsoft letting the golden goose date other clouds, yet OpenAI simultaneously commits to purchase about $250 billion of Azure (services)." "That is like telling your favorite restaurant that you plan to try new places, while pre-paying for the chef's table for the next few years. Net result, Azure locks in a leviathan backlog, while appearing less exclusive to regulators." JACOB BOURNE, ANALYST, EMARKETER "OpenAI's new ability to jointly develop products with third parties provides more flexibility. The company also now has greater freedom to shop around with other cloud providers, but there’s still significant financial interdependence between OpenAI and Microsoft." "The AGI focus here is really interesting. Even as we see OpenAI make more bold commercialization moves, it’s a reminder that the company's real focus is building these frontier general-purpose models." MATT BRITZMAN, SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, GREATER BRISTOL AREA, UK "For OpenAI, the shift to a Public Benefit Corporation is essential – not only to raise much-needed capital amid its aggressive deal-making, but also to satisfy investor conditions tied to governance changes. Overall, the move provides clarity and sets the stage for both players to scale their strategies with greater confidence." "This agreement is also a positive for Microsoft, as it removes uncertainty around revenue sharing, advanced AI milestones and product boundaries, while keeping the partnership aligned. Both companies now have the flexibility to pursue their own AI ambitions independently, which should foster innovation without eroding shared objectives." CHRIS BEAUCHAMP, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST, IG GROUP, UNITED KINGDOM "The timing looks right: AI is finally entering the deployment phase from pure hype. But the risks are real. Governance is messy, with the non-profit foundation retaining oversight, which could complicate decisions when profit and mission are in conflict. "Regulatory scrutiny is inevitable given Microsoft's dominance, and the valuation assumes OpenAI will keep growing at breakneck speed. Any slowdown and this looks expensive." ZEUS KERRAVALA, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, ZK RESEARCH, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS "The deal allowing OpenAI to use other cloud providers fundamentally redefines the structure of the AI industry by ending Microsoft Azure's compute exclusivity and making the AI race a multi-cloud infrastructure war. This is good for all involved. OpenAI's cloud diversification is a necessary strategic move driven by two factors: an insatiable demand for computing power and a pursuit of operational independence." "Microsoft retains a strategic, yet more complex, relationship with its most critical AI partner, but this opens the door for it to work with more AI companies." ADAM SARHAN, CEO, 50 PARK INVESTMENTS, NEW YORK "The deal marks a turning point for both Microsoft and OpenAI, as the restructuring into a public benefit corporation provides OpenAI with a more stable governance structure and greater flexibility for long-term growth. Microsoft's 27% stake —valued at around $135 billion — also reinforces its strategic commitment to AI leadership." "While this move clears most of the major regulatory and governance hurdles that surfaced earlier this year, it does not mean all challenges are behind them. OpenAI still faces ongoing scrutiny around transparency, data usage, and safety oversight. But overall, this structure should provide a clearer path forward for innovation and accountability." GIL LURIA, HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, DA DAVIDSON, PORTLAND, OREGON "The restructuring of OpenAI and its deal with Microsoft is an important milestone for the company's move forward towards AGI. It resolves the longstanding issue of OpenAI being organized as a not-for-profit (organization) and settles the ownership rights of the technology vis-a-vis Microsoft. The new structure should provide more clarity on OpenAI's investments path, thus facilitating further fundraising." ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, NEW YORK "It certainly seems to be the in-vogue thing to do. Over the course of the last several weeks, everyone's come out and said what they are going to do with OpenAI. And I think that tends to become very self-fulfilling. So when the news gets dropped, you know, whether it's Adobe or today with Microsoft, you have got the potential to become an even more important player in the AI revolution." (Reporting by Akash Sriram, Arnav Mishra, Jaspreet Singh, Harshita Mary Varghese, Avinash P, Deborah Sophia, Arpan Daniel Varghese and Kanchana Chakravarthy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) – Microsoft and OpenAI reached a deal to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, valuing OpenAI at $500 billion and giving it more freedom in its business operations. The deal removes a major constraint on raising capital for OpenAI that existed since 2019, when it signed a deal with Microsoft that gave the tech giant rights over much of OpenAI's work in exchange for costly cloud computing services. As its ChatGPT service exploded in popularity, those limitations became a notable source of tension between the two companies. Here are reactions from analysts and investors:  RAIMO LENSCHOW, ANALYST, BARCLAYS, NEW YORK "We see Microsoft shares acting better again. The new OpenAI agreement creates a solid framework for years to come, and removes an overhang that has pressured shares in recent months. We hope that solid earnings tomorrow will be the next driver to put Microsoft back on investors' radar." "Although Microsoft will lose its right of first refusal as a compute provider, we view the large service commitment (from OpenAI) as a