Microsoft has begun cancelling long-standing news and research subscriptions, including its 20-year partnership with Strategic News Service.
The company says the move supports a “modern, AI-powered learning experience” through its internal Skilling Hub platform.
The changes follow mass layoffs and come as Microsoft’s leadership pushes aggressively toward an AI-first future.
Microsoft has been among the big tech companies which is pushing AI adoption. The company has laid off employees, adopted AI automation technologies and is now reducing access to news subscriptions and library resources for its employees as a next step towards AI focused learning. This comes after the company’s mass layoffs last year’s mass layoffs, which affected 15,000 employees.
SurveyInternal communications seen by The Verge shows that Microsoft has started to notify publishers in November 2025 that existing contracts for news and research services, including long standing partnerships like Strategic News Service (SNS), will not be renewed. SNS has provided global reports to Microsoft employees for over two decades.
Employees report that access to publications such as The Information and other business news services has been reduced, as has the physical library on Microsoft’s Redmond campus. According to company communications, the changes are part of a push to provide a “modern, AI-powered learning experience” via its Skilling Hub platform.
Also read: Google confirms plans to let users switch Gmail addresses while keeping the same account
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is overseeing the transition, which reportedly includes senior executives who have been asked to embrace the AI-focused strategy or leave the company. The fate of the former library space has not been revealed.
In the meantime, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman predicts that within five years, everyone will have a deeply personal AI companion that can see, hear and understand life along with the user. He says such AI will act as constant assistant or friend, though the claim has spared mixed reactions online.
“In five years’ time, everybody will have their own AI companion who knows them so intimately and so personally that they will come to live life alongside you,” the CEO said.
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Ashish Singh
Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile
