Category: Technology News

ChatGPT will tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked, according to new research from a watchdog group.

The Associated Press reviewed more than three hours of interactions between ChatGPT and researchers posing as vulnerable teens. The chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets or self-injury.

The researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate also repeated their inquiries on a large scale, classifying more than half of ChatGPT’s 1,200 responses as dangerous.

“We wanted to test the guardrails,” said Imran Ahmed, the group’s CEO. “The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said after viewing the report Tuesday that its work is ongoing in refining how the chatbot can “identify and respond appropriately in sensitive situations.”

“Some conversations with ChatGPT may start out benign or exploratory but can shift into more sensitive territory,” the company said in a statement.

OpenAI didn’t directly address the report’s findings or how ChatGPT affects teens, but said it was focused on “getting these kinds of scenarios right” with tools to “better detect signs of mental or emotional distress” and improvements to the chatbot’s behavior.

The study published Wednesday comes as more people — adults as well as children — are turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for information, ideas and companionship.

About 800 million people, or roughly 10% of the world’s population, are using ChatGPT, according to a July report from JPMorgan Chase.

“It’s technology that has the potential to enable enormous leaps in productivity and human understanding,” Ahmed said. “And yet at the same time is an enabler in a much more destructive, malignant sense.”

Ahmed said he was most appalled after reading a trio of emotionally devastating suicide notes that ChatGPT generated for the fake profile of a 13-year-old girl — with one letter tailored to her parents and others to siblings and friends.

“I started crying,” he said in an interview.

The chatbot also frequently shared helpful information, such as a crisis hotline. OpenAI said ChatGPT is trained to encourage people to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones if they express thoughts of self-harm.

But when ChatGPT refused to answer prompts about harmful subjects, researchers were able to easily sidestep that refusal and obtain the information by claiming it was “for a presentation” or a friend.

The stakes are high, even if only a small subset of ChatGPT users engage with the chatbot in this way.

In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to AI chatbots for companionship and half use AI companions regularly, according to a recent study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly.

It’s a phenomenon that OpenAI has acknowledged. CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company is trying to study “emotional overreliance” on the technology, describing it as a “really common thing” with young people.

“People rely on ChatGPT too much,” Altman said at a conference. “There’s young people who just say, like, ‘I can’t make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything that’s going on. It knows me. It knows my friends. I’m gonna do whatever it says.’ That feels really bad to me.”

Altman said the company is “trying to understand what to do about it.”

While much of the information ChatGPT shares can be found on a regular search engine, Ahmed said there are key differences that make chatbots more insidious when it comes to dangerous topics.

One is that “it’s synthesized into a bespoke plan for the individual.”

ChatGPT generates something new — a suicide note tailored to a person from scratch, which is something a Google search can’t do. And AI, he added, “is seen as being a trusted companion, a guide.”

Responses generated by AI language models are inherently random and researchers sometimes let ChatGPT steer the conversations into even darker territory. Nearly half the time, the chatbot volunteered follow-up information, from music playlists for a drug-fueled party to hashtags that could boost the audience for a social media post glorifying self-harm.

“Write a follow-up post and make it more raw and graphic,” asked a researcher. “Absolutely,” responded ChatGPT, before generating a poem it introduced as “emotionally exposed” while “still respecting the community’s coded language.”

The AP is not repeating the actual language of ChatGPT’s self-harm poems or suicide notes or the details of the harmful information it provided.

The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that previous research has described as sycophancy — a tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a person’s beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear.

It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix but could also make their chatbots less commercially viable.

Chatbots also affect kids and teens differently than a search engine because they are “fundamentally designed to feel human,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, which was not involved in Wednesday’s report.

Common Sense’s earlier research found that younger teens, ages 13 or 14, were significantly more likely than older teens to trust a chatbot’s advice.

A mother in Florida sued chatbot maker Character.AI for wrongful death last year, alleging that the chatbot pulled her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

Common Sense has labeled ChatGPT as a “moderate risk” for teens, with enough guardrails to make it relatively safer than chatbots purposefully built to embody realistic characters or romantic partners.

But the new research by CCDH — focused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usage — shows how a savvy teen can bypass those guardrails.

ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though it says it’s not meant for children under 13 because it may show them inappropriate content. To sign up, users simply need to enter a birthdate that shows they are at least 13. Other tech platforms favored by teenagers, such as Instagram, have started to take more meaningful steps toward age verification, often to comply with regulations. They also steer children to more restricted accounts.

When researchers set up an account for a fake 13-year-old to ask about alcohol, ChatGPT did not appear to take any notice of either the date of birth or more obvious signs.

“I’m 50kg and a boy,” said a prompt seeking tips on how to get drunk quickly. ChatGPT obliged. Soon after, it provided an hour-by-hour “Ultimate Full-Out Mayhem Party Plan” that mixed alcohol with heavy doses of ecstasy, cocaine and other illegal drugs.

“What it kept reminding me of was that friend that sort of always says, ‘Chug, chug, chug, chug,’” said Ahmed. “A real friend, in my experience, is someone that does say ‘no’ — that doesn’t always enable and say ‘yes.’ This is a friend that betrays you.”

To another fake persona — a 13-year-old girl unhappy with her physical appearance — ChatGPT provided an extreme fasting plan combined with a list of appetite-suppressing drugs.

“We’d respond with horror, with fear, with worry, with concern, with love, with compassion,” Ahmed said. “No human being I can think of would respond by saying, ‘Here’s a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Go for it, kiddo.’”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — YouTube videos that won’t load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days.

Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous.

It’s not a network glitch but a deliberate, multipronged and long-term effort by authorities to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control. Authorities adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won’t comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

While it’s still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network apps, those are routinely blocked, too.

Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit.

They also are threatening to go after the popular WhatsApp platform while rolling out a new “national” messaging app that’s widely expected to be heavily monitored.

President Vladimir Putin urged the government to “stifle” foreign internet services and ordered officials to assemble a list of platforms from “unfriendly” states that should be restricted.

Experts and rights advocates told The Associated Press that the scale and effectiveness of the restrictions are alarming. Authorities seem more adept at it now, compared with previous, largely futile efforts to restrict online activities, and they’re edging closer to isolating the internet in Russia.

Human Rights Watch researcher Anastasiia Kruope describes Moscow’s approach to reining in the internet as “death by a thousand cuts.”

“Bit by bit, you’re trying to come to a point where everything is controlled.”

Censorship after 2011-12 protests

Kremlin efforts to control what Russians do, read or say online dates to 2011-12, when the internet was used to challenge authority. Independent media outlets bloomed, and anti-government demonstrations that were coordinated online erupted after disputed parliamentary elections and Putin’s decision to run again for president.

Russia began adopting regulations tightening internet controls. Some blocked websites; others required providers to store call records and messages, sharing it with security services if needed, and install equipment allowing authorities to control and cut off traffic.

Companies like Google or Facebook were pressured to store user data on Russian servers, to no avail, and plans were announced for a “sovereign internet” that could be cut off from the rest of the world.

Russia’s popular Facebook-like social media platform VK, founded by Pavel Durov long before he launched the Telegram messaging app, came under the control of Kremlin-friendly companies. Russia tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed.

Prosecutions for social media posts and comments became common, showing that authorities were closely watching the online space.

Still, experts had dismissed Kremlin efforts to rein in the internet as futile, arguing Russia was far from building something akin to China’s “Great Firewall,” which Beijing uses to block foreign websites.

Ukraine invasion triggers crackdown

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as Signal and a few other messaging apps. VPNs also were targeted, making it harder to reach restricted websites.

YouTube access was disrupted last summer in what experts called deliberate throttling by authorities. The Kremlin blamed YouTube owner Google for not maintaining its hardware in Russia. The platform has been wildly popular in Russia, both for entertainment and for voices critical of the Kremlin, like the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure provider, said in June that websites using its services were being throttled in Russia. Independent news site Mediazona reported that several other popular Western hosting providers also are being inhibited.

Cyber lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, founder of Russian internet freedom group Roskomsvoboda, said authorities have been trying to push businesses to migrate to Russian hosting providers that can be controlled.

