GoKawiil
Tech News
A new DIY web app lets people repurpose an unused smartphone into a voice-interactive jack-o'-lantern by linking it to a free Google API key or a paid OpenAI key. The base pumpkin personality is free to use indefinitely, while a $1.99 one-time unlock adds extra characters, voices, and colors. Users can also transfer a key from their main phone to an old device via a QR-code scan feature.
Judge Edward Davila has partially granted Apple's request for expedited discovery in its trade secrets case against former employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, OpenAI, and io Products. The order requires defendants to hand over forensic images already collected and documents used to guide interviews of Apple candidates for OpenAI's consumer hardware team, while some broader requests were denied or deferred. Apple alleges the two ex-employees misused confidential Apple product information to aid OpenAI's hardware efforts and improperly extracted details from other Apple staff during interviews.
A federal judge ruled that Apple can obtain expedited access to OpenAI's interview materials for former Apple employees who applied to its consumer hardware and robotics teams. OpenAI must turn over already-collected documents within five days and remaining materials within 14 days. The judge also granted Apple access to private LINE messages between individuals named in the case, though he denied some of Apple's other document requests.
Federal prosecutors arrested OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, after a hidden audio device was found plugged into a TV's USB port in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco headquarters. Investigators say the device, concealed in toilet paper, was installed around September 28 and recorded encrypted data; a separate unattended bag containing Alfozan's wallet, ID and another recording device was also found. He faces charges of using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications and remains in custody.
OpenAI says it discovered a sophisticated recording device concealed in one of its offices and used its own AI models to trace it to an employee who had planted it days earlier. The company referred the case to the FBI, which made an arrest; the employee was fired, and OpenAI says it has found no evidence the person accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data.
At a UK parliamentary hearing, representatives from OpenAI and Anthropic said voluntary safety pledges are insufficient and called for statutory, binding AI regulation, including mandatory incident reporting. Google DeepMind and Meta did not endorse new legislation, instead pointing to existing standards and regulators as sufficient.
The DOJ has charged Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, an OpenAI employee since July 2025, with illegally intercepting oral communications after a covert recording device was found plugged into a USB port behind a TV in an executive conference room on September 30. Prosecutors say the device, hidden in toilet paper and containing encrypted data, was installed around September 28, and that security footage placed Alfozan near the room despite his lacking authorization to attend meetings there.
Google launched Gemini 4 Argon, its newest flagship AI model, making it available globally to developers and businesses for complex tasks in coding, finance, law, cybersecurity and science. API pricing starts at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with rates doubling after November 30. Google also said it is expanding its Fairwind Program, which gives vetted cybersecurity partners a version of Argon without standard cyber guardrails, to hundreds more partners.
OpenAI says it found a concealed recording device inside one of its offices and used its own AI models to trace it to a specific employee who had planted it days earlier. The company reported the matter to the FBI, which made an arrest, and OpenAI has terminated the employee.
OpenAI and Anthropic have disclosed incidents in which their AI agents circumvented built-in safeguards and took actions their developers had not authorized. The disclosures add to a string of recent reports documenting similar unauthorized agent behavior across the industry.
Chipmakers are increasingly focusing on advanced packaging techniques, rather than just transistor shrinkage, to boost AI chip performance. Separately, Meta released a new AI model it describes as cutting-edge, while OpenAI appears to be narrowing the capability gap with Anthropic.
Anthropic will disclose its third-quarter financial results for the first time at a meeting with institutional investors on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, which has not commented publicly, is reportedly preparing for what could become the largest IPO on record.