Previously unseen prototypes will provide a glimpse of a future that never was.

Warehouses full of servers are hungry for power, no matter who supplies it.

The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part of your encryption to make your information much more secure.

A company called Empower is trying to take on Uber, Lyft and local regulators as it piles up fines and draws new passengers to its service.

The opposing paths taken by two powerful firms Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz embody a profound debate about the future of an industry that funds and fosters American innovation.

MacworldYou know how it is: youve got all year to do your Christmas shopping, but you always end up leaving it so late that you have to pay for premium delivery. Despite our best intentions to get things done early, we always do them at the last minute. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.This, I assume, is whats been going on at Apple Park, whose residents seem bizarrely unprepared for the looming EU ban on the use of Lightning ports to charge smartphones. The company officially had two years to get ready for the new regulations, and its been on the cards a lot longer than that; yet Apple still finds itself having to simply halt the sale of three of its handsets in Europe with no obvious replacements.Obviously Apple has taken steps to get ready for the change, namely launching two generations of flagship iPhones with USB-C ports in the fall of 2023 and 2024. The 15- and 16-series iPhones comply fully with the law and will continue to be sold. But according to the French-language site iGeneration, the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Plus, and crucially the 3rd-gen iPhone SE violate the regulations and as of January 2025 will no longer be available to buy in EU countries.This strikes me, frankly, as a sub-optimal response to an extremely predictable situation. Apples strategy is to sell recent iPhones at a premium price but to target budget buyers with older models. With the iPhone 13 only recently dropped from sale and the 14, 14 Plus, and SE soon to follow it, the range will be left with no cheap option; instead of starting at $429, it will start at $699. (Or 17 eggs in our quaint European currency.)This wont be a problem for long, admittedly. A few months after the ban comes into force Apple will launch the 4th-gen iPhone SE, and by next fall the iPhone 17 will come out, dropping the iPhone 15 into the $599 slot currently occupied by the 14, and well be back to normal. But the iPhone is Apples most lucrative product line in history, and I dread to think how many eggs Apple will be leaving on the table by going nine months without its full range in a major market. Think of how many Europeans will potentially be pushed into the arms of Googles lower-cost Android empire.Whats extra odd is that Apple could have fixed the situation quite easily. The last iPhone SE launch was way back in spring 2022 and the company could have arranged matters so that the 4th-gen model came out before the ban began. Orand forgive me for being so radical hereit could even have switched from Lightning to USB-C before being forced to when it was a customer-friendly thing to do rather than a legal necessity. If the iPhone 14 was the first post-Lighting iPhone, or if it was retroactively upgraded to support USB-C, things would now be a lot simpler.But this was always going to be difficult, because it was in Apples interests to fight against the transition for as long as humanly possible. Cupertino left its Christmas shopping to the last minute because it never wanted to buy any presents in the first place and still thinks it shouldnt have to. But the sad fact is that Christmas is coming, whether we like it or not.FoundryWelcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but its cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.Trending: Top storiesThese are the Apple stories that were bigger than the iPhone in 2024.Jason Cross lists six ways Apple Intelligence levels up with iOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2.The real Apple Intelligence is the AI we met along the way.The best releases of 2024 all took Apple in a bold new direction.The Apple Car is dead. Where does that leave Apples auto ambitions?Here are five exciting Apple products to look forward to this spring.How Apple Intelligence can turn anyone into a star student (without cheating).Turn your iPhone into an iPod before Apple wont let you anymore.Podcast of the weekIn the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast, were taking a look at the year in review for Apple. What were the big products, events, and happenings that were landmarks in 2024 for the company?You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify,Soundcloud, thePodcasts app, orour own site.Reviews cornerWondershare Recoverit review: An excellent Mac data recovery package.Baseus Nomos 5-in-1 Charger review: Versatile all-in-one 140W desktop and wireless charger.The rumor millReport: The OLED MacBook Pro will dump the notch for a camera hole.Leaked iPhone 17 frame shows wide, Pixel-style camera bump.The MacBook with a modem dream may finally come true.MacBook Air likely to get an upgraded Center Stage camera in 2025.Satellite connectivity may be the next Apple Watch Ultra killer feature.Apple hopes to save Vision Pro with a fresh gaming strategy.Software updates, bugs, and problemsApple just gave us a few dozen reasons to update our devices right now.Why iOS 18.2 is a must-have update even if you dont run Apple Intelligence.Jamf details scary iCloud flaw that was exploitable until this fall.Hate the new iOS 18 Photos app? Heres how to fix it.And with that, were done for this weeks Apple Breakfast. If youd like to get regular roundups, sign up forour newsletters. You can also follow uson Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.

