Has the rush to adopt artificial intelligence across businesses—and the widespread layoffs that followed—actually produced the major savings the technology industry expected?

According to a new global survey by KPMG, one of the world's four largest accounting and consulting firms, a growing number of multinational corporate executives are now experiencing "AI bill shock" as invoices for artificial intelligence services continue to climb.

It appears that while artificial intelligence companies previously subsidized the cost of their large language models through contracts with fixed pricing, the enormous computing power now required to run increasingly sophisticated AI systems in massive data centers is reshaping the technology sector and driving significant price increases.

Only a few months ago, chief executives were encouraging—or even requiring—their employees to use artificial intelligence as much as possible for tasks such as software development, a phenomenon that became known as "token-maxxing."

Amazon even began measuring employees according to the number of AI "tokens" they consumed, as though they were competing in a video game, before discovering that some employees were launching artificial intelligence agents to perform unnecessary tasks simply to improve their rankings. Meta also encouraged greater use of AI tools by incorporating AI usage into employee performance evaluations.

Now, many organizations are beginning to hesitate. After employees became heavily dependent on AI-powered coding tools, companies are discovering that the cost of operating those systems is becoming increasingly difficult to control.

The KPMG report, first reported by the British technology news site The Register, surveyed two thousand one hundred and forty-five senior executives across twenty countries. It found that twenty-nine percent were surprised by the rising costs associated with artificial intelligence.

In other words, nearly one-third of senior executives appear to have been swept up in the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence without first developing a clear strategy for using it efficiently and economically—a reality becoming increasingly apparent now that, as the saying goes, "the meter is running."

A manager at Nvidia recently acknowledged that his research team now spends more on artificial intelligence than on employee salaries themselves. Axios also reported that an unidentified company spent five hundred million dollars in a single month on Claude usage fees after failing to place any limits on employees' licenses. Another recent study found that businesses described as the "most AI-dependent" now spend approximately seven thousand five hundred dollars per employee every month on artificial intelligence.

The report's findings reinforce concerns that a significant number of corporate leaders have treated artificial intelligence primarily as a tool for replacing existing resources—including employees—without sufficient planning, without understanding its full economic implications, and while remaining disconnected from the practical realities of implementation.

According to The Register, many executives' limited understanding of what has become known as the "economics of artificial intelligence"—a field that remains relatively new and still lacks extensive practical experience—has emerged as one of the biggest obstacles to successful deployment in the workplace.

"As usage-based pricing models become more common, rather than pricing fixed in advance, many organizations are only now beginning to develop the capabilities needed to forecast, monitor and manage AI spending effectively," the report's authors wrote.

The bad news, the publication argues, is that this situation has created a global financial environment that, by some measures, appears even more fragile than the period preceding the Great Depression.

Artificial intelligence—or, more precisely, the mythology surrounding it—is also increasingly being used as a disciplinary tool in workplaces. Fearing that AI could replace them, many employees are becoming less willing to negotiate over salaries and benefits. At the same time, many managers are using artificial intelligence not only to justify large-scale layoffs but also as a means of discouraging employees from challenging management decisions.

Shigella, the bacterium responsible for dysentery, is best known as a disease transmitted through contaminated food and poor hand hygiene. It is one of the leading causes of diarrheal illness among children in developing countries and is responsible for more than two hundred thousand deaths worldwide each year.

However, certain strains of the bacterium, including Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri, are also transmitted through sexual contact, primarily via oral-anal contact. Over the past two decades, these strains have spread steadily across Western countries. Today, the disease is considered endemic within certain sexual networks of men who have sex with men.

New data from the UK Health Security Agency show that confirmed cases of potentially sexually transmitted Shigella rose to two thousand five hundred and sixty in twenty twenty-five, compared with two thousand and fifty-two in twenty twenty-three.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, whose findings were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, analyzed three thousand five hundred and fourteen bacterial samples collected across the United Kingdom between two thousand four and two thousand twenty. They divided the cases into three groups: men aged sixteen to sixty who had not recently traveled to regions where Shigella is endemic—Africa, Asia, or Central and Latin America—and who were likely men who have sex with men, representing about thirty-four percent of all samples; other locally acquired infections, accounting for approximately thirty-six percent; and travel-associated cases, which made up the remainder.

