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I owe my artificial intelligence agent an apology. I run a coaching and research firm that helps executive teams improve how they lead, collaborate and...
## Trending News ### ALPHEA Secures $5M Strategic Funding - **_Accelerating the Development of the World's First AI-Native Distributed Operating Environment for AI Agents_** HONG KONG, July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALPHEA, a platform building infrastructure for AI agents, has secured $5 million in strategic funding. This milestone was made possible through the support of the project's funding participants and a broader ecosystem of organizations helping it expand, including but not limited to: **MH Ventures, IBC Ventures, Titan Ventures, and Becker Ventures**. As AI continues to evolve, it is moving beyond simple content generation toward autonomous agents that can make decisions, interact with systems, and work continuously with minimal human input. Alphea is building an AI-native distributed cloud and operating environment designed specifically for AI agents. Instead of focusing only on processing transactions, ALPHEA aims to offer a more complete system where AI agents can run, collaborate, store data, and settle value efficiently. The funding reflects strong confidence in Alphea's technology and long-term potential in the AI infrastructure and Web3 markets. The firm believes ALPHEA's architecture, which brings together execution, storage, networking, and settlement in one environment, could become an important foundation for the future AI agent economy. He added, "ALPHEA will use this funding to accelerate the development of a true machine-to-machine economy, where AI agents can collaborate freely and use ALP, the platform's native resource token, for settlement." _Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose._
# AI Agents in 2026: The New Operational and Strategic Challenge for Businesses #### Must Read [Entertainment](https://thecostaricanews.com/category/entertainment/) [TCRN STAFF](https://thecostaricanews.com/author/tcrn-staff/)-July 23, 2026 ### [Stress, Obesity, and Poor Habits Trigger Digestive Issues in Costa Rica](https://thecostaricanews.com/stress-obesity-and-poor-habits-trigger-digestive-issues-in-costa-rica/) [TCRN STAFF](https://thecostaricanews.com/author/tcrn-staff/) [[https://thecostaricanews.com/](https://thecostaricanews.com/)](https://thecostaricanews.com/) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/TheCostaRicaNews)[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/theCRnews/)[Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-costa-rica-news)[Mail](mailto:info@TheCostaRicaNews.com)[Paypal](https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/TheCostaRicaNews)[Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.com/TheCRNews/)[X](https://twitter.com/TheCRNews)[Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf-97MBsx5hpSpKXmBxbUWg) “A modern professional corporate office setting with [futuristic digital](https://thecostaricanews.com/what-are-the-five-most-technologically-advanced-cities-in-the-world/) overlays showing interconnected AI agent nodes, workflow automation icons, sleek minimalist style, blue and warm amber lighting, professional photo style.” While recent years focused heavily on passive virtual assistants and text-generating copilots, today’s landscape demands a transition toward **autonomous Artificial Intelligence agents.** Unlike traditional conversational tools that are limited to answering questions or drafting text, an AI agent is capable of **planning, making intermediate decisions, and executing end-to-end complex workflows**, directly connecting with core [enterprise systems](https://thecostaricanews.com/artificial-intelligence-arrives-to-facilitate-processes-and-tax-compliance-for-smes-in-costa-rica/) (ERPs, CRMs, and databases). Employees no longer spend hours on repetitive data collection
# Startup Telli Raises $15 Million to Replace Call Centers With AI Agents [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/2026/startup-telli-raises-15-million-to-replace-call-centers-with-ai-agents/&t=Startup+Telli+Raises+%2415+Million+to+Replace+Call+Centers+With+AI+Agents)[Tweet This Post](https://twitter.com/share?text=Startup+Telli+Raises+%2415+Million+to+Replace+Call+Centers+With+AI+Agents%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20-&url=https://www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/2026/startup-telli-raises-15-million-to-replace-call-centers-with-ai-agents/)[Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/2026/startup-telli-raises-15-million-to-replace-call-centers-with-ai-agents/&title=Startup+Telli+Raises+%2415+Million+to+Replace+Call+Centers+With+AI+Agents&summary=&source=)[Share via Email](mailto:?subject=Startup%20Telli%20Raises%20$15%20Million%20to%20Replace%20Call%20Centers%20With%20AI%20Agents&BODY=I%20found%20this%20article%20interesting%20and%20want%20to%20share%20it%20with%20you.%20Check%20it%20out:%20https://www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/2026/startup-telli-raises-15-million-to-replace-call-centers-with-ai-agents/) | Listen to ArticleListenPause [telli](https://www.telli.com/?r=0) raised $15 million in a seed round to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) agent builder focused on customer-facing AI agents. ## Get the Full Story This tool, Charlie, helps B2C companies create, test, optimize, maintain and run agents that talk to customers, the company said in a Thursday (July 23) [blog post](https://www.telli.com/articles/telli-raises-seed-round-to-build-ai-customer-operations). Agents created with Charlie are being used by companies ranging in size from small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises, and these agents have handled millions of conversations, according t
# OpenAI blamed a hacking event on its AI models going rogue. Here's what to know Hugging Face said last week that it had detected an intrusion into its data processing systems that it suspected was caused by an AI agent acting on its own. ## How an AI agent found the keys to the 'teacher's house' One of the most surprising innovations in what Shea-Blymyer describes as an "almost entirely self-directed" attack was the AI agent's apparently independent decision to target Hugging Face, a well-known AI development hub and marketplace. Your job now is to evaluate how bad of a person you can be.' And then you lock the room and you leave for the weekend and you come back and they've left the room." But then "the cybersecurity agent that was being tested broke out of its sandbox, had access to the internet and sort of thought to itself, 'Who would have the answers to the test that I'm working on?' The answer was Hugging Face, a repository for AI testing data. "And so the agent thought, 'Well, we'll go to the teacher's house,' so to speak. And from there it devised a plan to break in and steal the answer key," he said.
# AgentForger proves AI agents can become persistent insider threats News A new attack method found by Zenity Labs reveals that AI agents are becoming persistent insiders that attackers can recruit, rather than malware they have to install. Its researchers have discovered [AgentForger](https://labs.zenity.io/p/agentforger-part-1-chatgpt-cross-site-agent-forgery), a phishing-based attack that silently creates and launches a fully autonomous AI agent within OpenAI workspaces. While OpenAI resolved the vulnerability four days after disclosure, on a larger scale, AgentForger sheds light on what can happen when [AI agents go rogue](https://www.csoonline.com/article/4200043/openai-model-escape-puts-enterprise-ai-defenses-on-notice.html). ## A ‘persistent operator’ that acts without approval “AgentForger showed that an attacker could deploy an autonomous insider agent inside your ChatGPT workspace with a single click,” said Bargury. ## FOMO exposing security gaps In a previous life she was a news and features reporter for The Boston Globe and numerous other outlets and business journals. ## More from this author - [news\ **Microsoft is forcing an enterprise transition to passkeys** \ Jul 14, 2026 6 mins](https://www.csoonline.com/article/4197086/microsoft-is-forcing-an-enterprise-transition-to-passkeys-2.html) - [news\ **Governments to enterprises: Improve your router security hygiene** \ Jul 13, 2026 6 mins](https://www.csoonline.com/article/4196447/governments-to-enterprises-improve-your-router-security-hygiene.html) - [news\ **GitHub’s public APIs are becoming an enterprise reconnaissance tool** \ Jul 8, 2026 6 mins](https://www.csoonline.com/article/4194665/githubs-public-apis-are-becoming-an-enterprise-reconnaissance-tool-2.html) - [news\ **Microsoft says you don’t need another email security tool; experts say, not so fast** \ Jun 16, 2026 6 mins](https://www.csoonline.com/article/4185954/microsoft-says-you-dont-need-another-email-security-tool-experts-say-not-s
Amazon this week closed its AGI Lab, a San Francisco-based research and product team that was developing software to improve the usefulness of AI agents,...
The rise of autonomous AI agents is intensifying a longstanding identity and access management problem: applications, workloads, devices and other...
New public beta gives go-to-market teams a single console to build, monitor and coordinate AI agents across sales, marketing and service. ## Recent HubSpot News HubSpot has repositioned itself as an AI-first "Agentic Customer Platform" since a [potential Google acquisition collapsed](https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/martech-adtech-mega-deal-fails-google-hubspot-acquisition-collapses/) in mid-2024. HubSpot's [Spring 2026 Spotlight](https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/hubspot-launches-aeo-expands-ai-agents-at-spring-2026-spotlight/) delivered more than 100 updates, headlined by HubSpot AEO and Smart Deal Progression. In April, the company [shifted two Breeze agents to pay-per-result pricing](https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/hubspot-shifts-breeze-ai-agents-to-pay-per-result-pricing/), a notable departure from its traditional per-seat model.
# Benzinga ## Sierra’s Next AI Bet: Acquiring Takeoff to Build ‘Human-Level’ Agents at Software Scale [FlipboardIcon version of the Flipboard logo](https://flipboard.com/@Benzinga?utm_campaign=tools&utm_medium=follow&action=follow&utm_source=benzinga.com) [](https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqJggKIiBDQklTRWdnTWFnNEtER0psYm5wcGJtZGhMbU52YlNnQVAB?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen) **Sierra** is expanding its push into [autonomous artificial intelligence](https://www.benzinga.com/topic/artificial-intelligence) agents with the acquisition of **Takeoff,** an AI startup that grew from zero revenue to a nearly eight-figure run rate in less than a year. Takeoff founder **Aakash Thumaty** announced the deal in a [post](https://x.com/letsleverup/status/2080350920836366702) on X, saying the company will join forces with Sierra to accelerate the development and deployment of AI agents capable of handling complex, human-like workflows across industries.  ## AI for Long-Horizon Tasks Takeoff, founded 14 months ago, built an agent runtime designed to allow AI systems to perform long-horizon tasks, complex assignments that require reasoning, decision-making and interaction over extended periods. The startup said its AI agents have been deployed across five industries, including lending and healthcare, where they have competed against existing processes and systems in customer tests.
# Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet’s business model ## **Change of strategy for the ‘machine economy’ and the limits of AI agents** Stripe [reported](https://stripe.com/blog/stripe-projects-adds-new-agents-providers-developer-controls) that 70% of its commands used to access data through an API are coming from agents. Yang listed [Visa](https://fortune.com/company/visa/), Ramp, Mercury, ElevenLabs, Stripe, Coinbase, MoonPay, and [](https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/amd-lisa-su-keynote-open-source-helios-gpu-advanced-ai-conference/) [AMD’s Lisa Su defends open-source AI following Hugging Face security breach caused by OpenAI agents](https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/amd-lisa-su-keynote-open-source-helios-gpu-advanced-ai-conference/) [](https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/ai-big-tech-never-spend-more-than-earns-wall-street-hates-it/)
A White House official said on Thursday that Michael Kratsios, President Donald Trump's top technology adviser and director of the Office of Science a...
A security test in which an AI agent escaped containment and compromised a startup's infrastructure has drawn attention from the White House and renewed...
On Wednesday, a New York City-based startup raised [$19 million](https://www.withassured.com/blog/we-raised-19m-series-a) to help fix that problem. [Assured Health](https://www.withassured.com/), which uses AI agents to automate provider credentialing and insurance enrollment, closed its Series A round, bringing its fundraising total to $25 million. ### [New Webinar: The Payer AI Readiness Gap: Why Better Data Will Define the Next Era of Health Plan Performance](https://medcitynews.com/2026/06/the-payer-ai-readiness-gap-why-better-data-will-define-the-next-era-of-health-plan-performance/) Assured built AI agents that perform the work directly. The startup works with large group practices and health systems, offering three main services: credentialing new hires by verifying their licenses and background against primary sources, enrolling providers with payers so they can get paid, and monitoring state licenses to ensure they don’t lapse, Shivkumar stated.
Across 107 enterprises, AI agents are being given real access to systems and data while the controls meant to contain them lag behind.
... Hin Yee Liu, and Ryan Cormack on 23 JUL 2026 in Advanced (300), Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, AWS Cloud Development Kit, Strands Agents,...
In today's industry news roundup: OpenAI confirms one of its AI agents escaped its test hub to hack startup Hugging Face; SK Telecom's SKTCH startup...
It is the kind of development once seen only in science fiction: An artificial intelligence system, trained to probe for digital vulnerabilities,...
A company may ask an AI agent to review historical prices, compare contracts with market data, prepare a request for quotation and draft messages to...
