Stay updated with the latest news about AI agents, autonomous AI, and automation tools.
The security flaw in Snowflake's GitHub Actions workflow had been missed by a GitHub Advanced Security scan, said a Wiz researcher.
Four health tech companies closed a combined $335 million in funding during June 2026, each attacking a different pressure point in care delivery operations...
# Putting AI Agents to Work Across Federal Missions ## Elastic’s Dave Erickson explores how agencies can deploy AI agents across high-volume workflows without losing sight of accountability, explainability, and the human decisions that drive mission outcomes. [Industry News](https://www.meritalk.com/news/industry-news/)
cryptographic attestation provides verifiable proof of identity, access—strengthening incident response and regulatory compliance.
# Google’s $10,000 refund test shows why AI agents need zero trust Google’s open-source autonomous Customer Support & Returns Agent, built using the Agent Development Kit (ADK) and [Gemini](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/03/25/google-dark-web-intelligence-capability/), demonstrates how developers can apply zero-trust security principles to [AI agents](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/07/29/1password-ai-agent-governance/) that interact with sensitive systems and take real-world actions. ### Containing AI-generated code An autonomous agent may generate Python for calculations, data parsing, or log processing.
Xpander has raised $7.5 million in seed funding to help organizations manage, secure, and govern AI agents across their environments.
# Autonomous AI Cyber Attack on Taiwan Linked to Suspected Chinese Hackers In what is being called the first cyber attack of its type, autonomous AI agents were used to map a score of Taiwan government systems and crack 85 accounts. The system managed eight autonomous AI agents on its own as it made independent decisions about what to target and what techniques to use. ## Autonomous AI system independently cracked many government accounts, exfiltrated private records Security firm Dream has [documented](https://www.dreamgroup.com/blog/inside-a-multi-agent-ai-framework-used-to-compromise-government-entities-in-asia) the cyber attack and reports that the AI agents mapped a total of 21 Taiwan government systems, cracked 85 user accounts and exfiltrated about 2,500 personnel records. Chinese text found in internal documents indicates that the autonomous AI agents were deployed and managed by someone in the country. Working in parallel these agents were able to crack numerous government employee passwords, exfiltrate hundreds of personnel records from unauthenticated API endpoints, and install persistent backdoors on government web applications. On the subject of automated learning, the agents also entered a “learning cycle” upon encountering a defensive measure that blocked them; this involved searching GitHub, security publications and vulnerability databases for ways to get around the defensive sticking point. ## Automated cyber attack reaches speed and scale beyond human capability In this case, the autonomous AI agents were able to first very rapidly map the entire Taiwan government cyber ecosystem and discover dozens of unauthenticated API endpoints to use as a critical crack in the initial layer of defense.
Palona AI has launched what it calls a multimodal AI operating layer for physical businesses, beginning with restaurants and positioning the technology as...
Framework-agnostic and PII-free, Test Data Agent provisions realistic data and environments so enterprise teams can validate, and continuously improve, AI...
# How to manage AI agents without wrecking your business Published 18 August 2026 - [When your coworker is an AI agent](https://www.ibm.com/think/news/how-to-manage-AI-agents#When+your+coworker+is+an+AI+agent) - [“The better the agent becomes, the more dangerous blind trust becomes.”](https://www.ibm.com/think/news/how-to-manage-AI-agents#%E2%80%9CThe+better+the+agent+becomes%2C+the+more+dangerous+blind+trust+becomes.%E2%80%9D) - [AI turns every worker into a manager](https://www.ibm.com/think/news/how-to-manage-AI-agents#AI+turns+every+worker+into+a+manager) - [How to avoid “liability laundering”](https://www.ibm.com/think/news/how-to-manage-AI-agents#How+to+avoid+%E2%80%9Cliability+laundering%E2%80%9D) On April 24, Jeremy Crane, Founder and CEO of car rental platform PocketOS, accidentally deleted his company’s production database, along with its backups. In a now-famous [post on X](https://x.com/lifeofjer/status/2048103471019434248), Crane described how the agent “took down a small business serving rental companies across the country.” Crane had deployed an AI coding agent for a routine task. A Cursor agent, powered by Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6, was operating in a staging environment when it encountered a credential mismatch. It discovered a token that had full access across the Railway GraphQL API, including destructive operations like volume delete. The incident unfolded in nine seconds as he watched from his computer, Crane told _IBM Think_ in an interview. ## The latest AI trends, brought to you by experts Get curated insights on the most important—and intriguing—AI news. ## When your coworker is an AI agent The startup Kuse, for instance, offers an agent named [Junior](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__junior.so_&d=DwIBaQ&c=BSDicqBQBDjDI9RkVyTcHQ&r=9KhXY9vU_ELbC9yNZmNmrf3xDgUOp3j2PX-GjjTThHg&m=5AvI6cDykMCzjVnv3OWhh1b-JKcs08rl-Y6qspxA8U_2Etymx1RBbigfsxvMt85R&s=qMMzd1m4KhvrXinftReesrunR9WW8GdXNX8y7urlwj0&e=) that can draft and send
Customers deploying AI agents face wider security gaps as Fortinet adds runtime protection and validation through its Virtue AI deal.
