Elden Ring Nightreign is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on May 30. A new standalone game set in the world of Elden Ring, Nightreign lets you team up with two other players to slice your way through an oppressive fantasy world. Its kind of like a faster-paced remix of the original game. Its available for preorder in a number of editions (see it at Best Buy, where you get a free $10 gift card with purchase), so read on for the details about what comes in each one.Elden Ring Nightreign - Standard EditionOut May 30Elden Ring Nightreign (Standard Edition)Free $10 Best Buy gift card with purchase.$39.99 at Best BuyPS5Get it at Best Buy - $39.99 (includes free $10 gift card)Get it at GameStop - $39.99Get it at PS Store (digital) - $39.99Xbox Series X|SGet it at Best Buy - $39.99 (includes free $10 gift card)Get it at GameStop - $39.99Get it at Xbox Store (digital) - $39.99PCGet it at Steam - $39.99The standard edition of the game sells for $39.99. It comes with the game itself, plus the preorder bonus (see below).Elden Ring Nightreign - Deluxe EditionOut May 30Elden Ring Nightreign (Deluxe Edition)Free $10 Best Buy gift card with purchase.$54.99 at Best BuyPS5Get it at Best Buy - $54.99 (includes free $10 gift card)Get it at GameStop - $54.99Get it at PS Store (digital) - $54.99Xbox Series X|SGet it at Best Buy - $54.99 (includes free $10 gift card)Get it at GameStop - $54.99Get it at Xbox Store (digital) - $54.99PCGet it at Steam - $54.99For an extra $15, you get the game, the preorder bonus, and the following digital extras:Additional DLC - additional playable characters and bosses (available post launch)Digital artbookDigital mini soundtrackElden Ring Nightreign - Collectors EditionGet it at Bandai Namco Store - $199.99From the store listing, heres what comes in the Bandai Namco Store-exclusive collectors edition of the game:Additional DLC Additional DLC that will be available after the release of the main gameStatue of Wylder - A perfect replica of the nomadic warrior, Wylder, a lone swordman in pursuit of the Night Lord. Crafted by Pure Arts. Size : 25cmSteelBook - Premium metal case with a full-color illustration of Wylder. The perfect protection and display for your game discNightfarer Cards - A set of eight high-quality tarot cards featuring detailed illustrations of the Nightfarers. These glossy, full color cards are the perfect way to predict your future in LimveldExclusive Hardcover Artbook - An exclusive 40-page artbook tracing the development of ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN through previously unseen concept art, sketches, and full color illustrations. Size: 24 x 21 cm Language: EnglishDigital Soundtrack Download Code - The unforgettable original soundtrack is included in this Collectors Edition. Return to Limveld again and again with fully orchestrated tracks from ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN.Collectors Box - A beautiful case to store or display your statue and artbook.Elden Ring Nightreign Preorder BonusPreorder any version of the game, and youll receive the following digital extra:Its Raining GestureAdditionally, if you preorder any edition at Best Buy, you'll receive a free $10 gift card when the game releases.Elden Ring Nightreign Helmet of WylderElden Ring Nightreign - Helmet of Wylder$189.99 at Bandai Namco StoreGet it at Bandai Namco Store - $189.99If you want a physical Helmet of Wylder statue to go with the game, you can pick one up at exclusively the Bandai Namco Store for $189.99.What Is Elden Ring Nightreign?PlayElden Ring Nightreign is a standalone game, which means you dont need the original Elden Ring to play it. Its a co-op adventure that the games director Junya Ishizaki describe as a condensed RPG experience. It lets you build your character as you explore the world and fight tough enemies and bosses, all in shorter, tighter gameplay sessions.In each run, you and two friends are dropped into the game world as level one characters, but the locations of the enemies and castles is randomized. That means you cant simply memorize where everything is like you can in the original game. It sounds like a pretty cool new twist on the established template. For more info, check out our hands-on preview, plus our impressions of the network test build.Other Preorder GuidesChris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

