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Apple working on a new AI-powered editing tool and you can try out the demo now
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Apple says it plans on introducing generative AI features to iPhones later this year. It’s unknown what they are, however, a recently published research paper indicates one of them may be a new type of editing software that can alter images via text prompts.

It’s called MGIE, or MLLM-Guided (multimodal large language model) Image Editing. The tech is the result of a collaboration between Apple and researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The paper states MGIE is capable of “Photoshop-style [modifications]” ranging from simple tweaks like cropping to more complex edits such as removing objects from a picture. This is made possible by the MLLM (multimodal large language model), a type of AI capable of processing both “ text and images” at the same time.

VentureBeat in their report explains MLLMs show “remarkable capabilities in cross-model understanding”, although they have not been widely implemented in image editing software despite their supposed efficacy.

Public demonstration

The way MGIE works is pretty straightforward. You upload an image to the AI engine and give it clear, concise instructions on the changes you want it to make. VentureBeat says people will need to “provide explicit guidance”. As an example, you can upload a picture of a bright, sunny day and tell MGIE to “make the sky more blue.” It’ll proceed to saturate the color of the sky a bit, but it may not be as vivid as you would like. You’ll have to guide it further to get the results you want. 

MGIE is currently available on GitHub as an open-source project. The researchers are offering “code, data, [pre-trained models]”, as well as a notebook teaching people how to use the AI for editing tasks. There’s also a web demo available to the public on the collaborative tech platform Hugging Face. With access to this demo, we decided to take Apple’s AI out for a spin.

Image 1 of 3

Cat picture new background on MGIE

(Image credit: Cédric VT/Unsplash/Apple)
Image 2 of 3

Cat picture lightning background on MGIE

(Image credit: Cédric VT/Unsplash/Apple)
Image 3 of 3

Cat picture on MGIE

(Image credit: Cédric VT/Unsplash/Apple)

In our test, we uploaded a picture of a cat that we got from Unsplash and then proceeded to instruct MGIE to make several changes. And in our experience, it did okay. In one instance, we told it to change the background from blue to red. However, MGIE instead made the background a darker shade of blue with static-like texturing. On another, we prompted the engine to add a purple background with lightning strikes and it created something much more dynamic.

Inclusion in future iPhones

At the time of this writing, you may experience long queue times while attempting to generate content. If it doesn’t work, the Hugging Face page has a link to the same AI hosted over on Gradio which is the one we used. There doesn't appear to be any difference between the two.

Now the question is: will this technology come out to a future iPhone or iOS 18? Maybe. As alluded to at the beginning, company CEO Tim Cook told investors AI tools are coming to its devices later on in the year but didn’t give any specifics. Personally, we can see MGIE morph into the iPhone version of Google’s Magic Editor; a feature that can completely alter the contents of a picture. If you read the research paper on arXiv, that certainly seems to be the path Apple is taking with its AI.

MGIE is still a work in progress. Outputs are not perfect. One of the sample images shows the kitten turn into a monstrosity. But we do expect all the bugs to be worked out down the line. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, check out TechRadar's guide on the best photo editors for 2024.

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Windows 11’s Snipping Tool could get new powers for taking screenshots – but is Microsoft in danger of overcomplicating things?
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Windows 11’s Snipping Tool is set to get a handy feature to embellish screenshots, or at least it seems that way.

Leaker PhantomOfEarth discovered the new abilities in the app by tinkering with bits and pieces in version 11.2312.33.0 of Snipping Tool. As you can see in the tweet below, the functionality allows the user to draw shapes (and fill them with color) and lines.

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That means you can highlight parts of screenshots by pointing with arrows – for an instructional step-by-step tutorial you’ve made with screen grabs, for example – or add different shapes as needed.

Note that this is not in testing yet, because as noted, the leaker needed to play with the app’s configuration to get it going. However, the hidden functionality does seem to be working fine, more or less, so it’s likely that a rollout to Windows 11 testers isn’t far off.

Analysis: A feature drive with core apps

While you could furnish your screenshots from Snipping Tool with these kinds of extras simply by opening the image in Paint, it’s handy to have this feature on tap to directly work on a grab without needing to go to a second app.

Building out some of the basic Windows 11 apps is very much becoming a theme for Microsoft of late. For example, recently Snipping Tool has been testing a ‘combined capture bar’ (for easily switching between capturing screenshots or video clips), and the ability to lift text straight from screenshots which is really nifty in some scenarios.

Elsewhere, core apps like Paint and Notepad are getting an infusion of AI (with Cocreator and a rumored Cowriter addition), and there’s been a lot of work in other respects with Notepad such as adding tabs.

We think these initiatives are a good line of attack for Microsoft, although there are always folks who believe that simple apps like Snipping Tool or Notepad should be kept basic, and advanced functionality is in danger of cluttering up these streamlined utilities. We get where that sentiment comes from, but we don’t think Microsoft is pushing those boundaries yet.

Via Windows Central

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Google’s Nearby Share tool appears to adopt Samsung’s similar utility name and we wonder what’s going on
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Google has suddenly changed the name of its file-sharing tool from Nearby Share to Quick Share which is what Samsung calls its own tool.

It’s a random move that has people scratching their heads wondering what it could mean for Android in the future. This update appears to have been discovered by industry insider Kamila Wojiciechowska who displayed her findings on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). Wojiciechowska revealed that she received a notification on her phone informing her of the change after installing Google Mobile Services version 23.50.13. 

In addition to the new name, Google altered the logo for the feature as well as the user interface. The logo will now consist of two arrows moving toward each other in a half-circle motion on a blue background. Regarding the UI, it will now display a Quick Settings tile for fast configuration, text explaining what the various options do, and an easier-to-use interface. There’s even a new ability, allowing people to restrict Quick Share visibility down to ten minutes.

Wojieciechowska states this update is not widely available nor is the Nearby Share change common among the people who do receive the patch. This may be something only a handful will receive. She admits to being confused as to why Google is doing this, although it appears this could be the start of a new collaboration between the two companies according to found evidence.

Start of a new partnership

Android Authority in their report claims Wojieciechowska discovered proof of a “migration education flow” for Quick Share after digging through the Play Services app. This could suggest Google and Samsung are combining their file-sharing tools into one. Or at the very least, “making them interoperable”. 

If this is the case, two of the biggest Android brands coming together to unify their services could be a huge benefit for users. Currently separate and similarly behaving features might, if this is any evidence, coalesce into one that’ll work with both Galaxy and non-Galaxy smartphones alike. It's a quality-of-life upgrade that'll reduce software clutter.

Android Authority makes it clear, though, that there isn’t any concrete proof stating the two tools will merge. It’s just given the set of circumstances that seems to be the case. Plus, the whole thing wouldn’t make sense if it wasn’t the result of an upcoming collaboration. Think about it. Why would Google decide to give one of its mobile tools the same name as one of its competitor’s software? That might confuse users. 

There has to be something more to it so we reached out to both companies for more information. This story will be updated at a later time.

Until then, check out TechRadar's list of the best smartphone for 2023.

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Microsoft Copilot’s new AI tool will turn your simple prompts into songs
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Thanks to a newfound partnership with music creation platform Suno, Microsoft Copilot can now generate short-form songs with a single text prompt.

The content it creates not only consists of instrumentals but also fleshed-out lyrics and actual singing voices. Microsoft states in the announcement that you don’t need to have any pre-existing music-making skills. All you need is an idea in your head. If any of this sounds familiar to you, that’s because both Meta and Google have their versions of this technology in the form of MusicGen and Instrument Playground, respectively. These two function similarly too, although they run on a proprietary AI model instead of something third-party.

How to use the Suno plugin

To use this feature, you’ll have to first launch Microsoft Edge, as the update is exclusive to the browser, then head on over to the Copilot website, sign in, and click the Plugin tab in the top right corner. Make sure that Suno is currently active. 

