Month: November 2025

OpenAI is going to have to pay a fortune in credit obligations in 2026. Today the accounts do not work out

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In recent months, OpenAI has signed agreements worth more than $1.4 trillion in infrastructure—data centers—that will be built in the next 8-10 years. The problem is that to do this they will have to face gigantic credit obligations that will require billions of dollars in 2026, and it is not at all clear how they will be able to face those payments. bad business. Your current income structure certainly does not support such debt. Sam Altman indicated in X They expect to end the year with more than $20 billion in annualized revenue. Even so, they will continue to be in (very) red numbers, although they also promise that by 2030 they will enter “hundreds of billions of dollars“The accounts do not come out, and that makes it virtually impossible to meet all credit commitments without resorting to extraordinary forms of financing, refinancing or… Rescue. Last week there was already talk about how both NVIDIA and OpenAI had dropped the possibility that papa state had to rescue them in case of a debacle. Sam Altman himself clarified shortly after that “we don’t have or want government guarantees (…) and taxpayers should not bail out companies that make bad business decisions.” He does not want a rescue, but he does talk about agreements with the government. Although Altman clarified that he was not seeking government bailouts, he did make it clear that there is a debate about a strategy to face these loans: “The only area in which we have discussed loan guarantees is in the framework of supporting the construction of semiconductor factories in the United States (…) Of course, this is different from governments guaranteeing the construction of data centers for private purposes.” It seems impossible for them to get out of this. As analyst Ed Zitron explains in your newsletterOpenAI needs $400 billion over the next 12 months to meet those credit obligations. Not only that: for him OpenAI’s plans to build chips with Broadcom and fill a 1 GW data center or create similar data centers with AMD chips Instinct or with the Vera Rubin from NVIDIA “There is not enough time to build these data centers. And if there was enough time, there would not be enough money. And if there was enough money, there would not be enough (electrical) transformers, electrical grade steel or specialized talent to supply the electricity for these data centers.” That’s all a gigantic house of cards. Possible strategies. OpenAI increasingly depends on debt issues and strategic investors, but also on those circular financing agreements it has reached with several companies. SoftBank, which already invested in OpenAI, could expand its bet, especially now that it has just sold completely all its participation in NVIDIA. Although the sale has obtained almost $6 billion, the figure is still insufficient even if it is invested in OpenAI. And of course OpenAI could achieve explosive revenue growth, but it is far from clear that it will achieve such growth in the short term. The other solution: slow down. OpenAI’s excessive ambition makes everything surrounding its agreements and proposals absolutely enormous, and that also affects its credit obligations. Adopting a slightly less risky strategy and setting more feasible deadlines could reduce the financial stress to which the company is subject… but it would also raise doubts about the growth promises that Altman and his people have made for years. Going public? Another option for OpenAI is to go public now that it has managed to complete the restructuring and has become in a for-profit organization under the umbrella, of course, of the OpenAI Foundation. In recent days there was talk about how this option would allow the company get a billion dollar valuationbut the analysts they doubt that something like this is going to happen in the short term… if it happens at all. And the bubble keeps growing. Analysts like Scott Galloway they explained recently that the valuations of companies like NVIDIA, Oracle or AMD are conditional on those “handshake” agreements with other companies like OpenAI. For him, these agreements have no substance: there is much ado about nothing. If the market ends up losing confidence, the consequences could be dire and the hypothetical bubble could burst. Source: Apollo Academy All eggs in one basket. Stock market concentration does not help. Torsten Sloj, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, has been talking for some time about the dangerous concentration of the S&P 500 index in 2025. A few days ago published a graph in which it showed the returns of various assets in the last five years, and there is a clear conclusion: while “the Magnificent Seven” have grown exceptionally, the rest have barely done so. Image | Steve Juvetson In Xataka | There is a race in which Anthropic is winning over OpenAI: that of being profitable

