By Marco Hugo Barsotti MHB 
Welcome to the media review of Francia24 and Radio Centrale Milano: radio, artificial intelligence, publishing, and large media and finance groups: two news items for each topic.
Radio
Special broadcast from Akashvani in India
The Akashvani broadcaster, from Bhawanipatna, will broadcast news on the 1206 kHz frequency. The broadcast will take place on October 28, 2026, at an unusual time, set for 21:30 UT, which corresponds to 3 AM in India.
Source: mediumwave.info
Podmerse analyzes sponsor recurrence in podcasts
The Podmerse portal, founded by Anuj Agarwal and Vineet Agarwal, helps podcast producers identify brands that invest in similar programs. The platform claims to monitor over 368 thousand brands, approximately 44 thousand programs, and more than 2 million sponsored episodes.
According to company data, only 34% of the brand-program matches detected in the first quarter of 2026 reappear in the second quarter. Although this data measures the recurrence of presence and not contract renewals, the discontinuity in collection raises questions about customer acquisition costs for publishers. The The Podcast Study 2026 report also indicates that approximately 55% of US respondents consider advertisements excessive.
Source: Newslinet
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial colleagues are increasing in workplaces
In tech startups, such as Anything, the ratio between human employees and artificial intelligence agents is changing rapidly. Dhruv Amin believes that in a year, every company will have more digital than human colleagues. For example, the company Lindy has replaced one-third of its staff with AI agents; according to Haneen Azhar, Lindy’s agents now handle tasks that previously required about 100 people.
The use of this software is considered a status symbol for productivity, but it creates tension. Some workers, such as Tarek Abillama, claim that everyone has now become a manager who must supervise bots. However, there are concerns regarding the loss of human interaction and the need to correct agent errors.
Source: The Guardian
Google launches Gemini 4 Carbon against OpenAI and Anthropic
Google presented Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28, 2026, an artificial intelligence model designed to identify software vulnerabilities, test their exploitation, and propose fixes. According to company data, the model reaches 88.2% in flaw searching, 54.8% in exploitation testing, and 71% in patch generation. The initial distribution is limited to a selected group of defenders.
The new tool challenges competitors already in operation: OpenAI offers Codex Security and the Daybreak ecosystem, while Anthropic has opened Claude Code Security to a limited group of corporate clients. The market is evolving from code assistants towards agents capable of conducting technical investigations. According to an assessment by Artificial Analysis, despite a score of 59 points in the Intelligence Index 5.0, Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 maintains a higher score of 62 points in the programming agent index.
Source: AI4Business
Publishing and large media groups
Social media ban in the UK for under-16s
The introduction of a ban for those under 16 from accessing social media, scheduled for next spring, risks excluding over 100,000 British teenagers. According to the regulator Ofcom, approximately 150,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 17 do not possess a passport or a driving license, documents that could be necessary to access platforms with age restrictions.
Melanie Dawes, head of Ofcom, stated that motivated children will try to bypass restrictions, comparing the situation to alcohol laws. The regulator highlighted that the use of age estimation systems via selfies could be inaccurate by several years, making an official identity document a necessary support to avoid the exclusion of a portion of the youth population.
Source: The Guardian
RedBird and Sound Ventures launch a billion-dollar fund
RedBird Capital Partners and Sound Ventures have entered into a partnership to invest one billion dollars in emerging platforms at the intersection of technology, media, and culture. The initiative will integrate RedBird’s global reach with Sound Ventures’ access to founders and marketing skills. RedBird will also bring the expertise of RedBird X, the AI incubation and investment platform led by Hamid Biglari.
RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale stated that large tech companies and their founders need versatile partners who understand the long-term trajectory of building an enterprise. Guy Oseary, co-founder of Sound Ventures, stated that RedBird offers a different perspective that complements what Sound has built, bringing resources and scale to amplify investment impact.
Source: Deadline
Finance
The impact of artificial intelligence on companies
According to Ed Zitron, artificial intelligence has not yet produced financial benefits for American companies, excluding the major tech players. Citing economist Torsten Slok, Zitron observes that, despite massive investments, profit margins and revenue per worker remain flat for the S&P 493 index, while only growing for the seven giants of the tech sector (Mag 7).
The journalist also claims that the company Anthropic is intentionally misleading investors through the publication of an IPO document. According to Zitron, the company presents a profit situation based on exceptional discounts, while it will face non-cancelable contractual obligations exceeding 430 billion dollars with Amazon and Google.
Source: Ed Zitron, Where’s Your Ed At
Harvard: the fund grows by 27% in 2026
Harvard’s endowment grew by 27.1% in the 2026 fiscal year, reaching nearly 68 billion dollars. This result, the best in the last five years, outperforms the S&P 500 return of 22.3% by 4.8 percentage points. The fund’s primary holding is represented by SpaceX, with a 2.2 billion dollar investment, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company with nearly 350 million dollars.
However, the financial situation is influenced by federal government decisions. Revenue for sponsored research fell by 19.5% to 509 million dollars. Financial officer Ritu Kalra and treasurer Timothy Barakett estimated that the increase in the federal tax on net investments, which rose from 1.4% to 8%, will cost approximately 300 million dollars per year. President Alan Garber admitted the presence of obstacles and uncertainties, stating that the institution can still succeed.
Source: CNBC
Radio Nizza and Francia24
You can find all news related to Nice and the Côte d’Azur on radionizza.it
You can find all news related to France on francia24.com and franciaoggi.com
Closing.
Online, on BlueSky and Mastodon, on all smart speakers, and on medium waves, this is the media review of Francia24 and Radio Centrale Milano.
And now for our French-speaking listeners, a brief recap of today’s news in French.
Dans l’actualité des médias, la station indienne Akashvani prévoit une émission spéciale sur la fréquence 1206 kHz le 28 octobre 2026 à 21h30 UT. Par ailleurs, le portail Podmerse souligne une forte discontinuité dans le sponsoring des podcasts, précisant que seuls 34 % des partenariats se renouvellent entre les deux premiers trimestres de 2026, tandis que 55 % des auditeurs américains jugent la publicité excessive. Dans le secteur de l’intelligence artificielle, la montée des agents numériques transforme le travail, comme l’illustre la société Lindy qui a remplacé un tiers de son personnel par des agents IA, créant des tensions sur la supervision humaine. En parallèle, Google a lancé Gemini 4 Carbon, un modèle spécialisé dans la détection de failles logicielles avec un taux de réussite de 88,2 %, défiant ainsi les solutions de sécurité d’OpenAI et d’Anthropic. Côté édition, l’interdiction des réseaux sociaux pour les mineurs de moins de 16 ans au Royaume-Uni inquiète l’Ofcom, qui redoute l’exclusion de 150 000 jeunes dépourvus de documents d’identité officiels. Dans le domaine de l’investissement, RedBird Capital Partners et Sound Ventures lancent un fonds d’un milliard de dollars pour les technologies et la culture. Enfin, sur le plan financier, l’intelligence artificielle ne profite pour l’instant qu’aux géants technologiques selon Ed Zitron, qui pointe les obligations d’Anthropic envers Amazon et Google. De son côté, le fonds de l’Université Harvard a bondi de 27,1 % pour atteindre près de 68 milliards de dollars, porté par un investissement de 2,2 milliards de dollars dans SpaceX.
Sign-off.
Online, on X and Mastodon, on all smart speakers and on medium wave, this is FranciaOggi with Centrale Milano 1575 kilohertz.
Source: AudioVisione – AM 1575 News