TechCapsules

The U.S. government unveiled its first public‑facing AI chatbot, America.gov, developed with Google and SpaceXAI. Designed to withstand red‑team testing, the bot has not been easily jailbreaked. When queried about Minecraft, it produced an 1,800‑word monologue that mirrors the game’s “End Poem,” sparking speculation about embedded Easter eggs. The chatbot also confirms Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, a fact still contested by former President Trump. The incident highlights the bot’s unexpected creative output and the challenges of [...]

Flourish One, a $3,555 wheeled humanoid robot, is now available for purchase. The San Francisco‑Paris startup targets busy parents, offering a smartphone‑based training interface that lets users teach chores in under 30 minutes. Built on a Raspberry Pi, the robot uses cloud GPUs for AI training and features six wheels, two 1.5‑kg arms, a small lidar, and wrist‑mounted cameras. The first 50 units will serve as a proving ground for home‑specific, fine‑tuned domestic robotics.

Apple has begun rolling out Apple Pay to Axis Bank customers in India, marking the service’s debut in the country after twelve years. The launch follows reports that Apple’s servers now support the payment system, with Axis Bank’s Visa and Mastercard credit cards as the initial partners. India is a key market for Apple, boosting both manufacturing and consumer sales. The move expands Apple’s Services portfolio amid a recent dip in Services revenue and ongoing regulatory scrutiny [...]

Meta launched its agentic AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, across WhatsApp, AI glasses and business agents, claiming early consumer reach. Google countered with Gemini, now deployed at scale in its cloud and integrated into Android, Maps, Gmail and Google Pay, giving it an OS‑level advantage. In Q2, Google’s revenue rose 24.2% to $119.8 billion, with Cloud up 82% and nearly 90% of Fortune 100 firms using Gemini Enterprise. Meta’s revenue grew 28% to $117 billion, but earnings per share missed [...]

OpenAI announced a postponement of its upcoming AI model, codenamed Astra, to conduct additional safety testing. The company said the model must meet evolving safety standards before a broad rollout, though it did not disclose the specific risks prompting the delay. The decision arrives amid heightened global scrutiny of AI ethics and regulation, and follows OpenAI’s public apology for mishandling a security breach that exposed an Australian government website. In response, OpenAI is reviewing internal security protocols [...]

In episode 46 of the 9to5Google podcast “The Sideload,” host Will Sattelberg sits down with tech analyst Allison Johnson to evaluate Meta’s newly released agentic AI chatbot, Muse. The conversation probes whether AI agents can genuinely streamline tasks for users, weighing Muse’s conversational abilities against practical productivity gains. Johnson also shares her impressions of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro, focusing on its variable aperture system and how it may affect low‑light photography. The duo further discusses the iPhone Duo, a dual‑screen [...]

Apple Creator Studio’s latest update expands its suite of creative and productivity tools across Mac, iPad and iPhone. Pixelmator Pro for iPad now includes Select and Mask controls for precise edge refinement and adds sports, business and podcast artwork templates on both platforms. Final Cut Pro and Motion on Mac can apply Cinematic mode effects to footage shot on the iPhone 18 Pro, with editors able to shift focus points and depth of field directly in the timeline; Compressor adds conversion to the legacy Cinematic [...]

Pope Francis XIV warned that artificial‑intelligence risks must be taken seriously, criticizing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for promoting AI safeguards while opposing any government regulation. Speaking aboard his papal plane on 28 September after a four‑day visit to France, the pontiff rejected claims that expert warnings are “fake news” and urged world leaders to agree on common limits. He singled out Huang, noting his recent comments at a Salesforce event that new laws are unnecessary and his alignment with U.S. [...]