Former employees sue over Meta's alleged use of biased AI systems during layoffs Former employees sue over Meta's alleged use of biased AI systems during layoffs Meta cut its workforce by 10 percent in May. Twenty-six former Meta employees are suing the company for allegedly using biased AI tools that disproportionately selected people who took medical leave as candidates to be laid off, reports . All the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were impacted by Meta's most recent round of layoffs, which cut around 8,000 employees in the hopes of offsetting the company's investments in AI and data center infrastructure. Meta is accused of using a constellation of artificial intelligence systems to select which employees should be cut. It's claimed those included an internal AI assistant called Metamate, employee-trained second brain agents, AI-token usage dashboards and keystroke-and activity-monitoring data.

It's the latest in a barrage of efforts to win compensation from AI companies over training materials. Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning and Elsevier are the plaintiff companies and writer Scott Turow is the individual behind this effort . Yet Google has failed to implement effective guardrails. The literary world has made several attempts to make deals with the AI companies that have scraped and trained large language models off of their protected works. In fact, a group including several of the same parties already have a similar class action suit underway against Meta .

PCWorld tested ChatGPT's new "computer use" functionality in the recently released super-app, which allows the AI to control desktop applications on macOS. The GPT-5.6 Sol model successfully played chess and wrote in Journal apps, demonstrating advanced understanding of game strategy and graphical interface navigation. This desktop control capability positions ChatGPT alongside Claude's similar features, with OpenAI suggesting uses for testing and automating repetitive tasks. Just a few months ago, I could barely get an AI agent to open the Chess app on my Mac, much less actually play a game of it. But after testing the all-new ChatGPT super-app, I can report that the days of clunky AI "computer use" functionality are pretty much over. Released last Thursday, the ChatGPT super-app boasts a variety of features, including the built-in Codex coding harness and ChatGPT Work, an AI agent that can tap into your local files and create detailed reports in seconds. The revamped ChatGPT also supports "computer use," allowing it to take control your PC's mouse and desktop apps. Computer use functionality isn't new--the Claude desktop app has supported it for months--but it new for ChatGPT, so I decided to give it a go. I fired up ChatGPT on my Mac mini, switched the app to "Work" mode, set the model to GPT-5.6 Sol ( the latest and greatest OpenAI model), and gave it a simple prompt: "Can you play chess on my Mac?" ChatGPT asked me to approve some new permissions, including the ability to record my screen so it could see what it was doing.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I'm happy to see a new NVMe SSD from Samsung, though it's not as fast as the older 990 EVO Plus. The 990 is a step up from the 990 EVO, though the write rate plummets when secondary cache runs out. But it's slower than the older 990 EVO Plus and not a bargain, even given the current NAND crunch. New NVMe SSD releases have become increasingly rare -- another casualty of the AI data center gold rush.

Microsoft's recent patch for the RoguePlanet vulnerability in Defender inadvertently introduced a new serious flaw that can exhaust disk space on Windows systems. PCWorld reports that cybersecurity researcher Nightmare-Eclipse discovered this bug affects Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025, with a proof-of-concept exploit demonstrating the issue.

Microsoft now recommends installing Windows updates within three days due to AI-powered cyber threats that exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever before. PCWorld reports that hackers use artificial intelligence to quickly target unpatched Windows systems, making delayed updates extremely risky for users. Microsoft patched a record 206 vulnerabilities in June and uses its own AI tool MDASH to identify security flaws in Windows code. Microsoft has flipped its stance regarding the installation of Windows updates. You should now install these updates on your Windows computers as soon as possible.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This Anker 20K power bank has a cable built in, and it's $38 now Anker's Zolo power bank has a built-in USB-C cable and 20,000mAh of capacity, and it's down to $38 (was $46) at Amazon right now. Anker's Zolo power bank is a stunner for one main reason: the built-in USB-C cable that lets you charge your phone (or whatever else) at any time without having to carry a separate cable along. That kind of convenience is priceless, and this power bank is just $38 at Amazon, down from its usual $46. Has it been cheaper before?

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Outlook lets you save frequently used messages as templates. Here's how to set them up. Need to send the same email over and over? Microsoft Outlook lets you save messages as reusable templates, but the setup depends on which version you've got.

PCWorld reveals three legitimate strategies for accessing free Kindle books, including Amazon's hidden free section, library borrowing through Libby, and public domain collections.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 isn't the most attractive ChromeOS machine, but it offers good performance and lots of storage for the price. The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 isn't the most attractive ChromeOS machine, but it offers good performance and lots of storage for the price. Buying a Chromebook in 2026 can feel like a bit of a gamble. Many models are available, but pricing seems to vary wildly, and a lot of retail sites list new and ancient models side-by-side. The Acer Chromebook Plus 514 enters this confusing market as a sensible choice with decent specs and a mid-range price of $399.99.