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Once we get computers to match human-level intelligence, they won’t stop there. With deep knowledge, machine-level mathematical abilities, and better algorithms, they’ll create superintelligence, right?

Yeah, there’s no question that machines will eventually be smarter than humans. We don’t know how long it’s going to take—it could be years, it could be centuries.

At that point, do we have to batten down the hatches?

No, no. We’ll all have AI assistants, and it will be like working with a staff of super smart people. They just won’t be people. Humans feel threatened by this, but I think we should feel excited. The thing that excites me the most is working with people who are smarter than me, because it amplifies your own abilities.

But if computers get superintelligent, why would they need us?

There is no reason to believe that just because AI systems are intelligent they will want to dominate us. People are mistaken when they imagine that AI systems will have the same motivations as humans. They just won’t. We’ll design them not to.

What if humans don’t build in those drives, and superintelligence systems wind up hurting humans by single-mindedly pursuing a goal? Like philosopher Nick Bostrom’s example of a system designed to make paper clips no matter what, and it takes over the world to make more of them.

You would be extremely stupid to build a system and not build any guardrails. That would be like building a car with a 1,000-horsepower engine and no brakes. Putting drives into AI systems is the only way to make them controllable and safe. I call this objective-driven AI. This is sort of a new architecture, and we don’t have any demonstration of it at the moment.

That’s what you’re working on now?

Yes. The idea is that the machine has objectives that it needs to satisfy, and it cannot produce anything that does not satisfy those objectives. Those objectives might include guardrails to prevent dangerous things or whatever. That’s how you make an AI system safe.

Do you think you’re going to live to regret the consequences of the AI you helped bring about?

If I thought that was the case, I would stop doing what I’m doing.

You’re a big jazz fan. Could anything generated by AI match the elite, euphoric creativity that so far only humans can produce? Can it produce work that has soul?

The answer is complicated. Yes, in the sense that AI systems eventually will produce music—or visual art, or whatever—with a technical quality similar to what humans can do, perhaps superior. But an AI system doesn’t have the essence of improvised music, which relies on communication of mood and emotion from a human. At least not yet. That’s why jazz music is to be listened to live.

Dyson doesn’t stick to chronological order when naming its stick vacuum models. Sometimes it skips numbers, and sometimes it’ll introduce a lower number as a later model than a higher number. For example, Dyson introduced the V15 immediately after the V11, and then the V12 after the V15. In the broadest sense, the numbers seem to loosely grow larger with each passing release—the V11 is newer than the V10, and the V10 is newer than the V8. But Dyson’s naming system is cryptic enough that even we can’t predict what the subsequent model will be.

Dyson also has a lot of sub-models, because its naming scheme isn’t confusing enough. Each one has a different number of included tool attachments and accessories. Every model (V7, V8, V10, V11, V15, etc.) seems to introduce new sub-models, so the list just keeps growing, and then there are discontinued sub-models that show up as old stock on websites, typically on sale.

Detect isn’t exactly a sub-model, but rather part of the name of the V15 Detect and V12 Detect Slim. It refers to the laser detection system that measures particle size and count to customize suction power.

Absolute is usually the king-of-the-hill version with the most attachments. We can’t list them all, because they vary based on parent model, but expect a variety of brush nozzles, crevice attachments, and motorized roller heads to scrub tough grit off hard floors and out of deep-pile carpets.

Allergy used to mean that it came with an upgraded filter that traps 99.99 percent of bacteria and dust so it expels cleaner air than regular models, but after the V7 all Dyson stick vacs started including the upgraded filters. It’s largely a legacy designation now, and it hasn’t been used on newer models.

Motorhead sounds fancy, but it’s the low-end sub-model that comes with a motorized head, a couple of basic brush and crevice tools, and that’s about it. It’s mostly a holdover from the V7 days. Dyson has found other names for basic sub-models.

Origin, Fluffy, and Animal come with relatively few attachments. The Fluffy and Animal doesn’t come with any unique attachments particular to usefulness in cleaning up after pets; it’s just become shorthand for “base model with fewer attachments.” The same is true for the Origin, although its name makes more sense.

Dyson isn’t above combining sub-model names too. Basically, the more names Dyson slaps onto a model, the more attachments it comes with. For example, the V8 Animal Pro comes with more stuff than the Animal, but the Animal Pro+ comes with even more than that.