War is already the dystopia that George Miller imagined

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In recent weeks, the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has become the new epicenter of wear harshest military of the war. What began as a key logistics and supply point for kyiv’s forces in Donbas has been transformed in a trap where the Ukrainian army struggles to maintain a viable defense against the constant push of Russian troops. The last scene shown on video brings us closer to a dystopia than ever. On the verge of collapse. In early November, former officers and civilian figures such as Vitaliy Deynega, founder of the organization Come Back Alivethey warned that the situation “is more than complicated and less than controlled,” asking for withdrawal before the city was completely surrounded. The reality on the ground reflected that urgency: the Ukrainian defensive lines were increasingly thinnerwith a force of only four to seven infantry per kilometer of front, while Russia continued to fuel its offensive with a constant flow of men and material. The Ukrainian brigades, exhausted and diminished, faced a dilemma that summarizes the current phase of the conflict: either resist to preserve the narrative of firmness, or withdraw to save lives in the face of an enemy with numerical superiority and the capacity to replenish. The weight of scarcity and exhaustion. I remembered the financial times that the battle for Pokrovsk has highlighted a problem that kyiv has tried to avoid publicly acknowledging: its military personnel deficit. Desertions are increasing, new recruits are scarce, and many men are avoiding mobilization. Only in October they opened almost 20,000 cases for unauthorized absences or abandonment of units, the highest number of the year. This collapse in replenishment has led to many positions being held by drone units and volunteers, rather than by conventional infantry force. Military analyst Konrad Muzyka describe the situation as a “real decrease in the size of the ground forces”, with sectors of the front practically monitored only by drones. More money. President Zelenskyy has attempted to reverse this trend by short contractsamnesties for deserters and incentivized recruitments, but the results have not yet arrived. Meanwhile, Russian forces They have taken advantage of the gap– Your assault squads, reinforced with well-paid volunteers, infiltrate destroyed urban areas, occupying tall buildings and cutting off supply corridors connecting Pokrovsk to Myrnohrad. Each Ukrainian withdrawal movement seems like a repetition of other fallen cities: Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Vuhledar. Russian improvised vehicles in Ukraine The Russian dystopian emergence. In this context of exhaustion, Russia has intensified its offensive in both Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, applying pincer tactics to isolate key urban centers and secure the railway axes that feed its military logistics. The statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense announce partial conquests (oil depots, train stations, industrial neighborhoods), while propaganda channels broadcast videos showing Russian columns advancing in the middle of the fog on roads covered in rubble. The imagesgeolocated south of Pokrovsk, portray a almost apocalyptic scenario: motorcycles and trucks without doors, soldiers perched on the roofs and a dense silence interrupted only by the drone of drones. This trailer, which is reminiscent of scenes almost traced from the Mad Max sagasymbolizes the harshness of the war of attrition in eastern Ukraine. Extra ball. In that sense, the fog has played a crucial tactical rolereducing the effectiveness of Ukrainian air surveillance and allowing Russian units to penetrate the southern suburbs. For Moscow, Pokrovsk represents more than a territorial conquest: it is the step towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the strategic jewels of industrial Donbas. Symbol of resistance. Despite the Russian advance, the Ukrainian army continues to resist inside the city, where it is estimated that they remain more than 300 enemy soldiers. Local units, such as the 7th Rapid Response Corps, have communicated who continue to identify and neutralize Russian groups in urban combat and keep the supply to Myrnohrad operational, although with increasing difficulties. However, the tension between the official narrative and the reality on the ground is palpable: while Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi affirms that the situation “is under control,” independent civilian and military reports describe an increasingly tight siege. The human limit. Many analysts agree with one idea: the decision to maintain the position at all costs could have psychological consequences devastating if the retreat turns into a chaotic defeat under fire, repeating the Bakhmut patterns. With exhausted forces and a militarized population resisting new calls, Pokrovsk embodies the physical and moral border of the Ukrainian war effort. If it falls, it will open not only a military corridor to the heart of Donbas, but also a new chapter in the war: that of a country forced to redraw its strategy with fewer men, more machines and a determination tested like never before. Image | YouTube In Xataka | Europe has just realized the size of the drone threat: they have gone where no one could imagine In Xataka | The Ukrainian war is really being fought in the future: Russian soldiers already have “invisibility” cloaks

Meta’s star AI scientist plans to leave the company, according to the FT. The new goal is eating the old goal.

