The amount of AI-related infrastructure exposed to the public internet jumped 63% in nine months, according to new Censys data shared first with Axios. Why it matters: The AI boom isn't just creating new models and chatbots. It's creating a sprawling layer of software that companies will also need to inventory, patch and secure. Threat level: Many of these tools connect AI applications to sensitive corporate data and other services, creating potential entry points for hackers looking to access company systems. "It's a little bit beyond just like the tool itself, but these [tools] talk to some really sensitive systems," Emily Austin, a principal researcher at Censys and co-author of the report, told Axios. The big picture: Censys identified nearly 268,000 internet-facing systems running 44 different AI-related products as of July, up from roughly 164,000 in October 2025. These include the software used to connect AI models to databases, corporate applications and other services. Between the lines: The ease of building and hosting AI applications is making it harder for companies to keep track of what software employees are using and whether it's secure. Censys CEO Zakir Durumeric told Axios that companies were already struggling to keep track of their existing software even before employees started building their own AI applications. These new AI apps can often connect to sensitive company information, such as emails, financial records and internal databases. Zoom in: The most widely exposed product was n8n, a workflow automation platform that can connect AI agents to other
Cybersecurity
Kimberly Guilfoyle , the U.S. ambassador to Greece, announced her resignation Tuesday, shortly after the White House asked her to step down and following reports alleging misconduct before and during her diplomatic posting. Why it matters: The exit of the president's longtime political ally and former fiancée of his son Donald Trump Jr. follows a series of Wall Street Journal reports alleging she used her political connections to seek financial favors and promote private business interests. Guilfoyle has denied any wrongdoing. White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday during her first press briefing that Guilfoyle was asked to resign. "She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well," Zacharia said. Driving the news: "My gratitude and respect for President Trump and Secretary Rubio remain unwavering," Guilfoyle wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. "I am proud of what we accomplished together, and I will always be a loyal supporter of President Trump and his mission to Make America Great Again." "While my time as Ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end. It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the United States of America." Guilfoyle's removal isn't entirely surprising, as Trump told reporters yesterday that he was "looking at" firing Guilfoyle following the allegations: "We're not happy," he said. Those comments follow a senior U.S. official telling AP that Trump and Rubio were "extremely pissed off" about the reports and were considering dismissing
Europe · North America · Global politics
A few observations explain what is likely to happen on Election Day 2026 and why it matters.
North America · Global politics
Europe is testing a new response to China Shock 2.0 , betting that it can confront Beijing's export juggernaut without resorting to President Trump's tariff-heavy approach. Why it matters: More of the world is beginning to confront the threat that China's industrial overcapacity poses to their industries. But protecting individual sectors will not solve the bigger problem: China's factories are cranking out far more than its own economy can absorb. Driving the news: The European Union and China struck a preliminary deal on Friday to sharply limit Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to Europe. The EU plans to initially cap Chinese hybrid and plug-in hybrid imports at 350,000 annually, potentially starting as early as December. The cap would more than halve projected Chinese hybrid shipments, which were on track to reach roughly 800,000 this year, an EU official told reporters . Imports totaled 302,000 in 2025. (Chinese officials Monday noted that the deal still allows its automakers to increase shipments from last year's levels.) Vehicles exceeding the quota would be blocked rather than face additional tariffs. The backdrop: France and Germany last week proposed giving Brussels sweeping new powers to restrict market access over unfair trade practices, a striking shift for Germany, which opposed EU tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned in her annual address last month that the bloc's trade deficit with China had reached a "tipping point." "Some say the second China shock is looming. But it's already here," von der Leyen said. Wha
Europe · East Asia · Global politics
Italy's 41-year-old carrier came free. Making it a real capability will cost Indonesia far more. The post Indonesia’s New Aircraft Carrier Tests the Limits of Its Maritime Strategy appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor .
East Asia · Defense
Synthetic drugs move production from crop fields to chemical labs. They may not move the power with it. The post From Fields to Laboratories: The Changing Geography of Criminal Power appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor .
President Trump is turning to Vladimir Putin to help ease a global diesel crunch, setting up a clash between Washington's energy priorities and its efforts to pressure Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Why it matters: The fuel shortage is among the most severe effects of the Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. Average U.S. diesel prices remain far above $6 per gallon, adding to GOP headwinds in the midterm elections. Trump says his deal will help bring costs down. Catch up quick: Trump on Friday claimed an agreement to bring escalating Russian exports, and the Treasury Department waived sanctions to help enable it. A few things to watch... The campaign trail. So far a few Republicans in close races — including Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan — have criticized the agreement. Republicans already saddled with Trump's unpopular policies in the midterms now face another awkward choice: whether to back his diesel deal with a dictator many of them despise, Axios' Andrew Pantazi writes. The market. Diesel futures dipped after the announcement. But analysts expressed doubt that the levels Trump is claiming will meaningfully sway prices in the U.S. and elsewhere — if Russia indeed delivers. Per Trump's claim, Russia will "immediately" provide what amounts to 2.24 million barrels, followed 3.73 million next month (equivalent to around 124,000 barrels per day spread over a month), and then roughly double it thereafter. "In the near-term, it's hard to see the waiver helping global fundamentals for diesel much," writes economics and
Europe · North America · Defense · Oil & energy · Global politics
Without a ceasefire with Ukraine on attacking each other’s energy infrastructure—to which the Kremlin is unlikely to agree—the diesel agreement between Putin and Trump is largely for show, rather than representing a genuine increase in the volumes of Russian diesel on the global market.
Europe · North America · Oil & energy · Global politics
Ahead of a tough winter for Ukraine, Donald Trump’s swing back toward Russia bodes ill. But instead of panicking, Kyiv’s European allies are focusing on action.
