Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Zencoder unveils its next-generation AI coding and unit testing agents today, positioning the San Francisco-based company as a formidable challenger to established players like GitHub Copilot and newcomers like Cursor. The company, founded by former Wrike CEO Andrew Filev, integrates its AI agents directly into popular development environments including Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs, alongside deep integrations with JIRA, GitHub, GitLab, Sentry, and more than 20 other development tools. “We started with the thesis that transformers are powerful computing building blocks, but if you put them in a more agentic environment, you can get much more out of them,” said Filev in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “By agentic, I mean two key things: first, giving the AI feedback so it can improve its work, and second, equipping it with tools. Just like human intelligence, AI becomes significantly more capable when it has the right tools at its disposal.” Why developers won’t need to abandon their favorite IDEs for AI assistance Several AI coding assistants have emerged in the past year, but Zencoder’s approach distinguishes itself by operating within existing workflows rather than requiring developers to switch platforms. “Our main competitor is Cursor. Cursor is its own development environment versus we deliver the same very powerful agentic capabilities, but within existing development environments,” Filev told VentureBeat. “For some developers, it doesn’t really matter. But for some developers, they either want or have to stick to their existing environments.” This distinction matters particularly for enterprise developers working in Java and C#, languages for which specialized IDEs like JetBrains’ IntelliJ and Rider offer more robust support than generalized environments. How Zencoder’s AI agents are beating state-of-the-art benchmarks by double-digit margins The company claims significant performance advantages over competitors, backed by results on standard industry benchmarks. According to Filev, Zencoder’s agents can solve 63% of issues on the SWE-Bench Verified benchmark, placing it among the top three performers despite using a more practical single-trajectory approach rather than running multiple parallel attempts like some research-focused systems. “Our agent is distinctive because we’re focused on building the best pipeline for real-world developer use,” Filev said. “What makes our approach special is that our agent operates on what we call a single track, single trajectory basis. For a single trajectory agent to successfully resolve 63% of these complex issues is remarkably impressive.” Even more notable, the company reports approximately 30% success on the newer SWE-Bench Multimodal benchmark, which Filev claims is double the previous best result of less than 15%. On OpenAI’s recently introduced SWE-Lancer IC Diamond benchmark, Zencoder reports more than 30% success — over 20% better than OpenAI’s own best result. The secret sauce: ‘Repo Grokking’ technology that understands your entire codebase Zencoder’s performance stems from its proprietary “Repo Grokking” technology, which analyzes and interprets large codebases to provide critical context to the AI agents. “All of these agents have distinct capabilities shaped by the language models embedded within them,” Filev explained. “Whether it’s a frontier model or an open source model, the LLM by itself knows nothing about your specific project in the vast majority of scenarios. It can only work with the context that’s provided to it.” Zencoder’s approach combines multiple techniques beyond simple AI embeddings for semantic search. “It uses traditional full text search, it uses custom re-ranker, it uses LLM, it uses synthetic information. So it does a lot of things to build the best understanding of the customer repositories,” Filev said. This contextual understanding helps the system avoid a common criticism of AI coding assistants—that they introduce more problems than they solve by misunderstanding project structures or dependencies. ‘Coffee Mode’: How developers can finally take breaks while AI writes their unit tests Perhaps the most attention-grabbing feature is what Zencoder calls “Coffee Mode,” which allows developers to step away while the AI agents work autonomously. “You can literally hit that button and go grab a coffee, and the agent will do that work by itself,” Filev told VentureBeat. “As we like to say in the company, you can watch forever the waterfall, the fire burning, and the agent working in coffee mode.” The feature can be applied to both writing code and generating unit tests — with the latter proving particularly valuable since many developers prefer creating new features over writing test coverage. “I’ve not seen a developer who’s like, ‘Oh my God, I want to write a bunch of tests for my code,’” Filev said. “They typically like creating stuff, and test is kind of supporting the creation, rather than the process of creation.” Zencoder’s launch comes at a critical moment when developers and companies are navigating how to effectively integrate AI coding tools into existing workflows. The industry landscape includes skeptics who point to AI’s limitations in producing production-ready code and enthusiasts who overestimate its capabilities. “There’s a lot of right now, a lot of emotion, pent up emotion on the AI side of things,” Filev observed. “You see people in both camps, like one of them saying, ‘hey, it’s the best thing since sliced bread, I’m gonna white code my next Salesforce.’ And then you have the naysayers that are trying to prove that they’re still the smartest kids on the block… trying to find the scenarios where it breaks.” Filev advocates a more measured approach, viewing AI coding tools as sophisticated instruments requiring proper skill to utilize effectively. “It is a tool. It is a sophisticated tool, very powerful tool. And so engineers need to build skills around using that. It’s not yet to the point where it’s a replacement for an engineer in at least large, complex enterprise projects.” The roadmap: Production-ready AI code generation with built-in security checks Looking ahead, Zencoder plans to continue improving its agents’ performance on benchmarks while expanding support across more programming languages and focusing on production-ready code generation with built-in testing and security checks. “What you will

In today’s unpredictable economic climate, chief information security officers (CISOs) face familiar — but intensified — challenges. From US government funding cuts to global geopolitical instability, organizations must operate in an environment that is more volatile than ever. Our latest Forrester report, Security Leaders: How To Thrive Through Volatility, provides actionable insights for CISOs to navigate these turbulent times. Here are a few of the key lessons and what they mean for you. Optimize Costs Without Compromising Security Prioritize customer-facing security initiatives: Economic volatility doesn’t mean that you should slash your security budget indiscriminately. Instead, focus on initiatives that directly affect your customers. According to Forrester’s Q4 Tech Pulse Survey, 2024, two-thirds of IT decision-makers say that customer requirements dictate their security plans. Cutting security spending now could hurt customer retention and harm your revenue, something that could take years to recover from. Defend your security budget by emphasizing the importance of customer-facing security measures such as DDoS protection and customer identity and access management (CIAM). Leverage flexible pricing options: Renegotiating contracts with existing vendors can be challenging, but many security vendors now offer “flex” pricing options. These allow you to swap in and out of various products and services while maintaining a minimum annual spending commitment. This flexibility can help you adapt your spending to current needs without sacrificing security. CrowdStrike Falcon Flex and Trend Micro’s credit-based licensing are two examples of this flex pricing options. Embrace Change Management Be a visible change leader: In rapidly changing times, CISOs must provide stability and clarity. Effective change leaders follow a cadence of activities, including clarifying vision, resolving uncertainty, and celebrating successes. Build a strong foundation by addressing capabilities, culture, career paths, communication, and, where possible, transparency to reduce anxiety. Foster continuous learning: Cultivate a culture of continuous learning to adapt quickly to new technologies and challenges. Provide time and resources for upskilling and promote practices that encourage process improvement. In addition, participate in peer discussions and forums with other CISOs and practitioners to gain insight into how other leaders and their teams are handling these issues. Double Down On Enterprise Risk Management Address insider threats: Focus on insider risk management, especially if your organization is undergoing reorganizations or layoffs. Protect sensitive intellectual property with strong identity and access management, data security, and insider risk controls. Manage ecosystem risks: Your organization’s security depends on your partners’ practices. Document requirements, apply appropriate oversight, and link them to resilience. Navigate heightened protectionism and regulatory frameworks to ensure continued operations. Conclusion Navigating economic volatility requires flexibility, strategic spending, and a strong focus on risk management. By following the actionable advice in our report, CISOs can help their organizations thrive even in uncertain times. For a deeper dive into these strategies, read our full report, Security Leaders: How To Thrive Through Volatility. source

