Apple is behind in the AI race — and now its researchers say rival technologies ‘collapse' and quit easily, too
Apple is trailing its major rivals in rolling out artificial intelligence-related technologies — but its researchers say the technology may be overhyped anyway.
Apple AAPL in a research paper took aim at so-called reasoning models, from the big names in AI — OpenAI, DeepSeek, Anthropic and Alphabet's Google GOOGL.
'It might be another Apple or Microsoft': My wife invested $100K in one stock and it exploded 1,500%. Do we sell?
Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains
'I prepaid our mom's rent for a year': My sister is a millionaire and never helps our mother. How do I cut her out of her will?
'The situation is extreme': I'm 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will?
I have $1,000 in credit-card debt. Will I be able to hide my inheritance from the bank?
With puzzles including the Tower of Hanoi, a classic mathematical puzzle involving stacking disks, Apple tested these models.
'Rather than standard benchmarks (e.g., math problems), we adopt controllable puzzle environments that let us vary complexity systematically — by adjusting puzzle elements while preserving the core logic — and inspect both solutions and internal reasoning,' the paper states.
In all of the models, accuracy progressively declines as problem complexity increases, until reaching complete collapse, or zero accuracy.
And not only do the reasoning models fail to get the right answer, they have something of a quitters' mentality. 'Near this collapse point, [large reasoning models] begin reducing their reasoning effort (measured by inference-time tokens) as problem complexity increases, despite operating well below generation length limits,' the researchers say.
This laziness is most pronounced in the o3-mini variants of OpenAI, and less severe in Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
One other finding was even when Apple told the models the correct algorithm for solving the Tower of Hanoi, their performance didn't improve.
The paper started circulating on social media over the weekend, though there's no release date on it.
An Apple developers conference is due to start on Monday. ChatGPT is used in the Apple Intelligence service that was rolled out, to lackluster reviews, last fall.
I bought my mother-in-law a condo — and she took out a $30,000 car loan. Now she refuses to get a roommate.
I help my elderly mother every day and drive her to appointments. Can I recoup my costs from her estate?
'He failed in his fiduciary duty': My brother liquidated our mother's 401(k) for her nursing home. He claimed the rest.
Third time lucky? Citi changes its S&P target once more after index hits 6,000.
Risky stocks and safe-haven gold are both aiming for records. Who will blink first?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
an hour ago
- CNET
The Beats Earbuds I Recommend Most for Workouts Are Back Down to Their Best-Ever Price
Beats launched the Powerbeats Pro 2 earlier this year after a six-year hiatus in the lineup. The new pair introduced a built-in heart rate tracker, improved the ergonomics, and borrowed the Apple H2 chip from the AirPods Pro 2. I've been using them on and off since launch, and these are my new go-to earbuds to use for workouts. If you're in the market for ear-hook style true-wireless earbuds, you're in luck. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are available at their lowest price yet. Despite being relatively new to the market, the $250 Beats earbuds are seeing a $50 discount on both Amazon and Best Buy. You don't need to enter any codes or clip any coupons to take advantage of this offer. It's a limited-time deal, though, so we don't know how long it'll hang around for. The Powerbeats Pro 2 are feature-packed Android users have to manually start the heart rate monitor in the app or use the control button on the buds. Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET Beats' new workout earbuds represent one of the biggest generational updates to this model. They come equipped with the Apple H2 chip, which puts them on par with the AirPods Pro 2. Beats says it's "leveraged Apple's best noise canceling." I find that I get a good, secure seal when I'm wearing them, so the noise cancellation performance is pretty good. However, they're tuned differently compared with the flagship Apple earbuds. The Powerbeats Pro 2 are more bassy, which some gym enthusiasts might appreciate. The best part about them is their fit, thanks to their ear hook build. The music never left my ears. Whether I was on a run or in the gym, the earbuds sat comfortably. More than the fit, I was surprised by the voice-calling performance. As CNET's David Carnoy noted in his review, "Thanks to the H2 chip, new microphones and voice accelerometers to help pinpoint your voice, Beats has made some big improvements in the voice department." Read more: Best True Wireless Earbuds With Ear Hooks for 2025 I haven't relied on their heart rate monitoring system, because I have an Apple Watch. And if you're like me and you already own the Apple Watch, your iPhone will prioritize readings from the Watch. If you don't own one, it'll show the heart rate data in Apple's Health app. Like other Beats products, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are also platform-agnostic, and the company says all Android fitness and wellness apps with heart rate monitoring capabilities are compatible with its earbuds. That said, the Powerbeats Pro 2 offer a few Apple-exclusive features, like personalized spatial audio with head tracking, hands-free Siri, audio sharing and iCloud pairing across all your Apple devices logged in to your iCloud account. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 key specs Weight: 8.7 grams per earbud (case weighs 69 grams) Bluetooth 5.3 Apple H2 chip Custom designed, dual-element dynamic diaphragm transducer IPX4 splash-proof and sweat-proof Active noise cancellation (adaptive) Transparency mode Adaptive EQ Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking Six microphones total (one dedicated voice microphone on each earbud) Sensors (per bud): Optical in-ear detection, optical heart rate monitoring, accelerometer, gyroscope Customizable controls Five sizes of soft silicon ear tips (XS, S, M, L, XL) Wireless charging case (Qi compatible or via USB-C cable) Battery life: Up to 10 hours with ANC off (8 hours with ANC on) 35 additional hours from charging case with ANC off (28 hours with ANC on) Fast Fuel: 5-minute charge gets you up to 1.5 hours of playback Telephony: Up to five microphones employed for phone calls, wind-noise reduction, voice accelerometer isolates user's voice Colors: Electric Orange, jet black, Hyper Purple and Quick Sand The case isn't easy to carry Prakhar Khanna/CNET Though Beats made the Powerbeats Pro 2 50% smaller, the case is still on the bigger side. It isn't as comfortable as carrying other earbud cases, especially when you go for a run. I leave the case at home most of the time, but if you want a pair of earbuds that's easy to carry in a case, the Powerbeats Pro 2 aren't for you. That said, if portability isn't a priority, the Powerbeats Pro 2 can be counted among the best ear hook earbuds on the market right now, which is why they're on CNET's list of the best wireless earbuds of 2025. They offer good sound quality and great noise cancellation and voice call performance, and they stay snug in your ears. They also offer heart rate detection. With the $50 discount, this might be the best time to buy them. If you're interested in other options to improve your listening experience, check out our roundup of the best earbud and headphone deals.
The Verge
an hour ago
- The Verge
All the Android features Apple announced at WWDC
Apple announcing Android features years after Google shipped them is a tale as old as time, but that doesn't make it any less fun to point out whenever it happens. This year's WWDC felt especially Android-y — not helped by Siri essentially sitting this year's announcements out while Apple put its new Liquid Glass design language front and center. The imitation goes both ways: Android is launching its version of iOS' Live Activities and is following Apple's lead by adding more customization options to quick settings tiles. Still, I couldn't help noticing a string of new features from Apple's the keynote that I've definitely seen somewhere before. Not that Apple would ever admit to borrowing them. Call Screening and Hold Assist Screen Call dates back to Android 12, and Pixel phones have offered a version of the feature even longer. Earlier versions required you to manually invoke the feature, but on the Pixel 7 and newer you can have it automatically answer and screen incoming calls likely to be spam. Apple's version launching with iOS 26 picks up automatically. Screen Call is something I certainly miss when I move from Android to iOS, so as long as it works reasonably well, I think it's going to be a welcome feature on the iPhone. Hold assist is another familiar phone feature. Google's version debuted in 2020 on Pixel phones and then started trickling out to the rest of the ecosystem last year. The feature works much the same way as it will on iOS 26: instead of having to stay on the line and listen to hold music, you can put your phone down and you'll get an alert when a human is ready to talk to you. It's super handy! I find myself being pushed to work my problems out with web-based customer service chatbots more than on the phone lately, but in the rare times when I need to hold it's usually for an unreasonable amount of time. I'll take it. Translations! At the phone app Recent Samsung phones already offer live language translation that's baked into the phone app that looks a lot like what Apple unveiled this week. They both provide real-time, spoken translations from the caller's language to the recipient's and vice versa. Don't expect to have a lengthy, nuanced conversation using either of these features, but at least Samsung's version is capable enough for its intended use: short, transactional exchanges like reserving a table or a hotel room. In both cases, translations extend to messaging, too. Samsung's version will offer to tailor your messages to different writing styles in an effort to avoid sounding too casual at the wrong time. Could come in handy! Suggesting actions based on what's on your screen Google has been chasing the whole 'using contextual