Tech Briefing – 23 January 2026

Top Stories

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, warned at Davos that governments might need to restrict AI-driven layoffs to prevent potential civil unrest, calling for intervention to “save society.” Fast Company
Senator Ed Markey questioned OpenAI and other major AI companies regarding their plans to embed ads into AI chatbots, citing significant concerns for consumer protection, privacy, and the safety of young users. The Verge

TikTok’s U.S. operations have finalized a deal establishing a new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, significantly reducing ByteDance’s ownership to 19.9% in favor of U.S. and Abu Dhabi investment firms. The Verge
Epic Games and Google have reportedly reached a secret $800 million deal involving Unreal Engine, Fortnite, and Android, prompting a judge to scrutinize its implications for their ongoing antitrust litigation. The Verge
Microsoft confirmed a widespread outage impacting its 365 services and Outlook, leading to disruptions for numerous users globally. TechRadar

North Korean-aligned hackers, identified as KONNI, are reportedly leveraging AI to generate sophisticated PowerShell malware, embedding malicious scripts within seemingly legitimate project content to target developers. Check Point Research
Microsoft warned of a multi-stage Adversary-in-the-Middle (AitM) phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC) campaign specifically aimed at organizations in the energy sector. The Hacker News
A critical, decade-old security flaw (CVE-2026-24061) in the GNU InetUtils telnet daemon (telnetd) has been disclosed, enabling remote attackers to bypass authentication and achieve root access. The Hacker News

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) jointly cautioned that simplifying the EU AI Act could compromise fundamental rights protections, in response to the Digital Omnibus AI proposal. Cyber Security 360

The Small Business Administration (SBA) suspended 1,000 8(a) program firms due to their failure to submit required financial data, offering a 45-day period for appeals. Federal News Network

Tech briefing automatically generated on 23 January 2026.