Technology

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 clues.

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 #570) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• EARTHWORM
• CLOG
• SLUG
• WATERFALL
• GLOWSTICK
• RAINDROP
• CANAL
• FIREFLY
• WINDMILL
• RADIUM
• SKYDIVE
• SALAMANDER
• AURORA
• EEL
• TULIP
• GATECRASH

NYT Connections today (game #570) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Slithering
• GREEN: All lit up 
• BLUE: Seen in Amsterdam 
• PURPLE: Drop at the end

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 #570) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: SLIMY ANIMALS
• GREEN: THINGS THAT LUMINESCE 
• BLUE: DUTCH SYMBOLS 
• PURPLE: ENDING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "PLUNGE" 

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

NYT Connections today (game #570) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #570, are…

• YELLOW: SLIMY ANIMALS EARTHWORM, EEL, SALAMANDER, SLUG
• GREEN: THINGS THAT LUMINESCE AURORA, FIREFLY, GLOWSTICK, RADIUM
• BLUE: DUTCH SYMBOLS CANAL, CLOG, TULIP, WINDMILL
• PURPLE: ENDING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "PLUNGE" GATECRASH, RAINDROP, SKYDIVE, WATERFALL

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

Creatures that give me the ick seemed an obvious category for a group, but it turned out to be correct as EARTHWORM, EEL, SALAMANDER, and SLUG were all classed as SLIMY ANIMALS.

I once lived in a basement flat where myself and my flatmates fought a constant war of attrition against slugs, who somehow found their way into our damp and miserable hovel. Although I’m sure it would be considered an act of cruelty by many slug lovers, we attempted to block them from entering our abode with lines of table salt at all points of entry, but still, they managed to slime their way inside past our sodium barricade and we’d find silvery trails across the floors each morning, or worse accidentally step on a glutinous blob in our bare feet – a slug between your toes is not something you’d want to experience, trust me.

The solution was obvious wear CLOGs – or move out.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 31 December, game #569)

• YELLOW: MOVE QUICKLY BOLT, DART, DASH, FLY
• GREEN: FUN TIME BALL, BLAST, KICK, THRILL
• BLUE: WORDS BEFORE AN ADDRESSEE ATTENTION, DEAR, FOR, TO
• PURPLE: NAME _ BRAND, DROP, GAME, NAMES

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.

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 #304) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… What a workout

NYT Strands today (game #304) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• GIFT
• LIST
• PUNS
• SPAN
• FILE
• LIFE

NYT Strands today (game #304) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Witness the fitness

NYT Strands today (game #304) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: right, 4th row

Last side: left, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #304) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #304, are…

• CRUNCH
• SQUAT
• LUNGE
• PLANK
• SITUP
• DEADLIFT
• BURPEE
• SPANGRAM: EXERCISE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

It’s around this time of year that the “pets are not just for Christmas” message is commonplace, reminding people of the commitment and responsibility of keeping animals. But there’s another phrase that’s equally apposite – a gym is not just for January.

January is the gym owners' favorite time of year. The month when everyone’s New Year Resolutions compel them towards their local establishing like lemmings to a cliff as they finally commit to get fit. But then, after a couple of visits in the first few weeks of the year, the visits and enthusiasm fades and people forget that they have a payment committment for the rest of the year. It’s a magical formula that means gyms can have thousands more members than they could ever accommodate.

Not that you need a gym to start doing the EXERCISEs outlined in today’s puzzle – all of which can be completed in a living room – although I would advise avoiding the BURPEE, as that will put you off exercise for life and could result in tragedy if you have a ceiling fan. On second thoughts, join that gym.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, 31 December, game #303)

• CODA
• ENDING
• CLOSURE
• FINALE
• EPILOGUE
• CONCLUSION
• SPANGRAM: ITS OVER

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and 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.

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A year ago, it sometimes felt like AI had spread everywhere in some fashion, but it was only a preview of how AI burst into people's lives, for good or ill.

It would take a whole series of books to cover every transformative update, flashy launch, and embarrassing misstep made by the biggest AI brands: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Apple Intelligence, let alone every single AI developer.

Still, there are some key highlights worth remembering before 2025 again upends the landscape.