Suno plugin

(Image credit: Future)

Once everything is in place, enter a text prompt into Copilot and give it enough time to finish. It does take a little while for the AI to create something according to the prompt. In our experience, it took Copilot about ten minutes to make lyrics to a pop song about having an adventure with your family. Strangely, we didn’t receive any audio.

Copilot told us it made a link to Suno’s official website where we could listen to the track, but the URL disappeared the moment it was finished. We then prompted the AI to generate another song, however it only wrote the lyrics. When asked where the audio was, Copilot told us to imagine the melody in our heads or to sing the words out loud.

This is the first time we’ve had a music-generative AI flat-out refuse to produce audio.

Microsoft Copilot refusing to generate

(Image credit: Future)

Good performance… when it works

From here, we went to Suno’s website to get an idea of what the tech can do. The audio genuinely sounded great in our experience. The vocal performances were surprisingly good although not amazing. It’s not total gibberish like with Google’s Instrument Playground, but they’re not super clear either. 

We couldn't find out how good Copilot’s music-making skills are, but if it’s anything like the base Suno model, the content it can create will outshine anything that MusicGen or Instrument Playground can churn out.

Rollout of the Suno plugin has already begun and will continue over the coming weeks. No word if Microsoft has plans to expand the feature to other browsers although we did reach out to ask if this is in the works and if Microsoft is going to address the issues we encountered. We would’ve loved to hear the music. This story will be updated at a later time.

In the meantime, check out TechRadar's list of the best free music-making software in 2023.

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YouTube’s new AI tool will let you create your dream song with a famous singer’s voice
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YouTube is testing a pair of experimental AI tools giving users a way to create short songs either via a text prompt or their own vocal sample.

The first one is called Dream Track, a feature harnessing the voices of a group of nine mainstream artists to generate 30-second music tracks for YouTube Shorts. The way it works is you enter a text prompt into the engine describing what you want to hear and then select a singer appearing in the tool’s carousel. Participating musicians include John Legend, Sia, and T-Pain; all of whom gave their consent to be a part of the program. Back in late October, a Bloomberg report made the rounds stating YouTube was working on AI tech allowing content creators “to produce songs using the voices of famous singers”, but couldn’t launch it due to the ongoing negotiations with record labels. Dream Track appears to be that self-same AI. 

YouTube's Dream Track on mobile

(Image credit: YouTube)

For the initial rollout, Dream Track will be available to a small group of American content creators on mobile devices. No word on if and when it’ll see a wider release or desktop version. 

The announcement post has a couple of videos demonstrating the feature. One of them simulates a user asking the AI to create a song about “a sunny morning in Florida” using T-Pain’s voice. In our opinion, it does a pretty good job of emulating his style and coming up with lyrics on the fly, although the performance does sound like it’s been through an Auto-Tune filter.

Voices into music

The second experiment is called Music AI Tools which, as we alluded to earlier, can generate bite-sized tracks by transforming an uploaded vocal sample. For example, a short clip of you humming can turn into a guitar riff. It even works in reverse as chords coming from a MIDI keyboard can be morphed into a choir. 

An image on Google’s DeepMind website reveals what the user interface for the Music AI Tool desktop app may look like. At first, we figured the layout would be relatively simple like Dream Track, however, it is a lot more involved. 

YouTube's Music AI Tool

(Image credit: Google)

The interface resembles a music editing program with a timeline at the top highlighting the input alongside several editing tools. These presumably would allow users a way to tweak certain elements in a generated track. Perhaps a producer wants to tone down the distortion on a guitar riff or bump up the piano section.

Google says it is currently testing this feature with those in YouTube’s Music AI Incubator program, which is an exclusive group consisting of “artists, songwriters, and producers” from across the music industry. No word on when it’ll see a wide release.

Analysis: Treading new waters

YouTube is pitching this recent foray as a new way for creative users to express themselves; a new way to empower fledgling musicians who may lack important resources to grow. However, if you look at this from the artists’ perspective, the attitude is not so positive. The platform compiled a series of quotes from the group of nine singers regarding Dream Track. Several mention the inevitability of generative AI in music and the need to be a part of it, with a few stating they will remain cautious towards the tech.

