Microsoft and Meta to cut thousands of jobs
Microsoft and Meta, the company behind Instagram and WhatsApp, are planning to make significant cuts to their respective workforces as spending on artificial intelligence (AI)
Trump threatens ‘big tariff’ if UK does not drop digital services tax
Tweety McTreason has threatened to impose “a big tariff” on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media
Microsoft offers voluntary retirement to 7% of US workers in first-ever buyout programme amid $80B AI spending push
Summary: Microsoft is offering voluntary retirement to approximately 7% of its US workforce (~8,750 of 125,000 employees) in the first such programme in its 51-year
OpenAI launches GPT-5.5, its first fully retrained base model since GPT-4.5
The model, codenamed “Spud,” is designed to complete complex multi-step tasks with minimal human direction. It sets new benchmarks in agentic coding, computer use, and
Iran war: What’s happening on day 56 after Trump extended ceasefire?
The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is extended by three weeks after White House talks with Israeli and Lebanese envoys.
How fake AI victims are being used to provide rationale for attacking Iran
In the battle of propaganda, fake videos and images of female victims of Iran’s government are going viral.
China’s DeepSeek unveils latest models a year after upending global tech
Chinese startup says DeepSeek-V4-Pro beats all rival open models for maths and coding.
Zoonotic Spillover Is A Problem
Recently I gave the latest update on the origins of SARS-CoV-2 – bottom line, it was very likely a zoonotic spillover event and not a
Steve Rosenberg: Kremlin’s tightening grip on internet fuels public discontent
Throughout Russia, internet usage has become seriously restricted. Citizens are drawing comparison to Soviet censorship and today’s digital blackouts.
Ringo Starr: ‘I made all my mistakes on stage’
Beatles star reveals all about his new country album, being a Sir and coming up with the phrase A Hard Day’s Night.
Meta says it will cut 8,000 jobs as AI spending soars
The cuts, which employees had been expecting for weeks, will be Meta’s largest layoff since 2023.
Singer D4vd had ‘significant amount’ of child sex abuse images when arrested, prosecutors say
The Tiktok star’s attorneys have maintained his innocence and vowed to “vigorously defend” him.
In cities, wild things are hiding everywhere — if you put on your ‘nature eyes’
NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks with Amy Jaecker-Jones of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County about a worldwide community science project happening this weekend
AI’s a suck up. Research shows how it flatters and suggests we’re not to blame
The AI models and chatbots that we interact with tend to affirm our feelings and viewpoints — more so than people do, with potentially worrisome