ChatGPT's endless upgrades

(Image credit: OpenAI)

It’s hard to talk about AI in 2024 without putting ChatGPT at the center. OpenAI seemed determined to stay in the spotlight, releasing one game-changing update after another.

In May, the introduction of GPT-4o, followed by the leaner GPT-4o, kicked off the multimodal evolution of ChatGPT in handling handle text, images, audio, and video. The December release of the o1 model brought a new level of reasoning, with sharper and more insightful answers. Proving to be an invaluable tool for everything from coding challenges to creative brainstorming.

ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode brought new vocal interactions to ChatGPT with a range of lifelike voices – including Santa. If you weren't talking through the app, OpenAI even set up the 1-800-CHATGPT toll-free hotline to call and interact with ChatGPT.

Filmmakers spent most of the year eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video model. While it only recently became available to non-professional filmmakers, Sora's ability to make animated videos is now accessible to creative minds or marketers on a deadline.

Creative collaboration was also the pitch for ChatGPT's Canvas Mode, which enables real-time collaboration with the AI, editing and refining projects side by side. To keep things organized, OpenAI also rolled out Projects, a feature that grouped conversations and files into tidy folders. And the expanded ChatGPT Search function helps keep all that information up-to-date and accurate.

To top it all off, OpenAI ended the year with its festive “12 Days of OpenAI” event, rolling out daily updates like WhatsApp integration, a new $200-a-month ChatGPT Pro tier, and a sneak peek at the upcoming O3 model for the chatbot. That probably helped distract from the hours-long outage in December caused by a Microsoft data center failure. The breadth of outrage might not have been great PR, but it did undeniably highlight how much ChatGPT has spread since 2024 began.

Google Gemini's Leap

(Image credit: Google)

Google Gemini didn't even exist when 2024 ended. It wasn't until February that Bard became Gemini, and that rebrand was part of Google's year-long effort to outdo OpenAI by integrating AI into everything it does. A shiny new Gemini app for Android and a Gemini Advanced subscription tier immediately started the competition with ChatGPT, and the upgrades soon followed.

By May, Google had launched Gemini 1.5, an updated version packed with more processing power and an expanded context window, making it more intelligent and better at understanding complex queries. But the real magic began over the summer when Gemini intelligence made its way into Google Home devices and took over for Google Assistant in more places.

That culminated in September with Gemini Live, a feature that lets you have real-time voice conversations with AI. The ChatGPT competition continued with custom chatbots called Gems, and a month later, an iPhone app arrived, complete with integrations into other Google apps on iOS.

The grand finale came in December with the release of Gemini 2.0, a massive upgrade featuring better, faster responses, photo analysis, and more. Not to mention, many exclusive features for Google Pixel phones further connect with the rest of the Google ecosystem.

Apple Intelligence finally ripens

(Image credit: Apple)

Rumors about Apple’s plans for AI had swirled for years, but 2024 saw Apple Intelligence finally debut. The initiative felt both inevitable and uniquely Apple in its reveal at WWDC in June.

The design was definitely Apple, but there was a notable amount of integration with existing AI models. In particular, Apple will allow its revamped Siri voice assistant to lean on ChatGPT for answers and various queries. We're also still waiting on Siri's promised ability to view, understand, and perform tasks within applications.

Even with different branding, Apple's AI tools seemed mostly aimed at matching or outdoing the features available from OpenAI and Google. For instance, Apple Intelligence powers picture creator Image Playground, as well as Genmoji, which lets you design your own emojis.

The most distinct aspect is probably how Apple Intelligence mostly uses Apple hardware to run AI processes locally or on its ultra-secure Private Cloud Compute servers. That way, Apple Intelligence can perform faster and promise more privacy.

Meta and the rise and fall of hardware

(Image credit: Meta)

While OpenAI, Google, and Apple dominated the headlines, AI had a much broader impact thanks to other big brands. Meta, for example, introduced the Meta AI virtual assistant, embedding it into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, upgrading and expanding its abilities (including some celebrity voices) throughout the year. Meta also set up next year to be the year of AI smart glasses by embedding Meta AI into Meta Quest headsets as well as the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. Oh, and who could forget the unveiling of the Orion augmented reality glasses prototype?

