<p>Innovation shapes our future—and how we understand the world today. This feed dives into the breakthroughs, ethical questions, and real-world impacts of science and tech. From AI to climate research to space exploration, explore how knowledge becomes progress—and how we can ensure it’s progress for all.</p>

Science & Technology

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Iran’s Regime Has Shut Down the Internet in the Middle of War – Placing Civilians in the Crosshairs

NASA, Europe, China, India, and Japan are all preparing major missions that will expand science and human presence in space.

Investing In Space Exploration and Science

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  <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/grant-tremblay-2530320">Grant Tremblay</a> | <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/smithsonian-institution-1227">Smithsonian Institution</a><br>Jan. 14, 2026 

  <p>In 2026, astronauts will travel around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era, powerful new space telescopes will prepare to survey billions of galaxies, and multiple nations will launch missions aimed at finding habitable worlds, water on the Moon and clues to how our solar system formed.</p>

<p>Together, these launches will mark a turning point in how humanity studies the universe – and how nations cooperate and compete beyond Earth. Coming from one of the <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/">world’s largest astrophysical research institutes</a>, I can tell you, the anticipation across the global space science community is electric.</p>

<h2>Mapping the cosmos at unprecedented scales</h2>

<p>Several of the most ambitious missions slated for launch in 2026 share a common goal: to map the universe on the largest possible scales and reveal how planets, galaxies and the largest cosmic structures evolved over billions of years. </p>

<p>The centerpiece of this effort is <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/">NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope</a>. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/roman-space-telescope/nasa-completes-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-construction/">Construction completed on the Roman telescope</a> in December at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and if all goes well, it could launch as early as fall 2026. </p>

<p>What makes Roman more special than NASA’s other flagship space telescopes is not just what it will see, but how much of the sky it can see at once. Its 300-megapixel camera can capture regions of sky about <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/roman-and-hubble/">100 times larger</a> than the Hubble Space Telescope’s field of view while maintaining comparable sharpness – like switching from studying individual tiles to surveying the entire mosaic at once. </p>

<p>During its five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to discover more than 100,000 distant exoplanets, map billions of galaxies strewn across cosmic time and help scientists probe <a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-matter-the-mystery-substance-physics-still-cant-identify-that-makes-up-the-majority-of-our-universe-85808">dark matter</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-mysterious-dark-energy-that-speeds-the-universes-rate-of-expansion-40224">dark energy</a> – the invisible scaffolding and mysterious forces that together account for <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-normal-matter-in-the-universe-isnt-found-in-planets-stars-or-galaxies-an-astronomer-explains-where-its-distributed-269313">95% of the cosmos</a>. </p>

<p>Roman also carries a coronagraph, a pathfinder instrument that can block out a star’s blinding light to directly photograph planets orbiting around it. The technology could pave the way for future missions, like NASA’s planned <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/habitable-worlds-observatory/">Habitable Worlds Observatory</a>, capable of searching for signs of life on Earth-like worlds. </p>



<p>Over in Europe, the European Space Agency’s <a href="https://www.dlr.de/en/latest/news/2025/plato-mission-to-launch-in-late-2026-onboard-ariane-6">PLATO mission</a>, short for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission, is scheduled to launch in December 2026 aboard Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket. PLATO will monitor about 200,000 stars using an array of 26 cameras, searching for small, rocky planets in their <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-the-habitable-zone-exoplanet-atmospheres-are-the-next-clue-to-finding-life-on-planets-orbiting-distant-stars-267498">stars’ habitable zones</a>, while also determining the stars’ ages. </p>

<p>For China, 2026 is expected to mark a milestone of a different kind: the launch of its first large flagship space telescope dedicated to astrophysics. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuntian">Xuntian space telescope</a>, also known as the Chinese space station telescope, is currently expected to launch in late 2026. Xuntian will survey enormous regions of the sky with image quality comparable to Hubble’s, but with a field of view more than <a href="https://www.space.com/china-space-telescope-xuntian">300 times larger</a>.</p>

<p>Like NASA’s Roman Space Telescope, Xuntian is designed to tackle some of modern cosmology’s biggest questions. It will hunt for dark matter and dark energy, survey billions of galaxies and trace how cosmic structure evolved over time. Uniquely, Xuntian will co-orbit with China’s Tiangong space station, allowing astronauts to service and upgrade it and, potentially, extending its life for decades. </p>