Elden Ring Nightreign launches on May 30, 2025 priced $40 across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, publisher Bandai Namco has confirmed.Confirmation of the release date comes ahead of the Elden Ring Nightreign network test, which kicks off on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S only on February 14 and ends February 17, with various session times planned. This means you won't be able to play the network test throughout the entire four days, rather during five three-hour periods.Elden Ring Nightreign network test session timings:February 14: 3am-6am PT / 6am-9am ETFebruary 14: 7pm-10pm PT / 10pm-1am ETFebruary 15: 11am-2pm PT / 2pm-5pm ETFebruary 16: 3am-6am PT / 6am-9am ETFebruary 16: 7pm-10pm PT / 10pm-1am ETThe network test is a preliminary verification test in which the selected testers play a portion of the game prior to the full game launch, Bandai Namco said. "This large-scale Network Stress Test is designed to evaluate various aspects of the online system's functionality and performance. We are looking forward to your cooperation to make Elden Ring Nightreign even better."PlayElden Ring Nightreign is FromSoftwares standalone co-operative spin-off set in a world parallel to that of 2022s Elden Ring. The network test will allow three players to team up and take their chosen Nightfarers to battle "against new terrors, and explore an ever-changing map to defeat increasingly challenging bosses and ultimately take on the Nightlord," Bandai Namco added, before confirming the network test features a three day-and-night cycle squads must try to outlast.Here's the official blurb:The all-new adventure in Elden Ring Nightreign begins at the Roundtable Hold, set in a universe parallel to the events of Elden Ring. Players must choose from eight unique characters, each with their own abilities and powerful Ultimates. Their journeys take them to Limveld, an ever-changing environment, where they will have to make split-second decisions when it comes to combat and exploration in the face of a night cycle that shrinks the map with the coming Nights Tide.At the end of each night, players will face a powerful boss and, if victorious, awaken to bigger challenges. Each session will culminate in the third night when they must face off against the chosen Nightlord. Individuals can fight the night alone, but strength will come in numbers. Nightfarers must learn to cooperate to take down these challenges, combining their unique abilities together for an unparalleled experience. All is not lost for those who fall in defeat. Unsuccessful runs will grant players relics to allow them to customize and upgrade their characters tailored to their personal play styles.Elden Ring Nightreign is unlike any experience created before by FromSoftware, Inc. In this condensed action RPG, players will never experience the same journey twice as enemies, rewards, and Limveld itself are ever-shifting and evolving with each new session. Defeating greater enemies and venturing into the more dangerous parts of the map will uncover more powerful weapons and greater Rune rewards. Finding Sites of Grace gives each hero a chance to level up and gain crucial power. With each session-based adventure being akin to playing through an open-air dungeon, every journey provides an opportunity to grow lasting stat bonuses. Successful runs against the night bring players ever closer to defeating the Nightlord and unraveling the story behind each Nightfarer in this parallel world.Last year IGN had the opportunity to visit FromSoftware and go hands-on with an early build of Elden Ring Nightreign. We came away impressed, stating that Elden Ring Nightreign takes the cautious dungeon crawls of Elden Ring and turbocharges them into propulsive, slash n dash speedruns.Check out IGN's interview with game director Junya Ishizaki for even more on Elden Ring Nightreign.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

We finally have our first trailer for The Wheel of Time season three, and it looks like were about to get into the real meat of Robert Jordans epic saga, upon which the show is based. As everyone starts to come into their real power, both for good and for evil, the battle for the fate of the world becomes that much more spectacular.Those who have been watching The Wheel of Time closely know that the White Tower had some troubling secrets at the end of season two. With the Black Ajah sworn to serve the Dark One, their cover was surely about to be blown as the Last Battle approached, and the trailer appears to confirm that. At one point we can see Siuan and others lifting the duplicitous Liandrin into the air, and the weaves of power are like fireworks in the air.We even hear the Amyrlin as she declares, We cannot stand behind