As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves from a tool to a true assistant, its role in the workplace expands, fundamentally transforming how enterprises operate. Microsoft's latest research identifies a new type of organization known as the Frontier Firm, where on-demand intelligence requirements are managed by hybrid teams of AI agents and humans. On Wednesday, Microsoft published its 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report, which combines survey data from 31,000 workers across 31 countries, Microsoft 365 productivity signals, LinkedIn hiring and labor trends, and expert insights to give employees and business leaders a comprehensive view of the work landscape. The focus of this year's report is the concept of a Frontier Firm, which helps researchers explore what work structure will be like in the AI era. As expected, the differences from today are vast.

There's been a lot of talk online about "recession indicators" over the past few months. Now, we have a big one. Intel is reportedly preparing for its largest round of layoffs ever. According to a new story from Bloomberg, Intel is set to announce a massive 20 percent reduction in its workforce. This would mark the second time in less than a year that the company laid off employees.

Margaret Mitchell is a pioneer when it comes to testing generative AI tools for bias. She founded the Ethical AI team at Google, alongside another well-known researcher, Timnit Gebru, before they were later both fired from the company. She now works as the AI ethics leader at Hugging Face, a software startup focused on open source tools. We spoke about a new dataset she helped create to test how AI models continue perpetuating stereotypes. Unlike most bias-mitigation efforts that prioritize English, this dataset is malleable, with human translations for testing a wider breadth of languages and cultures.

As the fate of Chrome hangs in the balance of the Google antitrust trial, one thing is clear: OpenAI wants to buy it. During the ongoing remedy phase of the Department of Justice's case against Google, OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified on Tuesday that his company would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to sell it. Selling the Chrome web browser is one of the DOJ's proposed remedies for breaking up Google's search monopoly. Turley, head of product for ChatGPT, was a DOJ witness during the hearing. When asked whether OpenAI would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to divest it, Turley said, "Yes, we would, as would many other parties," as Bloomberg reported. OpenAI is one of Google's chief rivals in the artificial intelligence arms race, and acquiring Chrome could be quite the coup for OpenAI.

As Big Tech pours countless dollars and resources into AI, preaching the gospel of its utopia-creating brilliance, here's a reminder that algorithms can screw up. The latest evidence: You can trick Google's AI Overview (the automated answers at the top of your search queries) into explaining fictional, nonsensical idioms as if they were real. According to Google's AI Overview (via @gregjenner on Bluesky), "You can't lick a badger twice" means you can't trick or deceive someone a second time after they've been tricked once. That sounds like a logical attempt to explain the idiom -- if only it weren't poppycock. Google's Gemini-powered failure came in assuming the question referred to an established phrase rather than absurd mumbo jumbo designed to trick it.

A fully automated warehouse system is changing the way we shop for groceries. GROCERIES IN 5 MIN: Imagine a grocery store where your entire order is picked, packed and ready for delivery in just five minutes without a single human hand touching your food. BRAVE NEW WORLD: Anthropic – the company behind the artificial intelligence platform Claude – anticipates that digital AI employees will appear on corporate networks in the next year, the organization's top security leader informed Axios. THESE FUELS ARE OUT: Imagine powering your boat not with gasoline but with clean hydrogen fuel. That's exactly what Yamaha, together with Roush Industries and Regulator Marine, is working on right now.

The emergence of AI has many people wondering what's next for organizations and their workforces. One thing is clear: things are changing. To help business leaders and professionals navigate the fast-evolving workplace, Workera has released its 2025 State of Skills Intelligence Report. The research surveyed 800 learning and development (L&D) leaders and 800 full-time professionals to get their perspectives on how they approach workforce transformation. Also: 5 ways to turn AI's time-saving magic into your productivity superpower However, there's a disconnect between how business leaders and employees view AI and the best ways to upskill. "The majority of the issues we're going to run into in the coming years are people issues, not technology issues," said Kian Katanforoosh, founder and CEO of Workera.

Imagine an AI video chatbot you can interact with in real-time. Or if you could generate a custom "skin" for Siri, Gemini, or ChatGPT, anthropomorphizing these chatbots in a whole new way. This week, the internet moved one step closer to that reality. On Monday, April 21, Character.AI revealed AvatarFX, a new AI video generation tool that will allow users to create realistic, long-form video from 2D images, the company said in a blog post. Character.AI users can apply for early access to AvatarFX now.

Last summer, Google lost a landmark antitrust case. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta declared that "Google is a monopolist," finding the company acted illegally to maintain dominance over the search engine market. Now, Google is back in court -- this time for the remedy phase of the case, where the U.S. government argues what actions Google should be forced to take to dismantle its monopoly. The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to break up the tech giant. Google is fighting to convince the judge that less drastic steps would address concerns, without handing an advantage to foreign rivals.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett said she would "absolutely" take a head-to-head IQ test against President Donald Trump during an interview with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday that she would "absolutely" take a head-to-head IQ test against President Donald Trump. "He also called you low IQ, I'm sure you're aware of that. Would you be willing to take an IQ test publicly head-to-head against the President of the United States?" Kimmel played a clip of Trump talking about the Democratic lawmaker, during which he called Crockett the Democrats' "new star," and suggested the party was in trouble if that was the case.