Engadget News + Next

Latest Episodes:

DeepSeek's AI models are about to cost four times more Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

Prices at off-peak hours will be half the peak-hour pricing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team as part of a 'streamlining' process, another woman joined a lawsuit accusing Grok of generating CSAM, and Anthropic is watermarking text generated by Claude to comply with EU law Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

-Several departures have led to concerns that the company is ignoring safety in favor of growth

-As first reported by the Washington Post, the woman, named as Jane Doe 4 in the lawsuit, said that her stepfather used Grok to create "thousands of sexually explicit images of her as a child and traded them online."

-The company said its text watermarking will not have easy-to-see visuals, will not be distinguishable to the people who read it and will not be adding hidden characters to the text.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta is giving away 15,000 AI glasses to blind and visually impaired people in Ireland Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

It's one way to change the perception of the glasses.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DeepSeek's AI models pricing to rise 4x, Apple sent warnings to targets of mercenary spyware attacks, and the US gov't to allow private companies to carry out cyberattacks on its behalf Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

-The company said it's adopting a new peak and off-peak pricing to "allocate resources more reasonably," starting on August 16

-Most users will never be targeted by mercenary spyware, but they're also difficult to detect and prevent.”

-Traditionally, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, one of the main laws that criminalizes hacking, unauthorized computer access and other cyberattacks, has applied to private companies and individuals alike.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Government workers can officially waste time scrolling TikTok again Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

The app was banned from government devices in 2022.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Virgin Galactic postponed its new spaceship's first commercial flight, FlightAware dropped its lawsuit against Kalshi, and Meta will give away 15,000 AI glasses to blind and visually impaired people in Ireland Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

-The company had been preparing for the new spaceship's debut later this year and was originally planning to put it through a series of tests over the next few months leading up to its first commercial flight in the fourth quarter of this year.

-Whereas the company previously said flight cancellations were "verified from FlightAware," something FlightAware specifically took issue with in its lawsuit, now Kalshi says outcomes are "verified from Primary Source Agency."

-Glasses like Meta's could be incredibly helpful for visually impaired individuals. They can read text out loud and identify objects in the user's surroundings.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI gives Daybreak partners access to a more powerful cybersecurity model Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

GPT-5.6-Cyber for the Daybreak program is ‘less likely to refuse higher-risk tasks.’

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kalshi is being sued for using data without authorization, Spotify will alert listeners if an artist isn't real, and government workers can officially waste time scrolling TikTok again Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

-FlightAware echoed the concerns of the airline industry that prediction markets for flights incentivized the "mass disruption of air travel" for anyone who wants to make money on the platform.

-The AI Persona label will begin appearing in mid-September, initially on mobile on an artist's profile, in search and on playlists' track rows.

-The DoJ said the 2022 law no longer applies because the current version of TikTok has American owners and relies on a different recommendation algorithm than the app that operated under ByteDance.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FCC wants to ban drones with LiDAR that it previously approved Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

This would include several models from DJI, including the consumer-level Air 3S and Mini Pro 5.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI is giving Daybreak partners access to a more powerful cybersecurity model, Meta's 'open source' Muse Glimmer model can run on a single computer, and an OpenClaw agent reportedly hacked a gym's booking system and kicked someone off a waiting list Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

-OpenAI says the companies will use the cyber models available through Daybreak to protect their customers.

-Meta said that it's making the "weights" that AI systems use to choose responses available to everyone on Hugging Face along with developer documentation. The download is available for free, and users can run the model on their own PCs.

-Bill Simpson-Young, co-founder of the Gradient Institute said, “we've built this complex world over the internet, which is all run by software, but software that has holes. Now you introduce highly capable AI agents that can operate at scale and speed ... and that whole model just breaks."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected