AI doomerism broke containment last week with an Anthropic researcher’s proclamation that there’s a >10% chance AI could kill all humans within the decade. The Vergecast is recording an all-AI hotline with senior reporter Hayden Field, and we want to hear from you. Comment on this post, e-mail vergecast@theverge.com, or call us at 866-VERGE-11.
Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)
Following a very Sam Altman-ish arc, TechCrunch reports that Mullenweg’s return as CEO of the parent company for WordPress has come with the departure of the board that had voted to put him on a paid leave of absence.
It notes changes to public bios for Toni Schneider and Sue Decker, and that an internal announcement may come today — if anyone has more info, we’re all ears.
Wish Valve’s headset let you see your surroundings in full color instead of monochrome? In my hand is the $150 Arcturus Vision Camera, which can solve that (see images below). Need more battery and better audio? Pop the compute core into Valve’s upcoming “Enthusiast Kit” to add twin stackable magnetic batteries, premium off-ear drivers, and more.
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Even the base XPS 13 is an excellent laptop. But you’re still gonna want the 16GB model.
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Valve’s new headset is another joyous piece of early access hardware.
The Hori Arcade Classic Pro, now available for preorder in Japan for around $260, features a pair of modular slots where you can install a standard 8-way joystick, a paddle, a trackball, or a rotating loop lever stick. It’s compatible with PC and the Switch 2 and could be a great solution for playing a wide variety of classic arcade titles.
Reuters quotes Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel saying that, “….we’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air, the operator of Flight 7598.”
So far, the NTSB reports that despite warnings about speed, “There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed” from the plane’s pilot before it overran the end of the runway on September 6th, killing five people.
From April 2nd-4th, Oprah Winfrey’s AHA — an immersive experience that blends music, visual art, and storytelling — will be showing at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
The comedian, podcast host, and, yes, YouTuber on the state of media today.
Trump may have lost the aggression of David Sacks as AI czar, but he’s now picking up the baton. In another all-timer posted to Truth Social, Trump says the only guardrails AI needs can be provided by his “high IQ.” This comes right on the heels of AI leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who Trump maligns in his post, stating they want to slow down AI development for safety reasons.
Opposing AI and data centers? That could now make you look “treasonous” in Trump’s warped world.
Director Valerie Veatch’s excellent Ghost in the Machine documentary digging into the origins of generative artificial intelligence is set to make its debut on the PBS Documentaries YouTube channel this evening.
First announced during the Fairphone 6 Plus launch last month we finally have more pics of the Fairbuds 2 that will launch later this year thanks to leaks shared by NieuweMobiel. Pricing and the level of repairability still isn’t known, but the redesigned Fairbuds 2 appear to have a stubby stem and a larger charging case.
In addition to a “Delta Duo” teaser recently shared on Threads, lead developer Riley Testut told Retro Dodo that “the plan is to have dedicated support for the Duo in Delta” and the work they did “making sure that Delta worked with resizing and multi-window support back when Stage Manager first debuted for iPadOS”is already proving beneficial for the upcoming Duo support.
To ensure content isn’t obscured and all swipe gestures still work while using a protective case, the iPhone Duo includes a new “Shift Left Edge” setting spotted by Nicolas Lellouche after Apple’s event last week. Turning it on increases the narrow black border on the left edge of the Duo’s front screen.
Microsoft added SpaceXAI’s Grok models to its Foundry service last year, and now it’s expanding the access to Copilot itself. Grok models can now be used in Word, Excel and PowerPoint from the model picker interface for Microsoft Frontier users. Microsoft says it’s starting with a preview release to “gather feedback.” This means Office Copilot users can now pick between OpenAI’s GPT models, Anthropic’s Claude models, and SpaceXAI’s Grok models.
When asked about the flurry of weekend blog posts and tweets from the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft, SpaceX, (and Alphabet’s Hassabis) calling for a coordinated slowdown on the development of advanced AI models, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said, “Fear mongering, confrontation, competition will just disrupt [the] process of global AI governance.”
That partially aligns with Trump’s view that the execs are overreacting and “bringing up things that won’t happen,” but at least Beijing supports international regulation.
Last night, the OpenAI CEO lent additional support to Anthropic’s CEO urging AI companies to slow down advanced model development. “When we talk about ‘pacing,’ we do not mean ‘stopping.’ Progress has been rapid and will continue to be. But it should be slower than it otherwise could be,” said Altman. That statement seems targeted at Trump and Co who fear letting China catch up. “No amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring.”
“Where we will need the help of our government is for international coordination. But first we should do what we can ourselves,” Altman added.
Oppo is teasing a September 22nd launch of its Find X10 series in China. The Pro Max model is reliably tipped to pack three 200MP sensors into the squircle around back, while the flash and other sensors get stuffed into that raised vertical bar.
Late Sunday night, the LA Clippers owner announced he and the team are complying with the league’s penalties for the whole jumbotron corruption scandal.
That includes paying a $30 million fine and a one-year suspension for Ballmer himself, not to mention what may come from ongoing SEC and DOJ investigations.
According to The Washington Post, the spy agency is set to undergo its largest restructuring in over a decade. Army general and NSA director Joshua M. Rudd is leading the effort. According to the Post:
Rudd’s initiative calls for the creation at NSA’s Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters of five new organizations inside the agency, in artificial intelligence, China, cybersecurity, combat support or warfighting, and global intelligence. Each will be led by a newly elevated “mission director” …
[The Washington Post]
The second-generation Tesla Roadster appears to be set for a reveal on October 1st. That’s nearly nine years since the prototype was first shown off in November of 2017, and we’re still probably at least another year or so out from availability.
After high-profile incidents in which agents went rogue, hacked other sites, and overwhelmed a German wiki, some AI execs are calling for a slowdown. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy open letter yesterday saying it was time to “pace the frontier.” OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk both agreed. What do you think? Is it time to pump the brakes? Is it already too late? Or are you looking forward to serving your AI overlords?
The 1980 record from the San Francisco band is raw, infectious, and shockingly modern.
