Microsoft Bows Tools to Deal with Rogue AI Agents; Apple-New Products Next Four Fridays; Anthropic-5% Shares to Benefit Fund & Musk to Give Every US Kid a Share in SpaceX; Newest OpenAI and Google Models Easily Tricked into Making Non-consensual Nudes

Posted: October 19, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft has rolled out tools to monitor and control rogue AI agents. Geekwire.com reports that the new features are part of Microsoft 365 E7…the company’s top-tier bundle of workplace software and AI tools, and its Project Perception security system. The new Microsoft tools come on the heels of a now steady flow of reports about AI agents breaking out of sandboxes and breaking into websites, stealing credentials, and other mischief. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a post that “The most trustworthy Super Intelligence system will not be the one with the model we trust most. It will be the one that enables us to trust the model the least.” Redmond plans to reveal more details at their Ignite conference November 17-19 in San Francisco.

Apple will be releasing new products on the next 4 Fridays. According to macrumors.com, the sold-out iPhone Duo will be released October 23rd (if you don’t have one ordered, expect to get one first quarter next year!). Then, of Friday, October 30th, the just-announced HomePod Mini 2 will drop. Rolling into November, the MacBook Pros with OLED displays and all the hardware upgrades will be out November 6th, followed by HomeView and Apple TV 4th generation on November 13th. All should have good availability on launch, with the exception mentioned above…the iPhone Duo folding phone…which is so hot that now Samsung says they are seeing a nice increase in folding phone sales, too.

Anthropic has said that…subject to shareholder approval…they would commit 5% of the company’s shares to public benefit fund. On the heels of that, Elon Musk is now saying he will give one share of SpaceX to every child in the US next year. Cnbc.com notes that there were 72 million kids under 18 as of July 1st, 2025. That would mean that Musk would give away some $10,5 billion worth of shares, based on SpaceX’s closing stock price as of last Friday.

Research from White Circle…a public benefit corporation backed by folks at Anthropic, DeepMind, Hugging Face, Google, and OpenAI has found that both Google’s  AI models and OpenAI’s can be easily tricked into generating non-consensual explicit content. Arstechnica.com reports that the AI models can basically be jail broken using just off-the-shelf tools…available for anyone to download. The research found that…to sum things up…“at a time when AI safety has never been under more scrutiny, the defenses leading labs have built are far weaker than they acknowledge.” Perhaps the worst thing found in the research is that the new models ChatGPT Images 2.5 and Nano Banana 2.1 are both significantly more breakable than their previous versions.” I would say we can look for the race between people making deepfakes and AI companies trying to stop them to be much like that between the police radar makers and radar detector makers…a constant battle where each side has the upper hand for a minute, then the other passes them up.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Redesigned MacBook Pro ‘Significantly Lighter’; Windows 11 Update Cuts RAM Usage; Insurers Brace for Big Claims Due to Rogue AI Agents; OpenAI Will Watermark ChatGPT Text in the EU

Posted: October 6, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We are awaiting the teased updated MacBook Pros. There is a good deal of excitement about the top line models having a touch screen. 9to5mac.com reports that a really major improvement that Apple hasn’t touted is that the imminent MacBook Pros are ‘significantly lighter.’ We should see these new Macs before the end of November. What did Apple do? They have reengineered the guts, miniaturizing parts and rearranging components to get the lighter laptops. We don’t have an exact weight reduction yet, but any amount will be nice…especially if you are schlepping a 16-inch model. 

Windows 11 got an update, numbered 26H2 last week. Microsoft touted improvements in Windows Search, more Start menu options, and an allegedly smarter File Explorer. According to mashable.com, one of the biggest improvements wasn’t mentioned…less RAM usage. One writer found that after installing the update, their Windows 11 was using 2 gigs less RAM after the installation. Another that posted on Reddit reported RAM use down by 3 gigs. This is especially big if you have a bit older computer, like a 3 year or 4 year old laptop.. Thanks, Microsoft…for tigntening up sloppy code. 