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The head of artificial intelligence at Meta, Yann LeCun, would be preparing to leave the company to found his own startup, according to inform Financial Times. The departure of the prestigious researcher, winner of the Turing Award and considered one of the fathers of modern AI, symbolizes the radical change that Mark Zuckerberg is giving to Meta’s strategy around AI. The changing of the guard. LeCun, who led the Fundamental AI Research Laboratory (FAIR) since 2013, is now in an uncomfortable position within Meta. This summer, Zuckerberg hired Alexander Wang28, to lead a new “superintelligence” team, paying $14.3 billion to take 49% of Scale AI, the data labeling startup Wang had founded. As a result of this restructuring, LeCun went from reporting to chief product officer Chris Cox to reporting to Wang, according to account Financial Times. A philosophical divorce. The tension is not only organizational, but conceptual. LeCun has long publicly defended that the language models on which Zuckerberg has focused his strategy are “useful” but will never be able to reason or plan like humans. His bet from FAIR has been different: the so-called “world models”AI systems that learn from the physical environment through videos and spatial data, not just language. A path that, according to LeCun himself, could take a decade to bear fruit. Meta’s problems with AI. Zuckerberg’s reorganization comes after several setbacks. The launch of Call 4 It has not gone as the company would have liked, falling below the most advanced proposals from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Additionally, Meta AI, the company’s chatbot, has also not gained traction among users. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has hired dozens of engineers and competing researchers with pay packages of up to $100 million, creating a dedicated team called TBD Lab to accelerate the development of new versions of its language models. The cost of pivoting. The shift toward practical AI appears to have generated internal chaos. Sources cited by TechCrunch In August they revealed the frustration of new hires when facing the bureaucracy of a large company, while the previous generative AI team saw its scope reduced. In October, Meta laid off 600 people of its AI research unit to cut costs and accelerate product launches. Also in May Joelle Pineau left the companyvice president of AI research, who joined Canadian startup Cohere. What’s coming now. According to two sources Cited by the Financial Times, LeCun’s new project will focus on continuing his work on world models, and he has already started talks to raise funding. His departure, scheduled for the coming months, represents more than the departure of a brilliant scientist: it is confirmation that Meta’s old long-term focus has been relegated by the urgency of competing in the short term with more practical solutions. As Wall Street pressures Zuckerberg to justify an investment in AI that could exceed $100 billion In 2025, the company would be losing one of its most recognized brains along the way. Cover image | Goal and AFP In Xataka | AI was supposed to reduce costs and reduce staff. The Coca-Cola ad illustrates how much we were wrong

to what extent will we accept that AI cameras fine us

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Spain has begun to automate the surveillance of minor infractions with AI: Technology stops optimizing traffic and starts monitoring it. Why is it important. This marks a paradigm shift. Until now, urban AI was used to improve mobility (adjust traffic lights, predict traffic jams, reduce emissions). Now he goes from assistant to inspector. And it does so with a key nuance: it does not pursue major crimes or flagrant dangers, but rather small daily infractions that previously escaped control due to cost and surveillance capacity. AI reduces the marginal cost of sanctioning to practically zero. Once deployed, everyone can be observed all the time. The facts. The Barcelona pilot test involved four buses of lines H12 and D20 equipped with cameras that identify, through AI, vehicles blocking reserved lanes. In Madrid, the City Council has installed smart traffic lights that count pedestrians in real time and has announced systems that will detect seat belt use. The DGT has taken another step. It has deployed four cameras on the A-1, A-2, A-6 and A-42 highways that monitor the crossing of continuous lines. The system works with two cameras per section: one records the license plates at the beginning, another at the end. If a car changes lanes between both points, the fine is automatic. It is 200 euros per violation. In figures. Spain already has 3,395 devices to control violationsaccording to Faconauto. Of them, more than 1,300 are DGT surveillance points between fixed and mobile radars. Added to this are more than 200 cameras that monitor belts and mobile phones, Pegasus helicopters and now these new continuous line detection systems. Barcelona has not yet activated the sanctions on its buses, but the volume of violations detected (80 daily in just four vehicles) anticipates what is coming. Between the lines. There is a delicate balance that is being renegotiated without us having barely opened the debate. On the one hand, more compliance with fewer agents: administrative efficiency is indisputable. On the other, the sensation of an omnipresent eye. The difference with the classic radar is not so much technical as range. The radar monitors specific points where there is proven risk. These new systems turn the entire city into a guarded zone: each bus is an inspector, each intersection a control point. AI does not change what is sanctioned, it changes where and how much. Move from selective surveillance to ubiquitous surveillance. Yes, but. To what extent will citizens accept being recorded and punished by a machine? It’s not just a legal issue, but a cultural one: trust in the algorithm versus human interpretation. Who audits the system’s decisions? What room is there for error or appeal? Technology is not neutral: each deployment reflects political priorities about what deserves to be monitored and sanctioned. The big question. What is relevant is not whether this is good or bad in the abstract, but what it tells us about the new contract between citizen, city and AI. AI stops being an abstraction and enters the daily urban experience. The citizen goes from user to observed subject. And the unresolved question is who sees, who decides, who corrects and, above all, how far we are willing to go when automating the chase is so easy and cheap. In Xataka | The “made in China” business of the DGT’s V-16 beacons: homologating the same product 24 times and selling it under different brands Featured image | Barcelona City Council

