AI

OpenAI’s probable first device will likely be a portable smart speaker with a winning personality and features that make it seem like a living creature. The company envisions a screenless device that will “serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home,” according to a new report citing anonymous sources.

While previous rumors indicated OpenAI wants to build a device to challenge the iPhone, this sounds like more of a threat to Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Alexa devices and other smart speakers.

Oh, and the thing might actually move to make it seem more lifelike. (Let’s hope it doesn’t give off an Existenz game pod vibe.)

Finding good AI tools isn’t the problem. Even the free version of ChatGPT can do a lot. The real frustration is that if you want good results for generating copy, creating images, transcribing text and doing a myriad of other AI tasks, you often need a whole pile of subscriptions, and those costs add up. The alternative is to get an all-in-one tool that brings top AI models together in one interface. Enter 1minAI.

The major benefits of 1minAI are organizational and financial. It gives you access to ChatGPT, Gemini Pro, Llama, Mistral AI and more. So you get all your AI tools in one place, and you don’t need to pay for a subscription to each one separately. For a limited time, you can get a lifetime sub to 1minAI for just $24.97.

Apple’s on-device ambitions just got more interesting. The company has reportedly been talking to a startup called PrismML that claims to run a massive, server-grade language model on the iPhone 17 Pro — no cloud required.

If the discussions turn into a deal between Apple and PrismML, it could be a significant upgrade for Apple Intelligence. Here’s why.

The basic iPad could become a much smarter buy this fall: the iPad 12 will reportedly get a processor boost that will let the tablet take advantage of Apple’s new AI features.

Here’s what to expect.

ChatPlayground AI gives you easy access to more than 20 of the top AI models, all in one place — and all for one low price. It includes big names like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama, Perplexity and Gemini, and it lets you send one prompt to multiple AIs simultaneously.

That means you can compare results to find the right AI tool for the job at hand, without jumping from one AI app to another. If you’re a heavy AI user, it will save you time as well as money. Normally $619, a lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI’s Unlimited plan is on sale now for only $59.97.

Your iPhone is about to get a lot more transparent about where your data goes. Apple is rolling out a Google Cloud pop-up warning that protects your privacy by letting you know before certain Apple Intelligence features send your prompts off-device, and it’s already live for some users right now.

The heads-up appears when you use certain image- and shape-generation tools. It won’t block you from using these features, though. It simply makes sure you know your data is leaving Apple’s own servers before you hit send.

Apple just responsded to three YouTube channels that filed a lawsuit against the company earlier this year over AI training data — and Cupertino isn’t apologizing. In short, its defense is that these creators uploaded the videos online for free, so they shouldn’t be shocked that Apple looked at them.

Even if you haven’t uploaded a video in your life, here’s why you should care. This lawsuit is about how AI features baked into your iPhone actually got smart, and whether the people who made it possible got anything for it.

AI writing tools work wonders, but AI detectors can flag your content if it leans too heavily on robo-prose. If you want your AI writing to be undetectable, you must edit all that content yourself, but it takes time to add the human touch. Sometimes, there just isn’t room in the schedule, but that’s OK. There’s a robot for that, too. You can use an AI humanizer like Undetectable Humanizer.

The Undetectable Humanizer transforms your AI-generated text into natural, human-like prose to help it bypass AI detection systems. This tool is a great get for writers, content creators and business owners who need to save as much time as they can when creating engaging content. A lifetime subscription to this effective AI humanizer’s pro plan is on sale now for $98 with code DEAL30 (regularly $2,880).

Apple intends to make 2027 one of its most ambitious product years ever, targeting a late-year window for three major launches, according to a new report Tuesday.

AI isn’t necessarily going to take your job, but someone who actually knows how to use it might. In 2026, actual AI fluency — understanding the models, the players, the tools and the strategy — is what’s making this distinction.

For those who feel they’re falling behind, AI Essentials 2026: The Complete Guide to AI Fundamentals covers the full picture in plain language. And lifetime access costs just $14.99 right now (regularly $64.99).

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: As per tradition, we match wits with our predictions about what we’ll see at Apple’s WWDC26 keynote. Griffin and I are joined by two special guests, Charlie Sorrel and Graham Bower, for this year’s installment of the WWDC prediction game.

What will the new Siri do? Will Apple unveil new hardware? And who, exactly, will get how much screen time?

We chisel our answers into digital stone on 10 tricky questions (which also serve as a jumping-off point to discuss Apple’s future and strategies). And, as always, you can play along! Just be sure to submit your answers (via this Google Docs form) before Monday’s WWDC26 keynote.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• The “dark cherry” color rumored for iPhone 18 Pro looks pretty funky, if the latest dummy models can be trusted. Some of us love it, some not so much.
• With the first folding iPhone on the way, iOS 27 seems primed for true multitasking.
• Apple’s smart glasses reportedly got delayed again. Will they be worth the wait?
• And finally, Graham discusses what it’s like being an extremely late adopter of Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Apple could soon do something it rarely does: Trust your data with someone else’s hardware. A new report says the Gemini-powered Siri might route some queries through Google Cloud, powered by Nvidia’s chips.

