An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Monday that ChatGPT has reached 800 million weekly active users, marking an increase of adoption among consumers, developers, enterprises, and governments. ChatGPT’s impressive growth comes as OpenAI is on a race to secure as many AI chips and build as much AI infrastructure as possible. In August, OpenAI said it was on the cusp of reaching 700 million weekly active users, already an increase from 500 million weekly active users at the end of March.

“Today, 4 million developers have built with OpenAI,” Altman said. “More than 800 people use ChatGPT every week, and we process over 6 billion tokens per minute on the API. Thanks to all of you, AI has gone from something people build play with to something people build with every day.” Altman made the announcement during the keynote presentation for OpenAI’s Dev Day, which also included announcement for new tools for building apps inside of ChatGPT, as well as constructing more complex agentic systems. “This will enable a new generation of apps that are interactive, adaptive, and personalized, that you can chat with,” Altman said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

“Illusions are fun, but they are also a gateway to perception,” says Hyeyoung Shin, assistant professor of neuroscience at Seoul National University. Shin is the first author of a new study in Nature Neuroscience that has identified a specific population of neurons in the visual cortex—dubbed IC-encoders—and shows their direct role in representing a visual illusion. The work is the result of a collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, the Allen Institute in Seattle, and Seoul National University.

What the brain “knows”

Illusory contours are edges we see even though they aren’t physically there. A classic example is the Kanizsa triangle: three “Pac-Man” shapes make us perceive a bright white triangle floating on top. Hide the Pac-Men with your fingers and the trick is revealed: There is no border, just a uniform background. Neurophysiology agrees with perception here: For over 20 years, studies in primates and later imaging in humans and mice have described neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) and higher visual areas that respond to real and illusory contours.

Credit:
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Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

If you’ve been thinking about getting an Apple Watch, but can’t justify paying a higher price for features you’ll never use, you should consider getting an older model at a discount. I’m not suggesting you buy a watch that’s no longer supported with software updates, of course; rather, something that can run watchOS 26, as well as the features you actually need in a smartwatch. If that sounds like you, my recommendation would be the Apple Watch SE 2. 

Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) [GPS, 40mm]

The best starter Apple Watch.

$199.00
at Amazon

$199.00
at Amazon

During Amazon’s October Prime Day sale, the 44mm Apple Watch SE 2 is down to $200 for some variants, which is 30% off its usual price. This isn’t the lowest ever price for this product, as it was very briefly available for $170 in June, but this deal matches the lowest price seen in the July Prime Day sale, and I think it’s still a great value at this price. 

The Apple Watch SE 2 can track running, swimming, cycling, and many other types of workouts. It also comes with Fall Detection, which can alert loved ones and emergency services in the event you fall and become unresponsive. It’s also worth noting this product, like most Apple Watches, is available in two screen sizes: 40mm and 44mm. The Apple Watch SE 2 40mm is also on sale at $179 (28% off) during Prime Day, if you’re interested in a smaller watch. This isn’t quite as good of a deal as the 44mm watch, respectively, as the 40mm model regularly drops to $170. But it’s still $70 cheaper than the 40mm SE 3, so you’ll be saving quite a bit.

Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) [GPS, 40mm]

$179.00
at Amazon

$249.00
Save $70.00

$179.00
at Amazon

$249.00
Save $70.00

This pricing makes the Apple Watch SE 2 a great starter smartwatch for iPhone users, as long as you’re okay skipping the newest features on the SE 3. This watch adds a more crack-resistant glass on the display, sleep apnea notifications, wrist temperature readings, support for 5G connectivity (cellular models only), wrist flick gestures, on-device Siri, and support for fast charging. These features might be worth the extra cost for some ($250 for the 40mm model and $280 for the 44mm model) but if you’re looking for a smartwatch that can handle the basics, you can save the extra cash with the SE 2.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Tucked in the foothills of Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains is a factory that has figured out a way to manufacture in America that’s cheaper, quicker and better. It’s the home of a famous American writing implement: the Sharpie marker. Pen barrels whirl along automated assembly lines that rapidly fill them with ink. At least half a billion Sharpie markers are churned out here every year, each one made of six parts. Only the felt tip is imported, from Japan.

