Artificial Intelligence

If you hate the endless AI that Microsoft is cramming into Windows 11, you are far from alone. While the company may believe that everything can be enhanced with artificial intelligence, there are plenty of users who are yet to be convinced.

Now, there are certainly steps you can take to avoid the AI-ificiation of Windows 11 – including sticking with Windows 10 – but it can take time to implement all of the necessary settings. If only someone has created a script to automate the disabling of AI in Windows 11. Oh… they have. Here it is.

Limitless has announced that it has been acquired by Meta. Formerly known as Rewind, Limitless is a company that says, “our vision is to free the human mind from its biological limitations”.

To this end, the company produces AI-powered wearable, including a pendant that can record and transcribe conversations. Numerous usage scenarios have been put forward, including helping people with dementia, ADHD or Alzheimer’s.

Microsoft may wish that things were different, but not everyone is as enamoured with artificial intelligence as the company is. Windows 11 is gradually becoming infested with endless AI components, and it is not something that all users are happy about.

One particular bone of contention is the AI Actions entry in the context menu. Even people who are fans of AI sometimes struggle to see the value in its presence, and it is actively loathed by many. Microsoft is, it seems, finally listening to feedback and giving users the option to hide it.

Every so often there are posts that do the rounds on social media that suggest terrible policy changes are coming. This is happening again, with a message claiming that Meta is going to start using the content of private DMs to train AI.

The unfounded claims are being tied to a Privacy Policy update which is due to come into force on December 16. While it is certainly true that Meta’s new policy kicks in in a couple of weeks, there are falsities being attached to it in scaremongering posts that have gone semi-viral.

Apple has announced that its senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, plans to retire. Having been with the company since 2018, he will serve as an advisor for a short time before moving on in spring next year.

While no reason has been publicly given for the departure, it is widely thought that there was a degree of discontent at Giannandrea’s management of Siri. The product was blighted by a series of delays and problems that did not reflect well on Apple.

Like death and taxes, ads are an inevitability. This is something that applies to the world of technology, but particularly anything even remotely connected to the internet.

Proving the above, as well as the old adage that there is no such things as a free lunch, OpenAI is planning to bring advertising into ChatGPT. This is not something that the organization has officially announced, evidence that ads are coming has been uncovered.

With the end of mainstream support for Windows 10 having reached us over a month ago, Microsoft will have been hoping that users will feel forced into upgrading to Windows 11. Has this happened? Not really.

Dell has revealed that there are millions upon millions of PCs out there that are still running Windows 10 and simply cannot run Windows 11. The company also used its Q3 earnings call to share the news that PC sales are slowing – something it predicts will continue into 2026.

Like Spotify, YouTube offers an annual summary of listening habits for individual users, but for 2025 there is a slight change. This time around, perhaps inevitably, artificial intelligence has been used.

The insertion of AI into just about every product and service has become predictable, but there is always the interesting question of whether its use is necessary, and if it brings any benefits. So, what is the verdict with YouTube Music?

The writing has been on the wall for some time, but Google Assistant’s days are not only officially numbered, but we have a far better idea of when the once-revolutionary digital assistant will be vanishing.

The seemingly unstoppable wave of artificial intelligence means that Google Gemini has been long seen as being far more significant and useful than Google Assistant. Having made some vague suggestions about Assistant being upgraded with Gemini at some point in the future, Google has now revealed a bit more detail about the timeline.

The president of Google EMEA, Debbie Weinstein, has called on governments in Europe to do more to help promote the adoption of AI across industry. Speaking at the Europe Business Summit in Brussels, she said that she sees massive potential for artificial intelligence in Europe.

There are, however, problems. Weinstein points to issues such as companies in the regions still working with older technologies but, more pressingly, the restrictive nature of EU regulations.

It is that time once again – there is a new version of PowerToys to install. Microsoft has just unleashed PowerToys v0.96.0 as part of a release cycle that focuses on “new features, stability, optimization improvements, and automation”.

First things first: are there any new modules here? Sadly not. But while there may not be any brand new utilities to play with, PowerToys v0.96.0 does see a number of significant changes and additions to the tools you already know and love – including Command Palette and Advanced Paste.

That artificial intelligence is used in weather forecasting is to be expected, but Google has just announced WeatherNext 2. Self-described as its “most advanced and efficient forecasting model”, this last incarnation improves not only accuracy, but also speed.

Forecast generation can be up to eight times faster, and Google is already using the data produced by WeatherNext 2 – this is not something that is coming, it is here now. After heavy research work, Google is ready to give the tool to users.

You may have tried to forget Clippy, but Microsoft is still hanging doggedly on to the idea of character-based assistants. Having thrown everything at its AI assistant Copilot, the company is now giving it a friendly face – Mico.

As part of what it refers to as the Copilot Fall Release, Microsoft is trying to soften its artificial intelligence powered digital assistant and, by extension, people’s attitudes to it. This is the company moving towards making AI more personal, useful, and human-centered, and there is a lot of attention given to relationship.

In an age of fragmented news, deepfakes present a real problem. YouTube is taking action to stop AI-generated videos being used to impersonate people.

The company has revealed details of its new Likeness Detection tool. For now, YouTube is targeting creators, giving them access to the tool – not only because creators are among those likely to be deepfaked, but also because the company will be hoping to be able to use their influence to hype up Likeness Detection.

Navigation tools such as Waze and Google Maps not only help you find a route from A to B, but also provide information about road closure, vehicle breakdowns, police in the area, and hazards on the road. With this last item being reliant on reports from road users, Waze has been investigating ways to make do so easier.

When you spot a hazard on the road and want to warn others, you have had to wait until you are able to stop to do so (safely, at least). Now Waze is rolling out a feature called Conversational Reporting which lets you use your voice – and a dash of AI – to let other road users know about what you have spotted.