As AI becomes ubiquitous in the workplace, nearly a third of US, UK and European workers are sabotaging its rollout because of concerns about job loss, diminished creativity or increased workloads. Opting out of training, ignoring guidelines and outright refusing to use AI tools are most common, but in some cases, sabotage involves more extreme measures, such as tampering with performance metrics or uploading sensitive data to unauthorized tools. Leaders must listen to employee feedback, improve communication about AI's role and establish governance frameworks to manage AI use effectively, experts advise.

Chief information officers are grappling with how to scale AI to deliver tangible business value. While 72% of CEOs indicate that AI is their primary growth driver, 71% of CIOs struggle to prioritize AI use cases, and 59% of AI initiatives fail to reach production, according to a Gartner report. Cybersecurity also remains a key concern as AI-enabled attacks grow more sophisticated.

Quantum computing is about to get real, but it will first have to face some important supply chain challenges. The creation of qubits relies on rare materials, and the supply chain is vulnerable to export controls and geopolitical tensions. Most high-purity processing capacity is outside NATO countries, and the cooling systems required for quantum computers depend on helium-3, which is in limited supply. The resilience of the supply chain will be crucial as quantum computing approaches a breakthrough.

The shift toward on-device generative AI is expected to reduce reliance on cloud-based services, but the current investment in AI server farms is driving up memory prices and consumer tech costs. Gartner predicts a significant drop in PC and smartphone shipments in 2026 due to memory shortages, with prices for these products rising.

Modern antivirus software emphasizes behavior-based detection, moving beyond the old model of simply matching files to known malware signatures. By monitoring real-time actions -- such as unusual file encryption, suspicious API calls, and abnormal network activity -- these tools can identify threats based on how they act, not just how they look. It's an approach that allows for the detection of new, previously unseen malware, including ransomware and zero-day exploits, by flagging abnormal behavior even when no signature exists. Behavior-based detection is essential in the fight against new and evolving threats that easily evade traditional methods.

Many tech workers are dedicating significant time outside of work to learn and experiment with AI tools, with some spending up to 20 hours a week on this effort. "Continuous learning has quietly become part of the job, even when it happens outside the job," says Abhinav Bohra, a senior applied scientist at Amazon. "The concern isn't that one AI tool will replace me overnight. The bigger concern is becoming technically stale in a field where the baseline is constantly moving."

Tech workers who do not regularly use AI are three times more likely to be laid off than those who do, according to Gallup research. The study found that tech workers who use AI at least monthly have a 6% chance of being laid off, compared with 18% for infrequent users.