It didn’t used to be this way. Back in 2018, many Sharpies were made abroad. That’s when Chris Peterson, who was the CFO of Sharpie maker Newell Brands challenged his team to answer a question: How could they keep Newell from becoming obsolete compared with factories in Asia? “I felt like we had an opportunity to dramatically improve our U.S. manufacturing,” he said. Peterson is now the CEO. And these days, most Sharpies — in all 93 colors — are made at this 37-year-old factory. Newell did it without reducing the employee count, and without raising prices. But to get to this place took close to $2 billion in investments across the company, thousands of hours of training and a total overhaul of the production process. The result is a playbook for making low-cost, high-volume products domestically, albeit one that requires long-term planning and a lot of investment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.

• Follow our live blog to stay up to date on the best sales we find.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

October’s Prime Big Deal Days don’t officially kick off until tomorrow, but as usual, some of the sales are getting started early. Here are my picks for the best fitness equipment you can already get at a discount. (I’ll keep updating this article as more things go on sale.)

The best Prime Day deals on weights

This Fitvids Olympic bumper plate set is a good deal, giving you 370 pounds of weight for $399.99. It includes a regulation-sized bar with 2” sleeves, and one pair each of bumper plates in 55, 45, 35, 25, 15, and 10 pounds. Some of those weights are an unusual choice—most of us would skip the 35s and 15s and just get extras of the more common sizes—but there’s nothing wrong with loading a bar this way, and you’ll certainly get plenty of use out of a set like this. (Bumpers are especially good for home gyms since they deaden a bit of the sound and impact of deadlifts on the floor.)

Fitvids Olympic 2″ Bumper Plates Set Including 370LB Complete Weight Set (10Lb to 55LB) & 7FT Olympic Barbell Bar(415 Pounds Total), Multiple Packages

$399.99
at Amazon

$477.77
Save $77.78

$399.99
at Amazon

$477.77
Save $77.78

I’m not seeing any big sales on big-name brands of adjustable dumbbells just yet, but these Lifepro dumbbells also have a modest discount that’s worth taking a look at: You can save $10 on a pair of 25-pound adjustables ($189.99, normally $199.99) or $32 on a single 90-pound adjustable dumbbell. 

The best Prime Day deals on cardio equipment

Two Hydrow rowers are on sale today. The Hydrow Origin, with a 22” screen and streaming content, is $1,645, down from $2,195. And the Hydrow Wave, with a 16” screen, is $1,694, down from $1,995. For more on this brand, read our own Meredith Dietz’s review of a different model, the Hydrow Arc. She was impressed by both the rower’s build quality and Hydrow’s “genuinely intelligent training experience.”

Hydrow Wave

$1,694.00
at Amazon

$1,995.00
Save $301.00

$1,694.00
at Amazon

$1,995.00
Save $301.00

NordicTrack’s commercial series treadmills are also discounted today, like this Commercial 1250, which is $1,638.99, down from $1,999.99. Pooboo also has its airbike available for $499.99 after a digital coupon, down from a list price of $699.99. 

The best Prime Day deals on sensors and wearables

Fitbit has some of its trackers on sale already, including the Charge 6 for $119.95, down from $159.95, and the Inspire 3 for $79.95, down from $99.95. You can read my review of the Charge 6 here—it’s a solid tracker if you’re just looking for the basics. 

Polar H10 Heart Rate Monitor

$89.21
at Amazon

$104.95
Save $15.74

$89.21
at Amazon

$104.95
Save $15.74

Some of Polar’s heart rate monitors are on sale as well, including the classic H10 chest strap for $89.21, down from $104.95, and the Verity Sense optical armband monitor for $82.91, down from $104.95. Some people find the armband more comfortable, but an electronic chest strap will always give you the best accuracy.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.

If you’re like me, it’s probably been a hot minute since you’ve thought about Evernote. For years, the note-taking app, once a darling of the App Store, faced declining popularity and profitability. The last time it grabbed headlines was in 2022 when it was sold to Milan-based developer Bending Spoons. Approximately nine months later, Bending Spoons laid off nearly all of Evernote’s US workforce, and relocated what remained of the company’s operations to Europe. Now, Evernote wants to be in the conversation again. 