significant positive for the company's cloud business." DAN MORGAN, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, SYNOVUS TRUST, ATLANTA "This is very important as it clarifies the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, and creates a path to profitability for OpenAI. As of the first half of 2025, OpenAI generated $4.3 billion in revenue but also reported a significant net loss of $13.5 billion." MICHAEL ASHLEY SCHULMAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, RUNNING POINT CAPITAL "The right of first refusal on compute goes away, which sounds like Microsoft letting the golden goose date other clouds, yet OpenAI simultaneously commits to purchase about $250 billion of Azure (services)." "That is like telling your favorite restaurant that you plan to try new places, while pre-paying for the chef's table for the next few years. Net result, Azure locks in a leviathan backlog, while appearing less exclusive to regulators." JACOB BOURNE, ANALYST, EMARKETER "OpenAI's new ability to jointly develop products with third parties provides more flexibility. The company also now has greater freedom to shop around with other cloud providers, but there’s still significant financial interdependence between OpenAI and Microsoft." "The AGI focus here is really interesting. Even as we see OpenAI make more bold commercialization moves, it’s a reminder that the company's real focus is building these frontier general-purpose models." MATT BRITZMAN, SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, GREATER BRISTOL AREA, UK "For OpenAI, the shift to a Public Benefit Corporation is essential – not only to raise much-needed capital amid its aggressive deal-making, but also to satisfy investor conditions tied to governance changes. Overall, the move provides clarity and sets the stage for both players to scale their strategies with greater confidence." "This agreement is also a positive for Microsoft, as it removes uncertainty around revenue sharing, advanced AI milestones and product boundaries, while keeping the partnership aligned. Both companies now have the flexibility to pursue their own AI ambitions independently, which should foster innovation without eroding shared objectives." CHRIS BEAUCHAMP, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST, IG GROUP, UNITED KINGDOM "The timing looks right: AI is finally entering the deployment phase from pure hype. But the risks are real. Governance is messy, with the non-profit foundation retaining oversight, which could complicate decisions when profit and mission are in conflict. "Regulatory scrutiny is inevitable given Microsoft's dominance, and the valuation assumes OpenAI will keep growing at breakneck speed. Any slowdown and this looks expensive." ZEUS KERRAVALA, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, ZK RESEARCH, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS "The deal allowing OpenAI to use other cloud providers fundamentally redefines the structure of the AI industry by ending Microsoft Azure's compute exclusivity and making the AI race a multi-cloud infrastructure war. This is good for all involved. OpenAI's cloud diversification is a necessary strategic move driven by two factors: an insatiable demand for computing power and a pursuit of operational independence." "Microsoft retains a strategic, yet more complex, relationship with its most critical AI partner, but this opens the door for it to work with more AI companies." ADAM SARHAN, CEO, 50 PARK INVESTMENTS, NEW YORK "The deal marks a turning point for both Microsoft and OpenAI, as the restructuring into a public benefit corporation provides OpenAI with a more stable governance structure and greater flexibility for long-term growth. Microsoft's 27% stake —valued at around $135 billion — also reinforces its strategic commitment to AI leadership." "While this move clears most of the major regulatory and governance hurdles that surfaced earlier this year, it does not mean all challenges are behind them. OpenAI still faces ongoing scrutiny around transparency, data usage, and safety oversight. But overall, this structure should provide a clearer path forward for innovation and accountability." GIL LURIA, HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, DA DAVIDSON, PORTLAND, OREGON "The restructuring of OpenAI and its deal with Microsoft is an important milestone for the company's move forward towards AGI. It resolves the longstanding issue of OpenAI being organized as a not-for-profit (organization) and settles the ownership rights of the technology vis-a-vis Microsoft. The new structure should provide more clarity on OpenAI's investments path, thus facilitating further fundraising." ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, NEW YORK "It certainly seems to be the in-vogue thing to do. Over the course of the last several weeks, everyone's come out and said what they are going to do with OpenAI. And I think that tends to become very self-fulfilling. So when the news gets dropped, you know, whether it's Adobe or today with Microsoft, you have got the potential to become an even more important player in the AI revolution." (Reporting by Akash Sriram, Arnav Mishra, Jaspreet Singh, Harshita Mary Varghese, Avinash P, Deborah Sophia, Arpan Daniel Varghese and Kanchana Chakravarthy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

RIYADH (Reuters) -Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia said on Tuesday that he is not concerned about an "AI bubble," adding that there is real value in artificial intelligence as demand far outpaces supply. He was speaking at a panel the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh. (Reporting by Federico Maccioni and Yousef Saba, Writing by Nayera Abdallah, Editing by Michael Georgy)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)