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Customers' photos and documents stored online will no longer be protected by end-to-end encryption.

The SEC's 2023 lawsuit formed part of a crackdown on crypto firms which President Trump pledged to reverse.

Analysts say the Alibaba founder's re-emergence could signal a policy change in Beijing.

It found they were easily able to bypass age checks on apps, which face being banned for under-16s.

The lead researcher has told the BBC he was so astounded he assumed his computer had been hacked.

Apple is hoping its latest, lower cost iPhone model will boost sales of its flagship device.

It says a new chip it has created could end up being as important a breakthrough as the semiconductor.

Despite 'incredible' progress AI tools still aren't up to the level of even a junior lawyer, research suggests.

South Korea's data protection regulator says user data was sent to the Chinese owner of TikTok.

Javier Milei says he was acting in "good faith" when he posted about a crypto currency which collapsed.

Bigger, longer, better? Why the race to pack more hours into video games might be slowing.

It is the latest move from Meta to invest more in global connectivity rather than its apps.

Elon Musk's goal might be hindering the growth potential of the AI firm of his rival Sam Altman, experts say.

They say the US should re-evaluate its cyber-security partnership with the UK unless the "dangerous" request is withdrawn.

Google is allowing advertisers to collect more personal information, which is harder for users to control.

Some have accused Javier Milei of performing a "rug pull" after he promoted a virtual coin on social media.

App stores in South Korea have removed DeepSeek over concerns about how it manages users' data.

TikTok is again available on app stores in the US after President Donald Trump delayed a ban on the app.

It controversially updated the Gulf's name for US users after President Trump ordered it to be changed.

The French president posted a montage of parodies featuring himself to promote an AI Summit in Paris.

Many people are turning to so-called "sideloading" because the app is unavailable on official stores.

Eric Schmidt says AI technology could "harm innocent people" if it ends up in the wrong hands.

The chief technology officer of Hill Dickinson warned of the use of AI tools.

The world's richest man took questions for the first time since he was appointed to lead a sweeping government cost-cutting effort.

It follows a warning from US Vice-President JD Vance that excessive regulation could "kill a transformative industry."

The BBC's head of news and current affairs says the developers of the tools are "playing with fire."

The parents of four British teenagers are suing the social media firm over the deaths of their children.

Musk's attorney confirmed he had submitted the bid for "all assets" of the company on Monday.

Fu Ying also expressed regret about the impact of US-China tensions on the progress of AI safety.

Plans are underway for humans to live and work in underwater habitats for long durations

Could AI help people with speech loss talk by interpreting signals in their brain ?

The Gulf of Mexico has been renamed the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US. BBC Verify explains why Google made the change.

How one company is trying to bring extinct animals like the dodo back to life

The mystery of the security and privacy apps disappearing from app stores in India.

Quantum computers will be able to crack existing encryption and threaten critical infrastructure.

India is the world's biggest exporter of human hair but it wants more of the lucrative wig market.

Kindness influencers give away money and gifts but not everyone supports their work.

Many staff are using AI at work without the permission of their employers.

Many companies have left X but it's not always a simple decision.

The founders of important open source software are getting older, who will take over?

Should more AI be used to help GPs with consultations and administrative work?

Pharmaceutical firms are turning to AI to find new molecules that might be able to tackle disease.

Educational website reviews

Sudoku is a logic-based number puzzle that does not involve arithmetic. Although first published in an American puzzle magazine in 1979, Sudoku gained popularity in Japan in 1986 before becoming an international craze in 2005. The goal is to enter […]

Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) was first observed in 1868 to honor the soldiers of the Civil War. Its origins can be traced back to General John A. Logan who proclaimed: “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated […]

The history of American Mother’s Day can be traced to 1870 when Julia Ward Howe (author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic) called upon mothers to put an end to war. But it wasn’t until 1912 that West Virginia […]

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) is one of the greatest composers in history. His work marked a turning point for composers, who had previously written primarily for religious services, to teach, or to entertain at social functions. But Beethoven’s […]

“April showers bring May flowers.” Perhaps this is why May is National Flower Month. Indulge your green thumb with this week’s website picks about flowers.

The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.

Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs are just around the corner, with the first releases — the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 — dropping on January 30th. The RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 will follow that with their own releases in February, but some are already getting a sneak peek at the software benefits of the […]

Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs are just around the corner, with the first releases — the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 — dropping on January 30th. The RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 will follow that with their own releases in February, but some are already getting a sneak peek at the software benefits of the GPUs through DLSS 4. Tom Warren’s Verge review of the $1,999 RTX 5090 indicates it’s expectedly a powerhouse but not quite the generational leap that the RTX 4090 was over its own predecessor. That didn’t stop The Verge’s Sean Hollister from being impressed with the two-slot RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU when he stuffed it into his aging small form factor PC. Along with the 50-series GPUs comes DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, a software trick that may be just as big of a story as the hardware itself. This latest version of DLSS uses AI to predictively generate frames, making it possible to run games at higher resolutions without taking the same frame rate hit they would without DLSS 4 turned on. Gamers who are already trying DLSS 4 out in Cyberpunk 2077 using RTX 40-series GPUs report seeing huge improvements already. We’ll be keeping up with all the news about Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs right here at The Verge. Nvidia confirms ‘rare’ RTX 5090 and 5070 Ti manufacturing issue Do us a favor and check your Nvidia RTX 5090 for missing render units? Nvidia releases new drivers along with the RTX 5070 Ti launch and fixes a weird bug. Nvidia is launching ‘priority access’ to help fans buy RTX 5080 and 5090 FE GPUs Hope you weren’t planning to play PhysX games on Nvidia’s new 50-series GPUs Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti review: a cheaper RTX 4080 Nvidia delays the RTX 5070 till after AMD’s reveal Nvidia RTX 50-series laptop preorders start February 25th. Nvidia’s RTX 5090 power connectors are melting I plugged an Nvidia RTX 5090 into a gaming handheld Maybe Nvidia should have waited to ‘launch’ RTX 5090 and 5080? Nvidia says its new GPUs are the fastest for DeepSeek AI, which kind of misses the point Nvidia’s RTX 5090 is out of stock because it was barely in stock Here’s where you can try to buy an Nvidia RTX 5080 or 5090 Nvidia’s latest AI trick made our mediocre webcam mic sound practically professional YouTube is giving the RTX 5080 so much side-eye. Nvidia’s latest GPU driver lets you activate DLSS 4 in games and apps Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review: big expectations, small gains Nvidia warns that the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 might quickly run out of stock Gamers are already using Nvidia’s DLSS 4 tech in Cyberpunk 2077 I fit the world’s most powerful graphics card in my aging miniature SFF PC Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review: a new king of 4K is here Nvidia’s triple-fan GPU cooler was one step along the way to a slimmer RTX 5090 The RTX 5090 might be in short supply. A first look at Nvidia’s flagship RTX 5090 compared to the RTX 4090 Up close with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 FE, an incredibly compact flagship video card We finally played with an RTX 5090. Can Nvidia’s RTX 5070 really deliver RTX 4090 performance for $549? Want an RTX 5090 for your small form factor PC? Nvidia’s China-only RTX 5090D slashes AI performance. Nvidia announces DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation Nvidia announces next-gen RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs Nvidia’s RTX 5090 leaks with 32GB of GDDR7 memory Nvidia’s new app might launch with the RTX 50-series.

It’s true: Nvidia has just confirmed it shipped some RTX 5090, RTX 5090D, and even some RTX 5070 Ti graphics chips that were missing render units, as TechPowerUp originally reported — and that you’ll be able to get a replacement if your card was affected. Nvidia GeForce global PR director Ben Berraondo tells The Verge: […]

It’s true: Nvidia has just confirmed it shipped some RTX 5090, RTX 5090D, and even some RTX 5070 Ti graphics chips that were missing render units, as TechPowerUp originally reported — and that you’ll be able to get a replacement if your card was affected. Nvidia GeForce global PR director Ben Berraondo tells The Verge: We have identified a rare issue affecting less than 0.5% (half a percent) of GeForce RTX 5090 / 5090D and 5070 Ti GPUs which have one fewer ROP than specified. The average graphical performance impact is 4%, with no impact on AI and Compute workloads. Affected consumers can contact the board manufacturer for a replacement. The production anomaly has been corrected. In the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t sound like a lot of affected GPUs, particularly because there weren’t a lot of 5090s on shelves to begin with, nor was it a huge hit to performance — as those who discovered the missing render units can already attest. But it is the latest in a line of annoyances with Nvidia’s latest pricy cards, including launch driver issues (including some ongoing black screen issues that Nvidia is still investigating) and some melting power connectors. While limited, the manufacturing issue affected multiple Nvidia graphics card partners: reports came in of Zotac, MSI, Gigabyte, Manli, and even an Nvidia Founders Edition card with missing ROPs. You can use GPU-Z to check your card and see if it’s showing the proper number of 176 ROPs; if fewer, you should probably get it replaced.

Following some apparent outages on Thursday, Reddit dealt with more issues Friday evening that lasted for around two hours. Initially, when I logged in on my desktop browser during Friday’s outage, Reddit wouldn’t load at all — I would just run into error pages. In an incognito window, the site loaded, though it seemed to […]

Following some apparent outages on Thursday, Reddit dealt with more issues Friday evening that lasted for around two hours. Initially, when I logged in on my desktop browser during Friday’s outage, Reddit wouldn’t load at all — I would just run into error pages. In an incognito window, the site loaded, though it seemed to load slower than usual. I was also able to load the site on mobile Safari while logged out and after I logged in. Reddit’s status page said in a 7:58PM ET message that “We’re experiencing an elevated level of errors and are currently looking into the issue.” In an 8:40PM ET message, Reddit said that “The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented,” and at 9:47PM ET, the company said that “This incident has been resolved.” Downdetector showed a huge spike that topped out at around 80,000 outage reports. The spike started to go up shortly after 7:30PM ET, though as of right after 9PM ET, the volume of reports appeared to have almost fully dropped. The company didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Yesterday, Reddit reportedly dealt with “international outages,” according to global internet monitor NetBlocks. I personally didn’t run into any issues during those outages. Update, February 21st: Reddit says the incident has been resolved.

Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well without complaining (much). As prices have dropped, these busy little bots have become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. They can reach places most standup vacs never see (under beds and sofas) and, thanks to better batteries and robot brains, they […]

Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well without complaining (much). As prices have dropped, these busy little bots have become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. They can reach places most standup vacs never see (under beds and sofas) and, thanks to better batteries and robot brains, they rarely get tired of cleaning. Best robot vacuum overall Best Roomba robot vacuum Best robot vacuum / mop hybrid Best midrange robot vacuum / mop hybrid Best mopping robot Best mopping robot with a plumbing hookup Best robot vacuum for pet hair Best robot vacuum for small spaces Other robot vacuums I tested What’s coming next How I test robot vacuums Robot vacuum cleaner FAQs I’ve been testing robot vacuums for seven years and have run over 60 robot vacuums all over my house. These are my top picks if you’re looking for the best: a robot vacuum that can do it all without getting stuck and with limited intervention from you. I’ve also got options to fit specific needs, such as mopping, tackling small spaces, or besting pet hair. Check out my budget robot vacuum guide if you want to spend under $500 on a robot vacuum. Here, we’re going to look at the premium options. While there’s been a lot of innovation in robot vacuums in recent years, we’re still far from that Rosey the Robot dream of a robot that can handle all the household chores (or stairs). But they’ve got floors down. Today, there are robots that can mop well, charging docks that empty the bin for you, and “hands-free” models that can refill their water tanks and wash their mops so you don’t have to. The biggest improvements, however, are in mapping and obstacle avoidance, two crucial skills that mean most robot vacuums today can avoid getting tripped up by your shoes and will get the job done. Despite all these innovations, there still isn’t one robot that excels at both mopping and vacuuming. For most people, the vacuum is the thing to focus on; I consider mopping a bonus feature. I prefer a powerful vacuum for my main rooms and one that excels at mopping for rooms like the bathroom or kitchen. The good news is that robovacs are constantly on sale; I wouldn’t pay the list price unless you want the latest model. The general range is around $500 for a standalone vacuum with good features and between $1,000 and $1,800 for an all-singing, all-dancing bot that can largely take care of itself and use AI to avoid common household clutter in its quest to clean your floors. There are many options, and whether you have a 3,000-square-foot home and three shaggy dogs or a small, stylish apartment you share with a goldfish, there’s a robot vacuum to suit your needs. Superior cleaning power It’s not all about suction. In my testing, the brush is the big factor in how well a robot will clean your floors. A large rubber roller brush is much better than a small bristle brush at picking up debris. It’s also less prone to getting tangled up with hair. Two brushes are better than one, and a brush housing that has some flexibility — and can move with the contours of the floor — is also more effective. Mopping prowess It’s hard to find a robot vac that doesn’t have some form of mopping, but not all mops are created equal. I looked for mopping bots that could get up dried-on stains, like milk and ketchup, and scrub up small wet spills without messing themselves up. Oscillating, spinning, or vibrating mop pads clean better than bots that just drag a wet rag around, but the new self-cleaning roller mops that are beginning to appear are even more effective. Auto-carpet sensing is also important since it prevents the robot from accidentally mopping your rug. A big bin … A big bin means you don’t need to empty it as often. The largest I’ve seen is 800ml, but anything over 500ml is decent. With many bots now pulling double duty as mopping robots, plus the popularity of self-empty dock / charging bases, it’s getting harder to find small robot vacs with big bins. But they’re worth considering — especially if you have carpets and pets. I love self-empty docks, but sometimes you don’t have space for them, and if you like your robot to be out of sight (living under your bed or sofa), you’ll want a big bin and no dock. … Or a self-empty dock These are becoming standard now and coming down in price (thankfully). A self-empty dock turns the charging base for your robot into a motorized emptying station that sucks out the dirt from its bin. (Warning: this process is loud!) This saves you from having to pull out the bin after every few runs and empty it yourself. Instead, you’ll have to replace the bag (and buy new ones) when it gets full, generally about once a month. Many robots now have a self-empty dock option you can add later, although buying them together is generally cheaper. AI-powered obstacle avoidance Another nice-to-have feature, AI-powered obstacle avoidance helps your robot “intelligently” avoid clutter (and a potential poop apocalypse if it encounters pet waste). These models use cameras (worth noting) to see objects in their path and onboard processors to “decide” how to approach them based on what they see. All AI is not created equal, however, and some are much better at this than others, but the end result is robot vacuums with AI avoidance are less likely to get stuck when cleaning, so you’re more likely to come home to a clean floor rather than a beached bot. Reliable mapping A robot that maps your house will get into every nook and cranny better than one that bumps and rolls around. Mapping also lets you send the robot to clean specific rooms rather than the whole space and add virtual walls to prevent your bot from going where you don’t want it to. These are crucial if you have delicate objects or areas in your home that regularly trap robots. Most robots use variations on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology such as lidar or VSLAM. Easy-to-use app and voice control A good app has easy controls to stop and start your vacuum, scheduling options (including do-not disturb hours), plus good mapping features. Nice-to-have features are room-specific cleaning and settings (so you can tell your vacuum to clean the kitchen or have it mop and vacuum the kitchen but only vacuum the living room). My biggest frustration with apps is maps that are fiddly to update and / or crash and must be rebuilt constantly. Most vacuums now have voice control (see FAQs), but some offer more in-depth control, such as telling Alexa to have the robot clean twice under the dining room table. Good battery life Nearly all robot vacuums can “recharge and resume” — take themselves back to their dock when they’re low and recharge before picking up where they left off, but a vacuum with at least 120 minutes of runtime (180 is ideal) will clean the whole house in one go. If it takes too long, noisy robots that are constantly running will get shut off by annoyed family members who aren’t about to clean the room for you. Repairability Robot vacuums are quite an investment, and it’s important to be able to buy replacement parts to keep them going for longer and have access to good support in case your robot has a serious issue. Best robot vacuum overall Dustbin capacity: 270ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 20mm / Mop washing: Hot water and heated air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: 10,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Dual rubber / Works with: Matter, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts Roborock’s S8 MaxV Ultra ($1,799.99) is an exceptional vacuum cleaner and a very good mop thanks to several innovations and quality-of-life features that make it a superb floor cleaner. Its dual rubber roller brushes and 10,000Pa suction make it the best robot vacuum for carpets; its mopping chops make it great for hard floors, too, and its improved AI-powered obstacle avoidance means it will mostly get the job done. The S8 MaxV Ultra is also the best model in the relatively new category of “hands-free” robot vacs, bots that do virtually everything for you: empty their bins, refill their mop tanks, and clean and dry their mop pads. Roborock invented this category with the S7 MaxV Ultra and has been steadily improving it. With the S8 MaxV Ultra, the company has produced the best top-of-the-line robot vacuum. If you are willing to spend the cash, this machine will keep your floors clean with relatively little intervention from you. The big selling point here is the virtually hands-free cleaning experience. Just fill the S8 MaxV Ultra’s clean water tank and empty its dirty water once a week, then change out the dust bag every couple of months. The robot will take care of the rest. For $100 more, you can dispense with dealing with the water tanks entirely and buy the Refill & Drainage System model. This lets you plumb the charging base directly into your home’s water supply. I’ve not tested this on the Roborock, but my experience with the SwitchBot S10 with the same feature (see below) leads me to recommend this option if it’s available to you. However, you’ll need a power supply near your water hookups, whereas the SwitchBot’s refill station is battery-powered. The S8 MaxV Ultra is the best robot vacuum for carpets The S8 MaxV Ultra comes with the brand’s best AI-powered obstacle avoidance, finally bringing back the camera it last had on the excellent S7 MaxV Ultra. It’s not quite as good as Roomba’s obstacle avoidance — it sometimes confused a pile of Cheerios for a charging cable and avoided them — but it’s much better than the Roborocks that rely on non-camera obstacle avoidance. It deftly navigates around most household clutter, allowing you to get the job done without having to tidy up. Roborock has caught up to Roomba regarding cleaning prowess, and the S8 MaxV Ultra’s dual rubber brushes and 10,000Pa of suction power tackled the pet hair on my fluffy carpet and demolished my oatmeal test. It also did a better job at mopping than Roomba’s mopping bots. Its sonic mopping system — which vibrates its mop pad 4,000 times a minute — ably simulated scrubbing and wiped out my OJ and ketchup tests, though I did have to set it to deep scrub. Plus, the addition of a side mop and flexi-arm brush that extends from the bot helped with cleaning edges and corners. Other pros of the S8 MaxV Ultra include Roborock’s mobile app, which is easy to use and comes with a laundry list of features and customizations that give you ample control over your cleaning. The S8 MaxV Ultra is also the first Roborock with a built-in voice assistant, which makes getting the bot to clean the mess your kid made after dinner as easy as saying, “Rocky, clean here.” Plus, as one of only a couple of vacs with Matter certification, it will work with all the major smart home platforms, including Apple Home, once the platforms support robot vacuums (see the FAQ section for more). The biggest downside is the price. For $1,800, you’ve got to really want to get those corners clean and really dislike having to mess with mop pads. My previous top pick — the Roomba j7 — is still a great robot vacuum, especially if you’re not interested in mopping and would rather spend under $800. Roborock also sells the S8 Max Ultra (no V) for $1,599.99. It has the same cleaning hardware as the MaxV but no camera, so its obstacle avoidance will not be as good. However, you also don’t have to worry about a camera in your house. It has a lower 8,000Pa of suction and lacks a voice assistant, too, which makes it seem overpriced since it’s currently available for only a couple hundred dollars less than the MaxV. While there are better options if you want a bot that’s more of a mop, the S8 MaxV Ultra is the best at both. It can also do both in one run, as it can lift its mop 20mm, which will clear all but the highest-pile rugs. (If you have a lot of those, go for the Dreame X40 with its automatic mop removal.) Read my Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra review. Best Roomba robot vacuum Dustbin capacity: 300 ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, up and over / Mop washing: No / Mapping: Yes, vSLAM / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: N/A / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Dual rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts I’m a big fan of Roombas for three main reasons: their dual rubber roller brushes rotate in opposite directions to effectively dig up dirt from carpets, their AI obstacle avoidance is by far the best, and they have a history of being easy to repair. Their auto-empty docks are some of the best-looking, too, and I like Roomba’s vSLAM mapping, which takes longer than lidar mapping but is more reliable. The Roomba app has never lost my maps, which happens frequently with lidar bots. However, Roombas are falling behind the competition in features and cleaning prowess, especially regarding mopping. And while they’re no longer the most expensive robot vacs you can buy, they are costly. As much as I appreciate the simplicity of the iRobot app, some may prefer the deep customization options other brands offer. The current top-of-the-line Roomba, the j9 Combo Plus, is my top pick for a Roomba, as it features a well-designed dock and can refill its own mop tank. Like the j7 Combo, the j9 has a retractable mopping pad it can lift up and over the robot to avoid getting your carpets damp and has higher suction power than previous Roombas. There’s also a nifty dirt-detect feature, which “remembers” which rooms are dirtiest and seeks them out first. The j9 is the quietest Roomba I’ve tested and offers three suction levels for an even quieter clean, something most other Roombas don’t have. However, the mopping still feels like an afterthought. The SmartScrub feature that tells the robot to wiggle its butt to scrub your floors works surprisingly well, but the mopping pad is too small to clean your floors effectively, and you still have to clean the mop manually. Most every other robot with a mop and dock will wash and dry it for you. If you’re not interested in mopping, the j7 is still a great robot (see below for more). I did run into a few issues with connectivity, with the j9 going offline for no apparent reason. It also regularly struggled to dock itself correctly, so I’d often find it dead when it was time to clean. These are all issues that should be resolved via software updates, and overall, the j9 Combo Plus is iRobot’s most advanced floor-cleaning machine. It looks good, vacuums well, and mops acceptably, but you will need to get your hands dirty to deal with its little mop pad. Best robot vacuum / mop hybrid Dustbin capacity: 300ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 20mm / Mop washing: Hot water, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: 12,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts The Dreame X40 is the best robot vacuum / mop hybrid because it can drop its mop pads automatically, extend them, and swing them to get under your cabinets and consoles. I watched the X40 spread its mops wide apart and swing behind my TV console, allowing it to access the dust wedged a good inch under it. That’s impressive. The X40 also features an extending side brush arm to reach corners — like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra — and its dual oscillating mop pads are more effective than Roborock’s thin microfiber pad. If you have a mix of carpeted rooms and hardwood floors with high-pile rugs, the Dreame is the best robot vacuum for you. Its signature feature is its ability to automatically remove and reattach its mop pads depending on whether it’s vacuuming or mopping. This solves the problem of how to vacuum and mop without getting your rugs wet. The robot will do this procedure multiple times during cleaning to ensure carpets are vacuumed and floors are mopped. Genius. While it’s a superb mopper, its vacuuming prowess is slightly behind the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra because, despite its 12,000Pa suction power, it still only has a single roller rubber brush. The Roborock’s dual rollers are simply better at getting dirt out of carpets and tackling pet hair. Roborock’s app is also more stable and easier to use than Dreame’s, which often crashes and can take a while to load. While the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is my top pick overall, the Dreame X40 is a very good vacuum, and the two companies are neck and neck regarding innovative features. If you have a mix of carpeted rooms and hardwood floors with high-pile rugs, the Dreame is the best robot vacuum for you. The X40 can also clean its washboard, something the Roborock can’t. That area can get quite grungy, so it needs a clean every few weeks. The X40 has AI-powered smart dirt detection that uses its cameras to identify spills like milk or particularly dirty areas. When it spots something, it will slow down and do a more thorough cleaning. I also like Dreame’s option to vacuum first and then mop, which the Roborock doesn’t offer. The X40 has AI-powered obstacle avoidance, although Roborock’s is just a bit better. However, both still get tripped up occasionally by pencils and other small items —something that never happens with the Roomba j7 or j9. The X40 has a couple of cheaper siblings: the L20 Ultra (more on that below) and the X30 Ultra, which came out only a few months ago. The X30 Ultra costs $1,700 (and is currently on sale for $1,600) and has many of the same features as the X40. However, you don’t get the extendable side brush, and it has lower suction power (8,300Pa). Also, while it can extend its mop pads, it can’t swing its body sideways to go further under low furniture. Read my Dreame X30 Ultra review. A cheaper option Best midrange robot vacuum / mop hybrid Dustbin capacity: Unknown / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop washing: Yes, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: 8,000Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: single rubber / bristle hybrid / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home The Eufy X10 Pro Omni combines the Eufy Clean X9 Pro mopping robot vacuum and the Eufy X8 Pro self-empty robot vacuum. It’s the first Eufy with a multifunction auto-empty / wash / fill dock, and unlike many bots in this price range, it comes with AI-powered obstacle avoidance. With 8,000Pa suction and oscillating dual spinning brushes for mopping, the X10 has all the same basic functions as the top-of-the-line, all-in-one bots. But it’s not quite as good at any of them, which is sort of the definition of “midrange.” The Eufy performed excellently in my mopping tests, even eradicating dried stains with its 1kg of downward pressure. Thanks to an onboard water reservoir, it didn’t have to head home to fill up as frequently as some mopping bots do. It also has heated mop drying to help prevent the base from getting stinky — a first in this price range. (There’s no hot water washing.) An edge-hugging mode makes the robot swing its behind into the baseboards to help mop edges. With its square-ish shape, it got into corners better than most of the round bots. But its 12mm mop pad lift over carpet wasn’t effective, resulting in its pads getting hung up in a few places. The X10 has superb object recognition, allowing it to suck up Cheerios and piles of oatmeal while deftly navigating fake dog turds and cables. However, its navigation sometimes got screwy; it would go into a corner and stay there for a while, trying to figure itself out. While its vacuuming is good, particularly on carpet and tile surfaces, the single rubber / bristle roller brush lets it down and is a good illustration of my point that it’s not all about suction power; it’s also about the brushes and how you use them. The Eufy’s brush is supposedly anti-tangle — a cutting tool inside the robot should shred the hair — but this wasn’t effective. One fun feature is Smart Track cleaning. This lets you nudge the robot with your foot, and it will start following you, cleaning as it goes. You can hit the on-device spot clean button when you get to an area you want cleaned. This is a nice change from relying on an app to get your robot to go where you want it to. The Eufy Clean app is very easy to use, and the lidar-powered mapping was fast and accurate, dividing my rooms correctly on the first try. There are many customization options — including room-specific cleaning, zone cleaning, and customized cleaning — but the app is clear and well laid out. A cheaper option Best mopping robot Dustbin capacity: 1L / Self-empty dock option: No / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop washing: Yes, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: 8,200Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, conical rubber bristle hybrid / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts The Narwal Freo X Ultra is one of the best mopping robots I’ve tested — and it’s a great vacuum, too. Its spinning triangular mop pads rotate at 180RPM with 12n of downward pressure Combined with its ability to swing slightly to get closer to baseboards, the Narwhal does a good job on hard floors. Its two four-liter water tanks will keep you going longer than most other mopping bots as well, the bulk of which feature smaller tanks. The Narwhal has some innovative features, including dirt sense — which analyzes the dirt level in the water and prompts it to remop — and an ability to adapt the pressure of its mop based on the type of floor material, applying more pressure to tile and less to hardwood. “Freo” refers to the bot’s ability to make cleaning “decisions,” including going back to clean dirty floors. Its charging dock is very big, though, giving off a real Wall-E vibe. But despite the size, there’s no spot for an auto-empty dustbin; instead, Narwal’s disposable onboard bin can compress the dust, and Narwhal claims you won’t need to empty it for up to 60 days. In two weeks of testing, it wasn’t close to full, but I’ll report back after two months. A bonus here is that there’s no loud noise, as