Bill Gates: AI is most important tech advance in decades

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is the most important technological advance in decades.

In a blog post on Tuesday, he called it as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.

“It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other,” he said.

He was writing about the technology used by tools such as chatbot ChatGPT.

Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot which is programmed to answer questions online using natural, human-like language.

The team behind it in January 2023 received a multibillion dollar investment from Microsoft – where Mr Gates still serves as an advisor.

But it is not the only AI-powered chatbot available, with Google recently introducing rival Bard.

I was one of the first people to get access to Bard and my colleagues and I are trying to put it through its paces.

So far it’s given me a philosophical answer to the meaning of life.

It gave a competent potted history of Russia-China relations to a colleague covering the meeting between President Putin and Xi Jinping – unlike ChatGPT, Bard can access current affairs.

A programme editor asked it for a good running order for her news show. Start with the biggest story of the day, Bard suggested, and end with a musician or comedian. It also did a decent if generic job of a poem about trees and blossom.

I haven’t yet started trying to get it to be rude to me, or about others. I’ll report back on that…

You can read more about it here.

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Mr Gates said he had been meeting with OpenAI – the team behind the artificial intelligence that powers chatbot ChatGPT – since 2016.

In his blog, Mr Gates said he challenged the OpenAI team in 2022 to train an AI that can pass an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology exam – roughly equivalent to an A-level exam – with the strict rule that the AI could not be specifically trained to answer Biology questions.

A few months later they revealed the results – a near perfect score, he said, missing only one mark out of 50.

After the exam, Mr Gates said he asked the AI to write a response to a father with a sick child.

“It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given,” he said.

“I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface (GUI).”

A GUI is a visual display – allowing a person to interact with images and icons, rather than a display that shows only text and requires typed commands.

Its development led to the Windows and Mac OS operating systems in the 1980s, and remains a key part of computing.

And Mr Gates says he believes AI tech will lead to similar advancements.

The Future of AI
Mr Gates, who co-chairs the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called on governments to work with industry to “limit the risks” of AI, but said the technology could be used to save lives.

“AI-driven improvements will be especially important for poor countries, where the vast majority of under-5 deaths happen,” he wrote.

“Many people in those countries never get to see a doctor, and AIs will help the health workers they do see be more productive.”

Some examples of this he gave include completing repetitive tasks such as insurance claims, paperwork, and note-taking.

But in order for this to happen, Mr Gates called on a targeted approach to AI technology in the future.

“Market forces won’t naturally produce AI products and service that help the poorest,” he said. “The opposite is more likely.

“With reliable funding and the right policies, governments and philanthropy can ensure that AIs are used to reduce inequity.

“Just as the world needs its brightest people focused on its biggest problems, we will need to focus the world’s best AIs on its biggest problems.”

Apple Watch Series 9 Rumors: Will It Get a Blood Glucose Monitor?

The next Apple Watch is likely on the way. Here’s all the buzz about its release date, price and new features.

The iPhone 15 isn’t the only new device we’re expecting to see this year. The successor to the Apple Watch Series 8 is also likely to hit shelves in 2023. Apple is the king of smartwatches, and it’s been reigning supreme for years now despite a slow start. With 2023 underway, we’re looking forward to the next generation of the company’s iconic timepiece, the Apple Watch Series 9.

Over the years, Apple has made a steady stream of upgrades to the Apple Watch, adding an always-on display in 2019, blood oxygen monitoring in 2020, a bigger display in 2021 and temperature sensing in 2022.

This year, however, an incremental upgrade is more likely to materialize, considering Apple shook up its smartwatch lineup last year with the introduction of the luxurious Apple Watch Ultra and the second-gen Apple Watch SE. Currently, there are few rumors to run with for the Watch Series 9 (unlike for the iPhone 15 series), but we’ll be sure to update this article as we get a whiff of any credible buzz.

New sensors
The major new health feature expected to arrive on the Apple Watch is noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring, according to a Bloomberg report published in February. Currently, testing for blood glucose requires pricking the skin for blood. To test glucose levels without blood, Apple is said to be investigating an approach that involves using a silicon photonics chip for a measurement process called optical absorption spectroscopy. This technique shines light from a laser under the skin to determine the amount of glucose in the body, the report says. While major progress has reportedly been made in bringing this feature to life, the technology needs to be miniaturized to fit in a wearable device. If Apple pulls this off, it has the potential to make the Apple Watch essential in millions of diabetic households.