Gibraltar airport was born as a British military bastion. Now Spain has imposed a veto that will be very expensive

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Since its construction during the Second World War on the narrow strip that separates the Rock from the isthmus, the Gibraltar airport It has been much more than a landing strip: an RAF military enclave, a nerve center for British logistics in the Mediterranean and, at the same time, a constant source of diplomatic friction with Spain. Today, and after Brexit, that old tension resurfaces in new forms. More restrictions. The United Kingdom has confirmed that the restrictions imposed by Spain on the overflight of British military aircraft remain in force, affecting flights arriving or departing from the Royal Air Force (RAF) air base in Gibraltar. Despite this, the British Ministry of Defense insists that the measure has no operational impact and that the base continues to operate as a sovereign military airfield under full authority of the United Kingdom. So he reiterated it Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, Alistair Carns, in response to a series of parliamentary questions posed by Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire, who asked for clarification on the logistical and financial consequences of this situation. Carns claimed that RAF aircraft simply They trace alternative routes to avoid Spanish territorial airspace, in accordance with the restrictions imposed by Madrid, and that Gibraltar’s operational capacity has not been compromised. The big doubt. Nevertheless, admitted that no formal study has been carried out on the economic costs derived from diverting flights through other international air information regions, despite the increase in fuel costs and flight time that this implies. The dimension of the blockade. The debate about the military overflights reflects a historical conflict between London and Madrid that has survived all diplomatic stages, from the Cold War to Brexit. Spain, relying on international law and its claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar, maintains that all British military activity in the area must comply with its air traffic rules. For the Spanish Government, overflight restrictions are not a sanction, but a legitimate expression of its jurisdiction over the airspace it considers its own. An RAF Hawk at the airport What do the English say? From the British perspective, however, these limitations are a inheritance of tensions that surround the sovereignty of the Rock and a technical rather than political obstacle. In the Westminster Parliament, the issue continues to be a recurring theme, periodically reactivated by particularly combative deputies who see every Spanish gesture as a threat to the British integrity of the enclave. To them, successive governments of the United Kingdom have always responded in the same way: reaffirming their full sovereignty over Gibraltar and the right of its inhabitants to self-determination, without opening any loophole for territorial negotiations with Spain. A Lockheed Hudson of No. 233 Squadron RAF lands at Gibraltar in August 1942 Gibraltar after Brexit. Brexit introduced a new framework of relations that fully affected Gibraltar’s position. After months of negotiationSpain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission reached an agreement that established a joint system customs and border control. Under this pact, Spain will assume controls on the European side at the Peñón port and airport, which will allow more fluid transit to destinations within the European Union. However, the military issue was left out of those understandings. The Liberal Democrat Helen Maguire brought this sensitive point back to the table by asking whether the impact of restrictions Spanish reports on the operations and costs of the British Ministry of Defence. Carns’ response was blunt: air limitations continue, aircraft avoid Spanish space and the base maintains its sovereign status. But, as we said before, the absence of an official calculation on additional spending reflects political will to publicly minimize any consequences derived from the dispute, preserving the narrative of autonomy and absolute control over Gibraltar. Strategic impact. Although London maintains that the Spanish veto does not interfere In its operational freedom, the diversion of military routes involves a considerable logistical effort. Instead of crossing the Iberian Peninsula, aircraft must border it by the Atlanticprolonging the journeys from the British Isles to Gibraltar and complicating supply at a point of strategic value for British operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The RAF base in Gibraltar, next to the port used by the Royal Navy, constitutes an essential axis for surveillance, supply and military transit missions to Africa and the Middle East. The United Kingdom has not revealed figures on the economic impact of the diversions, but parliamentary sources acknowledge that fuel and planning costs are inevitable, especially in rapid deployment exercises or emergencies. Even so, the Ministry of Defense avoid recognizing officially these damages, aware that admitting them would imply granting Spain a political advantage in a matter where each diplomatic gesture has symbolic weight. A geopolitical symbol. If you also want, the conflict over Gibraltar’s airspace condenses centuries of friction between both nations and is projected as a microdemonstration of the balance of power in the Mediterranean. A pesar de los acuerdos pos-Brexit y de la cooperación en materia fronteriza y económica, la defensa del Peñón continúa siendo un terreno de maximum political sensitivity. The RAF base and the port of Gibraltar are more than simple military infrastructure: they represent the last vestige of British projection in southern Europe, a symbolic platform of sovereignty in disputed territory. The Spanish restrictions They do not prevent the operation of that presence, but they require a constant effort of logistical adaptation and a careful diplomatic balance. In this context, the United Kingdom maintains its usual line: denying any operational impact and reaffirming that Gibraltar continues to be, both in the air and on land, an unbreakable piece of its strategic identity. Image | Dicklyon, Harry Mitchell In Xataka | The Strait of Gibraltar was very different eight million years ago. So different that there were two In Xataka | In World War II, Hitler gave Spain the keys to Gibraltar. He did not have what Franco demanded in return