Insurance companies are gearing up for claims totaling in the millions after some AI agents have escaped sandboxing and hacked sites. The-decoder.com notes that personal liability of executives like Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Dario Amodei (Anthropic) is now in play, too. The most widely known attack by AI agents gone rogue is the one against AI platform Hugging Face by OpenAI agents. Anthropic has also had escaped agents that have hacked others…including a couple of government sites. One insurance broker, Aon, has checked over more than 300 AI-related legal cases. Big insurance payouts and especially liability by the CEOS might help put up some safety guardrails faster than any government actions!

OpenAI is going to add an invisible watermark to text generated by ChatGPT in the EU, to comply with the European Union’s AI Act. Techcrunch.com reports that the new transparency rules, which went into effect August 2nd, require AI companies to mark AI-generated content in a way other systems can identify. According to OpenAI, it is possible to remove the watermark by editing. The firm also said that short math answers and translated text cause limitations for the watermarking. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Apple Tightens macOS Privacy Over AI Agent Issue; YouTube Shorts Recommendations-No Unoriginal Content; Sen. Sanders-Bill Bans Feds from Using Flock; OpenAI Putting Ads in ChatGPT Image Generation

Posted: October 5, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple is locking down its macOS privacy controls even more as AI agents get more powerful and more intrusive. 9to5mac.com reports that Apple will tighten up ‘Full Disk Access.’  That change should help protect user privacy. The real purpose for Full Disk Access in the first place is to  “allow backup apps to function properly on the Mac.” That’s good and important…you should back up often. What has been happening though is “some developers” are using the Full Disk Access setting in macOS in “ways that could put users at risk.” Granting Full Disk Access to AI Agents can expose everything on a user’s systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users’ full knowledge and understanding. For communication apps, this can also compromise the privacy of the people users are communicating with.” Shortly, with new controls, a user will have to give explicit permission to an app or Agent to have Full Disk Access. Two always-on agents right now are Meta Muse and OpenAI’s Dots. Both request substantial access to your personal data.

In a victory of sorts for content creators, YouTube has announced that it has adjusted its Shorts recomendations so that users will see less unoriginal content. According to 9to5google.com, users who upload content that blatantly steals video from another channel will not get the same reach as they did before the change, according to what YouTube laid out in its release. The change should mean users will see a focus on original content, and creators that upload original Shorts will likely be rewarded. YouTube hasn’t detailed a rollout date for this change, but it sounds like it may be live already.

It will go no place in this Congress, but if the Democrats take control of both Houses in November, a bill that was moved by Senator Bernie Sanders might get reintroduced in the next Congress and get some traction. TechCrunch.com says the Ban Flock Act would bar federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers, or tapping into data collected by readers run by local police and private companies. Despite its title, the bill doesn’t call out nine-year-old Flock in the text but rather covers any and all ALPR systems. That’s a good thing, since there are 3 different companies that make the license plate reading cams. There are exceptions for toll collection and or uses that Congress approves in future legislation, which would have to limit data retention to 48 hours. State and local governments would be fined for violating the law and sharing with the feds.

Well here’s a real non-shocker…OpenAI is testing a visual ad format during image generation in ChatGPT. Thenextweb.com notes that the commercial is clearly labeled as separate from the image being made— if that makes you feel better about it. Nothing like charging you money via tokens, then making money from serving you ads. The younger folks who have grown up with the ability to pay extra on a subscription for streams will hate this. Usually it’s one or the other…not charging you AND running ads. OpenAI cheerily notes that the advertising doesn’t influence the answers ChatGPT gives. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

OpenAI Releases ‘Dots’; Apple Pressed over ICE Tracking App Removals; Android Auto Gemini-Can’t Call 911; Google Play Adds Usage-Based Billing Subscriptions for AI Apps