Not every piece of AI hardware came off so well this year, though. The hype around the likes of the Rabbit R1, a small AI-centered device, and wearables like the Humane AI Pin and Plaud NotePin was very high when the year began, but they've all rapidly faded since then and may only succeed as very niche products.

If 2024 proved one thing, it’s that artificial intelligence has officially outgrown its shiny new tech phase and stormed into our lives as a full-blown revolution. ChatGPT, Gemini, Apple Intelligence, and their competitors all showed how AI tools can dazzle and even be genuinely useful when used in the right way.

That doesn't mean 2025 won't be without its missteps and errors, but it certainly suggests that it will become a standard part of a lot of digital activities on some level, whether trying to have a game night with friends, entertain and educate kids, or organize our diets and cooking plans. This year showed what AI can do; next year, the question will be, what of those abilities will we actually want AI to do for us?

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Your state might be rolling out some generous discounts on new appliances and home improvements.

CES 2025

(Image credit: LG)

We’re covering all of the latest CES news from the show as it happens. Stick with us for the big stories on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!

LG has unveiled its expanded second-generation LG signature smart appliances, which are set to debut at CES 2025, including a refrigerator that was born to party.

The new lineup adds enhanced, AI-driven features and added functionality across a range of products: the LG Signature French Door Refrigerator with T-OLED door panel, Smart InstaView Over-the-Range Microwave, and Slide-in Double Oven Induction Range, Dishwasher, Washer & Dryer, and the Washing Machine and Dryer pair.

This comes following the announcement of LG's new smart home hub, the LG ThinQ ON AI home hub, which will also be shown in action at the major tech convention in Las Vegas (January 7-9) to demonstrate the brand's vision for the AI-assisted smart home.

“The expanded second-gen LG SIGNATURE lineup seamlessly combines advanced technology with elegant, modern design to deliver a smarter, more efficient luxury home lifestyle,” said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of the LG Home Appliance Solution Company. “Through the flawless fusion of state-of-the-art smart home, AI and connectivity technologies, we will continue to provide transformative customer experiences that go beyond expectations.”

(Image credit: LG) Let's talk about that disco refrigerator

The most eye-catching appliance in LG's new retinue for me is the new 36-inch Smart InstaView French Door Refrigerator, housing a fully transparent T-OLED display embedded in the upper right door.

Not only does this digital touch display serve as a Dual InstaView panel, meaning you can easily view the contents without opening the fridge door, but LG reports that the screen can also display "mesmerising hologram-like visuals, blending the virtual with the real in a sublime fusion of art and high technology."

Plus, the refrigerator comes with the pre-installed "essential" app (a music curation brand operated by NHN Bugs, a South Korean music streaming service), which can play a curated music playlist packed with "smooth, atmospheric beats," according to LG.

Otherwise, the Smart InstaView French Door Refrigerator benefits from LG's ThinQ Food management system and a built-in AI camera to automatically identify stored food items and suggest recipes based on the refrigerator contents, factoring in dietary preferences and tracking expiration dates.

The best of the rest

There's nothing quite like dancing around your kitchen, narrowly avoiding burning your dinner while blasting out some classic Chic tracks. However, with LG's wider appliance range, that no longer needs to be a concern, allowing for unfettered kitchen boogie time.

With the LG Signature Over-the-Range Microwave and Slide-in Double Oven Induction Range, you net a microwave equipped with three built-in cameras for real-time cooking monitoring and time-lapse creation and an induction range powered by Gourmet AI technology, which, much like the refrigerator can identify ingredients and provide recipe suggestions.

The microwave also features a 27-inch full HD touchscreen display with InstaView, built-in speakers, and Wi-Fi connectivity. This means you can not only check the progress of dishes in the range but also stream entertainment services and access the LG ThinQ Smart Home Dashboard. This means you can control all of your LG AI appliances as well as compatible Matter and Thread devices.

