Welcome back to Week in Review. This week we’re diving into OpenAI’s newly released AI agent, called Operator. We also look at where TikTok stands after being resuscitated, whether it’s time to go back to Tumblr, and more! Let’s get into it.
OpenAI launched a research preview of Operator, a general-purpose AI agent that can independently perform certain actions like book travel accommodations, make restaurant reservations, and shop online. When users activate Operator, a small window will pop up showing a dedicated web browser that the agent uses to complete tasks, along with text explaining what the agent is doing. The feature will first roll out to U.S. users on ChatGPT’s $200 per month Pro subscription plan.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are fighting on X about Stargate. The enormous infrastructure project would funnel as much as $500 billion from investors like SoftBank and Middle East AI fund MGX into data centers that support OpenAI’s AI workloads. But Musk claims that Stargate doesn’t have the money it says it does. It’s important to note, though, that he is not a neutral party and happens to be embroiled in a lawsuit with OpenAI.
Hackers found a way to remotely unlock, start, and track millions of Subarus, according to a report from Wired. Two security researchers discovered vulnerabilities in a Subaru web portal that allowed them to hijack car controls and track driver location data. Subaru has since fixed the vulnerabilities after the researchers reported their findings to the Japanese automaker.
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News
Unpacking Samsung Unpacked: Samsung’s annual Unpacked event was this week, featuring the reveal of its Galaxy S25 line, new features for Gemini Live, advancements in smart home technology, and more. We put together a handy recap of every reveal you might have missed. Read more
Perplexity launches an AI agent: The AI-powered search engine startup launched Perplexity Assistant, which the company says uses reasoning, search, and apps to help with daily tasks. The assistant is available for Android devices and can take “multi-app actions.” Read more
Will MrBeast buy TikTok? YouTube celebrity MrBeast is in talks to join a number of bids for TikTok’s U.S. operations, though he hasn’t chosen one exclusively yet. While MrBeast is certainly wealthy, it is his celebrity that has attracted multiple bidders. Read more
Fitbit gets burned: Fitbit settled with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission over a long-standing defect that caused some wearers to sustain burns. Fitbit will pay a $12.25 million penalty for the issues surrounding the Ionic smartwatch. Read more
Time to dust off your Tumblr blog: Tumblr has finally launched Tumblr TV, a GIF discovery feature a decade in the making that has since evolved to also host short-form videos to compete with TikTok. I wonder if the fandom GIFs I made in 2012 are still there… Read more
Now, that’s what I call smol 🤏: A team at AI dev platform Hugging Face has released SmolVLM-256M and SmolVLM-500M, which they’re claiming to be the smallest AI models that can analyze images, short videos, and text. Read more
That’s one way to get a charge: Carnegie Mellon researchers debuted Power-Over-Skin, whose technology allows for electrical currents to travel through human skin to power things like blood sugar monitors, pacemakers, and even consumer wearables. Read more
Stripe axes 300 employees: The fintech giant is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported by Business Insider. However, Stripe plans to continue hiring in 2025 to grow its total headcount by 17%. Read more
Meta copycats CapCut: Meta announced a new video editing app called Edits shortly after ByteDance’s video editing app CapCut was removed from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store as part of the U.S. TikTok ban. Read more
Just in case TikTok goes dark for real: While TikTok is back online in the U.S., its future remains uncertain. Bookmarking backup service Dewey has a solution that saves your favorite TikToks and allows you to access them at any time — even if TikTok disappears again. Read more