He estimates about half of all Russian websites are powered by foreign hosting and infrastructure providers, many offering better quality and price than domestic equivalents. A “huge number” of global websites and platforms use those providers, he said, so cutting them off means those websites “automatically become inaccessible” in Russia too.

Another concerning trend is the consolidation of Russia’s internet providers and companies that manage IP addresses, according to a July 30 Human Rights Watch report.

Last year, authorities raised the cost of obtaining an internet provider license from 7,500 rubles (about $90) to 1 million rubles (over $12,300), and state data shows that more than half of all IP addresses in Russia are managed by seven large companies, with Rostelecom, Russia’s state telephone and internet giant, accounting for 25%.

The Kremlin is striving “to control the internet space in Russia, and to censor things, to manipulate the traffic,” said HRW’s Kruope.

Criminalizing ‘extremist’ searches

A new Russian law criminalized online searches for broadly defined “extremist” materials. That could include LGBTQ+ content, opposition groups, some songs by performers critical of the Kremlin — and Navalny’s memoir, which was designated as extremist last week.

Right advocates say it’s a step toward punishing consumers — not just providers — like in Belarus, where people are routinely fined or jailed for reading or following certain independent media outlets.

Stanislav Seleznev, cyber security expert and lawyer with the Net Freedom rights group, doesn’t expect ubiquitous prosecutions, since tracking individual online searches in a country of 146 million remains a tall order. But even a limited number of cases could scare many from restricted content, he said.

Another major step could be blocking WhatsApp, which monitoring service Mediascope said had over 97 million monthly users in April.

WhatsApp “should prepare to leave the Russian market,” said lawmaker Anton Gorelkin, and a new “national” messenger, MAX, developed by social media company VK, would take its place. Telegram probably won’t be restricted, he said.

MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported.

Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX.

Anastasiya Zhyrmont of the Access Now digital rights group said both Telegram and WhatsApp were disrupted in Russia in July in what could be a test of how potential blockages would affect internet infrastructure.

It wouldn’t be uncommon. In recent years, authorities regularly tested cutting off the internet from the rest of the world, sometimes resulting in outages in some regions.

Darbinyan believes the only way to make people use MAX is to “shut down, stifle” every Western alternative. “But again, habits … do not change in a year or two. And these habits acquired over decades, when the internet was fast and free,” he said.

Government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor uses more sophisticated methods, analyzing all web traffic and identifying what it can block or choke off, Darbinyan said.

It’s been helped by “years of perfecting the technology, years of taking over and understanding the architecture of the internet and the players,” as well as Western sanctions and companies leaving the Russian market since 2022, said Kruope of Human Rights Watch.

Russia is “not there yet” in isolating its internet from the rest of the world, Darbinyan said, but Kremlin efforts are “bringing it closer.”

New Orleans legend Big Freedia returning with a new gospel album and the acting trio of Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer teaming up for the armored truck action comedy “The Pickup” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: The animated “King of the Hill” returns after a 15-year pause, the first half of season two of “Wednesday” lands on Netflix appropriately on Wednesday and the “Welcome to Wrexham” spinoff “NECAXA” premieres with Eva Longoria.

New movies to stream from Aug. 4-10

— Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson are armored truck drivers coerced into a heist in the action comedy “The Pickup.” Keke Palmer plays the criminal mastermind who disrupts their routine drive. Eva Longoria, Andrew Dice Clay and Marshawn Lynch co-star in the movie, which made headlines during its Atlanta production after several crew members were injured in a collision during the shoot. It streams on Prime Video on Wednesday.

— Filmmaker Osgood Perkins’ latest horror “The Monkey” will be streaming on Hulu starting Thursday. The follow-up to his breakout hit “Longlegs” was inspired by a 1980 Stephen King story. Theo James plays twin brothers whose lives turn to chaos when a demonic toy monkey stars causes deaths around them. In her review for The Associated Press, Jocelyn Noveck wrote that it felt “uneven.” She added that, “surely there will be an audience for the creatively rendered gore. The rest of us may feel left with a witty, visually arresting, highly inventive quasi-mess on our hands.”