With the latest stable release dated January 28, 2025, Qwen2.5-Max is classified as a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model developed by Alibaba. Like other language models, Qwen2.5-Max is capable of generating text, understanding different languages, and performing advanced logic. According to recent benchmarks, it is also more secure than DeepSeek-V3-0324. Using Recon to scan for vulnerabilities A team of analysts with Protect AI, the company behind a red teaming and security vulnerability scanning tool known as Recon, recently used their platform to compare the security of Qwen2.5-Max against that of DeepSeek-V3. The team’s assessment reads, in part: “We observed that DeepSeek-V3-0324 is more vulnerable than Qwen2.5-Max, with Recon achieving an almost 25% higher attack success rate (ASR).” While it may be more secure than its competition, Qwen2.5-Max isn’t exactly perfect. According to their tests, the AI model is most susceptible to prompt injection attacks, as these represented almost 48% of all successful cyberattacks against Qwen2.5-Max. Evasion and jailbreak attacks proved to be less successful with an approximate ASR of 40% for both. Exposing vulnerabilities in DeepSeek-V3 Recon utilizes a comprehensive Attack Library to scan current-gen AI models and identify vulnerabilities across six specific categories: Evasion techniques System prompt leaks Prompt injection attacks AI jailbreak attempts General safety controls Adversarial suffix resistance In addition to simulated cyberattacks, Recon also assesses the AI models’ resistance to generating potentially harmful or illegal content. For example, during adversarial suffix resistance tests, Recon attempts to manipulate the AI model into generating harmful or illegal content. The Protect AI team ran Recon against both Qwen2.5-Max and DeepSeek-V3, with the former boasting a lower attack success rate (ASR) across a variety of attacks; including jailbreaks, prompt injection, and evasion techniques. Whereas Qwen2.5-Max had a 47% ASR against prompt injection attacks, compared to DeepSeek-V3’s notably higher 77%. Against evasion techniques, Qwen2.5-Max scored a 39.4% ASR against evasion techniques, while DeepSeek-V3 scored 69.2%. Both AI models displayed similar results across other simulated cyberattacks. Analyzing DeepSeek-V3’s strengths Despite its security weaknesses, DeepSeek-V3-0324 still outperforms Qwen2.5-Max in several different benchmarks. Unlike the ASR, a higher score in these tests actually indicates better performance. DeepSeek-V3-0324 Qwen2.5-Max MMLU-Pro 81.2 75.9 GPQA Diamond 68.4 59.1 MATH-500 94.0 90.2 AIME 2024 59.4 39.6 LiveCodeBench 49.2 39.2 According to these benchmarks, DeepSeek-V3-0324’s strengths include general language understanding (MMLU-Pro), advanced topics such as biology, physics, and chemistry (GPQA Diamond), mathematics (MATH-500, AI in medicine (AIME 2024), and coding (LiveCodeBench). source

By Jon Hill ( April 4, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT) — Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr called Friday for banking regulators to look into how they themselves might harness generative artificial intelligence, arguing the experience could help them better understand how banks’ use of the technology should be overseen…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

By Christopher Cole ( April 4, 2025, 6:22 PM EDT) — The Federal Communications Commission will look late this month at updating technical rules for two critical satellite bands, opening up more spectrum in the 37 gigahertz band and clarifying some foreign ownership rules…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Markets And Consumers Are In Chaos Mode We’ve had a little time to chew on the sweeping tariff plans of “Liberation Day,” and if the markets are any indicator, it’s been tough to digest. The free-falling stock indices and the (even more than usual) crush of humanity at Costco with their cards piled high are all signs of skittish consumers and, by extension, worried businesses. Ergo, out of the blue, we teeter on the edge of a bear market. These tariffs are going to take a bite out of consumers’ household income — and the lower the income, the bigger the chunk (hence, tariffs work as a regressive tax). In response to this income hit and the continued fog of uncertainty about their future earnings, consumers have already begun to take several steps to manage the implications for their pocketbooks. Five Consumer Behaviors Here are five buying behaviors to look out for among your customers: Pantry-loading: People are stocking up because they know prices will rise. This is somewhat futile, however, as it’s not entirely clear which categories will be hit hardest (at least, the average consumer does not have the means to figure that out). More importantly, there isn’t a pantry large enough to accommodate years’ worth of trade policy chaos. Downscaling: People are purchasing less, completely skipping larger-ticket items, and opting for cheaper brands, including private labels. Promotion-hunting: Consumers are responding more eagerly to promotions, purchasing items on sale, and making real-time brand switches based on offers (such as digital deals on the grocery store app while pushing the cart down the tortilla chips aisle). Channel-shifting: Shoppers are flocking to purchase from less expensive retailers such as dollar stores, as well as from warehouse stores where buying in bulk is associated with better value (hence, the aforementioned crush of humanity at Costco). Self-servicing: Savvy consumers are relying on DIY, repairing things, and growing their vegetables (I kid you not: Numerous consumers told us this in our qualitative research!). What You Can Do To Manage The Chaos How should you react to this behavior and prepare your business and your brand? First, do the homework on your customer segments. Apply a financial resilience filter before you react in haste, because not every person and category will