Technology

• Netflix’s American Murder: Gabby Petito has upset some people for using an AI-generated voice to narrate Petito’s journal entries.
• Despite permission from Petito’s family, critics argue the AI voice raises ethical concerns.
• This isn't the first occurrence of such debate, and it will likely keep happening as the technology improves.

Netflix’s latest true-crime docuseries, American Murder: Gabby Petito, has stirred up a heated debate over how to deploy AI to mimic the voices of people who have passed away. The filmmakers employed AI to recreate Petito's voice and have it narrate excerpts from her personal writings, which has reportedly made many viewers feel uncomfortable and raised ethical concerns about using AI to give voice to the deceased.

The three-part series chronicles the 2021 murder of 22-year-old Petito at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. It pieces together her final months through interviews, personal videos, and social media posts, evoking how the tragedy happened in real-time on the internet. True crime aficionados famously dissected every frame of Petito’s travel vlogs before authorities found her remains in Wyoming.

At the start of the series, a disclaimer appears: “Gabby’s journal entries and text messages are brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology.” That means the voice narrating parts of the documentary isn’t actually Petito’s but a synthetic recreation made with an AI model. Netflix has said the filmmakers received permission from Petito’s family to do so. That hasn’t stopped some people from vocalizing how eerie the AI-generated voice feels. Social media content creators have racked up hundreds of thousands of views discussing it.

AI ghosts

This isn't the first controversy over AI-generated voices. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain faced similar criticism when its director revealed that parts of the documentary featured AI-generated narration of Bourdain’s own words. That movie didn't indicate which bits were narrated by the AI or by Bourdain, which led many to feel that the technique was deceptive.

Filmmaker Michael Gasparro defended the decision in an interview with Us Weekly, saying the team wanted to tell the story as much “through Gabby’s voice as possible.” They had access to a wealth of her journals, notes, and online posts and thought AI narration would bring them to life in a more powerful way. “At the end of the day, it’s her story.”

Technology has always shaped the way we tell stories, but AI presents a new challenge, especially when it comes to memorializing people who can no longer speak for themselves. Robert Downey Jr. has vowed that AI will never replicate him on screen, while James Earl Jones secured a deal with Disney before passing away, allowing them to use his voice for Darth Vader under certain circumstances.

Meanwhile, ElevenLabs has inked deals with the estates of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier to let it add AI versions of their voices to its Reader app. As deepfake technology and voice cloning become more sophisticated, filmmakers and media companies will have to reckon with how (and if) these tools should be used to tell real-life stories.

You might also like

• Robert Downey Jr. vows there will never be a digital AI replica of him on-screen
• How you can get (AI versions of) Judy Garland or Burt Reynolds to read to you
• Why the passing of James Earl Jones doesn't mean you won't hear Darth Vader's voice again

• Hainan’s underwater computing cluster matches the power of 30,000 gaming PCs operating simultaneously
• Seawater-cooled AI centers reduce energy costs and enhance security
• Microsoft abandoned underwater data centers after early trials

China has deployed 400 high-performance servers beneath the sea as part of an expanding underwater data center in Lingshui, Hainan.

China Media Group says this infrastructure will complete a year’s worth of computations for an average PC in just one second and can enable DeepSeek’s AI assistant to handle 7,000 conversations per second.

The newly-installed module, measuring 18 meters long and 3.6 meters in diameter, is linked to an existing facility to form a computing cluster designed to support AI-driven applications — providing computing power equivalent to 30,000 high-end gaming PCs operating simultaneously.

Expanding China's AI infrastructure

Xu Tan, vice president of Highlander, a Shenzhen-listed maritime technology firm and a key player in China's underwater data center expansion, highlighted the advantages of submerged data facilities.

"With the advent of the 5G and even 6G era, data will increase exponentially, and the construction of undersea data centers could meet the future demands of this growth," he said.

The Hainan underwater data center, first launched in 2023, was the first commercial project of its kind. According to CGTN, the long-term plan entails deploying up to 100 data cabins in multiple phases.

The project aligns with China’s strategy to enhance its AI capabilities, with 219 intelligent computing centers launched across 81 cities from 2022 to 2024, according to IDC (originally in Chinese).

The firm also projects China's intelligent computing capacity will grow at an annual rate of 33.9% until 2027, playing a crucial role in AI research, data processing, and automation across various industries.

Almost 10 companies have signed agreements to use the computing power of underwater data centers for AI model training, industrial simulations, game development, and marine research.

However, this project will require thousands of submerged servers, and the specific hardware to be used remains unknown. It is likely that high-performance AI accelerators, such as Nvidia’s H100 or Huawei’s Ascend 910, will be considered.