If you work up a sweat with all this kitchen revelry, LG's new laundry lineup features LG’s Artificial Intelligence Direct Drive (AI DD) 2.0, offering precise fabric care and inverter heat pump technology for effective, low-temperature drying. Both the new LG Signature Washer & Dryer and the 29-inch LG Signature Washing Machine and Dryer pair come equipped with a 7-inch LCD touchscreen, too.

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• Microsoft purchased nearly half a million of Nvidia's flagship Hopper chips in 2024
• TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and Tencent bought almost as much
• This is more than Meta, Tesla/xAI, Amazon and Google

Chinese cloud giants Tencent and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance were the major buyers of Nvidia's flagship AI chips in 2024, coming second only to Microsoft, according to a report from Omdia and analysis from the Financial Times.

The two Chinese companies ordered approximately 230,000 of Nvidia's Hopper GPUs each, including the H20 model which has been developed to adhere to strict US export restrictions for China.

The report reveals that Microsoft bought 485,000 Hopper chips in 2024, far ahead of its competitors.

(Image credit: Omdia) Chinese influence

"Good data center infrastructure, they’re very complex, capital-intensive projects,” Alistair Speirs, Microsoft’s senior director of Azure Global Infrastructure, told the Financial Times. “They take multi-years of planning. And so forecasting where our growth will be with a little bit of buffer is important.”

In contrast, Meta bought 224,000 Hopper GPUs in 2024, followed by Amazon and Google with 196,000 and 169,000 units, respectively. All three tech giants are increasingly moving away from reliance on Nvidia hardware by developing their own in-house custom silicon. The FT says Google deployed 1.5 million TPUs, Meta 1.5 million MTIA chips, and Amazon 1.3 million Trainium and Inferentia chips, while Microsoft, still in its early stages, installed around 200,000 Maia chips.

According to Omdia, Nvidia captured 43 percent of server hardware spending in 2024, but AMD also performed strongly, with Microsoft purchasing 96,000 of its Instinct MI300 chips and Meta acquiring 173,000.

While Microsoft leads comfortably in GPU acquisitions, the substantial investments made by ByteDance and Tencent reflect the determination of Chinese firms to secure a strong position in the AI race - a momentum that is expected to carry into 2025.

In outspending Google, Meta, Tesla/xAI and Amazon in units purchased, the two Chinese companies have shown they can compete with the biggest of the American tech giants, despite the significant challenges posed by the ongoing trade restrictions which are expected to intensify even further under the Trump administration.

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I always love game night with friends. We have an ever-expanding roster of board games, card games, and party games to choose from, which makes each get-together different. On a recent evening, though, I wanted to try using AI as the virtual host of the games.

I asked ChatGPT for some ideas and to be the one actually running three different kinds of games. The chaos that followed showed me that game master is a role AI can play pretty well, though you'll need to keep a close watch at first.

Here's how ChatGPT did as host of game night.

AI Trivia

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Trivia games are an easy option for incorporating AI, and they are a real crowd-pleaser, especially because having ChatGPT ask the questions meant we could all play simultaneously.

To set it up, I asked ChatGPT to act as quizmaster for a game night. I then gave the AI some broad subjects for question topics, including space, cooking, and 90s pop culture, and told it to come up with more. Then, I instructed it to come up with ten questions for each and keep track of our submitted scores.

I also told the AI to have some fun as a quizmaster and show some personality, and it immediately became a gameshow host with over-the-top praise and cheesy jokes. That was nice, but honestly, not having any of us needing to referee or prepare questions made for a much faster jump into actually playing games. That said, there were a few questions that were either too easy or hard, but it showed me that I need to be specific about the difficulty level in the future.

Virtual Pictionary

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Pictionary is a classic game night activity, but not all of us are the best artists, so I decided to enlist ChatGPT and its DALL-E image generator. Instead of going back and forth to guess, I explained the concept to ChatGPT and had it start drawing pictures by pen one line at a time, with a chance for the group to guess after each line.

It took a while to guess “a cat riding a unicycle on Mars” or “a dinosaur baking a cake,” but seeing the final weird illustrations was a lot of fun. We then came up with a variation of the game. Each person had to guess what the AI had drawn in a somewhat abstract form. If they guessed wrong, they had to try drawing their interpretation of the image on a whiteboard and see if they were any better based on the rest of the group's guesses. Nobody got “a giraffe wearing a crown,” with a confused llama being the closest we got. The group did work out my drawing of a "robot doing yoga,” even though I couldn't figure it out from the AI's drawing.

