Today’s Big Story

The Future of Chatbots Is Here

And it’s as much like the movie ‘Her’ as many have feared it would be

We knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time. But maybe we got here before any of us are prepared for the reality. The new voice assistant version of ChatGPT that OpenAI demonstrated this week will joke and chide, apologize and pretend to blush—and it even knows how to deal with interruptions.

In a blog post from the company, OpenAI says GPT-4o’s capabilities “will be rolled out iteratively,” but its text and image capabilities will start to roll out today in ChatGPT. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted that the model is “natively multimodal,” which means the model could generate content or understand commands in voice, text or images. Developers who want to tinker with GPT-4o will have access to the API, which is half the price and twice as fast as GPT-4 Turbo, Altman added on X.

The upgrades started making their way around the internet and people are having a lot of reactions—surprise, delight and fear—but everyone seems to recall the Spike Jonze film Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a loney guy and the voice of Scarlett Johansson as the almost-sentient operating system he falls in love with. And as WIRED reminds us, that’s not exactly a good thing.

But the new features OpenAI showed off do represent a substantial upgrade over ChatGPT’s existing voice mode, which can chat with a user but with much more limited interaction; the current version can’t be interrupted or respond to what your camera sees, for instance. The Verge reports that the new capabilities will launch in a limited “alpha” release in “the coming weeks” and be available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers first once a wider rollout begins.

The new voice assistant comes on the heels of a Bloomberg report that claims OpenAI is nearing a deal with Apple to put ChatGPT on the iPhone. As anyone with an iPhone knows, Siri is great, but can be notoriously unreliable, so a Her-inspired assistant baked into the iPhone that may actually be able to naturally answer your questions instead of “searching the web” seems to be where this is headed. Just don’t go falling in love with it, okay?

Biden Advances $1 Billion in Arms for Israel

The sale highlights the fine line the White House is trying to walk with its longtime ally

The Biden administration told key lawmakers on Tuesday it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered. It’s the first arms shipment to Israel since the administration put another arms transfer—consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each— on hold because of concerns that a planned assault in southern Gaza could cause immense civilian casualties.

The arms deal allows for the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, officials told the Washington Post. It also illustrates the narrow path the Biden administration is walking with Israel, trying to prevent an assault on Rafah but continuing to supply a longtime ally that the president has said has a right to defend itself.

Of course, the U.S. has been pushing for a cease-fire deal in which Hamas would release at least some of the hostages it took on Oct. 7, when it attacked Israel and began the war. But the prime minister of Qatar, a key player in the talks, said on Tuesday that they were at “almost a stalemate.” A senior Arab negotiator directly involved in the talks told NBC News they had taken a turn for the worse. “It’s a mess,” the negotiator said, adding that they had deteriorated after Israel entered Rafah. “Everything collapsed after that.”

Cohen’s Cross-Examination

Trump attorneys sharply question the former fixer in the criminal hush money trial

The long-anticipated, brutal cross-examination of Michael Cohen started Tuesday afternoon. CBS News reports that Cohen was calm but occasionally combative while fending off attacks from Trump attorney Todd Blanche, who targeted his motivations and credibility. Confronted with recent statements in which he called Blanche a “crying little s--t” and Trump a “dictator d-----bag,” Cohen replied dryly: “Sounds like something I would say.”

Cohen testified about how much he had done to “protect” Trump after he became president, including lying to Congress, misleading the Federal Elections Commission and lying to reporters by saying that he alone authorized the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. He also testified that he met with Trump in the Oval Office and discussed his repayment for the Daniels payout. When law enforcment caught up with Cohen and raided his home and office, Trump told him “Don't worry. I am the president of the United States ... you are going to be OK,” Cohen recounted on the stand.

Court ended for the day with the defense opening up a new line of questioning about friction between Michael Cohen and District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Cohen confirmed that he was bothered by articles saying Bragg had doubts about his value as a witness. The weaknesses that worried Bragg are what Blanche will try to keep exploiting when the trial resumes tomorrow.

The End of a Bubbly Era

With McDonald’s ditching free drink refills, will others follow?

Pour one out for the beloved free refill. Or don’t, because getting another soda will cost you. McDonald’s customers are bidding a bitter farewell to free drink refills, one of the latest casualties from the brand already facing an identity crisis over extreme prices.

The New York Post reports that while no official announcement has been made, multiple customers from various locations have said that their local Golden Arches began charging patrons for drink re-ups—something once given for free throughout fast-food franchises. “What is the world coming to?” a shocked man recently posted on X.

You might remember that last fall, it was reported that Mickey D’s was gradually phasing out its self-serve soda fountains for dine-in customers by the year 2032. However, a company rep told Business Insider at the time that charging for refills would be left “at the discretion of individual restaurant owner/operators.” As the Post points out, what McDonald’s does, the industry usually follows, so it sounds like free refills might soon become extinct industry-wide. I’m already thirsty.

Lift Heavy Weights

Strength training is what builds lean, functional muscles

When it comes to overall fitness, there are countless options available to us. It could be a sport, it might be a group class or a training session streamed right into your living room. It's never been easier to workout and yet the myriad of options can result in a paralysis of choice—that familiar paradox when a multitude of options actually makes it more difficult to choose.

But whether your goal is to build muscle mass or achieve a fitter, more toned body, lifting weights will help you get there. And it will do it by improving your life in a whole lot of other ways, too.

Put in the effort.