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Over half of marketers say they can’t do their jobs without AI, despite poor resultsBudgets for AI keep rising, even though 81% of leaders say it's being wastedMarketers are stuck manually fixing AI output for days every weekSocial media professionals have grown increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence, with new research finding more than half saying they now can’t imagine performing their roles without it.A survey from Hootsuite claims this growing reliance is not matched by results despite heavy investments in AI technologies.The firm's research reveals 88% of senior marketing leaders are encouraging their teams to use AI tools, yet 81% admit budgets are being wasted on tools not fit for purpose. Manual work persists despite automation promisesDelving deeper, Hootsuite found many marketers find themselves trapped in a time-consuming cycle of manual labor and subpar outcomes, revealing a deep disconnect between expectations and the actual utility of generative AI tools in marketing.A significant proportion of social media managers still spend up to three full working days each week verifying AI-generated content and manually gathering insights from online platforms.This lag not only drains staff time but also affects campaign performance.As trends shift rapidly, marketers often find their content outdated by the time it is published, which may explain why over half of senior marketers feel their campaigns consistently underperform.The financial implications are just as troubling. Budgets for AI tools continue to rise, yet for some, the wasted investment exceeds 20% of their entire marketing budget."This should be a wake up call to all marketers: traditional AI isn’t as sophisticated as you think it is," noted Irina Novoselsky, CEO at Hootsuite."With five billion people spending up to five hours a day online, social is one of the richest sources of real-time data sources available and yet, traditional AI tools still can’t harness it, leaving the insights marketers truly need hiding in plain sight."(Image credit: NPowell/Flux)With rising pressure from executive leadership to justify every expense, marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to defend investments in AI tools that fail to deliver tangible returns.A critical weakness in current generative AI systems lies in their reliance on outdated datasets.These tools often fail to capture the dynamic nature of real-time audience behavior, meaning that their insights may be out of sync with the present moment.While 64% of senior leaders believe their AI tools offer real-time insights, only 39% of social media managers agree, a clear signal that confidence in AI’s real-world performance is uneven across organizational levels.In response to these challenges, Hootsuite has introduced OwlyGPT, a generative AI assistant trained on live social data.The company says, this tool delivers up-to-the-minute insights tailored to brand voice and cultural context.Considering the issues with AI static data, this move appears promising, but it's good to approach it with some skepticism. After all, businesses have been led to believe in AI’s transformative power before, only to confront disappointing results.You might also likeThese are the best AI website builders aroundTake a look at our pick of the best internet security suitesThis is the first 8K 120Hz monitor ever produced - but I don't think the tech market will ever be ready for it

Complex problems often demand simple answers. When we overcomplicate things, whether in life or business, we almost always end up worse off. Later, we look back and think: if only I’d kept it simple.Cybersecurity is no different, though the source of that simplicity may lie in unexpected places.With the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) now sounding the alarm on quantum-era threats and AI-powered malware, it’s clear the risks are evolving fast. These threats adapt, mutate and inject themselves into systems at alarming speed. It’s no wonder business leaders are extremely concerned about the risk of existing cyber strategies and deployed solutions being overwhelmed.Outspending the problem isn’t workingA recent McKinsey report reveals that cybersecurity spending surged to $200 billion in 2024—up from $140 billion in 2020—yet breaches keep rising.To confront these rising risks, organizations are doubling down on complex cybersecurity stacks, layering tools in the belief that more technology equals more protection.But what if that logic is flawed? What if, instead of boosting your system resilience, complexity increases and hides your vulnerabilities? In truth, we’re stuck in a complexity trap.Organizations are drowning in software solutions that promise the world but deliver confusion. Each new tool might address a specific threat vector, but the resulting patchwork of platforms often leads to fragmented visibility and hidden blind spots.In short, we risk opening more doors that attackers can walk through.By trying to guard against every threat, we become entangled in complexity and exposed to its consequences—creating a false sense of security in the process.Simplicity solves complexity When you strip back your cybersecurity layers and concentrate on a back-to-basics approach that’s founded on clarity, control and isolation, you achieve better protection than any complex software stack.Now, this isn’t about throwing out digital defenses. It’s about recognising their limits and rethinking where real resilience comes from.Software alone, no matter how smart, is still vulnerable to manipulation. And with AI supercharging attacks in real time—learning from failed breach attempts, mimicking user behavior and exploiting every crack in the