In June I had a conversation with chief scientist Ilya Sutskever at OpenAI’s headquarters, as I reported WIRED’s October cover story. Among the topics we discussed was the unusual structure of the company.OpenAI began as a nonprofit research lab whose mission was to develop artificial intelligence on par or beyond …
Read More »Microsoft Emerges as the Winner in OpenAI Chaos
Just after 2 am Pacific time on Monday morning, several OpenAI staffers—including its chief technology officer, Mira Murati—posted in unison on X: “OpenAI is nothing without its people.” Sam Altman, who was dramatically removed as the company’s chief executive on Friday, reposted many of them. By then, Altman already had …
Read More »Here’s Everything You Can Do With Copilot, the Generative AI Assistant on Windows 11
Despite plenty of misgivings, artificial intelligence—and in particular, generative AI that produces text and images from prompts—continues to be pushed into the hardware and software we use every day. Microsoft has been active in the space, adding AI chatbot capabilities to its Bing search engine earlier this year, and it's …
Read More »Microsoft Does Damage Control With Its New ‘Secure Future Initiative’
Today, in a blog post and email to employees, Microsoft is announcing a broad vision for tackling the cybersecurity challenges that have increasingly plagued the company and its customers in recent years. Known as the Secure Future Initiative, the plan leans heavily on artificial intelligence tools as a “game changer” …
Read More »A ‘Green’ Search Engine Sees Danger—and Opportunity—in the Generative AI Revolution
In the era of search wars fought between giants, it’s tough to be small. Berlin-based Ecosia offers a search engine for the climate-conscious, promising to be carbon-negative by investing all of its profits into planting trees—more than 180 million of them since it launched in 2009. It’s not likely to …
Read More »Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Deal Changes the Game
After more than 20 months and more hurdles than a track meet, Microsoft has completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Despite efforts from governments in the US and UK to keep tech giants from increasing in size and reach, Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty maker shows …
Read More »Apple, Microsoft, and Google Just Fixed Multiple Zero-Day Flaws
Fall is here, but hot zero-day summer shows no signs of cooling down, with the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and Google fixing flaws being used in real-life attacks. Some major enterprise fixes were released during the month, including a Cisco patch for a vulnerability with a maximum CVSS score of …
Read More »Microsoft Shows Off New Surface Laptops and AI-Enhanced Windows
Microsoft held a media event in New York City this morning. The company used the occasion to show off two new laptops from its house-made Surface line as well as a slew of AI-powered enhancements coming to Windows 11 later this month. The hour-long presentation was not livestreamed, but we …
Read More »The Biggest Revelations From the Microsoft Xbox Leaks
In what’s being cited as the biggest leak in the company’s history, Microsoft revealed a massive amount of information about forthcoming Xbox refreshes, next-gen systems, and more after uploading a series of unredacted documents to a court website as part of the ongoing Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft case. The …
Read More »Xbox Live Gold Is Now Game Pass Core. Here's What to Know
Microsoft just launched Xbox Game Pass Core, its newest subscription taking the place of Xbox Live Gold. This means the Xbox Live service many console owners used throughout their childhood for online play no longer exists. (Be right back, pouring out an ice-cold Monster energy drink.) Curious how this switch …
Read More »