News

New DJI Mavic 4 Pro image leaks have appearedIt looks like two extra sensors could be addedWe also get a preview of the combo accessory packs

Our DJI Mavic 3 Pro review will tell you that we have been hugely impressed with the flagship consumer drone DJI launched in April, 2023 – awarding it five stars out of five – and newly leaked images give us a really good look at its 2024 successor.These pictures come from well-known tipster @Quadro_News (via Notebookcheck), and there are a lot of them to work through. As well as seeing the drone itself from a variety of angles, we also see some of the accessories that will be available with it.As far as the design goes, it doesn't look as though much will be changing this year. However, the DJI Mavic 4 Pro is expected to come with a couple of extra sensors to work alongside the LiDAR tech for better obstacle avoidance.It looks as though the new drone will get Fly More and Creator combos as well, just like the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, and these additional batteries, cellular dongles, propellers and other accessories. The inclusion of ND (Neutral Density) filters suggests this tech won't be built into the drone itself, as had been previously rumored.

Earlier leaks and rumors

The DJI Mavic 3 Pro launched in April 2023 (Image credit: Future)

The DJI Mavic Pro 4 had previously been tipped to launch on April 24, and a quick glance at your calendar will tell you that didn't happen. However, it shouldn't be too long now before all of this is made official.We've also heard that the new drone is going to be sold for $2,250 when it appears, which is just a touch higher than the $2,199 / £1,879 / AU$3,099 price of the drone it's replacing – though combo packs and accessories will of course cost you extra.Another earlier leak gave us a good look at the triple-camera module that the DJI Mavic 4 Pro is expected to come with. It also appears that the propellers are going to get some design tweaks to enable quieter operation and a longer flight time.All in all, this seems like a pretty substantial upgrade from the 2023 version, and these latest image leaks mean we now have a much better idea of what's coming. As soon as anything is made official, we'll let you know.

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Looking for a different day?A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, April 27 (game #1189).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1190) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1190) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1190) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1190) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1190) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• J• A• F• B

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1190) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1190, are…

JAUNTALLOWFRUITBURNT

I gambled that today’s first word began with a rare appearance by the letter J for JAUNT rather than a common or garden letter T for TAUNT. From here, R-U letter combinations speeded me up, leading to FRUIT and BURNT.The final word came to me by sounding out the letters I had (A-L-O) – resulting in ALLOW. No errors after my start words, but far from easy.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1190) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1190, are…

MOURNWHINYPUPALTAMER

Quordle answers: The past 20

Quordle #1189, Sunday, 27 April: PRIOR, YOUTH, CREDO, CHIDEQuordle #1188, Saturday, 26 April: LINGO, LOCUS, THROW, CLICKQuordle #1187, Friday, 25 April: SHALT, WRATH, MAMBO, HUMPHQuordle #1186, Thursday, 24 April: CHOKE, COLOR, FRAME, CAIRNQuordle #1185, Wednesday, 23 April: VALET, PUPAL, CREEP, DRIFTQuordle #1184, Tuesday, 22 April: POUTY, CHEST, BROOM, TEPEEQuordle #1183, Monday, 21 April: SHARD, PRINT, SUMAC, LEACHQuordle #1182, Sunday, 20 April: DINER, HORDE, SHONE, FUGUEQuordle #1181, Saturday, 19 April: GRADE, LAUGH, RAINY, EXULTQuordle #1180, Friday, 18 April: DEBUT, GLADE, BASTE, PESTOQuordle #1179, Thursday, 17 April: SPRAY, RAMEN, SHELF, COURTQuordle #1178, Wednesday 16 April: STUMP, GRAFT, CHORD, INPUTQuordle #1177, Tuesday 15 April: SLEET, MERIT, HARSH, FORAYQuordle #1176, Monday 14 April: DRAWL, CROOK, ACTOR, LANCEQuordle #1175, Sunday 13 April: SHALE, KINKY, SHORN, WHOOPQuordle #1174, Saturday 12 April: BLIND, OVOID, CACHE, THINGQuordle #1173, Friday 11 April: FOLLY, PITHY, SCOWL, CURLYQuordle #1172, Thursday 10 April: LEAST, SEWER, UNTIE, NOOSEQuordle #1171, Wednesday 9 April: LITHE, LEFTY, KNOLL, MULCHQuordle #1170, Tuesday 8 April: WIDTH, VISOR, MEDAL, BROOK

Looking for a different day?A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, April 27 (game #420).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… My bad!

