Dex raises $5.3M seed to build AI talent agent for technical hiring

Dex, an AI talent agent focused exclusively on technical hiring (AI researchers, software developers, ML and quant engineers), has raised a $5.3 million seed round led by Notion Capital, with participation from a16z Speedrun and angels from OpenAI. Founded by former Atomico talent adviser Paddy Lambros, the London-based startup has grown from zero to $1.8 million ARR in under six months of charging. The platform uses conversational AI (built on Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI models) to build rich candidate profiles, then matches them to employers using proprietary ML. Unlike SaaS recruiting tools, Dex charges employers a 20–30% success fee only on completed hires. Over 15,000 engineers and 50+ tech companies including Lovable and ElevenLabs are on the platform. The new funding will support US office openings in New York and San Francisco.

Ustwo Games CEO shifts studio to contractor model to cut development costs

Ustwo Games CEO Maria Sayans outlines the studio's strategy for surviving as a PC-first developer after pivoting away from mobile. Key priorities include reducing development budgets (previously £7–10M over 3–4 years), shifting from full-time employees to a contractor-heavy model for flexibility, and adopting smarter pricing strategies on platforms like Steam. Sayans candidly admits the studio was 'too romantic' about offering long-term job security and acknowledges the difficult trade-offs required for sustainability.

Scholly founder sues Sallie Mae for wrongful termination and student data misuse

Chris Gray, founder of scholarship search app Scholly (backed by Shark Tank investors Daymond John and Lori Greiner), is suing Sallie Mae for wrongful termination after the bank acquired his startup in 2023. Gray alleges Sallie Mae fired him when he raised concerns about data privacy, and that the company created a non-bank subsidiary (Sallie.com / SLM Education Services) to sell sensitive student data — including age, race, gender, and financial information — to advertisers and universities, circumventing banking regulations. Sallie Mae also launched 'Backpack Media,' an ad network Gray claims is built on Scholly user data. Sallie Mae denies all allegations, calling them 'without merit.'

Accenture deploys Microsoft 365 Copilot to all 743,000 employees

Accenture has deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot to its entire global workforce of 743,000 employees across 120+ countries, marking the largest enterprise Copilot rollout to date. Among a 200,000-employee cohort with extended usage, monthly active usage hit 89%, 97% reported completing routine tasks up to 15x faster, and 84% said they would miss the tool if removed. The rollout used a phased methodology starting with senior leaders, scaling gradually with structured change management, one-on-one training, and internal communities. A byproduct is Avanade's D3 sales intelligence platform, where active users generate 43% more sales opportunities. For Microsoft, the deal provides a proof point for enterprise AI adoption at scale, as only ~3% of its 450M+ M365 users currently pay the $30/month Copilot premium.

Study of 400+ engineering orgs finds AI tools boost PR throughput only 8%

Study finds AI hiring tools select AI-written resumes 95–97% of the time

<p>A study just found that AI hiring tools pick AI-written resumes 95-97% of the time. 

So basically the AI screening your application prefers applications written by AI.</p>

A study found that AI-powered hiring tools select AI-written resumes 95-97% of the time, revealing a feedback loop where AI screening systems favor AI-generated applications over human-written ones.

Magic: The Gathering Arena developers file for union recognition under CWA

<p>A supermajority of Magic: The Gathering Arena developers at Wizards of the Coast have signed union cards and announced the formation of United Wizards of the Coast – CWA (UWOTC-CWA), affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. It’s the first known unionization effort at the Hasbro subsidiary.</p>
<p>The group is roughly 100 members strong and has asked Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro leadership to voluntarily recognize the union and begin collective bargaining. They’ve also filed an election petition with the NLRB as a fallback, though they say they’ll withdraw it if the company grants voluntary recognition by May 1, 2026.</p>
<h2>What pushed them to organize</h2>
<p>The timing isn’t hard to understand. Hasbro went through two rounds of mass layoffs in 2023, cutting around 2,000 employees, followed by further redundancies in 2025. Return-to-office mandates added more friction. Workers also say management pressured staff to adopt generative AI tools despite significant concerns from employees about how those tools would be used.</p>
<h2>What they’re asking for</h2>
<p>The union’s stated priorities:</p>
<ul>
<li>Layoff protections</li>
<li>Remote work protections</li>
<li>Sustainable workloads and an end to mandatory crunch</li>
<li>Clearer career pathways</li>
<li>Explicit guidelines around generative AI usage</li>
</ul>
<p>The AI issue in particular seems to have sharpened the urgency. When management pushes LLM adoption over employee objections, workers want something in writing about how those tools will and won’t be used.</p>
<p>Wizards of the Coast hasn’t publicly responded to the recognition request yet.</p>


Developers working on Magic: The Gathering Arena at Wizards of the Coast have announced a union drive, forming United Wizards of the Coast – CWA (UWOTC-CWA) with roughly 100 members. The group has asked Hasbro and Wizards leadership for voluntary recognition and has filed an NLRB election petition as a fallback. Key concerns driving the effort include mass layoffs in 2023 and 2025, return-to-office mandates, mandatory crunch, and management pressure to adopt generative AI tools despite employee objections. Their demands include layoff protections, remote work rights, sustainable workloads, clearer career paths, and explicit guidelines on AI tool usage.

Cybersecurity professionals see no pay rise despite growing AI-driven workloads

Cybersecurity professionals are the most underpaid IT workers in 2025, with 71% globally and 77% in the UK seeing no salary increase, despite facing growing workloads driven by AI-expanded threat surfaces and rising attack volumes. Harvey Nash data shows security staff rank in the bottom three for workplace satisfaction, even though cybersecurity remains a top-three most in-demand tech role. The cause is attributed to boardroom complacency bred by effective security teams, combined with an employer-controlled job market. Experts warn this mismatch between responsibility and reward is fueling burnout and attrition, urging organizations to treat cyber talent as a strategic asset.

China mandates minimum wages and algorithm transparency for 200 million gig workers by 2027

China's CPC Central Committee and State Council have issued binding labour protections for over 200 million gig workers — the first time the party's highest authority has formalised such rules. Key mandates include local minimum wage guarantees, app-enforced maximum working hours (the platform must stop dispatching orders when limits are hit), and algorithm transparency subject to collective bargaining with unions. A 2027 compliance deadline applies to major platforms including Meituan, Didi, Alibaba's Ele.me, and JD.com. The regulations create a three-tier classification: full employment contracts, a middle category with written agreements, and a baseline floor for all workers. The move is partly driven by Beijing's economic pivot toward domestic consumption — gig workers earning $563–845/month lack the purchasing power to fuel a consumption-led economy. Companies have begun making pledges (Didi: 1.1B yuan in subsidies; Alibaba: 50% social security coverage), but enforcement remains the historical weak point of Chinese gig worker regulation.

Thinking Machines Lab recruits PyTorch co-founder Soumith Chintala as CTO from Meta

Thinking Machines Lab (TML) is actively recruiting researchers from Meta, even as Meta has poached seven of TML's founding members. Recent Meta-to-TML hires include PyTorch co-founder Soumith Chintala (now TML's CTO), Segment Anything co-author Piotr Dollár, and several other senior researchers. TML has also drawn talent from OpenAI, Anthropic, Waymo, and Cognition. The startup, valued at $12 billion, recently signed a multibillion-dollar cloud deal with Google for access to Nvidia GB300 chips and now employs around 140 people.