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            <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of a space telescope, which looks like a metal cylinder with two solar panels attached to either side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=347&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/709800/original/file-20251218-56-cz1sww.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=436&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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              <span class="caption">A recent rendering of China’s Xuntian space station telescope, which is on track to launch in late 2026.</span>
              <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/cas_media/202207/t20220721_308470.shtml">China National Space Administration</a></span>
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<p>Together with the new <a href="https://rubinobservatory.org/">Vera C. Rubin Observatory</a> on the ground, which will repeatedly scan the entire southern sky to capture how the universe changes over time, the Roman, PLATO and Xuntian space telescopes will study the cosmos not just as it is but as it evolves.</p>

<h2>Global milestones in human spaceflight</h2>

<p>While robotic observatories quietly expand our view of the cosmos, 2026 will also mark a major step forward for human spaceflight.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/">NASA’s Artemis II mission</a>, now readying for launch as early as April 2026, will <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-next-four-people-headed-to-the-moon-how-the-diverse-crew-of-artemis-ii-shows-nasas-plan-for-the-future-of-space-exploration-203214">send four astronauts</a> on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. It will be the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-17/">since Apollo 17</a> in December 1972.</p>

<p>Across the globe, India is preparing to reach a similarly historic milestone. Through its <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/FutureMissions.html">Gaganyaan program</a>, the <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/">Indian Space Research Organisation</a> is planning a series of uncrewed test flights in 2026 as it works toward sending astronauts to space. If that happens, India would become only the fourth nation to achieve human spaceflight on its own – a significant <a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-chandrayaan-3-landed-on-the-south-pole-of-the-moon-a-space-policy-expert-explains-what-this-means-for-india-and-the-global-race-to-the-moon-212171">technological and symbolic achievement</a>. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, China will continue regular crewed flights to its Tiangong space station in 2026, part of a broader effort to build the experience, infrastructure and technologies needed for its planned human missions to the Moon later in the decade. </p>

<p>In parallel, NASA is relying increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/boeings-starliner-launches-toward-the-international-space-station-an-important-milestone-for-commercial-spaceflight-228862">on commercial spacecraft</a> to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, freeing the agency to focus its own human spaceflight efforts on deep-space missions beyond Earth.</p>

<p>Together, Artemis II, Gaganyaan and China’s ongoing crewed space station missions reflect a renewed global push toward <a href="https://theconversation.com/nasa-wants-to-send-humans-to-mars-in-the-2030s-a-crewed-mission-could-unlock-some-of-the-red-planets-geologic-mysteries-239814">human exploration beyond Earth orbit</a> – one in which governments and commercial partners alike are laying the groundwork for longer missions and a sustained human presence in space.</p>

<h2>The origin and geology of the Moon and Mars</h2>

<p>Another set of 2026 missions focuses on a more grounded question: how rocky worlds – and the resources they contain – came to be. </p>

<p>Japan’s <a href="https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/">Martian Moons eXploration mission</a>, slated to launch in late 2026, will travel to Mars, spend three years studying both of its small, potato-shaped moons – Phobos and Deimos – and collect a surface sample from Phobos to bring back to Earth by 2031. </p>

<p>Scientists still debate whether <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mars/moons/">these moons originated</a> as captured asteroids or debris from an ancient giant impact with Mars. Returning pristine material from Phobos could finally settle that question and reshape our understanding of how the inner solar system evolved.</p>

<p>China’s <a href="https://www.space.com/the-universe/moon/hopping-robot-will-hunt-for-moon-water-on-chinas-2026-lunar-mission">Chang'e 7 mission</a>, expected to launch in mid-2026, will head to the Moon’s south pole, a region of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rush-to-return-humans-to-the-moon-and-build-lunar-bases-could-threaten-opportunities-for-astronomy-229688">intense scientific and strategic interest</a>. The mission includes an orbiter, lander, rover and a small flying “hopper” designed to leap into permanently shadowed craters, where sunlight never reaches. These craters are thought to <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-suspect-theres-ice-hiding-on-the-moon-and-a-host-of-missions-from-the-us-and-beyond-are-searching-for-it-216060">harbor water ice</a>, a resource that could one day support astronauts or be converted into rocket fuel for deeper-space missions.</p>