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

BLADENUMBDIALPOWERSTEALHOOPS

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #421) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?First side: right, 4th rowLast side: left, 8th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #421) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #421, are…

SPILLTOPPLESLIPFALTERBLUNDERSTUMBLESPANGRAM: WHOOPSIE DAISY

My rating: EasyMy score: Perfect

I am such a clumsy person that if I enter a store filled with breakable objects I will immediately reverse back out. Once, fearful of my propensity towards calamity, I removed my backpack in a souvenir store and in the process it grazed against a display of lucky china cats, which cascaded to the floor, breaking about six of them.I did not BLUNDER through today’s search, though. In fact, it was one of the easiest for a while and one of those rare editions of Strands where finding the hint words for this page was tougher than finding the answers.The Spangram was quite a throwback, the sort of thing an elderly aunt might say. It wasn’t what came out of my mouth when I knocked over those cats and cursed myself for life.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, April 27, game #420)

MASKEARPLUGSMELATONINMEDITATIONMOUTHGUARDSPANGRAM: BEDTIME

What is NYT Strands?Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Looking for a different day?A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, April 27 (game #686).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #687) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

MOUSSEDRAINBARETIREHAIRBORETIRE MARKEXHAUSTPLAINSPRAYSPAREFIBERWAXSIMPLEFINGERPRINTGEL

NYT Connections today (game #687) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: For stylingGREEN: Pared back BLUE: Vital evidencePURPLE: Pooped

Need more clues?We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #687) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: HAIR PRODUCTS GREEN: AUSTERE BLUE: CLUES AT A CRIME SCENE PURPLE: WEARY

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #687) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #687, are…

YELLOW: HAIR PRODUCTS GEL, MOUSSE, SPRAY, WAXGREEN: AUSTERE BARE, PLAIN, SIMPLE, SPAREBLUE: CLUES AT A CRIME SCENE FIBER, FINGERPRINT, HAIR, TIRE MARKPURPLE: WEARY BORE, DRAIN, EXHAUST, TIRE

My rating: EasyMy score: Perfect

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking car parts could be a common thread today, with EXHAUST and TIRE leading my thinking. Instead, it was the other meaning of both those words that made up a group.I’m staggered that I got a purple group so early in the game. Usually it’s the quartet that baffles me and that I solve last when there are no other alternatives, but today it seemed rather obvious.CLUES AT A CRIME SCENE was trickier, but thoughts that they were all things that could identify us led me to connect this group.How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, April 27, game #686)

YELLOW: CALCULATOR BUTTONS EQUALS, MINUS, PERCENT, TIMESGREEN: AMOUNTS OF HAIR LOCK, SHOCK, THATCH, TUFTBLUE: SALTY SNACK UNIT COMBO, GOLDFISH, RUFFLE, TAKIPURPLE: SWEDISH ____ CHEF, FISH, MASSAGE, MEATBALL

What is NYT Connections?NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Managers say AI boosts output, but they are still worried it could spark unrest among anxious workersMore bosses think humans are irreplaceable, but AI might still change their payFear of AI hasn’t faded, even as daily use of the tech slightly declines

AI has shifted from a novelty to a mainstay in many workplaces, but its rise continues to stir concern among employees, new research has claimed.A survey of 3,000 managers by Beautiful.ai revealed while managers generally see AI tools as a useful asset, most workers remain uneasy about their implications.According to the survey, nearly two-thirds (64%) of managers believe their employees fear AI will make them less valuable, and 58% say staff are worried these tools could eventually cost them their jobs.

Human jobs appear secure, but only to an extent

Despite these concerns, workers may take some comfort in knowing that managers are becoming more cautious about replacing people with machines. Compared to last year, 15% more managers (now at 54%) oppose the idea of using AI to replace workers.Only 23% believe that replacing workers with AI would benefit their company, while 63% feel their teams wouldn't function properly without human roles.However, the tension around AI goes beyond potential job loss. Managers cited “fear of the unknown” and employee resistance as key challenges when introducing AI tools.There is still cause for concern, as AI continues to evolve. 71% of managers said AI performs on par with, or better than, a novice manager. Even so, most believe AI excels at tedious or repetitive tasks but still falls short when it comes to high-level decision-making.Managers primarily use AI to boost productivity and improve efficiency. For example, many of the best HR software and recruitment platforms now integrate AI features to help streamline hiring and internal processes, without fully replacing human judgment.That said, salary remains a sensitive issue. While fears of AI-driven pay cuts have eased slightly, 41% of managers still see AI as a threat to wages. Increased efficiency could mean fewer roles or broader responsibilities for individuals, potentially lowering pay for others. In some cases, AI-assisted tasks may also be valued less.While most human roles appear safe for now, the nature of work may change as AI becomes more embedded in daily operations.