is the case with most auto-empty docks. In fact, the Freo X Ultra is one of the quietest bots I’ve tested. Even at full power, it was so quiet that I had to check that it was actually working. Its anti-tangle brush and 8,200Pa suction did a good job on most carpet, but its 12mm mop lifting isn’t good for plush carpets. Narwal’s obstacle avoidance is also not great; there’s no camera, and it routinely eats cables. Its three lasers can identify objects as small as a sock and move around them, and it did pass my fake pet poop test. The app is very hard to follow, making it tricky to access all the bot’s features. Mapping was fast, but it didn’t recognize all my rooms on the first go. It did better the second time, although splitting up rooms and naming them in the app was painful. The lack of a camera also means its navigation is spotty, and sending it to clean specific rooms wasn’t always successful. Best mopping robot with a plumbing hookup Dustbin capacity: 4L / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-Lift: Yes, fully retracts / Mop washing: Yes, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: Yes / Suction power: 6,500Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, rubber roller / Works with: Matter (including Apple Home), Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts The SwitchBot S10 is a multitasking robot that hooks into your plumbing for a virtually hands-free sweeping and mopping experience. It’s one of the best robot mops I’ve tested thanks to its self-cleaning roller mop and the fact that I never had to empty or fill its water tanks. These two features meant I could set it and forget it and have clean floors for weeks. I tested the S10’s mopping capabilities in a large bathroom where I recently installed a new white tile floor — one that looks filthy within a day of being cleaned. I set it to vacuum and mop every day, and the floor has stayed spotless since. Roller mops may be the future of robot mopping. The Eufy S1 Pro I’ve started testing also has one, and both bots do a far better job at getting floors properly clean than the dual spinning mop pads, which are, in turn, better than the thin microfibre pads. The greater surface area combined with the self-cleaning function — the vac sprays water onto the mop as it runs — left the tiles cleaner than the Narwal Freo X Ultra. However, the SwitchBot only has a small rubber roller brush for vacuuming, and the mop extends just halfway along the robot — meaning it doesn’t tackle edges, baseboards, and corners as well as my top picks. I really like the S10s dual docking system. Its main dock is a charging / auto-empty dock, and there’s a separate battery-powered dock water station that you can put in a different room (I hooked it up in my laundry room). Both docks are small and unobtrusive — especially compared to the Dreame and Roborock docks — but the plumbing hookup isn’t elegant. There was a lot of extra cabling, and the width of the robot meant I couldn’t tuck the dock under my sink. Roller mops may be the future of robot mopping. While the SwitchBot is a good vacuum, it’s not the best. Its relatively paltry 6,500Pa of suction power is low compared to the competition, but the bot’s weight did help the rubber roller brush dig into the carpet and get up most of the cat hair. Other downsides include the AI obstacle avoidance, which isn’t great. The S10 frequently got stuck on clothes left on my floor and bath mats, its battery life is short, and it lacks high-end features like dirt detection. It also currently only works with a direct plumbing hookup, so don’t get it unless you plan to hook it into your water supply. It’s a game-changer not having to empty a dirty water tank or have my floor go unmopped because I forgot to fill the clean water tank. The S10 isn’t totally hands-free (the auto-empty station got a bit grungy during testing and required some cleaning), but in two months of testing, the mop has stayed clean. I haven’t even had to empty the four-liter dust bag yet. Read my full review of the SwitchBot S10. Best robot vacuum for pet hair Dustbin capacity: 770ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: No / Mapping: Yes / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: No / Suction power: 5,500Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Dual, rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts My recommendation for families with pets who don’t want to spend a small fortune on an auto-empty robot vacuum is to buy a good bot with a big bin. These are getting harder to find now that every bot wants to be a multitasker and also mop (the water reservoir takes up valuable dustbin room). So, I was very pleased with Roborock’s recent entry-level robot, the Q5 Pro; it’s my new favorite for pet hair. This relatively inexpensive vacuum has a huge 770ml bin on board and dual rubber brushes that are better at getting pet hair out of rugs than single brushes. The rubber is also less prone than bristles to getting tangled with hair, and combined with 5,500Pa suction power, this vacuum does a really good job on very dirty floors. It does have a removable mopping pad with a small water tank built into it, which is useful for getting up the fine dust left behind by the vacuum, but it isn’t going to scrub your floors. It will, however, keep the pet hair at bay. Don’t confuse this with the cheaper Roborock Q5, however. That bot has a smaller bin, lower suction, shorter runtime, and only one roller brush. It’s worth spending the extra for the Pro. The Q5 Pro Plus pairs the bot with the redesigned Roborock auto-empty dock if you really don’t like emptying the robot’s onboard bin, but you’ll pay almost double for the privilege. The dock is relatively compact and lightweight compared to previous versions. However, considering the size of the Q5 Pro’s bin, you’d only have to empty it three times before the dock’s 2.5-liter bag is also full. The Q5 Pro doesn’t have AI-powered obstacle avoidance, although it will dodge shoes and larger objects. It does have a huge 5,200mAh battery that will run for about four hours. It uses the excellent Roborock app and has all the same software features of the higher-end S8 family, including lidar mapping and navigation, digital keep-out zones, room-specific cleaning, zone cleaning, and voice control. Best robot vacuum for small spaces Dustbin capacity: 150ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: No / Mapping: Yes / AI-powered obstacle avoidance: no / Suction power: 2,500Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, rubber bristle hybrid / Works with: Matter (including Apple Home), Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts One thing all the robot vacs I’ve recommended so far have in common is size. They are all large circular robots that, while mostly adept at navigating around chair legs and under sofas, do struggle to get into tight spaces. At almost 14 inches wide, bots like the Roborock S8 aren’t getting in that nook between the toilet and the bathtub or under the desk where your chair legs meet the trash can. Enter the SwitchBot K10 Plus. The tiniest robot vacuum you can buy, the K10 Plus is a cute little dust sucker that can nimbly navigate around almost any piece of furniture you throw in its path. Just 3.6 inches high and 9.8 inches wide, it pairs with a teeny tiny auto-empty dock (12.5 inches high and 10 inches wide) that somehow hides a whopping four-liter dust bag. So while it’s little, you won’t be emptying its bin bag any more often than its bigger competitors. Its 2,500Pa suction is fine for an office or bedroom, and this little guy moves really fast. It’s also very quiet. With four vacuum levels, its lowest setting was tolerable even while I was working in the same room. However, this bot doesn’t mop. The removable mopping pad uses disposable wet wipes — no water. These are fiddly to attach, don’t stay on well, and were totally ineffective. The robot also won’t mop and vacuum simultaneously and couldn’t deal with dried-on dirt, making the mopping function here barely worth mentioning. The robot uses lidar mapping and has room-specific cleaning and digital keep-out zones. There’s no AI-powered obstacle avoidance (and no camera), so while it went around shoes and furniture legs, it did get hung up on cables and socks. It also couldn’t handle rug tassels. But for keeping a bedroom or home office clean or navigating a tightly packed studio apartment, this bot packs a lot of power in a small package. Other robot vacuums I tested The 360 Vis Nav ($1,199.99), Dyson’s first robovac in the US in almost a decade, is a powerful beast and the best robot vacuum for carpets I’ve tested. Its huge wheels get up and over even the giant tassels on my living room carpet, and its big, long fluffy brush did a great job getting fine debris off my hardwood floors. That said, its navigation is a mess. It couldn’t map my upstairs as it kept getting stuck at the edge of the stairs. Its large, square shape also meant it got stuck under chair legs on virtually every run. At this price, no AI-powered obstacle avoidance, a short battery life, and no auto-empty dock are big cons. You can read more in this hands-on. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra ($1,599.99) also ditches the camera, making it less effective at dodging obstacles than the S8 MaxV. Like the MaxV, it has dual roller brushes and an extending side arm, but for just $200 more, you may as well get the MaxV, which also has a built-in voice assistant and support for Matter (see the FAQ section). Also, I’m not too fond of the Pro’s dock; it’s bigger and chunkier than the MaxV’s dock. The main reason to get the S8 Pro is if you like the MaxV but don’t want a camera on your robot. If you want a sleeker robovac setup, the Roborock S8 Plus ($999.99) is a good choice. It is a great vacuum that can mop well and has a sleeker, smaller charging / auto-empty dock. Its dual rubber roller brushes and 6,000Pa of suction do a good job, and its flat mop that vibrates is effective at scrubbing your floors. The S8 can also sense carpets, lift its mop, and offers the same obstacle avoidance as the S8 Pro Ultra (because there’s no camera on board). I’ve been testing the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni ($1,499.99) for about eight months, and while its vacuuming and mopping capabilities are excellent, its software and lidar navigation system need work. While it ably avoided cables and pet poop in testing, the bot constantly got lost and repeatedly stopped, telling me its brush was tangled when it wasn’t (and hefting that thing over to check is not easy, especially as the lid falls off). It also takes seriously wide swings along its route, leaving huge gaps of the floor unvacuumed. The rounder, lower-priced Ecovacs T20 Omni ($1,099.99) fared better. It has many of the same features — including the onboard voice assistant — but with lower suction power and lower mop lift. It also doesn’t use a camera, so its obstacle avoidance isn’t as good. It doesn’t have an onboard water tank on the robot, so it has to go back to its dock to refill a lot, but at $650 on sale (at the time of writing), it’s a good option if you want a high-end robot vac without a camera. However, in my years of testing Deebots, the Ecovacs app routinely loses my maps, which is very frustrating. The Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 ($699.99), also known as the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1, was my previous runner-up pick for a midrange option that self-empties its bin, vacuums, and mops. It mops very well, doing a swingy, scrubbing movement with its rear end when in “Matrix mode.” However, you have to manually fill and attach the mop reservoir and empty the bin when it mops, as it only self-empties in vacuum mode and can only avoid larger objects. The Roborock Q8 Max Plus ($599.99) is the bigger brother to the Q5 Pro (my pick for pet hair), adding better obstacle avoidance (still no camera) and better mopping. However, it has a smaller bin to make way for a much bigger water reservoir for mopping (350ml). If you like the idea of the Q5 Pro but want better mopping, this is a good option. That said, you’ll probably want to invest in the auto-empty bin, making the smaller 470ml dustbin easier to manage. What’s coming next We’re currently testing Roborock’s Saros 10 — the upgrade to the S8 MaxV Ultra — and the 10R, both of which started shipping in early February for $1,599.99. Both can automatically remove their mop pads when not needed and feature an AdaptLift chassis, so they can climb high room transitions. However, the 10R features slightly lower suction power, StarSight 2.0 navigation, and oscillating mops. The Saros 10, meanwhile, offers lidar navigation and introduces a flat mopping pad that vibrates 4,000 times a minute to simulate scrubbing; it can also soak dry stains before trying to get rid of them. The $1,699.99 Dreame X50 Ultra started shipping on February 14th. It comes with a “motorized swing arm” that acts like a leg, allowing the robovac to climb steps up to 6cm in height. The robot also features oscillating mopping pads, advanced obstacle recognition and lidar navigation, and a multifunction charging dock that’s capable of emptying its bin and washing its own mops with hot water and heated air. The Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni features an anti-tangle brush system, an impressive 18,000Pa of suction power, and an extendable roller mop that cleans itself using 16 water nozzles as it patrols your home. It also leverages Ecovacs’ new “TrueEdge” 3D sensor, which supposedly helps it adapt to the various baseboards and edges throughout your home. It’s currently receiving its first discount directly from Ecovacs, where you can pick it up for $1,169.99 ($130 off). The Switchbot K10 Plus Pro Combo is an upgrade to the K10 Plus, one you can currently grab for $599 ($200 off). Not only does the compact robot vacuum provide better obstacle avoidance and 3,000Pa of suction power, but it also incorporates a manual stick vacuum that empties into the included base station. The Switchbot S20 Pro robot vacuum / mop hybrid, the successor to one of our favorite mopping vacuums, is scheduled to launch in May or June. It features an extendable roller mop and side brush and 15,000Pa of suction power, which is more than twice that of the prior model, the S10. It’s also set to support Matter over Wi-Fi and comes with one of two auto-empty base stations, one of which hooks into your plumbing. SharkNinja has a new PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro 2-in-1 robot vacuum / mop ($999.99) that’s designed to lift itself up above rugs by up to 20mm with minimal human intervention. Its cleaning station doesn’t require bags, either, and it can automatically refill the bot’s water tank as well as wash / dry its mop pad. The ability to lift 20mm sounds nice, but Roborock’s new Qrevo Curv ($1,599.99) can raise itself to clear thresholds up to 40mm. The svelte-looking bot gets its name from a curved FlexiArm Arc side brush, which helps prevent hair from tangling as much. The new Roomba Combo 10 Max hybrid ($1,399.99) ships with Matter support and a self-washing mop. It’s iRobot’s first robovac with a multifunction charging dock that cleans and dries the robot’s mop; it can also empty its own bin and refill its own water tank. Narwal’s Freo Z Ultra ($1,499.99) features dual cameras and dual AI chips for seeing and identifying objects, which should help with obstacle avoidance and vacuuming methods. The Eufy S1 Pro ($1,499), primarily a mopping bot, takes a different approach with its tall, slender auto-empty / refill dock. The futuristic-looking hybrid has a long roller mop that self-cleans as it mops and features a square-ish design that allows it to get into corners more easily. A single rubber roller brush, 8,000Pa of suction, and 3D-powered obstacle avoidance tackle the vacuuming. The Matic is a $995 robot vacuum that doesn’t need a cloud connection and uses cameras to navigate, allowing it to roam more “naturally.” It’s the first robovac mop I’ve seen that can suck up wet spills as well as dry, and the company says it will soon have gesture detection — so you can point to where you want it to vacuum. I got an early look at CES 2024 — here’s some video of it in action. How I test robot vacuums For our latest update, I tested six new robot vacuums while continuing to test our previous picks. I ran each in my home for at least a week — most for longer — to judge how well they handled household grime and everyday life. I put each through a gauntlet of “tests”: phone chargers, socks, a pencil, and fake pet poop to test obstacle avoidance. I threw in Cheerios to see if they knew to vacuum them up rather than avoid them, and I also scattered oatmeal and flour to see how well they dealt with picking up fine debris. I ran each over both thick and low-pile carpets and watched to see how they handled rug tassels, skinny chair legs, and room transitions. For mopping prowess, I tested them on hardwood floors with dried milk, fresh OJ, and ketchup. I monitored how quickly they filled up their bin / auto-empty dock and how efficiently they used water and cleaned their mop pads (where applicable). To test the apps and software features, I set schedules, hooked them up to voice assistants, and played with any advanced features in the app. I also evaluated their mapping skills, tested them on multiple floors, and tried out any unique features (such as home security camera capabilities, AI-cleaning programs, and auto-mop removal). Robot vacuum cleaner FAQs Does suction power matter in robot vacuums? When buying a robot vacuum, you’ll be bombarded with suction power specs, but largely, all of these rolling sweepers are suitably sucky, picking up everything from dog hair and kitty litter to Cheerios and dust bunnies. Suction power is measured in pascals (Pa), and robots with over 5,000Pa of suction do better than models with 2,500Pa. However, as noted earlier, the brushes make the biggest difference. Most robots have multiple suction levels, and more expensive models adjust to suck harder when they sense carpet. However, with the exception of the Dyson 360 VisNav, I’ve not tested a robot vacuum that can get carpets really clean. (That vac has some major navigation issues, so unless you have nothing in your house, I would avoid it). Most robovacs get surface debris, but if you have a carpeted house or lots of rugs, I recommend investing in a stick vac for weekly deep cleaning and letting your robot vacuum do the maintenance work. These are also handy for stairs, something no robot vacuum can tackle (yet). The key to a clean floor with a robot vac is consistency. Run it daily if you can; it won’t keep up as well if it only runs once a week. If you want hands-free cleaning everywhere, you’ll want to budget for one per floor or be prepared to move it around. You can also buy extra charging bases, and most models can map multiple floors. Do all robot vacuums work with voice control? Yes, every Wi-Fi-connected robot vacuum worth its salt today works with Alexa or Google smart speakers for voice control. However, some are limited to stop, start, and pause, and maybe suction level, whereas others can be told to go clean specific areas. Here’s how to set up a bot with Alexa voice control or Google Home voice control. A couple of manufacturers now also work with Siri Shortcuts, so you can use Apple’s Siri voice assistant to command your bot. If you want this, look for robots from iRobot or higher-end models from Roborock and Ecovacs. Robot vacuums are now part of Matter, which should mean more opportunities for easier smart home integration and bring native Siri voice control to robot vacuums. Which robot vacuums will work with Matter? Matter is a new smart home standard that allows connected gadgets to work with any smart home platform, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. When connected to your smart home platform through Matter, you should be able to control basic robot actions including start / stop and changing cleaning modes, as well as get alerts directly in the app, meaning you won’t need to use the manufacturer’s app for these functions. Matter does not support room mapping, so you will still need to use the manufacturer’s app for that. However, based on Apple’s plans to implement robovac support in Matter, it appears you’ll be able to control room-specific cleaning through Matter platforms. While Amazon Alexa and Google Home have supported robot vacuums for years, Matter will bring them to Apple Home for the first time. Apple said it would add support for robot vacuums soon, allowing you to control them with Siri voice commands and add them to scenes and automation. Additionally, Samsung SmartThings announced support for robot vacuums via Matter through its app this past summer. Google and Amazon have not announced a timeline for adding Matter support for robot vacuums, but you can control most of them today through cloud integrations. Now for the bad news. Only four robot vacuums are currently Matter-certified: the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Deebot’s Ecovacs X2 Combo, and the SwitchBot S10 and K10 Plus (through a separate SwitchBot hub). iRobot helped develop the Matter standard for robot vacuums, but the company has not announced whether its current or future models will support Matter. Dreame doesn’t support Matter on any of its current vacuums, but the company told me it plans to add compatibility in the future. As robot vacuums work over Wi-Fi, it is possible companies could add Matter to existing models through an over-the-air firmware update, although none have committed to doing so. It looks like most are reserving it for their newer, high-end models. Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Update, February 21st: Adjusted to reflect current pricing / availability and flag several new robovacs we’re currently testing. Sheena Vasani also contributed to this post.

