Technologies

AI Gets Smarter, Safer, More Visual With GPT-4 Update, OpenAI Says

If you subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, you can try it out now.

The hottest AI technology foundation got a big upgrade Tuesday with OpenAI’s GPT-4 release now available in the premium version of the ChatGPT chatbot.

GPT-4 can generate much longer strings of text and respond when people feed it images, and it’s designed to do a better job avoiding artificial intelligence pitfalls visible in the earlier GPT-3.5, OpenAI said Tuesday. For example, when taking bar exams that attorneys must pass to practice law, GPT-4 ranks in the top 10% of scores compared with the bottom 10% for GPT-3.5, the AI research company said.

GPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer, a reference to the fact that it can generate text on its own — now up to 25,000 words with GPT-4 — and that it uses an AI technology called transformers that Google pioneered. It’s a type of AI called a large language model, or LLM, that’s trained on vast swaths of data harvested from the internet, learning mathematically to spot patterns and reproduce styles. Human overseers rate results to steer GPT in the right direction, and GPT-4 has more of this feedback.

OpenAI has made GPT available to developers for years, but ChatGPT, which debuted in November, offered an easy interface ordinary folks can use. That yielded an explosion of interest, experimentation and worry about the downsides of the technology. It can do everything from generating programming code and answering exam questions to writing poetry and supplying basic facts. It’s remarkable if not always reliable.

ChatGPT is free, but it can falter when demand is high. In January, OpenAI began offering ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month with assured availability and, now, the GPT-4 foundation. Developers can sign up on a waiting list to get their own access to GPT-4.

GPT-4 advancements

«In a casual conversation, the distinction between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 can be subtle. The difference comes out when the complexity of the task reaches a sufficient threshold,» OpenAI said. «GPT-4 is more reliable, creative and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5.»

Another major advance in GPT-4 is the ability to accept input data that includes text and photos. OpenAI’s example is asking the chatbot to explain a joke showing a bulky decades-old computer cable plugged into a modern iPhone’s tiny Lightning port. This feature also helps GPT take tests that aren’t just textual, but it isn’t yet available in ChatGPT Plus.

Another is better performance avoiding AI problems like hallucinations — incorrectly fabricated responses, often offered with just as much seeming authority as answers the AI gets right. GPT-4 also is better at thwarting attempts to get it to say the wrong thing: «GPT-4 scores 40% higher than our latest GPT-3.5 on our internal adversarial factuality evaluations,» OpenAI said.

GPT-4 also adds new «steerability» options. Users of large language models today often must engage in elaborate «prompt engineering,» learning how to embed specific cues in their prompts to get the right sort of responses. GPT-4 adds a system command option that lets users set a specific tone or style, for example programming code or a Socratic tutor: «You are a tutor that always responds in the Socratic style. You never give the student the answer, but always try to ask just the right question to help them learn to think for themselves.»

«Stochastic parrots» and other problems

OpenAI acknowledges significant shortcomings that persist with GPT-4, though it also touts progress avoiding them.

«It can sometimes make simple reasoning errors … or be overly gullible in accepting obvious false statements from a user. And sometimes it can fail at hard problems the same way humans do, such as introducing security vulnerabilities into code it produces,» OpenAI said. In addition, «GPT-4 can also be confidently wrong in its predictions, not taking care to double-check work when it’s likely to make a mistake.»

Large language models can deliver impressive results, seeming to understand huge amounts of subject matter and to converse in human-sounding if somewhat stilted language. Fundamentally, though, LLM AIs don’t really know anything. They’re just able to string words together in statistically very refined ways.

This statistical but fundamentally somewhat hollow approach to knowledge led researchers, including former Google AI researchers Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru, to warn of the «dangers of stochastic parrots» that come with large language models. Language model AIs tend to encode biases, stereotypes and negative sentiment present in training data, and researchers and other people using these models tend «to mistake … performance gains for actual natural language understanding.»

