Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement.
Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, seen here participating in a Tax Day protest in 2017. | Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, as well as authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey — are suing OpenAI and Meta each in a US District Court over dual claims of copyright infringement.
The suits alleges, among other things, that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA were trained on illegally-acquired datasets containing their works, which they say were acquired from “shadow library” websites like Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and others, noting the books are “available in bulk via torrent systems.”
Golden and Kadrey each declined to comment on the lawsuit, while Silverman’s team did not respond by press time.
In the OpenAI suit, the trio offers exhibits showing that when prompted, ChatGPT will summarize their books,...
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My kids love Furby — send help
The new Furby. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
I thought I was off the hook.
When I told my kids the new Furby was done staying at our house, they seemed to understand. “We’ll miss you a lot, Furby!!” my six-year-old exclaimed — but there were no cries, no tantrums. They asked if Furby could play one more song. They gave it a goodbye hug. Then, I happily stuck the talking puffball deep in the garage.
But a day later, my three-year-old made an uncharacteristic offhand remark: “I wish we had enough money to buy a Furby...” she said, her full-force puppy dog eyes burning into my soul.
Here’s the good news: I can confirm 2023’s Furby is no currently longer plotting to take over the world.
But that’s only because Furby wants the Moon first.
@seanhollister
Furby wants the Moon. #toy...
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Apple may be ‘experimenting’ with a 32-inch iMac, but don’t expect one soon
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
Apple is experimenting with larger iMacs, including a 32-inch version, for the future of its famous desktop line, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who wrote in the subscriber-only version of his Power On newsletter today that development is still early, so much could change. He doesn’t believe we’ll see one before the end of 2024.
Gurman also tweaked his predicted timeline for the M3-powered iMac he said in March would be coming as soon as the second half of this year at the earliest. This time, he said he expects them by early next year.
It makes sense that Apple would be working on a bigger iMac. People like bigger screens! And while the 24-inch model Apple sells now is a solid compromise between the former 21.5-inch and the...
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Google’s medical AI chatbot is already being tested in hospitals
Illustration: The Verge
Google’s Med-PaLM 2, an AI tool designed to answer questions about medical information, has been in testing at the Mayo Clinic research hospital, among others, since April, The Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Med-PaLM 2 is a variant of PaLM 2, which was announced at Google I/O in May this year. PaLM 2 is the language model underpinning Google’s Bard.
WSJ reports that an internal email it saw said Google believes its updated model can be particularly helpful in countries with “more limited access to doctors.” Med-PaLM 2 was trained on a curated set of medical expert demonstrations, which Google believes will make it better at healthcare conversations than generalized chatbots like Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT.
The paper also...
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Gizmodo’s staff isn’t happy about G/O Media’s AI-generated content
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
G/O Media, who owns popular tech site Gizmodo along with a slew of other outlets, began publishing AI-generated articles last week, despite strong objections from many of the members of its staff, according to The Washington Post. The articles are all credited to various bots — Gizmodo Bot, for example — with no other indication that the article was created using an AI chatbot. Unsurprisingly, the stories needed a lot of work.
The internal reaction to Gizmodo’s first chatbot-created story — a chronological list of Star Wars movies that wasn’t chronological — wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, with journalists reportedly writing in Slack that it was “actively hurting our reputations and credibility.”
Brown told staff in an email in late June...
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The good version of TweetDeck is back, but for how long?
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Overnight, users across Twitter began reporting that the older, and much better, version of TweetDeck has returned. It was disabled last week when Twitter abruptly threw up a rate-limiting paywall and killed the legacy APIs that allowed the old version of the feature to function.
A scan of Twitter’s official accounts, as well as those is Elon Musk and new CEO Linda Yaccarino didn't show anyone saying anything about the old TweetDeck’s return — the Twitter Support account’s most recent tweet is the one from several days ago announcing the launch of the new TweetDeck.
Afterwards, Twitter foisted its “new, improved” TweetDeck, which has been in preview for over two years, on the world. It announced via the Twitter support account that the...
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Apple’s new Mac Studio and 15-inch MacBook Air are both on sale right now
Both the M2 Max and M2 Ultra-powered versions of the Mac Studio are discounted this weekend. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
It’s a good week for Apple aficionados looking to score some good deals on Apple’s newest computers. Not only is the 15-inch MacBook Airon sale for $100 off at Amazon and B&H Photo, but we’re also seeing the first notable discount on Apple’s latest Mac Studio. Right now, Expercom – an Apple-authorized retailer – is selling the new M2 Max-powered desktop machine starting at $1,899.05($100 off) with 32GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 12-core CPU, and a 30-core GPU. If you’re looking for even more power, you can buy the M2 Ultra version starting at $3,799.05 ($200 off) with 64GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, a 24-core CPU, and a 60-core GPU.
