Bluesky has become a major winner in X’s ongoing battle with Brazil. After a supreme court judge in Brazil Friday blocked the platform over failing to suspend certain accounts accused of breaking the law, the X competitor gained 2 million new users. That represents 25% of its now total 8 million user base.
Meta is planning to cut roughly 10% of its Reality Labs employees, according to a report from The New York Times. The division is home to products related to the namesake of the company — the metaverse — which includes virtual and augmented reality glasses and headsets. Employees working on the metaverse are the target of the cuts, per the report.
Reality Labs has been bleeding cash and struggling to build significant revenue, racking up losses of around $70 billion since the company started reporting its numbers in 2020. Other than Meta Ray-Ban glasses, the group’s products have not been popular with consumers, and the idea of the metaverse that CEO Mark Zuckerberg evangelized never took off.
The company has since pivoted to a focus on building AI “superintelligence.”
Reality Labs has been bleeding cash and struggling to build significant revenue, racking up losses of around $70 billion since the company started reporting its numbers in 2020. Other than Meta Ray-Ban glasses, the group’s products have not been popular with consumers, and the idea of the metaverse that CEO Mark Zuckerberg evangelized never took off.
The company has since pivoted to a focus on building AI “superintelligence.”
Apple has selected Google’s Gemini AI model to power the next generation of Siri — and Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk is not pleased. Responding on X to Google’s announcement, Musk wrote that the deal “seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google,” pointing to the company’s control of Android and Chrome.
This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that the also have Android and Chrome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2026
Musk has previously sued Apple, accusing the company of unfairly favoring OpenAI’s ChatGPT — with which Apple also has a more limited AI partnership — in its App Store. Musk’s xAI, which works closely with Tesla, develops a competing AI model, Grok. Long considered the AI front-runner, OpenAI, which was also in the running to power Siri, has been facing increased competition from Google.
In a monopoly case last September, a judge ruled that agreements such as Apple’s deal to preload Google Search on Safari were permissible as long as they were not exclusive — a decision that may have helped clear the path for the companies’ new multiyear AI partnership.
Apple has selected Google’s Gemini model as part of a multiyear partnership to power its revamped, AI-powered Siri, set to launch this year.
Per a statement seen by CNBC, Apple said: “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users.”
Apple first announced a revamped AI Siri back in June 2024 but failed to execute on many of its promises of personalized features and deep system integration. The newest iteration of Siri was expected this spring. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple plans to pay Google $1 billion a year to use its AI model to power Siri.
With this news, the iPhone maker has ticked one of the four boxes that Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said would be integral to the stock’s success in 2026.
“This is what the Street has been waiting for with the elephant in the room for Cupertino revolving around its invisible AI strategy,” Ives wrote in a follow-up note, calling the move a “major validation moment for Google as a premier foundation model and for Apple as a stepping stone to accelerate its AI strategy into 2026 and beyond.”
Google, which has been riding high on the the stellar reception of its latest Gemini model, briefly notched a $4 trillion market cap on the news. Apple hit the notable milestone in 2025 but has since fallen and is currently worth $3.8 trillion.
Apple first announced a revamped AI Siri back in June 2024 but failed to execute on many of its promises of personalized features and deep system integration. The newest iteration of Siri was expected this spring. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple plans to pay Google $1 billion a year to use its AI model to power Siri.
With this news, the iPhone maker has ticked one of the four boxes that Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said would be integral to the stock’s success in 2026.
“This is what the Street has been waiting for with the elephant in the room for Cupertino revolving around its invisible AI strategy,” Ives wrote in a follow-up note, calling the move a “major validation moment for Google as a premier foundation model and for Apple as a stepping stone to accelerate its AI strategy into 2026 and beyond.”
Google, which has been riding high on the the stellar reception of its latest Gemini model, briefly notched a $4 trillion market cap on the news. Apple hit the notable milestone in 2025 but has since fallen and is currently worth $3.8 trillion.
Apple’s App Store saw an average of 850 million weekly active users at the end of 2025, up from 813 million last June, underscoring the sheer scale of its Services business even as hardware growth has slowed. The company highlighted the milestone in a year-end Services roundup, noting record App Store traffic across major markets including the US, China, India, and Japan.
Apple takes a cut of most digital transactions that run through its App Store payment system, making growth there a key driver of its increasingly important Services segment.
Apple also indicated record Apple TV viewership and Apple Music listenership, but did not disclose specific figures.
Healthcare is turning out to be a key battleground as AI companies race to roll out new features in their quest to lure new users to their platforms.
Last week, OpenAI announced the launch of ChatGPT Health, in response to the 40 million health-related queries per day that the chatbot answers. The consumer-focused feature lets users connect health apps and upload medical records securely for the chatbot to analyze and explain.
Today Anthropic unveiled Claude for Healthcare, which offers similar features while also serving healthcare providers. The company described the new product as a “set of tools and resources that allow health care providers, payers, and consumers to use Claude for medical purposes through HIPAA-ready products.”
The company said the feature can be used by healthcare providers to speed up prior authorization requests, build stronger claims appeals, and coordinate patient care.
Patients can connect to systems to access their medical records and lab results, share health data securely from health apps, and “detect patterns” from health metrics.
Anthropic also expanded its existing Claude for Life Sciences product, enabling new connections to additional scientific platforms to support clinical trial management and regulatory work.
Today Anthropic unveiled Claude for Healthcare, which offers similar features while also serving healthcare providers. The company described the new product as a “set of tools and resources that allow health care providers, payers, and consumers to use Claude for medical purposes through HIPAA-ready products.”
The company said the feature can be used by healthcare providers to speed up prior authorization requests, build stronger claims appeals, and coordinate patient care.
Patients can connect to systems to access their medical records and lab results, share health data securely from health apps, and “detect patterns” from health metrics.
Anthropic also expanded its existing Claude for Life Sciences product, enabling new connections to additional scientific platforms to support clinical trial management and regulatory work.