MicroLED display?
The Apple Watch received an OLED screen years before the iPhone, and now the rumor mill suggests the Apple Watch could adopt another display upgrade before Apple’s smartphones. According to a Bloomberg report, MicroLED displays produced in house are set to appear on the next Apple Watch Ultra model, which could arrive in 2024 at the earliest. Previous rumors had pointed to 2023 as the year for a MicroLED Apple Watch. This represents yet another effort by Apple to reduce its reliance on external tech partners – in this case Samsung and LG – as it strives to build more components on its own.

Not to be confused with Mini-LED, MicroLED is touted as the next major leap forward for display tech from OLED. It gets its name from the millions of teeny tiny pixels that create the image directly. The main hurdle facing mass adoption is getting those pixels (and screens) small enough. MicroLED is brighter than OLED with similarly perfect black levels and no danger of burn-in.

Release date and price
Apple has released a new generation of the Apple Watch every year since its debut. This year, unless the company breaks tradition, the Apple Watch Series 9 will likely arrive in the fall of 2023 alongside the iPhone 15 series.

There are no leaks either on the starting price of the Apple Watch Series 9. However, the price has remained the same for several years now, at least in the US, and we expect prices to remain the same in 2023. The Apple Watch Series 8 starts at $399.

What we expect
We expect the Apple Watch Series 9 to have everything the Watch Series 8 has. Those features include an always-on display and various size options and finishes. We also expect the Watch Series 9 to receive an upgraded processor (probably the S9) and support for the next software version, WatchOS 10. Hopefully we’ll see an improvement in battery life too, which the Watch 8 didn’t receive.

Google Warns Samsung and Pixel Phone Owners About 18 Serious Exploits

Attackers could compromise some phones with Samsung Exynos modems, just by knowing a phone number.

Google is warning owners of some Samsung, Vivo and Pixel phones that a series of exploits could let bad actors compromise devices simply by knowing basic phone numbers — and the device owners wouldn’t notice a thing.

Project Zero, Google’s in-house team of cybersecurity experts and analysts, described in a blog post 18 different potential exploits that could be used to hack into select phones that use Samsung’s Exynos modems. These exploits are so severe that they should be treated as zero-day vulnerabilities (indicating they should be fixed immediately). With four of these exploits, an attacker has to have only the right phone number to get access to data flowing in and out of a device’s modem, like phone calls and text messages.

The other 14 exploits are less worrisome, since they require more effort to expose their vulnerability — attackers would need access to the device locally or to a cell carrier’s systems, as TechCrunch noted.

Samsung acknowledged the vulnerabilities and said it’s released security updates for devices that could be affected, advising owners to update to the latest software to stay protected.

“After determining 6 vulnerabilities may potentially impact select Galaxy devices, of which none were ‘severe’, Samsung released security patches for 5 of these in March,” reads a Samsung statement sent to CNET. “Another security patch will be released in April to address the remaining vulnerability.”

Owners of affected devices should install upcoming security updates as soon as possible, though it’s up to the phone makers to decide when a software patch will come out for each device. In the meantime, Google says device owners can avoid being targeted by these exploits by turning off Wi-Fi calling and Voice-over-LTE, or VoLTE, in their device settings.

In the blog post, Google listed which phones use the Exynos modems — inadvertently admitting that its premium Pixel phones have been using Samsung’s modems for years. The list also includes a handful of wearables and cars that use specific modems.

Phones from Samsung, including those in the premium Galaxy S22 series, the midrange M33, M13, M12, A71 and A53 series, and the affordable A33, A21, A13, A12 and A04 series.
Mobile devices from Vivo, including those in the S16, S15, S6, X70, X60 and X30 series.
The premium Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series of phones from Google (at least one of the four most severe vulnerabilities was patched out in the March security update).
Any wearables that use the Exynos W920 chipset.
Any vehicles that use the Exynos Auto T5123 chipset.
Google reported these exploit discoveries to affected phone manufacturers in late 2022 and early 2023, the blog post said. But the Project Zero team has chosen not to disclose four other vulnerabilities out of caution due to their ongoing severity, breaking with its usual practice of disclosing all exploits a set period of time after reporting them to affected companies.

ChatGPT-style tech brought to Microsoft 365

The technology behind the world’s most talked about artificial intelligence (AI) system, ChatGPT, is being added to its most ubiquitous work software, Microsoft 365.

Microsoft is calling the system Copilot and says it will be embedded into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella said it would “fundamentally change the way we work.”

However, the firm admitted Copilot would sometimes make mistakes.

The functions of Copilot include:

Summarising the key discussion points of a conversation held on meeting software, Teams, and providing recaps for someone who joins late or misses the whole event
Creating PowerPoint presentations, including images, from prompts
Drafting emails
Analysing long email threads and documents
Creating summaries and graphs of data on Excel spreadsheets
Chat GPT has captured the world’s attention with its ability to quickly provide human-like responses to questions, even very complicated or abstract ones.

