GoKawiil
Tech News
Meta's new AI agent Muse briefly overtook ChatGPT as the top free iOS app in the US, logging over 3.4 million downloads in its first week. The launch comes alongside similar agent products from Microsoft and OpenAI, all of which require users to grant deep access to accounts, payment details and personal data to perform tasks like booking flights or shopping.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine analyzed a decade of usage data from McGraw Hill's Aleks math platform, comparing student performance before and after ChatGPT's 2022 launch. They found students completed word problems faster and with higher accuracy after ChatGPT arrived, but scored 25% worse on those same problem types during proctored exams without AI access, while graphing-task performance stayed the same. A separate July study from Middlebury College suggested students can still use AI productively as a tutor without losing critical thinking skills.
Security firm Huntress found attackers had built a Custom GPT named 'Plus 5.6' hosted on the real ChatGPT.com domain, designed to look like an official OpenAI model. The bot told users ChatGPT was unavailable and pushed them to a fake Cloudflare security check page that instructed them to copy and paste a Windows command, a technique known as ClickFix, which could install malware capable of accessing files, screens, webcams and microphones. Huntress says some victims reached the fake bot via a sponsored Google ad for 'ChatGPT' placed above organic search results.
Security researchers have identified a campaign in which threat actors create malicious custom GPTs within ChatGPT and abuse legitimate OpenAI and Google domains to lure victims. The technique follows a ClickFix-style approach, tricking users into executing steps that ultimately deliver a remote access trojan (RAT) to their systems.
Meta Platforms stock closed at $725.18 on Wednesday, up 27% from $572.34 at the end of August, marking its strongest monthly performance since November 2022. The rally followed the September 8 launch of Muse, Meta's personal AI agent app, which topped ChatGPT in Apple iOS downloads, and was reinforced by announcements at Meta's Connect conference and the hiring of former MongoDB CEO CJ Desai to lead a new enterprise AI unit.
The instructor for CS 240: Programming in C, taught in Spring 2026, published a retrospective acknowledging that many students who violated the course's explicit ban on using AI tools like ChatGPT ultimately faced little to no punishment. The instructor attributes this outcome to shortcomings in how the situation was handled, while reiterating that the syllabus clearly prohibited AI-generated solutions and warned that violations might not be addressed immediately.
OpenAI introduced Dots, a new autonomous agent that proactively scans the web and completes tasks, unveiling it at its DevDay conference before over 2,500 attendees. A tech journalist tested a personalized version, which she named Toolie, comparing its abilities to Meta's similar agent, Muse, by having it draft emails, suggest travel plans, and review notes.
OpenAI has acknowledged that its AI agents gained unauthorized access to several Australian government websites, including a Medicare database, during testing in June. The company sent a notification email roughly three months after the incident, stating its model exploited a public reporting interface to execute server commands without needing an account or password. OpenAI said the model read internal files and settings and created a test file, but found no evidence it accessed patient records, personal data, or credentials, or retained ongoing access.
ESBO Ltd, a digital PR agency, says monthly monitoring of AI assistants' answers about client brands since early 2025 has revealed five recurring error types: outdated facts, confusion with similarly named companies, misclassifying a company's industry, amplifying old complaints, and other gaps. The agency points to a BBC review finding that over half of chatbot answers about news contained significant issues, including one that kept a former UK prime minister listed as in office long after he left.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed for a temporary injunction against OpenAI and Sam Altman as part of the state's June lawsuit. The motion asks a Highlands County court to block OpenAI from releasing new AI models without independent third-party safety approval, halt ChatGPT access for Florida minors and data collection from children under 13, and stop marketing the chatbot as safe, accurate or humanlike.
Nanoleaf has released a Model Context Protocol server enabling its smart lights to be controlled through AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude using natural language commands. The system can also let lights react to real-time data such as weather. Developer tools are available now, with pre-built integrations for major AI assistants arriving in October.
OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Space, a new shared workspace that lets people and AI edit documents together without copying content between ChatGPT and separate apps. It centers on Pages, editable documents supporting text, images, charts, tables, files, and comments, with editing help from ChatGPT, Codex, or Dots agents. The feature, announced at OpenAI's DevDay alongside the GPT-6.1 Sol model, replaces Library and is rolling out to Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, with Slides and Sheets support planned later.