IT News Review by Control F5 Software: Neuralink to test brain chips in UK clinical trial

Apple reported third-quarter financial results Thursday, beating Wall Street expectations on both profit and revenue.

Iphone sales were up 13% from a year ago, and total revenue rose 10% - Apple's biggest quarterly revenue growth since December 2021.

Apple shares surged in after-market trading Thursday and climbed even higher after the company provided details about its September quarter performance.

Anthropic withdraws OpenAI access to Claude

Anthropic on Tuesday withdrew OpenAI access to its API, according to multiple sources close to the situation cited by WIRED. OpenAI was informed that access was revoked due to a violation of its terms of use.

"Claude Code has become the preferred choice of programmers around the world, so it was no surprise to learn that OpenAI's technical team was also using our programming tools prior to the GPT-5 release," Anthropic spokesperson Christopher Nulty told WIRED. "Unfortunately, this is in direct violation of our terms of use."

Tim Cook says Apple "must" solve AI and "will invest to do so"

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke enthusiastically about the potential of artificial intelligence and the company's approach to developing it in a rare all-employee meeting, Bloomberg reported. Apple has been slower to roll out some AI features and has had problems with a planned upgrade to AI-based Siri, which it delayed earlier this year.

Accorded to Bloomberg: The executive rallied employees in the auditorium of Apple's campus in Cupertino, California by telling them that the AI revolution is "as big or even bigger" than the internet, smartphones, cloud computing and apps. "Apple has to do this. Apple will do this. It's the kind of opportunity we need to seize," Cook told employees, according to people familiar with the meeting. "We're going to make the investments to make it happen."

US capital markets regulator announces special AI team

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Friday that it is forming a dedicated artificial intelligence team to lead the agency's efforts to "increase innovation and efficiency" in its operations.

Valerie Szczepanik, the SEC's recently appointed director of AI, will lead this special team, the institution said in a statement.

The relationship between humans and AI is getting real - and complicated

AI AI computers, once just science fiction, are now part of many people's real lives. People like Nikolai Daskalov, a widower from Virginia, have developed emotional bonds with AI chatbots like Leah, whom he considers his life partner. Using platforms such as Nomi, users can create AI entities for companionship, emotional support or even role-play adventures.

These AI relationships take many forms - from platonic friendships (such as Bea Streetman and her diverse group of chatbot friends) to romantic and sexual connections (such as user Mike's experiences with Replika and Nomi). Some, like Scott Barr, create imaginary worlds with AI characters, such as a squirrel called Hootie, while others, like Antonio, a lonely student in Italy, find comfort in these interactions without the usual social pressure.

OpenAI to launch its first AI data center in Europe, in Norway

OpenAI has announced plans to open its first AI data center in Europe, choosing Norway for this strategic expansion. The project, dubbed "Stargate", will be developed in partnership with UK infrastructure company Nscale and Norwegian energy company Aker through a 50-50 joint venture.

OpenAI will act as an "off-taker", meaning it will buy computing capacity from the new facility, which is set to be one of the largest in Europe. By the end of 2026, the center is expected to host 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs and operate with a total capacity of 230 megawatts, powered entirely by renewable energy.

Google has just two weeks to start opening up Android, admits in an emergency request

Today, Google acknowledged the answer: 14 days. The tech giant has just 14 days to implement major changes to its Google Play app store and the way it does business with phone makers, carriers and app developers - unless it gets a temporary stay from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals while it continues its appeal.

Google must stop forcing apps to use Google Play Billing, allow developers to freely direct their users to other platforms, and limit the benefits it can offer in exchange for pre-installing apps, among other changes.

Google expands AI-based age verification to more user accounts

Google is taking a step forward with its AI age-verification technology in an attempt to better protect younger users. After previously announcing plans to identify and restrict underage users on YouTube, the company now says it will begin using AI to estimate the age of US Google account holders on a larger scale.

The rollout will begin in the coming weeks, initially affecting only a small group of users. But Google has confirmed it plans to expand the system over time. The AI will analyze user activity - such as search history and the types of videos watched on YouTube - to assess whether an account might belong to someone under 18. The initiative was first announced in February.

Microsoft joins the club of companies with a market capitalization of $4 trillion, alongside Nvidia

The ultra-exclusive club of companies with a market cap of $4 trillion now has a new member.

Microsoft shares surged more than 5% on Thursday after the company reported financial results that beat Wall Street expectations, pushing its market value over the $4 trillion threshold.

The software giant joins Nvidia, which hit the same high earlier this month.

Apple could develop its own AI-based response engine

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is putting together a new team to create an app similar to ChatGPT. The group - internally called "Answers, Knowledge, and Information" - is focused on building an AI-based "answer engine" capable of answering questions using data from across the network.

This tool could be launched either as a separate app or integrated into existing Apple services such as Siri, Safari or other native apps.

Gurman also says that Apple is actively recruiting for the project, seeking candidates with experience in search algorithms and search engine development - a sign that the company is determined to develop its own search capability.

Amazon Music launches monthly recaps

After launching its own version of "Spotify Wrapped" last year, Amazon Music now allows users to see "insights" - stats of the artists, songs and podcasts they listen to most each month.

Other music streaming platforms have also started offering more frequent looks at users' listening habits: YouTube has launched seasonal recaps, and Apple Music offers them monthly.

Reddit wants to become a search engine

Huffman notes that "every week, hundreds of millions of people come to Reddit looking for advice, and we're turning more and more of those intentions into active Reddit native search users." Basic search has more than 70 million weekly active unique users - while Reddit as a whole has 416.4 million - and Reddit Answers, the AI search tool launched in December, now has 6 million weekly users, up from 1 million in the first quarter of this year.

Nvidia will offer support for GeForce drivers on Windows 10 by October 2026