Intelligent Machines 863: Fire and Ash

Tech journalist Marshall Kirkpatrick joins the panel to showcase a new AI-powered tool that doesn't just summarize articles—it thinks like a journalist, flagging what's truly new and revealing the patterns that matter. If you want to stay several steps ahead in the AI race, this episode is a must-listen. Malware autodownloaded by AI agents Meta loses trial after arguing child exploitation was "inevitable" on its apps We're saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. TurboQuant: Redefining AI efficiency with extreme compression Apple Can 'Distill' Google's Big Gemini Model Apple Plans AI Reboot With Siri App, New Look and 'Ask Siri' Button in iOS 27 Google Search referrals to the web have plummeted, AI links are 'less than 1%' of traffic A US appeals court puts on hold an earlier ruling that had blocked Perplexity from using its agentic shopping tool to shop on Amazon's marketplace A look at "tokenmaxxing", a status game where employees at a number of companies compete on leaderboards to show how much AI they're using Elon Musk Announces $20B 'Terafab' Chip Plant in Texas To Supply His Companies Jury finds Elon Musk guilty of defrauding Twitter investors [U] Tracy Kidder, Author of 'The Soul of a New Machine,' Dies at 80 AI Doc trailer reflect — Time-Travel Reflection for Obsidian Esoteric Ebb Butthole Regex Blaster Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Marshall Kirkpatrick Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit spaceship.com/twit

In 2015, Satya Nadella said that he wanted users to love Windows. But Microsoft has only enshittified Windows more aggressively since then. Paul wrote a book. And now Microsoft says it's changed, baby, and it's serious this time. Here's what was said ... and what was not said.A Timeline Early signs of positive change: Rust in the Windows kernel, numerous new security features in Windows 11 - "two sides" of Windows, the engineering side and the "let's push AI at all costs/UX" side - more recently, Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent announcement Last September, Pavan Davuluri took over Windows and reorganized the business immediately, bringing Server/Core back in-house In December, Paul saw the first signs of positive changes in OneDrive, while not perfect, a major step back from the enshittification there. It took a few months to understand exactly what changed. In January, there are over one billion Windows 11 users. Davuluri first mentions a push for quality in 2026 - "pain points" In February, Nadella announced leadership changes that included people directly in charge of security and engineering quality Now, Microsoft has announced that it will address (some of) the complaints about Windows 11, and this includes performance and reliability improvements across the board Microsoft said it will Let you move the Taskbar to other screen edges, finally Improve File Explorer performance Make changes to how users to skip Windows Updates (vaguely) Make improvements to Widgets (but what about the quality problem?) Remove unnecessary Copilot entry points Make the Windows Insider Program more transparent More relevant recommendations in Start - ?? Reduce resource usage across the board, give more resources to what you're doing (good for gaming, especially) Reduce interaction latency - WInUI3 Reduce search latency throughout - also context menus and navigation (which is WinUI3, I guess) Make improvements to Windows Subsystem for Linux OS, drive, and in-box app reliability improvements Windows Hello improvements - Wonders if this is tied to the complaint about speed here What Microsoft didn't discuss Of the several items in the Windows 11 Enshittification Checklist, only one was addressed by Davuluri's post, Windows Update chaos, and then only partially. Not mentioned: Forced telemetry, bundled crapware, forced Microsoft account sign-ins, forced Microsoft Edge usage and configuration harassment, hardware requirements (less relevant today), OneDrive behaviors (partially addressed already). Recall is rare in that it's opt-in, but most of the AI and unwanted features are opt-out or worse Controlled Feature Releases are not controlled, but they do suck Microsoft has monthly Security Updates that include new features. Security and Feature updates should be separate and have different pausing rules Microsoft is not removing Copilot from Windows, nor is it doing less AI; it is just removing Copilot icons from most places and trying to be more thoughtful about how it deploys AI in Windows 11 The Windows Insider Program makes 0 sense right now, and this was only partially addressed; it's not clear what's changing yet Davuluri says that WinUI3 UIs are the solution to many performance problems, but just using an old Mor These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/976 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Elon Musk faces a multi-billion dollar verdict after a California jury finds his tweets misled Twitter shareholders, raising the stakes for tech CEOs with unchecked social media influence. Plus, CBS kills its legendary radio news service while podcasting explodes, signaling a dramatic shift in how America consumes, trusts, and pays for news. CBS News Shutters Radio Service After Nearly a Century A US appeals court puts on hold an earlier ruling that had blocked Perplexity from using its agentic shopping tool to shop on Amazon's marketplace FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms The 49MB Web Page Microsoft unveils MAJOR improvements coming to Windows 11 this year — movable Taskbar, reduced RAM usage, less AI and ads, and much more CONFIRMED: "We are evolving how Windows is built behind the scenes to raise the quality bar" Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access in June Meta changes course on Horizon Worlds VR shut-down Gamers react with overwhelming disgust to DLSS 5's generative AI glow-ups Jury agrees that Musk's tweets during Twitter takeover misled investors After three months, Samsung is ending sales of the $2,899 Galaxy Z TriFold 200,000 Devices Erased? Pro-Iran Hackers Hit US Firm With Data-Wiping Attack Japan to allow 'proactive cyber-defense' from October 1st Sears Exposed AI Chatbot Phone Calls and Text Chats to Anyone on the Web Arizona AG files criminal charges against Kalshi over 'illegal gambling' Major League Baseball Steps Into the Prediction Markets, Strikes Deal With Polymarket Polymarket is opening a bar where you can drink and watch the world unravel in real time It's been 20 years since the first tweet Project Hail Mary is movie medicine The futurist who helped define tech trend reports just killed them (literally) This new cassette player has USB-C and Bluetooth, in case you want to ditch Spotify Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Janko Roettgers, Dan Patterson, and Lisa Schmeiser Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit outsystems.com/twit preview.modulate.ai