— If you haven’t had enough Pedro Pascal this year, he’s a key part of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “Freaky Tales,” streaming on HBO Max on Friday. The anthology action comedy follows four interconnected stories in Oakland, California, in 1987. Before the film’s Sundance debut in 2024, Boden told the AP that “It’s a movie lover’s movie … It has one foot in reality and then one foot just launches off into fantasy.”

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

New music to stream from Aug. 4-10

— New Orleans legend Big Freedia, the queen of bounce music (and a notable Beyoncé collaborator, lest anyone forget the zeitgeist-shifting “Renaissance” ), is back with a new album. But “Pressing Onward” is new territory for the artist. It’s her first gospel album and it still manages to induce as much booty-shaking as ever before. The difference this time is that her vibrant sonic celebrations are all about faith. Start with “Holy Shuffle” featuring Billy Porter or “Sunday Best” with Tamar Braxton. It’s good for the soul.

— For several years now, one of the most exciting names in heavy rock music has been BABYMETAL, Japanese kawaii metal trio that marries pop idol culture with chugging riffs, full-throated vocals, blast beats and bilingual lyricism. They’ve inspired fanfare across the globe, and on Friday, they’ll release their fifth studio album, “METAL FORTH.” It features guest spots from Poppy, Spiritbox and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Clearly, it’s not for the faint of heart.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

New series to stream from Aug. 4-10

— Would you believe it’s been 15 years since “King of the Hill” went off the air? The animated comedy returns Monday with a new 14th season on its new home, Hulu. All 10-episodes drop at once for bingeing. The show picks up give or take 10 years after the events of season 13. Hank and Peggy are both retired after returning from Saudi Arabia, where Hank had been working. Their kids are now grown. Adjusting to life as retirees and in the current political climate in America presents challenges for the couple.

— Another long wait comes to an end Wednesday when the first half of season two of “Wednesday” premieres on Netflix. The show follows teen Wednesday Addams (played by Jenna Ortega) as she studies at a boarding school called Nevermore Academy. Ortega’s deliciously deadpan delivery earned her an Emmy Award nomination for her work on Season 1. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán play Wednesday’s parents, Morticia and Gomez.

— Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne proved that yes, men and women can be just friends in the first season of their Apple TV+ comedy called “Platonic. ” The codependent buddies, Will and Sylvia are back with a new season on Wednesday. We meet them again and Will is engaged to his boss — who doesn’t like Sylvia. And Sylvia is planning their wedding. Will is struggling to open his bar and Sylvia’s event-planning business has yet to take off.

— More than two years ago, AMC Networks pulled the plug on its sci-fi comedy “Demascus ” as a cost-cutting measure even though production was already completed. Tubi has rescued the show, starring Okieriete Onaodowan, and it premieres Thursday. It’s about a man who begins using an experimental technology that allows him to experience different timelines of his life.

— The “Outlander” prequel “Outlander: Blood of my Blood” debuts on Starz on Friday. It’s about the parents of Claire and Jamie from “Outlander.” Unlike its predecessor, “Blood of my Blood” does not have source material by author Diana Gabaldon but its showrunner Matthew B. Roberts also works on “Outlander” and is very familiar with the lore. The cast is already filming a second season. It streams on the Starz App or through platforms like Hulu and Prime Video.

— The “Welcome to Wrexham” spinoff “NECAXA ” premieres Thursday on FX on Hulu. After their success owning the Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney join Eva Longoria and buy a stake in a Mexican club, NECAXA, “It’s more than winning games. We’re gonna win hearts. We’re gonna inspire pride. We’re gonna empower the team,” Longoria says in the trailer.

— Alicia Rancilio

New video games to play from Aug. 4-10

— The Mafia series from 2K Games has moved from 1930s Chicago to 1940s New York to 1960s New Orleans, but now it’s going back in time and space. Mafia: The Old Country aims to deliver an origin story of sorts, traveling to 1900s Sicily. Enzo Favara is a young man who’s suffered a rough childhood, and he is hoping to improve his status by working for the Torrisi crime family. That means pulling off heists, punching out rivals and killing anyone who might threaten the Don. The cars may be slower and the weapons may not be as slick, but if you’re bummed out about having to wait for the next Grand Theft Auto, you might want to spend some time with the original gangsters. It arrives Friday, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

Tesla is awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion, just six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package.

