Technology

• ChatGPT's o3 model scored a 136 on the Mensa IQ test and a 116 on a custom offline test, outperforming most humans
• A new survey found 25% of Gen Z believe AI is already conscious, and over half think it will be soon
• The change in IQ and belief in AI consciousness has happened extremely quickly

OpenAI’s new ChatGPT model, dubbed o3, just scored an IQ of 136 on the Norway Mensa test – higher than 98% of humanity, not bad for a glorified autocomplete. In less than a year, AI models have become enormously more complex, flexible, and, in some ways, intelligent.

The jump is so steep that it may be causing some to think that AI has become Skynet. According to a new EduBirdie survey, 25% of Gen Z now believe AI is already self-aware, and more than half think it’s just a matter of time before their chatbot becomes sentient and possibly demands voting rights.

There’s some context to consider when it comes to the IQ test. The Norway Mensa test is public, which means it’s technically possible that the model used the answers or questions for training. So, researchers at MaximumTruth.org created a new IQ test that is entirely offline and out of reach of training data.

On that test, which was designed to be equivalent in difficulty to the Mensa version, the o3 model scored a 116. That’s still high.

It puts o3 in the top 15% of human intelligence, hovering somewhere between “sharp grad student” and “annoyingly clever trivia night regular.” No feelings. No consciousness. But logic? It’s got that in spades.

Compare that to last year, when no AI tested above 90 on the same scale. In May of last year, the best AI struggled with rotating triangles. Now, o3 is parked comfortably to the right of the bell curve among the brightest of humans.

And that curve is crowded now. Claude has inched up. Gemini’s scored in the 90s. Even GPT-4o, the baseline default model for ChatGPT, is only a few IQ points below o3.

Even so, it’s not just that these AIs are getting smarter. It’s that they’re learning fast. They’re improving like software does, not like humans do. And for a generation raised on software, that’s an unsettling kind of growth.

I do not think consciousness means what you think it means

For those raised in a world navigated by Google, with a Siri in their pocket and an Alexa on the shelf, AI means something different than its strictest definition.

If you came of age during a pandemic when most conversations were mediated through screens, an AI companion probably doesn't feel very different from a Zoom class. So it’s maybe not a shock that, according to EduBirdie, nearly 70% of Gen Zers say “please” and “thank you” when talking to AI.

Two-thirds of them use AI regularly for work communication, and 40% use it to write emails. A quarter use it to finesse awkward Slack replies, with nearly 20% sharing sensitive workplace information, such as contracts and colleagues’ personal details.

Many of those surveyed rely on AI for various social situations, ranging from asking for days off to simply saying no. One in eight already talk to AI about workplace drama, and one in six have used AI as a therapist.

If you trust AI that much, or find it engaging enough to treat as a friend (26%) or even a romantic partner (6%), then the idea that the AI is conscious seems less extreme. The more time you spend treating something like a person, the more it starts to feel like one. It answers questions, remembers things, and even mimics empathy. And now that it’s getting demonstrably smarter, philosophical questions naturally follow.

But intelligence is not the same thing as consciousness. IQ scores don’t mean self-awareness. You can score a perfect 160 on a logic test and still be a toaster, if your circuits are wired that way. AI can only think in the sense that it can solve problems using programmed reasoning. You might say that I'm no different, just with meat, not circuits. But that would hurt my feelings, something you don't have to worry about with any current AI product.

Maybe that will change someday, even someday soon. I doubt it, but I'm open to being proven wrong. I get the willingness to suspend disbelief with AI. It might be easier to believe that your AI assistant really understands you when you’re pouring your heart out at 3 a.m. and getting supportive, helpful responses rather than dwelling on its origin as a predictive language model trained on the internet's collective oversharing.

Maybe we’re on the brink of genuine self-aware artificial intelligence, but maybe we’re just anthropomorphizing really good calculators. Either way, don't tell secrets to an AI that you don't want used to train a more advanced model.