Who gets to define what intelligence means in the age of AI, and why are tech companies so keen to shift blame onto their creations? This episode digs into moral outsourcing, agency, and the urgent need for independent oversight in the world of artificial intelligence. Nvidia Unveils NemoClaw Agent Software Nvidia's NemoClaw is OpenClaw with guardrails Jensen just put Nvidia's Blackwell and Vera Rubin sales projections into the $1 trillion stratosphere Nvidia Unveils Groq-Based Chip System to Speed Up AI Tasks Like Coding Nvidia's DLSS 5 is like motion smoothing for video games, but worse Zuckerberg has "finished" with Alexandr Wang, worth US$14 billion Meta didn't buy Moltbook for bots — it bought into the agentic web Meta's Manus AI agent arrives on your desktop to take on OpenClaw Introducing GPT-5.4 mini and nano | OpenAI Sources: OpenAI signed a deal with AWS to sell its AI services to US government agencies for both classified and unclassified work, amid the Anthropic-DOD spat Inside OpenAI's Race to Catch Up to Claude Code OpenAI, Musk and Focus A mystery 1T-parameter AI model called Hunter Alpha, which appeared on OpenRouter on March 11, sparks speculation that DeepSeek is quietly testing its V4 model Hustlers are cashing in on China's OpenClaw AI craze Baidu is integrating OpenClaw with its Xiaodu devices to work as voice-controlled remotes, as it seeks to catch up with Tencent and Alibaba in the AI race Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Judges Find AI Doesn't Have Human Intelligence in Two New Court Cases - Slashdot AI Agent Hacks McKinsey A study of ~1,500 US workers finds AI use can reduce burnout but also cause "AI brain fry", a mental fatigue from using AI tools beyond one's cognitive capacity AI companies want to harvest improv actors' skills to train AI on human emotion A Reddit Post, An AI Hallucination, And Two Lawyers Who Never Checked Citations Walk Into A Dog Custody Case Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam EchoPrime – Cedars-Sinai’s AI system can read echocardiograms and write the report Robotic Surgery Performed Remotely on Patient 1,500 Miles Away - Slashdot Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' German philosopher Jürgen Habermas dies at 96 CanIRun.ai — Can your machine run AI models? We tried White Castle from an airport vending machine. It was bleak. I tried BigArch. A big mess. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Guest: Rumman Chowdhury Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: spaceship.com/twit outsystems.com/twit zscaler.com/security preview.modulate.ai

There's an ongoing narrative that Windows is worse than ever today and people are leaving in droves. Paul does not see that, and will simply point to Windows 8 and remind folks that it can be (and was) worse. Also, PowerToys 0.98 adds a major new feature to Command Palette, big changes to Keyboard Manager and CursorWrap, and about 100 other updates. This is a big one. Plus, Mozilla Firefox is staging a comeback and may be worth another look. Windows Rajesh Jha is retiring and Microsoft is reorging its Experiences + Devices team Release Preview: A peek at next week's Week D update (and April's Patch Tuesday) shows we're getting improvements to Narrator, Settings, Smart App Control, Pen settings, Display, File Explorer, and the Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). The trend continues! New Canary, Dev, and Beta builds - Nothing new in Canary. Dev/Beta: Drag Tray is being renamed to Drop Tray, you can change the user folder name during Setup, Restore points are getting a modern update finally Intel goes nuts with new "Arrow Lake refresh" processors; these are not Copilot+ PC capable and it's unclear what the Panther Lake comparison looks like IDC now expects 11.3 percent decline in PC market in 2026, 7.6 percent decline for tablets AI Microsoft may sue OpenAI for contract breach - the best Microsoft divorce since IBM Major reorg in Microsoft's AI businesses Former Snap exec in charge of consolidated Copilot offerings across consumer and commercial Mustafa Suleyman to focus on Microsoft's foundational models There has been a lot of retiring and a lot of outside hires for top-level executive positions in Microsoft over the past year or more. Curious. Rumors vs. reality in Microsoft scaling back AI ambitions in Windows Rumor: Microsoft is backtracking on some Copilot features Reality: Microsoft is not backtracking on its AI ambitions, it's just going to try to do a better job with branding and positioning Microsoft launches Copilot Health in the U.S. Google Personal Intelligence ships in the U.S. OpenAI releases GPT-5.4 mini and nano models GPT-5 mini is available as a reasoning model on Duck.ai Xbox and gaming Rumor vs. reality in Xbox strategy Rumor: Microsoft removed "This is an Xbox" messaging from website so it must be focusing on consoles again Reality: Literally nothing has changed Xbox Insiders is testing per-game Quick Resume toggle Also more groups on Home, custom colors, profile badges in guide Big half month for Game Pass, with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, more coming Starfield is coming to PS5 on April 7 NVIDIA launches DLSS 5, changes existing games, people are freaking out Tips and picks Tip of the week: The grass is always greener App pick of the week: PowerToys 0.98 RunAs Radio this week: Sustainable AI with Darshna Shah Brown liquor pick of the week: Teeling Small Batch Whiskey Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit zscaler.com/security

Meta quietly ditches encryption for Instagram chats while TikTok also backpedals on privacy, shaking up assumptions about how much big tech really values your secrets. Meanwhile, Steve Gibson reveals why CISA's free government security scans are an absolute must for businesses—plus what he learned when GRC took the plunge. The Security Now "Caption That Photo" contest. A mega social media company says "no" to strong encryption. WhatsApp to give parents more control, Consumer bandwidth proxying is becoming a big deal. Meta buys the Moltbook duo. The EU gives up and settles upon the status quo. When a ransomware negotiation is not what it seems. CISA compels federal agencies to submit their logs. Is that a VPN in your pocket or something more malicious. Be careful what you download, thinking it's AI. A super-clever and super-simple A/V scanner bypass. Will AI write code for me? Another listener discovers the Joy of AI. Steve's CISA Internet scanning experience Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1070-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT material.security canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT adaptivesecurity.com meter.com/securitynow

Someone is appearing on Jeopardy this week... Apple announces the AirPods Max 2. The MacBook Neo is its most repairable MacBook in 14 years. And are new colors coming to the next-gen iMacs later this year? I'll take 'beach reading' for $1000, Ken. Apple introduces AirPods Max 2. 2026 Apple Studio Display review: The smallest of upgrades. MacBook Neo is the most repairable MacBook in 14 years. Apple paying a premium to move iPhone production outside China as it hits milestone. Should keycaps use text or glyphs for delete, return, tab, caps lock, and shift? macOS Tahoe 26.4 beta 4, iOS 26.4 beta 4, and iPadOS 26.4 beta 4 distributions highlight nine upcoming emoji characters. Rumor: Apple to debut "new colors" for next-gen iMacs this year. Apple's Liquid Glass interface isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Gone (Almost) Phishin'. Mac on-screen camera indicator light. How to survive the loss of Rosetta. First footage shows X-Plane 12 on Vision Pro, including an ARKit trick in action. F1: The Stream - how the launch leveraged Apple's entire ecosystem. 'F1: the Movie' is now an Oscar-winning hit. Severance season 3 gets timing update, new characters teased. Picks of the Week Leo's Pick: Lil Finder 5K Wallpapers Christina's Pick: 3D Print Lil' Finder Guy Andy's Pick: Stickies for Mac Jason's Pick: Delcom USB HID Handheld Programmable Button Switch Hosts: Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Jason Snell, and Christina Warren Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit zocdoc.com/macbreak hipebl.ai

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson, Richard Campbell, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit preview.modulate.ai monarch.com with code TWIT spaceship.com/twit threatlocker.com/twit