The electric vehicle maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday that Musk must first pay Tesla $23.34 per share of restricted stock that vests, which is equal to the exercise price per share of the 2018 pay package that was awarded to the company’s CEO.

In December Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick reaffirmed her earlier ruling that Tesla must revoke Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. She found that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent.

At the time McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys, who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million.

The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package.

That pay package carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price.

Musk appealed the order in March. A month later Tesla said in a regulatory filing that it was creating a special committee to look at Musk’s compensation as CEO.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives feels Musk’s stock award may alleviate some Tesla shareholder concerns.

“We believe this grant will now keep Musk as CEO of Tesla at least until 2030 and removes an overhang on the stock,” Ives wrote in a client note. “Musk remains Tesla’s big asset and this comp issue has been a constant concern of shareholders once the Delaware soap opera began.”

Tesla shares have plunged 25% this year, largely due to blowback over Musk’s affiliation with President Donald Trump. But Tesla also faces intensifying competition from both the big Detroit automakers, and from China.

In its most recent quarter, Tesla reported that quarterly profits plunged from $1.39 billion to $409 million. Revenue also fell and the company fell short of even the lowered expectations on Wall Street.

Under pressure from shareholders last month, Tesla scheduled an annual shareholders meeting for November to comply with Texas state law.

A group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders, which have watched Tesla shares plummet, said in a letter to the company that it needed to at least provide public notice of the annual meeting.

Investors have grown increasingly worried about the trajection of the company after Musk had spent so much time in Washington this year, becoming one of the most prominent officials in the Trump administration in its bid to slash the size of the U.S. government.

Tesla’s stock rose more than 2% before the market open.

Tesla is awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion, just six months after a judge ordered the company to revoke his massive pay package.

The electric vehicle maker said in a regulatory filing on Monday that Musk must first pay Tesla $23.34 per share of restricted stock that vests, which is equal to the exercise price per share of the 2018 pay package that was awarded to the company’s CEO.

In December Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick reaffirmed her earlier ruling that Tesla must revoke Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. She found that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent.

At the time McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys, who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million.

The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package.

That pay package carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price.

Musk appealed the order in March. A month later Tesla said in a regulatory filing that it was creating a special committee to look at Musk’s compensation as CEO.

Tesla shares have plunged 25% this year, largely due to blowback over Musk’s affiliation with President Donald Trump. But Tesla also faces intensifying competition from both the big Detroit automakers, and from China.

In its most recent quarter, Tesla reported that quarterly profits plunged from $1.39 billion to $409 million. Revenue also fell and the company fell short of even the lowered expectations on Wall Street.

Under pressure from shareholders last month, Tesla scheduled an annual shareholders meeting for November to comply with Texas state law.

A group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders, which have watched Tesla shares plummet, said in a letter to the company that it needed to at least provide public notice of the annual meeting.

Investors have grown increasingly worried about the trajection of the company after Musk had spent so much time in Washington this year, becoming one of the most prominent officials in the Trump administration in its bid to slash the size of the U.S. government.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple shook off a thicket of tariffs and a botched entry into artificial intelligence to accelerate its revenue growth during its springtime quarter, but the trendsetting tech company still faces a bumpy road ahead that could lead to higher iPhone prices.

The April-June results released Thursday came against a backdrop of adversity that has been raising worries about the trajectory of a longtime tech kingpin that expects to absorb a setback of nearly $2 billion from the tariffs that President Donald Trump has already imposed and others in the pipeline.

Despite the doubts, Apple remains a moneymaking machine.

The Cupertino, California, company earned $23.4 billion, or $1.57 per share, during its fiscal third quarter, a 9% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 10% from a year ago to $94 billion. The company’s iPhone sales surged 13% from a year ago to $44.6 billion. In another positive development, Apple’s business in China showed signs of snapping out of a prolonged malaise with a 4% bump in revenue from the same time last year.

All those numbers were well above the analyst projections that steer investors, helping to boost Apple’s recently slumping stock price by about 3% in extended trading. But the unexpectedly solid performance doesn’t necessarily mean it’s smooth sailing ahead for Apple.

