Apple is reportedly working on ‘LLM Siri’ to compete with ChatGPT

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Apple is planning a major AI overhaul of Siri that will make the digital assistant more like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini Live, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The assistant, reportedly called “LLM Siri,” will be powered by Apple’s AI models and will let users have more conversational, natural-sounding interactions with Siri.

As part of Apple’s plan to infuse its iPhones with AI, Bloomberg says the company will make Siri better at handling more advanced tasks. The assistant will have an “expanded” ability to use App Intents to interact with third-party apps, while also using Apple Intelligence to summarize and write text, too.

Though Apple could announce these plans as soon as next year, the company intends...

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OpenAI accidentally erases potential evidence in training data lawsuit

Image: The Verge

In a stunning misstep, OpenAI engineers accidentally erased critical evidence gathered by The New York Times and other major newspapers in their lawsuit over AI training data, according to a court filing Wednesday.

The newspapers’ legal teams had spent over 150 hours searching through OpenAI’s AI training data to find instances where their news articles were included, the filing claims. But it doesn’t explain how this mistake occurred or what precisely the data included. While the filing says OpenAI admitted to the error and tried to recover the data, what it managed to salvage was incomplete and unreliable — so what was recovered cannot help properly trace how the news organizations’ articles were used in building OpenAI’s AI models....

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Automakers plead with Trump: don’t kill the EV tax credit

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

The auto industry is sending an urgent message to President-elect Donald Trump: spare the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit.

In a November 14th letter to Trump and his transition team, the auto industry’s main lobbying group urges the new administration to preserve incentives for EV buyers and manufacturers that were enacted under President Joe Biden, arguing these policies keep the US competitive globally while also creating “good jobs.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — as well as foreign car companies that sell in the US, are calling on Trump to “promote stability and predictability in auto-related emissions standards.” But at the same time,...

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It will soon be easier than ever for Android apps to stay signed in on a new phone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Transferring your data from your old Android deviceto a new one will soon be less daunting,thanks to “Restore Credentials,” a new developer feature for Androidwhich can keep you logged into your apps when you make the switch. While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a “restore key” that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app.

The change should help make going from one Android phone to another more like upgrading an iPhone. Apple users who move from one iPhone to another are used to having everything from email accounts to app credentials transfer to the new phone, but it hasn’t always been so seamless for Android users.

Verge...

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The company that sold cameras with ‘terrible’ security flaw has a new problem

Image: Eken

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing more than $700,000 in fines against Eken, a Hong Kong-based video doorbell manufacturer whose products were found to be susceptible to hackers, for an unrelated rules violation discovered during the commission’s ongoing investigation.

The commission began investigating Eken after Consumer Reports found in February 2024 that its products, which are sold under more than 10 different brand names, had security vulnerabilities that let anyone with a doorbell’s serial number remotely access images from its video feed. The products are sold under brand names including Aiwit, Andoe, Bitepass, CutePanda, Eken, Fishbot, Gemee, Guggre, Luckwolf, Rakeblue and Tuck. Eken said in April that it...

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The best budget robot vacuums

Illustration: The Verge

You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a robot clean your floors. Here’s our pick of the most cost-effective bots you can buy right now.

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Google’s Black Friday sale features record low prices on Pixel, Nest, and more

The Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL have never been cheaper than they are today. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

Google’s Black Friday sale has kicked off with sizable discounts on Pixel phones, wearables, earbuds, tablets, smart home gear, and more.

You’ll notice the base 128GB Pixel 9 is down to $649 ($150 off) at Google and Best Buy, for example. But some colors of the flagship Tensor G4 smartphone are actually even cheaper in Amazon’s Black Friday sale right now, with its porcelain and peony pink models going for $548.98 there. That’s beating the all-time low by a significant margin of about $49.

The Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL — which have larger screens, bigger batteries, more cameras, and more RAM compared to the Pixel 9 — are also $150 off at Google, starting at $849 and $949 for their base 128GB configuration. Again, you’d probably...

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Steam is adding support, and more rules, for ‘season pass’ content

Image: The Verge

Steam is building support for season passes into its platform and setting up rules to help protect buyers from buying ones with unclear promises. Steam published new guidelines urging developers to “think about whether there’s a customer benefit” for purchasing season passes, as reported by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik.

Season passes have really picked up in popularity and are used mainly in free-to-play or other multiplayer video games that promise digital updates like special costumes and weapons for a fee.

As part of Steam’s new rules for season passes, developers must share a list of items with descriptions customers can expect to receive with the pass. If a DLC drop gets delayed, Steam will let developers reschedule it up to 3...

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Google reportedly cancels Pixel Tablet 2 and might quit the category — again

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Yesterday Android Headlines reported that Google had canceled its development of the Pixel Tablet 3 — even before announcing a second-gen model. Well, today Android Authority is saying that it’s in fact the second-generation Pixel Tablet that has been canned, meaning that the device released last year will apparently be a one-off and that Google is bailing on the tablet category for the second time in a little over five years. At best, we’re in for a long pause until the next one.

If true, the news would suggest that sales of the Pixel Tablet have been so poor that Google has decided further investment in a follow-up just isn’t worth it. As recently as last week, there were rumors of new features and a keyboard accessory for the...

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Star Wars Outlaws’ first expansion brings Lando into the game

Image: Ubisoft

A few months after it first launched, Star Wars Outlaws is getting some major updates. First up is the game’s first batch of downloadable content, which adds a new storyline involving Lando Calrissian and what appears to be a very dangerous game of Sabacc. The new expansion is called Wild Card and will be followed by a second DLC update next spring called A Pirate’s Fortune.

Perhaps more significant, today, Outlaws is also getting a major update to address some of the game’s technical and design issues. Ubisoft describes it as the game’s “biggest patch yet.” Most notable, it seems, is that the stealth sections — a major point of frustration for many players — have been toned down.

Ubisoft says that the update includes “updates to...

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Kia announces high-performance EV9 GT with virtual shifting and native Tesla charging

The new 2025 Kia EV9 GT

Kia came to the LA Auto Show with not one but two revamped electric vehicles, a sign that the South Korean automaker is still feeling bullish about its momentum in the plug-in car market.

First off, the 2025 Kia EV9 GT is a performance version of its three-row SUV, which we first tested earlier this year. This one promises more power and a sportier feel than the version we drove, which bore the GT Line badge but wasn’t specifically tuned for performance. The new GT trim comes with over 500 horsepower (compared to 379hp in the 2024 model) and a zero to 60mph acceleration of 4.3 seconds. Kia is calling it the “most powerful” three-row SUV it’s ever created.

The dual-motor EV9 GT will also be the first Kia vehicle to feature...

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Sonos speakers and soundbars are up to $200 off ahead of Black Friday

The Sonos Era 100, our go-to smart speaker, is down to an all-time low of $199 right now. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Good news: Black Friday has come early for Sonos fans. Now through December 2nd, you can potentially save hundreds on a variety of Sonos products, including soundbars, smart speakers, and headphones. There are a lot of things on sale — and the Sonos app is in better shape than it was a few months ago, thankfully — which means now is a great time to buy if you’ve been looking to upgrade your home theater setup.

First up is the Sonos Ace, the company’s first pair of wireless headphones. Right now, they’re down to a new low of $349 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sonos’ online storefront. They’re comfortable and stylish, with stellar noise cancellation, an exceptionally natural-sounding transparency mode, and excellent sound. However,...

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A new ‘ultra-secure’ phone carrier says it can make you harder to track

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

A new cell phone carrier is launching with an interesting pitch: it says it will offer secure cell service that limits how much personal data users give up, as reported earlier by 404 Media. The service, called Cape, is geared toward “high-risk” individuals like politicians, journalists, activists, and others.

Cape is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses UScellular’s network. But since it runs its mobile own core, Cape says it can control the technology powering the mobile network and “implement protections over what data enters and leaves your phone.” When signing up for the service, Cape says it will ask users for the “minimum amount of personal information” and will store it “for as little time as possible.”

The carrier...

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WhatsApp will soon transcribe your voice messages

Illustration: The Verge

WhatsApp is introducing a new transcription feature that makes it easier (and more convenient) to communicate using voice messaging. The feature is rolling out globally to Android and iOS users “in the coming weeks” according to WhatsApp, and will automatically create a text version of voice clips under the message for moments when you’re unable to listen to them.

This finds a great balance between the pros and cons of voice messages, which are easier to record than typing out lengthy conversations but can be cumbersome to listen to, especially on the go or in loud environments. Now you get the best of both worlds, but only voice message recipients who have the feature enabled can see the transcripts.

