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 Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after Apple released updated first betas.
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Dozens of civil rights organizations have written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to warn of the dangers in bringing facial recognition technology to the company's smart glasses. More than 70 groups have banded together to form a coalition to urge Zuckerberg to abandon plans to incorporate the tech, on the grounds that it would empower stalkers, sexual predators and other bad actors.
This coalition includes organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Access Now and many others. The letter isn't asking for safeguards. These groups want the feature to be completely eliminated, stating the idea behind facial recognition of this type is so dangerous that it "cannot be resolved through product design changes, opt-out mechanisms or incremental safeguards." This tracks, as there would be no real way for bystanders to know or consent to being identified.
"People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear that stalkers, scammers, abusers, federal agents and activists across the political spectrum are silently and invisibly verifying their identities and potentially matching their names to a wealth of readily available data about their habits, hobbies, relationships, health and behaviors," the letter states.
The organizations have urged Meta to disclose any known instances of its wearables being used for stalking, harassment or domestic violence. They also want the company to disclose past or ongoing discussions with federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, about the use of Meta smart glasses and other wearables,
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 With the second beta of iOS 26.5, Apple is continuing to prepare for ads in the Apple Maps app. There's a new splash screen in the app that says it will display ads based on approximate location, current search terms, or a view of the map when searching. Ads will also be shown in the "Suggested Places" section that was added in the first beta.
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Picture this: You're a senior Meta employee looking for feedback from the CEO. But, instead of hearing from the real Mark Zuckerberg, you get a response from a Zuckerberg AI character. As absurd as that sounds, it could eventually be a reality.
Meta is reportedly working on such an AI character, training it on Zuckerberg's mannerisms, tone and publicly available statements, according to the Financial Times. The character is also learning about the CEO's thoughts on recent company strategy, with the idea that it could offer advice to Meta employees.
The company has reportedly, for some time, been working on creating photorealistic, 3D animated AI characters that can manage interactions. However, it now appears to be focusing on this Zuckerberg AI character, which would interact with employees when the CEO can't or doesn't want to.
This additional AI tool follows last month's news that Zuckerberg is creating an AI agent to help him do his job,
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The feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI is getting even more contentious as the two sides get ready for trial later this month. The latest development in the legal back-and-forth saw OpenAI accuse Elon Musk and his latest proposals as a "legal ambush," as first reported by Bloomberg. OpenAI filed its response on Friday, which detailed that Musk was "sandbagging the defendants and injecting chaos into the proceedings, while trying to recast his public narrative about his lawsuit."
The lawsuit dates back to 2024 when Elon Musk sued both OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the AI giant of ditching its original mission of being a non-profit and instead converting into a for-profit business after receiving financial backing and forming a partnership with Microsoft. Prior to OpenAI's latest filing, Musk amended his original complaint to instead award any damages received to OpenAI's nonprofit arm instead. Musk's amendment, which was filed earlier this month, also sought to oust Altman from his role as OpenAI's CEO and board member. In OpenAI's Friday filing, the AI company claimed that Musk's last-minute changes were "legally improper and fa
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