Technologies

I Just Posted to Instagram Using Only an AI Agent. I’m Not Sure I Would Again

At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii,, I got a glimpse of how I’ll interact with my phone in the future. Unfortunately, the future is not quite ready for us yet.

The big promise of AI agents is that they’ll be able to handle tasks for you — using their knowledge and understanding of you and what’s stored in your phone to suggest, predict and automate what you need, to ease the burden on you.

For the most part, the situations in which we’d use AI agents in our day-to-day lives have so far been largely hypothetical. But at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, I got a first-hand look at how we might use an agent to complete a routine task: uploading content to social media.

Using a prototype phone packing Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, I asked the device, using my voice, to find all pictures of beaches stored in the Photos app. A large language model (LLM) running on the device picked up what I was saying and interacted with a vision model that classifies all the photos on the phone. It pulled up two options.

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«I like the second option,» I told the agent. «Please post it to Instagram with the hashtag #lovethecolor.» Without my touching the screen, the agent opened the Instagram app on the phone and posted the photo as a Reel (which is what it had been preprogrammed to do). Again, the LLM kicked in, but rather than sending a command to the photo classifier, this time it sent the command to the Instagram API.

After posting, the agent also asked me if I’d like to check for new comments. I’m pretty sure this is what notifications are for, but this was just an example to show how proactive the agent was able to be.

In fact, the whole demo was just an example of how an agent could assist you in your daily phone business. In the US, most social platforms, including Instagram, don’t currently allow access to their APIs that would make this process possible. Qualcomm built the demo together with AI company ModelBest and is going to launch it in China on the popular social site Weibo.

After my demo, I’m not in a particular rush to engage the services of an agent to upload to Instagram for me. I appreciated the image classification tool most of all, since being able to describe a photo in your camera roll to post rather than having to scroll to find it was a definite time saver. But posting to Instagram is already a pretty slick and seamless process that I’m not sure warrants automating.

I’d also want the option to post to either Stories, Reels or the main grid, and give more complex instructions about editing, filters and captions before I’d be willing to hand over the reins to an agent.

For now, I’m happy to continue uploading to Instagram under my own steam, but I’m keen to see how agentic AI evolves to be able to handle more complex tasks and commands over time.

Qualcomm and many other tech companies are convinced that agents are gradually going to become the de facto way we interact with our technology. The jury’s still out for me, but I’ll keep an open mind.

Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Might Come in 5G and 4G Cellular Models

If the rumor proves true, the 5G Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 that debuted last fall.

Samsung’s next high-end Galaxy Watch could support faster 5G speeds, but if this leak is true, it will depend on where you live. The rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might come in 5G and 4G cellular models, with availability for each smartwatch depending on the country.

According to the Dutch website Galaxy Club (and spotted by SamMobile), Samsung’s servers may have revealed a series of model numbers that point to 5G, 4G and Wi-Fi-enabled editions of the next Galaxy Watch Ultra, which would succeed the original model that debuted in 2024.

A representative for Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Galaxy Club website speculates that the 5G edition would be sold in the US and Korean markets, while the 4G edition would sell in the rest of the world. In the US, a 5G version of the Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3, which debuted last fall. The 4G edition would have broader compatibility worldwide, since the earlier network is far more established.

It will likely be a few months until we hear anything official about the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung typically unveils its new watches in the summer alongside its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable phones. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but otherwise left the prior 2024 Ultra in the lineup for those looking for a larger 47mm smartwatch.

Technologies

2 Cases Show Supreme Court Isn’t Holding ISPs Responsible for Piracy

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 8, #1032

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 8, No. 1032.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough. The purple category is a fun one, once you see the connection. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: In the group.

Green group hint: Appearance details.

Blue group hint: Often found in gyms.

Purple group hint: They help you see.