The new Mac Studio is a powerhouse of a desktop, one that’s ideal for professionals who need a blazingly...
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How to run games on a Chromebook
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
Chromebooks were originally synonymous with lightweight, online-only, relatively inexpensive computing. Over time, however, they’ve become more and more capable, not only as useful day-to-day systems but as gaming machines, too.
In fact, there are actually more gaming options on ChromeOS than many people may realize. So we’re going to take you through the options.
To begin with, as well as giving you access to web games that run in a browser, ChromeOS supports Android games as well. Add in the Steam client for Chromebooks, plus the possibilities offered by cloud gaming services, and you’re really spoilt for choice.
You can pick some or all of these options, depending on your gaming needs and your budget.
Android and web games
ChromeOS...
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Pokémon Go creator Niantic accused of ‘systemic sexual bias’ in lawsuit
James Bareham / The Verge
A former Niantic employee filed a lawsuit against the AR gaming company on Friday, alleging that it devalued the work of female employees and women of color, denied equal pay to women employees and women of color. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, accuses Niantic of creating a “boys club.” The employee was laid off as part of last week’s job cuts at the company, which affected about 230 staffers.
The employee, who is an anonymous Jane Doe but is described in the complaint as an Asian female, started work at Niantic in February 2020 with a salary of $70,000, the complaint says. Later that year, she was promoted and received a raise to about $84,000, but in “approximately” 2021, she learned that Niantic was paying a male...
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Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now
The Apple Watch Series 8 isn’t a massive step up from the prior model, but it does offer a few new features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Editor’s note: Amazon Prime Day is nearly here. Thankfully, if you’re looking to get a leg up on the two-day shopping event, we’ve rounded up the best early Prime Day deals you can already get.
In September, Apple launched its latest batch of smartwatches, introducing the first-ever Ultra ($799) alongside the Series 8 ($399) and a new Apple Watch SE ($249). Each wearable has its own pros and cons, but the introduction of the high-end Ultra also means there are now more Apple Watch models on the market before than ever before — and a lot more deals to be had.
But with all of those options, which one should you pick? Generally speaking, you want to buy the newest watch you can afford so that it continues to receive software updates from...
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Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator given suspended prison sentence for insider trading
Image: Square Enix via YouTube
Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been given a suspended prison sentence and fines of around $1.2 million (or 173 million yen) after he was found guilty of insider trading, according to a report from Japanese news outlet Jiji (via Polygon). While the court handed out a 2.5-year prison sentence, Jiji reports that it was suspended by four years.
That means Naka shouldn’t wind up behind bars anytime soon, as judges typically waive the prison sentence if the defendant doesn’t commit any additional crimes during that period of time. Naka was arrested twice last year for his involvement in two separate insider trading incidents, both of which took place in 2020 when Naka was working at Square Enix.
Naka joined Square Enix to work on...
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Google Wallet will soon let you share your travel and event passes with other people
Pass issuers will need to enable the feature, though, so not every pass will be supported. | Illustration: The Verge
Google Wallet is set to get a new pass sharing feature that some users have been asking for since the days of its predecessor, Google Pay.
9to5Google spotted that the search giant mentioned “adding a way to share your valuables in Google Wallet” in the Google Play system update list of features for Android devices for July. That rather vague entry has since vanished from the update list, but the Google Wallet support page can provide some additional information.
A new entry at the bottom of the support page now says that users can share “some passes” from their own Wallet with other Google Wallet users. “We are working on a feature that will allow Wallet users to share select passes,” Google spokesperson Leismer Schulten also confirmed...
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Threads isn’t for news and politics, says Instagram’s boss
Illustration: The Verge
Instagram’s new Threads app is “not going to do anything to encourage” politics and “hard news,” Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a Threads conversation with The Verge’s Alex Heath.
The additional scrutiny, negativity, and integrity risks that come with politics and hard news aren’t worth the “incremental engagement or revenue,” Mosseri wrote. “There are more than enough amazing communities — sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc. — to make a vibrant platform without needing to get into politics or hard news.”
In recent years, Meta has distanced itself from news and politics, including reducing the amount of political content that users see on Facebook. (It even dropped “News” from the name of the Facebook Feed last...
