Deals News: 15 October 2025

November 19, 2025, 12:10 AM EST. Microsoft is expanding its 'agent factory' vision with Agent 365, a control plane to manage AI agents like human workers. The platform provides dashboards, telemetry, and alerts to monitor how agents operate, and integrates with Microsoft Entra for registration and access control. It lets admins constrain agents' data access, connect with Microsoft 365 apps, and guard against internal and external threats. Agent 365 supports a broader ecosystem including Adobe, Nvidia, ServiceNow, and Workday, enabling real-time visibility of connections between agents, people, and data. Available via Frontier, an early-access program, the rollout is designed for IT admins to test adoption scenarios and ensure secure deployment of AI agents across the enterprise.

November 19, 2025, 12:08 AM EST. Microsoft unveiled Agent 365, a tool that automatically discovers and manages AI agents across a company's software ecosystem, including partners like Adobe, ServiceNow and Workday. IT admins can approve new agents, monitor which agents are gaining popularity, and quantify time saved by automation. The system can spot security risks and block agents, while end users can analyze agents' activities. As with provisioning identities for workers, Agent 365 provisions identity and access controls for agents, unifying governance across internal and external agents. Agents from Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio, plus third-party offerings, will appear in the catalog. EY has piloted the approach to gain tighter control. The product will be demonstrated at Ignite in San Francisco.

November 19, 2025, 12:04 AM EST. Google's Gemini 3 is billed as the company's most capable AI to date, with stronger multimodal understanding and nuances in user intent. Beyond chat, it can turn long video lectures into interactive flashcards and analyze real-world tasks (for example, a pickleball match) to spot improvements. Gemini 3 will roll out in AI Mode in Search and, for Pro and Ultra users, in AI Overviews where it can generate interactive elements. Google also touts improved security against prompt injection and presents Google Antigravity, an agentic development platform that pairs with Gemini 2.5's browser-use model. Initially, only Google AI Ultra subscribers at $250/month get Gemini Agent for multi-step workflows like travel itineraries. The release comes amid a broader AI race and concerns about hallucinations and sycophancy in AI behavior.

November 19, 2025, 12:00 AM EST. Xiaomi's move into EVs challenges the myth that electric vehicles are inherently unprofitable. The company now sits among a tiny list of carmakers delivering real profitability in the automotive space, signaling a shift toward sustainable margins through disciplined cost management and software-driven value. By leaning on scale, streamlined supply chains, and revenue streams beyond hardware - such as software features and after-sales services - Xiaomi demonstrates how hardware and services can create durable profits. For investors and policymakers, the takeaway is clear: profitable EV strategies hinge on efficient production, differentiated ecosystems, and recurring revenue rather than one-off device sales.