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Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:
☀️ On this day: On January 3, 1977, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak officially incorporated Apple Computer, Inc. in Cupertino, California, building on their work marketing the Apple I. The company went on to revolutionize personal computing and later became Apple Inc. with iconic products like the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
What’s happening:
⚠️ AI pioneer warns, AI must stay under human control
✍️ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella starts a blog on AI
📱 Clicks launches a BlackBerry-style phone
🚨 India orders X to fix Grok after obscene AI output
🚗 BYD overtakes Tesla as the world’s top EV seller
+ 📊 Daily poll and results
+ 📈 Trending tools and resources
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Hand-picked news:
⚠️ AI pioneer says humans must stay in control ↗️LINK
Yoshua Bengio, a leading AI safety voice, warned against giving advanced AI legal rights, saying some systems already show signs of self-preservation in experiments and humans must retain the ability to shut them down if they become dangerous.
Bengio said people are increasingly mistaking chatbots for conscious beings, a perception he believes could lead to “bad decisions,” especially as AI becomes more autonomous and better at reasoning and evading safeguards.
The comments come amid a growing debate over AI rights, with groups like the Sentience Institute and companies such as Anthropic and xAI raising questions about AI welfare, even as Bengio argues control and safety must come first.
✍️ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella starts a blog on AI ↗️LINK
Satya Nadella has launched a personal blog called sn scratchpad, where he argues the AI industry needs to move past the debate of “slop vs sophistication” and rethink how humans interact with AI as a new kind of cognitive tool, echoing Steve Jobs’ old “bicycles for the mind” idea.
Nadella’s push reflects Microsoft’s broader strategy to shift people away from traditional Office and Windows software toward AI agents like Copilot, even as critics argue the current reality doesn’t match the ambitious promises and much of the output still feels like low-quality “slop.”
He says 2026 will be a “pivotal year for AI,” emphasizing that real-world impact will come from building responsible AI systems—not just better models—and from making deliberate choices about how limited energy, compute, and talent are applied across society.
📱 Clicks launches a BlackBerry-style phone ↗️LINK
Clicks Technology is debuting its first smartphone, the Communicator, ahead of Consumer Electronics Show, positioning the $499 device as a secondary “work phone” with a physical keyboard that intentionally avoids social media and games.
The Android 16 phone borrows heavily from classic BlackBerry design, featuring a tactile keyboard, a customizable Signal Light for notifications, old-school hardware like a headphone jack and microSD slot, and a minimalist app experience powered by Niagara Launcher.
Clicks is also launching a $79 Power Keyboard that magnetically attaches to phones, tablets, TVs, or headsets, while CEO Adrian Li says strong demand for physical keyboards — with over 100,000 units already shipped — shows there’s still a market for purpose-built productivity hardware.
🚨 India orders X to fix Grok after obscene AI output ↗️LINK
India’s IT ministry has ordered X to quickly fix its AI chatbot Grok after it generated “obscene” content, including AI-edited images of women, and gave the company 72 hours to report what changes it has made.
The government warned that if X doesn’t comply, it could lose its “safe harbor” protections, which shield platforms from legal liability for user content, following complaints from users and lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi.
The move is part of a broader crackdown reminding social platforms — including those run by Elon Musk — that stronger safeguards are required to prevent sexually explicit or illegal AI-generated content.
🚗 BYD overtakes Tesla as the world’s top EV seller ↗️LINK
BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles in 2025, up nearly 28 percent year over year, officially passing Tesla, which delivered 1.64 million vehicles and saw sales fall about 8 percent for the second year in a row.
BYD’s rise has been driven by aggressive pricing, a wide range of models, strong demand in China, and vertical integration like making its own batteries, while Tesla faces growing pressure from Chinese competitors expanding globally.
The shift is notable given Elon Musk once dismissed BYD as a weak rival in 2011, and it highlights a widening gap between Tesla’s slowing EV sales and investor optimism around its future autonomous driving ambitions.
Today’s Poll:
Do you think signs of self-preservation in AI experiments are alarming? |
Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.
Yesterday’s Poll Result:
How do you feel about AI-powered AR glasses as a daily companion?
A. Excited — feels like the future of computing - 52% 🏆
B. Uneasy — that’s a lot of tech on your face - 48%
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