Maya: Good morning, and welcome to the Microsoft Morning Briefing for Tuesday, October sixth, twenty twenty-six. I'm Maya.
Devon: And I'm Devon. Three Microsoft stories for you today, plus your security check, so let's get into it.
Announcer: Support for this Morning Update is generously provided by Titanium Invoice, a founding sponsor of the Morning Update network. titaniuminvoice dot com.
Maya: First up, a sign of how serious the A I tooling wars have become, and it's playing out inside Microsoft itself. The Information reported yesterday that Microsoft has cut its internal spending on Anthropic's technology by a third, steering employees toward its own in-house tools instead.
Devon: That's a big cut. Microsoft was on track to spend about a billion dollars this year on internal Anthropic use, including Claude Code and Claude models inside Copilot, and now the push is toward GitHub Copilot.
Maya: The same report says Meta has slashed employees using Claude Code from about sixty thousand to thirty thousand, steering them toward its in-house rival, Muse Code. Analysts keep pointing out that companies are pouring billions into A I tooling and still can't reliably predict what it costs.
Devon: One recent study found that only eleven percent of nearly four hundred businesses could accurately forecast their A I spending. These tools behave like an extra worker on the clock, which makes budgeting them a whole different problem.
Maya: Story two is about tomorrow. Wednesday, October seventh, Microsoft is holding a Surface and Windows event, and investors are watching it closely.
Devon: Expectations are pretty modest. Analysts say new hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, but nobody expects this event to move earnings. Still, with Windows 11 version twenty-six H two landing last week, there could be some interesting software announcements.
Maya: We'll have the full rundown for you on Thursday. If you wake up tomorrow and see people talking about new Surface devices, you heard it here first.
Devon: Story three is the one we wish were made up. Microsoft's official account on X was recently hijacked, and the attackers used it to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency tied to Clippy, the little paperclip assistant from the old days of Office.
Maya: That's right, the so-called Clippy token. The attackers baited fans by claiming Microsoft would bring Clippy back for real if a post hit five hundred thousand likes. X suspended the fraudulent account, but then a fake Microsoft apology appeared, threatening legal action against bad actors. That post wasn't from Microsoft either.
Devon: So nobody could tell whether Microsoft had actually regained control. It's a good reminder for all of us. If a big brand account starts promoting a token and promising nostalgia for likes, assume it's a scam, and never click through to connect a wallet.
Maya: Now the security check. No Patch Tuesday today. The October security release lands one week from now, on Tuesday, October thirteenth.
Devon: That date is a double deadline, because Windows 11 version twenty-four H two loses security updates on Home and Pro that same day. If you're still on it, move up to twenty-five H two or twenty-six H two.
Maya: On the vulnerability front, there's nothing newly reported being actively exploited beyond the two Windows flaws from September's record update, C V E two zero two six eight five eight eight zero and C V E two zero two six eight one nine six three. Both are fixed in the September updates, so as long as you're current, you're covered.
Devon: We'll be watching next Tuesday's release closely, and we'll break it all down for you next Wednesday morning.
Maya: That's the Microsoft Morning Briefing for Tuesday, October sixth. Thanks for starting your day with us.
Devon: We'll be back tomorrow with everything from the Surface and Windows event. Have a great day, everybody.