Лонги

October's Steam Next Fest, traditionally the main event for indie game developers and gamers looking for new unique projects, was remembered not only for its loud hits, but also for a scandal that shook the game development community. Instead of a celebration of independent creativity, the platform faced an unprecedented influx of so-called "AI-slop" - low-quality, unimaginative games, mostly or completely generated using generative artificial intelligence tools. We talked to Ukrainian game development experts about the use of AI in development, whether the situation is really so catastrophic, and what Valve needs to do to avoid hate in the future.

The system that ultimately saved medical records from being destroyed along with hospital buildings was not designed for missile strikes. It was built seven years before the invasion—and for a completely different reason.

We recently told the stories of three IT industry representatives who came back from maternity leave with different moods — some were awaited by their employer, offering a flexible return to work schedule, while others had to look for a new job after giving birth to a child. Unfortunately, project closures and a tough market are a more important priority for many companies than social guarantees. So we decided to investigate the internal policies of Ukrainian IT companies regarding maternity leave and support for young mothers.

Artificial intelligence has once again made the world panic. It was used to find a serious vulnerability in the PHP code. This bug quietly existed there for over 10 years (starting with PHP 5.4) until the cybersecurity research team Wiz Research, armed with Open AI tools, found it in August 2026 and handed it over to PHP developers to close the hole.

Як український інтернет пройшов шлях від домашнього телефону за ціною квартири, локального збирання АТС в Одесі фахівцями “Фарлеп-Інвест” та мідного вандалізму 2014 року до 120 годин автономної роботи під час тотальних блекаутів, гігабітних мереж GPON та розгортання транспортної інфраструктури під 5G? Топменеджери Vega, (Vodafone Україна)  розповідають залаштунки 20-річної еволюції українського телекому.

Volunteer, head of the Sternenko Community charity foundation Serhiy Sternenko was one of the first to report on the restrictions on Starlink’s work on the front. Now, according to him, the situation has stabilized — and he attributes this to widespread publicity and further political pressure from Congress on the Pentagon and the Donald Trump administration. The volunteer also shared his vision of possible alternatives to Starlink for the front, which could partially compensate for it in various missions.

The fourth and final season of the offensive Operation Vivaldi has ended, as a result of which the Defense Forces returned 16 settlements to full control of Ukraine and liberated 277 km². What began as a targeted liquidation of Russian infiltration quickly developed into a rapid and large-scale offensive. The disoriented occupiers began to lose control of their own units, in whose ranks real chaos began. The use of advanced technological solutions introduced by the Third Army Corps played a significant role in this collapse. We talked about how iron replaces people on the battlefield and disrupts the enemy's plans with our friend Makar, the commander of the NC13 ground attack complex unit within the Third Separate Assault Brigade of the Third Army Corps.

Meta engineer Ali Hamieh admitted that for the first time in his career as a developer, he feels uncomfortable with the way programming is changing under the influence of artificial intelligence. According to him, code is now generated so quickly that checking every line can negate the benefits of AI. At the same time, developers risk releasing systems whose internal logic they themselves do not fully understand.

Ukrainian Codebridge launched Shvydko: an API that selects an option based on text, gives an estimate, and names the probability

Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has announced a major restructuring that will see it completely close its Canadian studio BioWare, cancel development of a new Mass Effect game, and cut about 3% of its global workforce. The layoffs will affect an estimated 400 company employees.

Scaling is often perceived as a simple formula: more users, new markets, more products. But in practice, company growth poses much more complex questions for businesses: what exactly is worth scaling, when the initial model needs to be changed? How not to lose product value in the process? What solutions help a technology product move from a successful niche to systemic scaling?

For 14 years, Serhiy Pudych dreamed of a tool that would help him organize his archive of dozens of hard drives. Now he has DriveShelf, which has reduced the search for the necessary files from 30–60 minutes to 30 seconds, and several other applications for filmmakers. Claude Code writes the code for him, and Serhiy himself determines what problem to solve, tests the result and releases products on the App Store. He says that creating applications has become more accessible than ever, and the main challenge now is marketing and sales. We tell the story of an artist who became a vibecoder.

Local video generation using artificial intelligence is the process of creating a dynamic video sequence from a text description or a static image directly on your PC.

At the start of a business, trust often seems to be enough: you work together, you have a common goal, the company costs nothing yet and there is really nothing to share. Most of the energy is directed only to getting the business into the world at all. The problems begin later — when what has real value appears: money, customers, team, technology, brand and intellectual property. And especially when the contribution of the partners themselves changes.

The Ukrainian hexacopter "Ayudag-6" from Gurzuf Defence helped evacuate a wounded soldier from the front line. The drone, which was originally created to transport heavy loads, was specially adapted to save a person. We tell you what is known about the "Ayudag-6", how much it can lift and what other unusual tasks the drones of its "family" Heavy Shot performed.

Last night it became known that the Russians attacked the Gigacenter data center. After this attack, we can say that the enemy tried to attack the sites of all the largest Ukrainian cloud providers. Some of them — Parkovy, Datagroup, Cosmonova, Mirohost — stopped their work. Others — withstood and are updating the infrastructure after the attacks.

In Ukrainian IT, returning from maternity leave is not always 100% guaranteed for many young mothers — unfortunately, it may turn out that there is simply nowhere to return due to the closure of a project or a reduction in position. Of course, a lot depends on the company and its social responsibility — and there are still more than enough positive examples. But constant budget cuts, staff optimization and fierce competition, in addition to the turbulence of wartime, have turned maternity leave for many IT workers into a zone of high professional risk.