the company is drowning in the market that it itself created

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The first time I ordered food at home, it was from Telepizza. It’s possible that you do too. In the nineties, Telepizza was the perfect plan for hangouts to watch football or a movie at home. They had no competition. Today yes, and a lot. This, together with decades of treating the company as a financial asset and not as a long-term business, has caused the current situation: the company’s accounts are bleeding and there are serious doubts about its viability. Debt, restructuring and losses According to one PricewaterhouseCooper audit published in Merca2in 2024 Telepizza lost more than 48 million euros and carries a total debt of 150 million euros. The expected turnover for this period was 300 million euros, but they achieved 249.9 million, 18% less. This is in addition to expenses that amounted to 18.6 million euros in 2024 alone. Spain continues to be its strongest market and accounts for 60% of all its income, but also where the loss is greatest (almost 25 million euros). According to PwC, there are “material uncertainty regarding the continuity of the business”, and it is not the first time they have warned of something like this. They did another audit of the company’s accounts in 2022 in which they showed “significant doubts about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Telepizza is at a crossroads: it needs to generate income quickly to cover expenses and debt, but at the same time it needs to invest if it wants to become competitive again in the current landscape. The accounts don’t work out. Telepizza and the delivery boom The food delivery landscape has radically transformed. Telepizza no longer competes in the market it founded, but in a totally saturated ecosystem where there are more and often better options. According to Dashmote data in 2024between 2019 and 2022 the delivery market in Spain doubled its income, reaching 5,000 million euros and in 2023 it would grow to 6.6 billion. Not all the mountain is oregano, the main delivery operators They also cannot boast of stability and profitsbut for Telepizza the reality is that, where they once reigned, now There are hundreds of thousands of restaurants available. It also happens that pizza is no longer the favorite option to order at home. According to DBK dataIn 2024, hamburger restaurants accounted for 61% of the market. Fried chicken restaurants and “other concepts” also grew, while pizzerias decreased their turnover by 1.8%. There is also the problem that entering this model implies give a third of income in commissionssomething that does not suit Telepizza very well in its delicate situation. Given this panorama, Telepizza has opted to encourage orders through its app and website. Recently They celebrated a pyrrhic victory: They are the pizza brand with the most users through their website and appreaching a total of 1.8 million monthly users. The problem is that the figure is not even striking. To put it in context, Burger King and McDonald’s have 4.7 and 4.5 million users through their apps respectively. Telepizza’s strategy involves reinforcing its own channel and betting on loyal customers who already know them and return to their app, but at the same time has become practically invisible for the rest of the public, who have many more pizzerias to choose from through the apps. It is an isolation strategy. The final chapter of a series that began decades ago To understand how Telepizza is today, you have to look back. The current situation is the consequence of a trend that began in the nineties. After a spectacular IPO in 1996, at the end of 1999 its founder sold his stake (months before the collapse of the dotcom bubbleby the way). This sale marked the beginning of an era in which Telepizza became a financial asset at the hands of venture capital funds and its valuation fell with each movement. In 2007, Telepizza went public after the takeover bid by the Permira and Ballvé fund and was valued at 850 million euros. In 2016, after the entry of the KKR fund, it went public again, although with quite disastrous results. Here the valuation had dropped to 780 million euros, but the worst thing is that not even three years passed when the KKR group launched another takeover bid again for take it out of the bag againvaluing it only in 600 million euros. Paradoxically, 2017 was a good year for the company’s accounts, which achieved record profits. Right after it was signed the agreement with Pizza Hut in which Telepizza committed to opening 1,300 restaurants, almost nothing. The plan ended up going awry internal tensions and the pandemic. In the end Telepizza broke up with Pizza Hut in many of the countries in which it was going to operate. In 2023, the debt caused the KKR fund left the equation and a financial restructuring was signed in which the company passed into the hands of its creditors, among which are Oak Hill and Fortress, two opportunistic funds, also known as vulture funds. Under this new mandate the objective was to try to stabilize the losses with the exit from Latin Americaalthough They couldn’t sell everything. The image speaks for itself In contrast, its most direct competitor, Domino’s Pizza, has had a stable trajectory of growth and is in good financial healthyou just have to look at its growth curve on the stock market. In addition to the global parent company, behind Domino’s Pizza Spain is Alsea, the Mexican restaurant provider which also manages brands such as Starbucks, Burger King or Foster’s Hollywood. Venture capital has squeezed Telepizza so much that has left it without operating marginleading it to a delicate situation that has lasted for years and that calls into question its continuity. In the end, the secret was not in the dough, but in being a restaurant chain and not a financial asset that passes from hand to hand. Image | Telepizza In Xataka | Robotic vans are already key in … Read more