China has been pushing for domestic alternatives, so advanced AI chips from companies like Biren Technology or Loongson are also possibilities.

While China moves forward with plans to deploy up to 40,000 underwater servers in the coming years, American companies have taken a more cautious approach. Microsoft previously experimented with an underwater data center off the coast of the UK in 2018, but after retrieving it in 2020, the company ditched its National Park underwater data center plans.

Via Globaltimes

You may also like

• We've rounded up the best portable monitors available now
• Microsoft's deep-sea experiment revealed some very shocking server data
• Scientists say fiber optic cables could save lives by detecting tsunamis

In case you haven't been paying attention, Intel has been getting banged up lately in both the press and on Wall Street. Over the last 12 months, it's lost just under 43% of its share value as well as its CEO, Pat Gelsinger. It's watched Nvidia and AMD make major gains in the data center market at its expense, and its most recent client processors, the Intel Core Ultra 200S series, were rather underwhelming, especially for gaming.

Probably the biggest concern for Intel was its Q3 2024 earnings, which saw the company post a staggering $16.6 billion loss, the largest the company had ever seen. And while this was generated almost entirely by accelerated depreciation charges and the restructuring required after laying off 15,000 workers, rather than products sitting unsold on the store shelves, it still went off like a bomb on Wall Street and in Washington, where talk about how Intel could be "saved" remains rampant.

A lot of this talk has centered on Intel Foundry, the division of the company that actually manufactures semiconductors. Under Gelsinger, Intel invested billions of dollars into developing leading-edge process technology that could compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which manufactures chips for AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and even Intel, among many others.

So far, those efforts haven't borne fruit, and there have been many, many calls for Intel to dump its foundry business and focus on designing processors and outsourcing the actual manufacturing to TSMC.

All of this makes the newest process technology from Intel Foundry, Intel 18A, a make-or-break proposition for Team Blue, and no matter where you stand on the AMD vs Intel vs Nvidia, you should hope that Intel pulls off a miracle here.

What is a process node and what makes Intel 18A so special?

(Image credit: Intel)

Process node technology is very in-the-weeds stuff, and for someone looking to buy the best laptop or best processor for their PC, the question of which process node a chip was fabricated on rarely enters the discussion, even among tech enthusiasts.

A process node is the set of specific manufacturing processes used to fabricate a silicon wafer containing the chips that go into computers, as well as different innovations and features these chips include.

Traditionally, these nodes are referred to by a specific nanometer designation, i.e., a 3nm node, that is used to represent the physical length of the transistor gate. Over the last decade, though, these designations have become more marketing than anything, and the nanometer designation isn't directly tied to the physical size of the transistors.

Rather these designations say that a chip performs as well as a specific nanometer chip would if it were possible to produce transistors at such small scales, which nowadays is largely impossible (welcome to the end of Moore's Law). Now, these designations largely represent generational leaps in technology, and TSMC's process technology is currently the best there is.

But where and by whom the chip that powers your PC or graphics card is made can affect everything from its price to its availability. Right now, the vast majority of advanced computer chips, whether laptop processors or data center chips are manufactured by TSMC, with its most advanced N3 process node being in the most demand.

(Image credit: Alexander_Safonov / Shutterstock)

TSMC's next-gen process node, N2, is slated for volume production sometime in 2025, meaning it will be making production chips for AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and others later this year. The '2' in N2 is meant to represent 2nm, which puts it well beyond anything rival Samsung or Intel foundries have been able to produce.

Intel Foundry's 18A process, meanwhile, is a 1.8nm process, making it even more advanced than TSMC's. If Intel can deliver on the promises it has made about 18A, it would be the most advanced process technology in the world and would immediately upend the chip fabrication industry.

The fact that these chips would be produced in the United States makes the proposition even more enticing for American companies like Apple who have faced longstanding criticism over their offshore manufacturing and supply chain.

The most important result of Intel 18A's success for consumers, though, would be the long-term decrease in advanced chip prices and a more stable supply across several industries dependent on these advanced chips.

The COVID-19-driven supply chain issues in 2020 and 2021 revealed a real weakness in the globalized production model. While globalization has (mostly) led to lower prices for consumers, COVID showed that it only works when everything is running smoothly. Any disruption in one of the links in the supply chain can be felt for years in terms of higher prices and lower stock of the products we want to buy.

Having nearly all our advanced semiconductor supply tied to Taiwan is a recipe for disaster

(Image credit: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock)

Taiwan is a lovely country and it deserves all of the prosperity its semiconductor industry has brought to its people. But it is also a geopolitical crisis point vis-a-vis China, which believes Taiwan belongs under mainland rule.