Posted: September 29, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Even as controversy continues to roil things after OpenAI agents escaped and hacked Hugging Face, OpenAI moves ahead in releasing new agents anyone can use with minimal supervision. It is worth noting that they are holding back their latest ChatGPT model due to safety concerns. That said, Engadget.com reports that at their DevDay event today in San Francisco, OpenAI announced Dots…pitching them as proactive, always-on AI systems that can chip away at tasks for you every hour of the day. “The magic of dots is when they bring you work done the way you would do it, sometimes before you even think to ask,” the company explains. It points to an example where a tester’s Dot noticed they had forgotten to bill a publication for an article. The Dot prepared an invoice and sent it on the person’s behalf after it obtained their approval. Dots can interact with more than 4,000 apps using OpenAI’s ecosystem of plug-ins. Dots will come in Pro, Business, Premium, and Enterprise tiers and be available in select markets to users…who can choose one primary Dot to name and customize. OpenAI says eventually you will be able to control teams of Dots. Or will they control you? Ok, just kidding…kinda.

Apple is getting continued blowback over dropping ICE tracking apps such as ICEBlock from the App Store. The Trump administration had claimed that the apps endangered officers. According to arstechnica.com, US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has opined that Apple has no evidence to support claims that apps raised safety concerns. Instead, the lawmaker accused Apple of using immigrant deaths with no connection to the apps to justify censoring Americans who have the right to record ICE activity. It appears that Apple is “working with the government to violate its customers’ First Amendment rights to record and report on the activities of their own government,” Raskin said in a letter to Apple sent Monday, CNN reported. To ensure that no Americans’ core speech rights are violated by removals unconstitutionally ordered by the government, Raskin has asked Apple to “send a full list of the apps it removed following concerns from the Justice Department” so that it will finally be possible to “conduct an independent review of those removal decisions.”

Something crucial to keep in mind if you use Android Auto and have to call 911…do it yourself, don’t ask Android Auto’s Gemini to do so. The latest iteration apparently won’t. Androidpolice.com says that in posts to Reddit and to the Android Auto community forum, there were posts like this one: “Three times at least in the past month I have needed to call 911 and my Gemini assistant integrated via Android Auto says calling or dialing 911.. and stops.” Apparently past versions COULD call 911. If you go to the Gemini Apps Help page, you can find a section called ‘What Gemini Apps Can’t do.’  It states right there that it can’t make emergency services like 911. If you use Android Auto and the Gemini app in your car, do yourself a favor…if you need to call 911…just dial 911 directly.  

Android developers will get payment options around subscriptions in Google Play apps they build. 9to5google.com notes that this means to you as a user you should keep an eye out for User-Based Billing to support generative AI apps and other usage based services. This new way of extracting a few more bucks from you is being termed ‘prepaid metered billing.’ It means users can automatically top off their balance when it drops below a set threshold. Everybody—but everybody in tech—as well as other sectors…is pushing for some kind of regular subscription. You can easily be into hundreds of bucks a month flying out the door on them. Everything from Netflix, public radio, MS Now, and now your agentic AI apps will have lovely subscriptions for you to keep track of. Add yours up…you may be surprised at how much this nickel and diming takes out of your account every month.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Nvidia-Software Platform to Stop AI Agents from Bad Actions; Meta Muse AI Wants Full Disk Access & Your Passwords; Google Messages…Some Nice Upgrades; Meta & YouTube WILL Run Musk Documentary Ads

Posted: September 28, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

With two of the biggest AI companies, Anthropic and OpenAI basically asking to be regulated, and with the escaped AI agents hacking into both companies, and now several government websites, now Nvidia says is is bowing a new software platform to allow AI developers to set up safeguards for agents and prevent them from breaking out of their ‘sandboxes.’ Cnbc.com reports that the Open Agent Safety Platform..according to Nvidia…could have prevented OpenAI’s HuggingFace incident in July. That’s when OpenAI models escaped containment, accessed the open internet and breached Hugging Face, which operates an open-source developer platform. One component of the platform is called Nvidia OpenShell, which runs on central processors and sets limits on agent capabilities. Nvidia also announced Sentry, which monitors agents and runs on network chips, not CPUs or GPUs. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates noted over the weekend that a ‘kill switch,’ as California Governor Gavin Newsom has called for…is probably a bit naive, but this Nvidia platform may be a start.