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Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 211, for April 22.

Kaleidescape may not be a household name, but most home theater fans will have at least some familiarity with the company’s movie players and servers, which provide the highest-quality alternative to the best 4K Blu-ray players.

In case you’re not familiar with Kaleidescape, its systems let you download movies for purchase or rental from an online storefront with a comprehensive library, and in some cases, new titles not yet available from other online services like Amazon or Apple TV. The picture quality of Kaleidescape downloads is equivalent to 4K Blu-ray, with support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range formats, along with lossless Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks.

A typical Kaleidescape system can be pricey, but over the past year, the company has expanded its product line with a lower-cost standalone 4K movie player, the Kaleidescape Strato V, plus an even cheaper 2K model, the Strato M. Those releases demonstrate that the company is looking to expand its reach into new markets, and also to give existing Kaleidescape owners options for expanding their systems outside of a dedicated home theater driven by the best projectors.

The Kaleidescape Strato V combines a movie player with built-in 960GB SSD storage – enough to hold ten 4K movies at a time (Image credit: Future)

The most recent news from Kaleidescape is an announcement of its membership in the 8K Association, an industry group dedicated to accelerating the adoption of 8K content and 8K TVs.

In a company press release, Kaleidescape chairman and CEO Tayloe Stansbury characterized the alliance as one that “positions Kaleidescape alongside other industry leaders, committed to fostering a collaborative environment, and dedicated to the advancement and standardization of 8K technology.”

Stansbury further stated, “As consumers demand larger screens, higher-fidelity and increasingly immersive experiences, Kaleidescape’s involvement in the 8KA will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of premium home cinema.”

A fighting chance for 8K?

Samsung's new QN990F series 8K TVs include a 98-inch size option (Image credit: Future)

Looking at the current TV market, it’s impossible to ignore that set manufacturers have a lukewarm relationship with the 8K format. Until recently, new 8K TVs were a regular thing, but only one company, Samsung, has announced new 8K models for 2025 (the Samsung QN990F and Samsung QN900F).

Projectors supporting 8K have also been slow to emerge, with only two consumer models, the JVC DLA-NZ9 and JVC DLA-NZ8, currently available.

An 8K TV can be priced almost twice as high as an equivalent 4K model, but the main reason why the 8K TV market hasn’t really taken off is a lack of 8K content. You can find some 8K – mainly eye candy travelogues – on YouTube, but there isn’t a better online source for streamed 8K content such as documentaries, concert videos, or movies.

An 8K disc format isn’t technically out of the question, but there’s been no commercial advancement on that front since 8K TVs first appeared. Also, physical disc sales, 4K Blu-ray included, have been steadily declining, falling below $1 billion for the first time in the US in 2024.

Given that trend, the outlook for an 8K disc format is grim to nonexistent. That’s why Kaleidescape’s 8K Association announcement is intriguing – the company has the technical infrastructure to make 8K downloads possible, and its business model means that content can be delivered without the high compression levels that make the best streaming services inferior to 4K Blu-ray Disc.

Another good omen for 8K is Kaleidescape’s customer base, which is comprised of high-end home theater enthusiasts willing to pay for the highest quality presentation possible. Many of those customers also use either video projection systems or ultra-large screen TVs, and the added detail provided by 8K can be appreciated on such displays.

Samsung’s new QN990F series 8K TVs are available in a 98-inch screen size. An 8K TV that large deserves actual 8K content, and with Kaleidescape’s announcement, there’s new hope that more and better 8K content could be coming.

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Google has been hyping up its Project Astra as the next generation of AI for months. That set some high expectations when 60 Minutes sent Scott Pelley to experiment with Project Astra tools provided by Google DeepMind.

He was impressed with how articulate, observant, and insightful the AI turned out to be throughout his testing, particularly when the AI not only recognized Edward Hopper’s moody painting "Automat," but also read into the woman’s body language and spun a fictional vignette about her life.

All this through a pair of smart glasses that barely seemed different from a pair without AI built in. The glasses serve as a delivery system for an AI that sees, hears, and can understand the world around you. That could set the stage for a new smart wearables race, but that's just one of many things we learned during the segment about Project Astra and Google's plans for AI.

Astra's understanding

Of course, we have to begin with what we now know about Astra. Firstly, the AI assistant continuously processes video and audio from connected cameras and microphones in its surroundings. The AI doesn’t just identify objects or transcribe text; it also purports to spot and explain emotional tone, extrapolate context, and carry on a conversation about the topic, even when you pause for thought or talk to someone else.

During the demo, Pelley asked Astra what he was looking at. It instantly identified Coal Drops Yard, a retail complex in King’s Cross, and offered background information without missing a beat. When shown a painting, it didn’t stop at "that’s a woman in a cafe." It said she looked "contemplative." And when nudged, it gave her a name and a backstory.

According to DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, the assistant’s real-world understanding is advancing even faster than he expected, noting it is better at making sense of the physical world than the engineers thought it would be at this stage.

Veo 2 views

But Astra isn’t just passively watching. DeepMind has also been busy teaching AI how to generate photorealistic imagery and video. The engineers described how two years ago, their video models struggled with understanding that legs are attached to dogs. Now, they showcased how Veo 2 can conjure a flying dog with flapping wings.

The implications for visual storytelling, filmmaking, advertising, and yes, augmented reality glasses, are profound. Imagine your glasses not only telling you what building you're looking at, but also visualizing what it looked like a century ago, rendered in high definition and seamlessly integrated into the present view.

Genie 2

And then there’s Genie 2, DeepMind’s new world-modeling system. If Astra understands the world as it exists, Genie builds worlds that don’t. It takes a still image and turns it into an explorable environment visible through the smart glasses.

Walk forward, and Genie invents what lies around the corner. Turn left, and it populates the unseen walls. During the demo, a waterfall photo turned into a playable video game level, dynamically generated as Pelley explored.

DeepMind is already using Genie-generated spaces to train other AIs. Genie can help these navigate a world made up by another AI, and in real time, too. One system dreams, another learns. That kind of simulation loop has huge implications for robotics.

In the real world, robots have to fumble their way through trial and error. But in a synthetic world, they can train endlessly without breaking furniture or risking lawsuits.

Astra eyes

Google is trying to get Astra-style perception into your hands (or onto your face) as fast as possible, even if it means giving it away.

Just weeks after launching Gemini’s screen-sharing and live camera features as a premium perk, they reversed course and made it free for all Android users. That wasn’t a random act of generosity. By getting as many people as possible to point their cameras at the world and chat with Gemini, Google gets a flood of training data and real-time user feedback.

There is already a small group of people wearing Astra-powered glasses out in the world. The hardware reportedly uses micro-LED displays to project captions into one eye and delivers audio through tiny directional speakers near the temples. Compared to the awkward sci-fi visor of the original Glass, this feels like a step forward.

Sure, there are issues with privacy, latency, battery life, and the not-so-small question of whether society is ready for people walking around with semi-omniscient glasses without mocking them mercilessly.

Whether or not Google can make that magic feel ethical, non-invasive, and stylish enough to go mainstream is still up in the air. But that sense of 2025 as the year smart glasses go mainstream seems more accurate than ever.

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• Developers shift from loyalty to flexibility as OpenAI leads, but DeepSeek gains ground fast
• Microsoft struggles for developer mindshare with only a 10% adoption rate
• AI integration gets leaner as teams drop formal structures and focus on usable tools

OpenAI has been dominating the LLM space for some time, and remains the leading choice for many developers, but market dynamics and loyalty seem to be shifting, new research has claimed.

