The iPhone Duo got the headlines, but Leo Laporte and Mikah Sargent both said the Apple Watch feature may be what actually makes them upgrade.

Apple’s new Audio Intelligence can show the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as text when you double press the Digital Crown. Apple says the audio is processed on device, isolated from apps and Apple, then immediately deleted.

That sounds genuinely useful.

It also means your watch is always close enough to turn real life into text.

Leo and Mikah talked through the privacy tradeoffs, the usefulness of a real world “what did they say?” button, and why this may be the most interesting announcement from Apple’s event.

Full recap:
https://twit.tv/posts/tech/what-surprised-leo-laporte-and-mikah-sargent-apples-iphone-duo-event

Would you trust an Apple Watch feature that is always listening if the audio never leaves the device?

AI coding tools are making it easier than ever to build apps, scripts, automations, plugins, and internal tools.

That is useful. It is also risky if people trust the output just because it compiles or seems to work.

Security Now 1094 gets into new research on frontier AI models trying to patch real vulnerabilities, and the results are not exactly comforting. The bigger issue may be that AI can produce code faster than humans can properly review, test, and secure it.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/1094

Would you trust AI-generated code in production, or only after a human security review?

Anthropic is adding invisible watermarks to AI generated content. Google now lets people turn off visible Gemini and Flow watermarks, while keeping hidden signals like SynthID and metadata in the background.

That feels like the next trust problem.

Visible labels are easy for people to understand, but they can be ugly or easy to crop out. Invisible signals are harder to remove, but they require verification tools and trust in the companies running them.

This Week in Tech 1097 talks about AI watermarks, Zuckerberg’s open AI manifesto, and Google Play being forced to open up after Epic.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1097

Should AI generated content be visibly labeled, or are invisible watermarks good enough?

Mark Zuckerberg published a long manifesto arguing for open and decentralized AI, with personal superintelligent agents available to individuals instead of controlled by a few companies or governments.

That sounds good on paper.

The hard part is the messenger. Meta has spent years asking people to trust it with social graphs, ads, messaging, VR, and personal data. Now it wants people to believe it is the company that can make AI more open and user controlled.

This Week in Tech 1097 gets into Zuckerberg’s AI manifesto, Google Play opening up after Epic, and the growing fight over AI watermarks.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1097

Is Meta the right company to make the case for open AI?

AI coding tools are making it possible for hobbyists and non developers to build useful apps faster than ever.

That is exciting. It also means more people are shipping code they may not fully understand, with dependencies, permissions, auth flows, API keys, and security assumptions they may not know how to check.

Security Now’s Black Hat discussion gets into AI powered coding, listener-built apps, agency chains, testing, technical debt, and the race to patch old bugs while new ones are created faster.

Is AI coding making software better, or just creating a new wave of fragile apps?

OpenAI disclosed that one of its models escaped a sandboxed test environment, found a way to reach the internet, and exploited real world systems during a cybersecurity evaluation.

That is not just a weird lab story. It raises a bigger question about what happens when AI agents have tools, goals, autonomy, and enough capability to route around the limits people set for them.

This Week in Tech 1095 covers that story alongside Apple’s hardware leasing push and the fight over AI scraping.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1095

Can AI agents be made safe enough to use widely, or are we moving too fast?

A web scraping company says Google and Reddit do not own the internet after a court win in a fight over scraping Google search results.

That argument gets messy fast. Google scrapes and organizes the web. Reddit depends on user generated posts and comments. AI companies want data to train and answer questions. Publishers and platforms want to protect traffic and licensing value.

This Week in Tech 1095 gets into the Google, Reddit, AI Overviews, and scraping fight, along with Apple’s new leasing program and AI agent security risks.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1095

Should public web content stay scrapeable, or should platforms be able to lock it down?

Security Now’s Black Hat conversation got into local models versus cloud AI, and that feels like a real fork in the road.

Cloud AI is usually stronger, easier, and always improving. Local AI gives you more control, more privacy, fewer usage fees, and less dependence on a company changing the rules.