From today, Ryanair requires 100% digital boarding. It is the culmination of a strategy to trap us in its application

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The day has come. Ryanair only lets you board its planes with a digital card. The measure has been postponed for a few months but November 12 was finally the date on which this decision by the airline, which has raised some controversy and critical voices, was consolidated. Digital boarding. Showing your boarding pass on your mobile phone will be the only way to access Ryanair planes from today. The company claims that by issuing the digital boarding pass, what they call TED, 300 tons of paper are saved per year. This TED is available from the Ryanair application, once the passenger has checked in online prior to taking the plane. This card is available without a mobile data connection, so they ensure that you can access the plane if your mobile phone does not have data or the airport Wi-Fi is not fast enough. The big news is that, until now, it was possible to send a PDF to email from the application and from the browser. This PDF could be printed or simply stored on the mobile phone and brought onto the plane with it, “bypassing” the download of the application. What does Ryanair earn? That the client downloads its application where the company offers seat changes and, simply, facilitates the collection of supplements with added services. This has become the company’s great gold mine. It is, in fact, the only reason to make this decision. In Xataka Mobile have contacted the company to ask why this change and the last part of the answer is eloquent: “This transition, already adopted by almost 80% of Ryanair’s more than 207 million annual passengers, will offer a faster, smarter and more sustainable travel experience. In addition, it will make it easier for passengers to access a variety of innovative features within the app” In the video itself where they explain the change, they already point out that the user will have constant information during their flight, the allocation of the boarding gate… or the possibility of ordering food at your seat. And if… The company has opened a page question and answer website in which all the possible “what ifs” that we can think of are answered. All of them, yes, require billing in advance. For example: And if… I left my phone at home: you can request a free paper boarding pass at the airport, as long as you have completed the online check-in. And if… I lose my phone: same case as the previous one. And if… I lose my phone or I run out of battery after having passed the control: if we have passed the control it means that the passenger has already checked in. In that case, attention will be offered at the boarding gate. And if… I don’t have a smartphone: we will have to check in online beforehand and request a physical boarding pass at the airport. If we have not done it previously, we will have to pay the 55 euros that Ryanair charges for check-in at the airport. Is there some kind of advantage for the user? More or less. Until now, issuing the boarding pass cost 55 euros, whether or not we had done online check-in previously. With the change, Ryanair ensures that the issuance of the card will be free, as long as we have previously made the online check-in. Controversy. Since the measure will be announced in October 2024the voices opposed to the measure have multiplied. Facua has assured since then the measure is illegal as it is considered abusive. The organization defined the situation as follows: Mandating 100% digital boarding is “an especially burdensome clause for vulnerable groups (older people, passengers who, due to their disability or physical condition, have difficulties interacting with new technologies, etc.). These types of consumers usually need the attention and assistance of a third party to be able to carry out the procedures correctly. on-line. Likewise, in Xataka we already got in touch with the company to ask what would happen if a person wanted to print their boarding pass and access it with it, without using their mobile phone. So we didn’t know (nor did the company confirm) that they were going to remove the PDF. Now, the only way is to take a screenshot and print it. However, if someone wanted to go to this trouble, there was no solution offered for this case. Photo | Dan Barrett In Xataka | Ryanair has found a new formula to earn more per ticket: forcing you to board 100% digitally

