WhatsApp’s sticker AI is adding guns to prompts for Palestinian children Illustration: The VergeIn Meta’s WhatsApp, users can generate stickers using AI prompts. The Guardian reported Friday that the AI model used to create those stickers sometimes generates images of children holding guns when prompted with “Palestine” and similar words. Meanwhile, according to the outlet, “Israel” prompts resulted in no such imager…

Fake news and ridiculing the dead — what’s wrong with Microsoft’s AI news Image: The VergeA new CNN report about the MSN AI model’s news aggregation kicks off with examples of questionable editorial calls, like highlighting a story claiming President Joe Biden dozed off during a moment of silence for Maui wildfire victims (he didn’t), or an obituary that inexplicably referred to an NBA player as “useless.” An editoria…

How Insomniac Games tried to make a Spider-Man suit for every kind of player Miles Morales in the Across the Spider-Verse suit. | Image: Sony Interactive EntertainmentFor the art team at Insomniac Games, there’s one job that everyone seems to want: working on Spidey’s suits. Since the first Spider-Man game on the PS4, modeling the in-game suits has been “a hotly contested assignment” among the studio’s character team, ac…

How AI brought the Beatles back together one more time Illustration: William Joel / The VergeHi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 13, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been watching Barbarian and No Hard Feelings, reading about the ch…

Epic v. Google, explained Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The VergeEverything you need to know about the big app store trial kicking off November 6th. Continue reading…

Discord file links will expire after a day to fight malware Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeAnyone using Discord to host files will want to change that, as links to those files will begin to refresh every 24 hours by the end of this year. The company told Bleeping Computer that doing so will help the company fight malware spreading on its platform since that gives it more ability to “restrict acce…

AI companies have all kinds of arguments against paying for copyrighted content Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeThe US Copyright Office is taking public comment on potential new rules around generative AI’s use of copyrighted materials, and the biggest AI companies in the world had plenty to say. We’ve collected the arguments from Meta, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Hugging Face, StabilityAI, and Anthropic below, as well…

The copyright fight over Fortnite dance moves is back on Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeThis week, a panel of US appeals court judges has renewed the legal battle over Fortnite dance moves by reversing the dismissal of a lawsuit filed last year by professional choreographer Kyle Hanagami against Epic Games. Billboard pointed out the opinion filed on November 1st (PDF), where US 9th Circuit Court…

Sony’s noise-canceling XM5s are matching their lowest price to date The WH-1000XM5s are still the best pair of headphones you can get, even if Sony’s naming convention is still terrible. | Photo by Chris Welch / The VergePeace and quiet can be hard to come by, whether you’re a parent, a frequent traveler, or someone who has been forced to listen to ongoing construction for what feels like an eternity — trust me,…

Sam Bankman-Fried’s shadow still looms over the crypto industry Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty ImagesCryptocurrency advocates might believe that FTX’s collapse was an anomaly — but they could have trouble convincing the public of the same. Continue reading…

The Echo Show 8 is still the smart display to beat Souped-up sound, widgets, and a Thread radio make for a good (but not showy) upgrade to Amazon’s best smart speaker with a screen. Continue reading…

How to set up an Echo Show to show you the least amount of crap Amazon’s Echo Show is a much better smart display without all the Amazon stuff. | The VergeAmazon’s Echo Show smart displays are genuinely great devices. For between $90 and $250 (often much cheaper with Amazon’s perma-sales), you get a smart speaker with a touchscreen that can play music, show you photos, fire up a video call with friends and f…

Microsoft employees will keep free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate after complaints Image: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMicrosoft was planning to remove a free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit for most of its 238,000 employees in January, but the company is now reversing that decision following employee complaints. The Verge reported yesterday that Microsoft employees had expressed objections about the Xbox Game Pass U…

Microsoft is now giving many Surface PCs at least six years of firmware updates Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeMicrosoft Surface PCs that have shipped on or after January 1st, 2021 will get at least six years of driver and firmware updates, according to a Microsoft support document reported on by Windows Central. Previously, Microsoft had only said it would support devices with at least four years of those updat…

BlizzCon 2023: all the latest news and trailers Photo by Joe Scarnici / Getty ImagesStay up to date on the biggest announcements from the developer behind Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. Continue reading…

Microsoft’s fullscreen Xbox pop-up ads don’t have to be annoying Screenshot by Tom Warren / The VergeWhen I turned my Xbox on yesterday, I was greeted with a fullscreen pop-up ad for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. I posted on X (Twitter) about it and thought nothing more of it because annoying as it was, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has used a fullscreen takeover to promote one of its new games — an…

Google scraps $15 billion deal with lead developer of Silicon Valley campus projects A render of the proposed San Jose development. | Image: GoogleGoogle has ended its agreement with Lendlease, the lead developer it had been working with on four major campus projects in Silicon Valley. In an announcement published earlier on Friday, Lendlease said both companies had agreed to end the deal after determining that “the existing agr…

In a first, Marvel’s Echo is coming to both Disney Plus and Hulu at the same time Image: Marvel Studios / Chuck ZlotnickAlaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez immediately stood out when she appeared in Disney Plus’ Hawkeye back in 2021. Among a cast of charismatic goofballs and assassins with hearts of gold, Maya was a terrifyingly deadly foil, constantly reminding the audience and characters of the stakes. Disney was so enamored with Cox’s…

Soon you’ll be able to safely microwave Cup Noodles (you weren’t doing that, right?) Nissin’s microwavable Cup Noodles will hit shelves in 2024. | Image: Nissin FoodsLast week, Nissin announced that it was updating the design of its iconic Cup Noodles in early 2024. Instead of polystyrene, it’ll be made out of paper. Nissin also notes that thanks to the new packaging, its Cup Noodles will now be microwaveable. As in, you were ne…

This little tool can crash an iPhone running iOS 17 Illustration by Lille Allen / The VergeSecurity researchers have discovered that iPhones updated to iOS 17 are susceptible to a Bluetooth attack using a Flipper Zero device that can crash the phone. Ars Technica reports that security researcher Jeroen van der Ham fell victim to the exploit on a train journey last month, with his phone displaying…