Apple has purportedly been working on new smart home devices for years now. Rumors about a touchscreen-equipped smart home device from Apple have been circulating for years, periodically bolstered by leaked references in Apple’s software updates. But a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman indicates that Apple’s ambitions might extend…
Opinion: Theatrical testing scenarios explain why AI models produce alarming outputs—and why we fall for it. In June, headlines read like science fiction: AI models “blackmailing” engineers and “sabotaging” shutdown commands. Simulations of these events did occur in highly contrived testing scenarios designed to elicit these responses—OpenAI’s o3 model…
581 miles on a single charge is impressive, but haven’t other drives gone farther? Ars recently reviewed the Polestar 3, the large electric SUV from the performance-oriented Volvo spinoff. There is a lot to like about the big Polestar, particularly the way it drives: sharp enough to give Porsche…
Gemini will remember this, so it’s time to check your privacy settings. As Gemini is increasingly woven into the fabric of Google, the way the chatbot accesses and interacts with your data is in a constant state of flux. Today, Google is announcing several big changes to how its…
Despite the reputation, it’s better, more practical transit than you might think. America has a motorcycle problem. Whereas the rest of the world views two-wheeled motorized transportation as transportation, the US sees motorcycles and scooters as toys. They’re not something you use to commute to work or run errands.…
Dual mouse controls work surprisingly well—if you find somewhere to use them. In my decades as a video game player and reviewer, I’ve used the humble PC mouse in hundreds of games for everything from first-person aiming and third-person character movement to basic menu navigation and unit selection. In…
“The mechanism producing these problematic outcomes is really robust and hard to resolve.” It’s no secret that much of social media has become profoundly dysfunctional. Rather than bringing us together into one utopian public square and fostering a healthy exchange of ideas, these platforms too often create filter…
After unpopular GPT-5 launch, OpenAI begins restoring optional access to previous AI models. On Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that GPT-4o has returned to ChatGPT following intense user backlash over its removal during last week’s GPT-5 launch. The AI model now appears in the model picker for all…
Mercedes is debuting its next electric van at Monterey Car Week. An orange tint of smoke in the air always contributes to dramatic lighting for sunrise photos in Los Angeles. But this early in the fire season, the coloring serves as an inescapable reminder of greenhouse gas emissions and…
Sam Altman says we could soon have “high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces.” OpenAI and its cofounder Sam Altman are preparing to back a company that will compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink by connecting human brains with computers, heightening the rivalry between the two billionaire entrepreneurs. The new venture, called Merge Labs,…