We may be reading too much into this, but we get the vibe that some aren’t totally on board with this tech. To quote one of our earlier reports, musicians see generative AI as something “they’ll have to deal with or they risk getting left behind.” 

YouTube says it’s approaching the situation with the utmost respect, ensuring “the broader music community” benefits. Hopefully, the platform will maintain its integrity moving forward.

While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best free music-making software for 2023.

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WhatsApp is upgrading its voice chat tool so it can host a lot more people
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WhatsApp is upgrading the Voice Chat feature on mobile so users can now host large group calls with up to 128 participants. 

The platform has yet to make a formal announcement of the changes through its usual avenues although details can be found on its Help Center support website. On the surface, the tool’s functionality is pretty straightforward. You can start a group voice chat by going to a group chat, tapping the audio read-out icon in the upper right-hand corner, and selecting Start Voice Chat. The company states this is “only available on your primary device” and calls will automatically end the moment everyone leaves. Additionally, they instantly end after an hour if no one “joins the first or last person in the chat”. 

Silent calls

There is more to this update than what’s on the support page as other news reports reveal a much more robust feature. According to TechCrunch, Voice Chat for Larger Groups is “designed to be less disruptive” than a regular group call. Participants will not be rung when a call starts. Instead, they will “receive a push notification” with an in-chat bubble you have to tap in order to join. 

At the top of the screen is a series of controls where you can mute, unmute, or message other people in the group without having to leave. Of course, you can hang up any time you want using the same controls. Like with all forms of messaging on WhatsApp, the large voice chats will be end-to-end encrypted.

Availability

The Verge states the patch will be rolling out to the Android and iOS apps over the coming weeks, however, it’ll first be made available to bigger groups hosting 33 to 128 participants. It’s unknown why smaller chats will have to wait to receive the same feature. But as The Verge points out, it could be because the Group Voice Call tool already exists. Meta is seemingly prioritizing the larger chats first before moving on to all users.

No word if WhatsApp has plans to expand this to their desktop app; although we did ask. This story will be updated at a later time.

With Black Friday around the corner, we expect a lot of discounts for major brands. If you want to see what’s out there, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the best Black Friday phone deals for 2023. 

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The AI backlash begins: artists could protect against plagiarism with this powerful tool
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A team of researchers at the University of Chicago has created a tool aimed to help online artists “fight back against AI companies” by inserting, in essence, poison pills into their original work.

Called Nightshade, after the family of toxic plants, the software is said to introduce poisonous pixels to digital art that messes with the way generative AIs interpret them. The way models like Stable Diffusion work is they scour the internet, picking up as many images as they can to use as training data. What Nightshade does is exploit this “security vulnerability”. As explained by the MIT Technology Review, these “poisoned data samples can manipulate models into learning” the wrong thing. For example, it could see a picture of a dog as a cat or a car as a cow.

Poison tactics

As part of the testing phase, the team fed Stable Diffusion infected content and “then prompted it to create images of dogs”. After being given 50 samples, the AI generated pictures of misshapen dogs with six legs. After 100, you begin to see something resembling a cat. Once it was given 300, dogs became full-fledged cats. Below, you'll see the other trials.

Nightshade tests

(Image credit: University of Chicago/MIT Technology Review)

The report goes on to say Nightshade also affects “tangentially related” ideas because generative AIs are good “at making connections between words”. Messing with the word “dog” jumbles similar concepts like puppy, husky, or wolf. This extends to art styles as well. 

Nightshade's tangentially related samples

(Image credit: University of Chicago/MIT Technology Review)

It is possible for AI companies to remove the toxic pixels. However as the MIT post points out, it is “very difficult to remove them”. Developers would have to “find and delete each corrupted sample.” To give you an idea of how tough this would be, a 1080p image has over two million pixels. If that wasn’t difficult enough, these models “are trained on billions of data samples.” So imagine looking through a sea of pixels to find the handful messing with the AI engine.

