Start the new year off right with Mike Loukides’s Radar Trends, where you’re guaranteed to find nothing that appears in Wikipedia’s new guide to detecting AI-generated writing. These bits will start you off.

Somebody was quick on the draw: An AI-altered image, uploaded to social media in the immediate aftermath of a minor earthquake across Lancaster, England, convinced Network Rail that a local bridge had been badly damaged, halting travel on the line. In other fake-image news, the FBI has warned of a nasty scam afoot. Apparently, criminals are doctoring pictures they’ve found on social media and using them as “proof of life” in phony kidnappings. Also, recent research has found that prompts written in verse can convince LLMs to loosen security constraints (yes, really). Disney has sold Mickey out, and then there’s “SantaStealer,” which has nothing to do with Christmas.

Of course, there’s also good news across tech domains, or at least new news.

IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR SPONSORS

Interested in sponsoring an O’Reilly title? Contact sponsorships@oreilly.com.

Free live event: Agentic Workflows for Enhanced Productivity and Project Success

We’re often stuck asking chatbots simple, one-off questions instead of leveraging them to manage the complex, multistep coordination required for noticeable gains in productivity and project success. This GenAI Superstream is designed to help you move from scattershot chats to more effective, reusable agent-driven workflows.

O’Reilly members can sign up here. If you aren’t a member, register below for free.

Book: Foundations for Better Enterprise Data Management

Many organizations want data to be a strategic asset, but they’re hindered by fragmented systems, unclear ownership, and inconsistent quality. This book is a clear, executive-level guide for leaders ready to transform their approach, providing a practical framework for understanding why data initiatives often stall and how strong foundations ensure long-term stability.

Audiobook: Facilitating Software Architecture

As systems and their interactions with the teams that build, run, and evolve them become more complex, it's often impossible for architects to be everywhere they need to be. Author Andrew Harmel-Law shows you how architects and development teams can collaborate to create and evolve more efficient architectures for their systems.