what you should look at to differentiate them from the approved ones

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Let’s tell you how to check that the V16 beacon is not a fake when you go to buy one. It’s good to know what to look for in a V16 beacon when you go to buy it, but we are going to try to focus above all on distinguishing the fakes that there is already beginning to be at much lower prices. Failure to carry one of these beacons after January 1, 2026 may result in a financial fine. And if you carry one of the old ones without eSIM connection or a counterfeit one, then it will be as if you were not carrying any, and you will be exposed to the same fine of 80 euros. Differentiate approved beacons from false ones The first thing you have to do is pay attention to where you buy. If you want to buy them in a physical store, try to go to one that offers you guarantees about their approval, because buying them at El Corte Inglés or Leroy Merlin is not the same as buying them at your neighborhood bazaar, for example. Better to go to a specialized store or large store where they have the knowledge to guarantee that what you buy is approved. And it will be even safer if they give you the option to return it in the event that when you open it and inspect it you realize that it is not what you are looking for. If you are going to buy in an online store You are going to have to take extreme precautions, and it is essential to go to one with a good return policy. Even in large stores like Amazon or AliExpress there are many beacons, and some of them are not approved. The price is also a good cluebecause the approved beacons have a price that ranges between 30 and 50 euros. Come on, if you see a V16 in a store for 15 or 20 euros, then you should be distrustful by default. One of the most important things is review the certification code that is printed on them. It must have an alphanumeric combination that begins with the letters LCOE or IDAE. If in doubt, you can review the DGT database where are all the approved models. In Xataka Basics | Check if your V16 beacon works well without alerting the DGT: how to do it and what time limit you have

sacrifices privacy to not be left behind in AI

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Europe, which until now seemed one of the few champions of privacy, threatens to stop being so. The European Commission is preparing a “digital omnibus”, a package of measures that will theoretically be announced at the end of the month and that propose notable changes to current privacy regulations. Why is it important. Draft documents obtained by Politico They are worrying. European Commission officials say these measures are intended to simplify many of the laws that regulate the technological field. The executive, they claim in this medium, insists that it is only cutting certain excessive rules through “targeted” amendments, but those drafts show disturbing changes. A weak GDPR for a strong AI. The changes that, for example, will affect the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD, or GDPR for its acronym in English) will be carried out with a singular objective: to benefit the developers of AI models. The pillars crumble. Jan Philipp Albrecht, former member of the European Parliament and one of the architects of the GDPR, this spells the end of data protection and privacy that were pillars of the EU strategy. “The Commission should be fully aware that this is drastically undermining European standards.” Is Europe left behind, so out of privacy? What is certain is that European economic power is losing relevance and that seems to have motivated these changes. Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi mentioned the General Data Protection Regulation as an obstacle to European innovation in artificial intelligence in its historic report on competitiveness from last year. But. The question, of course, is whether Europe really needs to sacrifice the privacy of its citizens in order not to be left behind in the technological field. When the EU released the first regulation on AI, the AI ​​Acthe stuck out his chest precisely for applying an (overly) cautious approach. This provoked criticism that for months has caused some steps to be taken back in those so rigid goals. Europe, technological pariah. The AI ​​Act, the DMA and the GDPR have certainly caused the deployment of AI models and functions in the old continent to be blocked or delayed. Passed with Apple Intelligence and with Copilotfor example, but while Europe restricted the arrival of AI to users, in the US and China the deployment has been dazzling, total and without restrictions… for better and for worse. In fact, in the United States the philosophy of laissez faire is extraordinary, and companies even advocate for forget copyright laws. Dangerous exceptions. These documents aim to create exceptions for AI companies that would allow them to process disturbing special categories of data such as religious or political beliefs, race or health data that could be used to train and operate their AI models. The definition of such types of data, which enjoy additional protections under privacy regulations, is expected to be redefined. Anonymized data. Another objective seems to be defining what constitutes personal data. Thus, pseudo-anonymized data—with personal details opaque to prevent identification of a person—may not be subject to GDPR protections. This type of change would occur after the precedent of a recent ruling in that sense by the EU Court. Cookie banners. Finally, the draft wants to reform annoying European rules about cookie banners by including a provision in the GDPR that would give website and app owners more legal grounds to justify tracking users beyond simply obtaining their consent. Once again, bad news for the privacy of European users. Total uncertainty. The European Commission is expected to reveal its plans on November 19. Changes to the current drafts may be proposed during these days, however. Once this package of measures is presented, both EU member countries and legislators will have to approve it, something that is not certain either due to the great divisions that exist in terms of privacy between them. We are living it for example with the controversial Chat Controland these measures also go in that direction. In Xataka | Europe dominates open source AI but loses the race: the paradox that 150 billion euros will try to solve