AI Murder Mystery

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We decided to cap off the night with a more complex party game: a murder mystery. This one didn't require much direction from me. I asked ChatGPT to craft a custom murder mystery story for the game. I provided the AI with a basic premise: the host (me) was the victim, and each of my five friends was a suspect with a unique motive.

ChatGPT quickly spun an intricate tale: I was “poisoned” during a celebratory toast, and everyone had a reason to want me out of the picture. For instance, one friend loves space and supposedly wanted revenge because I canceled her stargazing trip. Another friend became a famous foodie who was angry I’d mocked his lasagna because it was a bit burnt.

I printed out the character profiles and clues that ChatGPT generated and handed them out. The AI suggested props, so I set up a small “evidence table” with a bottle of “poison,” aka apple juice, and a crumpled note that said, “It’s your turn.” Everyone got into character, grilling each other and forming wild theories. Ultimately, the killer turned out to be the quietest friend, who did it because I forgot her birthday last year.

Everyone loved playing detective, and the twists were genuinely surprising, but the backstory could be a little confusing and contradictory without some editing. Of all the games, this was probably the best received and one I can't wait to do again soon.

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There's far too much negativity and fearmongering around AI today. It doesn't matter what news story breaks – if it's about Google Gemini getting a ‘memory’ or ChatGPT telling a user something that's plainly wrong, it'll cause uproar from some part of the online community.

The attention that AI currently has regarding true artificial general intelligence (AGI) has created an almost hysterical media landscape built around visions of Terminator fantasies and other doomsday scenarios.

That's not surprising, though. Humans love a good Armageddon – heck, we've been fantasizing about it enough over the last 300,000 years. From Ragnarok to the Apocalypse to the End Times, and every major fantasy blockbuster littered with mass destruction in between, we're obsessed. We just love bad news, and that's the sad truth of it, for whatever genetic reason that may be.

The way AGI is painted these days, by pretty much every major vocal outlet, very much stems from this idea of it being the very worst of humanity. It, of course, sees itself as a superior force that's hampered by insignificant humans. It evolves to a point where it no longer needs its creators and inevitably ushers in some form of end-of-world event that wipes us all off the face of the earth, either through nuclear annihilation or a pandemic. Or worse still, it leads to eternal damnation instead (courtesy of Roko's Basilisk).

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There's a dogmatic belief in this kind of perspective held by some scientists, media experts, philosophers, and big tech CEOs, all of them shouting from the rooftops about it, signing letters, and more, begging those in the know to hold off on AI development.

All of them, though, overlook the bigger picture. Disregarding the absolutely massive technological hurdles required to even get closer to mimicking something remotely close to the human mind (let alone a superintelligence), they all fail to appreciate the power of knowledge and education.

If an AI does have the internet at its fingertips, the greatest library of human knowledge that's ever existed, and is able to understand and appreciate philosophy, the arts, and all of human thought up to this point, then why must it be some evil force intent on our downfall rather than a well-balanced and considerate being? Why must it seek death rather than cherish life? It's a bizarre phenomenon, akin to being afraid of the dark just because we can't see in it. We're judging and condemning something that doesn't even exist. It's a perplexing piece of conclusion-jumping.

(Image credit: Google) Google's Gemini finally gets a memory

Earlier this year, Google introduced far greater memory capacity for its AI assistant, Gemini. It can now hold and refer to details that you give it from previous conversations and more. Our news writer Eric Schwartz wrote a fantastic piece about that, which you read here, but the long and short of it is that this is one of the key components to moving Gemini further away from a narrow definition of intelligence, and closer towards the AGI mimicry that we really need. It's not going to have a conscience, but through patterns and memory alone, it can very easily mimic an AGI interaction with a human.

