Today’s tech news roundup covers the biggest developments shaping AI, big tech, and the future of work.

Apple has acquired Israeli AI startup Q.ai in a $2 billion deal, its largest acquisition since Beats, strengthening its push into AI-powered wearables and silent speech technology. Microsoft faced a massive $360 billion market value drop as investors raised concerns about its growing financial dependence on OpenAI and rising AI infrastructure costs.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that AI tools now allow individual employees to do the work of entire teams, sparking fresh debate around hiring and layoffs in the tech industry. Meanwhile, OpenAI announced it will retire the popular GPT-4o model from ChatGPT next month as it shifts focus to newer AI systems.

In mobility news, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a new S-Class built on NVIDIA DRIVE AV, designed for level-4 autonomous driving and future robotaxi services. Finally, Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates shared how she uses ChatGPT to reverse-engineer viral videos for startup marketing.

Watch the full video for a quick, clear breakdown of the most important tech stories of January 30, 2026.