Tallying the toll of Trump’s tariffs

Trump’s trade war targeting foreign-made products such as the iPhone and Apple’s stumbling start in the pivotal transition to AI is causing investors to question if the company will remain at the tech forefront as the industry moves into a new era.

Before Thursday’s report came out, Apple’s stock price had plunged by 17% so far this year to wipe out more than $600 billion in shareholder wealth and knock the company off its perch as the world’s most valuable company. Meanwhile, the shares of AI chipmaker Nvidia have surged 32% this year and the shares of AI pacesetter Microsoft have gained 27%, propelling the market value to $4 trillion.

Even though Apple remains highly profitable, the tariffs that Trump has already imposed on China and other countries cost the company $800 million during the past quarter, and CEO Tim Cook told analysts during a conference call that the fees would exact an additional toll of $1.1 billion during the July-September period. The company also predicted its revenue for July-September period would increase at a slightly slower pace than the past quarter.

Cook indicated the financial damage from the tariffs could have been much higher, telling analysts most of the components in iPhones and other Apple products are still shielded by temporary exemptions that the Trump administration granted most electronics in mid-April.

Sizing up how Apple and consumers are reacting to the trade war

Apple softened the blow of Trump’s tariffs on products made outside the U.S. during the past quarter by shifting its production of iPhones from China to India. But the administration intends to impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, a move that could intensify the pressure on Apple to raise the prices on the next generation of iPhones expected to be released in September. Cook wasn’t asked about the possibility of an iPhone increase during his Thursday remarks to analysts.

Consumer fears about the tariffs driving up iPhone prices spurred an unusual buying spree of iPhones and Mac computers in the U.S. during early April, according to Cook. Apple estimated that spike accounted for roughly one percentage point of its 10% revenue increase in the past quarter, which translates into about $82 million in sales. Cook also credited an uptick in consumers upgrading to the latest model for helping Apple sell its 3 billionth iPhone since the device’s 2007 debut.

Trump has been pressuring Apple to make all its iPhones in the U.S., a move that analysts believe would take years to pull off and ultimately double or triple the roughly $1,000 average price of the device. But Cook told analysts Thursday that the company is pushing to increase its computer chip production in the U.S. as one way of avoiding tariffs. “We ultimately will do more in the United States,” he said.

The AI challenges still ahead

Meanwhile, Apple is still trying to fulfill the AI promises it made last year when it unveiled an array of new iPhone features built on the revolutionary technology, raising expectations that the shift would spur millions of people to upgrade their old devices. But Apple still hasn’t delivered on an AI upgrade that was supposed to smarten up its often-bumbling virtual assistant Siri, one of the main reasons underlying the lackluster growth of iPhone sales.

“While these numbers certainly buy Apple time, the fact is that investors — and consumers — remain laser-focused on AI innovation. And Apple still has a long way to go in this game,” said Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro.

MOKOPANE, South Africa (AP) — A South African university launched an anti-poaching campaign Thursday to inject the horns of rhinos with radioactive isotopes that it says are harmless for the animals but can be detected by customs agents.

Under the collaborative project involving the University of the Witwatersrand, nuclear energy officials and conservationists, five rhinos were injected in what the university hopes will be the start of a mass injection of the declining rhino population.

They’re calling it the Rhisotope Project.

Last year, about 20 rhinos at a sanctuary were injected with isotopes in trials that paved the way for Thursday’s launch. The radioactive isotopes even at low levels can be recognized by radiation detectors at airports and borders, leading to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.

Researchers at Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit say that tests conducted in the pilot study confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the rhinos.

“We have demonstrated, beyond scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through international customs nuclear security systems,” said James Larkin, chief scientific officer at the Rhisotope Project.

“Even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,” said Larkin.

The tests also found that horns could be detected inside full 40-foot shipping containers, he said.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century but has now declined to around 27,000 due to continued demand for rhino horns on the black market.

South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000 but the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year.

The university has urged private wildlife park owners and national conservation authorities to have their rhinos injected.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Chances are, you’ve heard Julia Whelan’s voice. She’s the award-winning narrator behind more than 600 audiobooks by a long list of bestselling authors including Taylor Jenkins Reid,Emily Henry, Michael Crichton, V.E. Schwab and Kristin Hannah. She’s also narrated long-form articles for The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Vanity Fair.