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman acknowledges problems, but he’s pleased overall with the progress shown with GPT-4. «It is more creative than previous models, it hallucinates significantly less, and it is less biased. It can pass a bar exam and score a 5 on several AP exams,» Altman tweeted Tuesday.

One worry about AI is that students will use it to cheat, for example when answering essay questions. It’s a real risk, though some educators actively embrace LLMs as a tool, like search engines and Wikipedia. Plagiarism detection companies are adapting to AI by training their own detection models. One such company, Crossplag, said Wednesday that after testing about 50 documents that GPT-4 generated, «our accuracy rate was above 98.5%.»

OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia partnership

OpenAI got a big boost when Microsoft said in February it’s using GPT technology in its Bing search engine, including a chat features similar to ChatGPT. On Tuesday, Microsoft said it’s using GPT-4 for the Bing work. Together, OpenAI and Microsoft pose a major search threat to Google, but Google has its own large language model technology too, including a chatbot called Bard that Google is testing privately.

Also on Tuesday, Google announced it’ll begin limited testing of its own AI technology to boost writing Gmail emails and Google Docs word processing documents. «With your collaborative AI partner you can continue to refine and edit, getting more suggestions as needed,» Google said.

That phrasing mirrors Microsoft’s «co-pilot» positioning of AI technology. Calling it an aid to human-led work is a common stance, given the problems of the technology and the necessity for careful human oversight.

Microsoft uses GPT technology both to evaluate the searches people type into Bing and, in some cases, to offer more elaborate, conversational responses. The results can be much more informative than those of earlier search engines, but the more conversational interface that can be invoked as an option has had problems that make it look unhinged.

To train GPT, OpenAI used Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service, including thousands of Nvidia’s A100 graphics processing units, or GPUs, yoked together. Azure now can use Nvidia’s new H100 processors, which include specific circuitry to accelerate AI transformer calculations.

AI chatbots everywhere

Another large language model developer, Anthropic, also unveiled an AI chatbot called Claude on Tuesday. The company, which counts Google as an investor, opened a waiting list for Claude.

«Claude is capable of a wide variety of conversational and text processing tasks while maintaining a high degree of reliability and predictability,» Anthropic said in a blog post. «Claude can help with use cases including summarization, search, creative and collaborative writing, Q&A, coding and more.»

It’s one of a growing crowd. Chinese search and tech giant Baidu is working on a chatbot called Ernie Bot. Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, consolidated its AI operations into a bigger team and plans to build more generative AI into its products. Even Snapchat is getting in on the game with a GPT-based chatbot called My AI.

Expect more refinements in the future.

«We have had the initial training of GPT-4 done for quite awhile, but it’s taken us a long time and a lot of work to feel ready to release it,» Altman tweeted. «We hope you enjoy it and we really appreciate feedback on its shortcomings.»

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personalfinance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. Formore, see this post.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Sept. 11, #1545

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Sept. 11, No. 1,545.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle was an easy one for me, for a change! If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with C.

Wordle hint No. 4: For your house

Today’s Wordle answer refers to a piece of furniture.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to where you might sit at your kitchen table.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is CHAIR.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Sept. 10, No. 1544 was POUTY.

Recent Wordle answers

Sept. 6, No. 1540: BULGE

Sept. 7, No. 1541: TENOR

Sept. 8, No. 1542: CHIRP

Sept. 9, No. 1543: TRICK

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 11

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 11

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle took me a while. The answers are numerous and tough to unscramble, I thought. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Take a break

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Relax.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

STEER, SHOW, CREE, STEM, METS, MICE, SHADE, DIME, TREE, STREET, DARE, DARES, PAIN, MITE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

READ, REST, PAINT, SHOWER, STRETCH, EXERCISE, MEDITATE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is METIME. To find it, look for the M that’s three letters down on the far-left row, and march straight across.