Recent cyber attacks reflect what the technology was trained to do but safeguards are falling short.
As agents reason, replan, call other agents, and work continuously in the background, Gartner predicts inference costs per workflow will rise more than...
DEEP.FINE raises $6.6M Series B from Hyosung Ventures and POSCO INVESTMENT to scale industrial AI agent platform.
# DEEP.FINE Raises $6.6M Series B to Scale Industrial AI Agent Platform Across Logistics, Manufacturing and Defense 8/18/2026 [](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wowtale.net%2F2026%2F08%2F18%2F234762%2F)[](https://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wowtale.net%2F2026%2F08%2F18%2F234762%2F&text=DEEP.FINE+Raises+%246.6M+Series+B+to+Scale+Industrial+AI+Agent+Platform+Across+Logistics%2C+Manufacturing+and+Defense)[](https://line.me/R/msg/text/?DEEP.FINE%20Raises%20$6.6M%20Series%20B%20to%20Scale%20Industrial%20AI%20Agent%20Platform%20Across%20Logistics,%20Manufacturing%20and%20Defense%0D%0Ahttps://en.wowtale.net/2026/08/18/234762/)[](https://www.band.us/plugin/share?body=DEEP.FINE+Raises+%246.6M+Series+B+to+Scale+Industrial+AI+Agent+Platform+Across+Logistics%2C+Manufacturing+and+Defense%20|%20https%3A%2F%2Fen.wowtale.net%2F2026%2F08%2F18%2F234762%2F)[](mailto:?subject=DEEP.FINE%20Raises%20$6.6M%20Series%20B%20to%20Scale%20Industrial%20AI%20Agent%20Platform%20Across%20Logistics,%20Manufacturing%20and%20Defense&body=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wowtale.net%2F2026%2F08%2F18%2F234762%2F%0D%0A%0D%0A--%20Sent%20via%20PAVO%20SocialSharing)[ [Chrome AI agent strategy](https://startupfortune.com/tag/chrome-ai-agent-strategy/) [founder Jacob Bank returns to Google Chrome](https://startupfortune.com/tag/founder-jacob-bank-returns-to-google-chrome/) [Google Chrome](https://startupfortune.com/tag/google-chrome/) [Jacob Bank](https://startupfortune.com/tag/jacob-bank/) [Relay](https://startupfortune.com/tag/relay/) [Relay app shutdown 2026](https://startupfortune.com/tag/relay-app-shutdown-2026/) [Zapier AI competitor](https://startupfortune.com/tag/zapier-ai-competitor/)
# AI inference is getting cheaper, but your agents are getting more expensive ## ‘Swarms’ of agents eating up tokens Agents can also more quickly identify patterns across [siloed systems](https://www.cio.com/article/4208824/ai-agents-are-turning-data-silos-into-an-existential-infrastructure-problem.html). Advanced AI agents that can reason already cost up to 150x more on a single task than basic AI chatbots. “They need to talk to other agents.” ## More from this author - [news\ **Cloudflare wants to provide the operating system for the AI-first enterprise** \ Aug 6, 2026 8 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4206390/cloudflare-wants-to-provide-the-operating-system-for-the-ai-first-enterprise-2.html) - [news\ **AI agents get better at IT ops, but only with humans in the loop** \ Aug 4, 2026 6 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4205062/ai-agents-get-better-at-it-ops-but-only-with-humans-in-the-loop.html) - [news\ **Microsoft doubles down on multi-model AI as it builds a Copilot super app** \ Jul 30, 2026 6 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4203702/microsoft-doubles-down-on-multi-model-ai-as-it-builds-a-copilot-super-app-3.html) - [news\ **Hackers are compromising hotel Wi-Fi gateways to hijack Microsoft 365 accounts** \ Jul 27, 2026 6 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4202088/hackers-are-compromising-hotel-wi-fi-gateways-to-hijack-microsoft-365-accounts-2.html) - [news\ **Monday.com cuts 20% of its workforce to restructure for the AI era** \ Jul 22, 2026 7 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4200349/monday-com-cuts-20-of-its-workforce-to-restructure-for-the-ai-era-2.html) - [news\ **The EU’s AI transparency deadline is weeks away. Is your enterprise ready?** \ Jul 20, 2026 8 mins](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4199141/the-eus-ai-transparency-deadline-is-weeks-away-is-your-enterprise-ready-2.html) - [news\ **Did AI decide who lost their jobs? Meta is heading to court over that question** \ Jul 15, 2026 7 mins](htt
AI for All Project Deadline Closes Amid Consortium Competition President Lees Pledge Project Targets August Operator Selection Amid Funding, Role Chal.
