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Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman, has launched a robotic human verification deviceThe Orb Mini can scan irises and create blockchain-based World IDsThe company is partnering with major brands to bring biometric IDs to finance, dating, and gamingStaring into a small metal orb and hearing it confirm your humanity is a scene from many a dystopian science fiction story. It's also an idea that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks should be implemented in real life. That's the idea behind biometric identity startup Tools for Humanity's World system. World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is rolling out a portable iris scanner called the Orb Mini in the U.S. to carry out that directive in a way the company claims will benefit people.The Orb Mini looks like something between a futuristic smartphone camera and a Black Mirror prop. The device scans your iris to confirm your humanity, creating a unique “World ID,” a blockchain-stored identity token that says, “this person is real and has irises to prove it.”Sam Altman and company claim a lack of trust is one of the most urgent crises of the modern internet. Unspoken is Altman and OpenAI's contribution to a world where AI can generate books, deepfake voices, and even realistically awful dating profiles with ease. Tools for Humanity is betting that the next evolution of the internet will require biometric proof that you’re actually a person, not just a particularly well-programmed AI model.Human behaviorBut it’s not just tech theatrics. Tools for Humanity has lined up some big-name partners to help bring the Orb Mini to everyone. Visa is working with World on a debit card connected to the World App, while Match Group is testing the technology in Japan to verify that the people you see on your dating app are both human and adult. Gaming hardware brand Razer is also exploring how to use World IDs to weed out bots from multiplayer sessions. After scanning your eye, Orb will provide you with a cryptographic identity to use for shopping, flirting, and gaming with other humans.The company plans to roll out 7,500 Orb Mini devices across the U.S. by the end of the year. You’ll find them at pop-ups, partner company locations, and anywhere else they can get a kiosk to scan your face. The Orb Mini is designed to be portable, so it could go anywhere people with eyes go.Of course, a company collecting and storing biometric data from millions of people sounds problematic. That's because it is unless there are a lot of foolproof security systems for storing and accessing the data. Tools for Humanity says it has all that covered with anonymized data, as well as not storing iris images and other privacy-centered features. Still asking people to trust you with their eyeballs may be a big swing.But, as AI-generated content floods social media and scams get more sophisticated, the appeal of ensuring you're interacting with actual humans is understandable. A verified human internet is a nice idea, but there are a lot of questions about what it means to have to prove you’re real in a world where realism is becoming suspiciously easy to fake. Trusting that someone is human is tough online; trusting a company to always keep your identity safe is even tougher.You might also likeOur predictions for AI in 2025 – what next for ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence and moreGoogle Gemini is racing to win the AI crown in 2025The AI rocketship may be running on fumes

Anthropic is continuing to trickle down features to its free users. The latest one to make the leap out of subscriber-only mode is web search, which the company introduced to its AI chatbot Claude in March. According to Anthropic, connecting Claude to the web allows it to deliver more accurate responses based on the most up-to-date information available online. This feature is available to all Claude users starting today.

In addition, Anthropic has begun beta tests for voice mode on its mobile apps. This option lets users interact with Claude in natural conversations in an expansion of the platform's existing dictation tools. There will be five voice options available to assign to Claude, and the AI assistant can provide full transcripts and voice mode summaries after a conversation.

May has been a busy month for Anthropic, which just launched two new models last week. Opus 4 is a powerful coding-focused system that can use multiple tools in parallel and can run for several hours at a time, while Sonnet 4 is a hybrid reasoning model designed to move between quick queries and more complex ones. The current beta testing of voice mode will default to Sonnet 4.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-brings-web-search-to-free-claude-users-224222689.html?src=rss

Dyson Cool FC1 is an upgrade of the original Dyson Cool tabletop fanSame powerful, bladeless design and Air Multiplier technologyAdds Night mode, more setting options and a useful LCD screenThe original Dyson Cool was the world's first bladeless fan, and the catalyst for many of the brand's aircare explorations to come. Now, 16 years later, the brand has released multiple new products in this area, with increasingly advanced features, but the Dyson Cool hasn't seen an upgrade. Until now.The next-gen model – called the Dyson Cool CF1 – has the same powerful airflow and sleek, bladeless design, but adds some helpful features and usability tweaks to bring it in line with the rest of the best fans on the market. It's not as big or splashy as some of the brand's other launches, but it delivers exactly what I want from a tabletop fan.(Image credit: Dyson)So what's new? Firstly, you have more customization options to play with. The oscillation settings have been extended – you can now choose between 15, 40 and 70 degrees of oscillation (or no oscillation at all) – and you've now got 10 fan speeds to play with, too.Dyson has added a Night mode, which automatically dims the displays and adjusts fan speed, for cooling that'll help you drop off, rather than being distracting. It combines with a new sleep timer that shuts off the fan when you're (hopefully) happily away in the land of nod. There's also an LCD screen, which shows at a glance what mode you're in and which airflow setting you're using.(Image credit: Dyson)Elsewhere, there's still an energy-efficient, brushless DC motor, and it uses Dyson's patented 'Air Multiplier' technology, which can apparently amplify the air around it by up to 13 times. As with all the Dyson fans, there are no blades, which means smooth and even airflow, and a design that's safer and far easier to keep clean. (You won't be able to use it to make yourself sound like a robot, though.)There are no air purification (or heating, or humidifying) functions, as appear on other Dyson fans in the wider range. The Dyson Cool FC1 is focused entirely on efficient personal cooling.(Image credit: Dyson)"The original bladeless fan revolutionized the way we think about airflow, combining cutting-edge engineering with sleek, safe, and efficient design," says Logan Thomson, Dyson Design Engineer. "This latest iteration builds on those core benefits by introducing modern upgrades like intelligent features, including sleep mode, to meet the demands of today’s customers.”The Dyson Cool CF1 comes with a list price of £249.99. It goes on sale in the UK on 28 May 2025, at Dyson Demo stores or online at Dyson.co.uk. I'm awaiting pricing and launch date information for the US and Australia.You might also like...Dyson's new vacuum is as thin as a broom handle and appears to float across the floorBrowse the best Dyson vacuum cleanersThe new Shark fan can blast blades of air in any direction, and it's set to make summer far more bearable