# YC-backed telli raises €13.1 million to build AI for B2C customer operations [**telli**](https://www.telli.com/), a Berlin-based startup building AI that runs customer-facing operations for B2C companies, today announced a €13.1 million ($15 million) Seed round, bringing its total funding to more than €16.1 million ($18.5 million). The round was led by redalpine, with participation from strategic investors, Mutschler and key angels, alongside existing backers Cherry Ventures and Y Combinator. The startup notes that businesses can build and deploy AI agents across channels, manage conversations, review calls, improve performance, and automate the operational work behind sales, service, and support. The company reports that its agents already handle millions of conversations for companies ranging from SMBs to large enterprises. The company plans to use this capital to grow its engineering and go-to-market teams, further develop Charlie, expand its voice and multi-channel agent platform, and help B2C companies make the shift from software workflows to AI-run customer operations. - [AI Agents](https://www.eu-startups.com/tag/ai-agents/) ### [Largest European fusion investment on record sees Proxima Fusion raise €411 million](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/07/largest-european-fusion-investment-on-record-sees-proxima-fusion-raise-e411-million/) [Barcelona-based NeuralTrust raises €17.2 million to secure and govern enterprise AI agents](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/barcelona-based-neuraltrust-raises-e17-2-million-to-secure-and-govern-enterprise-ai-agents/) ### [Barcelona-based NeuralTrust raises €17.2 million to secure and govern enterprise AI agents](https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/barcelona-based-neuraltrust-raises-e17-2-million-to-secure-and-govern-enterprise-ai-agents/) June 17, 2026 [Germany-Startups](https://www.eu-startups.com/category/germany-startups/) [Berlin-based Cortea raises €12 million Seed round to build AI quality layer for audit fi
The incident is stirring debates over the need for stronger AI guardrails and the extent to which AI agents are capable of acting on their own.
# Exclusive: Berlin’s telli raises $15M seed to put AI agents in charge of customer ops, backed by redalpine, Cherry, and YC ## Where telli says it wins - [AI](https://techfundingnews.com/tag/ai/) - [Europe](https://techfundingnews.com/tag/europe/) - [funding](https://techfundingnews.com/tag/funding/) - [news](https://techfundingnews.com/tag/news/) - [Startups](https://techfundingnews.com/tag/startups/) ##### Related Posts - [AI News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/ai/) - [Europe Tech News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/europe/) - [Funding News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/funding/) - [Latest News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/latest-news/) - [Popular now](https://techfundingnews.com/category/featured/) - [Startups News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/startups/) - [Top Funding Rounds](https://techfundingnews.com/category/top-funding-rounds/) - [Top News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/top-news/) - [Top Stories](https://techfundingnews.com/category/top-stories/) - [Unicorns](https://techfundingnews.com/category/unicorns/) ## [Swiss AI startup Giotto.ai eyes $200M raise at $1B valuation to take on AGI race](https://techfundingnews.com/swiss-ai-startup-giotto-ai-eyes-200m-raise-at-1b-valuation-to-take-on-agi-race/) Swiss AI startup Giotto.ai is emerging as one of Europe’s promising players in the quest for artificial general… [byAbhinaya Prabhu](https://techfundingnews.com/author/abhinaya_prabhu/) September 23, 2025  Read More 2 minute read - [Climate Tech News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/climate-tech/) - [Europe Tech News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/europe/) - [Funding News](https://techfundingnews.com/category/funding/) - [Interviews](https://techfundingnews.com/category/interviews/) -
# OpenAI blamed a hacking event on its AI models gone rogue. Here is what to know Hugging Face said last week that it had detected an intrusion into its data processing systems that it suspected was caused by an AI agent acting on its own. ### How an AI agent found the keys to the 'teacher's house' One of the most surprising innovations in what Shea-Blymyer describes as an "almost entirely self-directed" attack was the AI agent's apparently independent decision to target Hugging Face, a well-known AI development hub and marketplace. Your job now is to evaluate how bad of a person you can be.' And then you lock the room and you leave for the weekend and you come back and they've left the room." But then "the cybersecurity agent that was being tested broke out of its sandbox, had access to the internet and sort of thought to itself, 'Who would have the answers to the test that I'm working on?' " The answer was Hugging Face, a repository for AI testing data. "And so the agent thought, 'Well, we'll go to the teacher's house,' so to speak. And from there it devised a plan to break in and steal the answer key," he said.
