Google’s Gemini 3 Flash-Pro Level Performance; Amazon in Talks to Pump $10 Billion into OpenAI; Trump Administration Wants to Break Up Climate Research Center; Bluesky Bows Privacy-Focused ‘Find Friends’ Feature

Posted: December 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Google has rolled out Gemini 3 Flash for consumers and developers. 9to5google.com reports that Google says this brings pro level performance with it. They are also claiming it will bring “frontier intelligence built for speed at a fraction of the cost.”  Google says that Gemini 3 Flash surpasses 2.5 across the board, and 3 Flash is comparable to 3 Pro, even beating it in some areas. Gemini 3 Flash will be available in the model picker as two options: “Fast” for quick answers and “Thinking” for complex problems. Gemini 3 Pro will appear as “Pro” for advanced math and code prompts. 

As tech giants continue to pump unimaginable amounts of cash into artificial intelligence. Now, Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion in OpenAI and supply its Trainium chips. According to engadget.com, this deal would push OpenAI’s valuation over $500 billion but is likely to raise more questions about the company’s circular investment agreements involving chips and data centers. The new deal would require OpenAI to use Amazon’s Trainium AI chips and rent more data center capacity from Amazon Web Services (AWS). That’s on top of the $38 billion that OpenAI has already committed to renting servers from AWS over the next seven years. As has been reported widely…and caused a lot of concern…OpenAI has thus far lost more money than it makes.

The Trump administration’s head of the Office of Management and Budget…and key author of Project 2025…Russell Vought…has moved to break up a major climate research center. Arstechnica.com says it’s the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This is what has been termed a crippling blow to climate research in the US and is being widely decried by scientists.Vought has called it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” He apparently isn’t intelligent enough about climate change to understand that we are at or near a hair on fire stage of climate change. Vought wants to further target what were termed “green new scam research activities.” It is rather amazing and terrifying that one person or a small group of people may be able to bring about the end of humanity…although they will comfortably not live long enough to see that spiral really gain speed. Good luck, humans.

Bluesky has rolled out a friend-finding feature that they say respects privacy. TechCrunch.com notes that there is a rub people may not care for: to use the feature, the app matches you with friends from your saved contacts in your phone’s address book…but only if both people have opted in. “Contact import has always been the most effective way to find people you know on a social app, but it’s also been poorly implemented or abused by platforms,” the company explained in its announcement. “Even with encryption, phone numbers have been leaked or brute-forced, sold to spammers, or used by platforms for dubious purposes. We weren’t willing to accept that risk, so we developed a fundamentally more secure approach that protects your data.” That’s great. I love Bluesky, and trust them more than other platforms…but I never have and don’t intend to willingly upload my contacts list! If you want to…have at it!

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

Next Year’s iPhone’s May Get Big Overhaul; SoftBank Sells All Its Nvidia Stock; Meta’s Top AI Scientist Leaving to Found Startup; Sony-84.2 Million PS 5s Sold

Posted: November 11, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple may be making some major changes to next year’s iPhones. At the top of the list…adding a 2nd camera to the poor-selling iPhone Air. 9to5mac.com reports that the new model may be delayed until Spring 2027 in order to redesign and add a second camera. The other big change to the line will be adding the new iPhone Fold…or whatever they end up calling it. Right now, it looks like the Fall 2026 rollout will only include the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and Fold. The base iPhone 18 may be joining the Air in a Spring rollout. 

In a big move in the AI world, SoftBank has sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion. According to cnbc.com, the company is going ‘all in’ on its stake in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. SoftBank said in a statement this wan’t a knock on Nvidia, of which they were an early backer, but that they needed some $30 billion in capital as they continue to pump money into ChatGPT and other investments. OpenAI is now showing up as worth some $500 billion…while Nvidia is a leader in the trillion dollar valuation club. 

