AMD and Nvidia have forced RPCS3 to increase its recommended GPU requirements The team behind RPCS3, the PlayStation 3 emulator, has announced that it has increased its recommended GPU requirements for Windows. This is due to AMD and Nvidiaβs decision to drop driver support for older Radeon and GeForce graphics cards. Now, the emulatorβs recommended [β¦]
Skylum has announced the Fall 2025 update to its award-winning Luminar Neo software, promising enhancements to existing tools and all-new features for photographers of all skill levels.
Nikon has announced the availability of firmware version 3.00 for the Zf camera, which adds a new in-camera Film Grain feature and improvements to focusing assistance.
Meta glasses now come in Ray-Ban and Oakley styles, but which one is right for you? Let's compare Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and Oakley Meta Vanguard to find out.
Adobe MAX kicks off this week and, historically, that has meant a large drop of updates across the company's portfolio of apps. That is technically true this year too, but everything is revolving around AI -- and sometimes, that doesn't even mean Adobe's own technology.
Battlefield is getting a free-to-play Battle Royale mode EA has confirmed that Battlefield REDSEC will launch on October 28th at 3 PM GMT, a free-to-play Battle Royale game that debuts alongside Battlefield 6βs Season 1 content. Battlefield REDSEC acts as EAβs counter to Call of Duty: Warzone. Currently, exact details for the new game are [β¦]
As a software company that provides solutions for hospitality, Agilysys, Inc Announces during the second quarter of its Fiscal 2026 that for the second quarter the companyβsβ revenue increased. Achieving the record revenue for the 15th consecutive quarter. As the company is focused on providing technology solutions towards improving client interaction in the hospitality and tourism sector, Agilysys, Inc. has reported a net revenue of 79.3 million dollars. Achieving a 16.1 increase in revenue compared to fiscal 2025. The increase in revenue is due to the increase of available subscription services, showing that there is increased demand for cloud hospitality solutions.
The increase of Agilysysβ subscription revenue is exceptional as it increased 33.1 subscription based revenue as the hospitality industry is adopting cloud systems, showing how rapidly the industry is evolving. Subscription revenue accounts for 65.5 of the total recurring revenue which showcases the transforming fundamental changes in the tourism sector.
Hospitality Software Solutionsβ Role in Tourism Growth
Agilysys is particularly well-positioned to support the tourism sectorβs post-pandemic recovery with its cloud-native ecosystem of hospitality solutions. These solutions cater to the specific needs of hotels, resorts, and travel businesses, offering services such as booking management, guest engagement, and operational efficiencies. The shift towards modernised technology, like Agilysysβ software platforms, aligns with the tourism industryβs increasing focus on enhancing customer experience through seamless, tech-driven solutions.
The surge in subscription revenue, which now accounts for over 64 percent of total net revenue, reflects the growing shift in the tourism industry towards long-term digital partnerships. This growth trajectory has positioned Agilysys as an essential player in the ongoing transformation of the global hospitality sector, enabling businesses to optimise their operations and improve guest experiences.
Impact of Agilysysβ Cloud-Native Solutions on the Tourism Industry
Agilysys has been actively shaping the future of the tourism industry by providing advanced software solutions that offer flexibility, scalability, and security for hospitality businesses. Its suite of cloud-based tools enables travel and tourism companies to streamline operations, reduce costs, and boost revenue. This is particularly important as the sector continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and faces increasing demand for more efficient, digital-first solutions.
With cloud technology allowing tourism businesses to manage reservations, billing, and customer interactions remotely, Agilysys plays a crucial role in fostering a more connected and resilient tourism ecosystem. The adoption of such modern systems allows businesses in the sector to provide more personalised, responsive services to their customers, which is increasingly important as travellers expect a seamless and digitally integrated experience.
Strong Fiscal 2026 Outlook for Tourism Solutions
Looking forward, Agilysys has raised its full-year revenue guidance to a range of 315 million dollars to 318 million dollars, up from previous estimates. The company also increased its subscription revenue growth expectations to 29 percent, reflecting the strong demand for its solutions in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Despite this optimistic outlook, Agilysys has indicated that their guidance excludes any substantial revenue from a large-scale Property Management System (PMS) project currently under development.
This optimistic forecast highlights Agilysysβ role in driving continued growth within the tourism industry, particularly through its subscription-based software solutions. As travel and tourism businesses increasingly look to digital technologies to support operational growth and enhance customer experience, Agilysysβ offerings are well-aligned with market demands.
Financial Strength and Future Expansion Plans
The companyβs robust financial performance in the second quarter of Fiscal 2026 is further reinforced by its strong cash flow and healthy balance sheet. Agilysys generated free cash flow of 15.0 million dollars in Q2, up significantly from 5.9 million dollars in the same period last year. While its cash balance decreased slightly to 59.3 million dollars at the end of Q2, this was largely due to investments in growth initiatives, including the continued development of its hospitality software products.
Agilysysβ solid financial standing enables it to continue investing in technology advancements that will further benefit the tourism industry. As it continues to build on its strong momentum, the company is poised to capture a larger share of the growing demand for innovative, cloud-based hospitality software solutions.
Overview
Agilysysβ outstanding revenue growth and increased expectations for Fiscal 2026 Show how technology-driven solutions in the tourism sector are growing in importance over time. As more organizations in the sector try to move to cloud-native software solutions, Agilysys impact towards the transforming future of hospitality grows. Its business strategy of continuous investment in the development of technology and subscription-based services gives it the position of a dominant player in shaping the future of tourism at the global level.
Anthropic is making its most aggressive push yet into the trillion-dollar financial services industry, unveiling a suite of tools that embed its Claude AI assistant directly into Microsoft Excel and connect it to real-time market data from some of the world's most influential financial information providers.
The San Francisco-based AI startup announced Monday it is releasing Claude for Excel, allowing financial analysts to interact with the AI system directly within their spreadsheets β the quintessential tool of modern finance. Beyond Excel, select Claude models are also being made available in Microsoft Copilot Studio and Researcher agent, expanding the integration across Microsoft's enterprise AI ecosystem. The integration marks a significant escalation in Anthropic's campaign to position itself as the AI platform of choice for banks, asset managers, and insurance companies, markets where precision and regulatory compliance matter far more than creative flair.
Why Excel has become the new battleground for AI in finance
The decision to build directly into Excel is hardly accidental. Excel remains the lingua franca of finance, the digital workspace where analysts spend countless hours constructing financial models, running valuations, and stress-testing assumptions. By embedding Claude into this environment, Anthropic is meeting financial professionals exactly where they work rather than asking them to toggle between applications.
Claude for Excel allows users to work with the AI in a sidebar where it can read, analyze, modify, and create new Excel workbooks while providing full transparency about the actions it takes by tracking and explaining changes and letting users navigate directly to referenced cells.
This transparency feature addresses one of the most persistent anxieties around AI in finance: the "black box" problem. When billions of dollars ride on a financial model's output, analysts need to understand not just the answer but how the AI arrived at it. By showing its work at the cell level, Anthropic is attempting to build the trust necessary for widespread adoption in an industry where careers and fortunes can turn on a misplaced decimal point.
The technical implementation is sophisticated. Claude can discuss how spreadsheets work, modify them while preserving formula dependencies β a notoriously complex task β debug cell formulas, populate templates with new data, or build entirely new spreadsheets from scratch. This isn't merely a chatbot that answers questions about your data; it's a collaborative tool that can actively manipulate the models that drive investment decisions worth trillions of dollars.
How Anthropic is building data moats around its financial AI platform
Perhaps more significant than the Excel integration is Anthropic's expansion of its connector ecosystem, which now links Claude to live market data and proprietary research from financial information giants. The company added six major new data partnerships spanning the entire spectrum of financial information that professional investors rely upon.