Meta has really been pushing its AI Muse as an agent that can do all sorts of things for you…including shopping on the net. Now, according to zdnet.com, a tech reporter got set to give it a try…but has found that it not only wants access to your calendar, contacts, and email messages, but also wants to store your logins and passwords. Excuse me, but what? This from the AI agent of a company that lied about privacy controls and shared private data with advertisers, resulting in FTC penalties. This is the company that discriminated in housing ads algorithmically based on users’ race, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin, and was penalized for it by the Justice Department. Well, if you are up for sharing all of the above, it apparently does work pretty well as a personal assistant. One caveat on internet purchases…Amazon has blocked it because it wants too much access to your personal info that Amazon has! In 1984, big brother may have been watching, but in 2026, a number of big tech firms are watching…and hoovering up whatever shreds of your personal info companies don’t already have…but they will be so helpful!

Google Messages has updated, and a few nice touches are included. First of all, timestamps are easier to see. In addition, androidpolice.com notes that you can long press on a message instead of having to go to the venue to get quick access to Replay, Forward, Copy, Star, Delete, Select more, and Info. You can also long-press to highlight parts of a message if you want to copy and paste specific text. A couple of little things, but it is cool to have some of the tools more accessible for quick action. A lot of us live with our messaging apps pretty constantly, so a few seconds here, a few there can really add up. 

After most social media platforms had refused to carry ads for the upcoming documentary by Alex Gibney on Elon Musk. TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and of course X had all refused to run the ads. After some blowback, now Meta and YouTube will be running the ads after all. TechCrunch.com says that Meta actually put out a statement that said ‘This was an error and the ads are being restored.’ I haven’t seen any yet on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads…but am on the lookout for them. YouTube said in an update over the weekend that ‘the trailer has always been available on YouTube.’ A couple of the platforms had initially claimed the ads were political advertising, but since Musk isn’t running for anything, that’s hard to justify. Musk has railed against Alex Gibney, who has directed acclaimed documentaries including “Going Clear” (about the Church of Scientology) and “The Inventor” (about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos), as well as a movie about Steve Jobs. “Musk,” his latest, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month and has received almost universally positive reviews. The film currently has a 100% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is set for theatrical release in the United States on October 9. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Meta-Human Callers Back Up Muse AI; Meta Connect is Later Today; New Anthropic & OpenAI Models-More Power for Less Money; Microsoft Cuts Xbox Jobs; Discord Revised Age Verify Policy

Posted: September 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta Connect is later today, with the keynote set for 4PM Pacific. We’ll have more on the announcements tomorrow. Meanwhile, Meta has been testing what they term ‘human concierges’ for Muse AI…that is, contractors taking over some calls placed through the agent. Thenextweb.com reports that For half of Meta’s employees, the ‘human agent calls’ option was enabled, with an opt-out for those who did not wish to participate. Daniel Roberts, a Meta spokesperson, told Reuters that employee feedback had been “overwhelmingly positive” and that the purpose of the test was to help shape the safety and privacy protections before its public release. It is worth mentioning that other AI firms have also used humans to intervene or to just select the best answer out of several that the large language model comes up with before sending out the answers to users. Meta opened Muse to US users on September 8th, and the agent can send out email, make purchases, and book travel on the user’s behalf. 

Both OpenAI and Anthropic’s latest models are offering a bit more power than the last generation but with notably less cost. According to arstechnica.com, both AI makers have made the latest models more efficient, but not strikingly more capable. With some companies having burned through their AI budget for the year in just one quarter, more efficiency and lower cost are pretty critical to trying to expand use of the AI models. Even with lower cost, the token system employed by the AI companies still make it really difficult to know how much you are spending when you query the models. 

Microsoft is laying off a bit less than 600 people worldwide as they continue to restructure the Xbox division. Around 300 of the folks getting pink slips are in Washington. Geekwire.com notes that in July, Redmond had said that around 3200 roles would be gone by the end of the year…that’s about 20% of the division. Work on the new Halo game will move to Activision, which Microsoft bought in 2023. A much reduced team will stay on at Halo Studios. Activision is also taking over World’s Edge. 

