Microsoft News - April 17, 2026
OpenAI Loses Sora Lead Bill Peebles, Pivots to Enterprise Superapp
OpenAI research scientist Bill Peebles, who led the Sora text-to-video model, is leaving the company. Executive Kevin Weil is also departing as OpenAI shuts...
Microsoft Windows Defender Hit by Exploits, Two Zero-Day Flaws Remain Unpatched
Hackers are exploiting three zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows Defender to gain elevated system privileges. Cybersecurity firm Huntress observed...
DeepSeek seeks $300 million at $10 billion valuation, targeting global expansion
DeepSeek is negotiating its first external funding round to raise at least $300 million. The fundraising effort targets a company valuation of $10 billion or...
xAI leases GPUs to Cursor, pivoting to cloud infrastructure provider
Elon Musk’s xAI will provide tens of thousands of GPUs to AI coding startup Cursor. Cursor intends to use this computing power to train its next-generation...
Microsoft Confirms Windows Server Reboot Loops, Risking Critical Infrastructure Failures
Microsoft confirmed a critical reboot loop issue affecting Windows Server 2025 domain controllers on April 17, 2026. The failure occurs after installing the...
OpenAI investors eye Bret Taylor for CEO, citing Altman's financial conflicts
OpenAI shareholders are privately questioning CEO Sam Altman’s fitness to lead a potential initial public offering. Investors cite concerns regarding Altman’s...
Microsoft secures EU secrecy clause for data centers, hiding environmental impact
Major US technology companies, including Microsoft, successfully lobbied the European Union to hide the environmental impact of data centers. A confidentiality...
Microsoft and OpenAI face 2026 data center delays, amid supply shortages
Analytics firm SynMax reports that nearly 40% of U.S. data centers scheduled for 2026 completion face significant delays. Microsoft and OpenAI face project...
OpenAI commits $20B to Cerebras chip deal, reducing Nvidia dependency
OpenAI reportedly agreed to pay chip startup Cerebras more than $20 billion over the next three years for server access. This figure doubles a previously...
Microsoft and Stellantis Ink 5-Year AI Deal to Transform Manufacturing
Microsoft and Stellantis launched a five-year collaboration to develop over 100 projects in AI, cybersecurity, and engineering. Stellantis will deploy...