Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis cautioned that recent AI-driven cyberattacks were “early warning shots”, as more serious incidents could emerge over time unless companies and governments stepped up efforts to secure AI systems.

Speaking at the International AI Summit in Dublin, Hassabis said the industry needs to adopt safety practices used in sectors such as biology and nuclear technology, calling for secure, isolated sandboxes to test AI agents before they are connected to the internet, alongside stronger cybersecurity measures.

“We’ve got to kind of asymmetrically power up our defensive side to keep ahead of the attackers,” he said, arguing banks and governments could deploy AI to identify and fix software vulnerabilities before systems are widely released.

He also renewed calls for an international standards body to oversee AI safety, but clarified any framework must be flexible enough to keep pace with technological developments without stifling innovation.

Microsoft president and CEO Brad Smith also advocated for stronger safeguards, describing 2026 as a “sobering year” for AI safety. “No company or technology should be above the law,” he said, adding that regulation needed to be “sensible” and “balanced” while accounting for innovation.

Smith added that companies should be prepared to slow development when necessary, citing Microsoft’s decision to move 34,000 engineers from product development to cybersecurity two and a half years ago. “It was painful, but it was the right thing to do.”

“This allergy that some in the industry have to regulation is frankly something we need to get over,” he quipped.

European AI research
Separately, Google DeepMind and Google Cloud announced plans to provide up to 200 European scientific researchers with access to their frontier AI models, alongside $3 million in compute credits.

The initiative will support the European Union’s AI for Science agenda through the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE), which aims to address computing resource gaps faced by researchers.

The companies will provide researchers with access to AI tools including AlphaFold 3, WeatherNext, AlphaGenome, AlphaEvolve and AlphaEarth Foundations. Google said the programme would equip researchers to tackle complex scientific challenges, including predicting extreme weather patterns and mapping molecular structures.

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Telus Digital is now a deployment partner for Germany-founded AI customer service specialist Parloa, expanding its enterprise services portfolio with support for the latter’s AI agents.

Under the agreement, businesses will buy the platform directly from Parloa and use Telus Digital for integration, change management, managed services, and other professional work. Telus Digital will also introduce Parloa’s technology to existing and prospective clients.

Parloa’s agents handle authentication, bookings, payments, and order enquiries, transferring conversations to a human when personal assistance is needed.

The company cited its own research to illustrate the shortcomings of existing customer-service tools. Its study of 10,000 enterprise websites and 4,000 chat interactions found fewer than 9% of chatbot conversations reached a resolution, while only about 10% of escalation attempts connected users with a person.

Separately, its Consumer Patience Index, a survey of 1,001 US consumers conducted by Propeller Insights, found nearly a third would switch brands to avoid being put on hold.

“Consumer expectations are high, and brand loyalty is fragile,” stated Parloa CRO Chris Silver. “They need to have their issue solved, the first time, on their preferred channel and with no unnecessary delays.”

The agreement expands Parloa’s delivery capacity in North America and Europe. Its platform runs on Microsoft Azure and supports multiple AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT series. The company stated it complies with GDPR and meets ISO 27001 and SOC 2 standards.

Telus Digital global SVP of growth Will Mayo framed the partnership around cost, arguing high volumes of repetitive contact-centre interactions can increase the cost to serve without improving customer experience. He said Parloa’s agents could handle routine requests and transfer more complicated cases to a person.

Telus Digital stated Parloa will complement rather than replace its existing tools because no single product is likely to cover every client requirement. Its portfolio already includes conversational AI combining voice, generative AI and agentic automation.

Backed by parent company Telus, the digital services division operates with more than 83,000 employees across over 35 countries.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (pictured) reportedly outlined plans to invest $2 billion across Europe to ramp adoption of AI technology and the company’s products.

Bloomberg reported Huang revealed the plan yesterday (13 October) during an event in Paris, which is part of a tour including stops in London and Berlin.

Huang said the fresh investments, to be announced in the next week, are on top of $8 billion the company previously committed to the continent, according to the news agency.

He also announced new funding for French start-ups Doctolib, Genesis AI, Pigment and Entalpic.

Nvidia’s founder also promoted open-source models, arguing their lower costs and greater flexibility could help Europe close the gap with the US on advanced AI.

The chipmaker is a major partner of French company Mistral AI, which develops open-weight AI models. It has invested in Mistral and supplies accelerators for its data centres.

“Open models are important as they can be customised for languages and for your own sovereignty,” he said, according to Bloomberg.

Nvidia’s GTC Berlin conference is schedule for 20-22 October.

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