Clare Walker, a 23-year-old in Brooklyn, has racked up about $700 worth of gift cards or, in her words, “free money,” by referring her contacts to Flip. “There were definitely some people who I haven’t really kept up with since high school, but I was like, ‘Hey, add me on Flip. Here’s a free 75 dollars, enjoy,’” Walker says. Her purchases on Flip include JBL wireless headphones, a variety of luxury skin-care products, and a live houseplant.

Noor Agha, CEO of Flip’s developer, Humans Inc, says his product’s sudden popularity renders Flip “one of the fastest things that ever happened in ecommerce,” although he declined to share even a ballpark estimate of the size of his user base. He claims to have made the first platform “built for brands only” and rejects the suggestion that cash-incentivized referrals are driving Flip’s rise or are essential to its survival.

Agha argues that by allowing anyone to monetize their reviews, while barring users from directly working with brands as influencers usually do, Flip should foster a more genuine community around commerce than can its established rivals.

“Everybody can earn. It is not by selection of somebody at Flip,” Agha says. He claims that his platform’s design is guided by the question “How do we bring honesty and authenticity to commerce?”

But his recipe for authenticity isn’t foolproof. The prohibition of brand-to-creator interactions may prove difficult to enforce, as brands are accustomed to working with influencers. After her in-app reviews began gaining traction, Collier Barksdale, a 25-year-old Flip user in New York City, was contacted by a beauty and lifestyle brand on Instagram. In a message seen by WIRED, the company offered to send product samples in exchange for Flip reviews. Barksdale did not accept.

And Sky Canaves, a senior analyst of retail and ecommerce at Insider Intelligence, a digital market research firm, questions whether Flip can hold on to the users it’s winning through the current giveaways. “The company is engaged in a very expensive customer acquisition strategy,” she says—one that may be necessary to lure people from platforms like Instagram and TikTok, both of which have added shopping features. “If Flip stops meeting expectations around these types of compensation, then there’s likely to be some pretty significant departure of users.”

Some writer advocacy groups have pushed for this kind of licensing as an alternative to data scraping. The Author’s Guild, for example, is currently agitating for collective licensing agreements to ensure that writers are paid when their work is used as training data for AI companies. The News Media Alliance, a trade association that represents over 2,000 newspapers and magazines in the US, praised Axel Springer’s deal with OpenAI. “These business arrangements are a good start in setting benchmarks for payment, demonstrating precedent of value,” CEO Danielle Coffey said in a statement.

Axel Springer characterised the partnership as a win for journalists, a way to introduce new audiences to their work and help the company prosper. “This benefits the journalists as well as the journalism of the brands involved in the partnership,” Axel Springer spokesperson Julia Sommerfield says.

“Does it, though?” Mike Masnick, editor of the tech policy website Techdirt, has doubts. “It looks like a strategy that we’ll likely see repeated elsewhere, a ‘partnership’ that is effectively the AI companies convincing publishers not to sue them in exchange for some level of access to the technology,” he says. “That access might help the journalists very indirectly, but it’s not flowing into paychecks or realistically making their jobs any easier.”

Axel Springer declined to comment on specifics of the deal. “I can only reiterate our reasons for entering this partnership which is that we see a paradigm shift in journalism: For the first time, there’s a revenue stream from an AI company to a media company for the use of recent content,” Sommerfeld says. “This is exactly what media companies failed to establish back in the day with Google or Facebook—and we’re still chasing those platforms for compensation.”

Bloomberg reported last week that OpenAI will pay Axel Springer tens of millions of euros, but it is entirely unclear whether individual journalists will see any of that money. When asked if reporters would benefit from any revenue-sharing or additional compensation as a result of the licensing arrangement, Axel Springer did not directly answer the question. “The deal is set to be structured in a way that does not infringe on any individual IP or copyright,” Sommerfeld said. So, as of now, it is unclear whether a writer whose work is incorporated into ChatGPT will receive a one-time payment, a recurring royalty-like payment, or no payment at all.

The lawmakers’ letter also claims that NIST is being rushed to define standards even though research into testing AI systems is at an early stage. As a result there is “significant disagreement” among AI experts over how to work on or even measure and define safety issues with the technology, it states. “The current state of the AI safety research field creates challenges for NIST as it navigates its leadership role on the issue,” the letter claims.