The study's central finding was that sexually transmitted strains spread geographically more than twice as fast as other local strains. Over approximately two and a half years of bacterial evolution, the average distance between closely related strains transmitted among men who have sex with men reached one hundred and seventeen kilometers, compared with only forty-six kilometers among other locally circulating strains.

Researchers also identified a significantly larger number of separate transmission chains within this group—about one hundred more than in other populations occupying the same geographical area—even though men who have sex with men represent a minority of the male population in Britain. These strains also remained genetically distinct from other circulating strains for approximately fifteen years of evolution, compared with about two and a half years in other populations, indicating a prolonged and largely independent transmission network. The highest concentrations of cases were recorded in major urban centers, particularly London and Manchester.

Antibiotic resistance was considerably more common among sexually transmitted strains. Seventy percent were resistant to at least one clinically relevant antibiotic, compared with forty percent of other local strains and forty-nine percent of travel-associated strains.

Between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty, the annual growth rate of sexually transmitted strains increased by fifteen percent compared with strains transmitted through more traditional routes. A separate analysis of four hundred and sixty-eight samples collected in England between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty-one identified a strain that spread rapidly shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously developing resistance to three major antibiotics: ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and ceftriaxone.

Professor Kate Baker, one of the study's lead investigators from the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, said many men who have sex with men remain unaware of the growing risk.

"Sexual transmission has become a permanent part of Shigella transmission patterns in the United Kingdom," Baker said. "It is important that this message reaches the relevant communities in order to help slow its spread."

She added that the problem does not involve a single strain but several overlapping strains evolving drug resistance simultaneously, meaning patients infected through sexual transmission may require treatment that differs substantially from those infected during international travel.

Another significant finding linked rising azithromycin resistance among men who have sex with men to historical treatment guidelines for gonorrhea. Until twenty eighteen, azithromycin formed part of the recommended combination therapy for gonorrhea. Researchers believe repeated exposure to the drug unintentionally provided Shigella carried by the same patients with a selective survival advantage. After clinical guidelines switched to ceftriaxone-only treatment in twenty eighteen, that selective advantage gradually declined and almost disappeared.

Professor Baker said the finding illustrates that antibiotic treatment directed at one disease can influence bacteria throughout the body rather than affecting only the intended pathogen.

Earlier studies by Baker and her team found that up to one-third of patients with sexually transmitted Shigella require hospitalization for an average of four to five days, while roughly two-thirds are simultaneously diagnosed with another sexually transmitted infection, including HIV. Transmission occurs through direct or indirect oral-anal contact. Shigella is exceptionally infectious: as few as ten bacteria are sufficient to cause disease, whereas Salmonella generally requires more than one thousand. An infected person may remain contagious for approximately one month.

Symptoms include watery diarrhea that may contain blood, mucus or pus in severe cases, nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain, fever above thirty-eight degrees Celsius and, in some cases, low mood. Worldwide, deaths from Shigella result from dehydration caused by severe diarrhea, bowel or stomach perforation, or malnutrition.

Mark Tweed of the Terrence Higgins Trust, an organization focused on HIV, described the infection as a growing concern among some gay and bisexual men with frequent sexual partnerships.

"Research has linked infection to having multiple sexual partners, drug use in sexual settings, the use of HIV pre-exposure medication, and simultaneous infection with other sexually transmitted diseases," Tweed said. "But these are statistical associations, not proof that any single behavior is responsible for the increase."

He urged anyone who suspects they may have Shigella infection to seek medical assessment.

Dr. Daniel Richardson, a sexual health consultant at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said physicians treating patients with dysentery should routinely ask about sexual history and tailor treatment accordingly, noting that sexually transmitted strains show substantially higher antibiotic resistance than other forms of the disease.

Professor Baker emphasized that traditional public health advice for preventing Shigella, such as handwashing and food hygiene, is not sufficient to prevent sexual transmission.

"If you begin feeling unwell, or if you have recently recovered from diarrheal illness, avoid sexual activity for two weeks after complete recovery," she said. "Tell your doctor about your sexual history and ask for comprehensive screening for sexually transmitted infections."

