Author: dailyguardian.ae
A new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oxford, and UCLA suggests that using an AI chatbot for just 10 minutes could negatively impact your ability to think and problem-solve. And honestly, the findings are a little alarming. As reported by Wired, the researchers asked participants to solve problems, including simple fractions and reading comprehension tasks. Some participants were given access to an AI assistant that could solve the problem for them. When the AI was suddenly removed, those participants were far more likely to give up or get the answer wrong. In other words, the moment the AI…
Google Chrome VP and GM Parisa Tabriz has responded to criticism over Chrome’s practice of silently downloading a 4GB AI model onto users’ devices, saying on-device AI is central to the browser’s security and developer strategy. What triggered the backlash Privacy researcher Alexander Hanff recently documented the behavior, finding that Chrome automatically downloads Gemini Nano’s model, which is around 4GB in size, on devices without prompting users or offering a clear opt-out. Deleting the file manually triggers an automatic re-download on the next Chrome restart. We recently covered the story and offered instructions on how to turn it off. The…
Google has shut down Project Mariner, the autonomous web browsing agent it debuted at I/O last year. The tool, which could navigate Chrome, fill out forms, search listings, and book travel by taking screenshots and visually recognizing page elements, is no longer available. Its landing page now shows a notice with the shutdown date listed as May 4, 2026. A browser agent that saw what you saw Project Mariner was Google DeepMind’s attempt to build an AI agent that interacted with websites the way a person would. Rather than reading page data directly, it processed screenshots in real time to…
AI chatbots have made it surprisingly easy to talk about anything, and that includes some of the heaviest topics imaginable. That openness has always been a double-edged sword. OpenAI is now taking a step to address that, with a new feature that brings a trusted person into the picture when things get serious. The company is rolling out a new feature called Trusted Contact, and it is starting to appear in ChatGPT settings for adult users. It lets users name one person who can be alerted if ChatGPT detects a serious self-harm concern. How does Trusted Contact work? Setting up…
The OnePlus 16 is starting to sound like the kind of flagship that doesn’t arrive quietly. A new leak from tipster Digital Chat Station points to a 200MP periscope zoom camera, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chip, and a battery that could reach 9,000mAh. That would be a loud hardware swing in any year. The timing adds pressure, since reports have swirled that OnePlus was winding down operations before merging with Realme under Oppo’s wider umbrella. Nothing is official yet, and OnePlus hasn’t announced the phone or a launch window. The safest read is that the OnePlus 16…
Huawei just launched the MatePad Pro Max, and it’s a lot to take in. At just 4.7mm thick and weighing 499 grams, it officially takes the crown as the world’s thinnest tablet. For context, the iPad Pro, which we all fawned over for being impossibly slim, is 5.1mm thick. The MatePad Pro Max beats it. Now, there’s a decent chance you’ll never actually buy this tablet. Huawei devices aren’t sold in every market, and the lack of Google apps is a real barrier for most users. But there’s no denying that Huawei is doing things that even Apple can’t match. …
AI is still something most people have to consciously engage with. You open an app, type a prompt, take a photo, or ask a question. Apple’s next major AirPods upgrade could change that. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is in late-stage development on camera-equipped earbuds that could put visual AI into a device that many people already use every day. How close are these AI AirPods to launch? Bloomberg reports that the earbuds have reached design validation testing, one of the final hardware stages before early mass-production testing. That means the hardware may be close, but the launch…
Smart glasses have always had an obvious privacy concern, and a new BBC investigation just showed us why. A woman identified as Alice was approached by a man in a London shopping centre while he was wearing smart glasses. She thought it was a normal interaction and did not realize she was being recorded. The footage was later uploaded online and viewed around 40,000 times. Where everything went wrong Content creators or influencers recording unassuming pedestrians isn’t new—and is often harmless. But the story took a darker turn after Alice contacted the creator after she saw the video online. She…
AI coding tools have made it ridiculously easy to build a web app, and it only takes a few minutes to set up now. This ease has lowered the barrier to app development, which is causing a new set of issues. So what happens when these AI-made apps go live without anyone checking the locks? You get secrets spilling out all over the internet. A WIRED report highlights a major security problem around so-called “vibe-coded” apps, which are built using AI development platforms such as Lovable, Replit, Base44, and Netlify. Why this is a bigger issue than you think Security…
A few weeks ago, I wrote about an app that looks at you through the Mac’s webcam, and as soon as it detects a slouching posture, it sends a notification. The app even logs all the instances and provides a daily posture score. It was an open-source app, but soon after it was shared on Reddit by the creator, a huge chunk of fellow Reddit lurkers started asking about how it processes and stores data. Those were existentially valid queries. After all, you are giving an app access to the camera, which can monitor you and the world around you…