Google will let schools turn off its AI tools, but blocking AI fully cuts off Search

Google plans to make it easier for schools to restrict its AI tools for students in early 2027, the New York Times reports. The catch is that schools that block AI entirely will lose student access to Google Search. Google says Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search 'will be entirely off' for those school student accounts. TechCrunch notes this is because AI features are now built into the search engine. Google also says it will offer schools AI tools that are meant not to give away answers.

OpenAI's product lead says ChatGPT now has 1.2 billion weekly users

Adam Fry, who leads ChatGPT's consumer product, told Big Technology that ChatGPT has reached 1.2 billion weekly active users. He said it added 200 million of them in the past two months. He also said ChatGPT's search volume is now about 20% of Google's. The Verge reports he made the search claim at a press event on Monday.

Apple lets any app plug into its Siri AI in new test versions of iOS 27.3

Apple says that, starting with the test versions of iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3, a new developer preview lets any developer bring their app's content and actions into Siri AI. Apps do this through App Intents, Apple's existing way for apps to describe what they can do. Separately, The Verge reports the watchOS 27.3 test version adds two Apple Watch features: Siri Recap, which summarises conversations by listening in the background, and Live Rewind, which makes text transcripts of recent speech.

AI hosting startup Fal raises $1.3B, doubling its value to $16B since April

Fal, a five-year-old startup that hosts image, video and audio AI models for creators and developers, has raised $1.3B in a round led by Bessemer, Bloomberg reports. The round values Fal at $16B, up from $8B in April. A source told Bloomberg that Fal reached $800M in annualised revenue this year.

Security firm CrowdStrike buys two AI startups, Fiddler AI and Dreadnode, for about $495M

CrowdStrike has agreed to buy Fiddler AI, which helps monitor AI agents, for about $400M, the Wall Street Journal reports. It is also buying Dreadnode, an automated tool for testing AI security, for about $95M. Both deals are mostly in cash. The Journal says companies are rolling out AI agents faster than some security teams can set up controls. CNBC reports CrowdStrike also launched an 'AI kill switch' in its Falcon Guardian product to stop rogue AI agents inside a company.

Apple expects holiday sales to grow but margins to shrink as memory chip costs rise

Apple expects revenue in its holiday quarter to rise 7% to 10% from a year earlier, above analysts' estimate of 6%, the Financial Times reports. It expects gross margins of 45% to 46%, below the 47% analysts expected, and its services outlook disappointed. Chief executive John Ternus called memory costs 'unprecedented' and said Apple expects them to rise into December and beyond. Apple's inventory grew to $14.54B, up 154.3% from a year earlier, as it stockpiled memory, TechCrunch says. Tom's Hardware reports memory makers Samsung, SK hynix and Micron are prioritising AI data centres, tightening supply for phones and laptops; Fairphone says memory is now nearly 60% of the parts cost of some of its phones.

Binance says North Korean hackers stole $6.3B using fake LinkedIn job interviews

Crypto exchange Binance disclosed on Tuesday that North Korean hackers stole $6.3B through a months-long scheme, Fortune reports. Binance says the attackers used fake job interviews on LinkedIn and an advertising campaign to deliver malicious software. TechCrunch notes security researchers had warned about these North Korean tactics for years. The Financial Times reports that blockchain analysis firms Chainalysis and Elliptic expect the hackers to take months to launder the funds.

Google bans Android TV box maker Videostrong for preinstalling a malware backdoor

Google has cut ties with and banned Videostrong, a maker of Android TV boxes, 9to5Google reports. Google confirmed the maker deliberately preloaded a backdoor for malware onto certified devices. The backdoor was used to control a network of hijacked devices called the XCPE botnet. Ars Technica reports Google has dismantled the botnet, which was secretly running on 1.3 million Android TV boxes.

GitHub will block a risky automation trigger in public projects from 2 December

GitHub says its automation service, GitHub Actions, will block pull_request_target events by default in all public repositories from 2 December 2026, unless a policy allows them. This trigger runs with access to the main project's secrets, so untrusted code from someone else's copy of the project could steal them. Enforcement was first planned for 2 November. Before then, GitHub will run two-hour test blackouts on 9 and 16 November, 16:00–18:00 UTC. Private and internal repositories are not affected.

Microsoft says Windows 11 now runs faster on PCs with only 8GB of memory

Microsoft has released changes to Windows 11 for PCs with 8GB of RAM, the computer's working memory. It claims these PCs feel up to 20% more responsive in daily tasks and multitask up to 40% faster, based on its own lab tests. The gains need Windows 11 version 26H2, build 26300.9818 or later. Microsoft says it tested around 20,000 PCs and found that keeping more data in RAM, helped by memory compression, made the biggest difference.

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