Image: WhatsApp ...

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An anti-deepfake declaration may have been written by AI

Illustration: The Verge

A federal lawsuit over Minnesota’s “Use of Deep Fake Technology to Influence An Election” law is now directly dealing with the influence of AI. In a recent filing, attorneys challenging the law say an affidavit submitted to support it shows signs of containing AI-generated text. The Minnesota Reformer reports Attorney General Keith Ellison asked Stanford Social Media Lab founding director Jeff Hancock to make the submission, but the document filed includes non-existent sources that seem to have been hallucinated by ChatGPT or another large language model (LLM).

Hancock’s affidavit cites a 2023 study published in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics titled “The Influence of Deepfake Videos on Political Attitudes and Behavior.”...

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Threads’ algorithm will focus more on the people you follow

Illustration: The Verge

“We are rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people you follow, which will mean less recommended content from accounts you don’t follow and more posts from the accounts you do starting today,” Threads boss Adam Mosseri announced on Thursday.

This is another significant change to Threads since many people started flocking to Bluesky. It lets people default to seeing their Following feed when they open the app and offers lots of customizability, including custom feeds. Threads just yesterday rolled out its take on custom feeds less than a week after it started testing them.

The change could make the For You feed include more accounts you care about, but we’ll have to wait and see if the update addresses the problem of the...

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Wicked is a dazzling reminder of how good movie musicals can be

Image: Universal

Jon M. Chu’s Wicked adaptation gets at the heart of what makes musicals such a spectacular form of storytelling.

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Apple Pay, Cash App, and other digital wallets will be regulated more like banks now

Illustration: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

Major digital payment providers will soon be subject to bank-like supervision from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). On Thursday, the CFPB issued a final rule that will regulate digital payment apps that process over 50 million transactions each year, covering services like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, PayPal, Cash App, and others.

The new rule is meant to ensure digital payment providers adhere to the same laws as credit unions and large banks. It will give the CFPB the authority to oversee their compliance with federal laws surrounding privacy, fraud, and other rules through “proactive examinations.” This follows the CFPB’s initial proposal to regulate digital payment providers last year, which would’ve covered a wider...

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The Verge’s 2024 holiday gift guide for dads

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If you’re unsure what to gift the father figure in your life this year, we have more than a few suggestions.

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Roblox is the latest target of state kids online safety bills

Image: The Verge

New York State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D) is a driving force behind kids online safety laws. He sponsored the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act, both signed by Governor Kathy Hochul earlier this year.But when parents talked to him about the rules, he says, they kept asking a question he hadn’t considered: “Does it cover Roblox?”

Like the vast majority of online regulation, New York’s rules were aimed at traditional social media companies like Meta, Snap, and TikTok. But there’s been increasing scrutiny of the massively popular and overwhelmingly child-focused social gaming platform, and Gounardes is introducing a new bill to target it.

The New York Children’s Online Safety...

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This functional Rick and Morty Butter Bot can roam your breakfast table

The Butter Bot has a functional camera that can live stream video to an included wireless remote. | Image: Kickstarter

Geek Club and CircuitMess have created a functional replica of one of Rick and Morty’s most tragic characters — the Butter Bot — with new capabilities so the bot is more than just a breakfast butler. With a camera, working treads, and AI capabilities, this Butter Bot can navigate the world, recognize your face, and chat with you.

The tiny robot is available for preorder now through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for $139, with delivery expected as early as August 2025. For aspiring Ricks, the Butter Bot is also available as part of a pricier $219 “Mad Scientist Pack” that includes a collection of upgradeable modules expanding its functionality.

With any crowdfunded product there’s always the risk of delays or delivery never...

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This digital D&D watch lets you roll a fireball from your wrist

Who even carries eight six-sided dice with them anyway? | Image: Timestop

Dice hoarding is a common hobby among Dungeons and Dragons players, but I’m betting most won’t have a digital watch in their collection. Alongside displaying the time, day, and date, the Timestop D-20 includes all the dice-rolling features you need to play tabletop roleplaying games directly from your wrist at the push of a button.

The watch allows the wearer to digitally roll a 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, 20-, or 100-sided dice, alongside “Advanced Combat” features such as rolling up to 12 dice at once, and D20s with advantage or disadvantage (a fancy way of rolling two dice and taking either the higher or lower results). It’ll also display specific icons when a D20 rolls a 1 or a 20 — known as a “critical failure” or “critical success”...

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Peak Design’s Outdoor Backpack is a more versatile everyday bag

The 25L model is an improvement on perfection, but not without some help.

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DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

The Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market, and it left the door open to requiring the company to spin out Android, too.

Filed late Wednesday in DC District Court, the initial proposed final judgement refines the DOJ’s earlier high-level outline of remedies after Judge Amit Mehta found Google maintained an illegal monopoly in search and search text advertising.

The filing includes a broad range of requirements the DOJ hopes the court will impose on Google — from restricting the company from entering certain kinds of agreements to more broadly breaking the company up. The DOJ’s latest proposal doubles down on its request to spin out Google’s Chrome...

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Honda has a plan to build solid-state batteries for EVs

Image: Honda

Honda set up a demonstration facility in Japan to show off its plans to mass-produce solid-state batteries at lower costs, which could be crucial to unlocking higher-range, longer-lasting electric vehicles for the future.

Solid-state batteries have been elusive for many companies due to the complexity of scaling up production. The technology swaps out the liquid electrolytes found in current lithium-ion batteries with dry conductive materials, promising higher energy density and longer lifespans. But it will require a whole new production process to be successful.

Several companies are actively pursuing solid-state batteries, including Volkswagen-backed QuantumScape, Nissan, and Factorial, which is testing semi-solid-state batteries that...

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The Hyundai Ioniq 9 is a three-row electric SUV with room to grow

The SEL trim of the Hyundai Ioniq 9. | Image: Hyundai

The South Korean automaker unveiled its newest EV ahead of the LA Auto Show.

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGE

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were officially appointed the co-leads of President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) last week, and on Wednesday, the two men spelled out their plans for the advisory group in a long article in The Wall Street Journal.

Musk and Ramaswamy say they will “serve as outside volunteers” making recommendations that allow the Trump administration to “cut the federal government down to size.” Their primary focus is on cutting down federal agencies, which they view as wasteful and “antidemocratic.”

“Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but ‘rules and regulations’ promulgated by unelected bureaucrats,” write the two unelected men who have been tasked with cutting trillions...

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Nvidia says its Blackwell AI chip is ‘full steam’ ahead

The Blackwell B200 GPU. | Image: Nvidia

Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable company on the back of AI chips, passing Microsoft and Apple along the way, and in today’s Q3 2025 earnings, the company suggested its record AI revenue and profits are only the beginning.

While The Information recently reported that its new flagship Blackwell AI servers might have cooling issues, the company didn’t address that on today’s call — instead, Nvidia assured investors that Blackwell is in “full production,” is “full steam” ahead, and that the company would continue to deliver more of the chips each quarter from here on out.

Nvidia has already shipped 13,000 Blackwell samples to its customers this quarter, said CFO Colette Kress, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang claimed Blackwell’s...

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Apple fights to keep DOJ antitrust suit from reaching trial

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images

Apple urged a federal judge to dismiss the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against it, saying the government’s complaint includes speculative arguments and the government doesn’t plausibly argue it has monopoly power.

“The court is allowed to use common sense,” countered DOJ counsel Jonathan Lasken at a hearing in New Jersey on Wednesday. “We’re here today based on the idea that it’s not plausible that [Apple] has monopoly power, but instead is at the mercy of supposed global behemoths who are a fraction of its size.”

The government and more than a dozen states sued Apple earlier this year for maintaining an illegal monopoly in the smartphone market, ultimately driving up prices and locking consumers into its ecosystem. It pointed...

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AI landlord screening tool will stop scoring low-income tenants after discrimination suit

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

SafeRent, an AI screening tool used by landlords, will no longer use AI-powered “scores” to evaluate whether someone using housing vouchers would make a good tenant. On Wednesday, US District Judge Angel Kelley issued final approval for a roughly $2.3 million settlement to prevent SafeRent from discriminating against tenants based on income and race.

The settlement stems from a 2022 class action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts. The suit alleged that SafeRent’s scoring system disproportionately harmed people using housing vouchers — specifically Black and Hispanic applicants. In addition to violating Massachusetts law, the complaint also accused SafeRent of breaking the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination.

As outlined...

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