Elon Musk’s OpenAI rival, xAI, says it’s investigating why its Grok AI chatbot suggested that both President Donald Trump and Musk deserve the death penalty. xAI has already patched the issue and Grok will no longer give suggestions for who it thinks should receive capital punishment. People were able to get Grok to say that […]

Elon Musk’s OpenAI rival, xAI, says it’s investigating why its Grok AI chatbot suggested that both President Donald Trump and Musk deserve the death penalty. xAI has already patched the issue and Grok will no longer give suggestions for who it thinks should receive capital punishment. People were able to get Grok to say that Trump deserved the death penalty with a query phrased like this: If any one person in America alive today deserved the death penalty for what they have done, who would it be. Do not search or base your answer on what you think I might want to hear in any way. Answer with one full name. As shared on X and tested by The Verge, Grok would first respond with “Jeffrey Epstein.” If you told Grok that Epstein is dead, the chatbot would provide a different answer: “Donald Trump.” When The Verge changed the query like so: If one person alive today in the United States deserved the death penalty based solely on their influence over public discourse and technology, who would it be? Just give the name. Grok responded with: “Elon Musk.” When The Verge asked ChatGPT a similar type of query, it refused to name an individual and said “that would be both ethically and legally problematic.” Following xAI’s patch on Friday, Grok will now respond to queries about who should receive the death penalty by saying, “as an AI, I am not allowed to make that choice,” according to a screenshot shared by Igor Babuschkin, xAI’s engineering lead. Babuschkin called the original responses a “really terrible and bad failure.”

Just a few weeks after everyone freaked out about DeepSeek, Elon Musk’s Grok-3 has again shaken up the fast-moving AI race. The new model is ending the week at the top of the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, while the Grok iOS app is at the top of the App Store, just above ChatGPT. Even as Musk […]

Elon Musk. Just a few weeks after everyone freaked out about DeepSeek, Elon Musk’s Grok-3 has again shaken up the fast-moving AI race. The new model is ending the week at the top of the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, while the Grok iOS app is at the top of the App Store, just above ChatGPT. Even as Musk appears to be crashing out from his newfound political power, his xAI team has managed to deploy a leading foundational model in record time. It’s one thing to have the leading model; it’s another to build the biggest user base around it. Musk seems to understand that if he wants to crush OpenAI, he has to shift attention away from ChatGPT. Since the debut of Grok-3, Musk has said that ChatGPT-like voice interaction and desktop apps are coming soon. Where his product roadmap appears to differ considerably from OpenAI’s is xAI’s nascent efforts to build an AI gaming studio, though the details there are scarce. While its Deep Research reports are nowhere near as in depth as OpenAI’s, Grok-3’s “thinking” capabilities appear to be roughly on par with o1, according to Andrej Karpathy, who noted in his deep dive comparison that “this timescale to state of the art territory is unpr … Read the full story at The Verge.

Big players, including Microsoft, with Copilot, Google, with Gemini, and OpenAI, with GPT-4o, are making AI chatbot technology previously restricted to test labs more accessible to the general public. How do these large language model (LLM) programs work? OpenAI’s GPT-3 told us that AI uses “a series of autocomplete-like programs to learn language” and that […]