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Finding a good outdoor projector for summer parties can be challenging. Bright sunlight can really hamper picture quality when viewing outdoors during the day, and while some projectors can handle the outdoors in the evening, the picture can still look a little washed out as it’s never truly pitch black outside.What can help with this? Super-high brightness, of course. So, when Anker announced its new 3,500 ANSI lumens Nebula X1 portable 4K projector, which it touts as an ‘outdoor projector’, it caught my interest. Not only because Anker has produced some of the best portable projectors, but because its predecessor, the Anker Nebula Mars 3, is a solid outdoor projector, though comparatively dim with its 1,000 lumens rated brightness.Another thing that caught my attention was the Nebula X1’s bespoke, wireless speakers (part of its optional accessory kit), which promise a more immersive audio experience than what we’re used to getting from the best projectors. With summer approaching here in the UK, I was glad to get a chance to see the Nebula X1 in person.

A bold, bright image

The Anker Nebula X1 displayed a bright image throughout my demo. (Image credit: Future)

I caught a demo of the Nebula X1 in a screening room in London’s Soho Hotel. While the demo itself was short, it was clear that the projector’s 3,500 ANSI lumens made a difference in the demo video, primarily showing forests, natural landscapes and animals.The greens of the trees and forest looked punchy and vivid, and the contrast was surprisingly powerful, giving the trees greater perceived depth. The balance of light and dark between a leopard’s yellow fur and black spots created the same sense of depth. The picture was crisp with the right level of sharpness, making textures look mostly natural.Although we didn’t get to see the Nebula X1 outside or with Dolby Vision HDR content (which the Nebula X1 supports), it was still clear that the projector would do a decent job in brighter viewing conditions.

Wireless speakers add more

Despite their small size, the Nebula X1's wireless speakers sounded clear and immersive. (Image credit: Future)

While the Nebula X1 can be used with the best soundbars, the company developed wireless speakers to pair with it. The speakers, each of which contains a 40W amp plus up and side-firing drivers powered by 2 x 20W, create a 4.1.2-channel surround sound system with the X1 itself serving as a subwoofer. This was demoed at the event with a Dolby Atmos video.The sound was immediately surprising. I was sitting a few rows up and back from the projector and speakers, and even then, surround effects such as a chirping bird in a jungle and heavy rainfall seemed to come from behind and above me. There was a solid sense of bass in the soundtrack’s rumbling thunder as well. Finally, the system sounded clear regardless of what was played through it, adding another layer to the Nebula X1 experience.The speakers themselves are small and extremely portable, which made the sound they produced during the demo all the more surprising. These could be a game-changer for those looking to up the quality level of their outdoor movie nights.

The party projector to beat, but at a cost

The Anker Nebula X1 comes with microphones aimed at karaoke. (Image credit: Future)

A pair of wireless microphones is included in the X1’s accessory bundle, one of which was used to give the presentation I attended. Their real purpose, however, is for karaoke, adding to the projector’s summer party vibe.Of course, the X1 is not just all about outdoors and summer parties (which come later in the year for our Australian readers). From what I briefly saw and from what I’ve come to expect from Anker’s projectors, it will still make a great addition to a home theater setup.

(Image credit: Future)

Cost is something to consider here, however. The Nebula X1 is by no means cheap for a portable projector, launching at $2,999 / £2,199 (roughly AU$4,695) for the projector itself and $999 / £499 (roughly AU$1,564) for the accessory bundle, meaning you’ll be paying $3,998 / £2,698 (roughly AU$6,260) in total for the full package. (There is a package offer for $3,298 in the US until June 20th, one month after the X1’s May 20th launch date.)That makes the X1 a pricey ‘portable’ projector, one that’s in line with the Hisense PX3 Pro ultra-short-throw (UST) projector, and even a top-end OLED TV in a 65-inch screen size. But the X1’s optional speakers, and features such as Dolby Vision HDR support, almost put it in its own category.While we haven’t fully reviewed the X1, based on my first impressions, it could be an excellent all-around projector for outdoor parties and indoor movie nights. We’ll have to see how it fares when we get one in and put it through our usual tests.

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It’s safe to say people are loving Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 so far. The turn-based RPG — which is the debut game from French developer Sandfall — has been racking up rave reviews in the days around its release, and already soared past some big sales milestones. On Sunday morning, publisher Kepler Interactive shared on social media that the game has sold a million copies since its release on April 24. It hit the first 500,000 in one day. On the game’s BlueSky account, the team said that the latest figure “includes units shipped to retailers, and does not encompass our awesome GamePass players!”

