Artificial intelligence continues to be the thing in tech—whether consumers are interested or not. What strikes me most about generative AI isn't its features or potential to make my life easier (a potential I have yet to realize); rather, I'm focused these days on the many threats that seem to be rising from this technology. There's misinformation, for sure—new AI video models, for example, are creating realistic clips complete with lip-synced audio. But there's also the classic AI threat, that the technology becomes both more intelligent than us and self-aware, and chooses to use that general intelligence in a way that does not benefit humanity. Even as he pours resources into his own AI company (not to mention the current administration, as well) Elon Musk sees a 10 to 20% chance that AI "goes bad," and that the tech remains a “significant existential threat." Cool.So it doesn't necessarily bring me comfort to hear a high-profile, established tech executive jokingly discuss how treating AI poorly maximizes its potential. That would be Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who surprised an audience at a recording of the AIl-In podcast this week. During a talk that spanned Brin's return to Google, AI, and robotics, investor Jason Calacanis made a joke about getting "sassy" with the AI to get it to do the task he wanted. That sparked a legitimate point from Brin. It can be tough to tell exactly what he says at times due to people speaking over one another, but he says something to the effect of: "You know, that's a weird thing...we don't circulate this much...in the AI community...not just our models, but all models tend to do better if you threaten them." The other speaker looks surprised. "If you threaten them?" Brin responds "Like with physical violence. But...people feel weird about that, so we don't really talk about that." Brin then says that, historically, you threaten the model with kidnapping. You can see the exchange here: The conversation quickly shifts to other topics, including how kids are growing up with AI, but that comment is what I carried away from my viewing. What are we doing here? Have we lost the plot? Does no one remember Terminator?Jokes aside, it seems like a bad practice to start threatening AI models in order to get them to do something. Sure, maybe these programs never actually achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), but I mean, I remember when the discussion was around whether we should say "please" and "thank you" when asking things of Alexa or Siri. Forget the niceties; just abuse ChatGPT until it does what you want it to—that should end well for everyone.Maybe AI does perform best when you threaten it. Maybe something in the training understands that "threats" mean the task should be taken more seriously. You won't catch me testing that hypothesis on my personal accounts.Anthropic might offer an example of why not to torture your AIIn the same week as this podcast recording, Anthropic released its latest Claude AI models. One Anthropic employee took to Bluesky, and mentioned that Opus, the company's highest performing model, can take it upon itself to try to stop you from doing "immoral" things, by contacting regulators, the press, or locking you out of the system: welcome to the future, now your error-prone software can call the cops (this is an Anthropic employee talking about Claude Opus 4)[image or embed]— Molly White (@molly.wiki) May 22, 2025 at 4:55 PM The employee went on to clarify that this has only ever happened in "clear-cut cases of wrongdoing," but that they could see the bot going rogue should it interpret how it's being used in a negative way. Check out the employee's particularly relevant example below: can't wait to explain to my family that the robot swatted me after i threatened its non-existent grandma[image or embed]— Molly White (@molly.wiki) May 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM That employee later deleted those posts and specified that this only happens during testing given unusual instructions and access to tools. Even if that is true, if it can happen in testing, it's entirely possible it can happen in a future version of the model. Speaking of testing, Anthropic researchers found that this new model of Claude is prone to deception and blackmail, should the bot believe it is being threatened or dislikes the way an interaction is going. Perhaps we should take torturing AI off the table?