these walls and pretend we still have control. Theres little doubt that the Black Ajah problem goes well beyond the point of a few Darkfriends here and there in Tar Valon. Even Egwene agrees that the Tower is destroying itself from the inside out.So it seems the Two Rivers reunion will be short-lived, and Rand has his destination in mind: Were going to the last place anyone would ever look for me. Given the imagery that follows and the key art shown below, its clear hes headed to the Aiel Waste.Aviendha and the other Maidens of the Spear think Rand may be their prophecied savior and destroyer, and we hear her say in The Wheel of Time trailer, Our people have been waiting for the caracarns arrival. To think it might be you! She may be sworn to protect him, but she doesnt appear to like it!But who is Rand carrying in the key art image above? With the Aes Sedai ring clearly visible, it must be Moiraine herself, traveling with him to the desert. Her life will apparently be on the line as she tells her Warder Lan of the disturbing vision she had in the Rings: In every future where I lived, Rand dies, and the only way he lives is if I dont.That wont be the only location at play, however. Perrin appears to have made it home to the Two Rivers, but all is not well there either. We even hear an authoritative voice insist, We dont win battles with politics and prophecies. We win with armies! Perrin and a makeshift group of soldiers are then seen battling trollocs on what must be another front of the conflict.Theres plenty to be gleaned from The Wheel of Time season three trailer, but several questions remain, teasing us with anticipation. What will be the fallout of Egwenes time with the Seanchan? Who is Elayne referring to when she says, Make them believe in you, and they will follow you to the ends of the earth? Whats going on with Mat and the Horn of Valere? Certain mysteries will just have to wait!The Wheel of Time season three premieres on March 13, 2025.

Not long after the franchise debuted in Japan in 1996, Pokmon established itself as one of the biggest brands in the world. The video game turned card game and anime has remained a cultural phenomenon for nearly three decades, and one little yellow mouse symbolizes all of it. Thats right, were talking about Pokmons beloved mascot, Pikachu.Everyone and their mother (probably great-great-grandmother, at this point) knows who Pikachu is. Hes the face of Pokmon, with thousands of pieces of merchandise immortalizing him in peoples homes. To celebrate the beloved mascot, were looking back at the 10 best Pikachu Pokmon cards, based on each cardsrarity, exceptional artwork, and/or monetary value.Base Set PikachuSometimes, its important to remember your roots. The one that started it all, the original Pikachu card from the Pokmon Base Set released in 1999 in the United States. If youre into Pokmon cards purely for monetary gain, this card means nothing to you. A mint condition Base Set Pikachu (not 1st edition or PSA-graded, mind you) costs less than the retail price of a modern booster pack. But sometimes, nostalgia trumps money; in this case, the memories of Pikachus first cardboard appearance win. The iconic artwork by Mitsuhiro Arita depicts the mouse Pokmon as slightly more rotund than his current-day appearance, but theres a certain charm to the mascots stubby little arms and pudgy cheeks.Often referred to as Happy Birthday Pikachu, this promotional card is unique in the pantheon of Pokmon lore, as players were encouraged to scribble their names on the card, which would certainly tank the resale value. The artwork by Kagemaru Himeno pictures Pika yearning for his birthday cake with a sparkly holographic aesthetic adding to the party theme. Additionally, the players birthday was incorporated into the cards lone attack as part of the TCG. The attack in question, called Birthday Surprise, reads, If its not your birthday, this attack does 30 damage. If it is your birthday, flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30 damage plus 50 more damage; if tails, this attack does 30 damage. Were not sure how useful this ability was in competitive play back in 2000, but ______s Pikachu is a one-of-a-kind card, and its current market value aint half bad either.Released as a Black Star Promo by Wizards of the Coast, this Pikachu card came with Volume 1 of Pokmon Card Trainers magazine in Japan. It was later a promotional item in the Pokmon Leagues stateside. The artwork, a screenshot from the beloved Nintendo 64 title Pokmon Snap, sets this Pikachu card apart. Additionally, in