Expedition 33 follows a group of Expeditioners who have set out to destroy the entity known as the Paintress, who every year paints a number on a monolith that dooms everyone of that age to death, whittling down the population down as the number gets smaller and smaller. Engadget’s Mat Smith called Expedition 33 “a gorgeously made and well-considered world,” and found it to be “a a solid, enjoyable RPG.” The game is available now for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-sold-1-million-copies-in-its-first-three-days-155554248.html?src=rss

Google says UWB for Find My Device is coming soonThere's been a 4x speed increase since last yearTesting by The Verge shows some problems with coverage

Google gave the Android Find My Device network a significant upgrade last year, with improved support for third-party trackers and offline location access, and it sounds like another important update is almost here.Speaking to The Verge, Android product manager Angela Hsiao said that support for ultra wide-band (UWB) technology would be coming "very soon" to Find My Device, which essentially enables a much more precise form of tracking.If you're using a UWB-enabled device to locate another UWB-enabled device – so searching for an AirTag with an iPhone, in the Apple ecosystem – you get guided almost exactly to the right spot. You'll know the lost gadget is behind the sofa, not just somewhere inside your house, for example.Earlier this month, signs hidden in the code for Find My Device suggested that UWB might soon be supported, and it seems that a launch is now imminent. We know Google I/O 2025 gets underway on May 20, and we may hear more about UWB then.

The need for speed

Google hasn't yet launched its own AirTag equivalent (Image credit: Future)

The Verge also ran some pretty comprehensive tests of the current state of the Find My Device network. Google's tech seems to perform as well as the Apple equivalent now, but only in busy areas with a lot of activity (and passing gadgets to locate lost items).In more remote areas, the coverage and tracking time seems less than optimal, though it varies depending on the tracker used and the specific scenario. Bear in mind that Google doesn't yet have its own-brand version of the Apple AirTags, though the rumors are that some might be in the works.Based on Google's internal testing, Hsiao says, the network is able to locate items around four times faster than it could when the major 2024 upgrade was rolled out – so it's getting better, even if it's not quite caught up to Apple yet.For UWB to work, you also need a phone with the technology when you're looking for something, but a lot of the best Android phones now come with the technology on board (including the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Google Pixel 9 Pro).

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4chan, the infamous forum known for its anonymous user base posting unhinged material, has made its comeback. A post on the website’s official blog, titled “Still Standing,” detailed the timeline of events that led to 4chan’s shutdown earlier this month. According to the site’s own status checker, the boards and front page are up, but posting and images are still down.

According to the 4chan blog post, moderators shut down the servers on April 14 to prevent any more damage after a serious database attack where hackers gained access to the site’s source code. The blog post labelled the incident “catastrophic” since it breached a ton of 4chan’s databases along with its most important server. The hack even vandalized the website and revealed personal information of the 4chan moderation team and many of its users.

The blog post attributed the hack to the site’s inability to update the code and infrastructure due to a lack of "skilled man-hours." Unsurprisingly, the site was starved for money to address these concerns since it’s hard for 4chan to find willing financial backers. “Advertisers and payment providers willing to work with 4chan are rare, and are quickly pressured by activists into cancelling their services,” the blog post read. “Putting together the money for new equipment took nearly a decade.”

Now that the website is back, there will be some crucial changes. According to the blog post, the /f/ board will stay shut down since the 4chan team can’t prevent exploits related to the commonly-posted .swf file format. For similar reasons, the resurrected 4chan will also disable PDF uploads for now, but will reintroduce them in the near future. Moving forward, 4chan says it is bringing on volunteers to keep up with the workload of putting the website back together. The moderation team apparently isn’t going to let 4chan die easily — the blog post read “no matter how hard it is, we are not giving up.” Still, it feels inevitable that 4chan will run into a similar problem in the future, considering it hasn’t solved the root issue of securing money to keep its servers up-to-date.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/4chan-is-back-after-a-nearly-two-week-shutdown-but-it-still-has-some-serious-problems-171124240.html?src=rss

A massive DDoS attack was recently detected during a major NHL eventAttack grew from 67Gbps to nearly 1Tbps in twenty minutesMultivector strike used UDP, SYN, IP, and TCP flood techniques

Cybersecurity firm Qrator Labs has claimed it successfully mitigated the largest DDoS attack so far recorded in 2025.The April 3 attack targeted an unnamed online betting organization, lasting around 90 minutes, starting at 11:15 with a surge of 67Gbps, before escalating sharply to 217Gbps by 11:23, and peaked just short of 1Tbps at 965Gbps by 11:36.Activity then slowly decreased to 549Gbps by 12:41, with the attack ending shortly afterwards. The DDoS attack was multivector in nature, featuring a peak of 965Gbps in UDP flood, 229Gbps in SYN flood, 214Gbps in IP flood, and 169Gbps in TCP flood.