However, those replies are sometimes inaccurate or provide completely invented information.

While the tech being deployed by Microsoft in Office365 is not simply ChatGPT itself, it is based on the same language-learning model.

The firm acknowledged that Copilot may also sometimes be “usefully wrong”.

“We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busy work that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load,” the tech giant said in a statement.

It has not yet revealed roll-out details.

On Tuesday, OpenAI launched GPT4, un updated version of the model which powers ChatGPT. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in the firm.

OpenAI said GPT4 had “more advanced reasoning skills” than ChatGPT – but warned that it may still be prone to sharing disinformation.

ChatGPT is a big runner in the worldwide AI chatbot race.

Google – whose lucrative search business could be threatened by ChatGPT – has launched a rival called Bard.

Meta has its own chatbot, named Blenderbot, and in China, the tech giant Baidu has released a more advanced version of its chatbot Ernie, also known as Wenxin Yiyan.

Make no mistake, this is a significant milestone for generational AI and, more importantly, for the world of work.

Bringing the powers behind ChatGPT to the humble Word, Excel and PowerPoint programmes, quite possibly the most used work programmes in most offices, plonks it directly in the daily lives of millions of workers.

I know people have been using ChatGPT to help them do their jobs – to write computer code, speeches, website copy. Students are using it to help them with their homework.

But most of us have been having fun, getting it to write poems, songs, jokes. I asked an audience at a live event recently who had tried ChatGPT. Most hands shot up. But most went back down immediately when I asked who was using it professionally.

Putting Copilot into Office365 is a real game-changer. Imagine instead of summarising that long dull report for your client meeting, you just get a chatbot to do it for you in a few seconds. But why stop there – do you even need to be at the meeting at all? Just get Copilot to recap it for you and send you the notes of it afterwards.

Watching a demo of it creating a stylish PowerPoint presentation in moments was really quite heartwarming for anyone familiar with the phrase “death by PowerPoint”.

Microsoft would argue that this frees up your time to do other jobs. But what if Copilot has one day beaten you to those things as well?

Samsung to invest in South Korea mega chip-making plan

Electronics giant Samsung says it plans to invest around 300tn won ($230.8bn; £189.6bn) over 20 years in the South Korea government’s push to develop a mega semiconductor hub in the country.

This will be put towards building five chip factories, the firm told the BBC.

Samsung is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs.

Under the official plan, companies in high-tech industries will be offered incentives like expanded tax breaks and infrastructure support.

“The mega cluster will be the key base of our semiconductor ecosystem,” South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said it planned to secure around 550tn won in private-sector investment and “leap forward as a leading country in the middle of fierce global competition over advanced industries”.

South Korea’s move comes as “major players are ramping up efforts to boost onshore manufacturing in the semiconductor sector,” Paul Triolo from the global advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group told the BBC.

“It wants to emulate to some degree Taiwan’s clustering effect, where the trifecta of science parks… form a massive cluster that has attracted numerous other companies, both upstream and downstream in the supply chain,” he said.

Semiconductors, which power everything from mobile phones to military hardware, are at the centre of a bitter dispute between the US and China.

In October, Washington announced that it would require licences for companies exporting chips to China using US tools or software, no matter where they are made in the world.

Last week, the Netherlands said it also planned to put restrictions on its “most advanced” microchip technology exports to protect national security.

Around the same time, South Korea’s trade ministry raised concerns over the US policy on semiconductors.

The ministry said the Chips Act “could deepen business uncertainties, violate companies’ management and technology rights as well as make the United States less attractive as an investment option”.

China has frequently called the US a “tech hegemony” in response to export controls imposed by Washington.

South Korea is home to other major microprocessor manufacturers such as SK Hynix.

Restarting Your iPhone Has Never Been Easier Thanks to Siri

This voice command feature is only available on iOS 16.

Siri has leveled up over the years from just placing calls and sending texts with your voice. One of Apple’s latest additions to the Siri command list, hidden within iOS 16, is something I’ve wanted to do with just my voice for years.

You can finally use your voice to restart your iPhone.

Prior to this feature, the only way to power cycle my device was to do it manually, obviously. It’s not a particularly difficult task, but when I’m in a rush, it’s nice to use my voice for more involved things.

Thanks to iOS 16, if you ever have any issues and need to quickly reboot your device, you can do it with just your voice. Here’s how.

You should also check out these 11 hidden iOS 16 features for your iPhone and everything you need to understand your iPhone’s latest software update.