She also recommended thoroughly washing the hands, pelvis and buttocks after anal contact, changing condoms between anal and oral sex, using latex gloves for finger penetration or fisting, and avoiding the sharing of sex toys or equipment used for rectal douching.

South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix has raised approximately twenty-six point five billion dollars on Nasdaq after attracting demand that exceeded the available offering by seven times and pricing its American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs, at one hundred and forty-nine dollars each.

The offering price is two point seven percent higher than the stock's average price in South Korea over the past three trading days.

SK Hynix shares were up two point five percent in South Korea, compared with a five percent gain in the Kospi index.

The company begins trading today in New York under the ticker symbol SKHY.

The transaction is the second-largest public offering in history.

The amount raised by SK Hynix is surpassed only by SpaceX's seventy-five billion dollar offering last month.

By comparison, Saudi oil giant Aramco raised twenty-five point six billion dollars in its 2019 Saudi listing, while Alibaba raised twenty-five billion dollars in its 2014 public offering.

Even so, the amount raised fell short of the twenty-nine billion dollars the company had originally hoped to secure before the recent decline in the South Korean stock market.

Over the past two years, SK Hynix has emerged as one of the primary beneficiaries of the global race to develop artificial intelligence systems, driven by its leadership in High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM, advanced memory chips.

These chips are a critical component in artificial intelligence accelerators developed by companies including Nvidia and Google, and demand has surged alongside the rapid expansion of large artificial intelligence models and data centers.

The company has capitalized on the market boom more effectively than its main competitors, Samsung Electronics and Micron, establishing itself as one of the semiconductor industry's most important suppliers to the artificial intelligence sector.

As a result, many investors view SK Hynix as one of the companies positioned to benefit most directly from the enormous investments major technology companies are making in advanced computing infrastructure.

The New York listing is intended to broaden SK Hynix's investor base and make it easier for U.S. investors to gain exposure to one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence revolution.

A Ryanair-operated Boeing 737-800 was forced to return to Thessaloniki, Greece, shortly after takeoff on Friday after a cabin window became dislodged during the climb, triggering rapid cabin decompression and a major in-flight emergency.

What is confirmed is that the aircraft landed safely, one passenger required medical treatment, and an official investigation into the cause is underway.

The aircraft had departed Thessaloniki for Memmingen, Germany, before the incident occurred.

Witnesses said a loud explosion-like noise was heard while the aircraft was climbing, followed almost immediately by the loss of cabin pressure.

Oxygen masks deployed automatically as the pilots initiated an emergency descent and turned the aircraft back toward its departure airport.

The passenger seated next to the damaged window, identified in multiple reports as a sixty-one-year-old Serbian man, was partially forced through the opening.

Witnesses said his head, neck and shoulders extended outside the aircraft while his seat belt prevented him from being completely ejected.

His wife reportedly held onto his legs while nearby passengers and several medically trained travelers helped pull him back into the cabin.

The man suffered neck injuries, abrasions and friction burns but remained conscious after the aircraft landed.

A pregnant passenger was also taken to hospital as a precaution and was later discharged.

Passengers described scenes of panic inside the cabin.

One said the sound resembled a tire exploding, followed by screaming as the aircraft rapidly lost altitude because of the decompression.

Another said the cabin crew appeared overwhelmed while everyone immediately put on oxygen masks.

Witnesses added that several passengers rushed forward to help the injured man, whose seat belt is widely credited with preventing a fatal outcome.

Ryanair confirmed that the flight returned to Thessaloniki after a passenger window became dislodged during flight.

The airline said the aircraft landed normally, passengers returned to the terminal, one passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground, and a replacement aircraft later completed the journey to Germany.

The cause of the window failure has not yet been established.

Some early reports suggested that debris from the aircraft's right engine may have struck the window after an apparent engine malfunction.

What is confirmed is that investigators are examining the sequence of events.

The reported engine-debris scenario has not been officially confirmed.

The investigation is being led by North Macedonia's Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Committee, while the United States National Transportation Safety Board has been notified because the event involved an engine issue and cabin decompression.