September 4th tech news roundup: John Ternus is now Apple’s CEO, EU designates ChatGPT as a major search engine, Microsoft to enable Memory Integrity Protection on Windows 11

Google is automatically expanding AI Overviews in Search

Google’s aggressive strategy to push its AI continues, this time, right on the Search results page. Prior to this, AI Overviews were displayed, but it was up to the user to expand the section by clicking on the “Show more” button. Interacting with the button presents more details related to the query. That is no longer the case, as Google Search has begun testing something news, it is now automatically expanding AI Overviews.

So, the expanded AI generated response is displayed at the top of the page, while the organic search results are pushed down further. This not only annoys users who may prefer to visit the search results, but could further impact independent publishers and news providers.

Many publishers have already criticized AI services for the impact they have on web traffic, because users do not follow through on the source, and simply end the browsing session after obtaining the information they sought from the AI. Google’s latest move is likely to worsen the situation.

John Ternus takes over as Apple’s CEO

Apple has a new CEO, after 15 years. In 2011, Tim Cook was named the CEO. Under Cook’s leadership, Apple saw remarkable growth and success, thanks to innovations such as the Apple Silicon chips used in Mac, new devices such as the Apple Watch, Airpods, HomePod, Vision Pro, as well as software services like Apple Music, Apple TV and more.

In April 2026, the Cupertino company had announced that Cook would step down as CEO on September 11. Cook will continue as the Executive Chairman at Apple, and John Ternus is now the CEO of the company, having been appointed by Apple’s board of directors. Ternus joined Apple in 2001, and went on to become Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering in 2021.

He thanked Tim Cook in his memo, which also teased the next product from the company. Apple is set to announce the next gen iPhone at an event on September 9th, which will usher the Ternus era. Rumors indicate that Apple will announce its first foldable device during the said event. Ternus takes over as CEO at a challenging time for Apple, in an AI-driven age that has been severely affected due to the ongoing RAM shortage.

Microsoft announces monthly hour limits for Xbox Cloud Gaming

If you thought that cloud gaming could help save your money instead of buying a console or PC during the ongoing memory crisis, prepare to be disappointed. Microsoft has announced some major changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Up until now, the subscription service did not have time limits for cloud gaming. You could pay for a subscription and stream your favorite games. This is ending soon. Xbox Game Pass Essential users will be restricted to just 5 hours of cloud playtime per month, while Game Pass Premium subscribers get twice of that, i.e. 10 hours per month. The most expensive plan, Game Pass Ultimate, offers up to 15 hours of cloud playtime.

Microsoft says that once users have exhausted their limit, they can purchase more cloud playtime via the Xbox Store. According to the announcement, only 4% of subscribers are expected to be impacted by the new limits, which will come into effect in November.

Microsoft’s announcement was met with sharp criticism from gamers who pointed out that 15 hours is trivial compared to the amount of time it takes to fully play through most single player campaigns. A lot of modern games have 50 or even 100-hour campaigns.

EU designates ChatGPT as a major search engine

The European Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Search Engine under the Digital Services Act. According to the laws, an online service is deemed very large, if it has 45 Million active users per month. OpenAI’s popularity has grown significantly since the launch of ChatGPT a few years, and it crossed the threshold of 1 Billion users globally. Of these, over 45 Million users are from the EU. Hence OpenAI will have to comply to the DSA laws that regulate major online services and platforms. The EU will scrutinize the company, and hold it accountable in case it breaches the laws.

Among other things, the DSA prevents services from using personal data such as religion, ethnicity, political beliefs to deliver targeted ads. It prohibits platforms from targeting ads to minors. The DSA also requires major services to provide transparency on how their recommendation algorithms work. A notable example of the DSA is from earlier this year, when the EU deemed that TikTok’s infinite scrolling feed was too addictive, and that its recommendation system was designed to keep users actively scrolling.

In addition to OpenAI, the EU has also classified Roblox and Reddit as Very Large Online Platforms.

Microsoft to enable Memory Integrity Protection on Windows 11

Microsoft says that it will soon enable Memory Integrity Protection on eligible Windows 11 devices, starting next month. But, what is this feature anyway? Well, it’s a security feature that is designed to protect the Windows kernel from malware. It is a virtualization-based security (VBS) that uses the Windows hypervisor, hence the name Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI).

Memory Integrity Protection creates an isolated virtual environment, that is used to verify the integrity of your drivers and system files. This way, Windows 11 prevents the execution of malicious code or drivers, which can run amok if the feature is disabled. While this is a good security feature, it comes at a cost, performance.

This feature is usually not enabled by default, because it can impact gaming performance on Windows, especially on computers with older CPUs. This could result in frame-drops in games, because Windows 11 will use the additional resources. Microsoft itself had admitted to this fact a few years ago. Per a new announcement by Peter Waxman, group program manager at Microsoft, Memory Integrity Protection will be enabled on eligible computers, starting in October 2026. Microsoft says it is enabling the feature to protect users and secure Windows.

However, it is worth noting that Memory Integrity Protection will not be enabled automatically on PCs if the user had previously disabled the feature. To manage it, users can open Windows Security > Device Security > Core Isolation details, and toggle Memory Integrity.