AI

A post on the Claude X account featured a video announcement. The reinstatement was announced last night, alongside a blog post by Anthropic about the weekslong negotiation process leading up to it.

This report from Reuters says 34-year-old Michael Lines alleges that conversations with OpenAI’s now-retired GPT-4o model eventually pushed him to attempt suicide. He overdosed on drugs, but survived.

The AI search tool will start linking directly to source recipes at the top of cooking queries, with images, ratings, and ingredient numbers. Not every food writer is happy though, since there’s still a full AI-generated recipe below the links, sometimes with opaque sourcing and errors in the instructions.

According to an unnamed spokesperson speaking to the FT, Tim Cook and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen had a “constructive exchange on topics of common interest” on Tuesday over the current impasse that will leave roughly 450 million people without access to Apple Intelligence that actually works:

Google is rolling out its frighteningly good AI agent to the Gemini macOS app, meaning Spark can access and work with files on your computer.

Neon was one of the only studios that seemed interested in picking up Luca Guadagnino’s biographical drama about Sam Altman after Amazon suddenly decided not to distribute the movie. And now, Neon is reportedly “in advanced talks” for a deal that could get the project into theaters.

The company’s new mid-tier model, the successor to Sonnet 4.6, can “make plans, use tools like browsers and terminals, and run autonomously at a level that, just a few months ago, required larger and more expensive models,” Anthropic wrote in a release, adding that its performance “is close to that of Opus 4.8.” The company was also careful to include that it has a “much lower ability to perform dangerous cybersecurity tasks than our current Opus models.”

Anthropic launched Claude Science in beta today, calling it an “AI workbench for scientists.” The tool pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment, and generates figures and visuals like 3D protein structures.

The Grammy-winning satirical musician told Syracuse.com that he’s “not a fan” of the generative technology, and that he turned down “a nice pile of money” after walking away from a commerical for business productivity software.

Those are OpenAI executive Fidji Simo’s words, not mine. But presumably a custom mini-keyboard for Codex doesn’t count?

The gadget is called the Codex Micro, and it’s being shown at the AI Engineer World Fair, where it’s being described as a keyboard that’s “designed to supercharge people’s Codex usage,” according to OpenAI spokesperson Dominik Kundel.

Users can pair the app with the “gateway” that powers the open-source AI assistant, according to its description on the Google Play Store and App Store. Once connected, users can chat with OpenClaw using real-time voice conversations, approve an agent’s actions, and control access to features like their device’s camera or location.

In April, Google announced that AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers in the US would be able to connect Google Photos with Personal Intelligence to let Gemini generate AI images based on their personal context. Beginning today, however, the feature won’t be behind a subscription: all eligible users in the US will have access.

It’s time for a new series on The Vergecast! (It still needs a name. Please help.) We’re going to give Verge staffers a challenge, and regroup a few weeks later to see who did it best. We’re starting with some vibe coding. The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Hayden Field share what they’ve made with AI that has actually stuck in their lives, before David gives the challenge: build a website to solve a problem in your life. We’ll be back with the results soon, and in the meantime, send us ideas for more challenges! (Also, names for the series. PLEASE.)

Cursor, which SpaceX recently announced plans to acquire, says its new app can help users launch and track AI agents, as well as show updates about an agent’s progress via the iPhone’s Live Activities feature.

They will get a 50% discount on access to Claude, as part of a “first-of-its-kind collaboration” that also includes complimentary workforce training, technical assistance, and “workflow input from Anthropic developers,” per a release. On the state level, government employees will use Claude to help draft and summarize documents, analyze information, and supplement day-to-day work, per the release.

Google has struggled to keep up with demand for its cloud computing power, and Meta has grown increasingly reliant on Gemini for many of its needs. Now, Meta, along with a number of other clients, is being told that Google simply can’t provide the capacity they want. According to the Financial Times:

Jeff Bridges is best known as an actor. But he’s also a reasonably accomplished musician who’s put out records on Blue Note and worked with T Bone Burnett. Which makes it all the more depressing when he fired up Suno on This Past Weekend with Theo Von.

With its Vision Pro headset suddenly even more expensive, and plans for smart glasses apparently in the works, Bloomberg reports Apple is losing Paul Meade, the hardware VP who was in charge of those projects. The report says he’ll reunite with former Apple designers, including Jony Ive, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey, at OpenAI, which purchased their startup last year, as the executive shakeup under new Apple CEO John Ternus continues.

SpaceX bonds are creating losses for the fast-money types who piled in at the offering. “Bond types either aren’t sure that SpaceX will hang on to its investment-grade credit ratings, or will only get involved if they get paid a fat risk premium for doing so,” the Financial Times explains. SpaceX stock is, as of this writing, trading below its IPO price. Gee, if only someone had pointed out that this company is a stinker.

You may remember the period when Zuck tried to pretend he was Very Manly (MMA fighting, Joe Rogan appearance). He seems to be walking that back now, like he realized he overstepped with that horrible attempt at streetwear. Gentlemen, if you want to look like a grown-ass man, the kind who is competent and in charge? Make a mood board of Cary Grant outfits. (If you want to go more contemporary, Colman Domingo.) Fashion is only trivial if you’re stupid — your style expresses your persona before you say a single word, and Zuck’s is still “wannabe.”

I’m not sure there’s an AI agent that can solve the fact that everything costs more and the planet is melting.

The AI audio platform has adopted Google’s invisible watermarking technology to help identify AI-generated content online. SynthID is now included in text-to-speech generations for free users, and will expand coverage to all ElevenLabs audio generations “over the coming weeks.” The watermarks can be detected using the ElevenLabs Audio Detector.

Training data is the raw material of the AI industry. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and the rest are built on top of oceans of stuff. What is that stuff? Books. Blog posts. YouTube videos. News articles. All of it and more, in virtually incomprehensible quantities. Alex Reisner, a staff writer at The Atlantic who has been investigating training data, explains how AI companies get all this data, why they’d really prefer you not know what’s in it, and whether training data could ever be a fair trade.