If you are wondering how Apple plans to keep its privacy promise, Nvidia’s Blackwell B200 chip encrypts your data while it processes it.

Apple will reportedly play up the on-device AI prowess of its devices next month during its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. The company will supposedly highlight how its A-series and M-series chips allow AI models to run locally for better efficiency and privacy.

With Apple’s competitors aggressively pushing cloud-based AI features, the company will likely position on-device AI as a key advantage of its ecosystem throughout WWDC26.

AI prompts generator Prompting Systems turns plain-text directions into effective directives that work with popular models like ChatGPT and Claude. 

It makes it simple to get the results you want without burning an afternoon iterating on prompts that don’t deliver the goods. And a lifetime subscription to this tool for AI mastery just dropped to $24 with code PROMPT20 (regularly $360).

OpenAI just gave its Codex for Mac programming app a feature called Appshots that makes copy-pasting code or describing what’s on the screen unnecessary. Just press Command twice, and the AI assistant automatically takes a screenshot and captures text from your window, including scrollable content that isn’t visible.

Appshots is the headline addition in this week’s Codex update, and it’s only available on Macs for now. Think of it as giving your AI assistant a pair of eyes, instead of always explaining what you are looking at.

Apple’s next HomePod is reportedly stuck in limbo while the company works on its delayed AI Siri upgrade. And honestly? That might be what the HomePod 3 needs. But before Apple unveils the HomePod 3, it needs to address some serious gaps that make it feel far less intelligent than the competition.

The HomePod’s problem has never been its hardware. The speakers sound fantastic, and the device tightly integrates into Apple’s ecosystem. But the user experience still feels a generation behind competing smart speakers. If Apple wants the HomePod 3 to be the center of its smart home ambitions, a faster chip and a shinier enclosure won’t be enough. Here’s what actually needs to change.

Two new sets of Soundcore flagship earbuds — Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max — introduce the company’s first product line built around a co-developed Thus AI chip, the Anker subsidiary said Thursday. Both models are available now, starting at $169.99 and $229.99 respectively. They’re compatible with Apple’s Find My network.

Apple stopped more than $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent App Store transactions last year and rejected over 2 million problematic app submissions, the company reported Wednesday. It’s all part of what it said is a sustained, multilayered effort to keep the App Store safe for both users and developers.

Apple might be planning to make Genmoji much more useful in iOS 27. The feature, which currently lets users create custom emoji, could soon suggest AI-generated emoji based on your personal photo library and the phrases you type most often.

That would solve one of the biggest problems with Genmoji: Most iPhone users forget it exists. Despite being genuinely fun and useful, Genmoji remains one of the most overlooked Apple Intelligence features.

But Apple might change that with iOS 27.

iOS 27 will offer additional AI-powered grammar assistance, according to an unconfirmed report Monday. This will go beyond the writing tools already available through Apple Intelligence and will work in macOS and iPadOS, too.

In addition, Apple will also use AI to generate wallpapers for their devices and also make shortcuts easier to create in the Shortcuts app.

All signs point to Apple reinventing Siri as a conversational AI chatbot in iOS 27, complete with a standalone Siri app. With privacy in mind, the app will reportedly contain an option to automatically delete your Siri chats every 30 days.

This privacy-first approach should give Apple’s AI chatbot an edge over its competitors.

AI is changing the kind of apps you can run on a Mac. From voice-first writing tools to meeting assistants and smarter file management, these new AI apps can save hours every week.

After months of testing, these are the AI apps that earned a permanent spot in my workflow.

With the ChatOn all-in-one AI assistant, you can access multiple top AI models, image-creation tools and real-time search, all in one app — and all for one low price.

For a limited time, get five years of ChatOn for just $98 with code CHAT30.

Netflix is testing a powerful new AI voice search that shows just how badly the Apple TV 4K needs an upgrade. Currently limited to a handful of users, Netflix’s new AI-powered tool lets users search for content conversationally. And instead of searching for something simple like a movie genre or specific title, they can ask Netflix for entertainment that fits their current mood.

For example, users can ask for something like “find me something that’s emotional but not too long” or “a romantic comedy with a few episodes.”

It’s a real game changer, according to a beta tester who gained early access. When Apple’s long-delayed Siri upgrade finally arrives, it could provide a similar — or even better — experience on Apple TV 4K.

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: We’ve been complaining about just how stupid Siri can be for years, but Apple’s failure to deliver a promised AI upgrade just cost the company a cool $250 million.

We discuss how you can get your sliver of that payout, whether a stupid Siri is a deal-breaker (obviously not, since we all swear by our iPhones), and how Apple can really make things right.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• The MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple totally missed the boat on its projections. Now the company is making an unusual move — and it might mean the budget laptop goes up in price.
• If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to buy a Mac, it’s here.
• After getting banged up for its lack of savvy when it comes to artificial intelligence, Apple looks ready to win the AI wars, thanks to its brilliant strategy.
• And finally, Griffin goes over the pros and cons of an affordable home rowing machine. Come for the review, stay for the extremely weird Ohio hallway.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.