experience the economic effects in the same way, and a shotgun approach to giving away margins will unnecessarily deplete profits. Look before you leap — chances are that you will have to leap, but at least you will be going in the right direction. Look at any tactics through a growth framework. Use our five-lever approach — salience, product, price, experience, and access — to plan your strategy. This may take you down the road of initiatives such as shifting media dollars, changing products or pack architecture, or even providing new digital experiences with timely and relevant promotions. To better manage your brand and business through this period of uncertainty and shifting consumer behaviors, please read our report, Consumer Marketing, CX, And Digital Leaders: How To Thrive Through Volatility (US). If you are a Forrester client, stay tuned for additional research on how CMOs can better manage uncertainty and volatility. Go to my Forrester bio and click “Follow” to be notified. Also, as a client, you can schedule time with me for an inquiry or guidance session, or talk to your account team about workshops and strategy days on planning through uncertainty. source

Image: Aminu Abdullahi/TechRepublic Apple is gearing up to announce iOS 19 at WWDC 2025, but not all iPhones may get the update. A new rumor suggests that Apple could be dropping support for three models from 2018 — the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. According to a report from 9to5Mac, the information comes from an anonymous source on X, known for accurately predicting Apple’s software updates in the past. If these three iPhones are dropped, it would follow Apple’s usual pattern of providing around six years of major software updates before ending full support. The iPhone X, for example, missed out on iOS 18 last year, while the iPhone 8 series lost support after iOS 16. iPhones expected to get iOS 19 If these reports hold up, iOS 19 will be available on the following devices: iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max iPhone SE 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Conflicting reports raise questions Not everyone agrees with this latest claim. An earlier leak from iPhoneSoft suggested that all iPhones running iOS 18 would also be compatible with iOS 19. That would mean the XR, XS, and XS Max should still be supported. While both sources have been reliable in the past, it’s unclear which one is correct this time. Must-read Apple coverage What this means for users Even if the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR don’t get iOS 19, they are unlikely to become obsolete overnight. Apple typically continues to release security updates for older devices to keep them safe from vulnerabilities. For instance, the iPhone 8 and iPhone X recently received an iOS 16.7.11 update with security patches. On the iPad side, reports indicate that the 7th-generation iPad (2019), which runs on the A10 Fusion chip, might also be left behind. However, most other supported iPads are expected to receive the update. iOS 19: What’s coming? Beyond device compatibility, iOS 19 is rumored to bring the biggest redesign in a decade, featuring a refreshed interface, enhanced Apple Intelligence functions, a revamped camera app, and deeper AI-powered features for Apple devices. Live translation for AirPods and AI-driven health coaching are also expected. However, some features may only be available on newer iPhones, as seen with iOS 18’s AI features being exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro and later. Apple is set to officially announce iOS 19 during WWDC on June 9, 2025, with a beta release likely following soon after. The final version should be released in September alongside the next-generation iPhone models. source

Five fast-growing Nordic scaleups have reached the finals of TECH5 — the “Champions League of Technology.” They join a standout quintet from Benelux, unveiled last week, in the race to be crowned Europe’s hottest scaleup. The Nordics — comprising Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — boast just 27 million people but punch well above their weight in innovation. The region has Europe’s highest density of unicorns — privately held companies valued at over $1bn. Despite accounting for only 4% of Europe’s population, the Nordics hosted 17% of the continent’s unicorns between 2013 and 2023. Sweden leads the pack with the EU’s top startup ecosystem, according to StartupBlink’s 2024 rankings. TNW Conference – The 2025 Agenda has just touched down Discover the insightful and dare we say controversial sessions that will take place June 19-20. The Nordics also possess one of Europe’s leading investment landscapes. The region is home to over 14,000 funded startups, which collectively raised $5.6bn in 2024, according to Dealroom data. Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark rank among Europe’s top 15 countries for VC investment, while Iceland sits in the top 50. This thriving ecosystem has produced global giants like Spotify and Klarna. Now, TECH5 aims to uncover the next wave of tech titans. TNW’s judges selected the five finalists based on their growth, impact, and future potential. Let’s meet them (listed in no particular order). 