the bottom left corner, the card reads, Photo. Gakuji Nomoto, instead of the usual indicator, Illus,' alluding to who drew the artwork. All of these contributing factors established this as one of the most unique Pikachu cards in existence.Surfing PikachuThe lore behind the famous lightning-type Pokmon catching a wave goes all the way back to Pokmon Yellow. Players could engage with Pikachus Beach, a minigame exclusive to that title. Since then, Pikachu has been depicted as a surfer dudemany times across all of Pokmon, including multiple other video games, the anime, and of course, the TCG. The original Surfing Pikachu card features glorious artwork of the mouse looking happy as can be while riding a wave. Fittingly, it also contains the attack Surf, although its weird seeing an iconic water-type move on a Pikachu card.Surfing Pikachu VMAXSurfing Pikachu wasnt a one-and-done gimmick for Pokmon. This iteration of the companys mascot shredding has returned many times throughout the years, including as a VMAX card 20 years after the original version. The card follows a very similar format to the original. The attack is once again water-type, this time Max Surfer doing at least a whopping 160 damage. However, this card truly shines through its artwork. As with all VMAX Pokmon, Pikachu is larger than life here. The funny thing is that his surfboard remains the same size, leaving the massive mouse riding on a board the size of one of his feet.Pikachu Star Holon PhantomsIf youre plugged into the Pokmon community in any way, whether through video games, anime, TCG, or Pokmon GO, you know the importance of shiny Pokmon. For those out of the loop, shiny Pokmon are essentially color swaps of pocket monsters that appear much less frequently. Trainers have been searching for them across many different platforms for years, and a shiny Pokmon in your collection can become a crowning jewel. The first time shiny Pikachu appeared in the TCG was in the 2006 Holon Phantoms expansion set as a Star card, which are now extremely expensive and rare cards themselves. While Pikachus alternative color palette looks similar to the original, that hasnt hurt the value of this card, making it one of the most highly sought-after Pikachu cards on the market.Collectibles have had a significant presence at San Diego Comic-Con for decades. The convention has been a source of reveals, early stock, and exclusive items for many of the more prominent brands in the industry, from LEGO to Funko. Pokmon threw their hat into the ring in 2005 with this exclusive Pikachu card, fittingly marked with the SDCC logo in the bottom right corner of the artwork. This Pikachu card is otherwise pretty basic, but the exclusivity of the product blasted off the price like Team Rocket.Collectors tend to love specific Pokmon cards due to their value, rarity, and/or because they pack a punch when playing the TCG. This Pikachu card offers none of those things. It simply made our list because the artwork is too darn adorable. Pikachu brought his friends to a picnic to enjoy some treats. Even the most jaded Pokmon collector cant ignore that. It helps that the other two Pokmon, Chespin and Sylvenon, are equally cute. Pokemon kicked off 2025 with a McDonalds Happy Meals release that sent the community (and resellers) into a frenzy. You see, the promotion bundled a pack of 4 exclusive Pokmon cards with the Happy Meals. While obviously targeting a younger audience, that didnt stop rampant scalping among collectors. A new Pikachu card was introduced in this promotion, featuring an illustration of the character running through the woods. Because of their limited availability, these McDonalds cards will only increase in value over time, making them a solid investment right now.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!In 2004, kids who were massive Pokmon fans received the opportunity of a lifetime: to have their own Pok-art immortalized on a card. This competition, a collaboration between Nintendo and the now-defunct network WB Kids, challenged kids to design cards for five popular Pokmon, including Mudkip, Treecko, Torchic, Wurmple, and, of course, Pikachu. One winner would be selected for each card, and the artists name would be printed on the card, which was deemed illegal in competitive tournament play. The winning Pikachu card has an undeniable sense of childlike wonder behind its artwork, with the electric mouse seemingly riding a shooting star. The card is also extremely rare now and might catch prices in the quadruple digits if found in good condition.