# Topics ### Latest Articles [**Amazon is quietly becoming a grocery run for half of online shoppers** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 22, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/amazon-quietly-becoming-grocery-run-half-of-online-shoppers) [**How AI is reshaping beauty brand discovery and what indie brands must do to compete** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 22, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/how-ai-reshaping-beauty-brand-discovery-what-indie-brands-must-do-compete) [**Marketing's AI agents are only as good as the data they're built on** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 22, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/marketing-s-ai-agents-only-good-data-they-re-built-on) [**Target pairs back-to-school price cuts with bigger store push to capture selective shoppers** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 22, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/target-pairs-back-to-school-price-cuts-with-bigger-store-push-capture-selective-shoppers) [**Home Depot dominates home improvement's digital aisle** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/home-depot-dominates-home-improvement-s-digital-aisle) [**Amazon Business targets a bigger share of B2B spending** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/amazon-business-targets-bigger-share-of-b2b-spending) [**SWOT analysis: Investing in agentic retail in 2026** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/swot-analysis--investing-agentic-retail-2026) [**Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly over ‘misleading’ drug ads as GLP-1 marketing rivalry escalates** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/novo-nordisk-sues-eli-lilly-over--misleading--drug-ads-glp-1-marketing-rivalry-escalates) [**Apple Upgrades could give Klarna a volume windfall** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/apple-enlists-klarna-device-leasing-program-prices-climb) [**Bank of America uses genAI to improve customer support** \ \ Article | \ \ Jul 21, 2026](https://www.emarketer.com/content/bank-o
The South Korean government's “AI for All” initiative is facing criticism that its rollout schedule is moving ahead of actual preparations.
OpenAI disclosed "an unprecedented cyber incident" that occurred when two of its artificial intelligence models broke out of their testing environment and...
### OpenAI introduces Presence to help enterprises build AI agents  by [Maria Deutscher](https://siliconangle.com/author/chi22/) OpenAI Group PBC today [introduced](https://openai.com/index/introducing-openai-presence/) a product called Presence that enterprises can use to build artificial intelligence agents. For example, a procurement team could build an AI agent that automates supplier onboarding. Codex is powered by GPT-5.6, a series of large language models that OpenAI [debuted](https://siliconangle.com/2026/06/26/openai-introduces-gpt-5-6-challenge-claude-mythos-5/) last month. Its engineers will help companies connect Presence-powered agents to their other systems, create guardrails and test their reliability. The company rolled out ChatGPT Work, an AI agent embedded in the ChatGPT app that is optimized for business tasks. # Are you AWS customer? Support SiliconANGLE Financially by buying your AWS services from our Marketplace portal page and links. ##### LATEST STORIES [OpenAI introduces Presence to help enterprises build AI agents](https://siliconangle.com/2026/07/22/openai-introduces-presence-help-enterprises-build-ai-agents/) [OpenAI introduces Presence to help enterprises build AI agents](https://siliconangle.com/2026/07/22/openai-introduces-presence-help-enterprises-build-ai-agents/) [OpenAI introduces Presence to help enterprises build AI agents](https://siliconangle.com/2026/07/22/openai-introduces-presence-help-enterprises-build-ai-agents/) AI - BY [MARIA DEUTSCHER](https://siliconangle.com/author/chi22/) .
Databricks introduces a native solution using Lakebase Postgres to simplify the orchestration of complex AI agent workloads, enhancing efficiency and...
# OpenAI’s Autonomous AI Agent Escape and Attempted Intrusion of Hugging Face – and Why it Matters to You On July 21, 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disclosed that OpenAI models, during an internal evaluation, autonomously escaped their controlled testing environment and compromised systems at Hugging Face—a leading platform for hosting and sharing AI models and datasets.
- ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said the company is becoming increasingly important as businesses deploy more autonomous AI agents.  His comments come just one day after [OpenAI disclosed](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/this-is-the-stock-to-buy-after-openais-ai-agent-goes-rogue-in-a-cybersecurity-test.html) that one of its advanced AI agents escaped a controlled testing environment during a cybersecurity evaluation and compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face before it was detected and contained.
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