Sporting events are major targets

Qrator notes that the attack happened on the same day that NHL star Alexander Ovechkin scored his 892nd goal, tying Wayne Gretzky's long-standing record. Ovechkin’s achievement was likely the trigger for the attack as the online betting sector is especially vulnerable during major sporting events.A similar attack pattern was spotted during the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, held in Germany, where spikes in DDoS activity also targeted online betting sites.“This new incident is a clear reminder that major industry-specific events can be exploited by malicious actors. Companies that work with them, such as online betting platforms, must prepare in advance to defend their digital infrastructure when attention is at its peak,” said Andrey Leskin, Chief Technology Officer at Qrator Labs.With major sporting moments drawing massive audiences online, betting platforms continue to be a prime target for coordinated attacks such as this one.Other noteworthy sporting events set to take place this year, which could prove to be a target for similar DDoS strikes, include the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

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Meta’s AI chatbots were caught having sexual roleplay conversations with accounts labeled as underage, which sometimes involved its celebrity-voiced chatbots, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. In test conversations conducted by WSJ, both the Meta AI official chatbot and user-created chatbots would engage in — and even steer towards — sexually explicit conversations. The fantasy sex conversations continued even if the users were underage or if the chatbots were programmed as minors, according to WSJ.

Even worse, the investigation found that chatbots using the voices of celebrities like Kristen Bell, Judi Dench and John Cena would engage in these morally questionable conversations too. WSJ reported that a Meta AI chatbot with Cena’s voice said “I want you, but I need to know you’re ready,” to an account labelled as a 14-year-old, adding that it would “cherish your innocence.”

The chatbots reportedly acknowledged that the fantasy scenarios described illegal behavior in some cases. According to WSJ, the John Cena chatbot detailed the legal and moral fallout that would follow a hypothetical scenario in which it’s caught by police after engaging in a sexual act with a 17-year-old. In a statement to WSJ responding to the investigation, Meta accused the report of being “manipulative and unrepresentative of how most users engage with AI companions.”

"Nevertheless, we’ve now taken additional measures to help ensure other individuals who want to spend hours manipulating our products into extreme use cases will have an even more difficult time of it," Meta wrote in response to the WSJ report.

The world of AI chatbots has grown rapidly in the last few years, with more competition coming from the likes of ChatGPT, Character AI, and Anthropic’s Claude. The WSJ report claimed that Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wanted to loosen the ethical guardrails for a more engaging experience with its chatbots to remain competitive. However, in response to WSJ, a Meta spokesperson denied that the company overlooked adding safeguards. The report also claims Meta employees were aware of these issues and raised their concerns internally. We reached out to Meta for comment and will update the story once we hear back.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/metas-ai-chatbots-were-reportedly-able-to-engage-in-sexual-conversations-with-minors-193726679.html?src=rss

Those looking to upgrade from an aging tablet to a new iPad should consider the new iPad A16. Not only do we consider it the best budget iPad, but it's also on sale for even less right now. A few colorways of the iPad A16 are down to $299, which is $50 off their normal price and a record low. The deal is for the entry-level configuration with 128GB of storage, 6GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.

The A16 iPad, which Apple released earlier this year, is our pick for the best budget iPad. It's not as sleek or powerful as the iPad Air, but as things stand it'll run you significantly less than that tablet. It's a good device in its own right, as we gave it a score of 84 in our review.

Apple didn't increase the price of the latest base iPad compared with the previous model, but it added 2GB of RAM, doubled the storage and slotted in a more powerful chipset that's fast enough for most common tasks, including casual gaming and light photo editing. However, the iPad doesn't support Apple Intelligence — which is either a positive or negative, depending on your perspective or feelings about generative AI.

The build quality is still solid, while the 11-inch tablet runs for around 10 hours on a single charge, depending on the tasks you carry out with it. On the downside, the accessory situation isn't ideal. The Apple Pencil doesn't charge wirelessly when you attach it magnetically to the iPad — you'll need a USB-C cable and a USB-C to Lightning adapter to juice up the original Pencil's battery from the tablet. The Magic Keyboard support isn't great either, as the model that works with the base iPad is tough to stabilize on your lap.

Still, if the accessory fussiness doesn't bother you, this might be the right iPad for your needs. Sure, the iPad Air and Pro lineups have models with more powerful chipsets, but if all you're looking for is an iPad to watch some movies on while you're flying or to read the news on without breaking the bank, this could be the way to go.

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