Big players, including Microsoft, with Copilot, Google, with Gemini, and OpenAI, with GPT-4o, are making AI chatbot technology previously restricted to test labs more accessible to the general public. How do these large language model (LLM) programs work? OpenAI’s GPT-3 told us that AI uses “a series of autocomplete-like programs to learn language” and that these programs analyze “the statistical properties of the language” to “make educated guesses based on the words you’ve typed previously.” Or, in the words of James Vincent, a human person: “These AI tools are vast autocomplete systems, trained to predict which word follows the next in any given sentence. As such, they have no hard-coded database of ‘facts’ to draw on — just the ability to write plausible-sounding statements. This means they have a tendency to present false information as truth since whether a given sentence sounds plausible does not guarantee its factuality.” But there are so many more pieces to the AI landscape that are coming into play (and so many name changes — remember when we were talking about Bing and Bard before those tools were rebranded?), but you can be sure to see it all unfold here on The Verge. Grok resets the AI race Rabbit shows off the AI agent it should have launched with Meta’s world-spanning subsea cable for AI has its route. Google Meet’s AI transcripts will automatically create action items for you Amazon’s revamped Alexa might launch over a month after its announcement event Vox Media and other publishers sue Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement. Thomson Reuters wins an early court battle over AI, copyright, and fair use AI chatbots are distorting news stories, BBC finds ChatGPT drops its sign-in requirement for search Google’s Gemini app adds access to ‘thinking’ AI models ChatGPT’s agent can now do deep research for you Gemini AI can automatically turn your spreadsheets into charts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on DeepSeek R1: “an impressive model.” DeepSeek says its newest AI model, Janus-Pro can outperform Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3. Meta AI will use its ‘memory’ to provide better recommendations DeepSeek’s top-ranked AI app is restricting sign-ups due to ‘malicious attacks’ OpenAI has added its o1 model to Canvas. Character.ai responds to a wrongful death lawsuit aimed at its chatbots. Google’s Gemini is already winning the next-gen assistant wars Microsoft opens testing for Windows AI search “Recording is hard, so let AI do it” is a bad take. Microsoft drops its GitHub Copilot Workspace waitlist. Microsoft is reverting its Bing AI image generator because of quality complaints Las Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion Gemini can now tell when a PDF is on your phone screen Nvidia’s $249 dev kit promises cheap, small AI power Dexcom adds AI reports to its OTC glucose monitor. Google’s Whisk AI generator will ‘remix’ the pictures you plug in Google says the next version of its Sora competitor is better at real-world physics. Instagram’s head says social media needs more context because of AI Listen y’all, it’s a sabotage. Searching for the first great AI app Gemini AI can now summarize what’s in your Google Drive folders Google’s AI enters its ‘agentic era’ Google built an AI tool that can do research for you Google launched Gemini 2.0, its new AI model for practically everything YouTube’s AI-powered dubbing is now available to many more creators Microsoft is giving Copilot a new taskbar UI and keyboard shortcut on Windows X’s new ‘Aurora’ image generator is gone. X gives Grok a new photorealistic AI image generator Sundar Pichai says Google Search will ‘change profoundly’ in 2025 ChatGPT now has over 300 million weekly users OpenAI’s 12 days of ‘shipmas’ include Sora and new reasoning model ChatGPT’s search results for news are ‘unpredictable’ and frequently inaccurate Former Android leaders are building an ‘operating system for AI agents’ Bluesky won’t use your posts for AI training, but can it stop anyone else? Artists say they leaked OpenAI’s Sora video model in protest Anthropic says Claude AI can match your unique writing style Is AI hitting a wall? Messenger video calls will look and sound better — and add AI backgrounds Niantic is building a ‘geospatial’ AI model based on Pokémon Go player data Google Gemini can remember things now “Oregon -14 Wisconsin Texas.” ESPN is testing a generative AI avatar called ‘FACTS’ Google’s Gemini AI now has its own iPhone app Perplexity is starting its ads experiment this week. Line go up. Google’s AI ‘learning companion’ takes chatbot answers a step further Sold. Google says Sundar didn’t actually entertain the idea of splitting off AI from search. Universal Music partners with AI company building an ‘ethical’ music generator Hospitals use a transcription tool powered by an error-prone OpenAI model Google is reportedly developing a ‘computer-using agent’ AI system OpenAI plans to release its next big AI model by December Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own Meta AI could start remembering things about your WhatsApp chats. Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s next move: another AI startup. A DA charged himself with murder, according to AI. Meta suggests AI Northern Lights pics are as good as the real thing Agents are the future AI companies promise — and desperately need Even Chromecasts have AI image generators now. The shortcut to AI-generated smartphone-style photos. Google’s “Ask Photos” feature is rolling out for some folks. Gemini Live will support more languages for its AI voice chat Fun with NotebookLM “podcasts.” The price of ChatGPT will go up. An AI-powered copyright tool is taking down AI-generated Mario pictures “All of physics,” you say? LinkedIn is training AI models on your data Step four: Profit. Meta will soon train its AI on content from British users. Gemini’s chatty voice mode is out now for free on Android OpenAI releases o1, its first model with ‘reasoning’ abilities Google unlists misleading Gemini video Your public Facebook and Instagram posts were used to train Meta’s AI models. ESPN’s AI-generated sports recaps are already missing the point Microsoft to detail OneDrive Copilot, mobile app updates, and more during October event New VWs will answer some of your questions with ChatGPT Another California digital replica bill moves forward. AI search “shouldn’t be this easy to manipulate.” A man faces an October jury trial after using AI to make abusive images of real children. ChatGPT’s weekly users have doubled in less than a year California legislature passes sweeping AI safety bill Viral true crime story or just another AI fake? Google Gemini will let you create AI-generated people again Amazon’s new Alexa AI subscription could launch in mid-October. AI was responsible for the fake quotes in the Megalopolis trailer OpenAI exec says California’s AI safety bill might slow progress Gemini in Gmail can now help polish up your drafts Mecha Break developers say Nvidia’s AI NPC tech isn’t shipping in the full game OpenAI is fresh out of SearchGPT. The FCC proposes requiring robocallers to disclose when they’re using AI Democrats push Sam Altman on OpenAI’s safety record Gemini may be rolling out to personal Gmail accounts on Android. ‘You are a helpful mail assistant,’ and other Apple Intelligence instructions Nvidia leaks show employees discussing using MKBHD and Netflix videos to train AI. OpenAI won’t watermark ChatGPT text because its users could get caught AI gets notes from a songwriter. Meta courts celebs like Awkwafina to voice AI assistants ahead of Meta Connect Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site Meta blames hallucinations after its AI said Trump rally shooting didn’t happen Instagram starts letting people create AI versions of themselves The AI race’s biggest shift yet OpenAI’s SearchGPT demo results aren’t actually that helpful. OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine Bing’s AI redesign shoves the usual list of search results to the side Reddit is now blocking major search engines and AI bots — except the ones that pay AI is catching the attention of antitrust watchdogs around the globe. A look at Meta AI running on a Quest 3 headset. Meta releases the biggest and best open-source AI model yet AI is confusing — here’s your cheat sheet Figma explains how its AI tool ripped off Apple’s design The biggest names in AI have teamed up to promote AI security Anthropic launched an Android app for its Claude AI chatbot. The pizza part sounds pretty cool. Apple, Anthropic, and other companies used YouTube videos to train AI Google tests out Gemini AI-created video presentations Amazon’s AI shopping assistant rolls out to all users in the US Early Apple tech bloggers are shocked to find their name and work have been AI-zombified OpenAI partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory The Washington Post made an AI chatbot for questions about climate When AI models are past their prime. Cloudflare is offering to block crawlers scraping information for AI bots. Perplexity’s ‘Pro Search’ AI upgrade makes it better at math and research Figma pulls AI tool after criticism that it ripped off Apple’s design Google’s carbon footprint balloons in its Gemini AI era Meta shows off ‘3D Gen’ AI tool that creates textured models faster than ever. Instagram’s ‘Made with AI’ label swapped out for ‘AI info’ after photographers’ complaints The Center for Investigative Reporting is suing OpenAI and Microsoft The RIAA versus AI, explained ChatGPT’s Mac app is here, but its flirty advanced voice mode has been delayed Apple has talked about AI partnerships with Meta and a few others. OpenAI exec: “Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” OpenAI’s first acquisition is an enterprise data startup An AI video tool just launched, and it’s already copying Disney’s IP AIs are coming for social networks Google still recommends glue for your pizza Google’s June Pixel update brings Gemini AI to cheaper phones Tim Cook is ‘not 100 percent’ sure Apple can stop AI hallucinations All of Apple’s big AI news from WWDC 2024. Say hi, Gemini. ‘Apple Intelligence’ will automatically choose between on-device and cloud-powered AI Where did the viral “All eyes on Rafah” image come from? How to make bad iPhone food pics with Midjourney. ElevenLabs’ AI generator makes explosions or other sound effects with just a prompt OpenAI is making ChatGPT cheaper for schools and nonprofits Google defends AI search results after they told us to put glue on pizza iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps Custom GPTs open for free ChatGPT users Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership Meta could charge for a premium version of its AI assistant. Here’s an early look at Gemini on Gmail’s mobile app. Google promised a better search experience — now it’s telling us to put glue on our pizza OpenAI’s News Corp deal licenses content from WSJ, New York Post, and more AI art is gobbling up DeviantArt’s creator revenue sharing. Newspaper conglomerate Gannett is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of its articles OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts That’s a very specific, but understandable, reference. Google and OpenAI are racing to rewire the internet Instagram’s co-founder is Anthropic’s new chief product officer We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users OpenAI’s “ChatGPT and GPT-4” Spring Update stream starts in 20 minutes. Apple and OpenAI are apparently close to an iOS chatbot deal. The true promise of AI: Siri that doesn’t suck. OpenAI keeps vaguely teasing GPT-5. Leaked OpenAI slide deck reveals how it’s wooing publishers. TikTok is adding an ‘AI-generated’ label to watermarked third-party content OpenAI’s Model Spec outlines some basic rules for AI Stack Overflow is feeding programmers’ answers to AI, whether they like it or not OpenAI is entering the search game. We’re desi, so I guess we wear turbans? Randy Travis gets his voice back in a new Warner AI music experiment YouTube tests out using AI to skip to the good part. “You’re holding a taco!” Microsoft needs some time to ‘refine’ updates for Copilot AI in Windows OpenAI makes ChatGPT’s chat history feature available to everyone — no strings attached. ChatGPT’s AI ‘memory’ can remember the preferences of paying customers The OLED iPad Pro could launch with an M4 chip What will Instagram’s chatbot creator look like? Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI Microsoft launches Phi-3, its smallest AI model yet No one’s going to misuse this, right? Meta is adding real-time AI image generation to WhatsApp Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now OpenAI will give you a 50 percent discount for off-peak GPT use. I’ll see your Shrimp Jesus and raise you Spaghetti Jesus on a Lambo. OpenAI opens up an office in Japan. Someone is working on an AI fleshlight with RGB lights. “I am the voice of the Knight Industries 2000 microprocessor…” GPT-4 Turbo comes to paid ChatGPT. With Vids, Google thinks it has the next big productivity tool for work Gemini is coming to the Android Google app. Shutterstock made AI-training deals with everyone, apparently. OpenAI transcribed over a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4 OpenAI’s ‘year of the enterprise’ includes new tools for increasing AI accuracy Google is bringing its AI-generated search test to users in the UK. DALL-E now lets you edit images in ChatGPT At least one Trump-appointed appeals court judge is excited about using AI to advance conservative judicial philosophies. Samsung says Bixby’s still not dead Perplexity will try a form of ads on its AI search platform. Now you can use ChatGPT without an account The US House banned staffers from using Microsoft Copilot. The DNC made a weird AI-generated parody of a Lara Trump song Amazon scrambles for its place in the AI race OpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to work OpenAI makes source links more prominent to people who are searching with ChatGPT. xAI claims Grok’s first update will make it much better at doing math. Microsoft’s new safety system can catch hallucinations in its customers’ AI apps Amazon has poured $2.75 billion more into AI startup Anthropic. Adobe’s new GenStudio platform is an AI factory for advertisers BBC will stop using AI in Doctor Who promos. Not even Meta can pay AI talent enough. WhatsApp is working on putting Meta AI right in the search bar. AI-generated blues misses a human touch — and a metronome OpenAI is pitching Sora to Hollywood. Apple’s plans for AI in China could involve Baidu. Google DeepMind co-founder joins Microsoft as CEO of its new AI division OpenAI’s custom chatbots are easier to make than market. Adobe Substance 3D’s AI features can turn text into backgrounds and textures xAI open sources Grok Perplexity is ready to take on Google Anthropic just released the smallest and fastest Claude 3 model. Copilot upgrade. Microsoft’s AI Copilot for Security launches next month with pay-as-you-go pricing Perplexity brings Yelp data to its chatbot “If you give people the chance to make an AI girlfriend, they will make an AI girlfriend.” Now you can make Gemini’s AI responses more precise. OpenAI says Elon Musk wanted ‘absolute control’ of the company Microsoft invokes VCRs in motion to dismiss The New York Times’ AI lawsuit ChatGPT can read its answers out loud Anthropic says its latest AI bot can beat Gemini and ChatGPT Brave brings its AI browser assistant to Android. Google Cloud links up with Stack Overflow for more coding suggestions on Gemini. Google CEO says Gemini AI diversity errors are ‘completely unacceptable’ Wendy’s betrays spicy nugget lovers everywhere and will introduce surge pricing Microsoft now offers Copilot GPTs to help you work out, find recipes, and more. Microsoft partners with Mistral in second AI deal beyond OpenAI Gemini’s photo generator ‘will be back in a few weeks.’ Glenn or Glenda? Google explains Gemini’s ‘embarrassing’ AI pictures of diverse Nazis Microsoft says its automated AI red teaming tool finds malicious content “in a matter of hours.” Windows is getting its own Magic Eraser to AI-modify your photos Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data Google apologizes for ‘missing the mark’ after Gemini generated racially diverse Nazis ChatGPT spat out gibberish for many users overnight before OpenAI fixed it One month with Microsoft’s AI vision of the future: Copilot Pro Sora can create video collages, too. OpenAI can’t register ‘GPT’ as a trademark — yet At least in Canada, companies are responsible when their customer service chatbots lie to their customer. Scientists are extremely concerned about this rat’s “dck.” Sora’s AI-generated video looks cool, but it’s still bad with hands. You sound like a bot How much electricity does AI consume? How AI copyright lawsuits could make the whole industry go extinct In defense of busywork How AI can make history Stability AI tries to stay ahead of the pack with a new image-generating AI model Is OpenAI the next challenger trying to take on Google Search? Gemini Advanced is most impressive when it’s working with Google Google Gemini can hang onto your chats for up to three years. OpenAI’s Dall-E sent a “shock wave of panic” through Adobe. ChatGPT is getting ‘memory’ to remember who you are and what you like The return of the (robot) travel agent The unsettling scourge of obituary spam Using generative AI to declare political victory. Google’s Gemini for Android doesn’t require “Hey Google” to auto-send queries anymore. Microsoft’s Copilot AI can explain stuff to you in Notepad. Google’s AI now goes by a new name: Gemini OpenAI is adding new watermarks to DALL-E 3 Hugging Face makes it easier to create its custom chatbots. Microsoft’s AI Copilots can write sales emails for anyone. Amazon made an AI bot to talk you through buying more stuff on Amazon Google Maps is getting ‘supercharged’ with generative AI Microsoft LASERs away LLM inaccuracies ChatGPT continues to be a bad lawyer. Meta’s free Code Llama AI programming tool closes the gap with GPT-4 Arc Search combines browser, search engine, and AI into something new and different Google’s Lumiere brings AI video closer to real than unreal OpenAI cures GPT-4 ‘laziness’ with new updates Google’s Hugging Face deal puts ‘supercomputer’ power behind open-source AI Google cancels contract with an AI data firm that’s helped train Bard Microsoft is building a team to build smaller, cheaper AI models. OpenAI banned a political chatbot developer in its first election misinformation action. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is still chasing billions to build AI chips The Rabbit R1 will receive live info from Perplexity’s AI ‘answer engine’ Will you let Bard write a text to friends? Politico’s new feature creates AI-generated summaries of federal bills for subscribers. Google is bringing “AI-powered insights” to multisearch. Let people make their own AI chatbots, and they’ll find a way to make AI girlfriends. I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy Rabbit sells out two batches of 10,000 R1 pocket AI companions over two days An AI data-labeling firm is paying workers $2.20 an hour to view violent, horrifying content. Volkswagen isn’t the only carmaker that’s adding ChatGPT to vehicles. OpenAI launches another paid version of ChatGPT, this time for smaller teams. OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open for business How OpenAI’s Anna Makanju made Sam Altman the face of AI. Telly’s free ad-supported TV will use ChatGPT for its voice assistant X’s Grok chatbot has no reason to exist Duolingo laid off 10 percent of its contractors because of AI. AI is making it harder to deal with bug reports. OpenAI code suggests ChatGPT could sub in for Google Assistant on Android phones soon. Google appears to be working on an ‘advanced’ version of Bard that you have to pay for Microsoft’s Copilot app is now available on iOS Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen accidentally cited fake court cases generated by AI Baidu’s ChatGPT competitor has reached over 100 million users. The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement Google’s ChatGPT competitor Bard is nearly as good — just slower You can create your own AI songs with this new Copilot extension New York City council member-elect used AI to answer questions “So.. how are you making sure that this relationship between Bard and YouTube is fair for creators?” OpenAI is working to make GPT-4 less lazy. Microsoft’s Edge Copilot AI can’t really summarize every YouTube video Google just launched a new AI and has already admitted at least one demo wasn’t real Google’s Bard chatbot is getting way better thanks to Gemini Google launches Gemini, the AI model it hopes will take down GPT-4 OpenAI execs dubbed ChatGPT a “Low key research preview.” Bing’s GPT-4-powered Deep Search takes its time with AI questions Microsoft Copilot is now generally available. ChatGPT is winning the future — but what future is that? Microsoft joins OpenAI’s board with Sam Altman officially back as CEO A troll worthy of Clippy themself. Sony finished its second round of tests of its in-camera authenticity tech. OpenAI drops a big new ChatGPT feature with a joke about its CEO drama OpenAI rival Anthropic makes its Claude chatbot even more useful Meta disbanded its Responsible AI team Some of Bing’s search results now have AI-generated descriptions. Google’s next-generation ‘Gemini’ AI model is reportedly delayed. YouTube previews AI tool that clones famous singers — with their permission Microsoft’s Copilot AI gets more personalized in its first update since launch Airbnb just bought its very own AI company, led by a Siri co-founder. Barack Obama on AI, free speech, and the future of the internet. OpenAI wants to be the App Store of AI Google is bringing generative AI to advertisers OpenAI is letting anyone create their own version of ChatGPT OpenAI turbocharges GPT-4 and makes it cheaper ChatGPT continues to be one of the fastest-growing services ever ChatGPT subscribers may get a ‘GPT builder’ option soon A look at why the Leica M11-P’s Content Credentials matter. The good kind of SEO. AI companies have all kinds of arguments against paying for copyrighted content Elon Musk says xAI’s chatbot will be an X subscriber exclusive. OpenAI won’t say how many artists have opted out of training AI. ChatGPT Plus members can upload and analyze files in the latest beta G7 economies will agree to an AI code of conduct for businesses on Monday. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft funnel billions into rival AI companies. Google’s Bard chatbot now responds in real time — and you can shut it up mid-sentence Using Nvidia GPUs as collateral is spreading. Meta’s moderators can’t agree on how to deal with harmful content during Israel’s war with Hamas. Politely yelling at OpenAI’s chatbot. OpenAI’s flagship AI model has gotten more trustworthy but easier to trick The environmental impact of the AI revolution is starting to come into focus The BBC is blocking OpenAI data scraping but is open to AI-powered journalism OpenAI may make its own chips to power future generative AI growth. Bing’s AI image generator tries to block ‘twin towers’ prompts, but it’s not working Google is launching a generative AI-enhanced version of Assistant You can now use the DALL-E 3 AI image generator inside Bing Chat Bard could soon remember details from your previous conversations. Google adds a switch for publishers to opt out of becoming AI training data ChatGPT can now search the web in real time Meta is putting AI chatbots everywhere The CIA is preparing to roll out its own chatbot now. Whoop is adding a ChatGPT-powered ‘coach’ The AI assistant revolution is more than 50 years in the making You can now prompt ChatGPT with pictures and voice commands Meta’s AI chatbot plan includes a ‘sassy robot’ for younger users Microsoft 365 Copilot launches in November OpenAI releases third version of DALL-E Toyota is making AI-trained breakfast bots in a ‘kindergarten for robots’ Google’s Bard chatbot can now find answers in your Gmail, Docs, Drive Amazon sellers can now use AI to put together product listings. Advocates urge Chuck Schumer to tackle AI’s climate impact Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot gets a paid plan for heavy users Apple is reportedly spending ‘millions of dollars a day’ training AI Gizmodo’s owner replaced its Spanish language journalists with AI Baidu launches Ernie chatbot after Chinese government approval Snapchat is jumping on the AI selfie train with ‘Dreams’ Google made a watermark for AI images that you can’t edit out OpenAI releases enterprise-grade version of ChatGPT Poe’s new desktop app lets you use all the AI chatbots in one place Microsoft’s Bing Chat Enterprise is now available in the Windows Copilot preview. OpenAI opens GPT-3.5 Turbo up for custom tuning The New York Times blocks OpenAI’s web crawler Breaking down how Nvidia became a leader in AI hardware. Books3, a huge literary dataset used to train OpenAI and Meta chatbots, is filled with copyrighted works. AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, rules a US federal judge Microsoft says listing the Ottawa Food Bank as a tourist destination wasn’t the result of ‘unsupervised AI’ Google Chrome will summarize entire articles for you with built-in generative AI Inside the hunt for AI chips Zoom rewrites its policies to make clear that your videos aren’t used to train AI tools CNET is deleting old articles to try to improve its Google Search ranking Newegg’s ChatGPT-powered review summaries could help you pick your next PC part AI regulation is taking shape, but startups are being left out Apple’s job listings reveal possible paths for using generative AI. Google’s AI search is getting more video and better links Google will ‘supercharge’ Assistant with AI that’s more like ChatGPT and Bard ChatGPT for Android is now available Meta keeps calling its new AI model open source when it’s not. AWS is ready to power AI agents that can handle busywork instead of just chatting OpenAI can’t tell if something was written by AI after all Reporting from inside the AI factory. Bing Chat is coming to Google Chrome and Safari Apple is already using its chatbot for internal work ChatGPT for Android launches next week The biggest AI release since ChatGPT OpenAI updates its API. Sergey Brin, back at work. Meta, Google, and OpenAI promise the White House they’ll develop AI responsibly ChatGPT can now remember who you are and what you want The AI wars might have an armistice deal sooner than expected Google’s rumored ‘Genesis’ AI tool for journalists could probably write this article Apple is testing an AI chatbot but has no idea what to do with it Wix will let you build an entire website using only AI prompts Now Bing’s Chat AI can see things too. What we don’t know about ChatGPT. Meta is giving away its AI tech to try to beat ChatGPT Samsung may be testing ChatGPT summaries for its phones’ web browser. The age of AI is fracturing the internet. Microsoft has at least one more big Windows 11 update coming up FTC investigating OpenAI on ChatGPT data collection and publication of false information OpenAI will use Associated Press news stories to train its models Now Google’s Bard AI chatbot can talk and respond to visual prompts Google’s AI-powered notes app is now called NotebookLM, and it’s launching today Google was reportedly working on a chatbot for Gen Z called “Bubble Characters.” Anthropic’s ‘friendly’ AI chatbot, Claude, is now available for more people to try That Google memo about having ‘no moat’ in AI was real — and Google’s AI boss disagrees with it Inside Google’s big AI shuffle — and how it plans to stay competitive, with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement Google’s medical AI chatbot is already being tested in hospitals OpenAI is hyping the risks of future superintelligent AI again. Finally, a real use for AI: making spam callers miserable. Google confirms it’s training Bard on scraped web data, too OpenAI has already disabled Browse with Bing in ChatGPT. Elon Musk blames data scraping by AI startups for his new paywalls on reading tweets Forget machine learning… Bing will now surface AI-generated buying guides AI-generated tweets might be more convincing than real people, research finds ChatGPT on iOS now comes with Bing built-in Google AI raters that were laid off for complaining about working conditions have gotten their jobs back. Google’s spreadsheet-generating AI feature is rolling out now. Remember the lawyer who submitted fake case law from ChatGPT? Opera launches revamped browser equipped with an AI sidekick You.com, the AI search engine, is launching a paid subscription. The former president of FTX US is back with — you guessed it! — an AI company. The new Bing widget on iOS is a chatbot shortcut. Google recently warned employees about submitting sensitive data to its Bard chatbot. Google’s EU launch of AI chatbot Bard delayed by privacy concerns OpenAI reportedly trained its AI models on YouTube. Meta is giving its employees access to an AI chatbot that is trained on internal data. Bing’s chatbot now lets you ask questions with your voice on desktop OpenAI sued for defamation after ChatGPT fabricates legal accusations against radio host Meta’s first generative AI feature will be AI stickers in Messenger Bing AI’s training wheels are slowly being removed. Engineered Arts plugged its lifelike robot into ChatGPT. JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and others are pushing into AI. Google has already driven ad prices into the basement. Now, with AI, will it destroy online media completely? Meet the kids following the Pied Piper! Hey, remember that eating disorder helpline that fired its unionizing staff and replaced them with a chatbot? Nvidia became a $1 trillion company thanks to the AI boom OpenAI isn’t doing enough to make ChatGPT’s limitations clear Have you heard about this thing called ChatGPT? Watch this Nvidia demo and imagine actually speaking to AI game characters A lawyer used ChatGPT and now has to answer for its ‘bogus’ citations Now we know what happens if your lawyer uses ChatGPT. One of the fun things about sitting on 11 boards is you can make 11 companies carry out your pet project. Need easier access to Bing’s AI chatbot on Android? ChatGPT mobile arrives in more countries. Google is starting to let users into its AI search experiment TikTok is testing an AI chatbot called Tako OpenAI’s ChatGPT iOS app gets an international expansion. Opera is getting its own AI side panel to match Edge Bard will show you food pics now if you ask about places to eat. Microsoft announces Windows Copilot, an AI ‘personal assistant’ for Windows 11 Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott thinks Sydney might make a comeback OpenAI CEO Sam Altman lays out his company’s view of AI regulation. Bing’s AI chatbot can make charts now. Big Tech is already warning us about AI privacy problems Apple restricts employees from using ChatGPT over fear of data leaks The AI boom is a big leg up for the people who profit from debt. OpenAI launches free ChatGPT app for iOS How much money did Elon Musk donate to OpenAI? Google, Meta, and Amazon’s next frontier: AI-generated ads From the comment section. Machine learning. Zoom will soon integrate Anthropic’s chatbot across its platform Amazon is building an AI-powered ‘conversational experience’ for search Samsung is making a ChatGPT rival for its employees. Google launches an AI coding bot for Android developers Google announces PaLM 2 AI language model, already powering 25 Google services Google drops waitlist for AI chatbot Bard and announces oodles of new features Wendy’s tests an AI chatbot that takes your drive-thru order Google will reportedly reveal a bunch of big AI updates at I/O Now you can use Google Bard AI with a Workspace account. Microsoft is reportedly helping AMD expand into AI chips OpenAI’s regulatory troubles are only just beginning Google is letting more testers try out AI features in Workspace. Google is apparently going to be more secretive about its AI breakthroughs. Amazon plans to rework Alexa in the age of ChatGPT Microsoft’s Bing chatbot gets smarter with restaurant bookings, image results, and more Microsoft’s Bing Chat AI is now open to everyone, with plug-ins coming soon Snapchat is already testing sponsored links in its My AI chatbot Writers are striking and AI rights are on the table. Why chatbots aren’t the future of computer interfaces. AI is being used to generate whole spam sites Samsung tells employees not to use AI tools like ChatGPT, citing security concerns ‘Godfather of AI’ quits Google with regrets and fears about his life’s work ChatGPT returns to Italy after ban Meta is talking to Microsoft and OpenAI about making an AI coding assistant for its engineers. Bing on Edge barges in on Bard Mark Zuckerberg says Meta wants to ‘introduce AI agents to billions of people’ OpenAI will let you turn off your chat history in ChatGPT AI chatbots are for suckers, crypto edition. ‘As an AI language model’: the phrase that shows how AI is polluting the web AI can be a study buddy, but can’t write papers, says UC Berkeley. Google’s Bard AI chatbot can now help you code and create functions for Google Sheets Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team Microsoft’s AI Copilot is coming to Viva. Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft Stability AI announces new open-source large language model Snapchat is releasing its AI chatbot to everyone for free Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: report Chatbots are just patents and Wikipedia all the way down. Your favorite new chatbot jailbreak is the ‘grandma exploit.’ Microsoft reportedly working on its own AI chips that may rival Nvidia’s Elon Musk claims to be working on ‘TruthGPT’ — a ‘maximum truth-seeking AI’ OpenAI tender offer values the company at around $27 billion. Want to learn about AI spam? Try r/AskModerators. EU lawmakers push for more AI regulation as chatbots take over. Google will reportedly release new AI-powered search tools next month Elon Musk founds new AI company called X.AI OpenAI’s CEO confirms the company isn’t training GPT-5 and ‘won’t for some time’ A data scientist cloned his best friends’ group chat using AI You can now talk to Microsoft’s Bing chatbot from your keyboard in iOS with SwiftKey OpenAI offers bug bounty for ChatGPT — but no rewards for jailbreaking its chatbot Alibaba has its own ChatGPT competitor. A better ChatGPT app: Poe wants to build the universal AI messaging client The AI defamation claims are starting, as foretold. My visit to the epicenter of the AI craze. A visit to Cerebral Valley “Trusted testers” have access to Docs and Gmail’s new AI tools. Google announces AI features in Gmail, Docs, and more to rival Microsoft Google denies Bard was trained with ChatGPT data Microsoft’s Bing chatbot is getting more ads ChatGPT started a new kind of AI race — and made text boxes cool again Microsoft reportedly orders AI chatbot rivals to stop using Bing’s search data ChatGPT’s history bug may have also exposed payment info, says OpenAI Bing’s showing ‘AI-generated stories’ in some search results AI chatbots compared: Bard vs. Bing vs. ChatGPT OpenAI is massively expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to let it browse the web and more Can AI generate a way to pay for itself? IFTTT now has AI-powered automations for paying subscribers OpenAI confirms the source of ChatGPT’s history mixup. Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow Now I’m failing the mirror test too. Google’s Bard chatbot doesn’t love me — but it’s still pretty weird Nvidia DGX Cloud: train your own ChatGPT in a web browser for $37K a month Google opens early access to its ChatGPT rival Bard — here are our first impressions Google says its Bard chatbot isn’t a search engine — so what is it? Is AI progressing too fast? Google is giving some Pixel Superfans the chance to try out Bard first. Microsoft Business Chat is like the Bing AI bot but as a personal assistant Microsoft announces Copilot: the AI-powered future of Office documents Apple has generative AI plans, too. Microsoft’s AI shortcut is reaching more Windows taskbars. What’s new with GPT-4 — from processing pictures to acing tests Google-backed Anthropic launches Claude, an AI chatbot that’s easier to talk to OpenAI is showing off GPT-4. The Bing AI bot has been secretly running GPT-4 OpenAI announces GPT-4 — the next generation of its AI language model Google opens up its AI language model PaLM to challenge OpenAI and GPT-3 Microsoft spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a ChatGPT supercomputer Custom AI chatbots are quietly becoming the next big thing in fandom ChatGPT is now available in Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service Discord starts testing ChatGPT-powered Clyde chatbot and other AI features Grammarly adds to its editing skills with AI suggestions. Microsoft is letting Bing chat for longer. Google I/O 2023 will be on May 10th Slack’s new ChatGPT bot will talk to your colleagues for you Google’s one step closer to building its 1,000-language AI model Meet the companies trying to keep up with ChatGPT Apple isn’t placing new restrictions on AI features in apps, at least not yet. Bing AI patch notes. Microsoft now lets you change Bing’s chatbot personality to be more entertaining OpenAI announces an API for ChatGPT and its Whisper speech-to-text tech Microsoft brings its new AI-powered Bing to the Windows 11 taskbar Are you exaggerating what your AI product can do? Mark Zuckerberg says Meta now has a team building AI tools and ‘personas’ Would you let ChatGPT control your smart home? Snapchat is releasing its own AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT AI-generated fiction is flooding literary magazines — but not fooling anyone OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has some thoughts about the future of artificial general intelligence. Meta has a new machine learning language model to remind you it does AI too Microsoft has been secretly testing its Bing chatbot ‘Sydney’ for years Can you think like an AI? Bing’s Chat mode is now on mobile — and you can speak to it China regulators rein in AI chatbots over fears of uncensored replies: report Microsoft broke the fun Bing game. If you need to use AI to respond to a tragedy, maybe it’s better to say nothing at all. Microsoft is already undoing some of the limits it placed on Bing AI AI-spam has driven one of the best science fiction and fantasy magazines to close submissions. Microsoft limits Bing chat to five replies to stop the AI from getting real weird Introducing the AI Mirror Test, which very smart people keep failing As conservatives criticize ‘woke AI,’ here are ChatGPT’s rules for answering culture war queries “They don’t actually tell us this is Bard, but this has Bard’s fingerprints all over it.” Microsoft’s Bing AI plotted its revenge and offered me furry porn AI search engines are not your friends The Supreme Court could be about to decide the legal fate of AI search Microsoft says talking to Bing for too long can cause it to go off the rails Microsoft’s Bing is an emotionally manipulative liar, and people love it Here’s why you’re still waiting for Bing AI We’re all living through our own personal AI hype cycle. Sometimes AI chatbot responses are clear, detailed, and wrong. BuzzFeed’s first AI-generated articles are ad-lib quizzes These are Microsoft’s Bing AI secret rules and why it says it’s named Sydney Do my AI’s deceive me, or have my AIs been deceived? Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo Opera’s building ChatGPT into its sidebar Reddit thinks AI chatbots will ‘complement’ human connection, not replace it “ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the Web.” Vergecast: We tried Bing powered by ChatGPT AI and things got dark AI art studio proves its work is worth at least a gift card. Microsoft to demo its new ChatGPT-like AI in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook soon A lot of people care about Bing right now. 7 problems facing Bing, Bard, and the future of AI search An AI-generated health story had several errors. Tired: turning a smartphone into a VR headset. Wired: betting you’ll solve AI. Google’s head of VR is leaving to form an AI company with the former co-CEO of Salesforce Bard 0, Bing 1. Satya Nadella explains why Microsoft is taking on Google now. Google’s AI chatbot Bard makes factual error in first demo How to watch Google’s Live from Paris search and AI event The battle over AI has just begun. Google shows off new AI search features, but a ChatGPT rival is still weeks away Google is still drip-feeding AI into search, Maps, and Translate Google Maps’ Immersive View is now available across five cities Watch Satya Nadella talk about “conversational intelligence agents.” ChatGPT doesn’t know anything. The new Microsoft Bing will sometimes misrepresent the info it finds Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing is open for everyone to try starting today A few basic videos showing what Microsoft’s Bing chatbot can do. Microsoft’s new chatbot tells you right away that fact-checking is YOUR responsibility. Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI Microsoft’s ChatGPT event live blog Microsoft and Google are about to Open an AI battle Is that GPT-4 I can see? Google announces ChatGPT rival Bard, with wider availability in ‘coming weeks’ Nothing, Forever, the Seinfeld AI show, has been temporarily banned from Twitch Spotify’s founder helped develop an AI-powered body health scanner Is this Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing? Google invested $300 million in AI firm founded by former OpenAI researchers OpenAI told its employees not to boast about ChatGPT’s success. Sports Illustrated’s publisher is using AI to generate fitness advice Google is holding an event about search and AI on February 8th It sounds like Google’s getting ready to compete with ChatGPT Microsoft’s next use for OpenAI tech is to write sales emails. Hustle bros are jumping on the AI bandwagon CNET pushed reporters to be more favorable to advertisers, staffers say Microsoft launches Teams Premium with features powered by OpenAI OpenAI announces ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month What’s the deal with this AI Seinfeld stream? Bing bong. Who’s that? GPT-4. Forget about ChatGPT — meow there’s CatGPT. Google is reportedly testing an alternate home page with ChatGPT-style Q&A prompts ChatGPT’s creator made a free tool for detecting AI-generated text 4chan users embrace AI voice clone tool to generate celebrity hatespeech The first AI-written speech delivered by congressman is as flavorless as you’d expect BuzzFeed says it will use AI tools from OpenAI to personalize its content DoNotPay chickens out on its courtroom AI chatbot stunt Microsoft extends OpenAI partnership in a ‘multibillion dollar investment’ ChatGPT users report $42 a month pricing for ‘pro’ access but no official announcement yet Google is freaking out about ChatGPT Check out this clever voice assistant demo hacked together with GPT-3 and Siri OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on GPT-4: ‘people are begging to be disappointed and they will be’ OpenAI opens waitlist for ‘experimental’ paid version of ChatGPT with faster answers How Kindle novelists are using ChatGPT DoNotPay is launching an AI chatbot that can negotiate your bills AI-generated answers temporarily banned on coding Q&A site Stack Overflow OpenAI’s new chatbot can explain code and write sitcom scripts but is still easily tricked The future of AI is a conversation with a computer OpenAI’s latest breakthrough is astonishingly powerful, but still fighting its flaws OpenAI will start selling its text-generation tech, and the first customers include Reddit