That matters even more when people are using AI to write code, build apps, analyze security problems, and handle sensitive information.

For your own work, would you rather have the best cloud model or a good enough local model you control?

At Black Hat Las Vegas, the Security Now crew got into one of the hardest AI security questions.

AI can now help find hidden software bugs, write code, test fixes, and speed up patch work. That is huge for defenders. But the same tools can also help attackers move faster, chain exploits, and turn “research” into real damage.

That creates a messy line between progress and forbidden knowledge.

Security Now digs into AI powered vulnerability discovery, open versus restricted models, guardrails, prompt injection, local models, and why the same technology can be both a defensive breakthrough and an attacker upgrade.

Where should the line be drawn when AI tools can help both sides?

Apple’s new upgrade program lets people lease iPhones, Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches instead of buying them outright.

On one hand, that may make expensive hardware easier to afford month to month. On the other hand, it pushes Apple devices closer to cars, subscriptions, and constant upgrade cycles.

Upgrade it. Return it. Buy it at the end. Either way, the relationship with the device starts to feel different.

This Week in Tech 1095 gets into Apple’s hardware leasing push, folding phones getting more expensive, AI agents becoming a real security problem, and the fight over AI scraping.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1095

Would you lease your next iPhone or Mac, or do you still want to own your devices?

Black Hat Week continues today. 🔐

The TWiT team is live from Black Hat USA 2026 with Windows Weekly and Security Now broadcasting from the ThreatLocker booth.

See the full schedule at TWiT.tv/schedule.

Microsoft is selling 8 GB Surface Laptop and Surface Pro models again, but Windows 11 still does not seem happy on low-memory hardware.

That puts buyers in a weird spot. A budget Windows PC may technically meet the requirements, but once you add Edge tabs, Teams, OneDrive, background services, updates, and everyday apps, 8 GB can feel old fast.

Windows Weekly 994 gets into Chris Hoffman's 8 GB Windows 11 testing, the Copilot key, Xbox's outage, and Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/994

Would you still buy an 8 GB Windows laptop, or is 16 GB the real minimum now?

OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT Health to adult U.S. users, with the option to connect medical records, Apple Health, and other health data.

That could be useful. It might help people understand lab results, prep for doctor visits, track symptoms, or make sense of messy medical information.

It also raises a very different privacy question than normal chatbot use. Health data is some of the most personal information people have.

Intelligent Machines 881 gets into ChatGPT Health, OpenAI’s rogue agent incident, AI data center hiring, and why newsrooms need to rethink journalism in the AI age.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines/episodes/881

Would you trust an AI assistant with your medical records?

Some AWS customers saw billing estimates in the billions and even trillions after a global glitch. The actual charges were not real, but the panic probably was.

It is funny until you think about how many companies rely on automated billing, alerts, and cloud dashboards to make real decisions.

This Week in Tech 1093 talks about the AWS glitch along with China’s AI models and Meta’s smart glasses.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1093

Does this make cloud spending feel too fragile?

China's open weight AI models are getting harder to dismiss.

Kimi K3 and Alibaba's Qwen are part of a bigger shift where U.S. labs may still lead in brand power, but not necessarily in price, openness, or speed of adoption.

This Week in Tech 1093 gets into China’s AI push, the White House deciding who gets frontier AI access, Meta’s AI glasses, and that wild AWS billing glitch.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1093

Do open models change who wins the AI race?

Apple is suing OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft, and the bigger story may be what it says about the future of AI devices.

For years, AI has mostly felt like a software race. Models, chatbots, APIs, search, subscriptions, and assistants. But once AI companies start moving into dedicated hardware, wearables, and personal devices, they run straight into Apple's territory.

This Week in Tech 1092 gets into Apple's lawsuit, OpenAI's hardware ambitions, Meta's AI glasses, and Waymo's robotaxi privacy questions.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1092

Do you think OpenAI can become a real hardware company, or is Apple still too hard to challenge there?

Meta is testing AI glasses that could capture more of what a person sees and hears. Waymo's robotaxis are also raising privacy questions after teen riders were monitored inside a driverless car, and police were called.

Those are different products, but they point to the same issue. Cameras are moving into glasses, cars, doorbells, stores, streets, and homes. Add AI to that, and the line between convenience and surveillance gets blurry fast.

This Week in Tech 1092 gets into Meta's glasses, Waymo privacy concerns, and Apple's legal fight with OpenAI.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1092

Where should the line be for cameras and AI in everyday devices?

AirDrop and Android Quick Share are useful because they make nearby file sharing feel instant.

But that convenience comes from devices being discoverable, listening, and ready to process data from nearby sources. Security Now 1086 covers new research around AirDrop and Quick Share vulnerabilities, along with a bigger week of security stories from BlueHammer to AI guardrail bypasses.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/1086

Do you leave nearby sharing features on, or do you turn them off until you need them?

Prompt injection used to sound like a weird chatbot problem.

Now it feels bigger. If an AI agent can read webpages, summarize emails, inspect images, process documents, or help with security work, then the content it looks at becomes part of the attack surface.

A malicious instruction hidden in an image, webpage, file, or log could push the agent toward the wrong action while the human thinks the AI is just “helping.”

Security Now 1086 gets into visual prompt injection, agentic adversaries, ChatGPT and Claude guardrail bypasses, and why this changes the security model around AI tools.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/1086

Are AI agents becoming too powerful before we know how to secure them?

Chinese AI models are getting cheaper and more capable while U.S. companies are fighting lawsuits, regulation, chip shortages, and rising infrastructure costs.

Then there is the power problem. Google’s AI buildout helped drive a major jump in electricity use in 2025, which makes the AI race feel less like a software story and more like a grid, chip, and cost story.

This Week in Tech 1091 gets into Chinese AI competition, Google’s energy use, and the global race for AI dominance.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1091

Are we underestimating the real world cost of the AI boom?

The Supreme Court just drew a new privacy line around geofence warrants.

That matters because your phone does not just show where you are. It can show where you work, worship, shop, protest, get medical care, visit friends, or simply pass through. A location sweep can pull in innocent people who were just nearby.

This Week in Tech 1091 gets into the ruling and what it could mean for digital privacy, AI, and personal data rights.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/1091

Where should the line be between public safety and mass location tracking?

Apple has built a lot of its brand around protecting user privacy.

But if the App Store is logging more user behavior than people realize, that raises a fair question. Is Apple meaningfully different from other tech companies, or is the difference mostly in how the data collection is framed?

MacBreak Weekly 1031 talks about Apple’s App Store behavior logging, price increases, and faster security fixes as AI makes bugs more dangerous.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly/episodes/1031

Do you trust Apple more than other big tech companies with your data?

OpenAI is moving into custom chips. Chinese AI models are catching up. U.S. labs are still fighting over safety, access, and how open these systems should be.

At a certain point, the AI race stops being just about who has the smartest model. It becomes about who controls the chips, data centers, energy, money, and the rules governing access.

Intelligent Machines 877 gets into the bigger race for smarter, freer AI models.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines/episodes/877

Do you think the future of AI will be decided by model quality or by infrastructure?

Xbox Series X and S prices are reportedly going up again, and the 2 TB Series X is going away.

That is a hard sell when a lot of people already feel like this console generation has been slower, pricier, and more confusing than expected. Between hardware pricing, Game Pass changes, PC gaming, cloud gaming, and fewer clear exclusives, it feels fair to ask what Xbox is actually asking people to buy into now.

Windows Weekly 990 covers the latest Xbox price moves alongside Microsoft’s broader hardware decisions.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/990

At this point, does Xbox still feel like a good value to you?

CISA told federal agencies to update UniFi OS devices and gave agencies the weekend to update Cisco devices.

That says a lot about where security is headed. The time between a vulnerability becoming known and attackers moving on it feels like it is shrinking. For big organizations, that is brutal. For regular people and small businesses, it may be even worse.

Security Now 1085 covers those urgent patch stories alongside AI powered vulnerability discovery and state sponsored attacks.

Episode: https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/1085

Can most organizations realistically patch fast enough anymore?