OpenAI is giving users of its Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Teachers plans access to cloud-based “workspace” agents available in ChatGPT that can perform business tasks. In its blog post, OpenAI gives examples of agents like one that finds product feedback on the web and sends a report in Slack and a sales agent that can draft follow-up emails in Gmail.

These new agents follow increasing interest in agents across the AI landscape, especially after OpenClaw — the AI agent formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot that touts itself as the “AI that actually does things” — went viral. OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger now works for OpenAI. OpenAI is also facing increased competition from Anthropic, which offers its own Claude Cowork agent that can complete tasks for you using files from your computer, as well as a separate platform for making autonomous agents.

OpenAI’s new workspace agents can be shared within organizations, “so teams can build an agent once, use it together in ChatGPT or Slack, and improve it over time.” The company says that the agents are designed to “gather context from the right systems, follow team processes, ask for approval when needed, and keep work moving across tools.”

However, the agents could signal the end of OpenAI’s “GPTs,” which are custom chatbots the company announced in 2023. The company says that workspace agents are an “evolution” of GPTs and that “GPTs will remain available while teams test workspace agents with their workflows.” Sometime soon, OpenAI will also “make it easy to convert GPTs into workspace agents.” When reached for comment, OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson pointed back to the blog post but didn’t share additional information.

John Ternus is going to be Apple’s next CEO. And while outgoing CEO Tim Cook was lauded for his approach to logistics, Ternus’ history is that of a product person.

Ternus, Apple’s SVP of hardware engineering before being officially tapped to take over the top job, has been increasingly in the public eye to help Apple announce its latest products. Ternus helped introduce the iPhone Air last September, its flashiest new iPhone of the 2025 lineup. He’s also been the face of announcing new Macs for years, including Apple’s first Macs with Apple Silicon in 2020 that profoundly transformed Apple’s computer lineup, continuing through the 15-inch MacBook Air in 2023 and a suite of M4 Macs last year. Now, Ternus, who is 50 years old and has had a 25-year tenure at Apple, is going to be the one in charge of everything.

Ternus’ time at Apple has spanned both the Steve Jobs and Tim Cook eras. It began in 2001 when he joined Apple’s product design team after a few years as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. Ternus’ first boss at Apple, Steve Siefert, told The New York Times that Ternus became a manager just a few years after getting hired at Apple. Siefert described him as “a man of the people,” recalling how Ternus turned down moving into his own office when he was promoted, insisting on sitting alongside his team instead. In 2013, Ternus was promoted again, this time to VP of hardware engineering. In 2021, he became senior VP of hardware engineering, taking over for Dan Riccio and officially joining Apple’s executive team. 

Apple has seen significant change in the company’s product lineup in the 13 years since Ternus rose to the leadership ranks of the hardware engineering department, including the launch of entirely new devices. Notably, Ternus oversaw the development of the original AirPods launched in 2016. In just the last five years with Ternus in his SVP role, Apple has transitioned the iPhone lineup to USB-C, redesigned the MacBook Air to pivot away from its old “wedge” look, revamped the iPad Pro with a thinner design and launched the Vision Pro. Apple is rumored to be releasing its first foldable iPhone this fall.

But not everything he’s worked on has been a hit. A Bloomberg profile in March about Apple’s heir apparent called him a “driving force” behind the MacBook Pro’s ill-fated Touch Bar, and his “next typing fiasco,” the butterfly keyboard.

In addition to showing up more prominently during product announcements, Ternus has reportedly been taking on increased responsibility inside the company. That included becoming the “executive sponsor” of Apple’s famed design team — even though the team has publicly been reporting to Tim Cook after former COO Jeff Williams retired late last year. The company reportedly moved its robotics team under Ternus’ purview last April and away from former AI chief John Giannandrea, who is no longer at Apple. In October, Ternus was reportedly given control of the Apple Watch’s hardware engineering, too.

Some of Ternus’ contributions have been less public, but still significant. Apple’s announcement that he will be stepping in as CEO says Ternus “has also driven much of Apple’s innovation in materials and hardware design” to help reduce its carbon footprint, like the use of 3D-printed titanium in the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and “innovations in repairability that have increased the lifespans of several Apple products.”

Ternus has big shoes to fill: he of course follows in the footsteps of Steve Jobs, but Tim Cook carried on Jobs’ legacy to make the company the hardware and services giant that it is today. Apple is rumored to have a bunch of interesting new products in the pipeline to shake things up, including new smart home hardware, a long-delayed revamp to Siri, OLED MacBook Pros with a touchscreen, and even smart glasses. Starting September 1st, all of those products — and the future of Apple — will become the responsibility of Ternus.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down and will be succeeded by John Ternus, currently Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. Ternus will take over as CEO and join Apple’s board of directors on September 1st, 2026. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 and took over as CEO from Steve Jobs in 2011, will become executive chairman of Apple’s board.

Apple has also named Johny Srouji, previously Apple’s SVP of hardware technologies, as the company’s chief hardware officer, effective immediately. Srouji will “assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization,” Apple says.

While at the helm, Cook oversaw the introduction of products like the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, iCloud, and Apple Pay. Cook has also pushed Apple’s growth in services, which Apple says is a “more than $100 billion business.” Cook is staying on through the summer as CEO “as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition,” according to a press release. “As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.”

Ternus came to Apple in 2001 as part of Apple’s product design team, became its VP of hardware engineering in 2013, and was elevated to Apple’s executive team as SVP of hardware engineering in 2021. Apple says he was “instrumental” in the introduction of products like the iPad and AirPods and also worked on “many generations of products across iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch.”

Tim Cook:

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. I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world. 

John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future. I could not be more confident in his abilities and his character, and I look forward to working closely with him on this transition and in my new role as executive chairman.

John Ternus:

I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward. Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another. I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us. I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.

Cook and Ternus have also sent memos to Apple staff, both of which have been obtained by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. “It has been such a privilege to lead the hardware engineering team, to be part of such remarkable work, and to see all of you in action, determined as ever to do everything we can for our users,” Ternus says. “I look forward to working with you very closely in my new role. Needless to say, I still plan to be very hands-on.”

Ternus also announced that Tom Marieb, currently Apple’s VP of product integrity in hardware engineering, is taking over as the head of Apple’s hardware engineering, reporting to Srouji. “In that role, Tom’s responsibility will be to deliver on executing a truly amazing road map,” Ternus says.

Late last year, the Financial Times published a report indicating that Cook could step down in 2026 and that Ternus was considered the one to beat for the top job. A January New York Times article also noted he was considered the frontrunner, and Bloomberg noted in March that Ternus was the “central candidate.”

When Vampire Survivors first exploded onto the scene, it was pretty much all I could think about. The formula of jumping into runs, taking on thousands of enemies, and becoming absurdly overpowered kept me picking up the game again and again — Steam says I’ve played it for more than 60 hours. Over time, though, despite the game’s many updates and expansions, the formula got stale, and I haven’t played it in more than a year. But I’ve become obsessed with the Vampire Survivors universe once again thanks to the new spinoff Vampire Crawlers.

Vampire Crawlers — technically, Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors — successfully translates the Vampire Survivors experience into a whole new style of game. This time, instead of a shoot ’em up crossed with a roguelike, it’s dungeon crawler mixed with a roguelike deckbuilder. You’ll still play as different characters, take on waves of enemies, and craft laughably strong builds, but instead of fighting bad guys in real time, you hunt them down by walking through retro-style dungeon crawler maps and dueling in turn-based deckbuilder card battles. The maps still have a charming pixelated style — many enemies look like blown-up versions of the enemy sprites from Survivors, which is really silly.

The key to the battles is playing cards in increasing order of mana cost. You’ll start each turn with a certain amount of mana, and at the top of each card, you’ll see how much each card costs to play. On their own, even high-cost weapon cards rarely make a dent against your opponents. But if you combo your cards in increasing cost order, they can scale to become ridiculously powerful. 

It’s a relatively simple cycle. I’m usually just counting from zero to three over and over again. But it’s incredibly satisfying to make a build that lets you constantly cycle through combos for superpowered hits. You’ll also have to manage cards that can give you more mana, improve your stats, or add armor or healing, and they too can be boosted by combos to devastating effect. And like with Survivors, making strong evolution cards by combining the right weapons and items is basically required for victory.

There isn’t much to the dungeon crawling, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While it’s novel to explore returning areas from Survivors that you only experienced in that game from a top-down view, in Crawlers you have a map that shows the layout of the entire floor, and you’ll quickly unlock items that reveal the enemies and points of interest. Having all that information is quite useful, though; it’s nice to be able to plan your route to enemies and treasure chests so that you’re set up well for the floor’s boss. 

Also similar to Survivors, you’ll earn coins as you play, and after runs, you can spend those coins on upgrades for permanent progression. That includes new characters (which have different starting decks and abilities you can trigger during runs), stat improvements (like more health, attack power, or even the ability to bring additional characters into a crawl), and potentially game-breaking Arcana cards. Even if you don’t get a lot of coins in a run, you’ll probably still make progress on various achievements like using a certain weapon a specific amount of times, and those come with rewards, too.

More than 10 hours in, I’m feeling the same way about Crawlers that I initially did about Survivors; every moment that I can, I’m trying to sneak in a run. Given the similarities, I know this feeling might eventually go away. But for now, there’s no place I’d rather crawl.