Europe · North America · Global politics
General George S. Patton reminds us that a good plan, violently executed today is better than a perfect plan next week. Doctrine agrees. Field Manual 5-0, Planning and Orders Production […]
North America · Defense
Supporters of "Medicare for All" now outnumber opponents by nearly 2-to-1, according to a new survey of U.S. adults from the Axios-Ipsos American Health Index . The big picture: Two-thirds of all survey respondents — and half of Republicans — said the federal government should be willing to spend more tax dollars to lower health care costs for Americans. Why it matters: With three weeks to go before the midterm elections, and private health insurance premiums and prescription prices crushing voters, these findings suggest a path for swing-state candidates who embrace socialized medicine. But the public's openness is driven more by desperation than by confidence in government. Affordability is foremost on most Americans' minds, and health care brings almost daily reminders of economic pressure. Between the lines: Survey respondents say they want more government intervention — but they trust those leaders less than ever. Trust in President Trump for health-related information fell to a survey low of 20%. Trust in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fell to a survey low of 25%. Trust in congressional Republicans (20%) and Democrats (25%) also were at lows. By the numbers: 43% of Americans said they support the idea of establishing a "Medicare for All" program to provide government-run health insurance to all, largely replacing private health insurance; 24% oppose the idea and 32% say they aren't sure. Nearly half of independents (47%) support it, as do 62% of Democrats. 21% of Republicans support Medicare for All, and 27% are undecided, compared with 52% who oppose the idea
North America
Data: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, FactSet; Chart: Axios/Matt Phillips; Note: After-tax profit data includes inventory and capital depreciation adjustments. Corporate America is raking in record profits, luxuriating in luscious margins and capturing the largest chunk of the country's income on record. Why it matters: The corporate bonanza is bolstering the stock market, but it may also be playing a role in the persistently sour sentiment among the American electorate. The latest: Tuesday is the unofficial start of third-quarter earnings season as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and others report results. Zoom in: Wall Street expects the members of the blue-chip S&P 500 index to continue to make it rain. Third-quarter earnings per share are expected to grow roughly 29% for the index, compared with the quarter in 2025, according to estimate data collected by FactSet. That's after a massive 50% annual increase in second-quarter earnings that was supercharged by the giant, non-operating gains on valuations of tech investments reported by Amazon and Alphabet. (Amazon, for example, penciled in its stake in Anthropic as boosting its profit by more than $50 billion.) But even without those enormous gains, the numbers were quite strong, thanks to the AI boom that analysts expect to keep powering giant profits. What they're saying: The market is still all about AI, but the gains are extremely concentrated . "At the stock level, AI infrastructure stocks are expected to drive more than half of S&P 500 EPS growth in Q3," wrote Ben Snider, chief U.S. equity analyst with Goldman Sachs.
North America
The trillion-dollar AI race is moving from software to silicon, as Microsoft's massive bet on its proprietary Maia chips proves Big Tech wants to wean itself off Nvidia's dominance. Why it matters: Microsoft's plan to power its AI products with custom silicon shows how every major Nvidia customer is now a competitor, seeking lower costs, improved performance and more control. The shift is particularly significant for inference — the computing needed to generate AI responses — as more sophisticated AI models and agents drive demand for computing power. Driving the news: Microsoft unveiled Maia 300, its latest custom AI accelerator, saying it will begin deploying the chip in 2027 and it will become the primary inference system for its own products and services. The company says Maia 300 will deliver 40% more AI tokens per megawatt than leading GPU-based systems. It's also designed to minimize unnecessary data movement between chips and memory, a growing bottleneck as AI models become more complex. The big picture: Microsoft's plan is part of a much broader shift, with nearly all major AI players seeking Nvidia alternatives. Google has been developing its own Tensor Processing Units for years, with its latest generation including separate versions optimized for training AI models and running inference. OpenAI is developing its Jalapeño chip with Broadcom, initially focusing on inference workloads. The company said in August that its first chip was outperforming Nvidia hardware on certain workloads and that it was already developing subsequent generations. Amazon has its own
North America
Data: RealClearPolitics , American Presidency Project ; Note: Nebraska's Senate race is between a Republican and an independent; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Move over Wisconsin and Arizona. With Democrats making Republicans sweat in a host of red-state Senate races , a new batch of swing states may be emerging. Why it matters: Some of the closest Senate races are in Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and even Kansas. Sure, this could be a blip — or a reminder that it's a 50-50 moody nation, even in a bunch of red states. The conditions that helped Barack Obama carry conservative states like Indiana and North Carolina in 2008 — an unpopular war, a bruising economy, an electorate hungry for change — could resonate again in 2028. State of play: Democratic and Republican Senate candidates are running margin-of-error races in red states that not long ago were thought to be forbidding, or even a wasted effort, to many Democrats. The Senate races in Kansas and Ohio are tied. So is Nebraska, where independent Dan Osborn is trying to knock off Sen. Pete Ricketts. Democrat James Talarico has consistently led polls in Texas, though that race appears to be tightening as money pours into the state on behalf of Republican Ken Paxton. Alaska is also a toss-up. President Trump won all these states by double digits in 2024. Zoom in: Republican operatives told Axios they're far from convinced that what's happening now will create a new slate of swing states in the 2028 race for the White House. They see the current campaign as more of a one-off — a combination of dismay with Trump, high prices and unin
North America · Global politics
On January 1, 2027, the tenth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) will take the oath of office. António Guterres will be stepping down after a ten-year term, leaving the 81-year-old institution at a time when its role is being re-evaluated both from within and without. The process for selecting his successor is now in […] The post The UN Faces its Future: The Next Secretary-General appeared first on The Soufan Center .
Global politics
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