Apple has signed a 10-year lease for 2.7 lakh sq ft of office space in Bengaluru. The company will pay more than ₹1,000 crore in rent, parking, and maintenance charges over the period. The lease, effective from April 3, 2025, covers nine floors in Embassy Zenith. Apple will pay a starting monthly rent of ₹6.3 crore, with a 4.5% yearly increase. The deposit is ₹31.57 crore. Apple is India’s largest mobile phone exporter, shipping iPhones worth ₹1.5 lakh crore in 2024-25. Despite criticism from US President Donald Trump, Apple continues to expand its presence in India. (PC: Business Today)

ICICI Bank has slashed its new minimum monthly average balance (MAB) requirements following widespread criticism of an earlier steep hike. The revised MAB is now ₹15,000 for metro and urban areas, ₹7,500 for semi-urban, and ₹2,500 for rural customers—significantly lower than the previously announced ₹50,000, ₹25,000, and ₹10,000, respectively. The initial increase, effective August 1, 2025, drew outrage for being unaffordable, particularly for middle-class, semi-urban, and rural account holders. ICICI, India’s second-largest private lender, said the rollback was in response to customer feedback. Analysts say the move reflects the bank’s need to balance operational costs with accessibility. (PC: India Today)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged a “bumpy” launch for GPT-5, citing a malfunctioning real-time router that disrupted the model’s performance. During a Reddit AMA, Altman addressed the now-viral “chart crime” moment, where a flawed bar chart misrepresented GPT-5’s accuracy compared to GPT-4o and OpenAI o3 calling it a “mega chart screwup.” He assured users that fixes are underway, including improvements to decision boundaries and transparency in model selection. Many ChatGPT Plus users reverted to GPT-4o, prompting OpenAI to consider keeping it available. Altman emphasized GPT-5’s long-term potential despite early setbacks, describing it as a major leap toward Artificial General Intelligence and promising enhanced performance and clarity moving forward. (PC: NDTV)

OpenAI’s o3 model has triumphed over Elon Musk’s Grok 4 in the final of a Kaggle-hosted AI chess tournament, crowning it the top large language model in the contest. The event featured eight AI systems from OpenAI, xAI, Google, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Moonshot AI. While Grok had dominated earlier rounds, it faltered in the final, repeatedly losing its queen. Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura called OpenAI’s play “convincing” and Grok’s performance “blundering.” Google’s Gemini secured third place. The tournament, designed to test reasoning and strategy skills, echoes historic human vs. computer chess battles like Garry Kasparov’s loss to IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997. (PC: BBC)

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) faced a temporary outage on Thursday evening, causing inconvenience to users across the country. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages UPI, clarified that the disruption stemmed from technical issues in a few banks' internal systems. NPCI assured users its own platform was operating normally and that it coordinated with banks to resolve the issue quickly. The outage triggered complaints on social media. UPI processed over 18 billion transactions worth ₹24 lakh crore in June 2025. Meanwhile, the debate continues over funding the platform, which is currently subsidised by the Indian government. (PC: India Today)

Over 80,000 tech workers have been laid off across 176 companies in 2025 as firms pivot toward AI-driven operations. Microsoft has cut 15,000 jobs, while Intel plans to axe 24,000–25,000 amid heavy losses. TCS is laying off 12,000 mid-to-senior employees, citing the need to be "future-ready." Meta, Google, Amazon, HP, and Panasonic have also downsized, targeting underperformance and AI realignment. Leaders like Satya Nadella and Lip-Bu Tan describe the changes as strategic, not cyclical. With automation accelerating, tech firms are reshaping into leaner, AI-focused teams to survive rapid market shifts and declining traditional revenues. (PC: India Today)

OpenAI has rolled out a new Study Mode feature in ChatGPT, now available for free across all user tiers in India. Designed to help students learn actively rather than just receiving answers, the tool uses Socratic questioning, hints, quizzes, and concept reinforcement to guide learners. Study Mode supports 11 Indian languages and enables text, voice, and image input, making it accessible for diverse educational needs. OpenAI developed this tool in collaboration with educators and is partnering with Indian EdTech firms to expand access and promote responsible AI-assisted learning.  

India has granted Elon Musk’s Starlink a Unified License to offer satellite internet services, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia confirmed. With spectrum allocation and gateway frameworks ready, Starlink can now move ahead with rollout plans. The move follows years of regulatory delays and positions Starlink to compete with Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio-SES JV. Starlink aims to improve connectivity in remote and border regions using low-Earth orbit satellites. India’s internet subscriptions have surged to 970 million. As the nation marks 30 years of mobile telephony, Starlink’s entry marks a new era in bridging the digital divide in rural and underserved areas. (PC: India Today)

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will lay off 12,000 employees, 2% of its global workforce marking one of its largest retrenchment drives. Experts warn this move could trigger similar actions across India’s IT sector. The layoffs, targeting mid- and senior-level roles, stem from margin pressures, AI disruption, and skill mismatches. Analysts say the traditional service delivery model is being replaced by leaner, AI-driven structures. TCS’s updated HR policy mandates 225 billable days and limits bench time to 35 days. While TCS claims the cuts aren’t AI-driven, industry voices disagree. The shift reflects a broader transformation toward “services-as-software”, with reskilling and agility now critical for survival. (PC: Sci Tech Daily & Mint)

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services provider, will lay off 12,000 employees about 2% of its global workforce during FY2026. The move targets mid- and senior-level roles, as the company adapts to AI-led disruptions, economic uncertainty, and evolving client demands. TCS is retraining and redeploying staff to become “future-ready,” but confirmed that some roles are no longer feasible. Affected employees will receive severance packages, extended insurance, and career support. The decision follows backlash over revised internal policies limiting bench time and billable days. CEO K Krithivasan called it a “difficult call” aimed at building a leaner, more agile organization. (PC: Forbes & TCS)