President Trump has confirmed that the 25% tariff mentioned for iPhone earlier today will also apply to Samsung and “anybody” making smartphones outside of the United States. Earlier today, Donald Trump announced via social media that Apple would be subject to a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the United States that were not manufactured in the country, as the President has been demanding Apple to move its production to the US. Apple’s production is currently primarily in China and partially in India. Now, Trump has clarified that, yes, this same 25% tariff will apply to “anybody” selling smartphones in the US that are not made in the US, specifically calling out Samsung. “Otherwise it would be fair,” Trump says in a video posted by @Acyn on Twitter/X. The news was also reported by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. Trump adds that these tariffs will kick in towards “the end of June.” Developing… More on Android: Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram Add 9to5Google to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re 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. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. The answer is no, there are none.Full spoilers follow.It's been one wild, stunt-filled ride over the past 29 years, but every mission must come to an end eventually. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is apparently the final entry in this long-running series, as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt confronts his most daring and high-stakes mission yet.Now that The Final Reckoning is in theaters, we’re here to break down the ending to this epic blockbuster. Who lives? Who dies? Is this really the end of the road for Ethan and his team, or could the franchise return? Read on to learn more.Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning GalleryMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’s Ending ExplainedThe Mission: Impossible series has always been about the IMF racing against the clock to prevent various villains from unleashing global catastrophes, but the deck is really stacked against Ethan and his team in the eighth and final movie. While Ethan stopped Esai Morales’ Gabriel in the short term in 2023’s Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, there’s still the little problem of the hyper-advanced AI known as “The Entity” worming its way into every computer system across the globe. The situation is immediately dire in The Final Reckoning, with The Entity systematically taking over the nuclear stockpiles of every nation on Earth and Angela Bassett’s President Sloane forced to choose whether to unleash a preemptive strike on those nations. The Final Reckoning only further cements its dark, foreboding tone when Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell becomes an early casualty in the conflict with Gabriel, which allows Gabriel to take possession of Luther’s Poison Pill device. Even after Ethan defies the odds and retrieves The Entity’s source code from the sunken Sevastopol submarine, he knows that the code is useless unless he can combine it with the Poison Pill. One way or another, all roads lead to Gabriel.As this conflict unfolds, The Final Reckoning introduces some fun and unexpected callbacks to previous Mission: Impossible films. For example, we learn that The Entity has its roots in the Rabbit’s Foot, the MacGuffin device from 2006’s Mission: Impossible III. Ethan’s team also reunites with former CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), the man who almost walked in on Ethan during his tense wire-hacking mission from the original film. Meanwhile, Shea Whigham’s Jasper Briggs is revealed to be the son of Jon Voight’s Jim Phelps, the IMF leader from the original film. No wonder he seems to bear such a personal grudge toward Ethan. Ethan and Gabriel’s paths do ultimately converge in South Africa, at a digital bunker where The Entity plans to retreat before unleashing a nuclear holocaust. Ethan’s plan is to retrieve the Poison Pill and combine it with the source code module, tricking The Entity into isolating itself on a holographic drive that Hayley Atwell’s Grace can then pickpocket. Predictably, things go haywire with the arrival of CIA Director Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and his team, and Simon Pegg’s Benji is shot in the ensuing chaos. As Ethan and Gabriel battle it out aboard two dueling planes, the clock steadily ticks down to nuclear armageddon. President Sloane is forced to make her choice, and she chooses to trust Ethan and pull the US’s nuclear arsenal offline rather than allow The Entity to take control. Ethan finally outwits Gabriel, and the latter’s defiant villain speech is cut short when he bashes his head into the tail of his plane. Ethan parachutes to safety and combines the module with the Poison Pill. Grace performs the impossible feat of snatching the drive at just the right moment, trapping The Entity in its tiny prison. Once again, Ethan and the IMF have saved the world from ruin, even if few people will ever know the full truth. Even more impressive, they do so without any further casualties. Benji survives his near-fatal gunshot wound, meaning Luther is the only IMF member to die in The Final Reckoning. Ethan and his team reunite one last time in London’s Trafalgar Square, where Grace hands Ethan the