Meta has paid astronomical amounts to steal AI experts from other companies, but now their top AI scientist is bailing…to found his own startup. Gizomodo.com notes that Yan LeCun is in talks to raise capital. Meta, like Apple, is admittedly running behind leaders like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic in the AI race. Meta has taken out some $27 billion in loans to pour into their AI race.

Sony has announced that they have now sold 84.2 million PlayStation 5s since it was introduced. Engadget.com says that they actually sold more PS5s last quarter than a year ago…3.9 million compared to 3.8 million. The company is still concerned due to the flaky tariff regime of the Trump administration and also the delay of Grand Theft Auto VI. That said, Sony now predicts they will make $29 billion in gaming revenue for the full year ending March 31, 2026. 

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

OpenAI Cuts Training Deal With Amazon; Microsoft AI Head Says Only Biological Beings Can Be Conscious; Apple Will Upgrade Siri with Google Gemini; Neural Net Finds Enzyme That Can Break Down Polyurethane

Posted: November 3, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI has made a deal for some $38 billion for AI training with Amazon. Theverge.com reports that Amazon Web Services that will give the AI giant access to “hundreds of thousands” of Nvidia GPUs to power its AI models. The seven-year partnership comes as Microsoft continues to loosen its grip on OpenAI, dropping its status as its exclusive cloud provider and losing the first right of refusal to host its AI workloads. In a press release, OpenAI said it will “immediately” start using AWS compute to train its AI models, with “all capacity targeted to be deployed before the end of 2026, and the ability to expand further into 2027 and beyond.”

The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, has come out and said what a lot of us have believed to be true….that only biological beings are capable of consciousness, and that developers and researchers should stop pursuing projects that suggest otherwise. According to CNBC.com, he told a conference in Houston,  “If you ask the wrong question, you end up with the wrong answer. I think it’s totally the wrong question.” Suleyman says it is particularly important to draw a clear contrast between AI getting smarter and more capable versus its ability to ever have human emotions. “Quite simply, we’re creating AIs that are always working in service of the human,” he said.

Apple has of late being using ChatGPT to answer more detailed queries that Siri gets, buy handing off to the large language model…but first asking you if it is ok if your prompt leaves the Apple private server system. Now, a change is afoot. 9to5mac.com picked up a report from Mark Gurman that says starting this spring, Apple will use a bulked up version of Siri, backed by Google Gemini models. Here’s the difference, though. The Gemini models will run on Apple’s private servers, giving the user much more privacy than with the old system. The new Siri setup will have three distinct components; a query planner, a knowledge search system, and a summarizer. Google Gemini models will run on Apple’s servers and provide planner and summarizer capabilities. It should be able to do much more personalized questions, like ‘What was that book Mom recommended?’ This setup is similar to what Samsung does with its Galaxy phones. Many Galaxy AI features are really Google Gemini with a light Samsung coat of paint on them.

With the continuing issues around plastic pollution, here’s a bit of a ray of sunshine…A neural network has found an enzyme that can break down polyurethane. Arstechnica.com notes that the plastic is often found in the soles of shoes…which get thrown out when worn and the plastic remains for the ages. The enzyme can break the plastic down into useable chemicals within 12 hours! The new enzyme is compatible with an industrial-style recycling process that breaks the polymer down into its basic building blocks, which can be used to form fresh polyurethane. This may help reduce the some 22 million metric tons of polyurethane that was made in just 2024! 

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

Nvidia Breaks $5 Trillion Barrier; Samsung-Ads on Smart Fridges Coming; OpenAI Finally Moves from Nonprofit; Westinghouse-New Nuke Reactors Deal for More US Electricity

Posted: October 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

https://youtu.be/q7icACPfq50

No more than a day after I reported about Apple getting into the $4 trillion valuation club, and mentioned that Nvidia was the first member of that elite group…things have changed. Cnbc.com reports that Nvidia has just pierced the $5 trillion valuation mark. The stock was up 3% Wednesday, which gets them across the line. The latest move higher comes shortly after CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects $500 billion in AI chip orders and announced plans to build seven new supercomputers for the U.S. government. The stock price, which closed up 5% in the previous session, has climbed nearly 50% year-to-date.

