An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban

Illustration: The Verge

Iowa’s Mason City Community School District is pulling 19 books from school libraries that administrators found to contain “a description or depiction of a sex act” in order to comply with Republican-backed state laws. A key arbiter of whether the books should be banned: ChatGPT.

The news that the district had used AI software in its decisions was first reported by the Mason City Globe Gazette last week, but it wasn’t clear what tool was used — or how exactly officials went about doing it — until Popular Science reported that ChatGPT was used. The banned books include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

According to Popular Science’s reporting,...

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OpenAI wants GPT-4 to solve the content moderation dilemma

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI is convinced that its technology can help solve one of tech’s hardest problems: content moderation at scale. GPT-4 could replace tens of thousands of human moderators while being nearly as accurate and more consistent, claims OpenAI. If that’s true, the most toxic and mentally taxing tasks in tech could be outsourced to machines.

In a blog post, OpenAI claims that it has already been using GPT-4 for developing and refining its own content policies, labeling content, and making decisions. “I want to see more people operating their trust and safety, and moderation [in] this way,” OpenAI head of safety systems Lilian Weng told Semafor. “This is a really good step forward in how we use AI to solve real world issues in a way that’s...

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X seemed to throttle some competitors and news sites for more than a week

Illustration: The Verge

If you recently clicked a link shared by The New York Times on X (formerly Twitter), you might have noticed that the page took a little longer to load than you would have expected. It wasn’t just the Times; according to an analysis by The Washington Post, links posted to X that point to the Times, Reuters, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Substack took about five seconds to actually load.

While I was writing this article, X seemed to fix the issue, and the sites are loading as expected from the platform. According to a post on Hacker News, the delay was put in place for The New York Times on August 4th. The user said that the delays appeared to involve Twitter’s t.co link shortener and also affected Meta’s Threads.

The list of affected...

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Apple’s third-gen AirPods are matching their best price to date right now

The third-gen AirPods feature shorter stems than the prior model, making them a little more discrete. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The AirPods Pro are an excellent pair of wireless earbuds, but they’re not for everybody. In fact, if you don’t need noise cancellation or superior sound quality, they might actually be overkill for many Apple users. Thankfully, you can save yourself some money by picking up the third-gen AirPods, which are currently on sale at Amazon with a Lightning charging case for just $139.99 ($30 off).

If you’re an Apple aficionado looking for a terrific pair of wireless earbuds, you can’t go wrong with Apple’s newest entry-level earbuds. They feature automatic device switching, allowing you to quickly swap between your iPhone or iPad, as well as perks like IPX4 water resistance so you’ll be able to sweat it out at the gym or run in the rain....

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It’s time to rethink our relationships with streaming services

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision in WandaVision_._ | Image: Marvel Studios / Disney Plus

With streaming services across the board raising their prices, you owe it to yourself to have a good deep think about what you want out of all these subscriptions and what you’re actually getting for your money.

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Lamborghini teases first fully electric supercar ahead of official reveal August 18th

Image: Lamborghini

Lamborghini will reveal an electric supercar concept on August 18th for Monterey Car Week. Ahead of the event, the Italian automaker posted a teaser image on social media that, while not revealing much, still retains that classic Lamborghini shape.

While it’s just a concept, the vehicle will give us our first impressions of what an EV looks like to Lamborghini. It’s been two years since the Italian automaker outlined its electrification plans, which will proceed in two distinct phases over the next decade. By the end of 2024, the company said it would roll out gas-electric hybrid versions of its entire lineup. Following that, Lamborghini will debut its first all-electric model sometime before the end of the decade.

Something new and...

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Blizzard is previewing a Diablo III single-player mode — 11 years after the game launched

Image: Blizzard

Blizzard started testing the first dedicated single-player mode for Diablo III — that’s right, a game released 11 years ago. The new mode, Solo Self Found, gets its own leaderboards, along with a hardcore version the developer team recommends for players who want to be challenged. It’s available as part of Patch 2.7.6 PTR, the newest test build of the game, and the patch precedes the 29th and final new season of the game.

Blizzard’s developers write that the mode “will temper you” since you won’t gain experience bonuses from traversing the game’s dungeons with other players, nor can you trade with other players. To play, you’ll simply choose “Solo Hero” while creating your character, and then you can start a campaign or play in Adventure...

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AMD CEO Lisa Su is coming to the Code Conference

AMD CEO Lisa Su | Photo: AMD

AMD CEO Lisa Su is coming to the Code Conference next month to talk AI, supply chains, the PC market, and more with The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel.

Su has already transformed AMD once. When Su was named CEO of the chipmaker in 2014, AMD was struggling. The company was losing money, and its main moneymaker — desktop and graphics chips — was slipping. Fast-forward a few years, and Su had successfully shepherded in a new era for AMD, turning around its fortune in PC products and building out a robust business in enterprise and semi-custom chips.

Now, Su is working to bring AMD into the AI era. The company recently announced its big play in AI, the Instinct MI300 family of AI chips, and plans to ramp up sales by the end of the year....

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The best Chromebook for 2023

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

The best Chromebook for anyone who wants Chrome OS on their laptop

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Starfield: all the news and trailers about Bethesda’s massive space RPG

Image: Bethesda Game Studios

Prepare to get lost in space with Bethesda’s next big game.

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Google Photos adds generative AI to help name your photo collections

The Share button is gone, making room for Memories. | Image: Google

Google is adding a new Memories tab to its Photos app to create a dedicated place for auto-generated collections of pictures. The company is adding new generative AI titling features that can help you name your photo collections, too.

These Google-generated collections have shown up at the top of the Photos app for years, but they’ll now have a dedicated button at the bottom of the app. Default titles for memories are often location-based names using images’ GPS metadata. The new AI titles feature helps to summarize the Instagram Stories-like style presentations with a bit more fun and detail.

GIF: Google

The new generative AI title maker.

When looking at a memory collection, you can select a new “help me...

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How and where to replace your old, depleted iPhone battery

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Your iPhone’s aging lithium-ion batteries will eventually start to lose their ability to retain a charge — and that can be highly frustrating, especially if you’re out and about all day. And that’s not to mention reports that some iPhone batteries — specifically those belonging to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro — may be experiencing more battery degradation than their users expected.

If this is happening to you, there are several solutions available. You can switch over to the latest iPhone, start carrying a battery charger around with you, or simply replace the battery.

Battery Health & Charging will tell you the current capacity of your iPhone’s battery.

To first identify whether your battery is ready for a...

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The official Planet of the Bass music video is here

It’s finally here — the official music video for “Planet of the Bass,” arguably the internet’s song of the summer, has been released. You can watch it right here on YouTube, though I wouldn’t blame you if you already clicked the play button in the video embed at the top of this post.

“Planet of the Bass” is a ridiculous parody of Eurodance music I remember hearing as a kid, and it’s become A Thing on the internet thanks to creator Kyle Gordon’s absurd video clips of the song. I think the first is still my favorite, but the subsequent clips that swapped out the woman in the video without changing her voice were pretty good.

pic.twitter.com/7YgIXlIgag

— Kyle Gordon (@kylegordon101) July 28, 2023

You can also listen to the song on...

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Google Chrome will summarize entire articles for you with built-in generative AI

Image: The Verge

Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) is getting a major new feature: it will be able to summarize articles you’re reading on the web, according to a Google blog post. SGE can already summarize search results for you so that you don’t have to scroll forever to find what you’re looking for, and this new feature is designed to take that further by helping you out after you’ve actually clicked a link.

You probably won’t see this feature, which Google is calling “SGE while browsing,” right away.

Image: Google

Google says it’s a new feature that’s starting to roll out Tuesday as “an early experiment” in its opt-in Search Labs program. (You’ll get access to it if you already opted in to SGE, but if you...

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Elon Musk keeps getting creepier

Elon Musk. | Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge

This is Platformer_, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer._ Sign up here.

I.

Today let’s talk — for the last time, I hope — about the derailed martial arts bout between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, and the latter’s reckless threats to visit the Meta CEO at his home and broadcast it to the world.