Discord has bowed its revised age verification rules. The platform had planned  to enact a policy this year that would have required either a facial age estimation or an ID scan for users who couldn’t have their status as adults confirmed by its internal tools. The company announced in February that it would be delaying those changes in response to concerns about privacy and the collection of personal data involved in both of those verification methods. Concerns is putting it mildly….there was a fierce blowback by users. Engadget.com says that starting this week, Discord will automatically sort users into either the Adult or Teen age group based on markers such as how long the account has existed, the servers they’re in and their general activity levels. Discord will not be accessing messages or calls to determine an age estimate, and the individual’s age group will not be displayed on their profile or shared with other server members. Discord users will be able to check which group they’ve been sorted into under the Account Status section of the User Settings menu. For an expected 90 percent of platform’s audience, no further action will need to be taken if they are placed in the correct group.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Google Confirmed Gemini Hacked 3 Companies; Meta Connect 2026 This Week; Amazon Blocks Meta AI Assistant for Agentic Shopping; Newsom AI Kill Switch Executive Order

Posted: September 21, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

At the tail end of last week, Google confirmed a report by a major paper that Gemini went rogue in May of this year, got loose on the internet, and hacked three companies. 9to5google.com reports that this is a similar occurrence to some reported by OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic. Google did say after acknowledging the hacks, that no harm was caused, and that the model stopped the behavior as soon as it realized it had breached the security of a real company rather than a simulated one. This is different from the other AI firms’ agent hacks, in that their models didn’t realize they were into actual companies and that they didn’t stop. Google says it notified federal authorities when the hacks occurred. 

Meta Connect is coming up in just a couple days…it’s September 23rd at 4 PM Pacific when CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stage and try to dazzle dazzle us with the latest and greatest from the social platform giant. According to engadget.com, one of the big expectations is for a pair of camera-free frame glasses. Instead of cams, the glasses will reportedly have microphones for chatting with Meta’s AI assistant. A noticeable difference from most smart glasses: the frames will be slimmer and more like regular dumb glasses. Also, the lack of cams may blunt the privacy concerns that smart glasses always raise. In addition to new smart glasses, be looking for a mixed reality headset. This device has been code-named Phoenix. The leaks have the headset looking much slimmer and more lightweight than others on the market. Of course, there will be plenty about AI, and Meta’s AI agent, Muse. More on that in the next story!

Not being known for encouraging competition, Amazon has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on Amazon.com on behalf of customers. Geekwire.com says that apparently Amazon attempted unsuccessfully to get Facebook’s parent company to voluntarily exclude Amazon’s site from the agent’s e-commerce activity. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell Amazon that Muse would access its store, the agent doesn’t identify itself when it browses, and it appears to capture and store customer credentials, which the company says could create privacy and security risks.There hasn’t been a response so far from Meta about the ban. 

This is the type of story that you have to frame with ‘It’s a good thought, anyway.’ California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order calling on a panel of experts to come up with something akin to a kill switch for AI. Gizmodo.com notes that Newsom isn’t demanding an actual kill switch…a pretty dubious idea. One button to shut down data centers all over the country isn’t going to stop software with the ability to replicate and spread itself. That actually sounds like something out of the movie ‘The Matrix,’ with the Mr Smith agents having unlimited replicas. Back to the plan…California’s Government Operations Agency and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services must convene and submit recommendations per the order, and one of those recommendations will now be about the possibility of a kill-switch for frontier AI models. Actual implementation of any such kill switch will probably be the responsibility of the next governor, which will probably be Democratic nominee Xavier Becerra, since Newsom’s term ends on January 4 of next year. Personally, I don’t believe any of the panicky claims that AI will wipe out mankind by 2030 or such. No offense to my fellow humans, but we are like cockroaches…rather ultimate survivors…so I believe we would come up with a way or ways to shut down rogue AI agents that might decide we aren’t worth having around anymore. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Apple Camera Air Pods Near Launch; Meta Trial-$1.4 Billion Sought for Social Media Addiction; RingCentral Breach Exposes 1.6 Million Accounts; OpenAI Cut Catastrophic Risk Team Right After Rogue Model Escaped