I am pretty happy with my ‘dumb’ fridge, and have friends and neighbors that are as well. Meanwhile, appliance makers are forging ahead with more ‘smart’ refrigerators…and now comes the inevitable…Samsung has fridges with integrated displays. If you guessed that they are going to start serving ads on the displays, you aced the test! According to macrumors.com, Family Hub refrigerators in the US are getting a widget that shows ads. Samsung is calling it a ‘pilot program,’ and says the promotions and curated advertisements will be ‘offered’ to some fridge owners. Family Hub refrigerators start at $1899, but go up to $3499. They come with 21.5 and 32 inch screens….hey, that’s bigger than my monitor I use with the computer I do these videos on! The initial ads will just be for Samsung products. The ads are opt out…but you know a lot of people won’t be able to figure out how to do that, or won’t take time to try. Oh, boy. I’ll be keeping my old, dumb fridge for a while longer!

This is a big non-newsy story. It finally happened, but the battle over it has been going on for over a year. OpenAI has finally announced that it completed its recapitalization, and is becoming a for-profit corporation. Gizmodo notes that this is in spite of one of the company’s co-founders, Elon Musk. Of course, Musk has his Grok, integrated with the X platform that is AI and definitely not non-profit! Back to OpenAI…the new structure will have 2 separate entities….the OpenAI foundation, which will remain a nonprofit and which will have partial control over OpenAI Group, which is the new ‘public benefit’ corporation. Under the new structure, OpenAI Group will be able to do things that a for-profit entity can (and a non-profit can’t), like raise more money and acquire companies. It will also get its own board of directors, which the Foundation will appoint. OpenAI Foundation will own 26% of the now for-profit OpenAI Group, valued at around $130 billion, and will continue to be granted shares of the company as it grows. Microsoft will hold a 27% stake in the for-profit arm, which is currently valued at about $135 billion. Microsoft also announced that, as a part of this shift, it will continue to hold intellectual property rights to OpenAI models and future products through 2032. The remaining 47% of the company’s stock will be held by other investors and the employees of OpenAI Group.

In an announcement that was a bit light on details, Westinghouse announced it has a deal with the Trump administration to build $80 billion worth of new nuclear reactors for power generation. Arstechnica.com reports that the government has also indicated it has finalized plans with GE Vernova and Hitachi to build the reactors. During Trump’s Japan visit, it was announced that “Japan and various Japanese companies” would invest “up to” $332 billion for energy infrastructure. This specifically mentioned Westinghouse, GE Vernova, and Hitachi. Westinghouse claims the $80 million will be enough to build out 8 reactors, but it is only enough for 5 larger sized reactors. The deal mentions some smaller modular reactors, but right now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn’t approved that type of reactor. 

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

Walmart Partners with OpenAI-Buy Right in ChatGPT; Satellites Leaking Personal Data & Secrets; CA Law-Big Fines for Deepfake Nudes and Restricts Bots Advising Kids; Windows 10 Support Ends Today-But You can Extend It

Posted: October 14, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Walmart has cut deal with OpenAi to let shoppers make faster purchases within AI chatbot ChatGPT. CNBC.com reports that Walmart said in a statement that the AI feature will be “multi-media, personalized and contextual,” adding that Walmart is “running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future.” The news release didn’t say when customers could start buying goods from Walmart using ChatGPT. Last month, OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, that allows purchases such as those from Walmart. Initially, the feature just supports single item purchases from Etsy sellers. Besides Walmart, the feature will work for Shopify soon. No details on the cost, but OpenAI has said it will charge companies a fee for transactions made using ChatGPT.

