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Developer Rafael Rivera found that wallpapers Microsoft emailed to Windows Insiders in mid-October, marking the program's 12th anniversary, carried file metadata showing they were saved using Photoshop on a Mac. Rivera said the ten wallpapers came from Microsoft's in-house design team, and the company has since replaced the files on its design site without comment.
Microsoft published a peer-reviewed study in Science showing its Microsoft AI Diagnostic Orchestrator (MAI-DxO) significantly outperformed generalist physicians on diagnostic accuracy using case reports from the New England Journal of Medicine and emergency department data from MIMIC-IV-ED. The AI scored 83.2% accuracy versus 36.1% for doctors on case-report scenarios, and 80.3% versus 46.8% on emergency cases, with the model required to gather information step-by-step rather than being given full case details upfront.
Netflix reportedly offered Microsoft $500 million for a seven-year deal to adapt Xbox franchises into shows and films, but Microsoft countered at $800 million, and the deal collapsed, according to Puck. Xbox said it has received 'record-breaking interest' in its IP and remains excited about existing projects with Netflix, including animated Minecraft and Diablo series.
According to a Fortune report, Microsoft is developing a revamped Game Pass structure that would let subscribers choose individual features—such as console game access, cloud gaming, and multiplayer—as separate add-ons under a tiered system. The plan follows earlier reporting from Windows Central in April that suggested Xbox wanted to let users customize which bundled content, like Fortnite Crew, they pay for.
Microsoft's Xbox division confirmed that Helen Chiang, its first-ever chief operating officer, left the company effective immediately, just months after being promoted into the newly created role in July. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced the exit in a brief internal memo, saying Chiang's responsibilities would be temporarily divided among other Xbox leaders while plans for the COO position are finalized. Microsoft declined to comment on the circumstances of her departure, citing a policy against discussing personnel matters.
Microsoft has introduced pay-as-you-go packages for Xbox Cloud Gaming priced at $3.99 for 10 hours, $7.99 for 25 hours, and $11.99 for 50 hours. Beginning in November, Game Pass subscribers will only get 5 to 15 included cloud-streaming hours per month depending on their subscription tier, after which they must purchase additional hours to continue streaming, including games they already own. Microsoft says purchased hours do not expire and remain usable until spent.
A tech outlet published size comparisons pitting a rumored, unreleased Apple dual-screen device dubbed the 'iPhone Duo' against expected 2026 Android foldables including the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, as well as older devices like the original Pixel Fold and Microsoft Surface Duo. No Apple device of this kind has been officially announced.
Microsoft will roll out AI-powered, context-aware phishing detection in Teams starting in early November 2026, with general availability expected worldwide by mid-December. The feature analyzes conversation context—particularly in external first-contact chats—to spot phishing, impersonation and social engineering attempts without relying solely on malicious links or files, and Microsoft says it won't retain message content for training or other purposes.
Microsoft confirmed that Windows Server 2016, originally released in October 2016, will receive its final security update in January 2027, after which no further patches will be issued. The cutoff applies to all editions, including Datacenter, Essentials, MultiPoint Premium and Standard, and will also end support for Essentials-specific features like Remote Web Access.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he hadn't seen a cyber-security scramble like this in years, referring to the global rush to patch critical flaws found in PHP, a programming language used by millions of websites. National cyber-security agencies urged IT teams to install patches immediately or take affected sites and servers offline, prompting system administrators to work through the night fixing and securing client systems.
Microsoft is developing Project Perception, a security initiative that introduces Guardian Agents designed to monitor other AI agents operating within enterprise systems and contain behavior deemed anomalous. The effort treats autonomous AI agents as a potential insider-threat category requiring active oversight rather than passive logging.
Microsoft's Security blog reports that Storm-0940, a China-state-aligned hacking group, used an open-source AI agentic penetration-testing tool called ARTEX to exploit stolen ConnectWise application credentials, attempting sign-ins across more than 2,250 Microsoft 365 tenants. The group also ran automated password-spraying attacks against 327 accounts at eight organizations, generating over 151,000 failed login attempts without success. Microsoft says the breach did not stem from any vulnerability in its own systems and that it remains unclear how the ConnectWise credentials were obtained or how many tenants were actually compromised.