MacworldStill scrambling for last-minute gifts? Or maybe youre just tired of giving the same old boring socks and gift cards. Heres a fresh idea: a Sams Club membership for just $20 (normally $50). Its practical, its unexpected, and its a gift that keeps on giving for a full year.Think about it: Who wouldnt want to buy mountains of snacks, enough toilet paper to build a fort (okay, maybe not), and TVs bigger than your average apartment window? Plus, theyll score deals on everything from groceries to electronics, which means more money in their pocket for, well, whatever they want.But heres the real kicker: A Sams Club membership also unlocks discounts on travel, entertainment, and movie tickets. So basically, youre giving the gift of experiences, too.You have until Christmas Day to grab this Sams Club membership deal at $20 (reg. $50). No coupon is needed.Sams Club 1-Year Membership with Auto-Renew! $20See DealStackSocial prices subject to change.

Entry-level workers increasingly fear job loss or significant changes to their careers due to automation made possible by generative AI (genAI). Nearly one-in-four early career employees (24%) believe their job could be replaced by automation, according to survey results from professional services firm Deloitte.Early-career workers (those with five years or less on the job) are more likely than their senior colleagues to voice concerns about AIs impact on learning opportunities, workload, and job security. The increasingly unsettled view of the workplace as AI tools advance echoes similar sentiments from other recent surveys.Nearly four in 10 Americans, for instance, believe genAI could diminish the number of available jobs as it advances, according to a study released in October by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. And the World Economic Forums Jobs Initiative study found that close to half (44%) of worker skills will be disrupted in the next five years and 40% of tasks will be affected by the use of genAI tools and the large language models (LLMs) that underpin them.The Deloitte results highlight younger workers growing anxiety around AI replacing jobs and the actions theyre taking to improve their own job security. Deloittes survey of 1,874 full- and part-time workers from the US, Canada, India, and Australia roughly two-thirds of whom are early career workers found that 34% are pursuing a professional qualification or certification courses,32% are starting their own businesses or becoming self-employed, and 28% are even adding part-time contractor or gig work to supplement their income.DeloitteThe tech market is already showing signs of a decline in entry-level roles, as organizations increasingly require more years of experience, even for junior positions. In fields such as cybersecurity, where AI is rapidly advancing, entry-level analyst roles often demand at least four years of experience, according to Deloitte.Workers fears are not misplaced. The rapid advance of AI could lead to significant job displacement: Goldman Sachs, for example, predicts that AI could displace 300 million full-time jobs globally, affecting up to two-thirds of jobs in Europe and the US. Similarly, McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 12 million people might actually need to change professions by 2030. And a study published by the European Student Think Tank found that AI and machine learning automation, particularly in roles traditionally filled by young workers, such as data entry, could reduce job availability.The Think Tank also found that the arrival of AI technologies could be creating a skills mismatch, as automation increases demand for non-routine analytical and interpersonal skills. Without proper training in AI-related fields, young workers might struggle to adapt, leading to unemployment and exacerbating labor market inequalities.Despite job security fears, Deloitte found many workers remain hopeful that genAI tools can take over more mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on more interesting and creative roles. Even as the technology promises to disrupt past patterns, 79% of younger employees are excited about AIs potential, compared to 66% of older workers. Similarly, more early-career workers (78%) view AI skills as essential, even in non-tech fields. Just 62% of older workers felt that way.DeloitteAdditionally, 75% of early-career employees believe AI will create new job opportunities in their field (compared to 58% of tenured workers), and 77% think AI will help them advance their careers (versus 56% for older employees). Its difficult to generalize, but most studies show employees vacillating between fear and excitement, said Arthur OConnor, academic director of data science at the City University of New York School (CUNY) of Professional Studies. OConnor, who wrote a book on AI in the workplace titled Organizing for Generative AI and the Productivity Revolution, disagreed with Deloittes findings that concern about genAI is slanted toward