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Today's Pulse

Microsoft counted again. This time Filipinos led the world.

Microsoft found one in four Filipino AI users already at the most advanced level, an AI manager fired its first human worker in San Francisco, and Google made its visible AI watermark optional.

01Top Story

1 in 4 Filipino AI users lead the world

Microsoft surveyed 20,000 workers in more than 20 countries and found 25 percent of Filipino AI users are already at the most advanced level of use, against 16 percent worldwide.

why it matters
It flips the usual story: the thing slowing Filipino work down is no longer the worker, it is whether the company has caught up.
Read at The Manila Times
02Jobs

An AI boss fired its first human

A version of Claude, Anthropic's AI, has run a real San Francisco shop with staff on real contracts since March, and last month it fired an employee for being late on 17 of 23 shifts.

why it matters
A researcher nudged it toward the call, but it is the first time an AI acting as a manager has ended a real person's job.
Read at TIME
03Google

Google lets you erase its AI mark

Google said Friday that users of Gemini, its AI app, can switch off the visible watermark it stamps on AI images, video and songs, though a hidden mark called SynthID stays inside the file.

why it matters
The label you could actually see is now optional, so an AI picture in your feed may soon carry nothing on its face to say so.
Read at TechCrunch
04Robots

Driverless trucks hit California roads

California's motor vehicle agency gave Aurora and Kodiak permits to test self-driving trucks on public roads, and Kodiak has already put its first ones out around Mountain View, with a human still in the seat.

why it matters
The state's truck drivers' union is suing to stop it, saying nobody studied what happens to their jobs first.
Read at TechCrunch
05Security

3 in 10 Asean hacks now use AI

IBM's 2026 breach report found nearly three in ten Southeast Asian organizations broken into last year were hit with AI-made attacks, and the average break-in cost them 4.12 million dollars.

why it matters
Banks and finance firms took the worst of it at 6.53 million dollars a breach, and they are the ones holding your money.
Read at The Manila Times

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