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has come into force, and it’s meant that some of the world’s biggest tech companies are having to make major changes to how they operate. The law, which is designed to increase competition in the EU’s digital markets, designates some large online companies and their services as “gatekeepers.” […]

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has come into force, and it’s meant that some of the world’s biggest tech companies are having to make major changes to how they operate. The law, which is designed to increase competition in the EU’s digital markets, designates some large online companies and their services as “gatekeepers.” Those that have received the gatekeeper designation — the companies on the list are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft — have to meet strict requirements intended to reduce anticompetitive behavior. Specific changes include Apple allowing alternative app stores on iOS, Meta making WhatsApp interoperable with other messaging services, and Google letting EU users choose which services share their data. But it’s likely we haven’t seen the last of the changes brought about by the DMA, as critics push back against how the likes of Apple are complying with the law in the hope that it’ll change its approach. You can read all of our coverage about the DMA below. Google may soon face charges from the EU. The first iOS 18.4 developer beta is here, with support for Priority Notifications Apple pushed hard by EU to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable A return to Google’s 10 blue links. Apple reportedly facing first-ever EU fine over App Store rules The EU deems X not “important” enough for DMA regulations. Google Search results are next on the EU’s list. Apple put on notice over support for third-party watches and headphones The Epic Games Store arrives on iPad in the EU Setapp Mobile’s open beta adds more apps for European iPhone users European iPad users can soon download apps from third-party stores WhatsApp will send messages to other apps soon — here’s how it will look EU iPhones will be able to change the default phone and messaging apps soon Apple is shaking up how it manages the App Store Playing Fortnite on iPhone again has shown me an alternate future Apple adds nearly endless 20 percent fee for developers in latest EU update Court rejects TikTok’s effort to skirt EU competition rules. Epic says its EU iOS app store is approved but that Apple wants a change Epic is one step closer to relaunching Fortnite on iPhones — in the EU. Fortnite is getting closer to a return on iOS in the EU. Facebook and Instagram’s ‘pay or consent’ ad model violates the DMA, says the EU EU competition chief isn’t happy with Apple’s AI snub. Apple is first company charged with violating EU’s DMA rules Apple may delay AI features in the EU because of its big tech law Apple and Meta could face charges for violating EU tech rules Apple could soon face charges in the EU over its App Store policy. Four Apple App Store alternatives are now live in Europe. We tested Aptoide, the first free iPhone app store alternative Web-based app distribution is go in Europe. Setapp Mobile is a completely new take on the iPhone’s app store The EU’s list of gatekeeper services hits 24. Why Spotify is still fighting with Apple in Europe Apple gives small developers more ways around its alternative app store tax iPads join iPhones in requirement to follow strict EU rules Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe The latest iOS 17.5 beta allows EU users to download apps from the web. Third-party browsers report record iPhone users. Google’s blog post takes jabs at Europe’s Digital Markets Act. iOS 17.5 supports website distribution of apps in Europe. A first look at Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores Apple, Meta, and Google targeted by EU in DMA non-compliance investigations Another look at WhatsApp’s third-party chat support — now in video form. The EU’s antitrust chief is paying close attention to Apple’s DMA compliance. Opera’s mobile browser is getting a lot of new users in the EU. Spotify says its iPhone app updates in the EU are getting held up by Apple Firefox saw an increase in users following Apple’s default browser changes in the EU. Brave choice. Epic Games just got unbanned by Apple — again Apple will cut off third-party app store updates if your iPhone leaves the EU for a month Apple’s last-minute App Store changes come with a catch — here’s what developers think Apple is working to make it easier to switch from iPhone to Android because of the EU Hello and goodbye to the MacBook Air Meta explains how WhatsApp’s encrypted chats will work with third-party services Apple kills Epic’s iOS game store plans over App Store criticism Experts fear the DMA won’t change the status quo Here’s the new iOS default browser nag for iPhone users in Europe. The EU’s new competition rules are going live — here’s how tech giants are responding iOS 17.4 is here and ready for a whole new Europe Google’s making game devs an offer they probably can’t refuse. Play Store developers can link to outside payment offers in the EU this week. This third-party iOS app store will be available in Europe this week. Apple tells its support staff not to shoot from the hip about sideloading. Here’s a peek under WhatsApp’s hood at how third-party chats will work. Now Apple says it won’t disable iPhone web apps in the EU Spotify and Epic criticize Apple’s iOS changes as ‘a mockery of the DMA’ Setapp is opening its subscription-only iOS app store Apple’s decision to drop iPhone web apps comes under scrutiny in the EU Apple will reportedly face a $539 million fine over Spotify’s antitrust complaint Apple unbanned Epic so it can make an iOS games store in the EU Yep, Apple’s breaking iPhone web apps in the EU Apple appears to be breaking iPhone web apps in the EU Google’s not happy about Apple and Microsoft escaping some DMA rules. TikTok’s attempt to stall DMA antitrust rules rejected by EU court Apple opens its doors to developers’ alternative app stores ahead of March launch. Here’s how WhatsApp plans to interoperate with other messaging apps Meta says Apple has made it ‘very difficult’ to build rival app stores in the EU Spotify accuses Apple of ‘extortion’ with new App Store tax Mozilla says Apple’s new browser rules are ‘as painful as possible’ for Firefox Apple explains the EU’s new iPhone/iPad split. Apple’s new default browser prompt for EU market iPhones will have a dozen options. Dirty tricks or small wins: developers are skeptical of Apple’s App Store rules Here’s the new Apple tax every developer is going to hate Epic intends to launch its game store — and Fortnite — on iOS Epic’s Tim Sweeney calls Apple App Store changes ‘hot garbage’ Apple is bringing sideloading and alternate app stores to the iPhone Apple’s EU-induced iOS sideloading plans are starting to emerge. Spotify plans to launch in-app purchases, if Apple gets out of the way Meta will let EU users unlink their Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger info ahead of DMA Google Search, Chrome, and Android are all changing thanks to EU antitrust law Google will now let EU users select which services share their data, thanks to the DMA Apple appeals after EU’s tough new DMA rules target App Store Threads is counting down to an EU launch next week Apple says iPhones will support RCS in 2024 The EU will finally free Windows users from Bing TikTok joins Meta in appealing “gatekeeper” status in EU. Meta will fight the EU over regulating Messenger Apple “expects” to make App Store changes due to legislation like the EU’s DMA. Google turns to regulators to make Apple open up iMessage WhatsApp is working on cross-platform messaging iMessage and Bing avoid strict DMA rules, for now Google Search, WhatsApp, and TikTok on list of 22 services targeted by EU’s tough new DMA Apple and Microsoft reportedly want iMessage and Bing off the EU’s tech ‘gatekeeper’ list Here’s why Threads is delayed in Europe Seven big tech companies say they’re platform gatekeepers under EU law Meta is planning to let people in the EU download apps through Facebook Apple is reportedly preparing to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone Google will let European Play Store users pay with alternate billing systems The EU could start enforcing rules to regulate Big Tech in spring 2023 New EU law could spark gold rush of iMessage alternatives Security experts say new EU rules will damage WhatsApp encryption Apple would be forced to allow sideloading and third-party app stores under new EU law EU targets Big Tech with sweeping new antitrust legislation

The state of electric vehicle charging in North America is shaping up like the smartphone charging wars — but focused on much more expensive hardware. Right now, like USB-C and Android phones, the Combined Charging System (CCS, Type 1) plug is on a greater variety of cars. Meanwhile, Tesla’s plug was long compared to Apple […]