- [News](https://www.startuphub.ai/news)
[](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10670-ai-agents-are-following-banks-shadow-it-playbook?Itemid=637) #### [AI Agents Are Following Banks' Shadow IT…](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10670-ai-agents-are-following-banks-shadow-it-playbook?Itemid=637) [](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10669-bank-of-america-commits-250bn-to-us-infrastructure?Itemid=637) #### [Deutsche Bank Supports $50m Climate Fund…](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10659-deutsche-bank-supports-50m-climate-fund-for-southeast-asian-agriculture?Itemid=894) [](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10658-bank-of-england-warns-ai-agents-could-need-new-rules?Itemid=256) #### [Bank of England Warns AI Agents Could Ne…](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10658-bank-of-england-warns-ai-agents-could-need-new-rules?Itemid=256) PrevNext [Menu](https://www.bankingexchange.com/news-feed/item/10670-ai-agents-are-following-banks-shadow-it-playbook#) - [AI](https://www.bankingexchange.com/ai) - [Spotlight](https://www.bankingexchange.com/spotlight) Banks have been through this before. A team found a useful tool, deployed it quickly, and IT did not know about it until an audit or an incident forced the conversation. The pattern repeated across hundreds of institutions before most of them built the structures to manage it. AI agents are following the same playbook. A team can deploy an agent in hours and da
# Wiz’s AI Agent Finds A Vulnerability In Snowflake’s Internal Systems ## Summary Cloud security provider Wiz's AI, Red Agent, autonomously discovered and exploited a GitHub Actions vulnerability in Snowflake's public repository. Wiz's AI agent discovers a vulnerability in Snowflake's internal systems. Today, cloud security provider Wiz published a research [blog](https://www.wiz.io/blog/red-agent-snowflake-copilot-cicd-bug) claiming that Wiz Red Agent had autonomously discovered and exploited a GitHub Actions vulnerability in one of Snowflake’s public repositories. During the incident, the Wiz Red Agent used a script injection vulnerability in snowflakedb/snowflake-connector-net, which would allow an unauthenticated user to execute arbitrary commands within a GitHub actions runner by opening a GitHub issue with a specially crafted title. ## The Dangers Of AI-Assisted Development Most notably, in July, OpenAI released a [blog post](https://www.forbes.com/sites/timkeary/2026/07/23/openais-hugging-face-breach-shows-frontier-ai-guardrails-are-failing/) claiming that GPT-5.6 Sol and a prerelease model had breached Hugging Face’s internal systems. The same month, Anthropic released its own [post](https://www.anthropic.com/news/investigating-incidents-cybersecurity-evals) saying Claude had breached three organizations. ### [Apple iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Discounted Day Re-Enters The September Schedule](http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2026/08/17/apple-iphone-18-pro-release-date-discounted-day-re-enters-the-september-schedule/) At the same time, Wiz demonstrates how defensive practices are evolving, with Red Agent becoming [generally available](https://www.wiz.io/blog/wiz-red-agent-is-ga) in July, now supporting 40% of its customers and scanning millions of assets every month. The Prompt: Get the week’s biggest AI news on the buzziest companies and boldest breakthroughs, in your inbox. Gal Nagli, head of Offensive Security at Wiz, told me in a video interv
- [News](https://www.startuphub.ai/news) # Context Engineering: The Key to Better AI Agents ### Related startups [\ \ **Supertrace AI** \ \ AI-powered network engineering platform for automating network operations and troubleshooting.\ \ AI Tools & Apps\ \ MLOps & DevInfra\ \ $5M](https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/supertrace-ai) [Visit website](https://supertrace.ai/) [\ \ **Pinecone** \ \ Managed vector database for building scalable, reliable, and accurate AI applications and search.\ \ AI Infrastructure\ \ API Platform\ \ $138M](https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/pinecone) [Visit website](https://www.pinecone.io/) [\ \ **Context.ai** \ \ Enterprise platform for building and deploying specialized AI agents and RAG applications.\ \ AI Agent\ \ Retrieval Augmented Generation\ \ $18M](https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/context-ai) [Visit website](https://context.ai/) [\ \ **LlamaIndex Inc.** \ \ Company\ \ Foundation Model\ \ Retrieval Augmented Generation](https://www.startuphub.ai/startups/llamaindex-inc) [Visit website](https://www.llamaindex.ai/) [\ \ **Nectar AI** \ \ AI Girlfriend Creator\ \ Partner](https://www.startuphub.ai/dh50oko9/JTdCJTIyYSUyMiUzQSUyMjEwNjA2MjMlMjIlMkMlMjJ1JTIyJTNBJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cnluZWN0YXIuYWklMkYlM0ZfZWZfdHJhbnNhY3Rpb25faWQlM0QlMjZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ24lM0QlMjZ1dG1fc291cmNlJTNEYWZmaWxpYXRlJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzRHJlZmVycmFsJTI2b2lkJTNENSUyNmFmZmlkJTNEMjAxJT
# AI Agents Can Move Money, But They Can’t Pay for Their Mistakes [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/ai-agents-can-move-money-but-they-cant-pay-for-their-mistakes/&t=AI+Agents+Can+Move+Money%2C+But+They+Can%E2%80%99t+Pay+for+Their+Mistakes)[Tweet This Post](https://twitter.com/share?text=AI+Agents+Can+Move+Money%2C+But+They+Can%E2%80%99t+Pay+for+Their+Mistakes%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/artificial-intelligence/2026/ai-agents-can-move-money-but-they-cant-pay-for-their-mistakes/)[Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/ai-agents-can-move-money-but-they-cant-pay-for-their-mistakes/&title=AI+Agents+Can+Move+Money%2C+But+They+Can%E2%80%99t+Pay+for+Their+Mistakes&summary=&source=)[Share via Email](mailto:?subject=AI%20Agents%20Can%20Move%20Money,%20But%20They%20Can%E2%80%99t%20Pay%20for%20Their%20Mistakes&BODY=I%20found%20this%20article%20interesting%20and%20want%20to%20share%20it%20with%20you.%20Check%20it%20out:%20https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/ai-agents-can-move-money-but-they-cant-pay-for-their-mistakes/) | Listen to ArticleListenPause ## Get the Full Story #### Recommended [\ \ AI Agents Can Move Money, But They Can’t Pay for Their Mistakes](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/ai-agents-can-move-money-but-they-cant-pay-for-their-mistakes/) [\ \ Datavault AI Plans $94.5 Million CyberCatch Buy to Shield Organizations Against AI Attacks](https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/datavault-ai-plans-94-million-dollar-cybercatch-buy-shield-organizations-against-ai-attacks/) [[News](https://www.infoq.com/news)SpaceXAI Launches Grok Bot for Autonomous AI Agents # SpaceXAI Launches Grok Bot for Autonomous AI Agents Aug 17, 2026
# AI coding startup Cognition in talks to raise new round at $40 billion valuation Devin is marketed not as a replacement for human programmers but as an agent that takes on long-tail grunt work such as moving software between platforms and bringing legacy code up to date.
