Technology, social media & industry happenings

Meta announced layoffs of roughly 8,000 staff as it reallocates billions toward AI infrastructure and autonomous 'AI pods.'

Google redesigned its iconic search box for the first time in 25 years, replacing it with an 'AI Information Agent' interface.

LinkedIn rolled out paid consultations through profiles and natural-language AI tools to help small businesses automate recruiting.

French cybercrime authorities escalated their investigation into X to a criminal case over alleged algorithmic manipulation.

On its Q1 earnings call, Meta reported strong growth and the release of the first model from its secretive Superintelligence Labs.

Amazon's ad segment hit $17.2 billion in Q1, driven by AI creative tools and expanded placements in Prime Video.

Less than two months after GPT-5.4, OpenAI released GPT-5.5, describing it as a 'new class of intelligence.'

OpenAI launched GPT-5.4, optimized for complex reasoning and autonomous agentic tasks with minimal human oversight.

Apple introduced the $599 MacBook Neo alongside the iPhone 17E and M5-powered MacBook Pros, targeting education and entry-level buyers.

To avoid a nationwide ban, ByteDance moved its U.S. operations into a new entity, TikTok U.S., a joint venture with Oracle.

Meta closed the year by acquiring Manus, a startup building a 'general-purpose AI agent' for complex web tasks.

The European Commission fined X under the Digital Services Act, ruling its paid 'blue tick' model was deceptive.

LinkedIn launched natural-language search letting recruiters describe an 'ideal candidate' instead of using keyword filters.

Apple's M5 chip delivered a 40% leap in AI processing for the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and an updated Vision Pro.

After keeping cookies, Google pulled major Privacy Sandbox APIs including Topics and Protected Audience.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 17 series with a 'Center Stage' camera system and a thinner 'iPhone Air.'

A federal judge ruled Google won't be broken up but must end its multi-billion-dollar exclusive default-search deals.

Musk filed suit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging an anti-competitive partnership that restricts the AI market.

OpenAI released GPT-5, claiming 'PhD-level' intelligence across domains and a unified reasoning architecture.

At Build, Microsoft unveiled Copilot Tuning, letting enterprises refine AI responses on their proprietary internal data.

Microsoft added capabilities letting multiple AI agents work together on complex business processes in 365 Copilot.

In a major reversal, Google said it would no longer deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome, opting for a 'user choice' model.

A U.S. court ruled Google illegally maintained a monopoly in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.

OpenAI closed a $40 billion round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at roughly $300 billion.

In its largest acquisition ever, Google agreed to buy cloud security firm Wiz for $32 billion.

Meta unveiled a major investment in AI-powered humanoid robots, forming a dedicated team within Reality Labs.

Google launched the Gemini 2.0 family to the public, marking its transition into the 'agentic era.'

Shortly after taking office, President Trump signaled openness to a deal where Musk or Larry Ellison would acquire TikTok.

Chinese lab DeepSeek released R1, an open-source reasoning model rivaling OpenAI's o1 at far lower training cost.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a nationwide ban.