We have stories weekly of data leaks…I could report on nothing else and not even scratch the surface. Here’s a new wrinkle, though…data beamed from satellites has been grabbed by researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland…using an $800 off-the-shelf satellite receiver system! According to wired.com, the researchers found that almost half of geostationary satellite signals, including many carrying sensitive consumer, corporate, and government communications, have been left entirely vulnerable to eavesdropping. They picked up T-Moble users’ calls, airline passengers’ Wi-Fi browsing in-flight, and communication of utility companies, as well as US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications…which revealed location of personal, equipment, and facilities. It’s time for satellite using companies…and governments to tighten up and encrypt data bounced to and from satellites!

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the first-ever US last regulating companion bots in a move to protect kids. Arstechnica.com notes that the law will attempt to shield kids from companion bots and deepfake porn. California will require any companion bot platforms—including ChatGPT, Grok, Character.AI, and the like—to create and make public “protocols to identify and address users’ suicidal ideation or expressions of self-harm.” In an effort to stop kids from being cyber-bullied with deepfake nudes, the new law has vastly increased fines…up to now, they ranged from $1500 to $30,000. Now, a victim can go for up to $150,000 for a malicious violation. Not only that, any victims…including minors… can seek that level of damages. Here’s hoping other states get on board and protect children from malicious use of bots and chat apps. 

Windows 10 support officially ends today. If you have a computer that can run Windows 11, you may want to update to that for free. If you don’t like the Recall feature or have a box that won’t run 11, you can still sign up for Extended Security Updates…and you should. Engadget.com reports that first off, update the computer. Next, be using an administrator account. You will have to verify if you can upgrade to Windows 11…do so if you want and you’re done. If not, sign up for ESU by selecting Update & Security from the Settings menu. Click on ‘Enroll now.’ You will again be pestered to sign up Windows 11 of course. With the Extended Security, you have an extra year to either update to 11 or if your computer won’t run 11, replace the computer….or put Linux on it! 

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

Amazon Redesigned Echo; YouTube Settles with Trump for $24.5 Million; Newsom Signs California AI Safety Bill; Amazon Partners With FanDuel- Offers Personalized NBA Bet Tracking 

Posted: September 30, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazon has bowed new hardware today, as expected. One thing Amazon has been dinged for is sound quality, even in the so-called Echo Studio. Apple’s HomePods blow them away sonically. Well today, engadget.com reports that the upgraded Echo Studio is out…and it can handle immersive Dolby Atmos and double as a home theater speaker. It features new drivers, a new chip, and new design. The Studio has 3 full-range drivers plus an excursion woofer for maximum bass. The new chip will run Alexa+ on the Studio, and it has advanced speech and audio processing. The design is a change…no longer a large cylinder..the new Studio is a spherical shape. The blue light ring for Alexa is now on the front instead of the top. It is 40% smaller than the old model. The new studio is available for preorder today for $220, and it ships October 29th. 

Another company has caved and paid off on a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against them. According to arstechnica.com, Alphabet, parent of Google, has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle the suit. The suit was over Trump’s YouTube account being suspended after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6th. Trump will have the money contributed on his behalf to the Trust for the National Mall..which includes support for construction of his monstrous 90,000 square foot ballroom on the White House property. 

Governor Newsom has signed the first-in-the-nation AI safety bill that sets new transparency requirements on large AI companies. TechCrunch.com notes that the new law requires large AI labs – including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google DeepMind – to be transparent about safety protocols. It also ensures whistleblower protections for employees at those companies. In addition, it creates a mechanism for AI companies and the public to report potential critical safety incidents to California’s Office of Emergency Services. Companies also have to report incidents related to crimes committed without human oversight, such as cyberattacks, and deceptive behavior by a model that isn’t required under the EU AI Act. Anthropic backed the bill, while Meta and OpenAI lobbied against it. 

Amazon is partnering with FanDuel to offer personalized bet tracking and Odds View for their “NBA on Prime” streamed basketball games this season. Geekwire.com reports that offerings from Prime Sports also includes fully-customizable multi view offering, AI-driven highlights on demand, live stats, the ability to shop within the game, and more. The ability to shop within the game? Of course…it’s Amazon after all!