^{Vampire Crawlers launches on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X / S on April 21st. It will launch on Android and iOS later in 2026.}

With a vacation comes a big choice: What game should I focus on during the trip? I thought about grinding out the harder levels of Super Meat Boy 3D, but I was looking for something more chill. I could have dabbled more with Slay the Spire II, but I already know that’s a game I’ll be playing for a long time. I wanted something that I could really get lost in and finish in a little over a week. People of Note, a new music-focused RPG from Annapurna Interactive and Iridium Studios, turned out to be exactly what I needed.

In the game, you play as aspiring pop singer Cadence. What starts as a journey to outperform a popular boy band turns into a sprawling adventure where the fate of the world is eventually decided by Cadence and the ragtag band she puts together. But in People of Note, just about everything is about music in some way. Each major character gets a fully animated musical number. Areas of the game are themed after different musical genres. Most lines of text include some kind of musical terminology or pun. I even found a sign near a birdcage offering a “free bird.” Sometimes, all of the music references feel a little overboard, but I respect the commitment.

Music is perhaps most important during the turn-based battles. Naturally, they’re backed by great tunes — I was constantly tapping my feet during fights. But to be most effective, after selecting a move, you’ll often have to time button presses well (indicated by a ring closing in on a circle, like in the Nintendo DS classic Elite Beat Agents) to hit for the most damage or recover the maximum amount of health. When it’s your party’s turn (technically, a “stanza”), you can also see exactly how many moves you have and what the enemies plan to do in a musical staff at the bottom of the screen, so there’s lots of strategy involved to maximize what you do.

You can play your characters’ moves in any order, so I’d often spend a beat mentally mapping out the most effective way to buff my characters and dish out damage. You can also customize your team with “songstones” and “remix stones,” which work similarly to Final Fantasy VII’s Materia system by letting you assign specific moves to characters and giving those moves helpful perks.

Everything really comes together during the bosses, which I nearly always thought were just hard enough on the game’s standard difficulty. More than once, I’d lose a boss fight with one or two turns until I would have won, meaning I could overcome them by switching up my songstones or taking a few minutes to grind another level. Some of the boss designs are excellent, too, including a hilarious nod to the Dragon Ball series. (The character uses a move called “Kamehayeehaw.”)

Not everything is a hit. The game takes a few hours before its systems really open up. There are a bunch of puzzles in the game, but they mostly boil down to flipping switches in the right order, which got tedious. The story is a pretty typical RPG journey, and I often mashed through conversations so I could get back to exploring and fighting.

But none of those issues bothered me too much. During my break, I found myself picking up my Steam Deck every spare moment I could to get in a few battles or move the story forward, and I was able to beat the game in about 20 hours, meaning I wrapped it up just before I went back to work. Yes, it has a lot of familiar RPG tropes, but it condenses them into a manageable package. And as a way for me to unwind, People of Note hit the perfect tone.

^{People of Note is now available on Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S.}

Last month, OpenAI gave up on its Sora video generation tool, and on Friday, the Sora team’s leader, Bill Peebles, announced that he is leaving the company. OpenAI has been shifting its priorities as part of an effort to avoid “side quests,” and Peebles’ departure is just one of many recent changes as the company moves to focus more on coding and enterprise use.

As part of a note Peebles posted on X, he said:

I am immensely grateful to Sam, Mark, Aditya and Jakub for fostering a research environment that allowed us to pursue ideas off-the-beaten path from the company’s mainline roadmap. It’s tempting in life to mode collapse to the most important thing, but cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term, and Sam deeply understands this. Sora was a project that could not have happened anywhere but OpenAI, and I will always deeply love this place for that.

Kevin Weil, who was the company’s VP of AI for Science and was formerly its chief product officer, is also departing, saying that Friday is his last day. He said in a post on X that the group is “being decentralized into other research teams.” OpenAI’s Prism, a recently-announced research-focused “workspace for scientists” that Weil was heading up, is being sunsetted, and OpenAI’s plan is to fold its capabilities into the Codex desktop app, according to Wired.

YouTube is making some changes that might affect how you share videos from the mobile app. From the app, you can finally share videos from a specific timestamp, which will make it easier to point someone to a part of a video you might want them to see while you’re on your phone. However, this change will replace the Clips feature that lets you make a shareable clip from a video.

You’ll still be able to watch any Clips that you’ve already made. But moving forward, “the ability to set an end time or include a custom description when sharing will no longer be available,” YouTube says. The company notes that while clipping is “important way for creators to reach new audiences,” it says that “a number of third-party tools with advanced clipping features and authorized creator programs are now available to do this across different video platforms.”

The company originally introduced the Clips feature in 2021.