Part of me hesitates to spill yet more ink on a battle that no part of me has ever believed would take place. Last week I wrote here about the importance of bringing skepticism to Musk’s posts on X, the former Twitter, and encouraged my peers in the press to consider not covering them at all. It’s clear that Musk seeks attention for attention’s sake, and given that so many of his...

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Amazon Pharmacy simplifies insulin savings with automatic coupons

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Despite having slashed the list prices of the generic version of their insulin to just $25 earlier this year, pharmacies often charge uninsured insulin-requiring patients more — sometimes hundreds more — for the life-sustaining medication, writes Reuters. Amazon Pharmacy aims to help with that by automatically applying coupons to prescriptions ordered through the service.

Amazon’s digital pharmacy presents the coupons basically the same way you see them when ordering from the ordinary Amazon store — after you’ve found your medication on the site, it will show its pricing both with and without insurance. Below that, a banner shows how much you’ll save “with coupon if eligible.” Once you’re logged in, Amazon also shows who makes the...

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YouTube Music has a TikTok-like ‘Samples’ tab to help you find new music

Get ready for a never-ending stream of music videos you’ve never seen before. | Image: YouTube

YouTube Music is trying out a new way to help you find something to listen to. It’s called Samples, and it occupies a new tab in the YouTube Music app. The company describes it as “a seamless feed of short form video segments to get you to your new favorite music,” which is just TikTok. Samples is TikTok, except it’s exclusively made up of small snippets of music videos. Given the way music discovery operates in 2023, it could work.

The Samples feed is a personalized one, so when you open it, the app will attempt to provide you with a wide swath of music you might be into. If you find something you like, you can tap to play the song, watch the full video, add it to a playlist, or even make a short with it as the soundtrack. YouTube’s...

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Spider-Man 2 will let you slow down the action

Image: Sony

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will offer an accessibility setting that lets you slow down the game’s action. You’ll be able to slow things down by 70 percent, 50 percent, or 30 percent, but you can switch back to full speed at any time, according to the game’s official listing from Sony.

The feature could be a useful tool to help players navigate tricky fights. When playing Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, I remember getting frustrated by a few encounters where I felt overwhelmed by baddies on all sides; I’m guessing I’ll take advantage of this new setting to more easily get through similar situations in Spider-Man 2 when it comes out in October.

Spider-Man 2 will also offer on-screen captions and audio descriptions “for cinematic scenes” and screen...

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The Roku Channel is getting better about news

I know I’m old because I’m actually very excited about news. | Image: Roku

The Roku Channel is adding a whole mess of new linear channels, and while some are fun times like Murder, She Wrote and MrBeast_,_ the most exciting additions are the more than 30 local and national news channels from CBS and Fox.

The Roku Channel is one of a few increasingly popular free ad-supported TV services — also known as FAST. With FAST, you get to watch lots of content for free, but you have to sit through ads. It’s basically like terrestrial TV but with a wider offering of content and no antenna. And Roku’s iteration is wildly popular since it’s built directly into the Roku UI, so anyone with a Roku box or TV can just start watching. No account and no real thought necessary.

However, one of the major downsides of FAST that I’ve...

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Xbox introduces new strike system to curtail bad behavior

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Today, a new strike-based enforcement program is coming to Xbox. The system is meant to clear up confusion regarding how Xbox enforces its community standards and help players keep track of enforcement actions made on their accounts.

In an interview with The Verge, Xbox player services corporate vice president Dave McCarthy explained the new enforcement system and its place in Xbox’s overall community management strategy. “This is all about player transparency,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t have a way to show our players what their standing was in our community. And this makes it completely clear.”

In the new system, if a player violates the Xbox community standards, they’ll receive a strike. The severity of the violation determines the...

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Fisker’s going for the Tesla connector as well

Fisker’s current Ocean SUV will get an adapter in 2025 to access Tesla’s Supercharger network. | Image: Fisker

Fisker is the latest automaker to adopt Tesla’s charging connector for its future vehicles. Following the marching band of major automakers, Fisker is going to add a Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) port to its first vehicles in 2025, the company announced today.