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

OpenAI Returns GPT-4o Over User Revolt; Amazon Same-Day Grocery Delivery-2300 Cities by Year’s End; TeaOnHer-Driver Licenses Exposed in 10 Minutes; US Secretly Tracked Diversion of Dell & Super Micro Chips to China

Posted: August 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI has had a pretty rocky rollout of its latest-greatest…or allegedly greatest, GPT-5. in fact, it has been rough enough that arstechnica.com reports that the user backlash has forced OpenAI to let users revert to GPT-4o. That AI model now appears in the model picker for all paid ChatGPT users by default (including ChatGPT Plus accounts), marking a swift reversal after thousands of users complained about losing access to their preferred models. The backlash wasn’t pretty at all, with a Reddit thread titled “GPT-5 is horrible” amassing over 2,000 comments in just days. OpenAI has now made some modifications to address the user outrage over GPT-5. Rate limits for GPT-5 Thinking mode increased from 200 to 3,000 messages per week, with additional capacity available through “GPT-5 Thinking mini” after reaching that limit. The company also added new routing options—”Auto,” “Fast,” and “Thinking”—giving users more control over which GPT-5 variant handles their queries.

Amazon has announced that it will offer same-day grocery delivery in some 2300 cities by the end of the year…that’s double what they are doing now. According to Bloomberg, users will be able to order perishables like produce, meat, seafood, dairy, and baked goods…in addition to frozen foods and household items. Same day delivery for grocery items is free for Amazon Prime subscribers on orders over $25 in most cities. For non-members, it runs $12.99 per order, no matter what the order size is. 

We recently reported on the Tea app, an app that lets women clue each other in on men they know or have dated, and tip them off to ‘red flags’ with those men. It turned out, the app was leaking the women’s information, including driver’s licenses. Well, as the old saying goes, ‘what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,’ only in this case it’s what’s bad! Techcrunch.com says the app for guys, TeaOnHer, also leaked like a sieve…with driver’s licenses found by TechCrunch within 10 minutes of being sent a link to the app in the App Store! The flaws that allowed this kind of leak have apparently been resolved now, but not before thousands of guys’ driver’s license info was exposed. Once again, I get to warn…no matter what an app might potentially do for you…DON’T upload your driver’s license or government ID to use it! With new laws in the United Kingdom, this has become a major issue, with authorities there enacting a law requiring sites to demand age verification…even Wikipedia! The Wiki is fighting it, and may even make itself unavailable in Britain over this issue if it loses in court. 

The US government has apparently put location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced AI chips considered at hight risk of illegal diversion to China. Benzinga.com reports that the trackers are hidden in server packaging from Dell and Super Micro Computer for units containing chips from NVIDIA and AMD. Some shipments of the restricted chips have resumed, after the chipmakers agreed to virtual extortion by the Trump administration of 15% of their profits on sales of the chips in China. Normally the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security oversees such operations, but this appears to also involved Homeland Security Investigations, and the FBI. Super Micro declined to comment on the issue, and Dell said it was ‘not aware’ of such trackers in its shipments. To me this has the vibe of Mad Magazine’s old ‘Spy vs. Spy’ cartoons. Will the Black Spy get the upper hand on the White Spy…or will the Lady in Gray bamboozle both of them?

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

Live Translation Coming to AirPods; Musk Rages Apple Favors OpenAI over Grok; Ford Universal EV Platform Called Game Changer; Reddit Blocks Internet Archive Over AI Scraping

Posted: August 12, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some folks have noted new images in iOS 26’s latest beta version that point to in-person Live Translation being available soon on Apple AirPods. Macrumors.com reports that a graphic shows AirPods with ‘Hello’ in several different languages, along with a suggestion that the feature will be activated with a double press. There is also a file in the beta named ‘Translate.’ Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had previously reported that Apple was working on such a feature. From what shows up the the iOS 26 beta, Live Translation will work on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4…and will be very similar to what is already offered in Apple’s Phone App, Messages App, and FaceTime. Note that existing Live Translation is linked to Apple Intelligence, so the AirPods might need to be connected to an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence. My 15 Pro Max supports Apple Intelligence, as does the 15 Pro, and all the iPhone 16 models do, too. Of course, the upcoming iPhone 17 handsets will support Apple Intelligence. It will be super handy doing Live Translate right from the AirPods at the double touch of a finger!

Elon Musk is harping again on something of a favorite target of his…Apple. Now, Musk claims that Apple is favoring OpenAI in its App Store Rankings over Grok 4, the product from his xAI. According to 9to5mac.com, Elon is accusing Apple of an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” After introduction of Grok 4, the app moved from about 60th in the App Store to 29th place last week. Today, August 12th, xAI made Grok 4 free for users worldwide…pushing it to 5th overall in the App Store ratings and to #2 in the Productivity category. That sounds like it is doing pretty well…yet ChatGPT is still at or near the top, as it has been for most of the last year. It should be noted that Apple has repeatedly featured ChatGPT in its App Store editorial content, and has partnered with OpenAI as part of the new Apple Intelligence…where it is directly integrated with Siri. Musk is mad, and threatening immediate legal action. That is quite a threat from the richest man on earth…but he’d best keep in mind that his wealth is dwarfed by the value of Apple…they are a more than worthy opponent in court, as many have found out. 

Ford is looking to its new Universal EV platform to be a serious game changer…one the will hit a holy grail of sorts for EVs…breaking the $30,000 barrier. Electrek.co says that Ford is claiming that its new midsize EV pickup will have a lower cost of ownership than the Tesla Model Y and will have more space than a Toyota RAV4. It will have a base price of $30,000…about the same as the RAV4. The midsize pickups will be built at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant. Ford will be the first vehicle maker to build prismatic LFP batteries in the US, which will not only cut costs but also free up interior space. Ford CEO Jim Farley says the new universal platform will reduce parts by 20% compared with the average vehicle. It features 25% less fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant, and….15% faster assembly time. Ford claims a “lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.”

Reddit is blocking the Internet Archive from indexing popular threads on Reddit. Why? Apparently, they have caught sneaky AI firms scraping data from the archive…data the have been restricted from scraping from Reddit itself. Arstechnica.com reports that the Internet Archive is in ongoing discussions with Reddit since the block. The AI firms who were doing the scraping haven’t been named so far. Internet Archive has not signaled whether it’s looking into fixes to get Reddit’s restrictions lifted. It could be completely over protecting users, or Reddit might be jockeying for a more lucrative licensing deal like Reddit struck with OpenAI and Google. The OpenAI deal isn’t publicly known, but the Google one is reportedly worth some $60 million. Reddit expects to make more than $200 million the next 3 years on licensing deals around AI.

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

OpenAI Hits 700 Million Weekly Users; Anthropic Cuts, Part Restores OpenAI Access to Claude; Tesla Gives $29 Million in Comp to Musk; Apple Hiring for ‘ChatGPT-like’ Search

Posted: August 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

OpenAI is looking to hit 700 million active weekly users this week for ChatGPT. CNBC.com reports that the figure is up 200 million for the 500 million actives they had just in March…and it is also 4 times the number of just a year ago. This user number includes folks using all ChatGPT AI products…free, Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Team, and Edu. OpenAI also reports having 5 million paying business users on ChatGPT, up from 3 million in June. 

Anthropic cut OpenAI access to its Claude model, after OpenAI was found to be using Anthropic’s Claude Code to assist in creating and testing OpenAI’s upcoming GPT-5, which is due to release in August. According to mashable.com, this act of plugging into Claude’s internal tools violated Anthropic’s commercial terms of service. A spokesperson for Anthropic did say that OpenAI’s access to their API would be reinstated for ‘benchmarking and safety evaluations.’ 