<p>The Chinese and Japanese missions both highlight how planetary science and exploration are becoming increasingly intertwined, as understanding the geology of nearby worlds also informs future human activity.</p>

<h2>It’s the Sun’s solar system, we’re just living in it</h2>

<p>In 2025, powerful solar storms <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251201-how-cosmic-rays-grounded-thousands-of-aircraft">forced airlines to reroute and ground flights</a>, disrupted radio communications and pushed vivid auroras far beyond their usual polar haunts – lighting up skies <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12/nx-s1-5274739/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-solar-storms">as far south as Florida</a>. These events are reminders that space is not a distant abstraction: Activity on the Sun can have <a href="https://theconversation.com/solar-storms-have-influenced-our-history-an-environmental-historian-explains-how-they-could-also-threaten-our-future-258668">immediate consequences here on Earth</a>.</p>

<p>Not all of 2026’s major missions look outward into deep space. Some are focused on understanding the dynamic space environment that surrounds our own planet.</p>

<p>In a notable example of international cooperation, the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile">solar wind magnetosphere ionosphere link explorer</a>, SMILE – a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences – is scheduled for launch in spring 2026. </p>

<p>SMILE will provide the first global images of how <a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-magnetic-field-protects-life-on-earth-from-radiation-but-it-can-move-and-the-magnetic-poles-can-even-flip-216231">Earth’s magnetic field</a> responds to the constant <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-solar-storms-and-the-solar-wind-3-astrophysicists-explain-how-particles-coming-from-the-sun-interact-with-earth-264013">stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun</a>. That interaction drives space weather, including solar storms that can disrupt satellites, navigation systems, power grids and communications. </p>

<p>Understanding those interactions is critical not only for <a href="https://theconversation.com/solar-storms-can-destroy-satellites-with-ease-a-space-weather-expert-explains-the-science-177510">protecting modern infrastructure</a> on Earth but also for <a href="https://theconversation.com/space-weather-forecasting-needs-an-upgrade-to-protect-future-artemis-astronauts-224921">safeguarding astronauts and spacecraft</a> operating beyond the planet’s protective magnetic shield. </p>

<p>At a time of <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-us-in-a-space-race-against-china-203473">growing geopolitical tension in space</a>, the mission also stands out as a rare and consequential example of sustained scientific cooperation between Europe and China.</p>

<h2>The global stakes</h2>

<p>These missions unfold against a <a href="https://theconversation.com/nasa-plans-to-build-a-nuclear-reactor-on-the-moon-a-space-lawyer-explains-why-and-what-the-law-has-to-say-262773">complex geopolitical backdrop</a>. The United States and China are both racing to <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-the-moon-can-benefit-commercial-military-and-political-sectors-a-space-policy-expert-explains-209300">return humans to the Moon</a> by the end of the decade. </p>

<p>Yet for all the competition, space science remains profoundly collaborative. Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission carries instruments from NASA, ESA and France. International teams share data, expertise and the sheer wonder of discovery. The universe, after all, <a href="https://theconversation.com/democratizing-space-is-more-than-just-adding-new-players-it-comes-with-questions-around-sustainability-and-sovereignty-257306">belongs to no one nation</a>.</p>

<p>Having spent my career studying the universe, I see 2026 as a year that reflects both the rivalries and the shared ambitions of space exploration today. Competition is real, but so is cooperation at a scale that would have been hard to imagine a generation ago. From the search for habitable worlds around distant stars to plans for returning humans to the Moon, the work is global – and the sky is shared by all.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272010/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /></p>

  <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/grant-tremblay-2530320">Grant Tremblay</a>, Federal Astrophysicist and External Relations Lead at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/smithsonian-institution-1227">Smithsonian Institution</a></em></span></p>

  <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-a-new-flagship-space-telescope-to-lunar-exploration-global-cooperation-and-competition-will-make-2026-an-exciting-year-for-space-272010">original article</a>.</em></p>
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From a New Space Telescope to Lunar Exploration, Global Cooperation – and Competition – Will Make 2026 an Exciting Year for Space

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AI agents reshaped daily life in 2025 — now governments must decide how to manage their power in 2026.