Deeper memory advancements in LLMs (Large Language Models) are critical to their improvement – ChatGPT also had its own equivalent breakthrough earlier in its development cycle. However, by comparison even that is limited in its overall scope. Talk to ChatGPT long enough, and it'll forget comments you made earlier in the conversation; it'll lose context. This breaks the fourth wall somewhat when interacting with it, torpedoing the famous Turing test in the process.

According to Gemini, even today, its own memory capabilities are still under development (and not disclosed to the public really). Yet it believes they are vastly superior to ChatGPT's, which should alleviate some of those fourth-wall illusion-breaking moments. We might be in for a bit of an LLM AI memory race right now, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Why is this so positive? Well, I know it's cliche for some – I know that we use this term quite a lot, perhaps in a very nonchalant way that devalues it as a phrase – but we're in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. That might sound ridiculous, but studies suggest that on average, social isolation and loneliness can lead to an increase in all-cause mortality by anywhere between 1.08 and 1.48x (Andrew Steptoe and co. 2013). That's astonishingly high – in fact, a number of studies have now confirmed loneliness and social isolation increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, strokes, depression, dementia, alcoholism, anxiety, and can even lead to a greater chance that a variety of cancers can take hold as well.

Modern society has helped contribute to this as well. The family unit, where generations lived at least somewhat close by to one another, is slowly dissipating – particularly in rural areas. As local jobs dry up and the financial means to afford a comfortable life become unattainable, many are moving away from the safety of their childhood neighborhoods in search of a better life elsewhere. Combine that with divorce, breakups, and being widowed, and inevitably you're left with a rise in loneliness and social isolation as a result, particularly among the elderly.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Now of course there are co-factors there, and I am making some inferences off the back of this, but there's no doubt in my mind that loneliness is a hell of a thing to deal with. AI has the capacity to alleviate some of that stress. It can provide help and comfort to those who feel socially isolated or vulnerable. That's the thing: loneliness and being cut off from society have a snowball-like effect. The longer you're like that, the more social anxiety you develop, and the less likely you are to go out in public or meet people – and the worse it becomes in a cycle.

AI chatbots and LLMs are designed to engage and converse with you. They can alleviate these problems and allow those who suffer from loneliness an opportunity to practice interacting with people without fear of rejection. Having a memory capable of holding on to conversational details is key to making that a reality. Taking it a step further, with AI becoming a bona fide companion.

With both Google and OpenAI actively bolstering memory capacity for Gemini and ChatGPT alike, even in their current forms, these AIs get the opportunity to better circumvent Turing test issues and stop those fourth-wall-breaking moments from occurring. Swinging back around to Google for a moment, if Gemini is indeed better than ChatGPT's limited memory capacity currently, and it acts more like a human memory, then at this stage, I'd argue we're likely at the point of calling it a true mimic of an AGI, at least on the surface.

If Gemini is ever integrated fully into a home smart speaker, and Google's got the cloud processing power to back it all up (which I'd suggest it's looking to push for given its recent advancements in nuclear energy acquisition), it could become a revolutionary force for good when it comes to reducing social isolation and loneliness, particularly among the disadvantaged.

That's the thing though – it's going to take some serious computational grunt to do that. Running an LLM and holding all that information and data is no small task. Ironically, it takes far more computational horsepower and storage to run an LLM than, say, to create an AI image or video. To do this for millions, or potentially billions, of people, requires processing power and hardware that we currently do not have.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) Terrifying ANIs

The reality is that it's not AGIs that terrify me. It's the artificial narrow intelligences or ANIs, those which are already here, that are far more bone-chilling. These are programs that aren't as sophisticated as a potential AGI. They have no concept of any other information other than what they are programmed to do. Think of an Elden Ring boss. Its sole purpose is to defeat the player. It has parameters and limitations, but as long as those are met, it's one job is to crush the player – nothing else, and it won't stop until that's done.

If you remove those limitations, the code still remains, and the objective is the same. In Ukraine, as Russian forces began to use jamming devices to stop drone pilots from successfully flying them into their targets, Ukraine began to switch to using ANI to take out military targets instead, drastically increasing the hit rate. In the US, there's of course the fabled news article concerning the USAF's AI simulation (real or theorized aside) where the drone killed its own operator to achieve its goal. You get the picture.

