Chief executive officers of some of the leading companies in artificial intelligence, including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind, and Anthropic, have joined a growing chorus of leaders warning about the potential risk of extinction the fast-developing technology. Jackie Davalos for Bloomberg News: A brief statement released Tuesday by the the nonprofit Center for AI Safety said, “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” The statement was signed by more than 350 executives and researchers including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, a startup co-founded by OpenAI veterans. In March, more than 1,100…

Former “Deadwood” actor Brent Sexton is suing Apple Studios, alleging the company rescinded an offer to have him star in a new series because he declined to take the coronavirus vaccine due to medical reasons, costing him nearly $600,000. Apple Park in Cupertino, California : Sexton’s Los Angeles Superior Court disability discrimination suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Apple corporate and retail store employees were not required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if they underwent required testing, but Apple Studios “trampled the rights” of those who worked for the Los Angeles- based subsidiary that produces content for Apple’s new streaming service, Apple TV+, the suit states. Anyone who worked on an Apple TV+ production was required to get…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Virtual reality, a bigger MacBook Air, updated OSes, and more are on the docket. WWDC 2023 is going to be a big one for Apple. The company is rumored to be introducing its long-in-the-works VR headset, a super high-end model that’s meant to prove what its tech is capable of and why virtual reality might be a compelling future. The conference is typically where Apple unveils the next versions of its many operating systems, and we’re expecting the same marathon of updates this year, too. Expect new features in macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS — plus the likely announcement of a new operating system designed for VR devices. Alongside all of that,…

People who owned MacBooks with butterfly keyboards will now get paid. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The $50 million settlement over Apple’s bad butterfly keyboard design got final approval by a federal court judge in California, Reuters reported yesterday. US District Court Judge Edward Davila denied an attempt to amend the agreement, writing in his ruling that 86,000 people filed claims. That finally puts a figure on the number of people affected who will get compensation for repairs they’d paid for. Or at least the number who heard about the lawsuit and followed it to the settlement agreement that was reached last July. The original suit came about because Apple laptops from 2015 to 2019 had a…

A U.S. judge on Thursday approved Apple’s $50 million class-action settlement resolving consumer claims over defective “butterfly” keyboards in MacBooks, in a ruling that prompted challenges to the settlement deal. Apple’s “butterfly” keyboard Mike Scarcella for Reuters: U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, federal court in his ruling called the settlement “fair, adequate and reasonable.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers announced the deal a year ago. Apple denied any wrongdoing. Class members will receive $50 up to $395 based on the number and nature of repairs made to a keyboard. More than 86,000 claims for class member payments were submitted as of early March, Davila’s order showed. One challenge to the settlement said $125 — the compensation for members…

Following Apple and Broadcom's $1.1 billion combined loss in court, the US Solicitor General has asked the Supreme Court to block the pair's attempt to invalidate Caltech's patents at the core of the suit.Wi-Fi on iPhoneThe California Institute of Technology (Caltech) originally sued Apple and Broadcom in 2016, over infringement of multiple Wi-Fi technology patents. Caltech won the case in 2020, with Apple and Broadcom together being ordered to pay $1.1 billion in damages. Read more...