Chicago IT Support & Cyber Security | Forward Technologies

Chicago-based Forward Technologies delivers IT support and cyber security to businesses in the Chicago area and nationwide.

The AI Free Ride Is Starting to End

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Cartoon-style illustration of a worried office worker sitting at a desk in front of a laptop while reviewing a report that shows rapidly rising costs. The report features a gauge in the red zone and a stack of coins, suggesting escalating expenses. Large windows behind him reveal a city skyline at sunset, while coffee cups and a laptop on the desk reinforce the corporate office setting. The image symbolizes growing concern over the rising cost of AI tools and enterprise technology spending.The AI subsidy era is ending, and the bills are finally showing up.

Microsoft is reportedly cutting back internal Claude Code licenses and steering developers toward GitHub Copilot CLI instead. It matters because this is Microsoft, not some cash-strapped startup. This is the company that poured billions into OpenAI, owns GitHub, and runs one of the biggest cloud businesses on earth. If even Microsoft is looking at token-based usage and deciding the math does not work, everyone else should probably pay attention. [Read more…]

Judge Sides with Meta in AI Book Lawsuit, But Blames Authors for Weak Case

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A close-up of a courtroom table with a rejected file labeled “Poorly Argued Case” and a glowing one labeled “Indirect Substitution Evidence” still unopened.A federal judge handed Meta a win in a major copyright case over using books to train AI models. But the decision wasn’t exactly a validation of Meta’s practices. It was a result of the authors failing to argue their case effectively.

Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in Meta’s favor after finding that the authors who sued didn’t present the right arguments or evidence. They claimed Meta’s Llama models let users reproduce their book content and that Meta harmed the market for licensing books to AI companies. Chhabria dismissed both arguments. He said the AI model couldn’t reproduce long excerpts even with aggressive prompting, and that authors don’t have the right to control the entire market for AI training licenses. [Read more…]

When the Code Breaks, the AI Doesn’t Get the Call. I do

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An “intern” character eagerly taking notes and improving, next to an AI bot that keeps dropping the same book labeled “Learn to Code” on the floor.The buzz around AI-powered coding tools is hard to avoid, and I get asked about them a lot. Instead of continuing to repeat myself I figured it was time to write down exactly why I don’t use them, and why that decision isn’t about being for or against AI in some grand ideological sense. This is just a practical take based on how I work, what I value, and what actually helps me get things done.

The core issue is speed—or the lack of it. If AI tools helped me move faster, I’d consider them. But they don’t. The idea of having an AI assistant write code for me sounds nice. A little robot fixing bugs while I sip coffee? Sure. But it doesn’t work like that. Any code that goes into my projects has to meet a standard, and that means reviewing it line by line. I have to understand what it’s doing, why it’s doing it, and feel confident I can tweak it later. Otherwise, it’s a liability. [Read more…]

Gmail Mobile Is Auto-Summarizing Your Emails, No Permission Needed

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Gmail mobile app displaying AI-generated email summary using GeminiGmail users on Android and iOS are about to see a lot more AI, whether they ask for it or not. Google has started rolling out a new update that automatically generates summaries for emails in the mobile app. The summaries, powered by Gemini, will show up at the top of the message view—no tapping required.

Previously, users had to opt in by pressing a “Summarize this email” button. That’s gone. Now, Gmail will decide when a summary might be useful and insert it without prompting. Google hasn’t said exactly what criteria it uses to trigger a summary, but the company hints it’s targeting long messages or email threads with multiple replies. In practice, it’s likely going to be a low bar. Google’s been eager to boost user engagement with its AI tools across its entire product line. [Read more…]

Google’s New AI Mode Reshapes Search, Ready or Not

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Google search interface displaying AI Mode with conversational results and data summariesGoogle is moving full steam ahead with AI integration in Search, whether users are ready for it or not. After a rocky debut last year, its AI Overviews have returned with a new feature in tow: AI Mode. Live for U.S. users following the company’s 2025 I/O event, this new tab aims to radically alter how people interact with search results.

AI Mode introduces a more conversational interface that mimics tools like ChatGPT. It’s built to handle layered, complex queries, parsing out multiple topics and drawing on a wide range of sources to deliver synthesized answers. The system uses what Google calls a “query fan-out” approach—breaking a question into parts, running simultaneous searches, and stitching the findings together into one long-form reply. Answers include sources and are presented with summaries, sometimes even visual data. [Read more…]

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Forward Technologies
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