Technologies

Everything Announced at Apple Event 2025: iPhone Air, iPhone 17, AirPods Pro 3 and New Apple Watches

Apple’s annual September reveal of its latest mobile devices featured the brand new iPhone Air, AirPods Pro 3 with heart-rate sensing, the iPhone 17 lineup and new Apple Watches.

Each September, Apple’s product release playbook dials up the unveiling of the company’s newest line of iPhones, along with a variety of complementary gadgets. On Tuesday, the company took the wraps off the iPhone 17 in all its variations, most notably the new skinny iPhone Air, along with new Apple Watches — Series 11 and Ultra 3 — and an upgrade to its 2-year-old AirPods Pro 2 earbuds.

Along with the hardware, Apple is rolling out the new versions of the devices’ respective operating systems, iOS 26 and WatchOS 26, both of which have been in public beta all summer. (The final version of iOS 26 will be available on Monday, Sept. 15.) The new Liquid Glass interface design may even seem routine to you by now.

Many of the new devices’ capabilities come from new features in their operating systems, and throughout Apple stressed health and fitness as one of the primary drivers. It deemphasized how many of the features’ analysis capabilities — notably most of the new heart-rate sensing and Live Translation in the AirPods Pro 3 — really rely on the iPhone for their heavy lifting.

Given Apple’s struggles with its AI efforts, especially given how much it stressed Apple Intelligence at previous events, the company came as close to downplaying it as it could: There was only the occasional mention of features being driven by AI and the increased neural power in the new A19 Pro processor. And despite no discussion of smart home tech, there was a brief hint in the iPhone Air announcement.

For more in-the-moment commentary, check out ourApple Event live blog.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

iPhone 17 boasts a better screen

The update to Apple’s most mainstream model comes in pastel colors. Notably, the base iPhone 17 now has a ProMotion (120Hz VRR) display, which was formerly only on the Pro models. The screen is larger (6.3 inches) and brighter (up to 3,000 nits) with an improved scratch- and glare-resistant coating. ProMotion has been a much-wanted upgrade; I think there’s probably some dancing going on right now. Inside, it incorporates the A19 chip with a five-core GPU and adds fast charging.

The new front camera has an 18-megapixel square sensor for more flexibility in framing, alongside a larger field of view to enable Center Stage and stabilization. It still has two cameras, though the main camera is bumped to 48 megapixels via Dual Fusion or 24 megapixels as standard.

It starts at $799 in the US — the 16E remains in the line at $599 — and all the iPhones are available for preorder now. It’s £799 in the UK and AU$1,399 in Australia.

The iPhone Air is thin but powerful

Thin seems to be in for phones this year — at least for manufacturers, since buyers don’t seem to be quite as interested and iPhone buyers even less so. Did anyone ask for a super thin iPhone? But in the continuing absence of a foldable iPhone model, what’s a company to do? Behold the iPhone Air, at 5.6mm thick.

It has a polished titanium frame and Ceramic Shield on both sides, which makes some people just want to touch it. According to the company, it’s almost entirely battery on the inside, with Apple claiming all-day battery life.

It’s got high-end specs, too: a 6.5-inch ProMotion XDR display and the A19 Pro processor found in the Pro models. The processor incorporates neural accelerators into each GPU core (six of them), bigger caches and more, giving it quite a bit of computing power.

A new N1 chip and C2 modem improve connectivity (Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6) and power conservation. The device has 48-megapixel Fusion and 12-megapixel wide-angle cameras, the Center Stage front camera, and a way to combine front and back cameras live.

It requires all-new accessories, including a MagSafe pack (80 hours) and a thin, translucent case. It starts at $999 (£999, AU$1,799).

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max deliver a love letter to videographers

The flagship iPhone Pro models tend to differ only by screen size (now 6.3 and 6.9 inches), and their unique features are made possible by their higher-powered processors, more flexible camera arrays and other component differences over the lower-end models.

Like the Air, the iPhone 17 Pro uses an A19 Pro processor with updated cooling and thermal management — a vapor chamber — and has a Ceramic Shield back and front. Apple promises 39 hours of video playback.