For customers of Fisker’s Ocean SUV — of which 22 have been confirmed delivered as of June 23rd — the company will be providing an adapter to enable access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the first quarter of 2025. The adapter will convert the widely used Combined Charging System (CCS) port that’s on most EVs, including the Ocean, into Tesla’s leaner and now standardized NACS port.

Fisker vehicles will get NACS connectors in 2025 because that’s when its new cars...

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In a world full of laptops, is there a place for the iMac?

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

Apple hasn’t updated the iMac in well over two years, and it sells far more laptops than desktops these days. What does all of that mean for the future of the desktop computer that saved Apple from bankruptcy 25 years ago?

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Robotaxis are driving on thin ice

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The day after California regulators handed driverless car companies a major victory, allowing them to expand their services without restriction in San Francisco, a herd of robotaxis decided to celebrate by breaking down in the middle of a busy street.

According to several local news reports, 10 Cruise vehicles sat paralyzed in a busy intersection near the Outside Lands Music Festival, causing a traffic jam and drawing exasperation from witnesses. The company told KPIX that the music festival caused “wireless connectivity issues” with its vehicles. In other words, festivalgoers were overwhelming the cellular networks, making it difficult for Cruise’s vehicles to send and receive information.

It was a bizarre end to a week that otherwise...

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LG now sells this bizarre TV in a suitcase, and I must have it

Image: LG Electronics

This is one of those products that I truly cannot wait to experience and review firsthand: LG is bringing the quirky, one-of-a-kind StanbyME Go to the United States later this month for $999.99. If you missed its international launch, which flew under the radar for many, let me catch you up: the StanbyME Go is a 27-inch 1080p LCD TV housed in a large suitcase that also contains a built-in battery and 20-watt speakers.

The idea is that this thing can be a portable entertainment solution whether you’re at a picnic, on a family vacation, or just hanging out on the back patio. Maybe you’ll bring it tailgating with all your pals during football season. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and the StanbyME Go’s three-hour...

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For a generation of students, the iMac was a gateway to the future

If only most dorms were this spacious in the early 2000s. | Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the iMac ruled the college dorm. Twenty-five years after its debut, we reflect on that experience.

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The note-taking Kindle Scribe is seeing its biggest discount since Prime Day

The Kindle Scribe, Amazon’s biggest e-reader, has only gotten better since its release. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When the Kindle Scribe launched in November, it was — how shall I say this — lacking. Amazon’s first note-taking e-reader was big and sharp, but it was missing note-taking features found on rivals like the Kobo Elipsa 2E. Fast forward to today, and Amazon’s 10.2-inch slate is far more attractive, having recently received a series of welcome updates. And right now, it’s on sale at Amazon and Target with the button-free Basic Pen starting at just $279.99 ($60 off), nearly matching its all-time low.

At its core, the Scribe is a simple big-screen e-reader with a few note-taking abilities. It boasts some of the best battery life you can get for an e-reader of its size, along with a handy stylus that lets you take digital notes and doodle to...

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Kneron to release AI chip this year

Kneron KL730. | Image: Kneron

In the world of generative AI, it’s a battle of computing power and getting the fastest and most powerful chips. Now, AI edge company Kneron announced it will ship its new neural processing units (NPU) chips by the end of the year.

Kneron said the NPU chips, called the KL730, would make it cheaper to run large language models (LLMs) as the processor is built specifically for machine learning and AI applications.

The KL730 is the next generation of previous processors from Kneron. In 2021, the company shipped out the KL530 chips that supported transformer models that underpinned some generative AI models.

Albert Liu, CEO of Kneron, tells The Verge that NPU chips are specifically designed for AI and aren’t forcing something originally...

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iMac at 25: a visual history of Apple’s iconic all-in-one computer

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

It’s a computer, a monitor, an internet communicator, and one of the most iconic lines of tech in history.

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How to choose which Apple Watch to buy

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Between the Apple Watch Series 8, the Ultra, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We’ll help you sort through them.

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How the iMac saved Apple

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

Twenty-five years ago, Apple released the computer that would save it from bankruptcy and pave the way for Apple to become the most important technology company ever.

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