Aiera now provides Claude with real-time earnings call transcripts and summaries of investor events like shareholder meetings, presentations, and conferences. The Aiera connector also enables a data feed from Third Bridge, which gives Claude access to a library of insights interviews, company intelligence, and industry analysis from experts and former executives. Chronograph gives private equity investors operational and financial information for portfolio monitoring and conducting due diligence, including performance metrics, valuations, and fund-level data.
Egnyte enables Claude to securely search permitted data for internal data rooms, investment documents, and approved financial models while maintaining governed access controls. LSEG, the London Stock Exchange Group, connects Claude to live market data including fixed income pricing, equities, foreign exchange rates, macroeconomic indicators, and analysts' estimates of other important financial metrics. Moody's provides access to proprietary credit ratings, research, and company data covering ownership, financials, and news on more than 600 million public and private companies, supporting work and research in compliance, credit analysis, and business development. MT Newswires provides Claude with access to the latest global multi-asset class news on financial markets and economies.
These partnerships amount to a land grab for the informational infrastructure that powers modern finance. Previously announced in July, Anthropic had already secured integrations with S&P Capital IQ, Daloopa, Morningstar, FactSet, PitchBook, Snowflake, and Databricks. Together, these connectors give Claude access to virtually every category of financial data an analyst might need: fundamental company data, market prices, credit assessments, private company intelligence, alternative data, and breaking news.
This matters because the quality of AI outputs depends entirely on the quality of inputs. Generic large language models trained on public internet data simply cannot compete with systems that have direct pipelines to Bloomberg-quality financial information. By securing these partnerships, Anthropic is building moats around its financial services offering that competitors will find difficult to replicate.
The strategic calculus here is clear: Anthropic is betting that domain-specific AI systems with privileged access to proprietary data will outcompete general-purpose AI assistants. It's a direct challenge to the "one AI to rule them all" approach favored by some competitors.
Pre-configured workflows target the daily grind of Wall Street analysts
The third pillar of Anthropic's announcement involves six new "Agent Skills" β pre-configured workflows for common financial tasks. These skills are Anthropic's attempt to productize the workflows of entry-level and mid-level financial analysts, professionals who spend their days building models, processing due diligence documents, and writing research reports. Anthropic has designed skills specifically to automate these time-consuming tasks.
The new skills include building discounted cash flow models complete with full free cash flow projections, weighted average cost of capital calculations, scenario toggles, and sensitivity tables. There's comparable company analysis featuring valuation multiples and operating metrics that can be easily refreshed with updated data. Claude can now process data room documents into Excel spreadsheets populated with financial information, customer lists, and contract terms. It can create company teasers and profiles for pitch books and buyer lists, perform earnings analyses that use quarterly transcripts and financials to extract important metrics, guidance changes, and management commentary, and produce initiating coverage reports with industry analysis, company deep dives, and valuation frameworks.
It's worth noting that Anthropic's Sonnet 4.5 model now tops the Finance Agent benchmark from Vals AI at 55.3% accuracy, a metric designed to test AI systems on tasks expected of entry-level financial analysts. A 55% accuracy rate might sound underwhelming, but it is state-of-the-art performance and highlights both the promise and limitations of AI in finance. The technology can clearly handle sophisticated analytical tasks, but it's not yet reliable enough to operate autonomously without human oversight β a reality that may actually reassure both regulators and the analysts whose jobs might otherwise be at risk.
The Agent Skills approach is particularly clever because it packages AI capabilities in terms that financial institutions already understand. Rather than selling generic "AI assistance," Anthropic is offering solutions to specific, well-defined problems: "You need a DCF model? We have a skill for that. You need to analyze earnings calls? We have a skill for that too."
Trillion-dollar clients are already seeing massive productivity gains
NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen reported achieving approximately 20% productivity gains, equivalent to 213,000 hours, with portfolio managers and risk departments now able to "seamlessly query our Snowflake data warehouse and analyze earnings calls with unprecedented efficiency."