NIST spokesperson Jennifer Huergo confirmed that the agency had received the letter and said that it “will respond through the appropriate channels.”

NIST is making some moves that would increase transparency, including issuing a request for information on December 19, soliciting input from outside experts and companies on standards for evaluating and red-teaming AI models. It is unclear if this was a response to the letter sent by the members of Congress.

The concerns raised by lawmakers are shared by some AI experts who have spent years developing ways to probe AI systems. “As a nonpartisan scientific body, NIST is the best hope to cut through the hype and speculation around AI risk,” says Rumman Chowdhury, a data scientist and CEO of Parity Consulting who specializes in testing AI models for bias and other problems. “But in order to do their job well, they need more than mandates and well wishes.”

Yacine Jernite, machine learning and society lead at Hugging Face, a company that supports open source AI projects, says big tech has far more resources than the agency given a key role in implementing the White House’s ambitious AI plan. “NIST has done amazing work on helping manage the risks of AI, but the pressure to come up with immediate solutions for long-term problems makes their mission extremely difficult,” Jernite says. “They have significantly fewer resources than the companies developing the most visible AI systems.”

Margaret Mitchell, chief ethics scientist at Hugging Face, says the growing secrecy around commercial AI models makes measurement more challenging for an organization like NIST. “We can’t improve what we can’t measure,” she says.

The White House executive order calls for NIST to perform several tasks, including establishing a new Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute to support the development of safe AI. In April, a UK taskforce focused on AI safety was announced. It will receive $126 million in seed funding.

The executive order gave NIST an aggressive deadline for coming up with, among other things, guidelines for evaluating AI models, principles for “red-teaming” (adversarially testing) models, developing a plan to get US-allied nations to agree to NIST standards, and coming up with a plan for “advancing responsible global technical standards for AI development.”

Although it isn’t clear how NIST is engaging with big tech companies, discussions on NIST’s risk management framework, which took place prior to the announcement of the executive order, involved Microsoft; Anthropic, a startup formed by ex-OpenAI employees that is building cutting-edge AI models; Partnership on AI, which represents big tech companies; and the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to existential risk, among others.

“As a quantitative social scientist, I’m both loving and hating that people realize that the power is in measurement,” Chowdhury says.

Samsung sells a dizzying number of soundbars, which can make choosing anything apart from its multi-speaker Dolby Atmos flagship, the HW-Q990C (or older Q990B), pretty confusing. The HW-Q800C, which sits a step or two beneath the Q990, stands out as a top choice for those looking to dive into 3D soundscapes and great sound at a more reasonable price.

The Q800C is a chip off the old Q990 block, borrowing the same angular hexagon profile and plenty of trickle-down features in a pared-down package. As a two-piece system, it’s easier to incorporate into your listening room than Samsung’s priciest bar, while its included subwoofer gives it a cinematic edge over stand-alone options like the Sonos Arc and other competitors.

The kicker is that you can usually pick up the Q800C for well below its $1,000 MSRP, often as low as $700, which makes its impressive sound quality and generous feature set all the more enticing. While not without its limitations, this is a compelling Atmos bar that’s well worth considering on a midrange budget, even if it floats under the radar.

Easy Setup, Plenty of Extras

Samsung makes nearly everything simple with its soundbars, though unboxing the Q800C may be the exception. Its L-shaped packaging seems almost designed to confound, requiring you to open multiple ends to dig everything out. That said, after renegotiating its position and freeing the contents, I had the subwoofer and 46-inch bar in place and belting out sound in no time.

You’ll most likely be connecting the system to your TV over HDMI ARC/eARC, which offers the best sound and simplified control over power and volume with your TV remote. Most newer TVs will find the bar and send sound automatically, but older setups may require you to choose it as an external device. If your TV is notably seasoned, you may need to connect over the Q800C’s optical input, but this negates Dolby Atmos, which kind of defeats the point.

The Q800C supports Dolby’s object-based Atmos sound format at full resolution from sources like 4K Blu-ray directly from the bar’s spare HDMI input, or in compressed form via streaming services. Unlike Sonos’ and Bose’s top soundbars, the Q800C also supports Dolby Atmos’ primary 3D-audio competitor, DTS:X, alongside just about every other major audio format you’ll encounter.