Apple's legendary evangelist Guy Kawasaki reveals how signal messaging and open-source AI are rewriting playbooks for privacy, immortality, and activism. Hear candid stories and sharp opinions from someone who has shaped—and challenged—today's tech giants. OpenAI robotics hardware lead resigns ChatGPT returns to the top of the App Store after DoD controversy OpenAI Had Banned Military Use. The Pentagon Tested Its Models Through Microsoft Anyway Anthropic Made Pitch in Drone Swarm Contest During Pentagon Feud Anthropic chief back in talks with Pentagon about AI deal OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about Pentagon AI deal BREAKING: Sam Altman's greed and dishonesty are finally catching up to him ChatGPT update curbs 'cringe,' cuts down on answer refusals OpenAI's GPT-5.4 sets new records on professional benchmarks OpenAI Releases New ChatGPT Model For Working In Excel and Google Sheets - Slashdot OpenAI delays ChatGPT's 'adult mode' again OpenAI's IPO Hopes Face Skeptical Investor Community Sources: Meta has signed a multiyear AI content licensing deal with News Corp worth $50M per year; the deal will run for at least three years Zuckerberg has "finished" with Alexandr Wang, worth US$14 billion Yann LeCun Raises $1 Billion To Build AI That Understands the Physical World Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab signs a chip supply deal with Nvidia worth tens of billions of dollars, planning to deploy 1GW+ of next-gen Vera Rubin chips Meta didn't buy Moltbook for bots — it bought into the agentic web Where did you think the training data was coming from? You could be an influencer without even realizing it Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Amazon's Health AI is now open to all US customers After outages, Amazon to make senior engineers sign off on AI-assisted changes Amazon Data Centers on Fire After Iranian Missile Strikes on Dubai Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis' Tiiny AI Pocket Lab: The First Pocket-Size AI Supercomputer A lot of journalism folks are offering editing advice as Grammarly's AI "experts" AI-generated art can't be copyrighted after Supreme Court declines to review the rule Judges Find AI Doesn't Have Human Intelligence in Two New Court Cases Ars Technica fires reporter after AI controversy involving fabricated quotes Start Up No.2624: Canadian journal retracts 25 years of studies, the AI writing question, Netflix buys Affleck AI firm, and more William Shatner says he turned a $42 money transfer from Elon Musk into nearly $200,000 for his charity YouTube Lays Claim to Another Crown: The World's Largest Media Company ET Fall Preview 1994 Payphone Go This company wants to pay you $800 to bully AI for a day Tweakbench - your favorite producer's favorite plugins lol Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Guy Kawasaki Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/machines monarch.com with code IM Melissa.com/twit get.stash.com/im

From bug-busting AI that's transforming Firefox to personal coding breakthroughs, the team breaks down how practical applications are cutting through skepticism and reshaping developer workflows. Plus, hear why lighter Patch Tuesdays are refreshing from time to time! Windows 11 Patch Tuesday's familiar list of updates: Network speed test, Camera tilt and pan controls, sysmon, RSAT improvements, Quick Machine Recovery improvements, WEBP support for desktop wallpaper, Emoji 16.0, etc. It's been a light year so far for Patch Tuesday features - that's a good thing New builds for Canary, Dev, and Beta late last week. Canary is nothing, Dev/Beta get Administrator Protection, Drag Tray refinements, File Explorer improvements, and fixes Android 16 QPR3 brings Desktop Mode to Android devices - and a hands-on with Pixel phones and tablets shows the way forward for Android-based laptops later this year Intel has new gaming processors for creators and gamers and they look excellent and are inexpensive AI and dev Copilot Cowork is literally Claude Cowork in Microsoft 365 - "Wave 3" for Microsoft 365 Copilot begins with a lot of agentic features, in private preview at first Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive get big Gemini updates for consumers and Workspace customers Mozilla partners with Anthropic to use AI to find bugs, and it's paying off nicely Visual Studio Code moves to a weekly update schedule The .NET 11 Preview 2 is here Xbox and gaming Microsoft starts talking up next Xbox console! It's called Project Helix and, yes, it will run Windows games New Xbox Mode is on the way Project Helix dev kits to game makers in 2027 Satya Nadella explains why he/Microsoft are "long" on gaming Gaming is a core identity for Microsoft alongside platforms, developers, and knowledge workers Tips and picks Tip of the week: Nostalgia with a purpose App pick of the week: Stardock Clairvoyance RunAs Radio this week: SQL Server in 2026 with Bob Ward Brown liquor pick of the week: Canadian Centennial Rye Whisky Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/windows cachefly.com/twit