Tech
Android 17 Is Live on Pixel, but Samsung and Other Android Users Still Have to Wait
Android 17 is now rolling out to supported Pixel devices, but Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, Motorola, and other Android users should not expect the same update timeline.
Google’s Android 17 launch combines three moving parts: core platform features, Pixel-only additions from the June Pixel Drop, and features scheduled for later release. For non-Pixel users and IT teams, the update cycle now shifts to each device maker’s roadmap, beta program, and enterprise testing process.
Pixel gets Android 17 first
Google lists Android 17 over-the-air updates and downloads for Pixel 6 and newer devices, including Pixel Fold models and Pixel Tablet. Supported Pixel users can update through device settings, while developers and testers can use Google’s system images when they need more control over installation.
For most non-Pixel users, the stable update remains a manufacturer-by-manufacturer wait. Google says Android 17 will reach other eligible Android devices throughout 2026, while select partner devices from brands including HONOR, iQOO, Lenovo, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Sharp, vivo, and Xiaomi can test Android 17 beta builds through separate OEM channels.
Pixel coverage should not be treated as a Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, or OnePlus roadmap. Android 17 platform features can move across the ecosystem, but Pixel Drop features and interface changes will vary by device maker.
The Android 17 changes IT teams should test
The Android 17 changes to watch affect multitasking, privacy, app behavior, and enterprise testing. Android 17 expands Bubbles beyond messaging, giving users a way to keep apps open in small floating windows while working elsewhere on the device. On large-screen devices, those windows can sit in a dedicated bar for faster switching and resizing.
Android 17 also adds privacy and security controls for managed devices. Users can grant temporary precise-location access and share selected contacts instead of a full address book. The update also strengthens lost-device locking, failed-PIN protections, Live Threat Detection, and Advanced Protection Mode for higher-risk users, a reminder that Android app governance should stay part of mobile security planning.
Some announced features are still pending. Foldable gaming mode is enabled in Android 17 but will become available in the coming months. Gemini Intelligence is also expected later on select advanced devices, though Google has not specified which non-Pixel models will qualify. For IT teams, that keeps Android in the same broader conversation as AI agents on managed enterprise devices.
Google’s June Pixel Drop includes Pixel-specific AI and sharing updates, including Magic Cue support for Snapchat conversations. Those additions should not be presented as standard Android 17 features for other manufacturers.
For IT teams, the practical issue is app testing. Apps targeting Android 17, or API level 37, lose the opt-out that let some apps avoid large-screen orientation and resizing rules. Enterprise teams with Android tablets, foldables, or line-of-business apps should test layouts before approving the update across a fleet, just as they would validate AI-capable hardware and drivers before a Windows rollout.
Non-Pixel users and IT teams should monitor manufacturer channels, test critical apps, and separate core Android 17 features from Pixel-only or delayed additions before planning a rollout.
Also read: AI wearables are pushing workplace privacy questions as more devices bring cameras, microphones, assistants, and continuous context into enterprise environments.
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Tech
The running list: major tech layoffs in 2026 where employers cited AI
Oracle disclosed Monday that it has reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees over the past 12 months, a decline of 13%, which means more cuts than was previously known, including jobs eliminated because of AI. “The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” the company said in an annual financial regulatory filing.
The revelation puts new numbers to what feels to many in the tech industry like an epidemic: companies reporting record revenues while simultaneously culling their workforces, pointing to AI as both the engine of growth and the reason for the cuts. Tech layoffs hit their highest single month in years in May, and AI was the most-cited reason, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
We recently wrote about why that rationale is something companies may want to rethink, not least because for many of these companies, the headcount they’re now cutting was hired during the pandemic hiring surge, raising questions about what’s really going on. Below, a running look — in reverse chronological order — at the bigger tech companies that have announced significant layoffs this year with AI as a stated factor.
GitLab — June 3, 2026. In one of the most recent cuts on this list, GitLab laid off roughly 350 workers, about 14% of its staff, to fund AI infrastructure investment and handle surging traffic from AI workflows. CEO Bill Staples said agentic workloads are “pushing competitors to the brink” and that the company had begun a “generational rebuild” of its core infrastructure to support what he called 100x growth requirements. GitLab is exiting 22 countries, flattening management layers, and partnering with an unspecified AI lab to rebuild its platform for agent-scale workloads. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $264 million, up 23% year-over-year, and expects to incur $30 to $35 million in restructuring costs.
Google — ongoing through May. Alphabet’s Google has quietly cut employees across its Cloud division, including its Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant-linked cybersecurity staff, even as Cloud revenue grew 63% to exceed $20 billion for the first time and its backlog nearly doubled to over $460 billion. Over the past year, Google has cut more than a third of the managers overseeing small teams — 35% fewer managers with fewer direct reports. Unlike most companies on this list, Google has never announced a single overall number — the cuts have come through a rolling performance review process, a voluntary buyout program, and structural reorganizations, with outside estimates putting the 2026 total at between 1,500 and 3,000+ engineers.
Intuit — May 20, 2026. Intuit announced plans to eliminate roughly 3,000 jobs — about 17% of its total workforce — in a restructuring centered on reducing complexity and reallocating resources toward AI. CEO Sasan Goodarzi reportedly told staff the company is reducing complexity and simplifying the structure, so it can deliver better products.
Meta — May 20-21, 2026. Meta laid off about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, while moving about 7,000 employees into new AI-focused roles (that they reportedly hate). Zuckerberg told staff the cuts were necessary because “success isn’t a given” in AI.
Cisco — May 14, 2026. Cisco announced it’s cutting nearly 4,000 jobs, about 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue. CFO Mark Patterson said: “This was really not a savings-driven restructure… this is more [about] realigning … resources around silicon, optics, security and AI.”
Cloudflare — May 7-8, 2026. Cloudflare cut about 20% of its workforce (1,100 people), reporting quarterly revenue of $639.8 million, up 34% year-over-year and the highest single quarter in company history. CEO Matthew Prince wrote that “the vast majority of those we laid off last week were measurers” — middle management, finance, legal, internal auditing, and revenue recognition.
General Motors — May 12, 2026. GM eliminated 500 to 600 jobs, largely in IT roles in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan, saying it was reevaluating its workforce needs amid uncertain market conditions. A person familiar with the cuts told CNBC that AI played a role in the decision but that it wasn’t the only reason. GM’s statement said it was “transforming its Information Technology organization to better position the company for the future.” Despite the cuts, the company still had roughly 80 open IT positions, including roles in AI, motorsports, and autonomous vehicles.
Coinbase — May 5, 2026. The crypto exchange said it was cutting about 700 employees, or 14% of its staff, as part of a restructuring aimed at addressing market volatility and increasing AI efficiency. The company flattened its organizational structure to five layers below the CEO and COO, and said it would experiment with “one-person teams” combining engineering, design, and product roles. CEO Brian Armstrong wrote that AI had changed the pace of work dramatically — “engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks” — and that the company needed to “leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.”
PayPal — May 5, 2026. PayPal announced plans to cut around 20% of its workforce over the next two to three years — north of 4,500 jobs — as part of a turnaround strategy centered on AI adoption and organizational simplification. CEO Enrique Lores told investors the company would “aggressively adopt AI” in its development processes and formed a new “AI transformation and simplification” team reporting directly to him, tasked with redesigning the company’s processes “function by function.” Lores framed the cuts as removing organizational layers, and said AI would extend well beyond coding into customer service, support operations, and risk management.
Microsoft — April-May 2026. Microsoft offered buyouts structured as voluntary separations, without disclosing how many employees these would impact. CFO Amy Hood said total headcount declined year-over-year in fiscal Q3, and is expected to keep declining as the company focuses on “building high-performing teams that operate with pace and agility” amid rising AI investment.
Snap — April 16, 2026. Snap cut roughly 16% of its global workforce — about 1,000 full-time employees — and closed more than 300 open roles, with CEO Evan Spiegel citing AI advancements as a key driver. “Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers,” Spiegel wrote in a memo filed with the SEC. The company said it had already seen small squads using AI tools to drive progress across Snapchat+, ad platform performance, and infrastructure efficiency.
IBM — rolling through 2026. Between Q4 2025 cuts and April 2026 Red Hat engineering reductions, estimates range from 3,000 to 9,000 U.S. positions eliminated, bringing IBM’s cumulative total since September 2024 above 15,000. Bloomberg reported IBM plans to triple its U.S. entry-level hiring for AI and hybrid-cloud roles, even as roughly 200 HR positions were replaced by AI agents. An IBM spokesperson described the Q4 2025 round as a routine rebalancing affecting “a low single-digit percentage” of its global workforce.
Atlassian — March 11, 2026. Atlassian cut about 1,600 jobs (10% of its workforce) to “rebalance” toward AI and enterprise sales, even as shares rose nearly 2% on the news. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said: “Our approach is not ‘AI replaces people.’ But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas. It does.”
Dell — Jan 30 (though disclosed in March 2026). Dell’s total workforce fell about 10% in fiscal 2026 — roughly 11,000 jobs — to about 97,000 employees from 108,000 a year earlier, with $569 million spent on severance. The cuts came as Dell projected its AI-optimized server revenue could double in fiscal 2027.