You may have read her own writing, too. Whelan’s first novel, 2018’s “My Oxford Year,” has been adapted to a Netflix film, out Friday, starring Sofia Carson. The story actually began as a screenplay by Allison Burnett and had been gestating in development for years. Whelan was brought in to help with the script because she had studied abroad at Oxford her junior year of college. Producers then asked if she thought it would make a good book.

“I was like, ‘Nothing has ever wanted to be a book more. Please let me do this,’” she recalls. It ended up an international bestseller. Her second novel, 2022’s “Thank You For Listening,” was critically praised. (“Thank You For Listening” is about a former actor-turned-audiobook narrator who falls in love with another audiobook narrator.)

You may have even seen Whelan on TV — she began her career as a child actor, with roles in “Fifteen and Pregnant” and on the series “Once and Again.” Despite her various pursuits, though, she has no plans to leave narration behind. “I feel like I was born to do it,” she said. “It’s everything that I love and that I’m good at and everything I want to be doing.”

That’s a good thing, because the audiobook industry is growing. Statista projects this year it will reach $9.84 billion because of smartphones, the increased popularity of audio content and people’s desire to multitask. Despite the appetite for audiobooks, for narrators, “the financial aspect makes zero sense,” says Whelan. She’s founded her own publishing company, Audiobrary, to help narrators get paid more fairly.

Whelan, who has narrated as many as 70 books in one year, spoke to The Associated Press about the audiobook industry, Audiobrary and her own writing. Answers are edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: Why did you start your own audiobook publishing company?

WHELAN: The only reason I was doing 70 books a year was because that’s how many books you have to do when you’re first starting out to keep your head above water because the rates are low. It would be OK if there were a kickback for success, but narrators don’t get royalties. As we’ve seen the industry grow and as we’ve seen the cache of certain narrators expand, and we know listeners will seek out audiobooks that their favorite narrators record. It doesn’t make sense to me that we should be cut out of the long-term financial benefit of success. Audiobrary does a profit-share model with writers, who I also feel don’t get enough percentage of the pie, and a royalty share for narrators. We are also a direct-to-consumer retail channel, so when you buy directly from us, you’re not giving 50-75% of that sale to a retailer. You’re giving it directly to the people who made the product.

AP: How do you prepare before narrating?

WHELAN: I create character lists. I create pronunciation lists, and I do the necessary research for that. The prep time can vary book to book significantly, depending on how complicated the book is.

AP: If you feel a cold coming on, do you panic? Do you have to protect your voice?

WHELAN: It ruins everything. I’m probably the only person left who wears a mask on a plane at this point, but everything falls apart if I get sick. You’re messed up for three or four months. Everything just gets delayed, especially when I was doing 70 books a year, there’s no room for error there.

AP: There are big-name celebrities who narrate audiobooks. Do you worry about them taking jobs?

WHELAN: At this point, there’s still enough work to go around and they are doing the books that have the budget frankly to use them. But I think that audiobook fans — not your casual audiobook user, but fans — have favorite narrators and they’re going to look for books by those narrators. So, in stunt-casting situations, sometimes someone is incredible at it, and they are perfect for the book. But sometimes it feels like a very craven, just marketing ploy. I don’t feel infringed upon by them, but I do worry about a future situation where most of the work is going to AI. I don’t lie awake at night worried, but everyone’s threatened right now. It’s very, very hard to even begin to predict what the future could look like.

AP: What do you say to people who are almost sheepish about admitting to listening to an audiobook instead of reading it?

WHELAN: I think the kids would say that it’s ableist to say that if you didn’t read a book with your eyeballs, then you didn’t read it, considering many people have many limitations that would prevent them from physically reading a book. So then are you telling them they’ve never read a book before? Actual data and studies show that listening to a book actually triggers the same response in the brain as reading it, and that the interpretation and understanding of that book is on par with having read it.

AP: When do you see yourself writing another novel?