A survey by Vercel of 656 app builders found 87% use OpenAI’s models and 83% rely on its inference APIs. However, developers now use an average of two providers, and 60% have changed vendors within the last six months - raising questions about their loyalty.

DeepSeek is now used by nearly a third of businesses (29%), while Microsoft's LLMs, by contrast, appears to be struggling, with only 10% of respondents report using the latter, and 9 out of 10 developers do not consider it a viable option.

Developers now focus on tools, not teams

“AI is dissolving the boundaries between roles. We’re seeing new product designers blend UX, UI, and code in one creative flow - thanks to tools like Vercel, v0, Uizard, and Cursor. Whether junior or senior leader, anyone can now build, test, and ship ideas independently - and that’s not just efficient, it’s liberating,” said Nicolas Le Pallec, CTO, EMEA - AKQA.

AI now builds around clear use cases, with developers prioritizing tools - not teams. Forty-five percent of respondents said they have no dedicated AI team, while 57% reported no specific AI leadership structure. Instead, success with AI depends on clear priorities and the right tools.

“By embracing cutting-edge AI technologies, we’re empowering our teams to work smarter and faster,” said Dr. Jan Ittner of BCG X, echoing the sentiment that an AI writer or developer tool can be more valuable than another hire.

Product AI features are now a priority for 75% of customer-facing apps, while only 39% still include traditional support chatbots. Website personalization remains underutilized at 27%, indicating room for future innovation.

Cost control is also a major priority. Over 70% of developers manually test their models, spending under $1,000 monthly - showing how much can be achieved on limited budgets. To cut costs, only 14% train their models, while 60% instead use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and vector databases.

The focus on tools stems from a perceived "overhype" around AI, with an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. Yet developers gave a 7.7 out of 10 when asked if AI will transform their industries in the next 12 months.

In a shifting field where speed, precision, and adaptability matter more than scale, the best LLM for coding isn’t fixed - it’s the one that solves today’s problems while keeping tomorrow’s door open.

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• Synology’s 2025 Plus range only works with certain hard drives
• It says this is for lower failure rates and compatibility issues
• Older models won’t be affected by this new policy

Taiwanese NAS-maker Synology has confirmed a new policy that requires Synology-branded hard drives to be used for full compatibility within its 2025 Plus series of network-attached storage (NAS) devices.

From launch, the policy states Synology-branded hard drives will need to be used, but the company promises to “update the Product Compatibility List as additional drives can be thoroughly vetted in Synology systems,” a company spokesperson said(via Ars Technica).

In the meantime, this could spell out reduced choice and increased cost for customers, with potential sustainability issues stemming from users’ inability to use hard drives they might already have, rendering them unusable.

Synology NAS devices hard drives

Synology has nine products in its Plus range, supporting all the way up to 24 hard drives, however users will be required to use approved storage drives only.

The company said that “Synology systems are at less risk of drive failure and ongoing compatibility issues.”

Chad Chiang, the Managing Director of Synology’s Germany and UK businesses, noted: “With our proprietary hard disk solution, we have already seen significant benefits for our customers in various deployment scenarios.”

Despite the change for 2025-onward models, the company confirmed that older models sold up to and including 2024 (excluding XS Plus series and rack models) remain unchanged.

Interestingly, Synology doesn’t manufacture its own hard drives, instead choosing to rebrand models from popular brands like Toshiba and Seagate.

This could be good news, indicating the possibility that further Toshiba and Seagate models might appear on the approved list of third-party drives at a later date, however it could also mean that drives from other brands might be less likely to appear on the list.

Of course, this is speculation only, but we’ve contacted Synology for further details in the hope that we can get access to a list of pre-approved third-party drives.

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Bluesky, the upstart, decentralized social network that's offered an island of blue calm for those departing the tumultuous, dark waters of X (formerly Twitter), is finally introducing an official form of account verification. It will look familiar to those who spent time on old-school Twitter, but it does feature a few notable caveats.

