Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
💼 Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO ‘as soon as next year’
✅ OpenAI fixes ChatGPT's em dash problem
📈 Berkshire buys $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet
📄 Leaked files show how much OpenAI pays Microsoft
🤖 Meta will now grade employees on their AI skills
🏭 Tesla shifts US car parts supply away from China
🎁 + 8 other news you might like
🔮 + 2 handpicked research papers and tools
💼 Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO ‘as soon as next year’ LINK
A new report claims Apple has intensified its succession planning for the top leadership role, raising the possibility that Tim Cook could step down as CEO next year.
Senior VP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus is considered the most likely candidate to take the reins, though sources emphasize that no final decisions have been made yet.
This development follows the departure of former COO Jeff Williams and a recent CFO transition, with any announcement unlikely until after the critical holiday sales period ends.
✅ OpenAI fixes ChatGPT's em dash problem LINK
OpenAI has addressed the well-known issue of ChatGPT excessively using the em dash, a punctuation mark that users were previously unable to get the chatbot to stop including in its text.
The chatbot will now avoid the punctuation if users add a specific command telling it not to in the custom instructions section found within their personalization settings.
This change does not remove the em dash from all output by default; instead, it provides more control over the frequency of the symbol's appearance in the chatbot's written replies.
📈 Berkshire buys $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet LINK
Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new $4.3 billion stake in Google's parent company Alphabet, now holding 17.85 million shares and making it a top ten U.S. stock investment for the firm.
The company also continued selling its Apple shares, reducing its stake from 280 million to 238.2 million during the third quarter, although the stock remains Berkshire’s largest single holding.
This Alphabet investment is surprising given Warren Buffett's aversion to tech companies, though he and Charlie Munger previously lamented not buying into Google's advertising business much sooner.
📄 Leaked files show how much OpenAI pays Microsoft LINK
Leaked documents show OpenAI made $493.8 million in revenue share payments to Microsoft in 2024, with that figure growing to $865.8 million during the first three quarters of 2025.
These figures represent Microsoft's net revenue share, as the tech giant also gives OpenAI around 20% of income from both Bing and its Azure OpenAI Service, complicating the financial relationship.
The startup’s inference spend, which is largely cash, reportedly hit $8.65 billion in the first nine months of 2025, implying it could be spending more than it earns in total revenue.
🤖 Meta will now grade employees on their AI skills LINK
Beginning in 2026, Meta will officially assess employees based on their "AI-driven impact," making it a core expectation for delivering results and improving the company's overall productivity.
For the upcoming 2025 cycle, the company plans to reward staff who show "exceptional AI-driven impact" and encourages them to highlight these wins in their self-reviews.
Meta is also rolling out an "AI Performance Assistant," a new tool that lets workers use Metamate or Google's Gemini to help write their own performance content.
🏭 Tesla shifts US car parts supply away from China LINK
Tesla now requires its suppliers to exclude all China-made components from parts used in the manufacturing of cars assembled inside the United States, according to a new report.
The company and its partners have already swapped some China-made items and aim to transition all remaining components to production outside that country over the next two years.
This change follows struggles with fluctuating tariffs from the U.S.-China trade dispute, as General Motors also recently told its suppliers to remove China-made components from their supply chains.
Other news you might like
- Five people plead guilty to helping North Koreans infiltrate US companies as ‘remote IT workers’LINK
- Elon Musk now says xAI is delaying its Grok 5 launch until next yearLINK
- Databricks co-founder argues US must go open source to beat China in AILINK
- Masimo awarded $634M in Apple Watch patent infringement verdictLINK
- X is finally rolling out Chat, its DM replacement with encryption and video callingLINK
- Anthropic claims of Claude AI-automated cyberattacks met with doubtLINK
- Google Fined to Pay €465 Million to Price-Comparison Services in German Antitrust CaseLINK
- OpenAI publishes prompting guide for GPT-5.1LINK
Latest research and tools
One-Handed-Keyboard: a keyboard designed to allow users to type comfortably with a single hand, making text entry more accessible.LINK
Autoregressive or Diffusion Language Models, Why Choose?: this paper introduces a new language model architecture that combines the strengths of both autoregressive and diffusion-based approaches.LINK
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