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Apple nudges creators toward subscriptions
Plus: Microsoft responds to data center backlash
Rimsha Bhardwaj, Hasan Toor & Ihtesham Haider
January 14, 2026
In partnership with
Hello, Prohuman
Today, we will talk about these stories:
Apple’s new Creator Studio subscription
Microsoft promises to pay for AI’s footprint
China trains an AI model on Huawei chips
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Apple puts Final Cut and Logic in one bundle
Image Credits: Apple
Apple is pricing creativity like a utility bill.
Apple is launching “Creator Studio,” a $12.99/month (or $129/year) subscription that bundles Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro (now on iPad), plus Motion, Compressor, and MainStage on Mac. It also adds premium iWork content and a new “Content Hub,” with the bundle available January 28 and a one-month free trial. Students and educators get it for $2.99/month.
This is Apple trying to turn its pro apps into a default subscription for the Mac and iPad creator crowd, the same way iCloud storage quietly becomes a line item you keep paying. The app list is strong, but the real hook is convenience and churn reduction, especially if you already bounce between video, audio, and design.
Adobe should feel this in the mid-market, where people want “good enough” pro tools without a $50+ monthly stack. Expect Apple to keep sprinkling in AI-ish workflow features like Transcript Search and auto layout cleanup to justify ongoing payment.
Does this become the creator bundle people keep, or the trial they cancel after one project?
Microsoft tries to get ahead of AI backlash
Image Credits: Microsoft
Microsoft is reading the room.
The company says it will build future US AI datacenters under a new “Community-First” plan, with five commitments covering electricity costs, water use, local jobs, taxes, and AI training. Brad Smith put real numbers behind it, including a claim that US datacenter power demand could jump from 200 to 640 terawatt-hours by 2035.
This is Microsoft acknowledging that AI infrastructure is starting to feel like a nuisance to neighbors, not a miracle. Promising to pay higher electricity rates and fund water systems sounds responsible, but it also reflects how loud the local pushback has become as power bills rise and cooling towers hum through hot afternoons.
If Microsoft follows through, it raises expectations for every other hyperscaler asking towns for permits and tax deals. It also gives regulators a clearer benchmark for what “paying your way” should mean.
The open question is how much of this survives when margins tighten.
Trained without US chips
This is a hardware story.
Chinese startup Knowledge Atlas Technology, known as Zhipu, says it trained its new multimodal image model entirely on Huawei Technologies Co. Ascend chips. The model, called GLM-Image, is open source and the company claims it is the first state of the art system in China to finish training without American hardware.
This matters. For years, Chinese AI labs have talked around export controls while quietly leaning on Nvidia gear, and this is a public claim that at least one serious model crossed the finish line without it, likely after long nights listening to server fans spin under fluorescent lights.
If the claim holds up, it strengthens Beijing’s argument that domestic chips can carry real workloads, not just demos. It also pressures other Chinese labs to prove similar results or explain why they still cannot.
The question now is how fast this scales.
Prohuman team
Covers emerging technology, AI models, and the people building the next layer of the internet. |  Founder |
Writes about how new interfaces, reasoning models, and automation are reshaping human work. |  Founder |
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