This potential conflict over Taiwan means the global supply of the most advanced semiconductors could be threatened.

The existing status quo benefits Taiwan, as its semiconductor industry acts as a 'silicon shield' for the island, but for the rest of us, we're pretty much depending on China and the US to not escalate a conflict that, in even the best case scenario, could cripple the flow of advanced chips that the modern global economy depends on.

Reducing this dependence on TSMC is reason enough to want Intel 18A to succeed. If Intel can provide a genuine alternative for the most in-demand chip technology with the stability that comes from US production, it'll provide valuable insulation for the global economy and inject much-needed competition into the chip fabrication industry, bringing prices down for everyone.

What would 18A mean for Intel?

(Image credit: Intel)

Beyond the geopolitical issues, a successful rollout and adoption of 18A among industry customers like AMD, Nvidia, and possibly even Apple, would be a massive source of revenue for Intel separate from its own processor business, as well as providing an 'in-house' manufacturer of its processors, lowering their cost and giving it a competitive advantage over rival AMD.

Understandably, Intel is very bullish on 18A. It has to be since the future success of the company relies on 18A delivering the kind of performance that industry customers need, especially as AI is placing extraordinary demands on existing hardware.

If Intel 18A fails to establish Intel Foundry as a serious competitor to TSMC, it will likely be spun off as Wall Street is demanding. Without the support of the Intel Client side of the business to help it ramp up, it'll likely never reach the kind of advanced node technology that TSMC has, leaving us all dependent on a single supplier for cutting-edge chips and all the vulnerabilities and added cost that entails.

You might also like...

• The end of an era? TSMC, Broadcom could tear apart Intel's legendary business after 57 years by separating its foundry and chip design
• Hell freezes, pigs fly: Rumor has it that Intel could merge with AMD's former foundry in potential multi-billion deal
• Intel slams Nvidia and AMD, claims chip giants have huge numbers of security flaws

Here are some hints -- and the answers -- for Connections: Sports Edition No. 155 for Feb. 25.

Watch a scary flick while you wait for more White Lotus.

Dan Bongino rose through the ranks of right-wing media thanks to his unflinching loyalty to Donald Trump and willingness to push baseless conspiracies—including about the FBI.

Codes sent via SMS messages will be replaced by QR codes sent to user's phones to verify Gmail accounts.

Here are some hints -- and the answers -- for Strands No. 359 for Feb. 25.

Here are some hints -- and the answers -- for Connections No. 625 for Feb. 25.

Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,347 for Feb. 25.

• MSI’s Multi-Platform Streamer Prime app - no extra software needed
• Integrates Google TV with thousands of movies and shows
• The wireless display feature supports Google Cast and Miracast

MSI has entered the smart monitor market with the launch of the Modern MD272UPSW, a UHD 4K display.

The 27-inch IPS panel features a 3840 × 2160 resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate, with 94% Adobe RGB, 98% DCI-P3, and 127% sRGB coverage. It also offers a 300-nit brightness level, an anti-glare surface, a 178° viewing angle, and a 4ms (GtG) response time, ensuring sharp visuals and vibrant colors.

MSI, known for gaming laptops, now joins the likes of Samsung and LG, who, with products like the LG 32-inch UltraGear OLED and Samsung ViewFinity S9, are embracing the smart business monitor trend — blending business and entertainment features into a single display.

Google TV integration for all-in-one entertainment

Unlike traditional business monitors, the MD272UPSW includes Google TV, for access to over 400,000 movies and TV episodes. Users can also browse through more than 10,000 apps and 800 free live TV channels.

It also integrates the Multi-Platform Streamer Prime app, allowing users to stream live content across multiple platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook without additional software.

With Google Assistant integration, voice commands can be used to search for shows, open apps, and control the monitor, while the included remote makes navigation effortless.

The MD272UPSW is still definitely designed for professionals, featuring a wireless display function with Google Cast and Miracast, plus Multi Control and KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) functionality for allowing users to operate two devices with a single keyboard and mouse.

For seamless connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a, LAN (RJ45), and USB Type-C with 65 W power delivery. The monitor also includes a headphone jack, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, and two 3W Dolby Audio speakers.

Via TechPowerUp

You may also like

• Take a look at the best ultrawide monitors on the market
• We've rounded up the best portable monitors available now
• We've also listed the best 5K and 8K monitors

It's rare that a robot video fills me with sadness, but this new one from 1X featuring the company's new Neo Gama humanoid robot left me in a state of ennui.

Neo Gamma is an update to the Neo Beta 1X introduced six months ago. At the time, the company claimed its black and gray humanoid robot was undergoing home trials. In the video, it showed the bot briefly interacting with (even hugging) a human companion. It left me and other roboticists I talked to skeptical. Home humanoid robots are generally thought to be a decade out, but 1X appeared to be trying to close that gap significantly.

Recently, the company unveiled Neo Gamma, a robot with numerous aesthetic and technical improvements. There are new "emotive" LED ear rings that the company thinks will help improve communication. I assume this is because the rings light up when you're talking to the robot, which features microphones and speakers.

They've redone the body cover and almost made it a more attractive beige, making it softer and safer for the home.

Movement's gotten an upgrade, too. Neo Gamma's arms can now swing, and its walk is smoother than that of the Beta model. Additionally, the robot can now sit down in a chair.

As with Neo Beta, Neo Gamma integrates AI. For instance, the updated visual manipulation model will make it possible for Gamma to handle objects it's never seen before. Overall, 1X claims on its website, "NEO Gamma’s design opens the door to start internal home testing—a first step in creating fully autonomous humanoids."

To illustrate this point, 1X released this launch video, which shows Neo Gamma operating in a typical home. It cleans, makes and serves coffee, pours wine, and collects the groceries from its owner. Neo Gamma even cleans windows.

But it's a lonely existence. Most of the time, the couple in the video ignores Neo Gamma, even as it's serving and working around them. When it serves coffee, they barely look up. As it vacuums the rug, it doesn't even get a glance. There is one touching moment where Neo Gamma helps hang a picture and even gets a thumbs up, but that is the extent of real human engagement. At the end of the video, the couple is enjoying a meal in the dining room, one that I bet Neo Gamma prepared and served, and the robot is in the other room alone. It takes a seat on the couch and stares into space.

Is this the "life" we anticipate for our humanoid companions – with us, but separate? Even though I assume these robots will have no feelings, I'm sure others and I will anthropomorphize them and start to thank them, chat, and engage in a more human way. I guess I wonder if 1X could have shown me a bit more natural human-to-robot interaction.

1X hasn't set a price or delivery date for Neo Gamma, but you can join the wait list to become the robot's mas...er...beloved owner.

In the meantime, I think I need to cheer up and go watch a fun cat video.

You might also like

• This robot might be ready to give you a hug in your home and nobody is ready for this
• Apple might be building a humanoid robot, and I truly hope it looks like Steve Jobs
• And that’s how it all started: AI managed to design a robot that walks — from scratch, and in less than 60 seconds

Ambient music and recipes are a few of the new features developers and public beta testers can try now.

Don't be disconnected. You still have options for low-cost internet without the ACP. Here are our top picks for each state.

• Seagate Exos and IronWolf Pro HDDs are prime targets for scammers
• Scammers alter QR codes and even drive serial numbers
• Toshiba and Western Digital are not as targeted as Seagate — why?

The controversy of fraudsters modifying used Seagate hard drives to appear unused despite having been powered on for thousands of hours rages on.

Exos HDDs were initially targeted, but new evidence from Heise (via ComputerBase — both originally in German) suggests IronWolf and IronWolf Pro NAS drives with capacities between 8 TB and 16 TB are now also being drawn into the scam.

Preowned units of the fastest hard drives can appear new if key data such as SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) parameters are tampered with.

How scammers manipulate hard drive data

Some of these drives have been found to have logged over 27,000 operating hours. However, users can verify a drive’s true condition using tools like smartmontools to retrieve hidden operational data.

Scammers also alter product labels and QR codes to bypass Seagate’s warranty verification system. Instead of directing users to a page displaying accurate product details, these modified QR codes redirect to Seagate’s warranty check but do not provide the serial number or storage capacity.

Another method used is serial number manipulation, wherein fraudsters take serial numbers from newer drives and attach them to old units, tricking Seagate’s system into displaying an extended warranty period.

However, this system often calculates exactly five years of warranty from their supposed production date, which is a potential red flag that worried customers can investigate.

Experts suggest that potential buyers can check certain logs - such as Self Test Logs or SATA Phy Event Counters - to determine if a drive has been previously used.

Seagate has acknowledged the issue, confirming that fraudulent practices are affecting IronWolf and Exos HDDs. The company is currently investigating the matter to address these concerns.

In the meantime, buyers are advised to be cautious when purchasing Seagate hard drives from unofficial sellers and to verify product details using multiple sources before making a purchase.

So far, there have been no confirmed reports of similar scams involving Toshiba or Western Digital (WD) hard drives. This raises the question: why is Seagate the primary target?