Restart your iPhone using this simple voice command
As long as you have the “Hey Siri” feature enabled, which constantly listens for the two-letter command, you can say the following to restart your iPhone:

First, say “Hey Siri” to activate Siri.
Next, say “Restart iPhone.”
And last, say “Yes” when Siri prompts you to confirm.
Your iPhone will then restart. You’ll need to enter your passcode to unlock your screen.

You can also use this new feature on the iPad, but you’ll need to be running at least iPadOS 16.1.

If you don’t have “Hey Siri” enabled, you can go to Settings > Siri & Search and toggle on Listen for “Hey Siri.” If you don’t want your iPhone listening for this command all the time, you can always just activate Siri by holding down on the side button for a second, although this does defeat the whole hands-free aspect of restarting your iPhone.

Google Brings Faster Night Sight, Magic Eraser to More Pixel Phones

The tech giant touts its latest updates for Pixel phones and the Pixel Watch.

Google on Monday laid out updates coming to its Pixel phones and the Pixel Watch, including bringing some useful camera tools to more devices.

In its first feature drop of 2023, Google said faster Night Sight — its feature for taking low-light photos — is coming to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro after launching on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro last year. The company also reminded people that its Magic Eraser tool for removing unwanted objects from images is now available on all Pixel phones.

Google said people will be able to further customize audio and visuals on the Pixel Watch in the “coming weeks,” including new “color correction and grayscale modes” to meet a wider range of display preferences. The company also called out fall detection on the Pixel Watch, which Google said last month has been tested to tell the difference between a hard fall and exercise movements.

Google also highlighted expanded availability of Direct My Call — a feature that lets you see phone menu options ahead of time for toll-free calls — to the Pixel 4A and newer, as well as a feature that shares timers set on Nest smart home devices to Pixel phones, and lets you stop them without having to unlock your phone.

The Yellow iPhone 14 Does Yellow Proud

Just in time for spring, Apple drops a new color for the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus.

Apple reminds us that spring is around the corner with a new color for iPhone 14 and 14 Plus: yellow. As has been the case for the past few years, Apple dropped a new color for the iPhone in March. In 2021, we got the purple iPhone 12. Last spring, we got a green iPhone 13 and an alpine green iPhone 13 Pro. And this year it’s yellow. Sadly, Apple decided to leave the Pro models out of the new color party.

There are now six colors to choose from: yellow, purple, blue, starlight, midnight and Product Red. If you follow Apple closely, you know that the old rainbow Apple logo was made up of six colors. Coincidence? I think not. The new yellow has a soft, pastel tone to it.

While the new finish is exciting, the yellow iPhone 14 is identical to the models that launched in September. It runs iOS 16, has an A15 Bionic chip, Emergency SOS via Satellite, Car Crash Detection and cameras similar to those of the iPhone 13 Pro (aside from the telephoto). In fact, we are halfway through the iPhone’s annual upgrade cycle, with the rumored iPhone 15 expected to launch in September.

Unlike with last year’s iPhone 13 color drop, Apple did not announce a new version of the iPhone SE. In fact there are rumors that the SE is dead, while some say a new version of Apple’s cheapest phone might still be on the way in 2024.

The new yellow iPhone 14 and 14 Plus is available to preorder and will be in stores starting Tuesday. Most people are likely to put a case on their iPhone 14 no matter which color the phone is. If that’s you, Apple also launched a new yellow silicone case, too.

iPhones May Not Get Under-Display Face ID Until 2025

A leaker says sensor issues have pushed back implementation.

The dream of getting an iPhone without a notch seemed set for next year, which is when an Apple analyst predicted we’d get all the components needed for Face ID to be relocated under the display. Now a leaker says we may have to wait until 2025.

The main line of flagship iPhones relies on a collection of sensors, including an infrared camera and infrared projector, that work in concert with a front-facing camera sitting under the iPhone’s notch to enable Face ID. Under-display Face ID has been “pushed at least a year to 2025 or later,” noted leaker Ross Young tweeted, adding that sensor issues caused the delay.

Since Young didn’t elaborate on what those sensor issues are, it’s unclear what’s holding Apple back from putting everything under the display.

Though iPhones haven’t gotten rid of the notch yet, Apple has shrunk the wide black band at the top of its premium phones in recent years. The higher-end iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max packed a new feature — Dynamic Island — that partially hid and repurposed the notch space to use as a miniature control panel for media and apps.