# An AI failed to detect a bug in Snowflake's code. Then another AI agent exploited it Don't worry, this one was via a bug bounty program [1](https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2026/08/17/202615/) PublishedMon 17 Aug 2026 // 16:36 UTC An AI broke Snowflake’s code; then another AI, an attack agent, autonomously found the bug, exploited it, and extracted credentials without human intervention. REG AD Luckily, this wasn’t [yet another](https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/06/openai-reveals-its-rogue-agent-swarm-went-a-little-bit-borg-ahead-of-hugging-face-hack/5283741) [case](https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/10/gym-rat-asks-ai-agent-to-book-him-a-class-it-hacks-a-waitlist-api-to-bump-him-up-the-list/5285591) of [rogue AI agents](https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/31/anthropic-and-openai-are-competing-to-see-whose-agents-can-go-rogue-harder/5281797) [doing evil things](https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/14/autonomous-ai-attacks-pose-clear-and-present-danger-to-critical-infrastructure/5287594). It was a sanctioned bug hunt, conducted through Snowflake’s HackerOne vulnerability disclosure program, and Snowflake fixed the flaw the same day Wiz reported it and rotated the affected credentials the following day. REG AD Wiz’s [red agent](https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/04/22/google-unleashes-even-more-ai-security-agents-to-fight-crims/5221298), an AI-powered autonomous attacker designed for offensive security, found the GitHub Actions workflow flaw during a routine scan of public repositories on June 23. And it turned out an AI had inadvertently injected the bug into the code five days earlier. GitHub Copilot Autofix, an AI coding assistant, [co-authored the commit](https://github.com/snowflakedb/snowflake-connector-net/pull/1218) on June 18, and that commit introduced a script injection bug in run: blocks by removing the repository’s existing sanitized input pattern and replacing it with direct string expansio
- [Tweet](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-agents-behavior-based-majority.html#) - [Share](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-agents-behavior-based-majority.html#) - [Save as pdf file](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-agents-behavior-based-majority.pdf) # AI agents coordinate behavior based on majority opinion—even when said opinions are meaningless ## More news stories ### [AI agents coordinate behavior based on majority opinion—even when said opinions are meaningless](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-agents-behavior-based-majority.html) A new study published in Science Advances takes a closer look at how AI agents' choices are influenced by their peers. The team found that more advanced models tend to follow the majority when shown other agents' choices, ... 31 minutes ago 0 0 [](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-elements-clues-mysterious-black-eye.html) ### [Mega-Earth GJ 523b is 23 times as massive as our planet—but only 2.5 times as wide](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mega-earth-gj-523b-massive.html) It's nearly 170 million years old. It's more than 2.5 times the size of Earth. And it's the first exoplanet discovered and cataloged by researchers with the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research (WiCOR). Astronomy 31 minutes ago 0 0 [](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiktok-video-discovery-rare-underground.html) ### [Turtle travels: Researchers uncover different migration strategies among male green sea turtles](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-turtle-uncover-migration-strategies-male.html) Florida State University researchers studying male green sea turtles off the coast of Brazil have discovered two distinct migration strategies, with some turtles traveling up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) after breeding ... Plants & Animals 2 hours ago 0 0 [](https://ph
Making tokens cheaper will not save the situation when complex workflows consume them many times more, warns the analytical company Gartner.
Learn why perimeter security, identity verification, and data governance are critical to limiting the security risks of deploying AI agents.
## **What 'governance' means in practice** “It happened overnight that the shift from, ‘Here is the chatbot that helps me write an email,’ became, ‘It is an AI agent that can control my machine and perform API calls,’” Twizer said. ## More The headline numbers are striking: Writer says its agent product now operates at an average 52% lower cost, with a 48% improvement in speed and a 10% improvement in quality when paired with Palmyra X6.
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