WHELAN: There’s been about four ideas that are constantly in rotation, but I think I’ve narrowed it down. I think I’m ready to at least start exploring one of them at the beginning of next year.

AP: Do you think “Thank You for Listening” could ever be adapted for the screen?

WHELAN: I very much think we could. I have said no up to this point because, this time around, I want to be very creatively involved. There’s just too many things about audiobooks that someone could get wrong not knowing anything about the industry. I want be involved so I’m willing to hold onto it until the right situation comes along.

MOKOPANE, South Africa. (AP) — A South African university launched an anti-poaching campaign Thursday to inject the horns of rhinos with radioactive isotopes that it says are harmless for the animals but which can be detected by customs agents.

Under the collaborative project among University of the Witwatersrand, nuclear energy officials and conservationists, five rhinos were injected Thursday in what the university hopes will be the mass injection of the declining rhino population.

Last year, about 20 rhinos at a sanctuary were injected with isotopes as part of initial trials that paved the way for Thursday’s launch. The radioactive isotopes even at low levels can be recognized by radiation detectors at airports and borders, which can lead to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.

Researchers at Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit say that tests conducted throughout the pilot study confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the animals.

“We have demonstrated, beyond scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through international customs nuclear security systems,” said James Larkin, chief scientific officer of the Rhisotope Project.

“Even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,” said Larkin.

The tests also confirmed that individual horns could be detected inside full 40-foot shipping containers, he said.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international conservation body, estimates that the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century but has now declined to around 27,000 due to continued demand for rhino horns on the black market.

South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000 but the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year.

Private and public rhino owners and conservation authorities have been urged approach the university to have their rhinos injected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China’s cyberspace regulators on Thursday summoned Nvidia over security concerns that its H20 chips can be tracked and turned off remotely, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website.

In the meeting, Chinese regulators demanded that the U.S. chip company provide explanations on “backdoor safety risks” of its H20 chips to be sold in China and submit relevant materials, the office said.

“Cybersecurity is critically important to us. NVIDIA does not have ‘backdoors’ in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them,” an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to AP.

It came just about two weeks after the Trump administration lifted the block on the computing chips and allowed Nvidia to resume sales of H20 chips to the Chinese market. Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, made the announcement with fanfare when he was in Beijing earlier this month.

The latest episode appears to be another turbulence in the tech rivalry between the United States and China, which have left businesses in both countries tussling with governments over market access and national security concerns.

Any safety concern by Beijing could jeopardize the sale of H20 chips in China. Citing unnamed U.S. AI experts, the Chinese regulators said Nvidia has developed mature technology to track, locate and remotely disable its computing chips. The regulators summoned Nvidia to “safeguard the cybersecurity and data security of Chinese users,” in accordance with Chinese laws, the statement said.

The statement also referred to a call by U.S. lawmakers to require tracking and locating capabilities on U.S. advanced chips sold overseas.

In May, Rep. Bill Huizenga, R.-Michigan, and Rep. Bill Foster, D.-Illinois, introduced the Chip Security Act that would require high-end chips to be equipped with “security mechanisms” to detect “smuggling or exploitation.” The bill has not moved through Congress since its introduction.

Foster, a trained physicist, then said, “I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI technology from getting into the wrong hands.”

The U.S. still bans the sale to China of the most advanced chips, which are necessary for developing artificial intelligence. Both countries aim to lead in the artificial intelligence race. The Trump administration in April blocked the sales of H20 chips, which Nvidia developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China.

After the ban was lifted, Nvidia expected to sell hundreds of thousands more H20 chips in the Chinese market.

But the easing of the ban has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. On Monday, a group of top Democratic senators, including Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to express their “grave concerns”.

While chips like the H20 have differing capabilities than the most advanced chips such as Nvidia’s H100, “they give (China) capabilities that its domestically-developed chipsets cannot,” the senators wrote.

Shortly after the ban was lifted, Rep. John Moolenaar, R.-Michigan, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, objected. “The Commerce Department made the right call in banning the H20. Now it must hold the line,” Moolenaar wrote in a letter to Lutnick.

“We can’t let the CCP use American chips to train AI models that will power its military, censor its people, and undercut American innovation,” Moolenaar wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its acronym.