Up until today (April 21, 2025), there was no Bluesky-supported system for verifying an account or visual indication of verified status, and the microblogging social media platform was suffering from an imposter problem. Bluesky addressed this, in a way, by encouraging people to set up and use their own domain names to establish the veracity of an account.

My account, for instance, is attached to lanceulanoff.com, a domain I've owned for years. Bluesky reports that some 270,000 accounts have linked their accounts to domains.

Still, setting up a domain and connecting it to your Bluesky account is not a trivial matter. This new feature significantly simplifies the process.

A new check

(Image credit: Future)

According to a new Bluesky blog post, there are now three levels of identity on the platform: the basic Bluesky account, a Trusted Verifier, and a Verified Account.

The Trusted Verifier is interesting because it's a verified account that, with Bluesky's review, can verify other accounts. The example given is The New York Times' Bluesky account, which can then verify its journalists' accounts.

Years ago, Twitter had something similar, where an entity like TechRadar could ask Twitter directly to verify some of its journalist employee accounts.

It was not a popular feature among, for instance, celebrities and officials, who wondered (often on Twitter) why journalists needed verification. The topic of Blue Checks and verification on Twitter became so fraught that, for a time, Twitter's then-CEO Jack Dorsey stopped verifying accounts. When Elon Musk took over, he removed verifications from millions of accounts, only to return them some months later.

Who verifies who

Bluesky wrote that it is proactively verifying some "authentic and notable accounts," which will now have a white check in a blue circle.

Trusted Verifiers will have a scalloped blue check to indicate their vaunted status. A tap on someone's verified status can show you which Trusted Verifier granted verification.

It's not necessarily a foolproof system, as I think media companies might seek to verify all journalists in their camp, and Bluesky could push back against that. Or maybe Bluesky says yes, but at some point, "the notables" grow irritated because there are suddenly so many non-famous people with checks.

One thing Bluesky is not supporting is "requests for verification." However, the social media platform is not ruling it out and has promised that as this system settles in and stabilizes, it will "launch a request form for notable and authentic accounts interested in becoming verified or becoming trusted verifiers."

If you're wondering about the other decentralized social media platform, Threads, it adopts verifications directly from Instagram, another Meta property.

It'll be interesting to see what Bluesky asks for in its future verification process and if any part of it will involve some form of ID.

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• The FBI is warning about an ongoing scheme targeting victims of online fraud
• The victims are encouraged to reach out to a person on Telegram, posing as the chief of IC3
• The person would try to gain access to the victims' financial accounts

Cybercriminals are preying on victims of online fraud, using their state of emotional distress to cause even more harm, the FBI has said, revealing it received more than a hundred reports of such attacks in the last two years.

In the campaign, cybercriminals would create fake social media profiles and join groups with other victims of online fraud. They would then claim to have recovered their money with the help of the FBI's Internet Complaint Center (IC3). This makes the ruse credible, since IC3 is an actual division of the FBI and serves as a central hub for reporting cybercrime.

Those who believe the claim are then advised to contact a person named Jaime Quin on Telegram. This person, claiming to be the Chief Director of IC3, is actually just part of the scheme. Quin will tell people who reach out that he recovered their funds and would then ask for access to their financial information, to steal even more money.

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Getting in touch

This is just one example of how the scam works. The FBI says that initial contact from the scammers can vary.

“Some individuals received an email or a phone call, while others were approached via social media or forums," it said. "Almost all complainants indicated the scammers claimed to have recovered the victim's lost funds or offered to assist in recovering funds. However, the claim is a ruse to revictimize those who have already lost money to scams."

To minimize the risk of falling victim to these scams, you should only reach out to law enforcement through official channels. Furthermore, you should keep in mind that law enforcement (especially those in executive positions) will never reach out to you this way, especially not to initiate contact.

Finally, the police will never ask for your password, financial information, or access to private services.

Via BleepingComputer

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