Microsoft Cuts Back Copilot AI Bloat; Reddit Looks at ID Verification to Battle AI Bots; Hackers Selling Data of 6 Million Verizon Users; Samsung Rolling out AirDrop Support

Microsoft is rolling back a bit when it comes to the intrusiveness of its AI assistant, Copilot in Windows 11. TechCrunch.com reports that the company will reduce AI Copilot integration in some apps…beginning with Photos, Widgets, Notepad, and its Snipping Tool. Pavan Davuluri, the EVP of Windows and Devices wrote on the company’s blog that the goal is to focus on AI experiences that are ‘genuinely useful.’ What a concept! This ‘less ls more’ angle probably flows from increased consumer pushback against AI bloat. A Pew Research study that just came out this month showed that half of US adults are more concerned than excited about AI…up from 37% in 2021. 

Reddit is getting flooded with AI bots. In order to deal with the onslaught, the platform is considering a controversial move: requiring ID verification. According to mashable.com, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman discussed the problem on the tech show TBPN. He emphasized that ‘Reddit is for humans.’ Huffman said regarding screening out bots that “The most lightweight way is something like face ID or touch ID or broadly the family of technology that’s called passkeys.” He went on to say “Every platform wants to know ‘is this is a person?’ Now Reddit’s version is ‘is this a person but we don’t want to know which person this is.'” That is a huge deal for Reddit, which has made its bones on the ability of users to maintain their anonymity. Whatever they do, it is likely that Reddit will get blowback from their highly opinionated and privacy prone users.  

Hackers have gotten ahold of the data from 6 million customers and employees of  one of Verizon’s largest Verizon Authorized retailers Androidpolice.com says the info is now for sale on the dark web. That’s bad enough, but you’ll love this part…61 gigs of data is available for $1200. Your data on its own is a pretty cheap commodity. The retailer is Russell Cellular, which has over 2,000 employees and 750 locations. What is exposed in the breach? Names, phone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, device identifiers, and more. It also included employee usernames, passwords, and access roles; Verizon is also aware of the leak, and has begun an investigation, and promises to share the results of such when they become available. You can bet they are going to lock things down and make changes.  

Samsung is rolling out AirDrop support over its QuickShare, starting today. The support will initially be for The Galaxy S26, 26+, and 26 Ultra. 9to5google.com notes that AirDrop showed up on Google Pixel 10 devices in late 2025, and has now expanded to Pixel 9 phones. The support allows sharing between Samsung phones and Apple’s devices. One point with Samsung: unlike Pixel, where AirDrop support is enabled by default, you have to choose it. Under QuickShare settings, look for ‘Share With Apple Devices.’ For the Apple user to receive the shared picture or whatever, that Apple user needs to select ‘Everyone’ mode…that’s also true on the Galaxy devices if they are receiving from an Apple device. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.