younger workers.The exposure seems to be a function of what type of job you have, not how long youve been doing it, OConnor said. But there is evidence to suggest that jobs that are most threatened may be senior-level, as research studies showthat genAI offers disproportionate benefits [to] junior-level employees over senior-level employees.Anyone in knowledge work creating, summarizing, or visualizing content such as writing, coding, analyzing, or illustrating should explore and learn to use the many genAI tools and platforms available, OConnor argued. With the evolution of intelligent agents, these tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with very powerful analytic and integrative capabilities.An uneven playing fieldOne study on software development found that less experienced coders using Microsofts Copilot improved the most, completing tasks 56% faster than the control group, OConnor said. Similarly, a study on customer service showed that AI-assisted agents increased productivity by 14%, with the greatest benefits going to novices and low-skilled workers.The job market, often referred to as being in a white-collar recession, could already be reflecting that shift. A 2023 LinkedIn study showed significant declines in hiring for high-paying roles since 2018: IT jobs (down 27%), quality assurance (off 32%), product management (a drop of 23%), program/project management (down 25%), and engineering (down 26%).There is a skills transformation occurring right now, but how fast or pervasive it will be remains to be seen, according to Peter Miscovich, global future of work leader at Jones Lang LaSalle IP(JLL), a commercial real estate and investment management services firm. Clearly 70% of the workforce will need to be upskilled in terms of genAI and AI. Whether youre an entry level, mid-level or senior employee, were seeing a lot of focus on upskilling, Miscovich said.Early career workers are more concerned than tenured colleagues about AIs impact on learning opportunities, workload, and job security. By 2027, genAI will likely be well on its journey of being orchestrated across workplace processes and embedded into workflows. As thats happening now, enterprises are also grappling with re-evaluating existing processes, such as data mining and analytics as well as employee upskilling.At the enterprise level, Miscovich said, from 50% to 75% of enterprises are already piloting genAI tools.Fear of job disruption from automation and reduced learning opportunities may be fueling a third anxiety: early-career workers face fewer chances to build skills but are expected to perform at higher levels due to AI advances. Among surveyed workers, 77% of early-career and 67% of tenured workers believe AI raises expectations for entry-level roles, including handling more complex and strategic tasks, according to Deloitte.The prevailing career advice seems to be, Gen AI may not replace you, but others using it will,' OConnor said.Getting workers up to speed on genAIMany workers, regardless of experience, find current AI tools challenging to use effectively. While genAI tools can reduce time spent on some tasks, workers still need to verify accuracy and quality, which remains a significant concern. Other issues flagged by survey respondents include ethical and privacy challenges, reduced collaboration, and a perceived loss of personal connection in the workplace.One issue for companies is getting new employees involved in inclusive training and encouraging them to be mentored and sponsored by mid-level and senior level manager, according to Miscovich.Organizational training models, where skills-focused outcomes intentionally engage younger workers through microlearning and immersive spatial computing, are increasingly crucial for onboarding and training, helping workers feel supported, included, and developed, Miscovich said.This is a key challenge for many organizations, especially in the wake of workforce shifts during and after the pandemic. The Great Resignation has highlighted the need for greater guidance across teams, not just in adopting generative AI, he said. From a personal experience, its vital to invest in intentional, one-on-one time with younger team members to keep them engaged and continuously learning. Programs must also evolve to keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies.As AI automation infiltrates workflows, basic tasks like reporting and data analysis might limit early career workers opportunities to build skills gradually. Without these experiences, they risk advancing to complex tasks without a supportive learning environment, leading to skill gaps, according to Deloitte.Miscovich pointed to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey & Co., and the World Economic Forum that shows most workers becoming comfortable with genAI. For example, last year, accounting and consulting PricewaterhouseCoopers announced it was spending $1 billion on expanding AI products and training for its 75,000 workers.A