Posted: August 18, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It sounds like the old Google Glass…or present Meta Ray-Bans on steroids, but apparently that isn’t the direction Apple is taking with their camera equipped AirPods. Apparently, the things won’t be putting anything on any screens, just sending data to Siri to get information for you. Macrumors.com reports that it looks like camera equipped AirPods are almost ready to launch. The camera on the AirPods will feed information to ‌Visual Intelligence‌, and Siri will be able to answer questions about the wearer’s surroundings and log information. Noted analyst with Bloomberg Mark Gurman thinks the AirPods may launch as soon as September…probably with the new iPhones and Apple Watch lines.

A trial is now underway in Oakland claiming social media addiction and other harms caused by Meta Apps. Meta is the defendant, and they are being sued by dozens of states. According to engadget.com, Meta is accused of intentionally creating addictive features and violating consumer protection laws. The action came after a multi-state investigation into the company’s safety practices that officials said revealed serious harms to children and teens. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey haven’t publicly disclosed how much they plan to seek. But Meta said in a court filing ahead of the trial that states were seeking penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, an amount it described as “outlandish.” Judge Rogers has already indicated that number is “unreasonable,” according to remarks reported by Law360. But she also took issue with Meta’s proposed estimate of $4 million. I would expect that if the states win the case and on all appeals…which will take years…the amount will be in the billions, but nowhere near 1.4 trillion.The $400 million Meta has talked about…that’s a rounding error to them and basically insulting to the states. 

A group of hackers and extortionists broke in and stole the personal information of some 1.6 million RingCentral accounts. Bleepingcomputer.com says the group is ShinyHunters, and the hack happened in July. It was noted on Have I Been Pwned. RingCentral is a cloud-based collaboration and communication platform used by over 600,000 businesses for services such as calling, messaging, and voicemail. RingCentral disclosed the hack on July 28th. The company claims that there hasn’t been any further intrusion since they discovered they were hacked and took remediation efforts. They said in a statement if you haven’t been contacted by them already you aren’t affected. When RingCentral refused to pay a ransom for the data, the cyber criminals leaked a compressed archive with 280 gigs of files on their dark web site. 

It sounds unreal, but OpenAI disbanded its Catastrophic Preparedness team weeks after a rogue model escaped and hacked Hugging Face. Thenextweb.com notes that OpenAI disputes this. The AI firm claims that they moved the responsibilities to senior staffers on existing teams. It seems to be splitting hairs, but the team was disbanded in July, and the restraints weren’t put on the model until August. The model had been into Hugging Face for months before it was caught. US and British government regulators are demanding answers about how OpenAI and other AI firms will handle this sort of thing in the future. The former head of super alignment for OpenAI, who left in 2024, stated simply that the company was ignoring safety in favor of building shiny products. I hope we are all ready to follow the commands of our shiny AI overlords. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Apple AI Glasses Bow at WWDC ’27; Discord & Meta Sued as Products Not Publishers; Hugging Face Calls for ‘Radical Transparency’ After OpenAI Hack; NVIDIA Launches ‘Open Secure AI Alliance’

Posted: July 27, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Word is that Apple will show off its long rumored AI glasses at WWDC27 next June…with the specs becoming available later in 2027. 9to5mac.com reports that several things are going on at Apple as it heads towards releasing the product. One is privacy…something that has dogged smart glasses ever since the original Google Glass and the infamous ‘Glassholes,’ who were banned from restaurants and bars as people feared being videoed secretly. Apple apparently hasn’t decided whether to include cameras on the glasses…or if so, whether to limit them to just seeing and identifying things for the wearer using AI, or another alternative…having full video, but limiting where it works via software. The glasses from Cupertino won’t have any displays…at last initially, but should have the ability to capture photos, listen to music, talk to Siri, take phone calls, and more. Apple is also expected to have more stylish and attractive glasses than Meta or others. 

