It’s nothing new that most productivity subscriptions these days are forcing AI onto their subscribers to justify higher prices. Microsoft, for example, now bundles its Microsoft 365 subscriptions with Copilot and other AI-powered features. However, most users don’t really need or want these features. Apparently, the company recognizes this and offers a cheaper subscription without Copilot. It’s been hidden though, and now Microsoft is in trouble for keeping it hidden.

A few days ago, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Microsoft foMicrosoft is ending support for Windows 10r allegedly hiding a cheaper subscription tier and effectively forcing users into a pricier tier (via Reuters). In the country, the price of an individual annual subscription rose by 45 percent.

Currently, the regular tier, dubbed Microsoft 365, packs in access to Microsoft Office, 1TB of OneDrive storage, and Copilot. The allegedly hidden tier contains everything above except Copilot. The Australian organization claims that the company did not clearly tell users about the cheaper subscription.

As a result, the ACCC wants Microsoft to pay around AUD 50 million per breach of the country’s consumer laws. The court is still investigating the ACCC’s claims.

How to access the cheaper subscription

Though the lawsuit is in Australia, the subscription is hidden for most users around the world. Because of how difficult it is to access, the ACCC does have a substantial claim that the company is intentionally hiding the tier. Here’s how to access it:

The tier, officially called Microsoft 365 Personal Classic (or Family Classic), isn’t available if you just go through Microsoft’s list of subscriptions. Currently (and as far as we can tell), you need to attempt to cancel your ongoing subscription. Only after then will Microsoft offer you the cheaper subscription without Copilot or any AI features.

According to Microsoft’s website, the cost of a regular subscription costs PhP 4,899 per year (or PhP 489 per month). In comparison, the cost of the Classic subscription costs only PhP 3,499 per year, which is what the regular subscription used to cost per year.

Is there a risk with going Classic?

Switching to the Classic subscription naturally begs the question: What happens when you go for a subscription that Microsoft desperately wants to hide?

Nothing, really.

If you don’t need Copilot, the Classic subscription saves you from paying for an unnecessary feature. Even if you can just turn off Copilot on a regular subscription, you’re still paying for it.

That said, Microsoft does say that there is a risk. The Classic subscription is just a “limited” option, meaning that there is a chance that the company will stop offering the tier for users.

Currently, Microsoft has not said anything about when (or if) this is happening. It’s also possible that the company might just gatekeep some upcoming features from Classic.

For now, Microsoft 365 Classic remains the only way to keep the subscription price low.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10

Liquid Glass is Apple’s laborious experiment in discovering why Microsoft dropped the Windows Vista aesthetic all those years ago. As cool as the translucent glass looked, having so many elements on screen tended to be distracting or overwhelming. Apple started discovering that when they toned down the transparency of Liquid Glass prior to the launch of iOS 26. Now, the update is going further by adding a new toggle to make the interface even less transparent.

Starting with iOS 26, Apple introduced a new aesthetic called Liquid Glass. The design offers a departure from Apple’s flatter past. It’s supposed to make the interface more dynamic, but Apple quickly realized that it’s heavily dependent on the content underneath the glass interface. The update’s current version is, in fact, more opaque than its original iteration.

Today, Apple launched a new toggle in the iOS 26.1 beta (via MacRumors). The toggle, dealing with Liquid Glass, has two simple options: Clear and Tinted.

It does what it says it does. Under Tinted mode, the design is darker, and the elements underneath are more blurred. The intention is to make information more readable.

Unfortunately for those who really dislike the new aesthetic, there is no way to completely turn it off. However, the toggle, which should ship out when the update leaves beta, can at least give some reprieve from the translucent nightmare.

SEE ALSO: Apple is already backing out of Liquid Glass

Every day, we inch closer and closer to the strange reality of Joaquin Phoenix’s Her. Today’s AI-powered chatbots have inevitably adapted to address our more carnal desires. Some, such as those offered by xAI, are even explicitly designed to only flirt with the user. Soon, ChatGPT will offer the same thing: a way for adult users to… well, be adults.

Through a post on X, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reiterated ChatGPT’s impending drive to introduce age-gating in December. Keeping younger users from the platform will open ChatGPT to more “mature” conversations. Altman specifically names “erotica” as one of the potential uses of a looser platform.

Additionally, ChatGPT is rolling out an update which will make the platform more personable and comparable to actual conversations. This includes using more emojis or talking like a friend.

The platform is also adding more safeguards when it comes to mental health issues, given that more people are using it as a makeshift therapist. Recently, Altman made sure that ChatGPT treated mental health with more delicateness. To some, especially those without such issues, the platform became more unusable. To bring back how it used to be, the platform will add better tools to detect whether the user is in “mental distress.”

Finally, OpenAI is implementing a backend solution to mental health by creating a new council of researchers and experts to accurately determine the impact of AI on mental health. Currently, it’s still unknown how much this new technology is helping (or harming) our wellbeing.

SEE ALSO: ChatGPT Go now available in the Philippines, more Asian countries