The ZTE Axon 20 5G released in 2020 became the world’s first phone with an under-display front camera, but the selfies it took were underwhelming. More premium Android phones have started using under-display cameras, however, including the foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Fold 4, as well as the RedMagic 7S Pro.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

iOS 16.4 Beta 3: New Features Public Beta Testers Can Try Now

Public beta testers can try new emoji, changes to Apple Podcasts, and more.

Apple released iOS 16.4 beta 3 to public beta testers Wednesday, about a week after the company released the second iOS 16.4 public beta. This third beta means the wide unveiling of iOS 16.4 is probably close at hand. Beta testers can now try out new iOS features, like new emoji and updates to Apple Books.

These features are available only to people who are a part of Apple’s Beta Software Program. New iOS features can be fun, but we recommend downloading a beta only onto something other than your primary phone, just in case the new software causes issues. Apple provides beta testers with an app called Feedback. The app lets testers notify Apple of any issues in the new software so the problem can be addressed before general release.

Here are some of the new features testers can find in the iOS 16.4 betas.

Apple ID and beta software updates
Text that reads You can sign in with a different Apple ID that is enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program or the Apple Developer Program
The latest beta lets you sign into another Apple ID to access other beta software.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET
With the third iOS 16.4 beta, developers and beta testers can check whether their Apple ID is associated with the developer beta, public beta or both. If you have a different Apple ID, like one for your job, that has access to beta updates, iOS 16.4 beta 3 also lets you switch to that account from your device.

Apple Books updates
The iOS 16.4 beta 2 update brings the page-turn curl animation back to Apple Books, after it was removed in a previous iOS update. Before, when you turned a page in an e-book on your iPhone, the page would slide to one side of your screen or it would vanish and be replaced by the next page. Beta testers can still choose these other page-turn animations in addition to the curl animation.

With iOS 16.4 beta 3, a new popup appears when you open Apple Books for the first time after downloading the update. It lets you know you can change your page-turn animation, theme and more.

31 new emoji
The first iOS 16.4 beta software brought 31 new emoji to your iOS device. The new emoji include a new smiley; new animals, like a moose and a goose; and new heart colors, like pink and light blue.

9 of the new emoji, arranged in a grid on a pink background: peapod, hair pick, goose, hand, smiley, gray heart, maracas, donkey, wifi signal
Some of the new emoji released in the first iOS 16.4 beta.

Patrick Holland/CNET
The new emoji all come from Unicode’s September 2022 recommendation list, Emoji 15.0.

Apple Podcasts updates
The first beta brought a few changes to how you navigate Apple Podcasts. Now you can access podcast channels you subscribe to in your Library. You can also use Up Next to resume podcast episodes you’ve started, start episodes you’ve saved and remove episodes you want to skip.

Preview Mastodon links in Messages
Apple’s first iOS 16.4 beta enabled rich previews of Mastodon links in Messages. That’s good because Mastodon saw a 400% increase in the rate of new accounts in December, so you might be receiving Mastodon links in Messages.

Music app changes
The Kid Cudi album Man On the Moon artwork with the track list below
A small banner appears at the bottom of the screen when you choose to play a song next in Apple Music in the frst iOS 16.4 beta.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET
The Music interface has been slightly modified in the first iOS 16.4 beta. When you add a song to your queue, a small banner appears near the bottom of your screen instead of a full-screen pop-up.

See who and what is covered under AppleCare
Starting with iOS 16.4 beta 1, you could go to Settings to check who and what devices are covered on your AppleCare plan. With iOS 16.4 beta 2, this menu will show you a small icon next to each device that’s covered under AppleCare.

Focus Mode, Shortcuts and always-on display
If you have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, iOS 16.4 beta 1 lets you enable or disable the always-on display option with certain Focus Modes. A new option in Shortcuts called Set Always on Display was also added, in addition to new Lock Screen and Set VPN actions.

New Apple Wallet widgets
You can add three new order-tracking widgets for Apple Wallet to your home screen with the first iOS 16.4 beta. Each widget displays your tracking information on active orders, but the widgets are different sizes: small, medium and large.

More accessibility options
The first beta update added a new accessibility option, too. The new option is called Dim Flashing Lights, and it can be found in the Motion menu in Settings. The option’s description says video content that depicts repeated flashing or strobing lights will automatically be dimmed. Video timelines will also show when flashing lights will occur.

New keyboards, Siri voices and language updates
The first iOS 16.4 beta added keyboards for the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages, and there are new Siri voices for Arabic and Hebrew. Language updates have also come to Korean, Ukrainian, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu.

There’s no word on when iOS 16.4 will be released to the general public. There’s no guarantee these beta features will be released with iOS 16.4, or that these will be the only features released with the update.