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Apple may replace Tim Cook by 2026, and somewhere in Cupertino, John Ternus just switched his iPhone to “Do Not Disturb, I’m Practicing My Victory Walk. In another news, ChatGPT finally stops spamming em dashes — and with this news, a thousand copywriters just exhaled like they’ve been freed from punctuation prison. And Disney+ may soon let you make AI-generated videos, finally giving every Disney fan their shot at becoming a director without dealing with Hollywood drama.

Here’s what’s shaping the future of AI today.

In today’s AI Pulse

• 🧰 Mindstream – 40 AI Tools Every Builder Should Know.

• 🛍️ Zipchat.ai – Turn visitors into customers with AI agents built for Shopify.

• 🛡️ Chargeflow – Stop fraud before it happens.

• 🍏 Apple accelerates CEO search as Cook nears exit.

• ✍️ ChatGPT finally stops overusing those em dashes.

• 🎬 Disney+ plans user-made AI video experiences.

• ⚡ In AI Today – Quick Hits

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🍏Apple Steps Up CEO Succession Planning — Tim Cook Could Exit by 2026

🧠The Pulse

Apple is reportedly accelerating its succession strategy as CEO Tim Cook may step down as early as 2026, according to Reuters. Internally, hardware-engineering chief John Ternus is emerging as the strongest contender to take over leadership of the world’s most valuable tech company.

📌The Download

• Reports indicate Apple has intensified internal discussions around long-term leadership, preparing for a potential transition within the next two years.

• John Ternus—Apple’s SVP of Hardware Engineering and the executive behind the company’s recent chip and device breakthroughs—is widely viewed as the leading internal candidate to succeed Cook.

• Cook, who has led Apple since 2011, has not publicly commented on any timeline for departure, but insiders say preparations have quietly gained momentum.

• The potential shift comes at a time when Apple faces slowing hardware growth, rising regulatory pressure, and the need to bet big on next-generation products such as spatial computing and AI-driven devices.

• Analysts suggest Ternus represents continuity in Apple’s design-first, vertically integrated approach, while also being seen as an innovator capable of steering the company through its next era.

💡What This Means for You

Leadership changes at Apple often signal major strategic turns. A Ternus-led Apple may double down on hardware excellence and deeper silicon–software integration. If you build apps, work in the Apple ecosystem, or track tech leadership trends, this transition could reshape product roadmaps, partnerships, and innovation priorities across the industry.

✍️ChatGPT Finally Fixes Its Most Annoying Writing Quirk

🧠The Pulse

OpenAI has finally resolved ChatGPT’s long-criticized habit of overusing em dashes. After months of user complaints, the model now properly follows instructions to avoid them, giving people more natural, personalized control over ChatGPT’s writing style.

📌The Download

• ChatGPT had a persistent quirk: even when users said “no em dashes,” the model continued inserting them across sentences, making many outputs feel formal, unnatural or stylistically inconsistent.

• OpenAI introduced a direct fix, ensuring ChatGPT now honors prompts like “use commas instead,” “avoid em dashes,” or “keep punctuation simple.”

• The update doesn’t rewrite ChatGPT’s entire writing system, but it meaningfully improves stylistic control, especially for users drafting professional emails, reports, articles or scripts.

• It also reflects OpenAI’s broader push toward personalization—giving users more precise influence over tone, formatting and stylistic preferences.

• This change is subtle but symbolic: OpenAI is actively tuning the model to feel less “one-style-fits-all” and more adaptable to individual writing voices.

💡What This Means for You

Your ChatGPT responses now sound more like your own writing. With better control over punctuation and tone, you get cleaner, more natural output, stronger consistency in professional communication, and fewer unwanted stylistic quirks in everyday use.

🎬Disney+ Eyes AI-Generated Videos

🧠The Pulse

At its Q4 2025 earnings call, The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger revealed that its streaming platform Disney+ may soon let viewers create and consume short-form, AI-generated videos. The company is “really excited about AI” and sees it as a tool to make its service more interactive and engaging.

📌The Download

• Iger said AI presents “phenomenal opportunities,” hinting that Disney+ could expand beyond traditional streaming into a hybrid space where users generate video clips and interactive moments—not just consume them.

• Disney wants to turn the app into a “sticky,” engagement-driven platform, blending AI features with playful, game-like elements that encourage creativity.

• Iger suggested these AI tools could also connect Disney+ more tightly with Disney’s broader ecosystem—its parks, hotels and cruises—transforming streaming into a cross-experience engagement engine.

• Disney+ added 1.5 million U.S. and Canadian subscribers in Q4, now reaching 59.3 million in that region, alongside recent price increases.

• While no launch date or technical details were shared, Disney made it clear: AI-powered creation is becoming a strategic priority, signaling a new era of participatory streaming.

💡What This Means for You

If you subscribe to Disney+, you might soon find tools inside the app that let you craft mini-videos or interactive moments—not just watch them. For creators and casual users alike, it signals a shift from passive viewing toward active participation. And if you’re in streaming, marketing or user-experience roles, this move shows that major platforms are betting on AI-driven content generation as a new engagement frontier.

IN AI TODAY - QUICK HITS

⚡Quick Hits (60‑Second News Sprint)

Short, sharp updates to keep your finger on the AI pulse.

• VCs Are Rewriting the AI Playbook: Top investors say AI startups can now scale from zero to $100M in revenue in under a year. Instead of classic SaaS metrics, VCs are prioritizing proprietary data generation, deep technical defensibility, and strong go-to-market execution. Databricks co-founder Andy Konwinski also warned that the U.S. could lose its AI edge to China if major labs like OpenAI and Anthropic don’t open-source more of their work.

• Claude Leads the Race for Political Neutrality: Anthropic has trained Claude to avoid unsolicited political takes and deliver balanced perspectives using carefully designed system prompts and reinforcement-learning rules. In internal tests, Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 95% on political even-handedness—far ahead of Meta’s Llama 4 (66%) and OpenAI’s GPT-5 (89%).

🙌 About Us

AI Pulse is the official newsletter by AIGPE™. Our mission: help professionals master Lean, Six Sigma, Project Management, and now AI, so you can deliver breakthroughs that stick.

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