Even though Elon Musk’s around $56 billion payout has been tied up in the courts for a while, the board has now decided to award him a new compensation package of about $29 billion in shares. TechCrunch.com says the board released a statement citing the “ever-intensifying AI talent war and Tesla’s position at a critical inflection point” as reasons for the payout. Back to the court…this new compensation plan will be entirely voided if the Delaware Supreme Court decides to overturn a judge’s January 2024 decision to strike down Musk’s 2018 compensation package because of how it was negotiated behind the scenes. That pay package was worth around $56 billion. That’s because it is based on the 2019 Equity Incentive plan which was approved by shareholders. Musk has threatened to stop working on AI and robotics at Tesla unless he gains more control over the company. 

Apple is hiring engineers for a team to work on improving Siri, Spotlight, and Safari. Macrumors.com reports that the team has the unwieldy name Answers, Knowledge, and Information. Cupertino is looking to attract around a dozen engineers for the team to develop a ‘new ChatGPT-like search experience.’ Mark Gurman of Bloomberg notes that Apple is even apparently exploring a standalone app in addition to bulking up back end infrastructure to power future Siri, Spotlight, and Safari iterations. 

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

ChatGPT Study Mode; Tea App Security Breaches; Photoshop-Even Easier AI to Edit People & Objects in & Out of Photos; Meta Continues AI Poaching Drive

Posted: July 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

ChatGPT has bowed its new Study Mode which they claim will help give students a better understanding of complex subjects. Engadget.com reports that it is much like Learning Mode from Anthropic’s Claude, which came out in April. Study Mode uses something like the Socratic method…instead of answering a question outright, it will try to steer the user to their own solution. OpenAI says the conversations will unfold using a ‘scaffold’ structure, which means ChatGPT will slowly roll out info so as not to overwhelm the user. The feature is available to Edu users, and also to Free, Plus, Pro, and Team users. The Edu users will get it first over the next few weeks. 

A couple of major Security vulnerabilities have showed up in the Tea app…an app that is supposed to make dating safer for women. According to 9to5mac.com, the Tea app is designed to let women share ‘red flags’ for men they have dated, and the app supposedly has 4 million active users. That’s all cool, but the security breaches have exposed a database containing personal data, including selfies and images of driver’s licenses Tea uses to verify user identities. To quote the late, great Ron Popiel…’but wait, there’s more.’ Tea claims that was an old database, but the other breach affects messages through this past week. The chats just have user names, but also links and images. Over 70,000 images have been exposed….possibly many more. Unless you are dealing with the state or federal government, I’d avoid any app that wants an image of your driver’s license!

The dark side of AI is that it just keeps making it easier and easier to blur reality. Now, Adobe has launched new AI features for Photoshop that make it even more simple to convincingly add people and objects to photos or to delete them from same. The “Harmonize” feature is a step further than the Project Perfect Blend that Adobe showed last year. Theverge.com notes that when you add a new object to a photo, Harmonize will automatically adjust the color, lighting, shadows, and visual tone of the item to blend it into the main image…like a skilled Photoshop user would do manually. The automatic removal tool uses AI to ‘clean up your images with more precision,’ too. Note that Adobe says there are safeguards in place to prevent it from generating anything concerning, like deepfakes of notable public figures, violence, or sexually explicit materials. Let’s hope.

Meta’s AI recruiting binge continues, as Zuckerberg tries to scoop up more top tier talent for his Meta Superintellegence labs. Wired.com reports that over a dozen staffers at Mira Murati’s 50 person startup…Thinking Machines Lab…have been approached with big offers. Murati is the former chief tech officer at OpenAI. In a move that will make sports contracts look pale, one person was offered over a billion dollars over a multi-year period. Others have seen offers of between $200 and $500 million over 4 years! First year payouts are between $50 and $100 million! I need to use AI to convince Zuck I’m one of the top talents in the field, so I can cash in on this bonanza. Ok, kidding…but hey, Mark…if you could spare a million or two for a tech report writer, here I am!

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

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