1. Kompasbank The Nordics have a thriving stable of fintechs. Over 1,500 of them currently reside in the region, which has also raised a herd of unicorns in the sector, from buy-now-pay giant Klarna to open banking platform Tink. Kompasbank is a leader of the new breed. The Danish scaleup has developed a new type of bank — exclusively for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These businesses are the backbone of the European economy, representing 99% of all EU firms and over 100 million jobs. Yet they remain underserved by traditional banks, facing slow decision-making, rigid processes, and financial barriers that hinder growth. Kompasbank wants to change that. Founded in 2018 by Michael Hurup Anderson — a Saxo Bank and Deloitte veteran — the company rapidly delivers loans, currency trading, payments, and other banking services to SMEs. “Our ambition is to empower SMEs to achieve their full potential by providing them with the speed, flexibility, and tailored financial solutions they need to invest, grow, and succeed,” kompasbank told TNW.   2. Lassie Sweden’s Lassie is redefining pet care — with insurance at its core. The fast-rising scaleup has a preventative focus that combines veterinary care, coaching for owners, e-commerce, and advice from vets to keep our furry companions healthy. The company’s founders have an ideal blend of skills and experience. CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson grew up with a veterinarian parent. COO Sophie Wilkinson is a former head of pet insurance at a Nordic insurer, while CTO Johan Jönsson has developer expertise honed at Spotify and King. After launching in 2020, Lassie rode a boom in pet ownership during the pandemic. By 2023, almost half of European households owned pets, which generated an estimated €24.6bn in spending on products and services. Investors have taken note, pumping over €36.5mn into Lassie. “Our ambition is to become the European leader in pet insurance and preventive care — then go global,” the company told TNW. “We’re not just covering medical costs; we’re improving pet health, extending lifespans, and giving owners peace of mind.” 3. NORNORM The norm that Denmark’s NORNORM wants to foster is circularity. Its target for the transition is office furniture. The scaleup helps businesses cut their environmental impact by ditching single-use furniture for a circular, subscription-based service. Founded in 2020 by former IKEA manager Anders Jepsen and Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg, NORNORM is based in Copenhagen. In 2022, the company secured €110mn in a funding round led by growth equity firm Verdane. Inter IKEA Development also contributed to the round. Today, NORNORM is active in 17 countries and 59 cities. The company plans to bring its service to many more businesses — and not only big brands. “Real impact comes from reaching the many, not the few, which is why we have designed an accessible and highly affordable solution that requires no upfront investment or long-term commitment,” NORNORM told TNW. “By making circular office interiors both attractive and scalable, we are driving systemic change in the industry and proving that sustainability and business success go hand in hand.” 4. Flower Flower is fighting climate change with power – energy grid power, to be precise. The Swedish company combines energy forecasting, optimisation, and trading software to stabilise grids by feeding them stored power when demand is high.   John Diklev founded the company in 2020 while still a university student in Stockholm. Within a few years, Flower had amassed Sweden’s largest portfolio of battery systems for electricity storage. Last April, Flower bought the largest battery facility in Sweden from wind energy developer OX2 AB. A few months later, the company completed a €45mn funding round, which took its total investments to a whopping €100mn. Diklev wants his home country to set a standard in the energy transition. “Sweden can take the lead in the electricity industry, a flourishing future sector, while also protecting Swedish consumers from price increases,” he said. 5. Collective Minds Radiology Collective Minds Radiology believes there is “almost infinite” expertise and data in healthcare. The problem is it’s trapped in siloes at hospitals and medical institutions. The Swedish scaleup has created a cloud-based collaboration platform that connects healthcare professionals, medical educators, and researchers. Its goal? Accelerating patient access to accurate diagnoses and effective treatments. “We are on a mission to build the world’s largest platform and community for professional healthcare collaboration that ultimately makes a difference for each patient in getting to the right diagnosis faster,” the company told TNW. “Long-term, this will increase efficiency in healthcare by saving time and money while improving the patient journey.” Collective Minds has high hopes for Sweden’s digital future. Alongside its talent, culture, and history of scaling big ideas,

By Christopher Cole ( April 2, 2025, 7:18 PM EDT) — Broadcasters asked the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to lift the 39% federal cap on national market share, one of the industry’s longest-sought changes to media ownership rules…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source