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Mercedes-Benz is going to use Tesla’s EV charging too
Image: Mercedes-Benz AG
Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to commit to adopting Tesla’s electric vehicle charging connectors for its vehicles, bringing Elon Musk’s company one step closer to total EV charging dominance.
Starting in 2024, the German automaker will offer adapters to its customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations, which use the company’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug and outlet. And in 2025, Mercedes will begin to manufacture EVs with Tesla’s charging port, obviating the need for an adapter.
The company joins Ford, GM, Volvo, Polestar, and Rivian in adopting Tesla’s connector, which is rapidly becoming the de facto charging standard in North America and Europe. Mercedes is also the first German automaker to jump...
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Now Google Calendar lets you specify which times you’ll be in the office
Illustration: The Verge
While Google Calendar already lets you set your working location for certain days of the week, you can now specify which times you’ll be working from home or in the office. The new update should make it easier for your colleagues to figure out where you’ll be if you swap between locations during the day.
Once you have access to the feature, you can set your working location by selecting Create from the main Calendar page and clicking Working Locations. From there, you can select a date and specify your whereabouts during different timeframes.
Image: Google
As an example, you could set your working location to “Home” from 9AM to 12PM and to “Office” from 1PM to 5PM. That way, your colleagues can work around your...
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Twitter’s running busted ads for Amazon and Sky TV
Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge
Some of the ads on Twitter aren’t looking quite right. Several users on the platform’s mobile app say they’re seeing an image of Twitter’s logo in place of the advertisement paid for by Amazon, Sky, and the sportswear company On Running.
The ads affected by this issue show the advertiser’s name, along with what looks like the intended caption. However, instead of linking to the advertiser’s website, the busted ads link to Twitter.com and have “DPA_Placeholder” as the heading for the link. In advertising, DPA stands for “dynamic product ads,” which suggests there might be an issue affecting Twitter’s ability to display the right ads.
I wonder how much @amazon paid for this ad with a placeholder pic that links to twitter dot com p...
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Go ahead, check a bag
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
I’ve read a lot of recommendations over the years from so-called travel pros who tell you to take a carry-on. There are reasons to recommend carry-ons! For instance, most airlines don’t charge for them. But also, a carry-on bag is for the poor shlubs who are coming up with a “packing plan” and using “packing cubes.” The people who suggest you get an Airbnb so you can do laundry. They’re repackaging their shampoo and conditioner and lecturing you about “editing” your wardrobe. They’re explaining that you should roll your clothes, not fold them, to save space. How virtuous! How boring.
Check a bag, you glamorous beast.
Ideologically, I am strongly against doing laundry in my hotel sink
On my last trip, which was a two-week jaunt to five...
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Buying Apple’s Vision Pro headset could require an appointment and a face scan
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Apple is planning to sell its $3,499 Vision Pro headset on an appointment-only basis at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. According to Gurman, Apple will create designated sections where customers can try on the headset in its stores, with the first ones appearing at stores in major areas like New York and Los Angeles.
Apple will reportedly ask in-store buyers to schedule an appointment to purchase the Vision Pro, similar to the rollout of the first Apple Watch in 2015. During the appointment, Gurman says Apple will ensure that the Vision Pro fits the wearer and also outfit the device with prescription lens inserts if needed. Gurman says Apple Stores will need to keep “hundreds or thousands of lenses” in stock...
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Amazon’s colorful Echo Pop is on sale for just $17.99 ahead of Prime Day
Amazon’s Echo Pop speaker comes in a host of fun colors, including an attractive teal option. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Amazon Prime Day inches ever closer, with deals having already kicked off on Amazon devices and a host of other items courtesy of Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” program. Overall, there are a number of solid deals to find — from Hisense TVs to Anker chargers — but one of the most notable applies to Amazon’s newest smart speaker: the Echo Pop. Right now, Prime subscribers can pick up the smart speaker at Amazon for just $17.99 ($22 off) or with a Sengled smart bulb for just $1 more.
Unsurprisingly, the Pop sheds a few features found on pricier smart speakers to hit its bargain-level price point. It offers fewer sensors than the fifth-gen Echo Dot, for instance, and skips the physical Action button found on most other Echo models, which lets...