Regulating AI Agents Before Risks Spiral

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  <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/thomas-serban-von-davier-2548891">Thomas Şerban von Davier</a> | <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/carnegie-mellon-university-970">Carnegie Mellon University</a><br>Dec. 29, 2025

  <p>In artificial intelligence, 2025 marked a decisive shift. Systems once confined to research labs and prototypes began to appear as everyday tools. At the center of this transition was the rise of AI agents – AI systems that can use other software tools and act on their own.</p>

<p>While researchers have studied AI for more than 60 years, and the term “agent” has long been part of the field’s vocabulary, 2025 was the year the concept became concrete for developers and consumers alike. </p>

<p>AI agents moved from theory to infrastructure, reshaping how people interact with large language models, the systems that power chatbots like ChatGPT.</p>

<p>In 2025, the definition of AI agent shifted from the <a href="https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/%7Erussell/aima1e/chapter02.pdf">academic framing</a> of systems that perceive, reason and act to AI company <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents">Anthropic’s description</a> of large language models that are capable of using software tools and taking autonomous action. While large language models have long excelled at text-based responses, the recent change is their expanding capacity to act, using tools, calling <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-apis-a-computer-scientist-explains-the-data-sockets-that-make-digital-life-possible-213042">APIs</a>, coordinating with other systems and completing tasks independently.</p>

<p>This shift did not happen overnight. A key inflection point came in late 2024, when Anthropic released the <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol">Model Context Protocol</a>. The protocol allowed developers to connect large language models to external tools in a standardized way, effectively giving models the ability to act beyond generating text. With that, the stage was set for 2025 to become the year of AI agents.</p>


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<h2>The milestones that defined 2025</h2>

<p>The momentum accelerated quickly. In January, the release of Chinese model <a href="https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news250120">DeepSeek-R1</a> as an <a href="https://opensource.org/ai/open-weights">open-weight</a> model disrupted assumptions about who could build high-performing large language models, briefly rattling markets and intensifying global competition. An open-weight model is an AI model whose training, reflected in values called weights, is publicly available. Throughout 2025, major U.S. labs such as <a href="https://platform.openai.com/docs/models">OpenAI</a>, <a href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview">Anthropic</a>, <a href="https://deepmind.google/models/">Google</a> and <a href="https://docs.x.ai/docs/models">xAI</a> released larger, high-performance models, while Chinese tech companies including <a href="https://huggingface.co/Qwen/collections">Alibaba</a>, <a href="https://huggingface.co/tencent/collections">Tencent</a>, and <a href="https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/collections">DeepSeek</a> expanded the open-model ecosystem to the point where the Chinese models have been <a href="https://www.dataprovenance.org/economies-of-open-intelligence.pdf">downloaded more than American models</a>.</p>

<p>Another turning point came in April, when Google introduced its <a href="https://developers.googleblog.com/en/a2a-a-new-era-of-agent-interoperability/">Agent2Agent protocol</a>. While Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol focused on how agents use tools, Agent2Agent addressed how agents communicate with each other. Crucially, the two protocols were designed to work together. Later in the year, both <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/donating-the-model-context-protocol-and-establishing-of-the-agentic-ai-foundation">Anthropic</a> and <a href="https://developers.googleblog.com/en/google-cloud-donates-a2a-to-linux-foundation/">Google</a> donated their protocols to the open-source software nonprofit Linux Foundation, cementing them as open standards rather than proprietary experiments.</p>

<p>These developments quickly found their way into consumer products. By mid-2025, “agentic browsers” began to appear. Tools such as <a href="https://www.perplexity.ai/comet">Perplexity’s Comet</a>, <a href="https://www.diabrowser.com/">Browser Company’s Dia</a>, <a href="https://chatgpt.com/atlas/">OpenAI’s GPT Atlas</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/features/copilot?form=MT0160">Copilot in Microsoft’s Edge</a>, <a href="https://fellou.ai/">ASI X Inc.’s Fellou</a>, <a href="https://www.genspark.ai/browser">MainFunc.ai’s Genspark</a>, <a href="https://www.operaneon.com/">Opera’s Opera Neon</a> and others reframed the browser as an active participant rather than a passive interface. For example, rather than helping you search for vacation details, it plays a part in booking the vacation.</p>

<p>At the same time, workflow builders like <a href="https://n8n.io/">n8n</a> and <a href="https://www.googleantigravity.org/">Google’s Antigravity</a> lowered the technical barrier for creating custom agent systems beyond what has already happened with coding agents like <a href="https://cursor.com/">Cursor</a> and <a href="https://github.com/features/copilot">GitHub Copilot</a>.</p>