system at an accelerating pace—this has never been truer.That’s why physical isolation has stepped back into the conversation. It’s not just a legacy idea from a pre-cloud era; it’s the critical missing idea in modern cyber strategy.The case for physical network isolationHighly motivated threat actors and AI-powered malware have the ability to think and spread without human input. With devastating precision, it targets high-value assets, adapting mid-attack.This calls for a defense that is unhackable by nature.Hardware-based network isolation is exactly that. When systems are physically segmented—truly separated from the internet – remote infection becomes impossible. The key to modern deployment of this traditional airgap method lies in being able to control it, at will, on demand.If malware can't make contact, it can't compromise. It’s that simple.Even if a system is somehow breached, physical segmentation allows businesses to readily contain the threat. When you isolate systems from one another with hardware, not just firewalls or virtual LANs, you prevent lateral movement, stop data exfiltration and drastically reduce the blast radius of any attack.This is especially critical for operational technology, critical infrastructure and sensitive research environments, where uptime is essential and downtime is catastrophic.An overdue shift in thinking The complexity trap is reflected in how we spend. According to industry research, 65% of cyber budgets now go to third-party tools and services, outpacing investment in in-house capability.But security is not just a tech problem; it’s a strategic design challenge. Businesses today react to new threats by accumulating more tools. What’s needed instead is a clear, layered security plan that’s built with purpose, not patched together.That begins with rethinking how much of your infrastructure truly needs to be online. In a hyperconnected world, we’ve defaulted to keeping everything on all the time.But always-on equals always-vulnerable. If certain data or systems don’t require constant internet access, why expose them?By selectively disconnecting key assets, at the right time, you can regain control of your business.The future starts with hardwareLet’s be clear: this isn’t a step backward. It’s a step toward resilience. Software-based security remains essential. But as threats evolve, our defenses must too.Layered protection that starts with hardware-based control is the only viable way forward. It combines the speed and scale of software with the unbreachable foundations of physical isolation.Think of it like a bank vault. The digital defenses are the alarms, cameras and motion detectors. But the vault? That’s your hardware-based barrier. Even the smartest thief can’t crack it from a distance.Protecting your systems isn’t just about keeping up with the latest threats. It’s about doing what works, what’s reliable and proven.Because just like in life, the clearest answers are often the strongest ones.And in cybersecurity, simplicity is the ultimate advantage.We list the best endpoint protection software.This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Jurassic World Evolution 3 will no longer feature AI generated character portraitsThis was confirmed by the developers via the Steam ForumIt follows community backlash regarding the inclusionThe developer of the upcoming dinosaur park management simulator Jurassic World Evolution 3 has announced that the game will no longer feature some AI-generated visual assets following community outrage.When the next entry in the Jurassic World Evolution series was first revealed at last year's Summer Game Fest, some eagle-eyed fans spotted an AI-generated content disclosure on its Steam page. "Scientists' avatars are created using generative AI," it read, referring to some in-game character portraits.The disclosure, which is now required by Valve, is intended to increase transparency and allow consumers to decide whether they are comfortable purchasing a product with any generative AI involvement.Many Jurassic World Evolution fans reacted negatively to the news, with a huge thread on the Steam forums discussing the move. "Nope, I will not support this," wrote one potential player. "It's a matter of principle," chimed in another.A few defended the decision: "If using AI to quickly generate images for scientists [...] helps free up time for development on actually-important mechanics, then it is worthwhile to use. Being upset over something that is so inconsequential to the rest of the game is pretty ridiculous."No matter which side of the AI content debate you fall on, polarising your fanbase like this ahead of a major launch is never a particularly good idea and risks overshadowing all other conversation regarding the game.This is presumably one of the reasons why developer Frontier Developments has announced that the game will no longer feature the AI-generated assets."Thanks for your feedback on this topic," a representative wrote on the Steam forum "We have opted to remove the use of generative AI for scientist portraits within Jurassic World Evolution 3."The AI-generated content disclosure has now been removed from the Steam page, too, which presumably means that the title will no longer feature any AI-generated content.Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set to launch on October 21, 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PlayStation 5.You might also like...King of Meat’s chaotic co-op action and quirky creator mode show me that it might just have the legs to succeedThe Corsair Platform:4 packs big gaming desk performance into a small package that’s perfect if you’re short on spaceBuild A Rocket Boy confirms it has begun the redundancy process following MindsEye's disastrous launch