Since taking over the app, Bending Spoons has released more than 200 improvements, culminating today with the release of Evernote v11. The company is touting the update, which is the first major release for Evernote since its poorly received v10 release back in 2020. The new version brings a handful of new AI features to Evernote, including one that Bending Spoons collaborated with OpenAI to develop.      

“My wish for v11 is that people give it a try and see how fast and reliable it is, how complete it is in what it offers,” Federico Simionato, Evenote’s product lead, said over a video chat. “I think people have an outdated opinion of Evernote that used to match reality, when Evernote was slow and unreliable.”    

The first of the new features Bending Spoons is introducing today is called AI Assistant. Simionato describes it as having ChatGPT inside of Evernote. No surprise since the company collaborated with OpenAI to make it. As you can probably guess, you can use AI Assistant to search through your notes and notebooks, but the tool’s utility goes beyond that. It allows you to interact with your documents and ask follow-up questions. AI Assistant can also generate new content, and you can decide how what it creates is integrated within your existing notes and notebooks. In my demo, Simionato used AI Assistant to add a flight ticket number to a note he had dedicated to an upcoming trip to Spain. Over time, Bending Spoons plans to make AI Assistant more powerful, with the company working on making it possible for the chatbot to assign tags to notes and perform bulk actions across multiple documents, among other capabilities. 

By default, Bending Spoons will enable AI Assistant for all paid users. A set of granular controls will allow people to decide what content AI Assistant can access. The agreement Bending Spoons has with OpenAI means the company can’t train its models on data from Evernote users. Additionally, any data sent to the cloud for processing will only be held as long it takes to complete the user’s request.  

Part of the reason Bending Spoons is taking a more forward approach with AI Assistant is due to user feedback. In 2023, the company released a tool called AI Search. Simionato says his team was “extremely careful” to add friction to the experience to ensure people felt Evernote was respecting their privacy. To that end, you had to dig into the app’s settings to enable AI Search before it would work. According to Simionato, most people found that setup was “too cumbersome,” and with most people becoming more comfortable with AI tools, the company decided to make AI Assistant visible from the jump. 

The other new feature Bending Spoons is introducing today is one some Evernote users have been waiting for a decade: Semantic Search. Instead of trying to find a note using an exact word or phrase you used inside of it, Semantic Search allows Evernote to filter through your documents using context. Simionato demonstrates the feature in action by typing “Barcelona trip” into the new interface, and Evernote surfaces a note he created about a trip to Girona. If you’re not familiar, Girona is a city about 62 miles northeast of Barcelona and part of Catalonia. The document Evernote pulled up had no mention of Barcelona in it, but that didn’t prevent the tool from finding it. According to Simionato, this is the most requested feature of longtime Evernote users and one Bending Spoons is happy it can finally deliver on. 

Lastly, the company has expanded the app’s built-in recording and transcription capabilities. Building on AI Transcribe, which Bending Spoons first introduced in 2024, Evernote can now record audio from both in-person and online meetings and automatically transcribe and summarize what’s said. This feature should work in every language that Evernote currently supports. 

As mentioned, Evernote’s new AI features are available to all paid users. Simionato said Bending Spoons is working on making a trail available to free users sometime in the next few months. For now, the price of Evernote’s paid plans isn’t going up, but Simionato noted the company plans to adjust pricing in the coming months, mostly to account for the fact there aren’t many notable differences between the Personal and Professional tiers. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/evernotes-biggest-update-since-2020-goes-all-in-on-ai-180000340.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

If you’re like I used to be and your house is stocked with old, dull, and possibly mysteriously sticky pairs of scissors, I’m about to change your life by suggesting you pick up a cordless electric scissor like this one. Not only does this tool make all the basic cutting chores a lot easier, requiring less effort, you’ll start using it in projects you would never use your old, janky scissors.

