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A growing number of Google employees are pushing back against continued workforce reductions, arguing that a company enjoying record financial success should do more to protect its staff as it accelerates investment in artificial intelligence. On Thursday, members of the Alphabet Workers Union delivered a petition carrying more than 4,500 employee signatures to Google chief executive Sundar Pichai’s office at the company’s California headquarters.

Wells Fargo has indicated that its years-long workforce reduction is far from over, with senior executives saying advances in artificial intelligence and technology are allowing the bank to operate with fewer employees while continuing to invest in areas critical to future growth. The comments came during the bank’s second-quarter earnings call, where executives outlined how automation, digital tools and AI are reshaping day-to-day operations.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has publicly questioned Anthropic’s approach to limiting access to its flagship artificial intelligence model, Claude Fable, arguing that some of the company’s safeguards are difficult to justify. His remarks arrive at a time when competition among AI developers is intensifying and businesses are increasingly looking for greater flexibility in how they build and deploy AI systems.

Britain’s online safety watchdog has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over concerns that the video-sharing platform may not be doing enough to protect children from harmful material, marking the latest regulatory scrutiny under the country’s Online Safety Act.

The race to build the next generation of AI-powered cybersecurity tools is gathering pace, and Microsoft appears ready to make its next move. According to a report by The Information, the technology giant is preparing to launch Project Perception, a new security product designed to help organisations identify and fix software vulnerabilities with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

Apple’s first foldable iPhone could finally become a reality in just a couple of months, with multiple reports suggesting the company is preparing to unveil the device alongside the iPhone 18 Pro series this September. While Apple has not officially confirmed the product, industry reports indicate that the foldable model, widely referred to as the iPhone Ultra, will sit above every existing iPhone in both price and positioning.

Only days after Chinese startup Z.ai drew attention with its GLM-5.2 model, another company has entered the spotlight. Beijing-based Moonshot AI has introduced Kimi K3, a massive open-weight model that the company says delivers performance approaching Anthropic’s frontier Fable model across several demanding AI tasks. Taken together, the launches point to a broader trend rather than an isolated success.

PayPal's board sees a $53 billion takeover bid by rival Stripe and private equity firm Advent International as undervaluing the company and facing regulatory and financing hurdles, a person familiar with the matter said, potentially setting the stage for negotiations over the future of the U.S. payments giant.

Verizon is pressing ahead with a fresh round of restructuring that will reshape its retail footprint and trim its corporate workforce, as the US telecom giant continues efforts to streamline operations amid mounting competitive pressure. According to a Reuters report, the company will sell 274 company-owned retail stores and eliminate around 500 corporate roles, a move expected to affect nearly 3,000 employees across its retail and head office operations.

How many emojis have you used today? If you’re like most people, you’ve probably dropped at least one into a WhatsApp chat, reacted to an Instagram post with a heart, or ended an email with a smiling face. We use them so instinctively that we barely notice. Yet these tiny digital icons have quietly transformed from colourful decorations into one of the internet’s most widely spoken languages.