Weekly news roundup: Tim Cook exits Apple, Meta layoffs intensify and Anthropic investigates Claude

Apple CEO Tim Cook steps down

Apple has announced that CEO Tim Cook will step down after more than a decade in the role. Cook will transition to executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and will remain CEO over the summer to ensure a smooth transition.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” said Cook in a press release.

Cook has been CEO at Apple since 2011, and previously served as chief operating officer.

Apple veteran John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering will assume the CEO role on September 1.

Meta to use employees keystrokes to train AI

Meta reportedly plans to use data captured from employees’ mouse movements, keystrokes and interactions with internal tools to help train and refine its AI systems.

The initiative is designed to give models a richer understanding of how people actually work.  The company has positioned this as a way to accelerate AI quality and better reflect real-world usage patterns.

Safeguards are in place, according to Meta. However, the move is likely to intensify concerns around data privacy and consent in AI training practices.

Meta and Microsoft look to reduce headcount

Meta is also preparing another significant round of layoffs, with reports indicating up to 8000 roles could be eliminated in the coming month. May 20 has been widely cited as the likely start date, although sources suggest this may be just the first phase, with additional cuts expected later in the year.

This follows a steady number of reductions over the past 12 months. Meta cut around 700 roles as recently as March, alongside multiple smaller rounds earlier in 2026. Thousands more positions were eliminated throughout 2025 as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts.

As the company accelerates investment in AI infrastructure, models and data centers, its shift to becoming an “AI-first” business is fundamentally reshaping its workforce.

Microsoft is also looking at workforce reduction by introducing a voluntary retirement program for the first time in the company’s history. The program is aimed at reducing headcount while avoiding large-scale layoffs by giving long-standing U.S. employees the opportunity to retire with a financial reward.

The offer targets eligible employees across select business units, providing incentives for early exit as the company continues to rebalance its workforce in line with strategic priorities, particularly AI and cloud.

Microsoft's chief people officer Amy Coleman delivered the news to employees in a memo and employees are expected to receive more information on May 7.

Anthropic investigating unauthorized access of Claude Mythos

Anthropic is investigating an incident involving unauthorized access to its Claude Mythos model.

“We're investigating a report claiming unauthorized access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments," the company said in a statement.

Anthropic’s Claude Mythos has only been rolled out to a limited group of security professionals and kept out of public release due to its ability to identify and analyze software vulnerabilities. Designed as a powerful tool for defensive security research, it can surface weaknesses in systems that might otherwise go undetected.

In the wrong hands, however, the same capabilities could be used to discover and exploit vulnerabilities, accelerating cyberattacks or exposing sensitive systems.

OpenAI and DeepSeek drop new AI models

On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled GPT5.5, its latest AI model. GPT5.5 is better at coding, using computers and has improved deep research capabilities, according to the company.

The release indicates that development in the AI sector is proceeding at breakneck speed, as it comes just two months after OpenAI released GPT5.4.

"What is really special about this model is how much more it can do with less guidance," said OpenAI president Greg Boardman in a media briefing.

Not to be outdone, Chinese AI giant DeepSeek previewed a new version of its AI model on Friday. DeepSeek model V4 includes reasoning and agentic capabilities like writing code that can act autonomously, according to the company. It also has enhanced abilities to process larger numbers of tokens more efficiently.

Executive moves

• John Ternus. Apple has announced that on September 1, John Ternus will be taking over from Tim Cook as CEO. Ternus is a long-standing Apple executive and is currently the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering.
• Dan Shapero. This week, Dan Shapero was announced as LinkedIn’s new CEO. Shapero will take over from Ryan Roslansky.

IPO watch

The U.S. IPO market remains a key indicator of broader tech sentiment. Here's a look at the latest listings and activity from the past week, based on data from the Nasdaq IPO calendar:

National Healthcare Properties, Inc.

·              A real estate investment trust.

·              Opening/trading day: April 22.

·              IPO price: $12/share.

LIBERTY DEFENSE HOLDINGS, LTD.

·       AI-based, next-generation security detection technology developer.

·       Opening/trading day: April 22.

·       IPO price: $4.50/share.

Yesway, Inc.

·       Operator of convenience stores.

·       Opening/trading day: April 22.

·       IPO price: $20/share.

Lakewood-Amedex Biotherapeutics Inc.

·       Clinical-stage biotechnology company

·       Expected opening/trading day: April 23.

·       IPO price: TBC.

Elmet Group Co.

·       Manufacturer for aerospace, defense, medical, and semiconductor industries.

·       Expected opening/trading day: April 23.

·       IPO price: $14/share.

X-Energy, Inc.

·       Small modular nuclear reactor developer.

·       Expected opening/trading day: April 24.

·       IPO price: $16 - 19/share.

Rosa Heaton is a content manager and writer for the IT Strategy team at TechTarget.