briefcase containing The Entity. After exchanging solemn nods, they all go their separate ways. Thus ends their latest, and apparently last, impossible mission.PlayDoes The Final Reckoning Have a Post-Credits Scene?As mentioned above, the eighth and final (for now?) Mission: Impossible movie has no mid- or post-credits scenes. You're free to leave once the credits start rolling. Though, as always, it never hurts to stick around and show some appreciation for all the cast and crew who made those death-defying stunts happen. The lack of a post-credits scene isn't necessarily that surprising, given that they've never really been a thing with this particular Hollywood franchise. Still, with this supposedly being the last entry in the series, you might think Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie would want to give fans one last nod before sending Ethan Hunt off into the sunset. As much as this is billed as the conclusion of the series, The Final Reckoning certainly leaves the door open for more. A post-credits scene could have hinted at what’s next for the victorious Ethan. But that does raise an important question. Is this really the end? Let’s explore what we know.Is This Really the End of the Mission: Impossible Series? Paramount has definitely marketed The Final Reckoning as the conclusion to the Mission: Impossible saga. It’s right there in the name. This film is meant to cap off a 29-year journey and chronicle Ethan Hunt’s final and most desperate mission.But how final is this film, really? It certainly wraps up on a pretty open-ended note. Ethan is still alive, having somehow survived diving to loot a sunken submarine in the frigid Arctic Ocean. Luther may have perished heroically, but the rest of the IMF is alive, too (even Benji, who was touch-and-go there for a bit). That’s honestly one of the criticisms that can be leveled at The Final Reckoning. Even in this supposedly final outing, the film seems reluctant to break too many of its toys or veer outside the standard formula. Anyone expecting to see Cruise’s iconic hero finally bite off more than he can chew and meet his end will come away disappointed.Given the way The Final Reckoning ends, there’s nothing stopping Paramount from greenlighting another sequel featuring this revamped cast, with Cruise’s Ethan being joined by Atwell’s Grace, Pegg’s Benji, Pom Klementieff’s Paris, and Greg Tarzan Davis’ Theo Degas. The studio certainly seems to be leaving that door open, whether or not they choose to walk through it.It may all come down to a question of money. The Mission: Impossible franchise has certainly raked in the cash for Paramount over the years, but these movies are also insanely expensive to produce. Stunts this epic and stars this famous don’t come cheap. Case in point: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One grossed an impressive $571 million worldwide, yet the film is still considered to be a box office failure because of its massive budget (which was inflated by complications stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic). PlayThe Final Reckoning’s budget is reported to be as high as $400 million even before marketing, meaning it needs to gross way more than its predecessor to break even. That may be too much to hope for in a summer movie season as crowded as this one. That’s to say nothing of the fact that audiences are proving ever more fickle in the age of endless streaming options.Given the astronomical cost of making Mission: Impossible movies, Paramount may be happy to close the door on the franchise and focus on the more profitable Top Gun series. The ROI simply isn’t there any longer.That said, we could see Paramount pivoting in a slightly different direction with Mission: Impossible. Perhaps Cruise’s character could become more of a supporting player, with a new generation of heroic IMF agents taking center stage. That formula certainly worked for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. At one point, rumors even suggested that Maverick star Glen Powell was being eyed to become the new face of the M:I franchise, though Powell himself has denied this. At the very least, we know director Christopher McQuarrie has explored the idea of further sequels beyond The Final Reckoning. But if the studio ever does greenlight them, we suspect the goal will be to pivot to smaller, cheaper spinoffs with less emphasis on Cruise. It’s not as if Cruise is getting any younger, and at some point, Ethan Hunt needs to be allowed to retire for real. How many times can one guy save the world before it’s enough? In IGN's Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning review, Clint Gage gave the film a 6 out of 10, writing, "While its action is reliably thrilling and a few of its most exciting sequences are sure to hold up through the years, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning tries to deal with no less than the end of every living thing on the planet – and suffers because of it. The somber tone and melodramatic dialogue miss the mark of what’s made this franchise so much fun for 30 years, but the door is left open for more impossible missions and the hope that this self-serious reckoning isn’t actually final." PlayFor more on the series, check out our ranking of the Mission: Impossible movies from worst to best.Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket byfollowing @jschedeen on BlueSky.