<h2>New power, new risks</h2>

<p>As agents became more capable, their risks became harder to ignore. In November, Anthropic disclosed how its Claude Code agent <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/disrupting-AI-espionage">had been misused</a> to automate parts of a cyberattack. The incident illustrated a broader concern: By automating repetitive, technical work, AI agents can also lower the barrier for malicious activity.</p>

<p>This tension defined much of 2025. AI agents expanded what individuals and organizations could do, but they also <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17805">amplified existing vulnerabilities</a>. Systems that were once isolated text generators became interconnected, tool-using actors operating with little human oversight.</p>


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<h2>What to watch for in 2026</h2>

<p>Looking ahead, several open questions are likely to shape the next phase of AI agents.</p>

<p>One is benchmarks. Traditional benchmarks, which are like a structured exam with a series of questions and standardized scoring, work well for single models, but <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.03688">agents are composite systems</a> made up of models, tools, memory and decision logic. Researchers increasingly want to evaluate <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05467">not just outcomes, but processes</a>. This would be like asking students to show their work, not just provide an answer. </p>

<p>Progress here will be critical for improving reliability and trust, and ensuring that an AI agent will perform the task at hand. One method is establishing clear definitions around <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents">AI agents and AI workflows</a>. Organizations will need to map out exactly where AI will <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-big-ideas-define-2026-linkedin-news-mioie/">integrate into workflows or introduce new ones</a>.</p>

<p>Another development to watch is governance. In late 2025, the Linux Foundation announced the creation of the <a href="https://aaif.io/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-formation-of-the-agentic-ai-foundation-aaif-anchored-by-new-project-contributions-including-model-context-protocol-mcp-goose-and-agents-md/">Agentic AI Foundation</a>, signaling an effort to establish shared standards and best practices. If successful, it could play a role like the <a href="https://www.w3.org/standards/">World Wide Web Consortium</a> in shaping an open, interoperable agent ecosystem.</p>

<p>There is also a growing debate over model size. While large, general-purpose models dominate headlines, smaller and more specialized models are often <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02153">better suited to specific tasks</a>. As agents become configurable consumer and business tools, whether through browsers or workflow management software, the power to choose the right model increasingly shifts to users rather than labs or corporations.</p>

<h2>The challenges ahead</h2>

<p>Despite the optimism, significant socio-technical challenges remain. Expanding data center infrastructure <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/cmist/tech-and-policy/agents-of-change/index.html">strains energy grids</a> and affects local communities. In workplaces, agents raise concerns about automation, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestowersclark/2025/12/10/ai-in-2026-10-predictions-on-automation-and-the-future-of-work/">job displacement</a> and surveillance. </p>

<p>From a security perspective, connecting models to tools and stacking agents together <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.18397">multiplies risks</a> that are already unresolved in standalone large language models. Specifically, AI practitioners are addressing the dangers of <a href="https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/indirect-prompt-injection-generative-ais-greatest-security-flaw">indirect prompt injections</a>, where prompts are hidden in open web spaces that are readable by AI agents and result in harmful or unintended actions.</p>

<p>Regulation is another unresolved issue. Compared with <a href="https://thefuturesociety.org/how-ai-agents-are-governed-under-the-eu-ai-act/">Europe</a> and <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/07/chinas-ai-regulations-and-how-they-get-made?lang=en">China</a>, the United States has relatively limited oversight of algorithmic systems. As AI agents become embedded across digital life, questions about access, accountability and limits remain largely unanswered.</p>

<p>Meeting these challenges will require more than technical breakthroughs. It demands <a href="https://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/assessing-llms-high-stakes-applications/">rigorous engineering practices</a>, careful design and clear documentation of how systems work and fail. Only by treating AI agents as socio-technical systems rather than mere software components, I believe, can we build an AI ecosystem that is both innovative and safe.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272325/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /></p>

  <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/thomas-serban-von-davier-2548891">Thomas Şerban von Davier</a>, Affiliated Faculty Member, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/carnegie-mellon-university-970">Carnegie Mellon University</a></em></span></p>

  <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-agents-arrived-in-2025-heres-what-happened-and-the-challenges-ahead-in-2026-272325">original article</a>.</em></p>
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