Oracle — March 5-31, 2026. As noted above, Oracle began telling employees it would be cutting thousands of jobs via terminal emails. The cuts came even as Oracle posted $3.7 billion in quarterly net income, up 27% year-over-year, with remaining performance obligations up 325% to $553 billion — savings redirected toward AI data centers. The cuts that would later total 21,000 over 12 months, as Oracle disclosed in its June 22 annual filing.
Block — February 26-27, 2026. Jack Dorsey’s Block cut 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce, down to under 6,000 from over 10,000. Dorsey wrote on X: “We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company.” He added: “I think most companies are late. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.”
Salesforce — February 10, 2026. Salesforce laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across marketing, product management, data analytics, and its Agentforce AI unit. The company told Fortune, “Because of the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce, we’ve seen the number of support cases we handle decline and we no longer need to actively backfill support engineer roles.” This followed an earlier cut of about 4,000 customer-support roles, shrinking that team from roughly 9,000 to 5,000, with CEO Marc Benioff saying the company needed “less heads” because AI agents handle the work.
Amazon — January 28, 2026. Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs, following 14,000 cuts in October 2025 — about 9% of its corporate workforce in three months. The company said it was part of “strengthen[ing] our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.” CEO Andy Jassy had said in June 2025 that, “As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today… in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”
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Tech
OpenAI launches new initiative to help find and patch open-source bugs
OpenAI announced a new initiative on Monday designed to help the open source community improve its cybersecurity game and ward off bugs.
“Patch the Planet,” (which is a not-so-subtle allusion to “Hack the Planet,” the iconic catch phrase from the 1995 movie Hackers) will see OpenAI team up with the security company Trail of Bits to help open source maintainers secure their projects.
OpenAI said security staff from Trail of Bits will work directly with open source maintainers to review potential code issues. OpenAI’s security tools — like Codex Security — will be used to assist in the process.
“Many maintainers are already being asked to sort through more reports, more quickly, with the same limited time and resources,” OpenAI said Monday. “Patch the Planet is built to reduce that burden, not add to it: security engineers review findings before they reach maintainers, work with projects to develop patches and tests, and build reusable workflows that help teams continue improving security after the first fixes land.”
In other words, Trail of Bits engineers will function more or less like code EMTs — there to help open source project maintainers identify and triage potential issues, all supported by OpenAI’s software. It sounds like an ambitious project, and it’s somewhat unclear how it will function in the long term, or how it plans to scale up (if at all).
Open source projects are the digital bedrock upon which the commercial software industry rests, but, unfortunately, due to the decentralized and poorly monitored structure of that ecosystem, much of the software is insecure. Bugs in open-source projects can turn into major problems for commercial codebases. The log4j debacle from several years ago — when a bad vulnerability was discovered in a widely used open source utility — is a good example.
Much of the concern surrounding tools like Mythos (Anthropic’s highly publicized security tool) seems to stem from the fact that AI can now automatically identify existing bugs within codebases and set about creating exploits for them. While the automation of cybercrime is not new, these tools undoubtedly have the potential to make it significantly more convenient for bad actors.
OpenAI is turning that formula on its head by using AI to help the open source community better protect itself. It’s hard not to read it as a competitive swipe at Anthropic, while also recognizing that it’s something the open source community desperately needs.
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Tech
Tesla pushes back on Autopilot narrative after fatal Texas crash
A fatal weekend crash in which a Tesla plowed through a brick home in Katy, Texas, killing a 76-year-old woman, set off alarm over the company’s self-driving technology, but by Monday afternoon, Tesla was fighting back against the framing.
The crash occurred Friday night when a Tesla Model 3 driven by Michael Butler left the road and slammed into the home of Martha Avila, who was airlifted to a hospital and later pronounced dead. Butler told Harris County sheriff’s deputies that the vehicle was on Autopilot at the time. That detail spread quickly, and by the weekend the story had become the centerpiece of long-running debate over Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features.
But Tesla, a company that famously dismantled its PR department years ago and often responds to press inquiries with a poop emoji, broke from its usual silence Monday to push back.
Ashok Elluswamy, the director of Tesla’s Autopilot software and the first engineer hired for the Autopilot team back in 2014, took to X to offer a very different account of what the data showed. “In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” he wrote. “They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”
The implication is that whatever system may have been engaged, a human foot on the gas pedal at full throttle is responsible for what ensued, not the car.
Elon Musk amplified the point on his own X account soon after. “This [allegation] makes no sense. FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!” he wrote.
Federal regulators are determined to come to their own conclusions, unsurprisingly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday it was opening a special crash investigation into the incident; it’s reportedly the latest in more than 40 such probes the agency has launched into Tesla crashes believed to involve advanced driver-assistance systems in recent years.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it would present its findings to the local district attorney to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.
Whether the Autopilot system was truly active, overridden, or malfunctioning likely won’t be resolved until investigators finish combing through the vehicle’s data logs.
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