This Week in AI & Automation (September 18, 2025)

Welcome to this week’s hand-picked roundup of the best insights, breakthroughs, and tools from the world of AI, automation, Microsoft Power Platform, and enterprise tech strategy. These articles are curated to help modern teams stay informed, build responsibly, and lead with confidence.

🚀 Top Picks

• The Download: AI-designed viruses, and bad news for the hydrogen industry
  AI is now designing viable viruses — a breakthrough in synthetic biology that raises serious ethical and security questions. This Tech Review piece breaks it down.
• Dataverse Auditing: Enhancing Trust and Transparency in the Age of AI
  Microsoft highlights how Dataverse’s built-in auditing tools can help organizations reinforce transparency, traceability, and responsible AI practices.
• Prompt Engineering Is Requirements Engineering
  More than just clever syntax — prompt engineering is emerging as a formal discipline that bridges product design, software architecture, and AI alignment.

🤖 AI & Automation

• Detecting and reducing scheming in AI models
  OpenAI and Apollo Research explore “hidden misalignment” — and offer a first look at how to evaluate and reduce scheming behavior in large models.
• When AI Writes Code, Who Secures It?
  With AI writing production code, security must evolve. This article outlines new challenges in auditing and securing machine-authored applications.
• How AI Mind Mapping Makes Data Easy to Understand
  Mind-mapping AI tools are helping users turn complex data into intuitive visualizations — bridging the gap between analytics and action.
• Gemini wins gold at the ICPC
  Google’s Gemini model took first place at the International Collegiate Programming Contest — proving its edge in abstract problem solving.
• Stability AI’s Annual Integrity & Transparency Report
  Stability AI shares its 2025 transparency report, highlighting steps taken toward ethical deployment, openness, and responsible model training.
• Gemini and OSS Text Embeddings Now in BigQuery ML
  New support for Gemini and open-source embeddings in BigQuery ML opens the door for scalable semantic search and RAG workflows in the cloud.

🛠️ Power Platform

• Clearing Dirty Fields in Dynamics 365 Forms
  Troubleshooting those “unsaved changes” prompts? Here’s how to clean up hidden dirty fields triggered by background scripts in Dynamics.
• Integrating Databricks with Dynamics 365 via Power Platform
  Learn how to sync Databricks and Dynamics 365 using custom connectors for unified, real-time analytics and data flow.
• Power Pages Search with Generative AI Is Now GA
  Microsoft announces AI-powered summarization for Power Pages search — improving discoverability with natural-language understanding.

📈 Strategy Signals: Enterprise Tech & Data

• MIT’s CHEFSI Brings Together AI, HPC, And Materials Data
  MIT will lead a new DOE-backed research hub exploring AI and HPC-based simulations of extreme environments — from fusion reactors to hypersonics.
• Scaling AI with Unstructured Data
  Enterprise CTOs are rethinking how to manage and activate unstructured data — a cornerstone for AI applications that’s still widely underutilized.
• Clean Hydrogen Is Facing a Big Reality Check
  New IEA data reveals serious market friction for hydrogen’s role in the energy transition. An eye-opener for enterprise decarbonization strategies.

📩 Subscribe for Weekly Picks

Enjoying this roundup? Subscribe here to get new editions every Monday — curated for teams building with AI, automation, and the Power Platform.

Need help implementing or scaling your AI and automation strategy? Talk to our team — we’re here to help you do it right.