Author: openjargon

• OpenAI just showed off ChatGPT-4o, which includes a lifelike voice assistant.
• It can speak with emotion and speak conversationally.
•  Meanwhile, Apple's Siri is far less capable at complex tasks.

After OpenAI unveiled its latest ChatGPT iteration, one tech executive is probably super jealous: Apple's Tim Cook.

ChatGPT-4o, as they're calling it, speaks in a conversational way with lots of emotion — and you don't need to use "wake words" or precise commands like "Hey Siri!" as you do with Apple's assistant.

Another leap forward for the buzzy ChatGPT comes as Siri and Amazon's Alexa are stuck in neutral.

On Monday, Open AI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati showed off ChatGPT-4o's new voice mode, which is a voice chat assistant.

It's supposed to be able to have a natural back-and-forth conversation with you. (Though, OK, to be fair, the only part of ChatGPT-4o we've actually seen has been in a highly controlled public demo, so we'll see what it's actually like IRL.)

The comparisons to the female voice assistant from the movie "Her" were so obvious even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted about it.

The voice chat assistant has a female voice (unclear if there are options to change this) and is capable of speaking with emotion — it can feign excitement, friendliness, or even sarcasm.

Meanwhile, Apple executives must be seething with jealousy. Last week, The New York Times reported that after testing out ChatGPT last year, top Apple executives ordered a massive revamp of Apple's Siri.

Siri has been around for over a decade, and while it's helpful for many tasks, it's also extremely limited. You must say "Hey, Siri" to wake it up, and it can't really handle naturally flowing conversations. If you've ever used Siri, you know how often it can't understand you or can't really complete a command.

Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant, has a similar problem. I use Alexa in my home for things like the weather or playing music. But when I started playing around with generative AI chatbots, I couldn't help but notice how stupid Alexa feels in comparison — incapable of doing straightforward things like playing a specific album on Spotify instead of just an artist playlist.

OpenAI clearly has made a voice assistant chatbot that is way more advanced than Siri currently is, and Tim Cook must be sweating a little.

But Apple still has a big advantage whenever it updates Siri with an AI makeover: It's already the voice assistant on your iPhone — and that's huge.

• Electronic warfare and anti-satellite capabilities could make GPS navigation impossible in a future war.
• The US Air Force is experimenting with using artificial intelligence as an alternative. 
• It's just one of the AI projects for the military, which also has an AI-controlled F-16 fighter jet.

In a future war, electronic warfare and anti-satellite weapons could leave the US military without GPS, a critical tool for navigation and targeting.

That challenge has prompted the US Air Force to experiment with using artificial intelligence as an alternative navigation method. It is just one of the many AI projects for the US military that could reshape warfare.

If the US were to go to war with a great power, such as China or Russia, GPS satellites and other navigation technology would likely be a primary target. Even if it were just jammed or interfered with, the result could be chaos for some American systems that rely on GPS.

A potential solution being developed by the US Air Force instead relies on AI for navigating in GPS-denied environments.

"We think we may have added an arrow to the quiver in the things we can do, should we end up operating in a GPS-denied environment. Which we will," Col. Garry Floyd, director for the Department of Air Force-MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator program, told the Associated Press.

Last year, the Air Force tested what it would look like to use an AI program to navigate a C-17 cargo plane via Earth's magnetic fields, a difficult method due to how electromagnetic noise from other elements, including the aircraft itself, can complicate the process. But the AI, Floyd explained to AP, was able to learn through the flight tests which signals to follow in order to direct the aircraft on where to go.

The potential for AI to be used as an alternative to GPS navigation speaks to the growing concern around GPS denial in a future fight. Much has been learned from the war in Ukraine, where both sides employ electronic warfare and GPS spoofing to jam drones and missiles, throw weapons off course, and create other challenges.

The Pentagon has long been at work on electronic warfare solutions in its joint force, developing jamming-resistant seekers and other alternatives that don't rely on GPS for coordinates. Back in August 2023, one defense official said the Army was "fundamentally reinvesting in rebuilding our tactical electronic-warfare capability after that largely left the force over the last 20 years," adding that the war in Ukraine had added "urgency" to those efforts.

AI creates new opportunities, and the Air Force's navigation alternative isn't the only project looking into how to integrate AI into military systems. Just last month, officials announced a landmark test between an AI-piloted F-16 fighter jet and a manned jet.

While officials wouldn't reveal who won the test, which occurred September 2023, citing national security concerns, one did note that the AI program used was "progressing as well or faster than we had hoped." The use of AI raises questions though.

