Artificial intelligence is more a part of our lives than ever before. While some might call it hype and compare it to NFTs or 3D TVs, generative AI is causing a sea change in nearly every part of the technology industry. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still the best-known AI chatbot around, but with Google pushing Gemini, Microsoft building Copilot, and Apple adding its Intelligence to Siri, AI is probably going to be in the spotlight for a very long time. At The Verge, we’re exploring what might be possible with AI — and a lot of the bad stuff AI does, too.
The Federal Trade Commission launched a new website for consumers to report alleged failures to comply with the Take It Down Act, which went into full force today. Critics fear the law will be used to censor online speech, but the website also has resources for domestic violence survivors.
Karpathy, who had also been on the founding team of OpenAI, says he will be working on R&D at Anthropic. Previously, he had been working on “new kind of school that is AI native,” and he says he’s still “deeply passionate about education” and plans to go back to it “in time.”
After launching the Verified by Spotify badge for musicians a few weeks ago, the service now has a sticker for podcasters who actually exist in real life, as AI-generated podslop floods RSS feeds.
It’s also “reaffirming” its unauthorized impersonation policy, saying it will remove podcasts that copy someone else’s likeness without permission, whether through AI cloning or any other method.
The Take It Down Act is in full force, but it could be a gift to government censors — not victims of image-based sexual abuse.
That sparkle icon is showing up everywhere these days.
After launching for iPhone last year, Firefox users on Android can now shake their device on any webpage under 5,000 words to get an AI-generated summary of its contents. You can disable the feature entirely, or select “Summarize Page” under “More” in the three-dot menu if you prefer tapping.
At Bloomberg, Mark Gurman has more AI-related rumors ahead of WWDC, saying that, along with a reworked version of Siri, Apple plans to build Grammarly-like grammar checking and suggestions into the next iPhone and iPad updates (hopefully, without using our AI slopplegangers for an “expert review”).
Other changes include a Shortcuts upgrade that builds automations based on whatever requests you describe, and an AI wallpaper generator similar to what Samsung and Google already offer.
Public opinion of the AI industry is already sinking. A parade of untrustworthy executives makes it look worse.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced the Energy Cost Fairness and Reliability Act, which would put new requirements on “energy-intensive facilities,” in an effort to lower the strain on the energy grid. It doesn’t yet have co-sponsors, but hits on an issue that’s become central to many communities and elections.
That was quick (about two hours).
I assume because he was recording, since the marshal said, “Give me your phone.” There have been several incidents of people attempting to record or take pictures throughout the trial — but I honestly am not sure why you’d record today of all days.
Unfortunately he does not have a lot of details YGR is asking for. He doesn’t know how many investments Musk has made (11 to date, according to Pitchbook), or how many were successful. He’s getting some pretty tough questioning from YGR in the direct exam. Among the things she’d asked, he didn’t know how many startups fail in Silicon Valley, or the success rate for assorted VC firms.
Last week we saw clips of a Cybertruck being rescued on a California beach by a minivan. It’s a funny situation that begs for immediate coverage — like this, from The Drive. But both The Drive and the cited YouTube video hedged that it could be fake. So we also became skeptical and looked for potential AI shenanigans, after examining the license plate on the Cybertruck in the video. I asked the California DMV for comment, and it just got back to us confirming that “the vehicle plate and registration are valid for the plate number you provided.” So, at least it seems like it’s a real car.
AI promises to make lives easier, but for those in the business of truth, it’s making verification more expensive.
During an interview for his new animated film Tangles, at Cannes, Rogen minced no words about his feelings on AI, calling it “stupid dog shit.” But perhaps more pointedly said that, if you’re using AI to write, just “go do something else,” because you’re not a writer.
There are leaderboards for burning AI tokens, but now there are literal receipts. Sascha Corti, an engineer at Microsoft, just shared the implementation — from code designed by Chris Hutchinson (of course, with the help of Claude). Is it cute? Yes. Is it cursed? Also yes.
Replit CEO Amjad Masad announced on Friday that the app got its first iOS update in four months. In March, Apple reportedly blocked Replit and other vibe coding apps from publishing App Store updates unless they made changes, potentially including moving generated app previews to web browsers.
NFL teams doing schedule release videos has become a little tradition — and while the Cardinals are getting ruthlessly dunked on for doing AI slop, the Packers are making it clear theirs was all hand-made. (An increasing trend in advertising overall.) Anyway, disclosure: I am from Wisconsin, and the Bears still suck.
Personalized health is the holy grail, but there’s a long way to go before algorithms can factor in chronic conditions.
Researchers at the security firm Calif say they used Anthropic’s cybersecurity AI to create a privilege escalation exploit, the Wall Street Journal reports:
Last September, Apple said it leveraged its hardware and operating system expertise into a technology called Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), which it described as “the culmination of an unprecedented design and engineering effort, spanning half a decade.” With Claude, building the code that exploited the two MacOS bugs took five days, Calif says.
Journal editors and peer reviewers are being flooded with AI-generated papers that are almost impossible to detect.
That’s according to Amazon’s President and CEO Andy Jassy — a cold, yet unsuprising take from the man who’s planning to replace 600,000 employees with robots by 2033. In this Bloomberg article, you can read more about how he’s overhauling Amazon to go all-in on AI.
The musician, producer, and long-time Taylor Swift collaborator described people who use generative AI tools as “Godless whores” in a rant on Instagram:
“To everyone who is gassed up about the new ways you can fake making art, by all means drive right off that cliff. We’re genuinely happy to see you go.”
As part of a new release, “your ChatGPT subscription can now power an OpenClaw agent that feels much closer to the model it is built on,” OpenAI’s Nik Pash says in a blog post.
The OpenClaw team has also been working “really hard on performance, reliability, security, and stability,” according to OpenClaw founder (and OpenAI employee) Peter Steinberger.
This investigation by the Florida Trib and the podcast Question Everything is a sobering read about the state of local news right now and how AI is being used to fill the void with sketchy junk.
[The Florida Trib]
The trial felt less like the fate of OpenAI and more like a window into petty grievances.
God bless. We are in the Microsoft closing statements. “Microsoft never found a single page of a single document” that referenced Musk’s alleged restrictions on his donations during the due diligence process.
