AI is not just a new fact of life, it’s a pervasive one, whether it’s appearing in new computers that have it baked into the core of their silicon brains, or being pushed by companies promising to make ultra-smart AI that’s safe for humanity.
About the only thing that’s consistent now is that things don’t always go smoothly when AI comes into contact with consumers. I mean, it’s always exciting and fun, especially when you can quickly whip up an illustration of a robot babysitter without hiring a photographer or drawing a single pixel by hand (see my story linked below). But for every AI success there’s a Microsoft Recall – that bit of privacy-concerns-raising technology is now out of the latest Windows build, at least for the time being. Things didn’t go much better when AIs tried to write jokes, as you’ll also see below.
AI’s appeal will really be put to the test when Apple’s next iOS and new iPhones arrive in September. Most, if not all, will feature Apple Intelligence, which may or may not be a way for Apple to sell more iPhones (Apple insists it isn't).
I’ve been distracted this week by US lawmakers' new penchant for trying to ban all sorts of technology. TikTok has been in their crosshairs for years (its Chinese parent company ByteDance just filed a brief calling a potential ban or forced sale unconstitutional). Next up, Kaspersky Antivirus, security software that comes from Russian and may soon face a ban, and DJI drones. DJI is the most popular drone-maker in the US, and also happens to be a Chinese company. I can’t say I love this knee-jerk urge to ban things.
For a break from all this, I must turn to TV. I just polished off Star Trek: Discovery, and my next jam might just be Max’s Penguin (that’s Batman’s nemesis), which drops in September. It looks so gritty and intense.
From this week to next, and we have something special planned starting Monday: Smart Home Week. I asked our Managing Editor, Lifestyle Josie Watson to describe a little of what you can expect. She told me this is the moment to get in on the smart home craze, and that Smart Home Week “will be filled with helpful tips and tricks, expert insights, and all the latest news to help you get started building your smart home, or take your existing smart setup to the next level.”
I’m sold, and ready to make the dumb parts of my home smarter – though I’m still not sure about the AI…
Lance Ulanoff, Editor-at-Large
The week in AI
We might never be able to fully trust AI (Shutterstock)
There's a shiny new AI company on the scene called Safe Superintelligence, set up by departing OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, but TechRadar Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff argues that we'll never get advanced AI tools that are completely safe.
We're getting a pile of Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18 later this year, but they'll only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, of the iPhones currently on sale – something Apple says is about hardware limitations, not forcing upgrades.
Microsoft has come in for a lot of criticism over the Recall feature it's been testing for Windows 11 – which essentially records everything you do on your PC – and now it seems to have been pulled from the latest testing builds of the operating system.
The potential US ban on DJI drones just got a step closer: a bill has now passed the House of Representatives and is heading to the Senate, which means it's not looking good for the leading drone maker, or for drone enthusiasts in the United States.
Wondering what to watch this weekend? The latest batch of on-demand arrivals includes Trigger Warning and Black Barbie on Netflix, while Federer: Twelve Final Days and Five Nights at Freddy's begin streaming on Prime Video and Sky, respectively.