This week, the US and China will meet in Geneva for a major discussion on AI use. When asked about details of what AI policies, specifically those relating to reserving the right to make kill decisions and nuclear weapons deployment for humans, would be discussed at the meeting, a senior administration official told reporters that "this is the first meeting of its kind." They said that "we expect to have a discussion of the full range of risks, but wouldn't prejudge any specifics at this point."

• A severe geomagnetic storm hit the northern US.
• The storm caused auroras — and apparently disrupted precision farming systems, a John Deere dealership said.
• Satellite signals were "extremely impacted" by the storm, the dealership said.

One of the strongest solar storms in decades hit Earth this past weekend, sending stunning auroras far from the poles.

But for some farmers, the geomagnetic storm was more of a headache.

Geomagnetic storms are capable of disrupting electronics on satellites and causing communication blackouts. These storms can also impact power grids, causing voltage control problems that can trigger outages.

In this weekend's solar storm, charged particles disrupted GPS and precision farming systems, according to a John Deere dealership and a report in 404 Media.

Landmark Implement, a John Deere dealer in Kansas and Nebraska, wrote in an update that some GPS system networks were being affected by the storm. This caused connection and accuracy issues with its real-time kinematic systems, which use GPS and ground-based data to help farmers plant crops and spray fertilizer with pinpoint accuracy.

Landmark Implement posted updates throughout the weekend, with the most recent one on Sunday warning farmers that some systems were "extremely compromised." The updates also said pass-to-pass accuracy is "extremely degraded."

While the dealership said the situation was "definitely not ideal," it also said it isn't expected to create any large overlaps or skips. 

"We do believe this historic event and it isn't something that we are going to have to continue to battle frequently," one update said, adding, "The storm has affected all brands of GPS, not solely John Deere."

The breakdown caused many farmers to halt planting operations, according to the report from 404 Media.

John Deere has been a leading name in precision farming as it pioneered self-driving tractors.

High-tech farming equipment has become a growing part of modern agriculture. Farmers have begun using automated tractors to plant crops so that the spacing is perfect, maximizing the yield of their crops.

404 Media reported that errors with planting or harvesting due to the solar storm could cause automatic equipment to damage crops in the future.

John Deere and Landmark Implement did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Russia is relying more on small, fast vehicles — like ATVs and motorbikes — to conduct operations.
• Moscow has been using these systems to move troops and stage attacks, Western intelligence says.
• But these light vehicles are more vulnerable than armored vehicles to Ukrainian attacks.

Russian forces are increasingly relying on light and fast vehicles like ATVs and motorbikes to move troops to the front lines, conduct reconnaissance of Ukrainian positions, and execute assaults.

By favoring these lighter vehicles, Russia is sacrificing the protection that its troops would enjoy in a more heavily armored ride, leaving them far more vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks, new Western intelligence suggests.

Over the past few months, Russia has "highly likely" increased its employment of light vehicles as a way to move troops to the front lines and stage nighttime attacks on Ukrainian positions, Britain's defense ministry wrote in a Monday intelligence update.

Ukraine's forces were operating quad bikes as early as April 2022, just weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, to ambush Russian forces. Nearly two years later, in February of this year, Ukrainian soldiers said Russian quad bikes were more maneuverable than tracked vehicles and harder to hit with artillery.

"It is likely that Russian forces have increasingly resorted to the use of lighter, faster vehicles to conduct reconnaissance of Ukrainian defensive positions, to allow for subsequent engagement using artillery, first-person view (FPV) or one-way attack OWA drones in an effort to consistently degrade Ukrainian forces," Britain's defense ministry said.

"However, in sacrificing armor and firepower for increased mobility, light vehicles are far more vulnerable than their armored counterparts to an array of weapon systems," the ministry added, noting that "Ukrainian FPV drones have already demonstrated their ability to effectively target such light vehicles."

Russia has reportedly purchased thousands of Chinese Desertcross 1000-3 ATVs, per the intelligence update. Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said last month that one of these vehicles in service with Russia's 177th Naval Infantry Regiment had been outfitted with a counter-drone screen.

This improvised anti-drone armor — cage-like netting that's sometimes referred to as a "cope cage" — has been featured prominently on Russian and Ukrainian armored vehicles, including tanks. It is essentially a last-ditch added layer of protection to defend against threats like drones, artillery, and some missiles.

While Russia's lighter vehicles are more vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks than its heavy armor, Moscow has still lost scores of tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield, including to Kyiv's exploding FPV drones. These systems are by no means invincible, even if they are equipped with added layers of protection.

The shift in transportation also appears to have changed the pace of Russian assaults, one Ukrainian commander said.

Several weeks ago, Russian infantry soldiers were launching attacks every few hours alongside a collection of armored vehicles, Col. Pavlo Fedosenko, the commander of Ukraine's 92nd assault brigade, told the Economist in a recent interview.