Zeleki Cordless Electric Scissors: 4V Rechargeable Cardboard Cutter, 3 Blades, Safety Lock & LED Light, Box Cutter for Carton Carpet Plastic Fabric Leather(Yellow）

$35.99
at Amazon

$49.99
Save $14.00

$35.99
at Amazon

$49.99
Save $14.00

For example, I haven’t had my hand sliced open by a sharp, plastic shell around a new purchase since I bought these. Instead of struggling, these scissors glide through that plastic like butter. And that’s just one way I use these scissors on a regular basis—I also break them out to:

• Cut up cardboard boxes for recycling

• Cut up fabric to reupholster chairs (which our cats like to defile on a regular basis)

• Cutting plastic straps off heavy deliveries

• Cut drop cloths (plastic or cloth) down to fit smaller spaces where I’m working

• Cutting a rubber mat for under my wife’s exercise bike down to size

• Cut zip ties (which I use to bundle everything)

I haven’t used these to cut carpet or heavy sheet plastic, but I’m certain they would make short work of either, so the next time that needs to be done, I’ll be more than ready. A final bonus? No more cramping hands after using scissors on a stack of cardboard or anything else that’s thick and awkward to cut through. Right now these are 32% off for Prime Day (about a $15 savings), and are worth every penny.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

Not only is the M4 MacBook Air the best MacBook for most people, but it’s also the best laptop for them, as well. This is true even at its usual price of $999, but during Amazon’s October Prime Day sale, you can get the M4 MacBook Air at an all-time low price of $799. That’s a full $200 off the usual price, which makes this an even sweeter deal. This generation of MacBooks also gets 16GB RAM in the base variant, as opposed to the previous standard of 8GB of RAM. That means it’s no longer underpowered for multitasking workloads, and it should work well for years to come.

M4 MacBook Air (2025)

The best laptop for most people.

$799.00
at Amazon

$999.00
Save $200.00

$799.00
at Amazon

$999.00
Save $200.00

I say this as someone who has been using the M1 MacBook Air as his primary laptop for over two years. My only regret is that at the time of purchase, I couldn’t stretch my budget to get the 16GB RAM model. Since my work involves installing many apps, and, sometimes, running them all at once, the 8GB RAM on my MacBook has felt like a bottleneck. You won’t face any of those issues with the M4 MacBook Air, which has a vastly superior processor and double the RAM compared to my MacBook.

With the M4 MacBook Air, you’ll get great performance, excellent battery life, and a thin and light laptop. The base model comes with 256GB of internal storage. That’s worked well enough for me, since I keep most of my photos on my iPhone, but it may not be enough for some people. If you are among them, this deal extends to other variants of the M4 MacBook Air too. You can get $200 off all available models of this laptop during Prime Day. That puts the model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage at $999, and the 24GB RAM/512GB storage model at $1,199. The base variant is the best deal at the moment, since you get 20% off on that, but if you need more RAM or storage, you can still save quite a bit here.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Our Prime Day coverage is already underway. We’re helping you catch the best early deals, and giving you live access to the best deals our team of experts can find. All of our recommended deals have been vetted using price tracking tools, so you can trust that the sales we’re talking about are actually good deals, and not just hype designed to fool you.

Remember, you need to be a Prime Member to have access to all of Amazon’s Prime Day deals, and to get free shipping. Prime membership starts at $14.99 per month ($139 per year) and comes with more benefits than people think. It’s easy to figure out if yearly Prime membership is worth it for you, but remember, you can always cancel your Prime membership once the sale is over, as Amazon offers free 30-day trials. In theory, you can shop the whole event and still have time to cancel before you get charged. (Here’s how to sign up for a Prime free trial.)

For a glimpse at the best deals as we find them, check out our live blog of the event below, which features the Lifehacker team’s coverage of both days of October Prime Day. We’ll continue highlighting new deals as we find them, but you can scroll through to see earlier deals that may still be active.

The Environmental Protection Agency was sued Wednesday over an allegedly politically motivated decision to end a program that Congress intended to help low-income and disadvantaged communities across the US save money on electricity bills through rooftop and community solar programs.

In their complaint, a group of plaintiffs who would have benefited from the EPA’s “Solar for All” program—including a labor union, several businesses, and a homeowner who cannot afford her electricity bills without it—accused the EPA of violating federal law and the Constitution by unlawfully terminating the program.

Solar for All was “expected to save an estimated $350 million annually on energy bills during and after the five-year program, providing energy bill relief for more than 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households,” plaintiffs noted. Additionally, it was “expected to secure 4,000 megawatts of new solar energy over five years and generate 200,000 new jobs.”

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Deforestation is draining color from butterfly populations in Brazil. Researchers studying butterflies in the state of EspÃrito Santo found 31 species in natural forests but only 21 in eucalyptus plantations. The plantation communities were dominated by brown-colored species. Roberto GarcÃa-Roa, part of the research project, said the colors on butterfly wings have been designed over millions of years.

Lead researcher Maider Iglesias-Carrasco from the University of Copenhagen observed a general feeling of emptiness in the plantations. Ricardo Spaniol from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul discovered in 2019 that the most colorful Amazonian species often disappear first after deforestation, probably because of the loss of native vegetation and increased exposure to predators. Eucalyptus plantations cover at least 22 million hectares around the world. Spaniol’s research found that forested Amazon habitats regenerating for 30 years after use as cattle pasture showed a remarkable increase in butterfly color diversity.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Instagram is launching its own awards program, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This is sort of like the Oscars, but for short-form social media content. There isn’t an awards ceremony, a comedian host or anything like that. Instead, the 25 winners will get physical rings.

These rings will be designed by fashionista Grace Wales Bonner. Maybe they’ll be worth a few bucks, as the recognition doesn’t include a financial payout of any kind. However, winners will get a digital replica of a ring to put on their Instagram profile and stories.

Instagram

Honorees also receive the ability to customize the background color of their profiles, creating a unique gradient. Eva Chen, the head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, says this kind of customization is “something that we haven’t really ever done before.” Myspace let people do this more than 20 years ago and Friendster before that.

Instagram has three billion monthly active users and there are only 25 recipients of the aforementioned ring. Judges will whittle down the list down to thousands and then hundreds before settling on the winners. These judges include platform head honcho Adam Mosseri, along with folks like Spike Lee and actress Yari Shahidi.

There are no official categories like with other awards, but the winners will be chosen from across different topics and interest groups. “The criteria was really tough,” Chen says. “But really, we were looking for people who take creative chances and who are always pushing the envelope and thinking about new ways to talk to their audience.”

Instagram hopes this will become a regular thing, just like those other awards. “We’d love to see how it’s received and how the winners enjoy the literal Instagram spotlight,” Chen says. Winners will be announced on October 16. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-will-start-handing-out-awards-to-select-creators-170531135.html?src=rss

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.

Sora, OpenAI’s TikTok for AI slop, is currently the number one free app on the iOS App Store. The app makes it possible for users to generate hyper-realistic short-form videos from simple AI prompts. If you find your TikTok or Instagram feeds to feature a few too many posts made by humans, Sora offers you a feed devoid of any manmade content: Everything you see, from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman roasting a Pikachu on the grill, to speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. about Xbox Game Pass, is entirely fabricated and generated by the Sora video model. As the kids say, we are so cooked.

The implications are distressing, terrifying, and, to this tech editor, nauseating. But it’s not just the fact that these videos are lifelike that’s setting off my anxieties; it’s also the app’s “cameo” feature, which lets you insert real people into one of these AI concoctions. If you request a video of someone skateboarding across a skyscraper, for example, Sora doesn’t have to generate a fake person. Instead, you can ask it to put yourself in the video. If your friends are on the platform, you can instead choose to cast one of them as the skateboarder, too. The same goes for any account that has made their cameo settings public, which is how we got so many unhinged videos of Altman and other OpenAI execs.

OpenAI is pitching Cameos as a fun way to communicate and share with friends. I, and others like me, see it as a deepfake machine, with the potential to generate videos of anyone doing just about anything. OpenAI would disagree, of course. The company promises it has “guardrails” in place designed to prevent generations that are harmful or offensive, as well as the misuse of other people’s likenesses. In order to set up a cameo, you need to take a video of yourself while speaking, which gives the video model the information needed to plop you into these short clips. Ideally, you are in control of your cameos: If you don’t want other people generating videos of you, you can choose to block them from being made. If you don’t like a video someone made with your cameo, you can request that OpenAI delete it from Sora—even if you didn’t make the video yourself.

Despite OpenAI’s assurances, I’m not convinced this won’t get ugly fast. Still, it’s worth it to go over the settings you can adjust to control how your likeness is used (or not used) on Sora.

Block other Sora users from putting you in cameos

These settings only apply once you set up your cameo. If you simply use the app to watch videos, there are no settings for you to adjust. However, if you have made a cameo, you can use a few control to limit how it is used.

To find your cameo settings, open Sora, tap your profile icon in the bottom right, then tap the two-lined menu button in the top right and choose “Cameo rules.” Here, you can adjust who can use your cameo from the following options:

• Only me: No other Sora users can use your cameo.

• People I approve: Choose specific Sora users that can use your cameo.

• Mutuals: Anyone you follow who follows you back can use your cameo.

• Everyone: Anyone on the platform can use your cameo. (I strongly recommend you do not use this option.)

Note that changing these settings will only apply to videos going forward. If you originally allowed mutuals or all users to use your cameo, but you drop down to people you approve, or even just yourself, all previous videos made with your cameo will remain on the platform.

You also have some granular control over how your cameos are used, as Bill Peebles, head of Sora, announced on X. If you head back to your cameo settings, choose “Cameo preferences” then “Restrictions.” Here, you should have the option to enter any restriction you want, which will block others from including those restrictions when using your cameo. For example, you could block people from putting you in political videos, or from saying specific words or phrases.

Delete other people’s videos that use your cameo

If you see a video that someone made using your cameo and you don’t want it on the platform anymore, you can ask OpenAI to delete it. To do so, open the video, then choose “Report.” Here, you can request a takedown. OpenAI says it will “review and take action” if the video uses your cameo “against your settings or rules.” That’s a little too vague for my liking, but it’s good to know this system is in place if you find yourself in this position.

Delete your Sora account to nuke all videos using your cameo

There is a nuclear option as well: delete your Sora account altogether. OpenAI says that any videos that use a cameo attached to a deleted account will also be removed from the platform. They’re much more specific with the language here, so I’d imagine this is the best way to guarantee your cameos are not floating around Sora in ways you don’t want them to.

There are still a lot of potential risks

It’s great that OpenAI is giving users controls who can use their likeness in Sora videos, but, in my view, it’s just not enough. OpenAI created a tool that lets other users seamlessly place you into AI-generated videos. The risk for misuse is simply too great to think of this product as anything other than a deepfake disaster waiting to happen.

OpenAI says you can request to delete any video that uses your cameo, but what if OpenAI doesn’t think the video violates your rules or settings? More concerningly, what happens when someone takes that video off Sora and publishes it on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube instead? Is OpenAI going to track down every company that is hosting the video and demand they delete it? Or could your face, your voice, your entire likeness, be plastered across social media, in a video that isn’t even real? OpenAI requires you to record yourself before creating a cameo, but what if someone figures out how to use existing videos of you to create an illegitimate cameo without your permission? All the cameo restrictions and settings in the world won’t let you control what happens with those videos. And while OpenAI considers their initial approach to Sora generations “conservative,” I’ve seen some wild stuff on this platform already. If you think users won’t find ways to trick the AI into generating videos of you that are offensive, disgusting, or otherwise negative, think again.

I don’t know where we’re going from here, but I know one thing: I’ll never use the cameo feature on Sora, and I’d encourage you to do the same. If you already have, restrict your settings as much as you’re willing to.

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Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

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If you’re stoically ignoring Prime Day right now but you don’t already possess a power screwdriver, you might want to yourself a favor and buy just one thing during the sale: this DeWalt Cordless model. It’s 17% off, which is nice—but more importantly, it will change your whole approach to home maintenance, because you’ll use it constantly—and as a direct result, you’ll have fewer emergencies. (And if you’ve ever tried to use a screwdriver one-handed while clinging to a ladder, you’ll appreciate a power screwdriver more than life itself.)

DEWALT Cordless Screwdriver USB Rechargeable with FLEXDRIVE Control and Screwdriver Bit Set, Electric Screwdriver Cordless with LED Light (DWHT66719)

$73.88
at Amazon

$89.99
Save $16.11

$73.88
at Amazon

$89.99
Save $16.11

What’s also great about this screwdriver, for me, is that it’s USB-charging, so it doesn’t get forgotten in a shed or workroom—it can charge anywhere, so I can keep it handy. I use it at least once a week, if not more often, just to keep things in the house from escalating. A few times I’ve used it just in the last month or so include:

• Tightening two kitchen cabinet hinges that had slowly loosened

• Assembling a plyo box for my wife’s home gym

• Swapping out a light fixture that stopped working

• Firming up a loose towel rack by inserting some anchors and fresh screws

Any time I notice something getting loose or looking a little janky, I can grab this tool and just take care of it.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.