major obstacle to organizational adoption is that data science expertise is not sufficiently diffused for both senior managers and among rank-and-file workers, OConnor said. Such expertise tends to be concentrated in IT departments, most of which still operate as secret guilds with their own mysterious language and practices that are organizationally and functionally isolated from core business units.The most direct way would be to teach employees how to leverage the tremendous potential, as well as manage the considerable risks, of applying current AI tools in their everyday workflows. But this is a lot easier said than done, as most organizations arent currently staffed or structured to do this, he said.The European Student Think Tank recommends companies develop inclusive education and training programs to help employees adapt to rapid AI use. In particular, the organization recommends: Regular training that emphasizes promoting STEM education to boost employability in AI-related areas especially for low-income youth who often lack access to such opportunities to ensure programs are accessible and inclusive. Employee involvement in decisions about AI implementation so workers better understand which tasks can be effectively automated. AI-related decisions should be made inclusively and transparently to align with employees insights and needs. Investments in AI research and development to foster innovation that enhances job automation without overshadowing human contributions. Research should prioritize streamlining tasks and integrating workers insights to empower young employees. Better collaboration among governments, the private sector, and academia to address AI-related employment challenges through public-private partnerships. For employees hoping to keep up with the evolution of AI and its affects on their careers, OConnor said pointed to an abundance of free content and opportunities to learn about AI. The challenge lies in using those resources effectively.Teaching and empowering employees to move past the experimental stage to embed these technologies into core business processes requires multi-disciplinary roles, functions and organizational structures most businesses dont currently have, OConnor said. As a data scientist who studies organizational behavior, I believe the coming Productivity Revolution calls for new types of roles and functions, in which data expertise is not a distinct organizational unit but an interconnected discipline spanning almost every aspect of a business.

As we look ahead to a whole new year of green-tinted Googley goodness, Im feeling both guardedly excited and curiously like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.Googles got some pretty weighty pivots in the works for the Android arena right now. Its mostly good-seeming stuff, on the surface, and cause for cautious optimism. But some of it is also cause for a familiar-feeling sense of dj vu a sensation those of us who have watched Google closely for a while now are all too accustomed to experiencing.Here, specifically, are seven key themes to keep an eye on as we make our way into 2025 and think through what Google might have in store for us in the land of Android and some important accompanying questions to consider.[Psst: Give yourself an early holiday gift with my free Android Notification Power-Pack six smart enhancements thatll change how you use your phone.]Google Android 2025 theme #1: The Android/ChromeOS comboWell start with the biggest and most consequential change to contemplate in the coming months. and thats the alleged merger of Googles Android and ChromeOS platforms.This is absolutely a possibility weve heard before more times that I can even count at this point. But for the first time now, it actually feels like something that could make sense and potentially be a positive for us as users, if Google manages to get it right.The current rumor suggests Google wants to unify its operating system efforts by fully migrating ChromeOS over to Android and, in some way, having future Chromebooks ship with Android.Its an intriguing notion that could, in theory, bring us the best of both worlds but youd better believe there are more questions than answers around this one right now.For instance:When exactly would this happen? The latest rumors describe it as a multi-year project, but Google has yet to say a single peep so we really dont know if well hear anything official about it in 2025 or not until much later.How would current Chromebooks be affected? Some devices out there are already promised ongoing operating system updates through as late as 2034 right now. Would they continue to receive ChromeOS all that time, or would there be some sort of switch over to Android even for existing systems?Would Chromebooks even be called Chromebooks if theyre actually running Android?How would any sort of switch over to Android affect ChromeOS-specific advantages around security, update frequency, and software consistency?Clearly, theres