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OpenAI has reportedly issued a "code red" on Monday, pausing projects like ads, shopping agents, health tools, and its Pulse assistant to focus entirely on improving ChatGPT. "This includes core features like greater speed and reliability, better personalization, and the ability to answer more questions," reports The Verge, citing a memo reported by the Wall Street Journal and The Information. "There will be a daily call for those tasked with improving the chatbot, the memo said, and Altman encouraged temporary team transfers to speed up development." From the report: The newfound urgency illustrates an inflection point for OpenAI as it spends hundreds of billions of dollars to fund growth and figures out a path to future profitability. It is also something of a full-circle moment in the AI race. Google, which declared its own "code red" after the arrival of ChatGPT, is a particular concern. Google's AI user base is growing -- helped by the success of popular tools like the Nano Banana image model -- and its latest AI model, Gemini 3, blew past its competitors on many industry benchmarks and popular metrics.

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03 Dec 2025 12:00am GMT

Apple does not plan to comply with India's mandate to preload its smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app that cannot be disabled. According to Reuters, the order "sparked surveillance concerns and a political uproar" after it was revealed on Monday. From the report: In the wake of the criticism, India's telecom minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Tuesday said the app was a "voluntary and democratic system," adding that users can choose to activate it and can "easily delete it from their phone at any time." At present, the app can be deleted by users. Scindia did not comment on or clarify the November 28 confidential directive that ordered smartphone makers to start preloading it and ensure "its functionalities are not disabled or restricted." Apple however does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company's iOS ecosystem, said two of the industry sources who are familiar with Apple's concerns. They declined to be named publicly as the company's strategy is private. "Its not only like taking a sledgehammer, this is like a double-barrel gun," said the first source.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02 Dec 2025 11:23pm GMT

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02 Dec 2025 11:19pm GMT

The last Trump official in the position left amid allegations of petty revenge.

02 Dec 2025 11:17pm GMT

From the outside, China's Zhuque-3 rocket looks like a clone of SpaceX's Falcon 9.

02 Dec 2025 11:04pm GMT

WordPress 6.9 "Gene" introduces block-level Notes, faster editing tools, refined dashboard navigation, and the new Abilities API.

02 Dec 2025 10:42pm GMT

Three years after Google sounded alarm bells over ChatGPT, the tables have turned.

02 Dec 2025 10:42pm GMT

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02 Dec 2025 10:32pm GMT

The UK government plans to ban political donations made in cryptocurrency over fears of anonymity, foreign influence, and traceability issues, though the ban won't be ready in time for the upcoming elections bill. The Guardian reports: The government's ambition to ban crypto donations will be a blow to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, which became the first to accept contributions in digital currency this year. It is believed to have received its first registrable donations in cryptocurrency this autumn and the party has set up its own crypto portal to receive contributions, saying it is subject to "enhanced" checks. Government sources have said ministers believe cryptocurrency donations to be a problem, as they are difficult to trace and could be exploited by foreign powers or criminals. Pat McFadden, then a Cabinet Office minister, first raised the idea in July, saying: "I definitely think it is something that the Electoral Commission should be considering. I think that it's very important that we know who is providing the donation, are they properly registered, what are the bona fides of that donation." The Electoral Commission provides guidance on crypto donations but ministers accept any ban would probably have to come from the government through legislation. "Crypto donations present real risks to our democracy," said Susan Hawley, the executive director of Spotlight on Corruption. "We know that bad actors like Russia use crypto to undermine and interfere in democracies globally, while the difficulties involved in tracing the true source of transactions means that British voters may not know everyone who's funding the parties they vote for."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

02 Dec 2025 10:22pm GMT

VLC 3.0.22 media player adds a dark palette option, Qt6 build support, Windows ARM64 builds, and the largest set of security fixes in the 3.0 series.

02 Dec 2025 9:58pm GMT

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02 Dec 2025 9:52pm GMT

TLP 1.9 adds a new profiles daemon and a dedicated power-saver mode, expanding Linux power-management capabilities for laptops.

02 Dec 2025 4:39pm GMT