Reading List
The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.
OpenAI launches GPT-5.5, designed to handle complex tasks with minimal guidance; the model will be used to power the company's upcoming "super app" (Rachel Metz/Bloomberg)
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI launches GPT-5.5, designed to handle complex tasks with minimal guidance; the model will be used to power the company's upcoming “super app” — OpenAI is introducing an artificial intelligence model that's intended to be better at completing work without much direction …
OpenAI says its new GPT-5.5 model is more efficient and better at coding
At a town hall, Asha Sharma said Microsoft is returning to using Xbox for its gaming division, instead of Microsoft Gaming, as "Xbox needs to be our identity" (Tom Warren/The Verge)
Tom Warren / The Verge:
At a town hall, Asha Sharma said Microsoft is returning to using Xbox for its gaming division, instead of Microsoft Gaming, as “Xbox needs to be our identity” — Xbox is Microsoft's gaming identity moving forward. … Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has had a busy week.
Microsoft Offers Voluntary Retirement to Long-Serving Employees
Tom Warren, The Verge (gift link):
“Many of these employees have spent years, and in some cases, decades, shaping Microsoft into what it is today,” says Microsoft’s HR chief Amy Coleman in a memo seen by The Verge. “For those who may be considering their next chapter, we’re offering a one‑time Voluntary Retirement Program.” Microsoft says it applies to only a “small percentage of our US employees.”
US employees whose combined years of service added to their age totals 70 or more will be eligible for voluntary retirement, and Coleman says this will include “generous company support.” It’s not clear if this is a precursor to more layoffs at Microsoft, but it certainly looks like a method to avoid a bigger round of layoffs ahead of Microsoft’s new financial year in July.
70 combined years? My god, when did Microsoft get so, well, soft? I just read about a guy at Apple whose age plus years of employment will hit something like 114 later this year. If I weren’t so lazy I’d double check the exact number with a calculator, but whatever it’s up to today, he hit 70 combined years back around the time the first iMac came out.