Technology

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• The "product introduction phase" has started
• Design changes are predicted for the iPhone 17 Air
• Apple still exploring the idea of an iPhone Fold

It could be the most interesting model in the iPhone 17 series, and it could be the slimmest iPhone ever – and now the iPhone 17 Air (or is it the iPhone 17 Slim?) has officially entered production, according to a new report.

As per DigiTimes (via MacRumors), the iPhone 17 Air has now officially entered the "product introduction phase" at Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer that puts together a lot of gadgets for Apple.

It means pilot production runs can begin, alongside design validation and prototype testing. It's a precursor to mass production on the device getting underway, which puts it on course for a debut in September next year.

We don't get too much more information about the iPhone 17 Air from this report, but DigiTimes again draws a link to a potential folding iPhone. If Apple can successfully produce a super-thin iPhone, it will help in the development of a folding model too.

Squeezing space

Like this, but significantly thinner (Image credit: Future)

The iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be a mere 6mm thick, which makes it substantially slimmer than the iPhone 16 Plus that it's supposedly replacing – that phone measures a relatively chunky 7.8mm from front to back.

Sources have suggested that the phone is going to come with a single rear camera, placed in the center at the top. The handset might also be too slim to fit a SIM card slot in, so it'll rely entirely on eSIM technology.

There are obvious challenges with making a super-skinny iPhone, such as managing to fit all the necessary circuitry in there without it overheating. No doubt the experience of manufacturing the various iPads will stand Apple in good stead here.

Whatever Apple has got planned for the iPhone 17 Air, it should make an appearance alongside three other iPhone 17 models sometime in September 2025. Before then, we should get the launch of the iPhone SE 4.

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• EU citizens share opinions on the use of AI in everyday lies
• Younger citizens are happy to include it in democratic procedures
• Older citizens are more fearful, and wouldn't trust its use in elections

A new report from IE University in Madrid suggests a decent level of support for the implementation of AI in security and surveillance, with many Europeans favoring the use of technologies like facial recognition and biometric data.

However, concerns about AI’s role in elections and public decision-making highlight the complex relationship between trust in AI and fears of manipulation.

According to the study, 75% of respondents support the use of AI technologies by police and military forces. Given Europe’s stringent data privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the fear of authorities or AI misusing data is far lower than it would be in the US. GDPR imposes severe penalties for non-compliance, with fines reaching up to 4% of a company’s annual revenue or 20 million euros, whichever is higher.

Fear of manipulation persists

While many Europeans are comfortable with AI’s use in public administration and security, they express significant concern about its impact on elections. The report found that 67% of respondents fear that AI could manipulate democratic processes, particularly by spreading misinformation.

Moreover, nearly a third (31%) of Europeans believe AI has already played a role in shaping their voting decisions, underscoring the growing influence of these technologies in political campaigns.

The public enthusiasm for AI use in some areas like traffic management is high with 79% of respondents supporting its use in optimizing transportation systems. However, opinions shift when AI is applied to more sensitive tasks, such as deciding parole outcomes, with 64% opposing its involvement in judicial matters.

The younger generation, aged 18 to 34, is more open to the idea of delegating political decisions to AI and about 34% of respondents in this age group said they would trust an AI-powered app to vote on their behalf.

Only 29% of individuals aged 35 to 44 would consider using AI to cast their votes. The skepticism becomes even more pronounced among older adults, with just 9% of people aged 65 and above willing to trust AI in the voting process.

Via CNBC

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Hugging Face has introduced its latest offering, Hugging Face Generative AI Services (HUGS), aimed at simplifying the deployment and scaling of generative AI applications using open-source models.

Built on Hugging Face technologies such as Transformers and Text Generation Inference (TGI), HUGS promises optimized performance across various hardware accelerators.

For developers using AWS or Google Cloud, the service is available at $1 per hour per container, with a five-day free trial on AWS to help users get started.

Streamlining AI with zero-configuration inference

HUGS offers developers a solution to run AI models on their own infrastructure without the need for manual configuration. One of the primary challenges when deploying large language models (LLMs) is optimizing them for specific hardware environments. Each accelerator, whether it is an NVIDIA GPU or an AMD GPU, requires fine-tuning to extract maximum performance.

With HUGS, these optimizations are managed automatically, delivering high throughput out of the box. In addition to NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, the company promises that its support will soon extend to AWS Inferentia and Google TPUs.

Hugging Face aims to ease the transition from black-box APIs to open, self-hosted solutions with support for a wide array of models, including well-known LLMs like Llama and Gemma, with plans to introduce multimodal models such as Idefics and Llava soon. In the future, the company says it will include embedding models like BGE and Jina, giving developers even more options to customize their AI applications.

This service uses standardized APIs compatible with OpenAI’s model interfaces, therefore, developers can migrate their own code.

For startups in particular, HUGS provides an opportunity to build AI applications without incurring the high costs associated with proprietary platforms. The availability of one-click deployments on DigitalOcean makes it even easier for small teams to experiment with generative AI technologies.

Meanwhile, larger enterprises can leverage HUGS to scale their applications without being locked into a single cloud provider or proprietary API. On DigitalOcean, HUGS is included at no extra charge beyond the standard cost of GPU Droplets. Hugging Face also offers custom deployment solutions for enterprises through its Enterprise Hub.

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