awareness to surface information' since the dawn of time — or at least since 2012. Same with searching what's on your screen, courtesy Google Lens. In the generative AI era, this has extended to Circle to Search, which uses intelligence to try and better identify what it is you're searching for. Now, Apple is offering a version of this based on screenshots. On phones with Apple Intelligence, you'll see some new options when you take a screenshot. If there's a time and date on the screen, it'll suggest making a calendar event. You can also circle, er, highlight something on screen to search for it. Apple's version always starts with a screenshot, which is clever. People who are unaware of the new feature will likely find it pop up in a place they're already familiar with. Google's Circle to Search requires unique navigation, usually double tapping the handle at the bottom of the screen. Personally, I'm still training myself to use that gesture rather than just opening a new tab and typing out a search in Chrome. I doubt I'm alone. Tabbing between photo and video recording in the camera app iOS 26 shakes up the camera app UI by hiding most of the shooting modes by default except for two: photo and video. The rest appear when you scroll to the left or right, so you can still find your portrait or panorama options. But the simple video / photo dichotomy calls to mind the toggle between those two options on Pixel phones. In the Pixel camera app, it's a standalone toggle, so it's always in reach no matter what mode you're shooting in. But I appreciate that both options put this core functionality front and center. And hey, if you want to turn your regular photo into a panorama, you can always use AI after the fact. Right??
Tom's Guide
an hour ago
- Tom's Guide
ChatGPT Projects just got a big upgrade — here's what's new
OpenAI has rolled out an update to its ChatGPT Projects feature, adding tools designed to support more structured, long-term work like research, writing and planning. Announced today on X, Projects now offer a more organized way to group related chats, files and instructions — functioning more like focused workspaces than standalone conversations. With the latest additions, the feature takes a step closer to becoming a more comprehensive productivity tool. Projects Update 📝We're adding more capabilities to projects in ChatGPT to help you do more focused work.✅ Deep research support✅ Voice mode support✅ Improved memory to reference past chats in projects✅ Upload files and access the model selector on mobileJune 12, 2025 Originally launched as a way to group related chats and files, ChatGPT Projects are designed to support ongoing efforts with memory, context and custom instructions. Users may think of them as individual workspaces where ChatGPT remembers you enough to stay on-topic. Now, Projects have received a set of enhanced upgrades that make them versatile for capabilities such as deep research, voice support and improved memory. The feature has also been expanded for mobile access. Deep research support: You can now run multi-step research within a project that blends your instructions, chats and files with public web results. It's like having a research assistant who already knows what you're working on. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Voice mode inside projects: Tap the microphone to talk hands-free with ChatGPT. This feature is helpful for brainstorming, reviewing documents or asking questions on the go. Memory across project chats: If you're a Plus or Pro user, memory can now reference past chats in your project to keep responses focused and informed by your previous conversations. Mobile upgrades: You can now upload files and switch models directly from the ChatGPT mobile app. This is helpful for users who rely on their phones to get things done or just prefer the app version to the desktop. Share individual chats: Projects now let you generate a unique link to share a single conversation, without exposing the rest of your project's files or instructions. Until now, ChatGPT has mostly been a single-session tool. Projects change that. You can now move existing chats into projects, set specific instructions and upload key files like spreadsheets or PDFs. ChatGPT will keep track of everything. Need to ask it to summarize last week's meeting notes, compare this quarter's KPIs or design a slide deck based on your uploaded brief? It can do that, and remember how your tone or formatting preferences evolve over time. You can even toggle Voice Mode for more natural brainstorming, or use the Canvas tool to collaborate on documents or layouts directly within a project. While all users can create projects, Plus and Pro subscribers get access to premium features like memory across chats and reference chat history, which allow for deeper context and continuity. OpenAI states on their site that projects inherit your existing privacy settings — and that no data is used to train models if those settings are turned off. With these updates, ChatGPT is aiming to support users as a productivity hub with Projects bringing everything together in one spot. We'll be testing the new upgrades over the coming days. Stay tuned for our hands-on guide to using Projects like a pro.