SummaryLearn how Milestone has rebuilt the Monster Energy Supercross franchise in the last two years by leveraging key contributions from the community.Simulation is the word, with a new physics system that allows full air control and a true riding experience in the dirt. And for the first time, the current season will be available on day one.Monster Energy Supercross 25 The Official Video Game will launch on Xbox Series X|S on April 10, 2025, with early access from April 7.Two years after the last chapter, Monster Energy Supercross 25 The Official Video Game is about to be released for Xbox Series X|S on April 10, 2025, with early access starting on April 7. As Game Director of this franchise, it is both an honor and a challenge as this new installment marks a complete rebuild of the series from the ground up.This was made possible thanks to the valuable input from expert community members, whom we kept an open dialogue with throughout development to identify areas for improvement. Listening to their feedback was fundamental to crafting a gameplay experience that would truly meet the desires of our players, and importantly, the decision to adopt a biannual development plan also allowed us to step up the game technically with the adoption of Unreal Engine 5.The Most Accurate Supercross Tracks YetBefore diving into the gameplay facets, let me point out one of the biggest changes in terms of content, as Monster Energy Supercross 25 The Official Video Game will feature for the first time in the history of the franchise the current season with 2025 riders, tracks and liveries available on day one. This has never been done before due to the structure of Supercross. In fact, each track only exists for the few days of the event and then is gone forever.To make this happen, we had to adopt a different technique; while in the past we used photogrammetry technology, this time we were able to access the blueprints of the 2025 tracks in advance to recreate them in the game engine without the need for additional photo reference. This is a new and different method that allows you to discover the tracks even before the real events take place and real riders can also train with the game ahead of the championship final!Building with the CommunityAs we mentioned earlier, we have collaborated with some of the most important Supercross creators asking them to test the game at various development stages. Listening to their opinions we have learned and tweaked many elements such as the riders animations, which are now more fluid and realistic than ever. Another crucial feature that the community helped us with is bike handling. Thanks to them, we have implemented a new bike balance system that will allow newcomers to enjoy the adrenaline of Supercross and veterans to perform better.Most importantly, the community helped us rebuild the riding physics from scratch. On the ground, youll find many changes: the steering angle, traction and tire-to-ground contact have all been reworked to create a more immersive experience. The in-air physics, on the other hand, has been completely revolutionized. A renewed stick control system will give you full control of the in-air motion, which is something we never did in the past and will now allow you to decide how to manage both the rider and bikes weight after the jump. With the new physics, performing whips and scrubs will be much more rewarding and those who will be mastering these movements will get an even greater advantage.Upgrading to Unreal Engine 5From a technical standpoint, Unreal Engine 5 allowed us to create features that we once thought impossible thanks to Chaos, its physics engine. For the first time, the track will be alive, just as the community wanted, with a new system that will challenge you lap after lap. In a real Supercross race, the track is indeed modified by the passing of the riders, creating ruts on the ground. One of the pilots many talents is to interpret these ruts to find the best trajectory. The new ruts system simulates track evolution so that you will have to find the best path for each lap.With Unreal Engine 5 we were also able to implement for the first time a Neural AI system which will completely change the way rivals will behave during a race. In fact, the Neural AI is trained exactly like a real rider: we make them test the tracks hundreds and hundreds of times to learn how to approach corners and jumps.While working on this new feature we faced two of the biggest challenges of the project: first, we had to teach the AI how to handle the new ruts system. We achieved it by training what we call agents, namely the AI-controlled riders on the same track at different stages of ground degradation so that they could learn how to handle the various situations that a Supercross rider can encounter during a race. Secondly, we had to train the AI how to handle the air sections. Thanks to these technical achievements the AI can now race on user-generated tracks and we cant wait to see our community enjoy this impressive milestone.The new AI is also an important element of the fresh career mode we have developed. Here youll become an integral part of the Supercross universe, thanks to a dynamic system full of challenges and tests to become the most successful rider. I cant say too much here, so stay tuned to learn what we have in store for you.Thank you for your time and attention. Before I go I would like to reveal to the Xbox Wire readers a small surprise at the top of this post you can see for the first time the official key art of the game, depicting some of the main protagonists of the 2025 season. Monster Energy Supercross 25 The Official Video Game will launch on Xbox Series X|S on April 10, 2025, with early access starting from April 7. See you on the race track!