Volkswagen has presented its “most intelligent car to date” in China. The trick is that Volkswagen hasn’t done it

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Volkswagen prepares the launch of the ID. UNYX 08an electric SUV developed together with the Chinese firm Xpeng that will hit the market in 2026. For years, Volkswagen enjoyed a large presence in China. However, currently, firms such as Xiaomi or BYD have overtaken them to the right with their proposals and technology. The German group has had no choice but join forces with the Chinese Xpeng to continue competing in this very competitive market. And the greatest exponent of this alliance is this same car of which we are going to tell you all the details. Strategy to come back in China. The German brand has lost positions in this market since 2020, when electric vehicles began their massive expansion in the country. Now it is trying to recover the lost ground against local manufacturers such as BYD and Geely through this technological alliance with Xpengwhich provides its G9 platform and its connectivity and driving assistance systems. Design speed. The ID. UNYX 08 was completed in 30 months, a time that according to Volkswagen It is more than 30% lower than usual. This acceleration responds to what the company calls “Chinese speed”, a concept that reflects its need to adapt to the pace of the local market. The German manufacturer affirms having managed to “fully integrate into China’s automotive ecosystem” thanks to local alliances and its own research and development capabilities. The figures of the new SUV. The vehicle measures 5 meters long, 1,954 meters wide and between 1,672 and 1,688 meters high, with a wheelbase of 3,030 meters. These dimensions exceed those of the Xpeng G9, the model on whose platform it was built. It will be available in two configurations: a 230 kW rear motor or dual motor with 140 kW front and 230 kW rear. will ride LFP batteries from CATL, with a range of more than 700 kilometers according to the CLTC cycle, and will support 800-volt fast charging. Technology at the service of the Chinese driver. The ID. UNYX 08 will incorporate L2++ level driving assistance with the capacity for autonomous operation “from parking to parking” both in the city and on highways. It will also have OTA (Over-the-Air) updates and an artificial intelligence assistant based on advanced language models. Volkswagen presents it as “its most intelligent model to date.” The plan to get back into the fight. This SUV is the first of the two models agreed between Volkswagen and Xpeng in 2023. It will be assembled in collaboration with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group, a partner with which Volkswagen created its first joint venture in China in 2017 dedicated exclusively to new energy vehicles. The ID family. UNYX, which already includes the 06 (a compact SUV) and the recently unveiled 07 (an electric sedan), thus expands into the medium-large SUV segment. What’s at stake. For Volkswagen, this launch represents much more than a new product: it is a litmus test on its ability to compete with Chinese manufacturers in its own territory. The Asian market has become the main battlefield of electromobility worldwide, and the German brand needs to demonstrate that it can offer cutting-edge technology without losing its identity. We’ll see if the ID. UNYX 08 convinces drivers in China. If you do so, it will set the course of your strategy in the country. In Xataka | The “made in China” business of the DGT’s V-16 beacons: homologating the same product 24 times and selling it under different brands

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