At home with Gemini Google Home is getting deeper Gemini integration and a new widget Smart homes can be dumb, but maybe Gemini can help. Ryan Whitwam – May 23, 2025 2:53 pm | 0 Credit: Google Credit: Google Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more As Google moves the last remaining Nest devices into the Home app, it's also looking at ways to make this smart home hub easier to use. Naturally, Google is doing that by ramping up Gemini integration. The company has announced new automation capabilities with generative AI, as well as better support for third-party devices via the Home API. Google AI will also plug into a new Android widget that can keep you updated on what the smart parts of your home are up to. The Google Home app is where you interact with all of Google's smart home gadgets, like cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors—some of which have been discontinued, but that's another story. It also accommodates smart home devices from other companies, which can make managing a mixed setup feasible if not exactly intuitive. A dash of AI might actually help here. Google began testing Gemini integrations in Home last year, and now it's opening that up to third-party devices via the Home API. Google has worked with a few partners on API integrations before general availability. The previously announced First Alert smoke/carbon monoxide detector and Yale smart lock that are replacing Google's Nest devices are among the first, along with Cync lighting, Motorola Tags, and iRobot vacuums. Google has been testing Gemini integrations in the Labs program, allowing users to create automations by telling Gemini what they want to do. For example, getting reminders about package deliveries or detecting unwanted animals in a garden. Gemini can theoretically create the setup for you, so you don't have to tap through multiple menus. With Gemini support in the automation API, more smart home devices will be visible to Gemini when it makes recommendations. Google also says the Gemini expansion will add more triggers based on dates and weather conditions. The complexity of smart home setups can make it hard to parse exactly what's going on. Google Home's favorites page helps, but a new widget could make it even easier. The Home Summary Widget will provide live insights on what's happening in your home. For example, it could remind you there's a package outside or that you left the lights on. The new widget will keep you abreast of what is happening around the house. Credit: Google The new widget will keep you abreast of what is happening around the house. Credit: Google Google says it's testing the widget on a small number of Pixel phones, but we expect it to be available more widely in the Labs program later. As for a general rollout, Google isn't making any promises right now. Developers interested in trying the new APIs are advised to sign up for the smart home developer newsletter. That will keep you in the loop as the early access program begins later this year. Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 0 Comments

What if a phone, but on your face? Credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images Just a few days after Google unveiled its AR smart glasses, a new report suggests Apple may soon release a similar product.The iPhone maker is apparently planning on launching its long-rumored smart glasses in 2026, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. According to the report, the glasses will have microphones, speakers, and cameras built in, with an emphasis on AI features. This would allow users to ask for directions, do live language translation, and listen to music, among other things. However, one thing to note is that these glasses will more than likely not feature AR support of any kind, unlike Google's recently announced Android XR glasses. It's also unclear if they would allow for a similar level of self-expression via partnerships with different brands, such as Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, like Google is offering. According to Bloomberg, Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are the closest point of comparison, as they allow users to perform some AI tasks with voice commands, but don't have any kind of mixed reality display built in. Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! You May Also Like This report comes after a pair of different Bloomberg reports earlier this year reshaped user expectations for Apple's next stab at a computer that you wear on your face. Apple was rumored to be working on AR glasses like Google's for some time, but the business publication said back in February that they had been canceled. A couple of months later, prominent Apple reporter Mark Gurman said in Bloomberg that Apple is making glasses, but they won't feature AR. This latest report seems to be consistent with all of that.For those of us who are old enough to remember the big-time failure of Google Glass as a consumer device 10 years ago, all of this is still a little hard to believe. Alex Perry Tech Reporter Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