At AIG, CEO Peter Zaffino said the partnership has "compressed the timeline to review business by more than 5x in our early rollouts while simultaneously improving our data accuracy from 75% to over 90%." If these numbers hold across broader deployments, the productivity implications for the financial services industry are staggering.
These aren't pilot programs or proof-of-concept deployments; they're production implementations at institutions managing trillions of dollars in assets and making underwriting decisions that affect millions of customers. Their public endorsements provide the social proof that typically drives enterprise adoption in conservative industries.
Regulatory uncertainty creates both opportunity and risk for AI deployment
Yet Anthropic's financial services ambitions unfold against a backdrop of heightened regulatory scrutiny and shifting enforcement priorities. In 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released guidance requiring lenders to "use specific and accurate reasons when taking adverse actions against consumers" involving AI, and issued additional guidance requiring regulated entities to "evaluate their underwriting models for bias" and "evaluate automated collateral-valuation and appraisal processes in ways that minimize bias."
However, according to a Brookings Institution analysis, these measures have since been revoked with work stopped or eliminated at the current downsized CFPB under the current administration, creating regulatory uncertainty. The pendulum has swung from the Biden administration's cautious approach, exemplified by an executive order on safe AI development, toward the Trump administration's "America's AI Action Plan," which seeks to "cement U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence" through deregulation.
This regulatory flux creates both opportunities and risks. Financial institutions eager to deploy AI now face less prescriptive federal oversight, potentially accelerating adoption. But the absence of clear guardrails also exposes them to potential liability if AI systems produce discriminatory outcomes, particularly in lending and underwriting.
The Massachusetts Attorney General recently reached a $2.5 million settlement with student loan company Earnest Operations, alleging that its use of AI models resulted in "disparate impact in approval rates and loan terms, specifically disadvantaging Black and Hispanic applicants." Such cases will likely multiply as AI deployment grows, creating a patchwork of state-level enforcement even as federal oversight recedes.
Anthropic appears acutely aware of these risks. In an interview with Banking Dive, Jonathan Pelosi, Anthropic's global head of industry for financial services, emphasized that Claude requires a "human in the loop." The platform, he said, is not intended for autonomous financial decision-making or to provide stock recommendations that users follow blindly. During client onboarding, Pelosi told the publication, Anthropic focuses on training and understanding model limitations, putting guardrails in place so people treat Claude as a helpful technology rather than a replacement for human judgment.
Competition heats up as every major tech company targets finance AI
Anthropic's financial services push comes as AI competition intensifies across the enterprise. OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and numerous startups are all vying for position in what may become one of AI's most lucrative verticals. Goldman Sachs introduced a generative AI assistant to its bankers, traders, and asset managers in January, signaling that major banks may build their own capabilities rather than rely exclusively on third-party providers.
The emergence of domain-specific AI models like BloombergGPT β trained specifically on financial data β suggests the market may fragment between generalized AI assistants and specialized tools. Anthropic's strategy appears to stake out a middle ground: general-purpose models, since Claude was not trained exclusively on financial data, enhanced with financial-specific tooling, data access, and workflows.
The company's partnership strategy with implementation consultancies including Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Slalom, TribeAI, and Turing is equally critical. These firms serve as force multipliers, embedding Anthropic's technology into their own service offerings and providing the change management expertise that financial institutions need to successfully adopt AI at scale.
CFOs worry about AI hallucinations and cascading errors
The broader question is whether AI tools like Claude will genuinely transform financial services productivity or merely shift work around. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "The Agentic Trust Gap" found that chief financial officers remain hesitant about AI agents, with "nagging concern" about hallucinations where "an AI agent can go off script and expose firms to cascading payment errors and other inaccuracies."
"For finance leaders, the message is stark: Harness AI's momentum now, but build the guardrails before the next quarterly callβor risk owning the fallout," the report warned.
A 2025 KPMG report found that 70% of board members have developed responsible use policies for employees, with other popular initiatives including implementing a recognized AI risk and governance framework, developing ethical guidelines and training programs for AI developers, and conducting regular AI use audits.
The financial services industry faces a delicate balancing act: move too slowly and risk competitive disadvantage as rivals achieve productivity gains; move too quickly and risk operational failures, regulatory penalties, or reputational damage. Speaking at the Evident AI Symposium in New York last week, Ian Glasner, HSBC's group head of emerging technology, innovation and ventures, struck an optimistic tone about the sector's readiness for AI adoption. "As an industry, we are very well prepared to manage risk," he said, according to CIO Dive. "Let's not overcomplicate this. We just need to be focused on the business use case and the value associated."
Anthropic's latest moves suggest the company sees financial services as a beachhead market where AI's value proposition is clear, customers have deep pockets, and the technical requirements play to Claude's strengths in reasoning and accuracy. By building Excel integration, securing data partnerships, and pre-packaging common workflows, Anthropic is reducing the friction that typically slows enterprise AI adoption.
The $61.5 billion valuation the company commanded in its March fundraising round β up from roughly $16 billion a year earlier β suggests investors believe this strategy will work. But the real test will come as these tools move from pilot programs to production deployments across thousands of analysts and billions of dollars in transactions.
Financial services may prove to be AI's most demanding proving ground: an industry where mistakes are costly, regulation is stringent, and trust is everything. If Claude can successfully navigate the spreadsheet cells and data feeds of Wall Street without hallucinating a decimal point in the wrong direction, Anthropic will have accomplished something far more valuable than winning another benchmark test. It will have proven that AI can be trusted with the money.
Meta used a softer launch strategy for Ray-Ban Display, requiring a demo to order the smart glasses. Now, interested buyers can use Verizon stores for demos.
Nvidia reportedly reduces 8GB RTX 5060 Ti supply in response to low sales According to a report from Board Channels, Nvidia has told its board partners to limit their supply of 8GB RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards. This is due to lower-than-expected sales for the 8GB version of this graphics card. Simply put, gamers are [β¦]
The power profiles on Lenovo Legion devices running Linux have been somewhat broken, where the highest-end Extreme mode would run on models that weren't ever designed to support it. A new proposed patch fixes this, corrects power profiles to work as intended, and makes it so that only explicitly approved models can get access to the Extreme mode easily.
Apple is beta testing a framework that would allow developers to include individual app data in migrations from iOS to Android β simplifying the switch.
Cyme, the makers of macOS AI-powered photo management app Peakto, announced today that it is bringing a significant new version of Peakto to Adobe MAX 2025 in Los Angeles next week, including a public beta version of its new Peakto plugin for Adobe's video editor, Adobe Premiere Pro.
AI is causing mayhem at EA, but the publisher is doubling down EA has just announced a newΒ partnership with Stability AI, aiming to co-develop AI models that will βempower our artists, designers and developersβ. This news follows aΒ Business Insider report detailingΒ the negative impacts of AI within EA. Developers are now spending time fixing flawed AI [β¦]
Google Meet is adding a few limited-time effects for Halloween, including spooky makeup and AI-generated virtual backgrounds. Here's how to try them out.
As generative AI redefines mobile technology, experts predict a seismic shift where apps become mere extensions of AI's intellect, paving the way for seamless user experience.
As smartphones evolve into central AI hubs, new technologies like smart glasses promise seamless interaction with digital environments. IDC anticipates that in just 3-5 years, users will rely on personalized AI across multiple devices, revolutionizing everyday connectivity.
No, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will not be releasing early Following reports that Treyarch planned to launch Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 early, the studio has made it clear that the game will be released on November 14th. While the studio did not directly reference the rumours, it was made clear that [β¦]
ChatGPT Atlas brings AI browsing to macOS β Windows version coming soon! OpenAI has officially released its ChatGPT Atlas web browser, which aims to challenge Google Chrome with tight AI integration. Currently, the browser is only available for macOS, though versions are planned for Windows, Android, and iOS. With Atlas, OpenAI aims to transform web [β¦]