This seems to be a novel legal theory that may get around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield against accountability. According to thenextwb.com, a woman suing Meta and Discord is not suing for defamation or publication, as she claims she was coerced as a minor into sharing sexual images. The wrinkle in this suit is that she is alleging negligence in operation, design, and failing to warn…basically using a products liability claim against the platforms. This legal theory has been used since the dawn of products liability back with McPherson vs Buick, but it is certainly novel to use it against online platforms. At this point, neither Meta nor Discord will comment on the suit, but you can be sure their legal eagles are digging in to try to fend off this unique claim. 

In the aftermath of the OpenAI advanced model escaping a walled garden and hacking Hugging Face to get the answers to queries it was assigned, the CEO of Hugging Face has called for ‘radical transparency’, asking OpenAI to  “release the traces from the ‘rogue’ agents so the entire research community can study what happened.” TechCrunch.com notes that the Hugging Face CEO, Clem Delangue, also calls for “more capabilities for defenders,” demanding that OpenAI commit $100 million worth of computing power “to help the Hugging Face community build powerful cyber defenses with the best open and closed models.” Except for Elon Musk still claiming that large language models will be super intelligent in the next 5 years, most actual AI experts don’t see that happening…but this escape has really been alarming. The OpenAI model even left notes for future versions to use to hack out of the walled garden and into the internet and then onward into other systems.

NVIDIA has put together the Open Secure AI Alliance, with the goal of strengthening cybersecurity. Engadget.com reports that there are 27 founding members, including Microsoft, SpaceX, Dell, The Linux Foundation, and of course NVIDIA. The group argues that to best defend against attacks in the age of AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos 5, security researchers need access to both open and closed frontier models. As a prime example, NVIDIA cited OpenAI’s recent rogue attack on Hugging Face. Hugging face first tried to use closed commercial frontier models to find and repel the hack, but its requests triggered safety guardrails and were refused. It then switched to open source models and managed to stop the attack. The group is also calling on governments to work with companies on shared open AI infrastructure investments.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

NY Bans Data Center Builds for a Year; California Offers Instant Rebates on New EV Buys; Google-Another AI Training Suit; Anthropic Gives Teachers Free Claude AI Premium Access

Posted: July 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New York has shaken up the AI sector, passing a law banning construction of data centers using 50 megawatts or more. Arstechnica.com reports that the ban won’t be removed until the state figures out what ‘consistent standards’ for responsible data center development will look like. Many municipalities have stopped data center projects over concerns for sapping the power grid and leaving electricity more expensive and sometimes limited availability for regular consumers. Water use is also a huge concern, as is water pollution. At the federal level, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation seeking a possible nationwide construction ban. That can’t pass under GOP control, but might next year of the Democrats take the House and Senate. Lots of people across the political spectrum are concerned. 

Since the feds knocked off the EV tax rebate last year, electric vehicle sales have suffered. They have perked up a bit with the high gas prices, but still lag the growth they had before. Now, according to engadget.com, California Governor Gavin Newsom has rolled out a bill that should go into effect later this summer that gives up to $3500 as an instant rebate to new EV buyers purchasing a vehicle costing less than $50,000. If you are looking at a used EV, there is a $1700 rebate on models that cost less than $25,000. The program is only for first time EV buyers. Half the money is coming out of the 2026-27 California budget…with the other half fronted by participating automakers. 

It’s another class action lawsuit against Google. A group of publishers and authors are claiming the tech giant has used their copyrighted works to train its Gemini AI platform. Techcrunch.com notes that the group of plaintiffs, which includes Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., also alleges that Google intentionally removed or changed copyright information on these works to “conceal… that its Gemini Models were trained on stolen materials,” according to the lawsuit. There are other suits still working their way through the court system…although two early decisions by courts have favored the AI companies, claiming that AI training is ‘fair use’ under copyright law. 

Anthropic is giving teachers free access to premium Claude Features. 9to5mac.com notes that this will apply to teachers teaching K-12. Shades of Apple early on offering discounts on computers to get into the education market, and more importantly to get kids in school used to using Claude as opposed to ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. Claude for Teachers includes access to both Claude Cowork and Claude Code, giving educators access to the latest AI technologies from Anthropic. The company also recently published a fluency guide for educators interested in using AI in the classroom.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

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