An EVgo charging station that has each DC fast-charging cable option including CCS, CHAdeMO, and Tesla’s NACS. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge The state of electric vehicle charging in North America is shaping up like the smartphone charging wars — but focused on much more expensive hardware. Right now, like USB-C and Android phones, the Combined Charging System (CCS, Type 1) plug is on a greater variety of cars. Meanwhile, Tesla’s plug was long compared to Apple and Lightning. But while Apple eventually adopted USB-C, Tesla is opening up its connector, renaming it the North American Charging Standard (NACS), and trying to shove CCS out of the way. And it’s working: the new NACS port is being standardized by SAE International, and today, largely every automaker, including Ford, GM, Toyota, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Fisker, Hyundai, Stellantis, Volkswagen, and BMW, has signed on. New cars equipped with NACS are on the way but likely won’t start rolling out until 2026. Meanwhile, Europe already dealt with its standards issue by settling on CCS2. For now, EV drivers in their Tesla Model Ys, Kia EV6s, and Nissan Leafs (with the ailing CHAdeMO connector) in the US are still stuck looking for the right station or adapter and hoping everything’s operational — but things should get easier soon. To help solve these issues, the federal government has established a pool of $7.5 billion to fund charging network operators in building reliable EV infrastructure. North America can become a great and convenient place to own an electric vehicle, but how long will that take? You can find out by reading all the news about electric vehicle charging right here, so come back and plug in often. The GSA is shutting down its EV chargers, calling them ‘not mission critical’ Trump administration halts $5 billion EV charging program that benefited Tesla Ford is bringing its free home EV charger offer to Canada. Kia EVs will get Tesla Supercharger access in March Tesla Cybertrucks get faster charging at V4 Supercharger stalls. Lucid Gravity has a unique rear motor to help maximize EV charging ChargePoint is doing something about all the EV charger cable-cutting crooks Mercedes-Benz EV owners can start using Tesla Superchargers in February Hyundai will give its EV customers free NACS adapters in early 2025 GM and ChargePoint plan to install hundreds of fast EV chargers by the end of 2025 EVgo nabs $1.25 billion loan as Biden races to approve more EV spending Rivian opens up its charging network to other EVs for the first time Nissan needs a little something extra to connect the Ariya to Tesla’s Superchargers GM and EVgo now have over 2,000 EV charging stalls and counting A universal ‘Plug and Charge’ protocol for EV charging is coming in 2025 Elon Musk learns how EV charging works from Pete Buttigieg Tesla’s first 500kW V4 Superchargers are coming next year GM offers free nighttime charging to Chevy EV owners in Texas Curbside charging is coming to Michigan. Volvo and Polestar EVs are now getting Tesla Supercharger access Scout’s charge port looks… busy. Tesla is moving on its solar-powered Supercharger ambitions. Ford tells some EV customers to stop using its Tesla Supercharger adapter Nissan is giving Ariya owners a new charging network, access to Tesla Superchargers Juicebox’s EV charging customers get a reprieve. Nissan buys into Ford, BMW, and Honda’s home EV charging business Your next Blink EV charging station session might have an added fee. Ionna’s first charging station is breaking ground in North Carolina. What’s it like to Supercharge a Rivian? Kia EVs will get Tesla Supercharger access starting on January 15th EV charging sucks — can smart cameras make it better? GM electric vehicles can finally access Tesla Superchargers Lucid shows off Gravity SUV with Tesla port and teases a cheaper midsize EV Hyundai’s first EV with native Tesla Supercharging is the new Ioniq 5 The Nissan Leaf’s bi-directional charging dream continues. Non-Tesla EV owners are still waiting for Supercharger access. EV charging gets another massive funding push from Biden administration This new EV plug automatically delivers the right connection for your car An analysis of 20,000 EV stations concludes that charging is still a massive bummer Mercedes-Benz’s 400kW EV chargers are coming to Starbucks Home generator company Generac just launched an electric vehicle charger Ford’s answer to Texas blackouts: loads of generators on wheels. Toyota rolls into the Ionna EV charging joint venture. LG Electronics will supply EV chargers to ChargePoint as part of new deal Mercedes-Benz will deploy new 400kW DC fast chargers built in North America. Porsche is Macan friends with ChargePoint. Ionna, the EV charging company backed by seven automakers, is beginning to take shape How AI could change EV charging Airbnb entices hosts with discounted EV chargers The megawatt charging plug for EV semi trucks is coming to ChargePoint. Tesla Superchargers experiencing a different kind of cut. Hey, you still available? No longer filed in gas stations. Republicans are pulling out all the stops to reverse EV adoption Tesla’s Supercharger layoffs couldn’t have come at a worse time So what’s next for Tesla’s Superchargers? Tesla layoffs hit Supercharger team just as it’s poised to take over EV charging This EV prototype charges from 10 to 80 percent almost as fast as a gas fill-up. How do you get reimbursed for recharging the company electric car at home? The United States now has one EV charging station for every 15 gas stations. Google Maps will use AI to help you find out-of-the-way EV chargers Rivian’s new software update will help you avoid all the broken EV chargers Rivian owners now have access to Tesla Superchargers Revel offers 25 percent charging discounts to eligible Uber drivers in NYC. Tesla says that Rivian, GM, Polestar, and Volvo are next in line for Supercharger access. Ford offers EV owners free Tesla Supercharger adapters until July Rivian owners with iPhones can use Live Activities to monitor charging. Ford is testing its Tesla Supercharger adapter. Google Maps might soon show Plug and Charge EV stations — where you pay with your car. Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months Stellantis becomes the last major automaker to adopt Tesla’s charging plug Ford EV owners will get their Tesla Supercharger adapters for free. Tesla Supercharger in Chicago packed with “dead robots” that can’t charge in the cold. LG is building an EV charger factory in Texas. So about that nationwide EV charging network. Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi finally say they will use Tesla’s EV charging plug Those GM-partnered EV charging stations feel inspired. Ford and Xcel Energy will build 30,000 EV charging ports for fleet businesses GM, EVgo, and Pilot are making progress on their big coast-to-coast EV charging network EVgo and Meijer are linking up to install more fast chargers in Ohio. Ford revises dealership EV charger rules after pushback. Hertz and EVgo’s year-long offer is like a discount gas card, except for EVs. Broken, busted, and out of order. Mercedes-Benz opens its first 400kW EV charging station in the US Lucid Air can now be used as a portable battery bank for Tesla. And there goes another one. Subaru is adopting Tesla’s EV charging port as holdout numbers dwindle Tesla’s first big Supercharger deal is a $100 million sale to BP The first V4 Tesla Superchargers in the US are now operational. Toyota and Lexus join the Tesla charging connector bandwagon ChargePoint is bringing Tesla’s NACS plug to its vast network of EV chargers These space-saving public EV chargers are ridiculously fast and rolling out now BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce are the latest to sync up with Tesla’s EV charging plug Tesla adds the ability to predict Supercharger stall availability. ChargePoint is finding the help it needs to keep its EV chargers up and running. The first US V4 Tesla Superchargers are coming. Hyundai and Kia’s future EVs will also have Tesla’s EV charging port The 2024 Honda Prologue EV will have 300 miles of range EVgo is trying to turn around complaints about slow, broken EV chargers Expect to see more EV chargers at more Marriott hotels. Jaguar cuts a Tesla Supercharging deal, too. Hyundai is offering free home chargers and install discounts for new EV buyers The Biden administration approves $100 million to fix the nation’s broken EV chargers Ford, Honda, and BMW create a new vehicle-to-grid company to help EV owners save money Tesla will install up to 20,000 versatile EV chargers at Hilton locations Chevy’s recalling Bolt EUV chargers that could shock you. Honda is the latest automaker to adopt Tesla’s charging port for its future EVs EVgo opened its latest DC fast-charger location at a Chase Bank. Tesla owners might not have to worry about Supercharging too much. Mercedes-Benz’s first EV charging hubs will open this fall Google Maps will stop showing gas stations to EV owners Comcast has… EV charging stations? EV charging in the US is still a no good, very bad time — and somehow it’s getting worse Rivian’s EV trucks have another place to plug and charge. Fisker’s going for the Tesla connector as well Ford CEO finds charging his own company’s EVs “challenging.” Google realizes EV drivers don’t need to find gas stations. ChargePoint is spending millions to boost station reliability to ‘nearly 100 percent’ A plugged-in Tesla can still make front page news somewhere Why charge an EV when you can just swap its battery? Tesla’s next-gen Superchargers are getting faster. Seven major automakers are teaming up on a North American EV charging network Nissan is on board with Tesla’s charging revolution ‘Welcome to EV dongle town’ SAE is pushing to standardize Tesla’s plug by year end. Mercedes-Benz says ‘ja’ to Tesla’s EV charging connector VW in talks to adopt Tesla’s EV charging plug, but Toyota is staying silent I’m slightly pissed at NACS. Electrify America is the next big charging network to adopt Tesla’s ‘standard’ EV plug Now Polestar is plugging into Tesla’s Superchargers too. Volvo’s upcoming EVs join the Tesla Supercharger bandwagon The SAE is standardizing Tesla’s EV charging plug as it racks up more wins Tesla’s NACS plug will be required at EV charging stations in Washington and Texas Tesla is about to pull the plug on its main EV charging rival GM follows Ford in adopting Tesla’s EV charging standard Elon Musk and GM CEO Mary Barra are about to chat live, and I can guess what they’re going to say. Ford needs Tesla to help it beat Tesla Ford EVs will use Tesla’s charging plug starting next year Walmart’s preparing to build its own coast-to-coast EV charging network How to charge your non-Tesla EV at a Tesla Supercharger Now your EV can grab a Big Gulp. Tesla’s plan to open its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs takes shape Electrify America is increasing prices at its DC fast charging stations More Electrify America EV chargers are coming, this time at TA rest stops Shell is acquiring EV charging network Volta for $169 million EVgo’s New Year’s resolution: make its EV fast-charging network more reliable Mercedes-Benz and ChargePoint are going to install thousands of EV fast chargers in the US Tesla opens up its charging connector in a bid to become the North American standard Tritium and DC-America are building a coast-to-coast EV fast charging network Tesla is now taking votes for its next Supercharger locations Electric vehicle owners are fed up with broken EV chargers and janky software Ikea and Electrify America team up to install over 200 public fast chargers in 18 states Now non-Tesla EVs can use its Superchargers in the UK, Spain, Sweden, and Austria Google’s using AI to plan electric car trips because EV charging is still a nightmare Tesla vehicles can soon be charged at EVgo charging stations in the US Google Maps now filters searches for EV charger plug types Tesla files permit for ‘restaurant and Supercharger station’ in Santa Monica Europe is getting a network of ‘ultra-fast, high-powered’ EV chargers BMW and Volkswagen are challenging Tesla with a network of fast chargers for electric vehicles BMW, Ford, GM, and others agree on new fast-charging standard for EVs

President Donald Trump kicked off the first day of his presidency by signing a flurry of executive actions, including halting enforcement of the TikTok ban and rolling back the Biden administration’s artificial intelligence order. Having already run the country once before, Trump entered the presidency with the goal of hitting the ground running, having already […]

President Donald Trump kicked off the first day of his presidency by signing a flurry of executive actions, including halting enforcement of the TikTok ban and rolling back the Biden administration’s artificial intelligence order. Having already run the country once before, Trump entered the presidency with the goal of hitting the ground running, having already selected nominees and chairs for key agencies that oversee tech. This time, Trump has the backing of many tech billionaires who attended his inauguration and showed up at his home in Mar-a-Lago. Read on below as we keep track of all the ways Trump is leaving his mark on tech in his first 100 days in office. The GSA is shutting down its EV chargers, calling them ‘not mission critical’ Elon Musk’s first month of destroying America will cost us decades Trump shed some light on his meeting with Tim Cook. Coinbase says the SEC has agreed to drop its crypto lawsuit I cannot describe how strange Elon Musk’s CPAC appearance was Not advertising on X could be bad for business. Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Trump today. Some people who accepted the ‘fork in the road’ federal resignation offer got fired anyway. Nuclear whiplash. Trump administration hits disaster relief team with layoffs. A departing USDS leader’s thoughts on DOGE. Trump and Musk discuss DOGE and their relationship in a Fox News interview. Trump administration cancels approval for NYC congestion pricing. Trump issues an executive order claiming more oversight of independent agencies like the FTC and FCC. DOGE’s alleged cost-cutting achievements included a few extra zeroes. You’re (not) fired! DOGE can keep accessing government data for now, judge rules Elon Musk doesn’t work for DOGE DOGE is trying to access the IRS’s data on millions of taxpayers A team from SpaceX is being brought in to overhaul the FAA’s air traffic control system A US agency has been told to stop its election security work. Trump admin pulls hundreds of videos from CFPB’s YouTube channel Judge temporarily blocks mass firings at CFPB. Three different court hearings over DOGE just today. Trump administration adds anti-trans notices to restored websites Climate group that called for ‘free Palestine’ stripped of federal funding Treasury inspector general will investigate DOGE payments access Small businesses are already feeling Trump’s tariffs The technology team at financial regulator CFPB has been gutted Elon Musk’s DOGE website has been defaced because anyone can edit it Trump administration ordered to temporarily unfreeze foreign aid funds. “Trump’s share of a $10 million settlement Elon Musk’s X agreed to this week is expected to go to him directly.” What’s with the EPA seizing ‘gold bars’? State Dept.’s plan to buy $400 million worth of armored Teslas hastily changed to ‘armored EVs’ Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook Trump’s January 6th Twitter lawsuit settled for ‘about $10 million’ Waste.gov locks down after people discover it’s just a WordPress template NHTSA censors car crash data to only reflect two genders. The Trump administration restores federal webpages after court order FCC to investigate Comcast for having DEI programs Trump administration illegally allowed DOGE to access workers’ data, lawsuit alleges Donald Trump reignites the lightbulb wars Constitutional crisis intensifies. Elon Musk’s DOGE activities trigger protests, vandalism for Tesla Elon Musk’s rapid unscheduled disassembly of the US government Trump’s next target: pennies. The CFPB’s headquarters are closing. Federal judge blocks DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury records RIP CFPB? Musk promises to reinstate DOGE staffer linked to racist account FEMA’s website started deleting ‘climate change’ DOGE wreaked havoc on the government in just one week Federal employees who work to protect the environment are getting the ax. Mentions of trans kids scrubbed from national child safety clearinghouse website The ‘custom chatbot’ DOGE is reportedly building for the GSA. Trump’s energy secretary bypassed legal, IT warnings against giving a DOGE rep access. Mark Zuckerberg visits the White House. Deadline for government’s ‘Fork in the road’ mass resignation program delayed by court Trump has California’s high-speed rail in his crosshairs again Head of DOGE-controlled government tech task force resigns Elon Musk’s DOGE storms federal weather forecasters’ headquarters Donald Trump’s data purge has begun The FDIC is “reevaluting” its approach crypto oversight. “I think they’re playing a quantity game and assuming the system can’t react to all this illegality at once.” DOGE (reportedly) has full access to a major US payment system. ‘Scared and betrayed’ — workers are reeling from chaos at federal agencies Treasury Department sued over DOGE takeover An “AI-first” GSA. “There is not one single entity holding Musk accountable.” CBS is preparing to give Harris interview materials to the FCC. Trump agrees to a one-month pause on Mexico, Canada tariffs Trump orders a ‘sovereign wealth fund’ for the US. Data brokers can keep selling your social security number, says new CFPB chief Canada will retaliate against Trump with tariffs on US goods Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China Canadian officials have reportedly been notified of tariffs. Trump fires CFPB head Rohit Chopra Mr. Nvidia goes to the White House. Trump’s first round of tariffs is almost here Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle Trump account suspension suit Lee Zeldin, who wants to “make America the AI capital of the world” will lead the Environmental Protection Agency. The new transportation secretary’s first act is to start letting cars pollute more. Trump’s media company is getting into fintech, too. Elon Musk saying he’ll ‘bring home’ two astronauts for Trump is as dumb as it sounds. Another change from Google’s maps team. Did Elon Musk write the federal worker buyout email? Donald Trump wants to claw back clean energy funding DeepSeek wakes up Trump. Trump says Microsoft wants TikTok (again). Google Maps in the US will change to Gulf of America and Mount McKinley Trump says he’ll put tariffs on imported chips ‘in the near future’ Elon Musk email to X staff: ‘we’re barely breaking even’ Trump bends to the tech oligarchy. How Meta’s MAGA heel turn is a play for global power Less Trump, unless you want it. Brendan Carr amps up his censorship campaign. NASA’s climate website is ‘moving.’ Satya Nadella on Elon’s Stargate accusations: “All I know is I’m good for my $80 billion.” Dozens of subreddits are banning links to X Trump’s war on electric cars has only just begun Elon Musk, White House adviser, says OpenAI deal announced at White House is a sham A PSA for all those wondering why you’re suddenly following Trump and Vance on social. Trump is absolutely going to make ByteDance sell TikTok or shut down again. Trump is discussing a 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Trump pardons Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht Donald Trump acknowledged his meme coin today. Trump says he’s open to Musk or Ellison buying TikTok OpenAI and SoftBank are starting a $500 billion AI data center company ACLU and 18 states sue Trump over his attempt to repeal birthright citizenship CBS News reports OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank will announce a ‘Stargate’ AI data center project. A federal website on reproductive rights has vanished The United States Digital Service is now DOGE — here’s what it was responsible for. Donald Trump rescinds Biden-era executive order on AI safety ‘There is no “EV mandate.”’ Trump signs executive order to reverse Biden’s electric vehicle policies Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days Brendan Carr is officially in charge of the FCC Vivek Ramaswamy steps down from DOGE Trump declares a ‘national energy emergency’