Articles by Eric Hal Schwartz, Contributor

‘Can we work out a deal where you pay ME and I get no AI at all?’ Meta wants you to pay for more AI — one brutal response suggests people might rather pay to make it go away

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 17 September 26

Meta wants people to pay for more AI, but growing demand for control suggests the next premium feature could be the ability to turn AI off

AI companies are 'begging the government to regulate them' says JD Vance, but nobody seems willing to actually slow the AI race

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 16 September 26

AI’s biggest CEOs say frontier development needs to slow, but their companies have yet to show what “slower” means with an actual model delay

The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge

'Nowhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose' — Britain’s lawmakers have started calling for AI regulation, and they should refuse to settle for half-measures

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 15 September 26

British lawmakers and OpenAI agree voluntary AI safeguards are no longer enough, increasing pressure on the UK government to adopt enforceable rules

I tried Meta’s new Muse AI agent — it’s incredibly useful, but handing it my digital life felt deeply uncomfortable

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 14 September 26

Meta’s Muse proved remarkably capable at handling digital errands, but its usefulness depends on granting an unsettling amount of access to personal information.

Don’t ask ChatGPT 'What should I do?' — this simple prompt helps you make better decisions yourself

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 11 September 26

Making ChatGPT a decision coach can help you think through difficult choices without handing over the final call.

‘The noise patterns are awful’ — some Reddit users aren’t happy with the new ChatGPT Images 2.5, so I did my own tests and have to agree

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 10 September 26

ChatGPT Images 2.5 delivers faster, impressively composed pictures, but my tests support users’ complaints of excessive noise

‘I also want to feel the frontier’ — Gemini users are starting to think that Gemini Pro 4 won’t ever see the light of day thanks to the release of ChatGPT 6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 8 September 26

The arrival of ChatGPT 6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 has Gemini users wondering whether Google will ever release Gemini 4 Pro, and whether its AI strategy has lost its way

‘Other governments will be watching this closely’ — South Korea starts testing free AI for the public

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 7 September 26

South Korea’s free public AI project is a promising global experiment, but its success depends on improving essential services.

I thought ChatGPT’s new Stickers feature sounded like peak AI slop — then I made a pack I actually wanted to use

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 4 September 26

ChatGPT’s Stickers feature transcends disposable AI slop and proved surprisingly charming.

‘I find it very uncomfortable’: Sam Altman explains why he doesn’t like talking to people wearing camera-equipped smart glasses — and it could be a big clue about Jony Ive’s AI device

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 3 September 26

Sam Altman’s discomfort with smart glasses may be the clearest clue to what Jony Ive’s OpenAI hardware will look like.

'I closed my inbox and waited to see how the afternoon went' — I gave ChatGPT permission to watch my inbox, then stopped checking my email

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 1 September 26

I tested ChatGPT’s event-triggered tasks by letting it screen my Gmail for an afternoon.

Jensen Huang says AGI doesn’t really matter, and he may be right for the wrong reason

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 1 September 26

Jensen Huang may be right that AGI no longer matters, but today’s ordinary AI misuse poses a more immediate threat than any Skynet scenario

Here are 5 ChatGPT plugins that I actually use, and you should too

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 27 August 26

These ChatGPT plugins deserve a permanent spot in your rotation. Here are my top 5.

ChatGPT and dollar bills in a split screen arrangement.

ChatGPT Plus costs me $20 a month — using it to question my spending has already saved me more than that

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 25 August 26

Can ChatGPT save you money? It turns out that ChatGPT’s finance features save me more than a Plus subscription cost

I asked ChatGPT how much my box of forgotten old tech was worth — I ended up selling it for $130

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 24 August 26

ChatGPT turned a shelf of forgotten games and gadgets into a potential resale haul

Man using ChatGPT in the mobile phone and the laptop.

Before you go back to school, set up these 5 ChatGPT tools — your future self will thank you

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 22 August 26

These five practical ChatGPT tricks can help students organize a semester, understand difficult subjects and study more effectively.

ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude on smartphones in one image.

Claude hit me with a usage limit, so I moved the entire conversation to ChatGPT — this free browser extension made it ridiculously easy

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 20 August 26

I used the free ThreadPort extension to give ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini the same conversation

‘Not every student has someone at home who can help when they get stuck’ — ChatGPT’s smartest new feature for teenagers is refusing to give them what they ask for

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 19 August 26

ChatGPT for Teens may be most useful when it refuses to simply do the homework for them.

ChatGPT image and a quiz image in a split screen.

I tried ChatGPT's new interactive quizzes on 5 subjects I thought I knew well — it quickly found the gaps in my knowledge

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 18 August 26

ChatGPT has a new built-in quiz feature, which you can use to test your knowledge on any subject you like.

ChatGPT's voice mode running on an iPhone.

I stopped writing careful ChatGPT prompts and rambled at it for 10 minutes instead — the results changed how I use AI

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 15 August 26

A messy, unfiltered conversation with ChatGPT produced more insightful answers than carefully crafted prompts

I chose ChatGPT’s ad-free option so you don’t have to — here’s what you actually give up

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 14 August 26

ChatGPT will let you ditch ads for free, but you'll pay in access.

I gave ChatGPT access to my mess of open Chrome tabs — and it turned my browser clutter into something genuinely useful

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 12 August 26

ChatGPT's new Side Chat features bring the AI directly into the pages you're already browsing.

I had no idea ChatGPT could do this with text — now I use it all the time

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 7 August 26

ChatGPT can create dozens of decorative Unicode text styles with a few simple prompts

The 'poison AI' movement wants to corrupt ChatGPT and Gemini to make them useless — but it comes with a huge risk of collateral damage

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 6 August 26

The movement to sabotage AI through poisoned training data may be aimed at major tech companies, but its damage could spread to ordinary people and smaller organizations.

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Minnesota showed why Harry and Meghan are right about Grok — ‘technology should not enable predators to target children’

By Eric Hal Schwartz Published 6 August 26

Harry and Meghan are right to criticize Grok after its pushback against Minnesota's new law protecting children from abusive AI deepfakes

Eric Hal Schwartz

Articles by: Eric Hal Schwartz

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