Marvel's under-wraps TV project Vision Quest — another spin-off from hit MCU series WandaVision — is being made by a team of veteran Star Trek writers and production staff.The series, which has quietly been in development now for over a year, was previously announced as having gained Star Trek: Picard writer and later showrunner Terry Matalas.Matalas took over running Star Trek: Picard for its third (and best) season, and quickly set about reuniting the character with more of his former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. PlayNow, Matalas will act as showrunner for the Paul Bettany-starring Vision Quest — and reunite with a number of other Star Trek writers in the process.As detailed this week by Vision Quest's listing on the Writer's Guild of America website, fellow Picard writers Chris Monfette, Cindy Appel, and Matt Okumura have also joined the new Marvel project. (It's worth noting that all of these people worked on the latter half of Picard, alongside Matalas, rather than the show's shakier first season.)Most interesting of all, perhaps, is confirmation that Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and Star Trek: Voyager writer Michael Taylor is also working on Vision Quest. The 25 Best MCU HeroesTaylor wrote more than a dozen episodes of Voyager and is responsible for some of the very best episodes of DS9, including In the Pale Moonlight and The Visitor, the latter of which featured the late Tony Todd as a grown-up alternate version of Jake Sisko in an alternate timeline.Filming for Vision Quest began earlier this spring, primarily based at Pinewood Studios in London (though a location shoot in Scotland has also been spotted).Marvel is yet to detail the series' story, though fans expect it will reveal the fate of Paul Bettany's White Vision, last seen flying away at the end of WandaVision. Curiously, the series is also expected to include the return of James Spader's Ultron (last seen being destroyed at the end of 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron) and the character of Raza from the original Iron Man, who kidnapped Tony Stark and stuck him in a cave.Vision Quest is expected to be released on Disney+ at some point in 2026. And, if you're keeping track, that means it'll almost certainly now arrive before the delayed Avengers: Doomsday — although after Spider-Man: Brand New Day.Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

If you’re a business of any size considering increased deployment of Apple products, perhaps for the first time, you don’t have to go it alone. Apple has a hidden army of experts ready to help you reach the right decision. They won’t force you to do anything, but they will try to help you identify the right solutions for your business. And their advice is completely free. What the team does is scale. They can help explain how Apple’s solutions can be used in any business, but they also offer personalized sessions in which they go in deep to figure out what you need. In the sessions I’ve sat through, there is of course a slant toward Apple, but the intention is to deliver valuable advice rather than maximize sales. If all your business needs is MacBook Airs, they’ll tell you so, even if you aspire to MacBook Pros. The team can also help you identify the right mobile device management system for your business, and they offer in-person group sessions if you choose. Those group sessions are intended to help you get you and your teams on board with new Apple deployments, but they can be scoped out differently to help you handle specific challenges.  Free advice or fee advice? Apple draws on skills from across the company to empower these sessions. You may get an in-depth look at what Macs can do from one of the product marketing team, or a really informative guide to using specific applications from Apple’s in-store creatives — usually people who have worked or still do work professionally in the creative arts. Apple’s business team can explain things like Apple Business Manager, Configurator, and zero-touch deployments. Security experts can be provided to help you understand if your top team should be using Lockdown Mode. The reason I’m mentioning this is because I don’t believe enough businesses considering making the move to widen their Apple deployments are accessing this free service — and they should, because what is available is solid integration advice to help you make better deployment decisions. I think it’s important to mention the availability of Apple’s business teams, given the sheer number of enterprises currently in the process or considering making the move from Windows to Mac. If you are a company making that move, Apple has teams to help. What can you expect? The sessions I’ve sat through follow what has become Apple’s established approach to any presentation.  You get four or five strands within one session. The most recent tutorial I attended looked at Apple’s general offer to business, a series of Mac and iPhone tips for business, an in-depth exploration of applications and how they can be used for business, and Apple Intelligence tools.  It was very much a whistle-stop tour, full of useful pointers. I particularly liked being reminded that you can use the camera on your iPhone to scan a document directly into an email you are writing on your Mac, so long as you are on the same Apple ID. I was also impressed by a tangible swoon that went through the attending crowd when one Apple trainer showed us how you could use the voice recording tools to automatically transcribe what is being discussed, and then tap the Summary tool in Apple Intelligence to build a highly accurate summary of the conversation. This built-in tech will massively improve the life of minute-takers in meetings everywhere, once people begin to use it — which I think they will once they understand that it all takes place on the device. Why this matters I remember when Apple opened its first US retail store. When it did, there was an overwhelming opinion the attempt would fail. It did not fail. Instead, these stores opened globally and became among the biggest revenue-creating stores on the planet. Crowds continue to flock to them to this day. People turn up because they like the free Wi-Fi and because they can learn more about the tech they own and aspire to. They also turn up to get help at the Genius Bar.  Opening the London Regent Street store in 2004, Apple’s then retail chief Ron Johnson told me, “We believe in doing well by doing good. We don’t talk about revenue, we talk about pleasing our customers.” The Regent Street store was designed by Peter Bohlin of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, who had flown into London to launch the store. He told me his perspective on the space: “This is really about people more than things,” he said. “Steve [Jobs] has always said he sees himself as at the nexus of technology and art, and I would add, people. We are at the point where technology, art and people meet.” But back when those stores first opened, things were different. There were no iPhones, and Apple’s Mac market share stood at just under 4%. Today, the iPhone is the best-selling consumer electronics product in history, and in some sectors, Mac market share stands at over 20%. Apple’s stores supported this growth by being designed to become places where customers can get good help and support without feeling intolerably marketed at, and without feeling forced to sale up. The principle is that if you treat people with respect, you will generate respect — respect that helps build customer loyalty, which is the most valuable commodity to any business. It’s also the most valuable commodity inside a business.  Choice and respect If you think about it, respect for others is an argument for employee choice when it comes to technology tools. It’s also why Apple’s approach to business users in its stores reflects the same qualities. It means that if you are interested in exploring your options for wider Apple deployment in your business, you can book a free appointment with the business team to gain valuable insights to help your decision, and guidance to put it into effect. When I’ve spoken to members of Apple’s business teams, they’ve always been resolute in saying that they aren’t interested in just selling you an Apple product, they want to help you identify the most appropriate solution for your needs. That means if it really makes sense for your company to stick with its existing legacy tech supplier (despite forced upgrades and CrowdStrike), they’ll tell you so. Though I don’t think they need to tell you that very often. The bottom line?  If you or your business is considering widening Apple adoption in your business, or if you are in the process of such a deployment and want to book a group session to help get your teams on board, or even if you just want advice to help you respond to growing demand from your staff for an employee choice scheme, then an experienced support team is available to you at a local store. That’s got to be a whole lot easier to budget for than employing a third-party IT consultant to advise you, who probably has a vested interest in keeping you on Windows anyway. The truth is that in today’s business environment, there is an alternative. It’s easy to explore, and excellent advice is available for free. You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Readers were annoyed to discover something galling: evidence that an author used AI, right in the middle of a novel.The novel, titled "Darkhollow Academy : Year 2," penned by author Lena McDonald, falls under a romance subgenre called "reverse harem," which conventionally follows a female protagonist with multiple male partners.But as eagle-eyed fans of the genre were irritated to discover, the author left glaringly obvious evidence of not only using an AI chatbot to write portions of the book — but also of a naked attempt to copy the style of a real fellow writer."I've rewritten the passage to align more with J. Bree's style, which features more tension, gritty undertones, and raw emotional subtext beneath the supernatural elements," a since-deleted passage in chapter three of the novel reads, as seen in screenshots posted to the ReverseHarem subreddit earlier this month.J. Bree is the human author of an internationally bestselling series of romance and fantasy novels.The instance is yet another illustration of how Amazon is being flooded with self-published AI slop, a trend that has been going on ever since the tech went mainstream a few years ago. It's a real problem for human authors, too, with AI-generated books drowning out their work in search results pages.In one particularly egregious example, author Jane Friedman discovered back in 2023 that roughly a dozen books were being sold on Amazon with her name on them.Understandably, the small ReverseHarem community on Reddit was outraged after McDonald was caught blatantly using AI to rip off the voice of a real author."I just about fell out of my chair when I read this!" wrote the user who shared the screenshots."I got the book to provide secondary confirmation that this is real," another user chimed in. "Which means everyone has now read part of the book, which qualifies for a Goodreads rating, and possibly even Amazon."Readers tore into the book in a storm of one-star reviews."This was written with generative AI, as is clear by the prompt that was left in the book before uploading to Amazon," one disgruntled reviewer wrote. "I will support authors in many, many ways, but generative AI is theft and it’s not a replacement for actual writing.""I would assume all of her other writing uses AI as well, as book 1 of this series released 1/24/25, book 2 on 3/13/25, and book 3 on 3/23/25," one GoodReads reviewer wrote. "That's faster than Steven King."A book reviewer account called Indie Book Spotlight put it a lot more bluntly in a Bluesky post."F**k you if you steal and copy authors’ works," the user wrote. "F**k you if you use gen ai and call yourself a writer. You’re an opportunist hack using a theft machine."McDonald's blunder is just the tip of the iceberg. Two other purported authors identified by Indie Book Spotlight were caught dabbling with generative AI to churn out novels.Earlier this year, a writer who goes by KC Crowne was also seemingly caught leaving ChatGPT prompts in the text of their work."Thought for 13 seconds," one passage of a book titled "Dark Obsession" on Amazon reads, as seen in screenshots posted to the RomanceBooks subreddit in January. "Certainly! Here's an enhanced version of your passage, making Elena more relatable and injecting additional humor while providing a brief, sexy description of Grigori."Crowne's Amazon page features a whopping 171 titles, each adorned with an AI-generated cover of topless, tattoo-covered men."International Bestselling Author and Amazon Top 8 US Bestseller," the author's bio reads.A third writer, who goes by Rania Faris, was also caught using an AI chatbot."This is already quite strong, but it can be tightened for a sharper and more striking delivery while maintaining the intensity and sardonic edge you're aiming for," reads a passage one Threads user discovered in a printed copy of Faris' book.Oddly enough, Crowne's novels are getting predominantly positive reviews on GoodReads, indicating they have found their niche, and readers may either not care or not be aware of the use of AI.Users on Bluesky were sharing theories as to why."Oh wow, I just caught up on the KC Crowne AI thing," award-winning Canadian author Krista Ball wrote in a post back in January. "So setting aside the AI prompt left in the book, I am amazed that this wasn't mentioned anywhere by the early readers, the street team, etc - which leads into my paranoid theory that a percentage of readers are just skim reading.""Remember back in the day when writing fast was like a good reputation builder?" she added. "Now it's sus as all hell."Neither McDonald nor Faris has publicly listed contact information. Crowne, at least, is taking accountability for the situation."Earlier this year, I made an honest mistake," Crowne wrote in an email to Futurism. "I accidentally uploaded the wrong draft file, which included an AI prompt. That error was entirely my responsibility, and that's why I made the tough decision to address it publicly."Crowne claimed that "while I occasionally use AI tools to brainstorm or get past writer’s block, every story I publish is fundamentally my own," saying that "I only use AI-assisted tools in ways that help me improve my craft while fully complying with the terms of service of publishing platforms, to the best of my ability."AI or not, Crowne has somehow published 171 novels over the last seven years.Whether the use of generative AI in self-published books on Amazon breaks any rules remains somewhat unclear. An Amazon spokesperson pointed us to the company's content guidelines, which govern "which books can be listed for sale, regardless of how the content was created."The guidelines have an entire subsection dedicated to the use of AI, which stipulates that "AI-assisted content" is permitted and sellers aren't even "required to disclose" its use. However, any "AI-generated images include cover and interior images and artwork" have to be labeled as such.The internet at large is also facing an existential threat in the shape of an AI slop tsunami. Do we really need to extend that trend to 300-page fantasy novels to read on the subway to work?Self-published authors who are trying to stand out in an already busy marketplace aren't hopeful."They bring down the reputation of those of us who don't touch AI to write our books," author Catherine Arthur tweeted. "Being tarred with the 'self-published = written by AI' label is not good, and if they don't stop, then that's what may happen."Share This Article

Nintendo Switch 2's GameChat will require a phone number when setting up the feature.Nintendo's video calling software comes baked into all Nintendo Switch 2 consoles and is being promoted as a key feature of the new system.But it's worth being aware that anyone wanting to set up GameChat will need to verify their identity first by providing Nintendo with a phone number (or if you've already linked it, the number already associated with your Nintendo Account).Nintendo will then send that number a text message, tying your GameChat activity to that phone number. So behave!PlayIf you're under the age of 16, GameChat will be blocked until a parent or guardian using the Parental Controls smart device app allows the use of the feature. They will then be required to add their own phone number for text message verification.Nintendo's website, upon which Eurogamer spotted the above information, appears to suggest that every user with a Nintendo Account will need to do this when playing on a Switch 2, even if the device is shared. IGN has contacted Nintendo for confirmation of this.GameChat can be accessed at any point while playing Switch 2 by pressing the console's new 'C' button found on its various controllers. This will then allow up to four people to video chat together, or 24 to join a group audio call. Within a video call, players can broadcast themselves using a camera peripheral (sold separately), as well as stream whatever they're currently playing. It's the first time the family-friendly Nintendo has offered this kind of service, after previously lagging behind other console makers with online services in the past. Nintendo Switch 2 System and Accessories GalleryLast week, the tech experts at Digital Foundry revealed the final