a ton still unknown here, and Google has yet to confirm or deny the possibility in any way. (Believe me, Ive asked!) But whether anything officially happens in 2025 on this front or not, its absolutely gonna be a story and a subject worth watching.Google Android 2025 theme #2: The hardware evolutionGoogles self-made hardware focus has long been a roller coaster of uncertainty.Back in 2019, the company said it was done making tablets and intended to focus entirely on laptop-style devices. Then, three years later, it seemingly cancelled its next Pixelbook laptop and decided to focus entirely on tablets (!) while making the case that they served a completely different purpose than the Chromebooks alongside em. And then, earlier this year, it apparently axed its next Pixel Tablet in favor of focusing on wait for it a new Pixel Laptop instead.Its enough to make anyones head spin. So in 2025, weve got tons of pressing questions to chew over:After all of that, will we ever see another Pixel Tablet? Its possible Googles still developing what would have been the third-generation version for release sometime next year or perhaps the year after.Assuming the alleged Pixel Laptop pans out and actually gets released, meanwhile, will that device be a straightforward Android computer, without any hints of ChromeOS?And if so, will it be a convertible or detachable device that effectively doubles as a tablet or will it just be a traditional clamshell-style laptop?When will we actually see the thing?And will it be a lasting new line for Google or another one-off in the companys notoriously short-attention-span pattern?So much to chew over and watch for in this area as well.Google Android 2025 theme #3: Updates, updates, updatesAs part of a plan to get operating system updates out earlier in the year, Googles shifting its Android release schedule to include a major Android version update in the second quarter and then a smaller Android version update in Q4 starting in 2025.This, too, brings a bit of dj vu. In the platforms earlier days, updates landed multiple times a year; it was only with 2015s Android 6 release that Google got onto the annual cadence and laid the groundwork for the pattern weve grown accustomed to observing today with just a single new major Android version coming out toward the end of each year.The problem with that end-of-year timing is that lots of Android device-makers also like to launch their new flagship phone models around that same time, ahead of the holiday season and so it becomes a scramble or sometimes even an impossibility for them to ship the latest and greatest Android version out of the box on those shiny new phones.By pushing out Android 16 in the spring, companies will have much more time to get it onto their new goodies. But weve still got plenty of unanswered questions:Google describes the Q2 release as being the major new Android release of the year, with the Q4 follow-up being minor in comparison with feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes. But Google already increasingly does quarterly feature drops with similar sorts of enhancements alongside the monthly security patches, too. So what exactly will the Q4 Android update include that sets it apart from those other ongoing updates?Will the Q4 Android release have a whole new Android version number like Android 17 or will it take us back to the days of 0.1-style updates? (Or something else entirely?)Most device-makers outside of Google already struggle to keep up with once-a-year Android updates. How will they fare with two rollouts in the equation? Will we see some manufacturers opt to skip over the Q4 release and focus only on the Q2 version? Or will our various high-tech tortoises finally step up to the plate and start exerting some actual effort around this stuff?And speaking of Android 16Google Android 2025 theme #4: Geminis mind-numbing marchIts still too soon to say what, exactly, might end up being the most significant elements in Android 16, but it seems clear that Googles next-gen Gemini assistant will play a key role in the software in an extremely dj-vu-inducing way.Early reports make it look like Android 16 will allow Gemini to perform specific actions within apps on your behalf and handle all sorts of commands via simple spoken statements.That, notably, is almost exactly what Google promised us with its new Google Assistant back in 2019, around the launch of the Pixel 4 phone, but never quite managed to deliver.And so far, Gemini isnt exactly wowing most of us with its skills and capabilities (to, erm, put it mildly).2025 seems to be a bit of a repeat performance, at least in terms of the promise. Time will tell if this go-round ultimately ends up delivering or if we continue to feel like were taking baby steps back toward where we were already.Google Android 2025 theme #5: Google Now, againIve made no secret of my affection for Googles smart new Circle to Search system. And Ive made no qualms about the fact that everything about this system is eerily reminiscent of what we were given back in 2012, when Google launched an excellent but exceptionally short-lived Android feature called Google Now on Tap.Circle to Search is without a doubt Now on Tap reincarnated. And while the dj vu element of it is amusing, its also nice to have that once-fantastic idea back in the forefront again.This time so far, at least Google seems gung-go about pushing Circle to Search forward and bringing more and more power into its terrain. Already, weve seen updates adding in an integrated screenshot option and QR code scanner, and all signs suggest the development will only continue charging forward while Circle to Search itself becomes more broadly available in the months ahead.Bring it on, I say!Google Android 2025 theme #6: Do Not Disturb reduxAnother apparent priority for Google in 2025 is expanding Androids Do Not Disturb system in a way thatll introduce multiple customizable priority modes instead of just a single on/off switch.In terms of pure function, this seems like a smart step forward though its hard not to question if the complexity it introduces will create more confusion than benefit for many Android-owning animals.And all such worries aside, its impossible to see what Googles got goin with this new approach and not think back to the era of Android 5, when Do Not Disturb was similarly transformed into a multipronged priority mode system that ended up being a convoluted mess that was soon after abandoned.With any luck, thats a lesson Google will remember as it ventures into those waters once more.Google Android 2025 theme #7: Bubbles floating back to the surfaceBack in 2020, Google gave us a wacky-sounding new Android element called Bubbles.Bubbles, in short, were meant to be a way to keep certain app functions readily available on your screen via a collapsible circle known as yup bubbles. You could tap on a bubble to expand it but then keep it out of the way (though still easily accessible) most of the time.Bubbles ended up being relevant only for a small handful of messaging apps, where its generally more annoying than anything. But at the beginning, the system was supposed to have been so much more.In its original vision for Bubbles, Google presented the system as a new way for users to multitask and re-engage with apps. And that was just the start:Bubbles help users prioritize information and take action deep within another app, while maintaining their current context. They also let users carry an apps functionality around with them as they move between activities on their device.Bubbles are great for messaging because they let users keep important conversations within easy reach. They also provide a convenient view over ongoing tasks and updates, like phone calls or arrival times. They can provide quick access to portable UI like notes or translations and can be visual reminders of tasks, too.So, yeah: Messaging was a small part of the picture, but Bubbles was supposed to be so much more than that. It was meant to represent a new way of getting stuff done on your phone something that seemed, as I put it at the time, like it could be a mobile multitasking breakthrough.Now, five years later, we may finally see that original vision play out. Under-development code reveals fresh progress on Androids Bubbles system thatd let you put any app into a bubble and keep it available on demand, exactly as wed seen teased several years ago. This could open the door to some seriously interesting new ways of multitasking and pulling up elements like notes, emails, documents, and even web pages while viewing something else at the same time without having to resort to a much more rigid split-screen interface, which isnt always optimal (especially on a smaller-screened device).We dont yet know exactly what form this could take or even if itll necessarily show up in Android 16, but seeing it come back to the forefront after all these years is a very welcome surprise and something well worth watching throughout 2025.Stay tunedIf theres one thing Ive learned in analyzing Google all these years, its that you never fully know what the company might be thinking and theres always room for the element of surprise.While many of the themes above may indeed be new twists on familiar concepts (as is the comically new capability of adding widgets onto your Android tablets home screen hello, 2012!), so much has changed with Android over the past 16 years that certain things will inevitably be different with their implementation now.And beyond those seven key themes, well almost certainly see other Android-connected advancements and pivots as the year progresses.As always, our adventure in this arena is only just beginning. And I, for one, cant wait to experience all the twists and turns with you every step of the way.Why wait for 2025? Grant yourself all sorts of new superpowers this second with my free Android Notification Power-Pack six smart enhancements for any Android device in front of you.

Last week, this space was all about OpenAIs 12 days of shipmas. This week, the spotlight is on Google, which has been speeding toward the holiday by shipping or announcing its own flurry of products and updates. The combination of stuff here is pretty monumental, not just for a single company, but I think because it speaks to the power of the technology industryeven if it does trigger a personal desire that we could do more to harness that power and put it to more noble uses.To start, last week Google Introduced Veo, a new video generation model, and Imagen 3, a new version of its image generation model.Then on Monday, Google announced a breakthrough in quantum computing with its Willow chip. The company claims the new machine is capable of a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of todays fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 1025) years. you may recall that MIT Technology Review covered some of the Willow work after researchers posted a paper preprint in August. But this week marked the big media splash. It was a stunning update that had Silicon Valley abuzz. (Seriously, I have never gotten so many quantum computing pitches as in the past few days.)Google followed this on Wednesday with even more gifts: a Gemini 2 release, a Project Astra update, and even more news about forthcoming agents called Mariner, an agent that can browse the web, and Jules, a coding assistant.First: Gemini 2. Its impressive, with a lot of performance updates. But I have frankly grown a little inured by language-model performance updates to the point of apathy. Or at least near-apathy. I want to see them do something.So for me, the cooler update was second on the list: Project Astra, which comes across like an AI from a futuristic movie set. Google first showed a demo of Astra back in May at its developer conference, and it was the talk of the show. But, since demos offer companies chances to show off products at their most polished, it can be hard to tell whats real and whats just staged for the audience. Still, when my colleague Will Douglas Heaven recently got to try it out himself, live and unscripted, it largely lived up to the hype. Although he found it glitchy, he noted that those glitches can be easily corrected. He called the experience stunning and said it could be generative AIs killer app.On top of all this, Will notes that this week Google DeepMind CEO (the companys AI division) Demis Hassabis was in Sweden to receive his Nobel Prize. And what did you do with your week?Making all this even more impressive, the advances represented in Willow, Gemini, Astra, and Veo are ones that just a few years ago many, many people would have said were not possibleor at least not in this timeframe.A popular knock on the tech industry is that it has a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. The phone in your pocket gives the lie to this. So too do the rides I took in Waymos self-driving cars this week. (Both of which arrived faster than Ubers estimated wait time. And honestly its not been that long since the mere ability to summon an Uber was cool!) And while quantum has a long way to go, the Willow announcement seems like an exceptional advance; if not a tipping point exactly, then at least a real waypoint on a long road. (For what its worth, Im still not totally sold on chatbots. They do offer novel ways of interacting with computers, and have revolutionized information retrieval. But whether they are beneficial for humanityespecially given energy debts, the use of copyrighted material in their training data, their perhaps insurmountable tendency to hallucinate, etc.is debatable, and certainly is being debated. But Im pretty floored by this weeks announcements from Google, as well as OpenAIfull stop.)And for all the necessary and overdue talk about reining in the power of Big Tech, the ability to hit significant new milestones on so many different fronts all at once is something that only a company with the resources of a Google (or Apple or Microsoft or Amazon or Meta or Baidu or whichever other behemoth) can do.All this said, I dont want us to buy more gadgets or spend more time looking at our screens. I dont want us to become more isolated physically, socializing with others only via our electronic devices. I dont want us to fill the air with carbon or our soil with e-waste. I do not think these things should be the price we pay to drive progress forward. Its indisputable that humanity would be better served if more of the tech industry was focused on ending poverty and hunger and disease and war.Yet every once in a while, in the ever-rising tide of hype and nonsense that pumps out of Silicon Valley, epitomized by the AI gold rush of the past couple of years, there are moments that make me sit back in awe and amazement at what people can achieve, and in which I become hopeful about our ability to actually solve our larger problemsif only because we can solve so many other dumber, but incredibly complicated ones. This week was one of those times for me.Now read the rest of The DebriefThe News Robotaxi adoptionis hitting a tipping point. But also,GM is shutting down its Cruise robotaxi division. Hereshow to use OpenAIs new video editing toolSora. Blueskyhas an impersonator problem. The AI hype machine iscoming under government scrutiny.The ChatEvery week, I talk to one of MIT Technology Reviews journalists to go behind the scenes of a story they are working on. This week, I hit up James ODonnell, who covers AI and hardware, about his story on how the startup defense contractorAnduril is bringing AI to the battlefield.Mat:James, you got a pretty up close look at something most people probably havent even thought about yet, which is how the future of AI-assisted warfare might look. What did you learn on that trip that you think will surprise people?James:Two