Bookmarks | Conspiracy theories flourish as mystery 'drones' spotted across US — Image for illustration purposes only. Dall-E

These are the articles, videos and more that caught the attention of TechCentral’s editorial team in the past 24 hours.

Conspiracy theories flourish as mystery ‘drones’ spotted across US: Mysterious “drones” over the US are fuelling conspiracies faster than they fly. Explanations range from rogue nukes and Iranian motherships to Project Blue Beam’s fake alien invasion. Most sightings? Likely planes or stars. The FBI and department of homeland security promise investigations and deny threats, but sound suspiciously vague. Politicians demand answers, conspiracists see cover-ups and America (and the rest of the world) remains thoroughly entertained. Read more on Gizmodo. DM
Sam Altman reckons with a growing threat to OpenAI: Elon Musk: Sam Altman’s OpenAI faces a twofold threat from Elon Musk: fierce AI competition via xAI’s rapid progress and Musk’s political clout as a Trump confidant. Musk’s Colossus supercomputer and massive datasets give him an edge, while Altman navigates political waters, emphasising OpenAI’s value to the US. Altman’s message? Compete fairly – don’t weaponise Washington. Read more on FT.com (hard paywall). DM
Leak reveals the Nvidia RTX 5090 will need a ridiculous amount of space inside your PC: A leak of the Nvidia RTX 5090 reveals it’s a colossal GPU, demanding three to four motherboard slots, a PSU fit for a small power plant and potentially up to 600W of power draw. Boasting 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM and 21 760 Cuda cores, it’ll make your case (and wallet) sweat. Read more on Gizmodo. DM
Most iPhone owners see little to no value in Apple Intelligence so far: A new survey suggests that Apple Intelligence matters to iPhone buyers, but the majority say that the initial features add little to no value. It remains to be seen whether “genmoji” and ChatGPT integration will change that view. More on 9to5Mac. TS
Could AI build cities in space?: While some believe advanced AI is going to lead to the extinction of human life, others — those on the glass-half-full end of the spectrum — see AI as the technology that is going to allow humans to conquer the galaxy. AI-powered robots will power new industries and economies as humans develop into a space-faring civilisation. Watch this video from The Economist on YouTube. NN
TikTok asks supreme court to intervene on US ban: TikTok has asked the US supreme court to delay enforcement of a national security law that could effectively ban the popular social media app in the US next month. Read more in The Wall Street Journal. NN