technology
OpenAI plans to release its next big AI model by December
/ The startup’s next flagship model, codenamed Orion, is slated to arrive around the two-year anniversary of ChatGPT. *:last-child>*:last-child]:mb-0″> Do you work at OpenAI? I’d love to chat. You can reach me securely on Signal @kylie.01 or via email at kylie@theverge.com. Orion has been teased by an OpenAI executive as potentially up to 100 times more powerful than GPT-4; it’s separate from the o1 reasoning model OpenAI released in September. The company’s goal is to combine its LLMs over time to create an even more capable model that could eventually be called artificial general intelligence, or AGI. It was previously reported that OpenAI was using o1, code named Strawberry, to provide synthetic data to train Orion. In September, OpenAI researchers threw a happy hour to celebrate ...
Air taxi maker Lilium is out of money and will cease operations
/ The German electric VTOL aircraft maker is going insolvent. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Lilium’s Jet eVTOL.
The 13-inch MacBook Air M2 is a great value at its current sale price of $699
/ The M3 MacBook Air is also on sale, and we’re seeing the best prices to date on Google’s Pixel Tablet and Anker’s UFO-shaped MagSafe charger. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple might be updating several Macs with M4 chips as early as next week, but it’s looking like the MacBook Air lineup might not join the party until early 2025. That said, if you’re on an older MacBook and can’t wait to upgrade, there have been few better times than now. The base 13-inch M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage has fallen to an all-time low of $...
Automatic emergency braking is getting better at preventing crashes
/ AAA compared older and newer models to see how automatic emergency braking is progressing. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images Automatic emergency braking (AEB) isn’t perfect, but the technology is improving, according to a recent study conducted by AAA. The research comes on the heels of a new federal rule requiring all vehicles to have the most robust version of AEB by 2029. AAA wanted to see how newer vehicles with AEB fared compared to older models with the technology. AEB uses forward-facing cameras and other sensors to automatica...
Roblox is making changes for pre-teen users after reports that it failed to protect children
/ Roblox’s also adding a new type of account that will let parents manage their kids on the platform. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration: The Verge Roblox is making some potentially major changes that will limit what pre-teens can access and give parents more control over what their kids do on the platform, according to an email sent by the company and shared with The Verge. The changes follow recent reports highlighting how Roblox has failed to protect children. In July, for example, Bloomberg published a big report about predators on the platform. Turkey blocked access...
Character.AI and Google sued after chatbot-obsessed teen’s death
/ A lawsuit claims that Character.AI’s founders launched a dangerous product that it advertised as safe for use by kids without warning them or their parents of possible risks. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images A lawsuit has been filed against Character.AI, its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google in the wake of a teenager’s death, alleging wrongful death, negligence, deceptive trade practices, and product liability. Filed by the teen’s mother, Megan Garcia, it claims the platform for custom AI cha...
Guess who’s suing the FTC to stop click to cancel
/ Groups representing telecom companies, home security companies, and internet advertisers don’t want to make subscriptions easier to cancel. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Three industry groups are suing to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing its new “Click to Cancel” rule that requires companies to make it easy to cancel subscriptions, according to Reuters. And yes, it’s exactly who you’d expect. Click to cancel expands the Negative Option Rule to forbid businesses from making customers cancel services using a meth...
The smartphone-like Boox Palma ebook reader hits a record low price
Deals/ Tech / There’s a new version on the way, but you can save $34 on the original and start reading immediately from any app or source you want. a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Boox Kindles and Kobos are relatively comfortable to use, but if those are too big and restrictive, the smartphone-like Boox Palma is a fantastic alternative that’s grown on us considerably. A new model is on its way, but if you don’t need the smoother performance it promises, ...
Trying to reverse climate change won’t save us, scientists warn
/ Counting on new technologies to cool down the planet comes at a cost. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo: Getty Images Tech companies think they can reverse climate change with fancy new tools to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But new research throws cold water on the idea that cooling the planet after it has already heated beyond a key turning point can avoid serious damage. Much of the toll climate change takes — from rising seas to lost homes — can’t be undone, recent research published in the journal Nature warns. That makes it all the more urgent fo...
The Boox Palma 2 has a faster processor and adds a fingerprint reader
/ The smartphone-sized e-reader will also ship with Android 13. a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Boox Boox has announced the Palma 2, the next version of its popular smartphone-sized e-reader. The Palma 2 addresses some of the original’s shortcomings, with a faster processor to address the original’s laggy interface and by running a newer version of Android. The new Boox Palma 2 is available for preorder today in ivory white or deep cyan black for $279.99...
Kevin Bacon, Kate McKinnon, and other creatives warn of ‘unjust’ AI threat
/ A statement signed by 11,500 creatives including authors, musicians, and actors, criticizes the ‘unlicensed use of creative works’ to train AI. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration by Haein Jeong / The Verge Thousands of creatives, including famous actors like Kevin Bacon and Kate McKinnon, along with other actors, authors, and musicians, have signed a statement warning that the unpermitted use of copyrighted materials to train AI models threatens the people who made those creative works. 11,500 names are on the list of signatories so far. Here is the one-sentence statem...
A satellite made by Boeing just fell apart in space
/ The US Space Force is tracking 20 pieces of debris from the Intelsat 33e. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>This Ariane 5 rocket carried Intelsat 33e and Intelsat 36 into space in 2016.
