July 16, 2026

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Thursday’s back! Hoping for better responses from HR? Some companies are turning to AI—but the software’s lack of empathy remains an issue.

In today’s edition:

🤖 Human element

🗳 Election security

⌨️ Good vibes

—Eoin Higgins, Brianna Monsanto

SOFTWARE

Code warriors

Morning Brew Design

As enterprises continue to implement AI solutions for coding, the growing pains are leading to an increase in AI tech friction.

A new study from agentic platform Harness breaks down concerns over AI deployment, including how employee use of vibe coding is leading to extra work. Majorities of developers said reviewing AI-generated code for accuracy (53%) and fixing small bugs (52%) are top sources of tech friction.

Trevor Stuart, Harness SVP, told IT Brew that the ROI for AI is tempered by the increase in friction and rework. That “invisible tax” often presents itself in added tasks that are difficult to measure, such as fixing vibe coding.

Vibe tax.—EH

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CYBERSECURITY

Ballot on

Graphic of two hands dropping election ballots into a box.

Getty Images

During the 2000 presidential election, Florida’s “hanging chads” kept a nation in suspense. Twenty-six years later, paper-based challenges seem quaint compared to the tech threats confronting current-day campaigns.

The 2026 midterm elections will present more complex challenges, thanks largely to AI giving attackers an edge—and forcing defenders for political campaigns and federal, state, and local governments to catch up.

Andrew Jones, co-founder and CPO at Adaptive Security, told IT Brew that AI’s evolving capabilities can put the good guys at a disadvantage.

“These same technical tools can also be used by attackers to do things like manipulate elections, or deceive consumers, or deceive governments,” he said. “The technology is definitely there, and given the rise of AI, it’s given attackers more tools to be efficient and effective with these attacks.”

Lock in.—EH

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IT STRATEGY

Just vibes

A retro computer surrounded by digital stars

Amelia Kinsinger

Turns out, software engineers may not have got the short end of the stick in the “AI code apocalypse.”

According to tech venture capital firm SignalFire’s 2026 State of Talent Report, software engineering was one of the jobs least impacted by AI automation last year, especially when compared to professions such as marketing and design.

While overall hiring at large tech companies (including Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and others) has fallen 25% since 2019, engineering hiring only decreased 11% during the same period. The researchers also found that software engineering was the most sought-after role at large tech companies, beating all other hiring.

Apocalypse...later?—BM

patch notes

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top IT reads.

Stat: 20 years. That’s how long X—or, as it was known, Twitter—has been around. (the New York Times)

Quote: “We do not think PayPal’s new CEO will likely embrace what could be viewed as a low-ball offer.”—Andrew Jeffrey, research analyst with William Blair, on a joint offer from Stripe and private equity company Advent to buy online payment system PayPal (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: India tries to expand smartphone manufacturing to nudge out China. (TechCrunch)

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Written by Eoin Higgins and Brianna Monsanto

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