The Q800C offers some Samsung-only tricks, including the ability to source Atmos wirelessly from select models like the brand’s Q-series TVs or work in tandem with their onboard TV speakers via the proprietary Q-Symphony system. Users of any TV can enjoy other modern features like a built-in voice assistant via Amazon Alexa, and Spacefit sound calibration to automatically analyze your room and adjust performance accordingly (though I’m not sure I heard much improvement there).

Connecting the bar to your Wi-Fi network via the SmartThings app lets you dig into settings like channel levels and EQ, and going online unlocks high-quality streaming over Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and Apple AirPlay. Google’s Chromecast is conspicuously absent (in the US version anyway), but Bluetooth streaming is available as an alternative.

Thrilling, Swirling Sound

Photograph: Samsung

After spending countless hours listening to Samsung’s latest soundbars, it was no surprise to find that the Q800C serves up brilliant sound across a wide variety of content. The sound profile is highlighted by full-bodied midrange and bass frequencies, treble that sings with sweet lyricism in brass and strings, and solid dynamics that bring out everything from subtle dialog to potent explosions (or both at once) with tempered balance.

Following the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a daunting task. It completely reimagined what a Zelda game could be, and created a massive, beautiful world where you could visit anything you saw. Its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, didn’t break the mold. It fine-tuned it, giving players one more very compelling reason to return to Hyrule.

We could go on about how gorgeous the game is, or its successful iteration on the systems laid out in BOTW, or even just how much we love its characters. But what really makes this game special is its ability to build just about anything you can dream of with Ultrahand and Fuse—which players naturally used to create flamethrowing dicks, a jail for Ganondorf, a Gundam, torture devices, and so much more. Game of the year.

Spider-Man 2

Platform: PlayStation 5

Superhero games don’t have the best track record, but Insomniac Games is the exception. Picking up after the events in Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the game follows Peter Parker and Miles as they face off against their personal lives and new foes like Venom and Kraven the Hunter. Both Peter and Miles feel refreshingly distinct and perfectly complementary, even as Insomniac turns their world into a playground of skyscrapers to swing through amid the game’s twisting story. And, of course, who could forget its world full of wild NPC conversations?

Super Mario RPG

Platform: Nintendo Switch

One of the best games Nintendo released this year is also its oldest. Super Mario RPG, which combined the role-playing sensibilities of Final Fantasy games with Nintendo’s characters, is a delightfully weird, extremely ’90s adventure. After a giant, talking sword foils Bowser’s latest attempt to kidnap Peach, Mario is tasked with collecting seven stars to restore the world’s ability to make wishes.

It’s a pretty simple premise that plays out in much weirder ways. The game’s original invading villains are all weapons (including a Power Rangers spoof); Mario and Bowser join forces with a talking doll; mini-games include everything from hiding behind curtains to bouncing off barrels while dashing uphill. Super Mario RPG is funny and full of unforgettable moments that make its remaster unforgettable, even after all this time.

It’s been a year, that’s for sure. Every week on Gadget Lab, we end the show by bringing you our recommendations for all of our favorite tech, books, TV shows, and life hacks. Now, at the end of the year, we’re going all-in on that idea with an entire episode dedicated to those recommendations. We talk about all the things that helped us get through 2023 and have us looking forward to 2024.

This week on Gadget Lab, we make the mistake of letting our producer Boone Ashworth grab a mic again. He joins Lauren and Michael to talk about the best gadgets, lifestyle changes, shows, and culinary curiosities of 2023.

Show Notes

Our talk with Casey Johnston from May of 2023 can be found in episode number 598. Read more about ActivityPub and the coming federated social media landscape. Here’s our review of the new Valve Steam Deck OLED. See our list of our favorite electric kettles.

Recommendations

Boone recommends running a half marathon or two, the new OLED Steam Deck, and Ableton Live software for making music (or at least pretending you understand how to). Lauren recommends lifting weights for fitness, an Oxo electric kettle, and the 2021 movie The Worst Person in the World. Mike recommends getting to know ActivityPub, watching the show Scavenger’s Reign on Max, and eating lots of chili crisp.

Boone Ashworth can be found on social media @booneashworth. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth. Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

How to Listen

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If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts, and search for Gadget Lab. If you use Android, you can find us in the Google Podcasts app just by tapping here. We’re on Spotify too. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed.