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Top stories from February

These are the top-five best-performing articles from the month gone by:

1. Microsoft says AI tools such as Copilot or ChatGPT are affecting critical thinking at work – staff using the technology encounter 'long-term reliance and diminished independent problem-solving'
2. Cisco Live EMEA 2025: All the news and updates as they happen
3. ‘Please do not use AI assistants during the application process’: AI company Anthropic had to tell candidates to stop using AI when applying for jobs
4. The world's 'first AI software engineer' isn't living up to expectations: Cognition AI's 'Devin' assistant was touted as a game changer for developers, but so far it's fumbling tasks and struggling to compete with human workers
5. Google CEO Sundar Pichai says DeepSeek has done ‘good work’ showcasing AI model efficiency — and Gemini is going the same way too

Top trend(s)
AI dominated yet again. We have come to expect AI to feature heavily in our top-performing stories, but February saw it take over the top 5 spots. Even our live blog coverage from the Cisco Live EMEA event was also mainly focused on AI. 

The top stories also show the disconnect between what AI promises and what it is capable of delivering - both when it comes to competing with human expertise and experience and in terms of current maturity levels. 

Why it matters to the ITPro audience: It was interesting to hear Oliver Tuszik, Cisco EMEA’s president, take a little history tour of the major eras that have graced the tech industry. That was definitely in recognition of trends that positively impacted business and also set the stage for the technologies yet to come. In particular, he said that cloud and IoT were so-called concrete moments that shaped and impacted the role of the network. 

AI, said Tuszk, is a catalyst for innovation and will continue to accelerate the pace of what is possible for organizations. 

Tuszik’s speech was also grounded in reality and he conceded that the AI boom we have experienced has, at times, suffered from over-hype. That said, he stressed the hype cycle is over and it’s now where AI is shining and showing its true value. 

Cisco’s own research found the majority (97%) of CEOs are responsible for planning AI integration, but some 80% of them worry about knowledge gaps that will see them fall behind industry peers and competitors. 

Why it matters to marketers: If Cisco is right and the hype cycle is over, now is the time when decision makers will really be looking to form trusted partnerships and take their AI ambitions from theory to reality. The appetite for meaningful discussion and engagement is there so marketers should seize the opportunity. 

Additional trends

One of our sponsored podcasts also gained spotlight attention in February. “Keeping data safe and flexible with sovereign cloud” - sponsored by Broadcom - looked at how data protection in the cloud doesn’t have to be a burden. The engaging discussion, which features ITPro’s regular hosts and special guests Laurent Blin, product marketing leader at OVHcloud and Martin Hosken, field CTO at Broadcom, considers the rising demand for sovereign cloud demand and details the many benefits on offer. 

As highlighted last month, ITPro’s Future Focus report is a good deep dive into how ITDMs are feeling about AI now and into the future. The report also highlights the top 10 technology focus areas, with data seen as the connector between them all.