One possible reason is that Seagate’s verification system relies on data that fraudsters find easier to manipulate; unlike Seagate, WD and Toshiba do not use the same FARM value system.

You may also like

• Here are the best mobile workstations around today
• We've rounded up the best external hard drives available now
• A GPU or a CPU with 4TB HBM-class memory? Nope, you're not dreaming, Sandisk is working on such a monstrous product

Payouts won't be big, but 3.7 million Avast users could potentially get one.

• Bybit confirms suffering a large cyberattack
• Hackers stole approximately $1.5bn worth of Ethereum
• Their identities are not confirmed, but researchers speculate it was Lazarus

One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world has suffered a devastating cyberattack in which it lost approximately $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum.

The attack against Bybit was confirmed by the company’s CEO, Ben Zhou, who said the threat actors siphoned the exchange’s reserves, and not customer funds.

Despite this being the biggest heist in crypto’s history, Zhou noted the company remains solvent and is under no existential threat, and commended the industry’s big players, which rallied behind the victims and offered help.

Lazarus

The attack itself was quite sophisticated. Bybit kept ETH in a multi-signature cold wallet, a method that’s considered the safest possible. It also means that to move any funds, multiple people would need to sign the transaction.

Apparently, the attackers somehow managed to compromise all of the employees involved in fund transfer, and when the company wanted to pull funds from cold storage into a “hot wallet” to support its everyday activities, the attackers were able to redirect the funds.

All of the involved people never knew what happened, because on their monitors, all of the information checked out.

The news sent shockwaves throughout the cryptosphere. Hundreds of thousands of people initiated withdrawals of their money from Bybit, in fears that the company would not be able to serve everyone (as was the case with Celsius back in 2021). Ethereum dropped roughly 4% on the news.

For the first time, in face of extremely bad news, the crypto industry showed incredible resilience. Usually, news such as this one would send not just Ethereum, but Bitcoin as well, and with them most other currencies tumbling, wiping out a significant portion of their value in a matter of hours. However, Ethereum lost “just” 4% (which is almost negligible in the crypto world) and rebounded relatively quickly. Bybit served all of its customers during the “bank run”, and continues operating normally.

The identity of the attackers is not yet confirmed, although some researchers believe this to be the work of Lazarus, an infamous North Korean state-sponsored threat actor. Indeed, Lazarus is known for targeting crypto businesses and, being on North Korea’s payroll, definitely has the means to pull off a heist such as this one.

Via The Guardian

You might also like

• These are the most common PayPal scams around right now - so stay alert
• We've rounded up the best password managers
• Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app

Claude 3.7, the latest model from Anthropic, can be instructed to engage in a specific amount of reasoning to solve hard problems.

At least three people linked to Elon Musk’s DOGE task force have access to NIH systems that control budgets, procurement, and more, according to records and internal documents viewed by WIRED.

• Microsoft unveils a quantum chip with a Topological Core for stable and scalable qubits
• Majorana 1 features eight topological qubits, aiming for a million-qubit scale
• Breakthrough is comparable to how semiconductors revolutionized modern computing

Microsoft has unveiled Majorana 1, a quantum chip built on a Topological Core architecture, marking a huge step forward in its quantum computing efforts.

The company says this new chip, which positions the tech giant alongside rivals Google and IBM in the race for large-scale quantum computing, will lead to devices capable of solving industrial-scale problems in years rather than decades.

The chip is based on a topoconductor, a newly-engineered material that can observe and control Majorana particles - a discovery Microsoft represents no less than a new state of matter, which it has used to create a more stable and scalable qubit in a breakthroughit compares to how semiconductors transformed modern computing.

A clear path for scaling

“We took a step back and said ‘OK, let’s invent the transistor for the quantum age. What properties does it need to have?’” said Chetan Nayak, Microsoft technical fellow. “And that’s really how we got here – it’s the particular combination, the quality and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture.”

Microsoft adds Majorana 1 offers a clear path to scaling quantum systems. For now, it has eight topological qubits on a single chip, marking the first step toward its goal of reaching one million qubits. Achieving this scale will be essential if quantum computing is to drive advancements in industries such as healthcare, environmental science, and manufacturing.

“Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits. If it doesn’t, you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us,” Nayak said. “We have actually worked out a path to a million.”

The chip is built using a materials stack made from indium arsenide and aluminum, designed and fabricated atom by atom. The Topological Core architecture resists errors at the hardware level, making it more stable than current approaches.

You might also like

• 2025 is when quantum computing moves from physical qubits to logical qubits
• Google says it just made a huge step forward in quantum computing
• Microsoft and Quantinuum partnership advances logical qubit development