A few years ago, the customer journey was often described simply: a person saw an ad, went to a website, left a request or made a purchase. This model was convenient for reporting, but in 2026 it is increasingly difficult to explain real-world behavior. A modern customer may first see a brand on TikTok, then search for it on Google, read an AI response on ChatGPT or Gemini, read reviews, go to Instagram, get remarketing, subscribe to an email, write to a messenger, and only then leave a request. Sometimes days or weeks pass between the first contact and the purchase. Sometimes the decision is formed even before going to the website. That’s why it’s no longer enough for businesses to think in terms of separate channels: "we need advertising," "we need SEO," "we need Instagram." You need an ecosystem in which all touchpoints work together and lead the customer to a solution.

Traditional media is facing a double challenge. On the one hand, there is a full-scale invasion and destruction of the traditional print business. On the other, there is the explosive development of generative AI. The answers that previously required users to go to specialized websites are now found directly in chatbots and AI search. How can the media not only survive in such conditions, but also transform AI from a main competitor into a powerful assistant? In a new joint video by dev.ua and Google Ukraine, we analyzed a practical case of the transformation of the specialized publication AW-Term (Aveterm) and its director, Dmytro Garnyk.

Viktor Shapovalov left his job at Ajax Systems to create reliable electronics for the military. At that time, there was a shortage of ammunition on the front, and instead of a technological revolution, pilots used homemade clothespins to blow up drones. Today, his company ZMIYAR develops comprehensive solutions, which took the prize at this year's IT Arena, for managing minefields and connecting hundreds of devices into a single secure network. In the interview, we discussed the key challenges for defense-tech startups in 2026: changing booking criteria, a catastrophic shortage of hardware engineers, and unexpected logistical obstacles within the country.

As we reported, at night Ukrainian drones hit the Vkontakte data center in the Leningrad region. Later it became known that this was one of the company’s largest sites, which is located in Novosergiyevka (Vsevolozhsky district, close to the border of St. Petersburg). It is strategically located near the 330 kV substation "Vostochnaya".

The Ukrainian IT business has already learned to work during outages. Generators, charging stations, and backup internet have become commonplace. But what if the power and communication go out at the same time, and part of the team is left without heating?

The caution of foreign customers due to the war, the mobilization of employees, preparation for a difficult winter, and changing customer expectations due to the development of artificial intelligence are among the challenges that the heads of Ukrainian IT companies name in 2026. At the same time, AI is changing not only the development process, but also the very model of cooperation: instead of a team of specialists, customers are increasingly expecting a specific result, and budgets and project durations are being revised. We asked representatives of Levi9 Ukraine, Ciklum, and Railsware about what is affecting their business the most, how demand from foreign customers has changed, and what risks they see in the second half of 2026.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he has no influence on the restrictions on the operation of the Starshield satellite service, since this system belongs to the US government, and all decisions on its use are made by the US military and the president. His words were a response to former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, who thanked for easing restrictions on the operation of Starlink, which is used by the Ukrainian military. dev.ua found out how Starshield differs from Starlink.

In the last plenary week, the Verkhovna Rada came as close as possible to voting on a bill on VAT taxation of international parcels worth up to 150 euros. At the crucial moment, «something went wrong,» but, nevertheless, the bill itself (or rather, a whole bunch of bills, because the government’s «original» No. 15112 was supplemented by alternative bills from deputies) did not go anywhere. So this decision may well be made during one of the next parliamentary sessions.

The story of Serhiy Kuksa is not a classic case of a quick switch to IT after a few short courses. It is the story of a person with extensive life experience, for whom changing profession after 20 years in trade required a lot of work, doubts and risks. Systematic training became the basis of this transition. And now Serhiy works in a new field as a Data Scientist at Vodafone Ukraine and has returned to the Big Data Lab as a mentor — a practicing expert in the field of Data Science and AI.

Can you imagine a guy who, at 14, independently creates websites for a small local business in the Lviv region, at 16, works as a programmer in the Czech Republic, and at 19, already has his own successful startup in the USA and is a judge at the HackHarvard hackathon at Harvard University? Can you imagine? And now you can meet him — this is Yuriy Tovarnytsky, who managed to go from the first laptop given to him by his parents to a successful startuper and programmer in just six young years. However, it took him a lot of effort to do this.

Low Earth orbit is experiencing an unprecedented boom: by the end of the decade, the number of satellites could reach 100,000. While the International Telecommunication Union tries to curb this chaos with strict quotas, a new hidden race is unfolding in space. China is building its own orbital empire, and Europe is investing billions in sovereign secure communication networks to break the Starlink monopoly. Against the backdrop of this orbital redistribution, Ukraine is quietly but confidently building its own "plan B." The government is gradually opening the space market on the NASA model, allowing private Ukrainian companies to create their own networks for reconnaissance and command of troops. How is the world preparing for life in an overpopulated orbit and what role will Ukrainian private space play in this new coordinate system?

“At first, we just wanted to see how many customers ChatGPT could bring in.” That’s how agentMention began, a Ukrainian startup that helps companies track how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other AI systems mention and recommend their brands. The idea arose even before AI search became a separate direction for marketers. The founders wanted to understand whether AI assistants could become a new channel for customer acquisition and how businesses could adapt to changing user habits. Over time, the GEO market began to form around this — optimizing the presence of brands in generative search engine responses. Today, the team develops the platform on its own, without external investment, and has 20 paying customers. The service analyzes which queries the AI ​​mentions companies for, compares them with competitors, tracks the sources of recommendations, and suggests ways to improve brand visibility. dev.ua spoke with the founder of agentMention, who wishes not to reveal his name due to corporate nuances from his main place of work, about how AI search analytics works, how much it costs to develop such a product, how a startup earns on subscriptions, and whether it is possible to build a business in a market whose rules are still being formed.

The Ukrainian defense industry is undergoing a large-scale transformation. Alongside traditional enterprises, a new private MilTech sector is rapidly developing, generating demand for engineers, managers, and international investments.