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Casetify’s gorgeous Evangelion iPhone and AirPods cases are (not) just a dream
Products from the Project-CSTF: Protection from Impact line. | Image: Khara / Casetify
The Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise has given rise to quite a few interesting real-world smartphones and even more mech-themed accessories over the years. But rather than simply trying to replicate pieces of tech from the classic anime, the new line of Evangelion-inspired cases and chargers from Casetify aims to transform your ordinary iPhone into a device capable of surviving an Impact event.
Casetify, the company behind those phone case ads you’ve undoubtedly seen on Instagram, is collaborating with Studio Khara for a new line of Evangelion-inspired iPhone and AirPods accessories that are all designed to help protect your devices from falls. Like Casetify’s classic Impact line, each of the new cases featured in the Project-CSTF:...
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TP-Link’s new three-pack mesh router reminds you it’s okay to just have Wi-Fi 6
Even without Wi-Fi 6E, you’re still getting your money’s worth. | Image: TP-Link
TP-Link has launched a new competitively priced Wi-Fi 6 router that might make you think twice before upgrading to Wi-Fi 6E or even Wi-Fi 7. The Deco X55 Pro is a whole-home Wi-Fi 6 mesh router system that’s available in a three-pack now on Amazon and the TP-Link webstore at an initial discounted launch price of $239.99 (if you use the 20DECOX55PRO promo code). Once this promotional offer ends on July 31st, the Deco X55 Pro will switch to its standard $299.99 price.
Each node of the three-pack mesh router comes with two 2.5 gigabit ethernet ports, and TP-Link advertises the Deco X55 Pro’s Wi-Fi 6 capabilities can deliver up to 3Gbps of wireless speed and that it features an “AI-driven” mesh system that’s designed to automatically switch...
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Jony Ive’s LoveFrom worked on this limited edition $60,000 turntable
The Linn Sondek LP12-50 turtable. | Image: Linn
LoveFrom, the design firm formed by Apple’s former design head Jony Ive, has collaborated with British audio brand Linn on a 50th anniversary edition of its Sondek LP12 turntable. Just 250 models of the Linn Sondek LP12-50 will be produced and delivered between August 2023 and March 2024, with the limited edition turntable available to reserve now for an eye-watering $60,000 (£50,000).
According to a blog post from Linn CEO Gilad Tiefenbrun, the collaboration dates back to early 2022 when Tiefenbrun was offered a meeting with Ive out of the blue over LinkedIn. Eventually, the two companies decided to collaborate on the upcoming turntable, which Fast Company calls Ive’s “first hardware project post-Apple.”
Image: Linn...
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Reddit demands moderators remove NSFW labels, or else
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Many communities on Reddit have used the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) designation in some form to protest Reddit’s new API pricing, which forced apps like Apollo and rif is fun for Reddit to shut down, as well as a recent pattern of behavior toward its unpaid volunteer moderators that they find “threatening.” Subreddits, including r/PICS and r/military, had made the NSFW switch, pointing to language from Reddit websites to justify the change.
The moderators of the r/military community said they switched their label to NSFW because “military content has a chance to be violent content” and argued that “this subreddit should have been NSFW already, but we’d never thought to change it until recently,” according to a public post on Thursday.
M...
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Reddit’s AI porn ban has a carveout for Rule 34
Reddit has crushed the biggest protest in its history. What’s next? Make AI-generated porn legal again, apparently — as long as it’s not deepfaked. Today, Reddit has added an explicit carveout to its Content Policy that allows “AI-generated sexual media that depicts fictional people or characters.”
Some backstory: In 2018, Reddit was among the many platforms that banned deepfake AI porn communities, declaring that “involuntary pornography” was not okay. Specifically, Reddit modified its Rule 3 to ban depictions of nudity or sexual contact “that may have been faked.”
But as of 2018, Reddit left an explicit carveout for porn distributed with a sexual worker’s consent — and today, Reddit has added another carveout for AI-generated sexual...
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Google’s first truly custom chip for Pixel devices won’t arrive until 2025
Google’s plan to move Pixel phones away from Samsung’s modified chips has been delayed. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
According to a report by The Information, Google originally planned to replace the modified Samsung Exynos chipsets it uses in Pixel phones with a “Redondo” chip designed in-house sometime in 2024. However, the report claims that Google has now pushed that planned release window back to 2025 and will instead introduce a new custom processor codenamed “Laguna.”
A former Google chip executive told The Information that challenges with retaining employees and coordinating development between US and Indian teams are at least partly to blame for the delay. The team behind the project was frustrated by Google’s decision to cancel the development of several Tensor chips over the last two years, according to the outlet’ssource. We have contacted...
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