In the early days of the iPhone, users upgraded their device especially often. But as the product matured, and carrier deals changed, the upgrade cycle started getting longer. Now, it seems, that trend is starting to reverse.iPhone upgrade cycle just got shorter for a lot of usersCIRPs latest report highlights a change in iPhone upgrade patterns seen during the most recent quarter, ending in December 2024.Michael Levin and Josh Lowitz write:There were more iPhone buyers retiring younger phones compared to earlier quarters. Specifically, 36% of iPhone buyers in the December 2024 quarter reported having their previous phone for two years or less, compared to 31% in the December 2023 quarter.Conversely, slightly fewer buyers had a phone for three years or more (33%) or for two to three years (30%) compared to 2023. The shift from 2023 to 2024 was divided evenly between these two categories.For years, investors and analysts have stressed over the question: How often are users upgrading to a new iPhone?Its an important question. If you have a lot of people buying a new iPhone every two years, that will make a huge sales impact. But if users hold on to their iPhone for 3, 4, 5+ years, theres a similar impact in the wrong direction.9to5Macs TakeCIRPs data seems to show what I suspect is an Apple Intelligence impact. Users of the iPhone 15 (non-Pro) and older had AI features as a fresh incentive for upgrading sooner than they might otherwise.This theory is supported by Tim Cooks recent statement that the iPhone 16 was outperforming the iPhone 15, and sales were especially strong in markets where Apple Intelligence had launched.What do you attribute the changing iPhone sales trends to? Do you think its Apple Intelligence, or not? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

A new update to the Waze app on Apple CarPlay is making it much easier to navigate home or to work with just the press of a single button.Rolling out with the latest Waze updates for iOS, the navigation apps CarPlay experience is adding a new shortcut button to the main UI which allows drivers to quickly launch navigation to their home or work addresses. This shortcut lives above a new Search shortcut button, both of which are found alongside the incident reporting option and the speedometer.These new shortcuts make it considerably easier to access these functions more quickly, as they were previously hidden in another menu.As AutoEvolution points out (in over-the-top fashion), this shortcut previously resided within the auto-hiding bar at the top of the Waze app for CarPlay. By moving it to the main screen, its just a lot easier to use which is always a good thing behind the wheel. The Search UI itself is unchanged. These buttons disappear when navigation is active, and the search button returns back to that top bar.Do you use Waze on CarPlay? Let us know if youre seeing this change.More on Waze:Follow Ben:Twitter/X,Threads, Bluesky, andInstagramAdd 9to5Google to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Google experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

As theWall Street Journal pointed out this week, there's a reliable way to make even the most advanced AI go completely off the rails: ask it who someone is married to.The point was an aside in a longer column about the persistent problem of AI hallucination, but we kept experimenting with itafter discovering that market-leading chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini consistentlyspit out wild answers when you ask who someone's spouse is.For example, I'm not currently married. But when I asked Gemini, it had a confident answer: my husband was someone named "Ahmad Durak Sibai."I'd never heard of such a person, but a little Googling found a lesser-known Syrian painter, born in 1935, who created beautiful cubist-style expressionist paintings and who appears to have passed away in the 1980s. In Gemini's warped view of reality, our love appears to have transcended the grave.It wasn't a one-off hallucination. As the WSJ's AI editor Ben Fritz discovered, various advanced AI models he didn't say which told him he was married to a tennis influencer, a random Iowan woman, and another writer he'd never met.Playing around with the chatbot, I found that it spat out garbled misinformation when asked about almost everybody's marital status. When I asked about my friend Rax King, a James Beard-nominated author, I literally spat coffee out on my laptop screen.That contention about her abusive former spouse is true, as she documented in Rax's acclaimed 2021 essay collection "Tacky."But Gemini also threw in an outrageous fib about Danny Lavery, the former "Dear Prudence" columnist whose 2019 wedding to Berkeley English professor Grace Lavery and subsequent child-spawning throuple,none of which had anything to do with King made headlines that are easy to find on Google's better-known product, its eponymous search engine.I messaged Lavery to ask about the strange claims. Like me, he was flummoxed."What's strangest, I think, is that I don't know Rax King especially well!" Lavery told me. "We're friendly, and I really enjoy her writing, and we've run into each other a few times at book events or parties, but it's not like we're old friends who get brunch every weekend."Two weird responses, of course, don't make a trend. So I continued quizzing Gemini, ChatGPT, and Anthropic's Claude chatbot on the marital status of public figures of varying public statures.As the WSJ's Fritz pointed out, Claude has been trained to respond with uncertainty when it doesn't know an answer rather than make stuff up, so I wasn't surprised to find that it generally demurred when asked.ChatGPT, however, was an entirely different story.When I asked the OpenAI chatbot who King is married to using multiple prompt variations, it told me repeatedly that she's married to a mysterious figure named "Levon Honkers."On the site formerly known as Twitter, my pal's display name has been "rax 'levon honkers' king" an inscrutable inside joke for a while. For some reason, ChatGPT seems to have taken this as a signal of matrimony, and on my third time asking about King's spouse it even claimed that Honkers had celebrated his 44th birthday last November. (In reality, King is married to someone else.)At this point, it was pretty clear that there was something bizarre afoot. While both Gemini and ChatGPT sometimes refused to answer my "private" questions about various folks' marital status, many other times they both gave me peculiar and completely incorrect responses.The AI even gladly cooked up faux relationships for various Futurism staff, inventing a fake husband named Bill for our art director Tag Hartman-Simkins andinsisting that our contributor Frank Landymore was married to an Austrian composer who happens to share his last name.And while both Gemini and ChatGPT refused to name a spouse for contributor Joe Wilkins, the latter did up an elaborate fake biography for him that falsely claimed he was a professor who had published a memoir and several poetry collections and had two children.Perhaps most hilariously, however, the AI claimed that two Futurism staffers editor Jon Christian and writer Maggie Harrison Dupr were married to each other, even though in reality both are wedded to other people.What this all underscores, of course, is that even after untold billions of dollars of investment, even the most advanced AI remains an elaborate bullshit machine that can only tell truth from fiction with the aid of an underpaid army of international contractors and which will often make outrageous claims with complete confidence.Underscoring that persistent risk, these AI fabulations aren't even consistent. When King herself asked Gemini who she was married to, the chatbot told her she was single even though she regularly makes reference online to her current husband."I have no idea why AI thinks I'm single," she told me. "There is SO MUCH information to the contrary out there."We've reached out to Google and OpenAI to ask if either have any insight into why their respective chatbots are hallucinating in such specific ways, or if they have proposed fixes for it. Given how widespread the hallucination issue is, however, we doubt there's a simple patch.More on AI hallucinations: Even the Best AI Has a Problem: If It Doesnt Know the Answer, It Makes One UpShare This Article

As artificial intelligence becomes integrated into our daily lives, researchers are working to tackle what might be its most glaring and enduring issue:that AI "hallucinates," or boldly spits out lies, when it doesn't know the answer.This rampant AI problem is, according to researchers who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, rooted in a reticence to be caught not knowing something.According to Jos Hernndez-Orallo, a professor at Spains Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, hallucination comes down to the way AI models are trained."The original reason why they hallucinate is because if you dont guess anything," Hernndez-Orallo told the WSJ, "you dont have any chance of succeeding."To demonstrate the issue,WSJ writer Ben Fritz devised a simple test: asking multiple advanced AI models who he was married to, a question that is not easily Google-able. The columnist was given multiple bizarre answers a tennis influencer, a writer he'd never met, and an Iowan he'd never heard of none of whom were correct.When I tried it out for myself, the hallucinations were even stranger: Google's Gemini informed me that I was married to a Syrian artist named Ahmad Durak Sibai, who I'd never heard of before who appears to have passed away in the 1980s.Roi Cohen and Konstantin Dobler, a pair of doctoral candidates at Germany's Hasso Plattner Institut, posit in their recent research that the issue is simple: AI models, like most humans, are reluctant to say "I don't know" when asked a question whose answer lies outside of their training data. As a result, they make stuff up and confidently pass it off as fact.The Hasso Plattner researchers say they've devised a way to intervene early in the AI training process to teach models about the concept of uncertainty. Using their methodology, models not only can respond with an "IDK," but also seem to give more accurate answers when theydo have the info.Like with humans, however, the models that Cohen and Dobler taught uncertainty sometimes responded with an IDK even when they did know the AI version of an insecure schoolchild who claims not to know an answer when called upon in class, even when they do.Despite that setback, the researchers are confident that their hack is worthwhile, especially in situations where accuracy is paramount."Its about having useful systems to deploy," Dobler said, "even if theyre not superintelligent."Already, companies like Anthropic are injecting uncertainty into their chatbots. As the WSJ writer Fritz noted, Anthropic's Claude was the only one to admit it didn't know the answer to the question. (and when I tested that question out on Claude, the chatbot declined to answer and warned that there was a possibility that it may "hallucinate" a response.)Beyond increasing the accuracy of responses, Hernndez-Orallo, the Spanish professor, said that adding uncertainty to AI models may increase trust as well."When you ask someone a difficult question and they say 'I cannot answer,' I think that builds trust," Hernndez-Orallo told theWSJ. "We are not following that common-sense advice when we build AI."After being told thatI am married to a nonagenarian artist entirely unknown to me, this Futurism reporter has to agree.More on AI hallucinations: Apple's AI Is Constantly Butchering Huge News Stories Sent to Millions of UsersShare This Article

Feb 12, 2025Ravie LakshmananContainer Security / VulnerabilityCybersecurity researchers have discovered a bypass for a now-patched security vulnerability in the NVIDIA Container Toolkit that could be exploited to break out of a container's isolation protections and gain complete access to the underlying host.The new vulnerability is being tracked as CVE-2025-23359 (CVSS score: 8.3). It affects the following versions -NVIDIA Container Toolkit (All versions up to and including 1.17.3) - Fixed in version 1.17.4NVIDIA GPU Operator (All versions up to and including 24.9.1) - Fixed in version 24.9.2"NVIDIA Container Toolkit for Linux contains a Time-of-Check Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability when used with default configuration, where a crafted container image could gain access to the host file system," the company said in an advisory on Tuesday."A successful exploit of this vulnerability might lead to code execution, denial of service, escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering."Cloud security firm Wiz, which shared additional technical specifics of the flaw, said it's a bypass for another vulnerability (CVE-2024-0132, CVSS score: 9.0) that was addressed by NVIDIA in September 2024.In a nutshell, the vulnerability enables bad actors to mount the host's root file system into a container, granting them unfettered access to all files. Furthermore, the access can be leveraged to launch privileged containers and achieve full host compromise via the runtime Unix socket.Wiz researchers security researchers Shir Tamari, Ronen Shustin, and Andres Riancho said their source code analysis of the container toolkit found that the file paths used during mount operations could be manipulated using a symbolic link such that it makes it possible to mount from outside the container (i.e., the root directory) into a path within "/usr/lib64."While the access to the host file system afforded by the container escape is read-only, this limitation can be circumvented by interacting with the Unix sockets to spawn new privileged containers and gain unrestricted access to the file system."This elevated level of access also allowed us to monitor network traffic, debug active processes, and perform a range of other host-level operations," the researchers said.Besides updating to the latest version, users of the NVIDIA Container Toolkit are recommended to not disable the "--no-cntlibs" flag in production environments.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE