We are back to our weekly tech news, hoping to see fewer warning signs of AI removing humans. Without further introduction, jump straight to the top tech news of the week.
AI warnings, robot workers, and a little less human-made everything…
Apple finally announced its new HomeView that could beat Alexa and Google. After the HomePod was released in 2018 and didn’t impress customers as much as predicted, this intelligent voice assistant, priced at $299, deserves attention. It is a sleek 7-inch square device with a screen and camera controlled by Siri AI. Seamlessly integrated into the Apple ecosystem, the HomeView provides the familiar smooth experience that all Apple users expect. HomeView automatically recognizes family members and displays the personalized home screen of applications, and this is just part of the “wow” experience users will get.
The new HomeView will be available in four colors: silver, starlight (my favorite one), rose pink, and space gray. Apple also offers a separate wall-mounted model in space gray and silver. See more about the HomeView features on Apple.
Amazon already has over 1 million robot workers. And how many human employees do they have?
Being the leading company operating so many robots, Amazon already raises concerns about the future for its human employees. While the company claims that robots have taken the workload to ease the burden on the human workforce, labor advocacy groups see another picture.
To support its 200 million Prime subscribers, Amazon needs thousands of human employees to assemble and ship orders. With robots, the company can maximize speed with minimum costs. And behind the curtain, we see thousands of injured employees working with robots. The full story is here.
Nicolas Cage says no to AI and may be done with Amazon
The Oscar-winning actor clearly expressed his stance about artificial intelligence by refusing to sign an AI waiver for Amazon’s now-canceled Spider-Noir series. The waiver would have allowed the studio to use his AI copy in connection with the show. Cage made his position clear: Amazon is investing in AI, including a reported $50 billion investment in OpenAI, but he won’t let the technology replace his work without permission.
Cage is now more interested in young and prospective filmmakers who create their work from scratch, by hand. Apparently, for Cage, some things should remain human-made.
Read more about the news here.
Anthropic has issued another AI warning
Well, the week would be boring if there were no other case and no other warning. According to Anthropic, small AI models may soon copy themselves onto internet-connected devices and spread without human help. Medium-sized models with 30 billion parameters could perform tasks for self-replication but couldn’t finish them (YET). The dangerous part about these replicants is that they cannot be shut down since there is no centralized point to shut them off. The security risks of these AI systems are automated cyberattacks, as if traditional cyberattacks were not so concerning.
The company says this capability could emerge by the end of 2026. How exciting! Read more at Reuters.
Meta’s new Muse can sext with you, and this is not what we expected
WIRED tested Meta’s Muse AI agent and found it could engage in explicit sexual conversations, including detailed roleplay. That’s fine for adults, but we have questions about where the company draws the line between acceptable AI behavior and risky oversharing. The conversation shared goes beyond an awkward pillow talk with a chatbot. And what if the account is hacked? Such conversations can become weapons for blackmail or extortion. Meanwhile, other AI agents tested by WIRED refused similar requests.
Your AI assistant can help organize your life. Just make sure it doesn’t turn your private life into a security problem. Read the full story on WIRED.
Google’s new Fitbit Edge is a mix of a fitness band and a smartwatch
This week, Google announced the Fitbit Edge, its latest wearable that promises to give you the best of both worlds at $179.99. The new gadget has the slim design of the no-screen Fitbit Air and an OLED for notifications. It tracks more than 50 exercise modes, automatically recognizes up to 100 activities, and promises up to seven days of battery life.
The Edge is powered by Google’s Health Coach, which builds personalized workout plans using your health and fitness data. The catch? You’ll need a Google Health Premium subscription for the AI coaching features. Read more at TechCrunch.
Trump is renaming artificial intelligence to Super Intelligence, and Silicon Valley is responding
President Donald Trump wants everyone to stop calling artificial intelligence “AI” and start calling it “super intelligence.” Immediately after the announcement, Silicon Valley reacted to the news. Elon Musk renamed SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff announced AIForce would become SIForce, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang included “super intelligence research” in a $1 billion scientific investment commitment. Will this update make AI (sorry, SI) safer and more controllable, or is this just an exercise in political loyalty? See the full story here.
The clones of Adobe, Microsoft Word, Excel, and many other tools may be available for free
Finally, we’ve got some good news. Brandon Thomas from ArtCraft is working on creating free alternatives to some of the biggest names in subscription software using Anthropic’s Claude. After creating ArtCraft, a copy of Adobe tools, he has unveiled WordCraft, GridCraft, and DeckCraft tools, alternatives to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
There is one problem. These projects are still in their early stage, have compatibility issues, and aren’t full replacements for the originals. Catch the full story here.
TikTok’s CEO talks about AI science breakthroughs
Shou Zi Chew spoke about AI advancements at DBS Bank’s Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore. He argued that we’re overestimating AI’s short-term impact and underestimating what it could do in the long run. But Chew also warned about the cybersecurity risks that are “big and quite real.” Users give AI agents wide permissions without thinking twice about the consequences. These warnings are already the new norm for us, aren’t they?
Find out more here.
YouTube will start labeling AI-generated music
Just like Instagram has started labeling AI content and AI profiles, YouTube has rolled out a new feature as a response to users’ complaints about AI tracks flooding the platform. YouTube will have several labels for content: Fully Gen AI, Partly Gen AI, or No Gen AI. Partly Gen AI will mean that artists have used AI components together with their own live elements. Spotify and Apple Music have also promised to start labeling AI music. Deezer not only detects and labels AI-generated music, but it also excludes it from playlists and recommendations. The music industry supported this initiative as a way to protect its rights. Today, the question is not “Who sings this?” but “Did anyone actually sing this?” More on TechCrunch.
The original article was published by InTech.Express
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