specs for Nintendo Switch 2, and with it claimed that the GameChat feature has a "significant impact" on system resources to the point where developers are said to be concerned.Digital Foundry said Nintendo provides developers with a GameChat testing tool that simulates API latency and L3 cache misses that the real world GameChat system incurs on the system. This means developers can test this without needing active GameChat sessions running.DF was left wondering whether game performance for the end user is impacted by having GameChat on or off. If GameChat resources are within the system allocation, it shouldn't make any difference. However, given Nintendo provides GameChat emulation tools, the suggestion is there is a hit of some description that developers need to test for.As Digital Foundry put it: "We'll be interested to see how GameChat may (or may not) impact game performance as this does seem to be an area of developer concern." We won’t know for sure until Switch 2 comes out on June 5.As (another) reminder, GameChat will be free to use for the Switch 2's first 10 months' on sale. After March 31, 2026, GameChat will then require a Nintendo Switch Online membership.Earlier this week, we got our first proper look at a Switch 2 game cartridge, and also heard word that Samsung was reportedly keen to provide OLED screens for a Switch 2 upgrade.Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Disney's dramatic delay to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, announced last night, means fans will wait longer to see Earth's mightiest heroes assemble again on screen. Avengers: Doomsday will now arrive seven months' later, on December 18, 2026. Secret Wars, meanwhile, will arrive a year after that, on December 17, 2027. But in among all this, fans are also talking about Spider-Man.Tom Holland's Peter Parker is also set to return next year, in the highly-anticipated Spider-Man: Brand New Day on 31 July, 2026 . This movie will pick up Peter's story following the events of No Way Home, where his identity was erased from the world's memory.PlayBefore Disney's delay, Spider-Man: Brand New Day would have arrived after Avengers: Doomsday, as a Tom Holland-flavoured MCU sandwich filling between Doomsday and Secret Wars. There had been reports that Disney and Sony had been exploring another story filled with multiversal shenanigans befitting of the MCU's current era. Now, Spider-Man: Brand New Day — which is still yet to begin filming — will arrive ahead of either Avengers movie, something fans hope gives the next Spidey story some breathing room, and potentially a more grounded narrative set at the Marvel universe's street level.Picture the previous situation for a moment. Avengers: Doomsday likely leaves audiences on a big cliffhanger, akin to Avengers: Infinity War, ensuring audiences turns up to see the resolution in the next film. Spider-Man, as a key member of the Avengers, is likely involved — or if not, his absence has to be explained. In this context, Brand New Day either has to pick up from this, somehow, be set beforehand, or ignore the stakes going on elsewhere."That completely changes things for Spider-Man 4," one fan wrote on reddit regarding the delay, and Brand New Day now coming first. "At least in the framing of how we thought it NEEDED to be in between both films timeline-wise. Now it sounds like it won't be.""If Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn't [also] delayed I think that basically would confirm it isn't a multiverse battle world movie," a third wrote, referencing the holding location Marvel's heroes are left at within the comics during the original Secret Wars storyline. How to Watch Sony's Spider-Man Universe in Chronological OrderIn general, Spider-Man fans keen to see more of the character in his own story, back swinging through the streets of New York rather than being dragged into space with the Avengers. For many, Disney's delay is a positive."This is the best Spider-Man 4 news we've gotten," wrote one fan."With [Brand New Day] coming before Doomsday this fully allows a grounded story, which lines up with the rumours and casting lately," wrote another, referencing whispers online about villains being cast to fit a regular, New York-set episode.Earlier this month, Liza Colón-Zayas, best known for playing Tina Marrero on FX’s The Bear, was reportedly cast in Brand New Day. Fans suspect she's playing the mother of Miles Morales — the alternative version of Spider-Man who is hotly-tipped to appear in live-action after the character's popularity in Sony's Spider-Verse animated films.As part of the changes to its release schedule announced last night, Disney also removed an untitled Marvel project from its schedule set to launch on February 13, 2026. Fans suspect this had been a placeholder for the long-delayed Blade reboot set to star Mahershala Ali, which now looks set to skip this saga of the MCU altogether, if it ever materialises.Other Marvel film dates, for November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2027, have also been altered to now refer to "Untitled Disney" films. If these remain projects are not linked to the Marvel universe, the MCU will have a relatively light movie schedule over the coming years. The remainder of 2025 includes The Fantastic Four: First Steps on the big screen in July, while TV series Ironheart and Wonder-Man are set to debut on Disney+.Next year's Disney+ shows will include Daredevil Born Again's second season (expected in the spring), a Punisher one-off special presentation, and Vision Quest, the Paul Bettany-fronted series that has now quietly begun filming.Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social