At least, that’s the idea. Nightshade is still in the early stages. Currently, the tech “has been submitted for peer review at [the] computer security conference Usenix.” MIT Technology Review managed to get a sneak peek.

Future endeavors

We reached out to team lead, Professor Ben Y. Zhao at the University of Chicago, with several questions. 

He told us they do have plans to “implement and release Nightshade for public use.” It’ll be a part of Glaze as an “optional feature”. Glaze, if you’re not familiar, is another tool Zhao’s team created giving artists the ability to “mask their own personal style” and stop it from being adopted by artificial intelligence. He also hopes to make Nightshade open source, allowing others to make their own venom.

Additionally, we asked Professor Zhao if there are plans to create a Nightshade for video and literature. Right now, multiple literary authors are suing OpenAI claiming the program is “using their copyrighted works without permission.” He states developing toxic software for other works will be a big endeavor “since those domains are quite different from static images. The team has “no plans to tackle those, yet.” Hopefully someday soon.

So far, initial reactions to Nightshade are positive. Junfeng Yang, a computer science professor at Columbia University, told Technology Review this could make AI developers “respect artists’ rights more”. Maybe even be willing to pay out royalties.

If you're interested in picking up illustration as a hobby, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best digital art and drawing software in 2023.

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YouTube working on an AI music tool that’ll let you use the voices of famous musicians
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YouTube is apparently working on a new AI tool that could give content creators the ability to produce songs using the voices of famous singers and musicians.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, the platform has approached several record labels with this technology with negotiations still ongoing. YouTube is trying to obtain rights to use certain songs to train the AI while also trying not to step on any land mines that would lead to them getting sued to high heaven. We’re already seeing a similar situation happen with OpenAI as it’s currently being sued by 17 authors, including A Song of Ice and Fire creator George R.R. Martin, who all allege ChatGPT is illegally using their work. Bloomberg states musicians and labels want to maintain control over their work so developers aren’t using it “to train models without permission or compensation.”

Originally, a beta of this tech was supposed to be shown off during the Made On YouTube event last month. Billboard states in their report the beta would have had a “select pool of artists [give] permission to” certain creators to use their likeness on the platform. Eventually, it would officially launch as a feature where everybody can try using the voices of consenting artists. 

Mixed response

The response from the music industry at large has been mixed. Bloomberg claims “companies have been receptive” agreeing to work with YouTube on this project. However, Billboard states record executives have had a tough time finding artists willing to participate. Some acts feel anxious about putting their voices into “the hands of unknown creators who could use them to make statements or sing lyrics” that they don’t agree with.

YouTube is trying to position itself as everybody’s best friend – as a partner to help the music industry figure this whole thing out. However, the air is gloomy. The industry sees generative AI as an unstoppable force, but it’s not an immovable object. The technology is an inevitability that they’ll have to deal with or they risk getting left behind. 

Ray of positivity

There’s another snag in all this regarding publishing. Making music isn’t a one-person show as there are entire teams involved in production. To solve this, a Billboard source says YouTube will probably give labels one big licensing fee that they have to “figure out how to divide among” songwriters.

Despite the dour attitude, there is some positivity. Billboard claims rights holders are engaging in “good faith to get a deal done” amicably. A few artists do “recognize these models could open new avenues for creative expression.” Record executives may be less keen as another Billboard source states AI can put “companies at a disadvantage”.

We’ll just have to wait and see what comes from all this. Again, YouTube’s new model could help people explore their creative side assuming deals are made fairly.

While we're on the topic of production, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best free music-making software for 2023.

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Google Search can help people learn English with new language tutor tool
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Duolingo may have a new rival on its hands as Google Search on Android will soon begin helping people in certain countries practice and improve speaking English.

Over the next few days or so, the company will be rolling out an “interactive speaking” tool to users in Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela. It provides practice sessions where students will be asked questions and they must verbally respond to them “using a provided vocabulary word” in their answer. As an example, Google Search might ask “what do you do for fun?” with the vocab word being “Play”. Students can respond by saying “I play video games in my free time” or “I like to play sports with friends”. Above the question will be a little animation of a cartoon character interacting with you.

Each session lasts about three to five minutes. After which, the tech will deliver “personalized feedback” as well as the “option to sign up for daily reminders” to continue lessons so you don't fall behind.

English tutor on Google Search

(Image credit: Future)

According to the announcement post, the feature can be accessed through a small window under Google Translate on the search engine. Tapping it activates the lesson. Once done, you’ll be taken to a “Speak” section where users can see a calendar of how many times per week they practice, the total amount of words practiced, and the classes they’re a part of. 

You can try out multiple courses at once. Plus you can pause them whenever you want if you’re short on time. Google states that since this will be on Android phones, people can learn “at their own pace, anytime, anywhere.” 

Focusing on context

Something we found particularly interesting is the type of feedback students will receive because it focuses heavily on context. 

You have semantic feedback, telling users if their “response was relevant to the question” at hand and if it could be understood by the other person (or in this case, the AI). It’ll also teach you ways to improve your grammar by pointing out missing words. Below the feedback will be a series of sample answers “at varying levels of language complexity”. They’re meant to show a student alternate ways of responding to questions. You don’t always have to say the same thing – that’s the idea Google wants to teach.

Google's personalized feedback

(Image credit: Future)

Additionally, the search engine will provide “contextual translation” if someone is having a tough time understanding a phrase. You can tap on any word in a sentence to see what it means in a particular context.

Future expansion

We highly recommend reading through the post on the company’s Research blog as it explains the technology behind this feature. It's rather interesting. It explains how the feature is powered by several machine learning models like LaMDA, the same AI behind Google Bard.

Google does have plans to expand its language tutor to “more countries and languages in the future” although no word on exactly when this update will arrive. So we reached out asking for more details on its future availability. We also wanted to know if the tutor will ever arrive on desktop or iOS. At this time, it’ll remain exclusive to Android. We will update this story at a later time.

While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best language learning apps for 2023.

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Popular AI art tool Dall-E gets a big upgrade from ChatGPT creator OpenAI
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If you’ve ever messed around with AI tools online, chances are you’ve used Dall-E. OpenAI’s AI art generator is user-friendly and offers a free version, which is why we named it the best tool for beginners in our list of the best AI art generators.

You might’ve heard the name from Dall-E mini, a basic AI image generator made by Boris Dayma that enjoyed a decent amount of viral popularity back in 2021 thanks to its super-simple functionality and free access. But OpenAI’s version is more sophisticated – now more than ever, thanks to the Dall-E 3 update.

As reported by Reuters, OpenAI confirmed on September 20th that the new-and-improved Dall-E would be available to paying ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers in October (though an official release date has not been announced yet). An OpenAI spokesperson noted that “DALL-E 3 can translate nuanced requests into extremely detailed and accurate images”, hopefully signally a boost in the tool’s graphical capabilities – something competitors Midjourney and Stable Diffusion arguably do better right now.

Another small step for AI

Although ChatGPT creator OpenAI has become embroiled in lawsuits over the use of human-created material for training its AI models, the Dall-E 3 upgrade actually does feel like a step in the right direction.

In addition to technical improvements to the art generation tool, the new version will also deliver a host of security and safeguarding features, some of which are arguably sorely needed for AI image production services.

Most prominent is a set of mitigations within the software that prevents Dall-E 3 from being used to generate pictures of real-world living public figures or art in the style of a living artist. Combined with new safeguards that will (hopefully) prevent the generation of violent, inappropriate, or otherwise harmful images, I can see Dall-E 3 setting the new benchmark for legality and morality in the generative AI space.

It’s an unpleasant topic, but there’s no denying the potential dangers of art theft, deepfake videos, and ‘revenge porn’ when it comes to AI art tools. OpenAI has also stated that Dall-E creators will be able to opt out of having their work used to train future text-to-image tools, which will hopefully preserve some originality – so I’m going to be cautiously optimistic about this update, despite my previous warning about the dangers of AI.

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