But now, Moscow's troops use quad bikes and motorcycles to attack in small groups every few days as they look for weak spots in Kyiv's defensive lines.

Russia hasn't completely turned its back on its armored vehicles, though. Last week, for instance, Moscow launched a new assault in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region and tried using armored vehicles to break through defensive lines. Kyiv said its forces repelled the initial attack, but intense fighting continued through the weekend.

"Defensive battles are ongoing, fierce battles — on a large part of our border area," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, addressing the situation in Kharkiv. He added that "there are villages that have actually turned from a gray zone into a combat zone — and the occupier is trying to gain a foothold in some of them, or simply use some of them for further advancement."

• Renjie Zhu, director of manufacturing engineering at Tesla's Austin Gigafactory, said he left the company.
• The executive came to the US to help launch Tesla's Cybertruck.
• Zhu's departure follows a series of layoffs and executive exits at Tesla.

The director who helped launch Tesla's latest project is leaving the company.

Renjie Zhu, the director of manufacturing engineering at Tesla's Austin Gigafactory, announced he'd left the company on Sunday.

The executive wrote on LinkedIn that "after triumphing the epic launch of Cybertruck program," his "adventure with this great company has come to an end."

It's unclear whether Zhu was part of a recent series of layoffs at Tesla or resigned on his own. At least seven executives at Tesla have departed over the past month. Last week, Tesla's former head of product launches said he'd chosen to leave because the recent layoffs had damaged morale and thrown the company "out of balance."

In his announcement, Zhu struck a more cheery note.

"Every single day in the past 5 years we brought the world a little closer to the transition to sustainable energy, not just with our incredible products Model 3/Model Y/Cybertruck, but the innovative ways in which we built those high volume production lines with an unprecedentedly high efficiency and delivered the products to our customers with impeccable quality," he wrote, adding that he's ready to "start a new journey."

Zhu worked at Tesla for more than five years and came over from the company's Shanghai site in January 2023 to launch the Cybertruck program, according to his LinkedIn profile. Tesla began deliveries for the electric pickup truck in November after several years of delays.

The executive and a spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk kickstarted a series of layoffs on April 15 when he told staff he planned to cut more than 10% of the company's workforce. Tesla workers are currently facing their fifth straight week of layoff notices.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or 248-894-6012

• USNS Alan Shepard was run aground off Bahrain's coast after the ship's captain left to eat dinner.
• A junior officer tried to turn the Shepard to avoid a fishing vessel, but it got stuck on a shoal.
• The Navy supply ship was freed from the sand the next day and only sustained minor scratches.

A Navy supply ship was run aground by a junior officer off the coast of Bahrain shortly after the ship's master — or captain — left the bridge to eat dinner, an investigation revealed.

The USNS Alan Shepard had finished up a maintenance period on July 15 and was on the way to a port in Bahrain when she was directed to an area just off shore to wait on a pilot. The master took the ship there and then went to eat dinner, leaving the ship in the hands of a much more junior third officer.

Less than 30 minutes later, the Alan Shepard was grounded on a shoal.

The investigative summary that was provided to Military.com found that after the ship's master — as well as the navigator and the chief mate — left to eat, the ship's third officer "became distracted by a fishing vessel" and tried turning the Alan Shepard to avoid it.

However, the officer, who was not identified in the summary, "was not cognizant of the ship's position in relation to the shoals and shallow water while he was maneuvering the vessel."

It wouldn't be until the next day when, helped by rising tide and tugs, the ship would be freed from the sand.

The investigation noted that the Alan Shepard's standing orders dictate "the master will be on the bridge" when the ship is in shallow water. It cited the failure of the ship's top officers to follow their own rules as one of the factors that led to the incident.

The Alan Shepard was launched in 2006 and has space for a crew of more than 120, all of whom are typically civilian mariners licensed by the US Coast Guard. The ship is used to transport cargo and supplies for Navy vessels at sea.

The investigative summary provided by the Navy made no mention of any disciplinary measures taken in the wake of the incident, and Stars and Stripes, which was the first to report on the investigation's results, found that the master in charge of the ship that day still holds a valid merchant mariner credential.

The summary said that a later diver inspection and evaluation found that the ship suffered only minor scratches to the paint on its hull and no other damage.

In contrast, the Navy typically relieves warship commanders of their command for even minor grounding incidents.

Just weeks after the Alan Shepard incident, the Navy fired the skipper of the USS Howard, Cmdr. Kenji Igawa, after the ship suffered a "soft grounding" on August 10 as it was pulling into Bali, Indonesia, for a port visit. The ship was able to free itself.

The Alan Shepard is currently operating in the Middle East, according to public ship trackers, and has been supporting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the rest of that strike group.