things stand out. One, I think people would be surprised by the gulf between how technology has developed for the last 15 years for consumers versus the military. For consumers, weve gotten phones, computers, smart TVs and other technologies that generally do a pretty good job of talking to each other and sharing our data, even though theyre made by dozens of different manufacturers. Its called the internet of things. In the military, technology has developed in exactly the opposite way, and its putting them in a crisis. They have stealth aircraft all over the world, but communicating about a drone threat might be done with Powerpoints and a chat service reminiscent of AOL Instant Messenger.The second is just how much the Pentagon is now looking to AI to change all of this. New initiatives have surged in the current AI boom. They are spending on training new AI models to better detect threats, autonomous fighter jets, and intelligence platforms that use AI to find pertinent information. What I saw at Andurils test site in California is also a key piece of that. Using AI to connect to and control lots of different pieces of hardware, like drones and cameras and submarines, from a single platform. The amount being invested in AI is much smaller than for aircraft carriers and jets, but its growing.Mat:I was talking with a different startup defense contractor recently, who was talking to me about the difficulty of getting all these increasingly autonomous devices on the battlefield talking to each other in a coordinated way. Like Anduril, he was making the case that this has to be done at the edge, and that there is too much happening for human decision making to process. Do you think thats true? Why is that?James:So many in the defense space have pointed to the war in Ukraine as a sign that warfare is changing. Drones are cheaper and more capable than they ever were in the wars in the Middle East. Its why the Pentagon is spending $1 billion on the Replicator initiative to fieldthousands of cheap dronesby 2025. Its also looking to field more underwater drones as it plans for scenarios in which China may invade Taiwan.Once you get these systems, though, the problem is having all the devices communicate with one another securely. You need to play Air Traffic Control at the same time that youre pulling in satellite imagery and intelligence information, all in environments where communication links are vulnerable to attacks.Mat:I guess I still have a mental image of a control room somewhere, like you might see inDr. StrangeloveorWar Games(orStar Warsfor that matter) with a handful of humans directing things. Are those days over?James:I think a couple things will change. One, a single person in that control room will be responsible for a lot more than they are now. Rather than running just one camera or drone system manually, theyll command software that does it for them, for lots of different devices. The idea that the defense tech sector is pushing is to take them out of the mundane tasksrotating a camera around to look for threatsand instead put them in the drivers seat for decisions that only humans, not machines, can make.Mat:I know that critics of the industry push back on the idea of AI being empowered to make battlefield decisions, particularly when it comes to life and death, but it seems to me that we are increasingly creeping toward that and it seems perhaps inevitable. Whats your sense?James:This is painting with broad strokes, but I think the debates about military AI fall along similar lines to what we see for autonomous vehicles. You have proponents saying that driving is not a thing humans are particularly good at, and when they make mistakes, it takes lives. Others might agree conceptually, but debate at what point its appropriate to fully adopt fallible self-driving technology in the real world. How much better does it have to be than humans?In the military, the stakes are higher. Theres no question that AI is increasingly being used to sort through and surface information to decision-makers. Its finding patterns in data, translating information, and identifying possible threats. Proponents are outspoken that that will make warfare more precise and reduce casualties. What critics are concerned about is how far across that decision-making pipeline AI is going, and how much there is human oversight.I think where it leaves me is wanting transparency. When AI systems make mistakes, just like when human military commanders make mistakes, I think we deserve to know, and that transparency does not have to compromise national security. It tookyearsfor reporter Azmat Khan to piece together the mistakes made during drone strikes in the Middle East, because agencies were not forthcoming. That obfuscation absolutely cannot be the norm as we enter the age of military AI.Mat:Finally, did you have a chance to hit an In-N-Out burger while you were in California?James:Normally In-N-Out is a requisite stop for me in California, but ahead of my trip I heard lots of good things about the burgers at The Apple Pan in West LA, so I went there. To be honest, the fries were better, but for the burger I have to hand it to In-N-Out.The Recommendation A few weeks ago I suggestedCa7riel and Paco Amorosos appearance on NPR Tiny Desk. At the risk of this space becoming a Tiny Desk stan account, Im back again with another. I was completely floored byDoechiis Tiny Desk appearance last week. Its so full of talent and joy and style and power. I came away completely inspired and have basically had her music on repeat in Spotify ever since. If you are already a fan of her recorded music, you will love her live. If shes new to you, well, youre welcome. Go check it out. Oh, and dont worry: Im not planning to recommendBillie Eilishs new Tiny Desk concertin next weeks newsletter. Mostly because Im doing so now.