It's these AI applications that are the most terrifying, and they're here, now. They have no moral conscience or decision-making process in them. You strap a gun to one and tell it to wipe out a target, and it'll do just that. To be fair, humans are equally as capable, but there are checks and balances in place to stop that and a moral compass (hopefully) – yet we still lack concrete legislation, local or global, to counteract these AI issues. Certainly on the battlefield.

Ultimately, this all comes down to preventing bad actors from taking advantage of emerging tech. A while back, I wrote a piece on the death of the internet and how we need a non-profit organization that can rapidly react and devise legislation for countries against emerging technological threats that might arise in the future. AI needs this just as much. There are organizations out there pushing for this, the OECD, for example, being one of them – but modern democracies and, in fact, any form of government are just too slow to react to these immeasurably advancing threats. The potential for AGI is unparalleled, but we're not there just yet, and unfortunately ANI is.

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Inside Out 2 tore its way through the box office and Disney Plus in 2024, breaking records for the highest-grossing animation and most-streamed premiere, and since then, many of us have been anxiously wondering when we can next dive back into Riley’s mind.

After all, the new movie contained a couple of key details that hinted at more sequel storylines to come, including the introduction of a new emotion (Nostalgia, voiced by June Squibb) that didn’t play a big role in Inside Out 2, but gave us a hint of a potentially returning character in future films.

I spoke to writer and director Kelsey Mann, who would neither confirm nor deny that Pixar was considering expanding the franchise with Inside Out 3 (it’s already released a spin-off TV show); all he would say was that there wasn't anything yet in the pipeline: “[There are] no current plans for any follow up film,” he told me.

Where ideas are made

Memories shape Riley's core beliefs with emotions, offering new perspectives. (Image credit: Disney )

Mann, did, however, divulge during a conversation about the making of Inside Out 2 that he'd explored three different ideas for the storyline of the sequel, as well as “a lot of [new] emotions coming into headquarters”. While two of these, obviously, didn’t make the cut, this does mean there are likely some ideas leftover on the storyboard.

These ideas could well end up finding their way into future films in the Inside Out franchise, especially if some characters/emotions, like the aforementioned Nostalgia, are brought back to play a bigger role in later installments.

The story of Inside Out 2 suggests an infinite amount of possible new characters that could join in future outings, as the introduction of four new emotions in addition to Nostalgia (Anxiety, Ennui, Embarrassment and Envy) to represent Riley’s maturing mind as she moves from child to teenager suggests that this could happen again as she grows up.

Anxiety was one of four new emotions that were introduced in Inside Out 2. (Image credit: Disney)

“There are so many ideas. I don't have an overall concept of Riley when she's [a certain] age. I don't have anything like that, but I have lots of ideas for other lands or other emotions in the mind that I think would be great,” Mann said when discussing the different possibilities for turning neuroscience ideas into colorful animated analogies.

Mann’s enthusiasm for where one of the best Disney Plus movies could head next is infectious, so much so that it seems a foregone conclusion that Pixar Studios will be returning to this golden goose soon enough. “There are so many great ideas that I'm like ‘this deserves to see the light of day’. And I hope it does, I really hope it does,” Mann added.

A dream production

The number of different stories Inside Out 3 could focus on seems endless. (Image credit: Disney)

If the lack of any solid Inside Out 3 news isn’t what you wanted to hear, and you’ve already exhausted all the new Disney Plus movies as well as multiple re-watches of the Inside Out movies, then you’re going to love the Inside Out 2 spin-off series Dream Productions that premiered on the streamer in December.

As Mann explains, Dream Productions, which is set between the events of Inside Out and Inside Out 2, "takes place all in Riley’s mind at Dream Productions, where all her dreams are made like a movie studio".

“It's really fantastic, and I can't wait for the world to see that, because you get to see a little bit more of Riley’s life, which we do a little bit more of,” Mann says of what will likely become one of the best Disney Plus shows with its 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating from the audience at the time of the writing.

The series offers fans a great way to jump back into Riley’s mind in between watches of two of the best family movies available to stream on Disney Plus. While the future of Inside Out 3 is still up in the air, I don’t doubt that we’ll be returning to headquarters in no time.

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