The cameras are usually the highlight of the Pro, and that remains true: It has an 18-megapixel front Center Stage camera and a triple-camera Fusion Telephoto system, with three 48-megapixel cameras, including a 4x-8x telephoto for a maximum of 200mm equivalent. The phones can capture ProRes Raw and Genlock (to synchronize cameras for video), which should tickle the fancy of pro videographers.

The Pros now come in orange, which isn’t everyone’s favorite, and there’s a new 2TB storage option. They start at $1,099 (£1,099, AU$1,999).

Apple Watch Series 11, Watch SE and Watch Ultra 3 get redesigns

The Apple Watch Series 10 is our Editors’ Choice for smartwatches. The next-generation Watch Series 11 shrinks the thickness, with a more scratch-resistant front glass. It adds 5G support and better power management for up to 12 hours of battery life. A new Flow watch face takes advantage of Liquid Glass visuals. It adds blood pressure tracking (based on blood flow) to find indications of high blood pressure and sleep score from WatchOS 26. Prices start at $399 (£369, AU$679).

There are new bands in new colors, too.

It’s been three years since the last iteration of the Watch SE. Now, we get the Watch SE 3, with the new S10 chip with 5G wireless. It still delivers 18-hour battery life and an always-on display. There’s wrist temperature sensing for ovulation tracking, it gets sleep apnea tracking, sleep score and more. Prices start at $249 (£219, AU$399), and preorders start now.

Apple’s top-of-the-line smartwatch, the Ultra 3, is updated over the Watch Ultra 2 with a wide-angle OLED (smaller bezels mean more display area). Apple has given it emergency-related satellite connectivity, which required a new antenna and receiver. It also comes with increased battery life. Prices start at $799 (£749, AU$1,399).

AirPods Pro 3 upgrade includes live translation

The AirPods Pro 2 version released in 2023 offered only incremental hardware upgrades over the 2022 models (hence the lack of a name change). The AirPods Pro 3 are smaller, with an updated design that introduces foam-ish eartips for better noise isolation and upgraded active noise cancellation, live translation with adaptive ANC for better focus on the speaker, five sizes of ear tips and IP57 water resistance. Fitness enhancements include heart-rate and calorie tracking, among other updates, which come from iOS. Battery life increases to eight hours with ANC and 10 hours with transparency.

The live translation can be somewhat awkward, though, or as CNET’s Macy Meyer puts it, it’s fluent in convenience, not culture. The price hasn’t changed; they still start at $249 (£219, AU$429).

Notable new accessories for the iPhones

The iPhone Air debuts with new accessories. If you want to keep it thin and still have some level of protection, Apple is offering a $39 polycarbonate bumper that wraps around the edges. Aside from drop protection, I know I’d need it simply to keep the slight phone from slipping out of my hands. There is also a traditional $49 clear MagSafe Case along with an opaque Beats-branded polycarbonate case for $45. If for some reason you want to turn your ultrathin phone into a thicker one with longer battery life, you can pick up the $99 MagSafe battery.

The redesign of the camera section of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max means it needs a new case design, and in addition to all the newly designed versions of the usual cases Apple introduced a $59 MagSafe case made of a new TechWoven material — colored yarns of recycled polyester woven into a textured material and coated with polyurethane, or PTU. Presumably, it will fare better than the FineWoven cases Apple released with the iPhone 15.

You can also get a novel (for Apple) $59 Beats Kickstand Case, which looks like the standard polycarb case. The kickstand, though, isn’t a kickstand; it’s a handstrap with a small bit on the end that you can use for standing the case on its side. The kickstand case also comes in a version for the iPhone 17.

For many of the iPhone cases Apple launched yesterday, the company introduced magnetic attachment points. That makes them compatible with its new $59 Cross-Body Strap. On one hand, I’m not sure I want to trust my $1,200 phone to some magnets or my propensity to walk into walls and doorways. On the other, it’s probably safer than my back pocket.