It's no secret that Chrome is by far the most popular browser option available, regardless of how hard Microsoft tries to shove Edge down our throats. In fact, it's not even close, with Backlinko highlighting that Chrome's 2024 market share is at 64.73%, whereas Edge is at a measly 4.97%. 

But among all of Google Chrome's praise comes frequent criticism, whether it be around its privacy concerns, vulnerability issues, or problems with it simply being too demanding on CPU or RAM. In fact, our very own Rael Hornby stepped away from the browser, citing that it no longer "Feels all that lightweight and speedy" anymore.

However, it seems like Google is taking a page out of Opera GX's book, which features a resource management setting that provides a detailed breakdown on how much performance is being dedicated to each individual tab, whether it's involving RAM or CPU usage.

Chrome's implementation isn't completely identical to this, but it's similar in that it will help users get a greater understanding of where the application is consuming so much of your PC's power.

Chrome's upcoming feature changes everything

Google has yet to confirm when the update is coming to the public version of Chrome, but it's currently available within its experimental versions.

Yes, you no longer have to worry about Chrome absolutely destroying your computer with its RAM-hungry habits. This comes in the form of a new experimental flag present within Google Chrome Canary, which will give Chrome permission to warn the user if the application is sapping an extraordinary amount of processing power. 

But Chrome won't just warn the user by vaguely gesturing towards the overabundance of the CPU being used, and will instead highlight which tabs in particular are the culprit.

This is massive for anyone guilty of keeping a hundred tabs open at a time, some of which might be tearing your PC apart without you realizing it. 

I've had situations where my computer will suddenly crash and require a forced restart, and I can only assume my dozens upon dozens of Chrome tabs are the culprit, although it probably doesn't help when I have other applications open alongside it.

Being warned that a particular tab is especially doing damage would address one of the biggest criticisms many users have been tossing at Chrome for years about its performance zapping behaviors.

How to activate it on Google Chrome Canary

If you've downloaded Google Chrome Canary and are looking for how to activate this new setting, here's what you do, as discovered by WindowsReport.

1. Type chrome://flags into Google Chrome Canary's address bar. Heed the cautionary statement at the top that says WARNING! EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES AHEAD!

2. Go down to Enable performance intervention suggestions and toggle it to Enable.

3. Right below it, do the same for Enable performance intervention demo mode.

4. You'll be prompted to relaunch Chrome. Do it!

And just like that, it's active. You can manually trigger the feature by going to chrome://discards and selecting Trigger Performance CPU intervention at the top, which will then make the little notification appear about which tabs are draining the most performance.

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The outage, initially surfacing after widespread reports from Australia, is now impacting users across the UK and Europe, with those in the US waking up to find similar issues in what may be the biggest global IT outage in history.

Impacted devices became "bricked" on Friday morning, locking down with the "Blue Screen of Death" (BSoD), the infamous screen Windows shows when it encounters a critical error.

The CrowdStrike outage, which is still ongoing at the time of writing, is so widespread that the disruptions affected everything from major TV networks to local businesses. 

Interruptions at larger organizations, like banks and credit card companies, trickled down to these smaller businesses, leading some to close for the day or resort to cash-only transactions recorded on pen and paper.  

While these errors are unlikely to directly affect personal computers, you also may experience trickle-down effects of businesses currently being impacted by today's outage. For example, many people reported having difficulties accessing online bank and credit card accounts on Friday morning.  

Airlines seem to have been most affected with flight disruptions reportedly taking place around the globe, with Delta, United, and American Airlines grounding flights in the US over reported communication issues. 

CrowdStrike has released instructions for users to resolve the issue, but it could still take days or even weeks for businesses and organizations to fully recover. 

Windows/CrowdStrike outage: Quick summary

• A global computing issue has impacted businesses, services, airlines, TV networks, and banks in what may be the largest IT outage in recent history.
   
• Security analysts suspect an update to CrowdStrike's Falcon software to be the likely cause of the ongoing outage.
   
• Windows computers, servers, and terminals are being hampered by Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) errors for the issue 'DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER'
   
• The outage currently affects everything from entire TV networks to small businesses that rely on larger companies such as banks or credit providers for transactions.
  
• A fix has been deployed, but problems remain as the world plays catch-up to the effects of the fault.

A global outage puts banks, TV stations, stores, airlines, and more into disarray

In what some have called the biggest IT outage in years, Americans are waking up to a world in disarray as businesses and services struggle to recover from a global issue that has resulted in Windows workstations and terminals showing 'DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER' Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) errors. 

Airlines hit hard as flights are grounded amid communication issues

Airlines from China to India and the US have all seen major disruptions, with Delta, United, and American Airlines all grounding planes due to reported communication issues.

An image shared by Future Publishing Exec Kevin Addley shows the BSoD issue currently impacting display boards, causing delays and disruptions at JFK airport — a situation many seeking to travel today may become familiar with unless the issue is quickly resolved and its after effects resolved.

Stores struggle in the wake of CrowdStrike outage

Today's ongoing issue was first reported in Australia, though the outage continued to grow as Europe, the UK, and eventually the US all began suffering from the same service disruptions.

Even stores have been impacted by the outage, with this scene from Australia showing self service machines locked into a BSoD.

Worldwide disruption for internet services

Online service tracker DownDetector reports numerous spikes and rises in reported services disruptions across multiple businesses, with banking, communication, and cloud services being among the most impacted.

CrowdStrike comment on Microsoft Windows outage

In a statement sent by email, CrowdStrike confirmed that the fault had ben identified, saying it was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

CrowdStrike went on to confirm that its services were secure and that a fix was inbound, stating: "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

CrowdStrike issue steps to resolve issue to affected businesses

CrowdStrike has contacted customers to inform them of actions they can take to workaround the ongoing outage. Though as some have pointed out, CrowdStrike's process won't be a simple set maneuvers for all, meaning we can't expect full recovery a once.

Today's outage could have severe knock-on effects, and should raise plenty of questions about the widespread adoption and reliance on a single source for such vital software.

As a fix is deployed, how long will the outage continue?

With the widespread outage having touched almost every service and business associated with CrowdStrike, even after normal service resumes, there'll be a considerable disruption to regular services as companies begin to play catch up from the day's troubles.

While it appears that several services are returning to working order, airlines will likely be among he industries left reeling from the disruption as flights seek to resume as normal and passengers look for updates on delayed journeys. 

US services prepare for CrowdStrike fallout

While companies like Microsoft report that its services are back up and running, other companies prepare for continued disruption throughout the day. Columbia Gas of Ohio are playing things safe, asking customers to avoid using its app or website to report issues or problems and instead call in to report potentially dangerous or harmful issues.

Even TV stations were impacted by the Windows/CrowdStrike outage

While business and services have been mostly affected, in the UK, media outlet Sky News encountered disruptions lasting for nearly three hours. The TV channel has since recovered as more and more of today's disruption is cleared.

CrowdStrike's latest statement on today's outage

An update on the CrowdStrike website gives us the latest word from the company in the wake of today's events:

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. 

The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. 

We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. 

Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

User reports still high after CrowdStrike fix released

Customers of various services are still reporting issues in the aftermath of today's outage. While a fix has been deployed, it won't be business as usual for many companies.

TD Bank is currently facing even higher elevations of reported service disruptions, with earlier social media posts indicating issues with accessing bank accounts online or via the bank's app.

Other US banks facing large numbers of service disruptions

TD Bank isn't alone in facing growing numbers of service disruption reports. Banks like Chase, Arvest, US Bank, and Bank of America are all showing upticks in user-submitted reports.

CrowdStrike user reports show strange uptick post-fix

According to DownDetector, CrowdStrike is currently facing an uptick in user reports for service disruption. However, don't panic, this is likely as people catch up with the news of its deployed fix.

Even an hour after CrowdStrike released guidance to fix today's mass IT issue, many major financial institutions like banks and credit card companies are still receiving outage reports. 

User reports on DownDetector have yet to slow down for the likes of Bank of America, TD Bank, VISA, Chase, and more. Most reports relate to accessing online accounts. So, if you're running into issues checking your bank account or credit card balance, it's most likely due to the CrowdStrike outage. 

Kevin Reed, Chief Information Security Officer at Acronis, shared some expert insights on the CrowdStrike outage with Laptop Mag: 

"The recent CrowdStrike outage appears to stem from a bug in their EDR agent, which was unfortunately not thoroughly tested... The flawed update necessitates manual intervention to resolve, specifically rebooting systems in 'safe mode' and deleting the faulty driver file. This process is cumbersome and leaves systems vulnerable in the interim, potentially inviting opportunistic attacks."

Acronis is a leader in cybersecurity and data protection, with many users impacted by today's CrowdStrike outage. Reed raises an important point about today's outage.

While the CrowdStrike outage wasn't caused by a cyber attack, it could open the door for hackers to take advantage of offline or crippled systems. 

"This issue reminds us how fragile IT infrastructure is and why cybersecurity should be natively integrated with backup," Kevin Reed, Chief Information Security Officer at Acronis, tells Laptop Mag. 

Reed also noted, "For our Acronis customers, those with recent backups can restore their systems to a stable state, minimizing downtime and exposure. Moving forward, we recommend all businesses ensure robust backup solutions and advocate for better testing protocols from their security vendors." 

Reed also explained that testing for the type of software update involved in today's CrowdStrike outage can usually take days or even weeks. More extensive testing may have been able to prevent the issue. 

However, Reed also makes a good point about the importance of regular backups. Whether you're a business owner or an individual user, regularly backing up your laptop or PC can really come in handy during situations like this. If you use anti-virus or cybersecurity software, check with your software provider to see if they offer free or automated backups. 

Airlines have been effectively frozen all over the world as a result of today's CrowdStrike outage. X (formerly Twitter) user @YourAnonTV shared this eerie video of abandoned Delta Airlines ticket terminals with screens overhead stuck on the Blue Screen of Death. 

Even over an hour after CrowdStrike released information on resolving the issue, airlines around the globe are still grounded. 

Mac and Linux users waking up to today's CrowdStrike outage will be pleasantly surprised to notice their systems are up and running as usual. The software update causing the "Blue Screen of Death" on Windows computers all over the globe did not impact Mac or Linux systems. 

So, if there's one thing this outage has highlighted for all of us, it's how dependent the world is on the Windows operating system. 

Mac and Linux users have wasted no time posting about the situation: 

Today's CrowdStrike outage will likely go down as the biggest in history, impacting everything from airlines to grocery stores. Many businesses may spend the rest of the day (and potentially even longer) getting back online. 

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how the world's IT leaders respond. What steps will be taken to prevent something like this from happening again? 

This outage has made it clear that when the world goes offline, it grinds to a halt. 

Laptop Mag will continue to cover any major developments in the aftermath of the CrowdStrike outage, so stay tuned for further information. 

One of the most alarming results of today's CrowdStrike outage is its effect on healthcare services around the world. Hospitals and healthcare facilities rely on Windows computers for everything from accessing patient files to aiding in life-saving surgeries. 

With this outage locking down billions of computers, many hospitals have rushed to adapt so they can continue to provide care.  

For example, Mass General Brigham, a healthcare system in Boston, Massachusetts, has canceled non-emergency surgeries for the day.  

Two major hospitals in Germany have announced a similar pause on elective surgeries in light of the CrowdStrike outage. 

Meanwhile, hospitals in Buffalo, New York are using "internal command centers" to keep things running and have recommended patients still report for surgeries and procedures as planned. 

Luckily, it looks like some hospitals weren't seriously impacted by the outage. For example, the UPMC health network in Pennslyvania reported that the outage affected "fewer than 10%" of its Windows-based computers, allowing UPMC's hospitals to mostly return to business as usual. 

Microsoft Designer is an AI-enhanced graphic design and image editing tool similar to Adobe Express or Canva. With Designer you can use AI to generate images from scratch, alter images and photos in seconds, and design documents, invitations, flyers, and more from a selection of premade, customizable templates.

In a post to the Microsoft 365 Blog, Corporate VP Sumit Chauhan highlights several changes heading to the app, including seamless integration with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Photos, support for over 80 languages, and the release of new apps for Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

However, while there's plenty to celebrate over Microsoft's AI image tool being made broadly available, the news doesn't come without its controversies. Designer has something of a checkered history to contend with when it comes to one of the largest AI controversies of 2024 and concerns from inside the company over "Systemic issues" with the content it produces.

Microsoft Designer's sketchy past

First announced in October 2022, Microsoft Designer was to become the latest tool in the Microsoft 365 utility belt that used AI to supercharge the creative process and speed up graphic design tasks for businesses and individual users.

Microsoft began the Designer preview in April 2023, adding several generative AI features to the tool that empowered users of all skill levels to create better copy and visual results using natural language inputs.

However, in January of 2024, Designer found itself at the center of a storm of controversy after being identified as one of the tools used to generate sexually explicit images of celebrities like Taylor Swift which soon went viral on X/Twitter.

To make matters worse, Microsoft's principal software engineering lead Shane Jones would publicly highlight his attempts to inform Microsoft and OpenAI of vulnerabilities within Designer from December 2023.

Jones stated that "Microsoft was aware of these vulnerabilities and the potential for abuse," the company responded by saying it had "investigated the employee’s report and confirmed that the techniques he shared did not bypass our safety filters in any of our AI-powered image generation solutions."

Despite Microsoft's claims, Jones persisted in his pleas and was eventually directed to field his concerns with OpenAI (creators of the Dall-E 3 AI model used for Designer's image generation) directly — something he claims yielded no response.

Jones' concerns would manifest just one month later as AI-generated images created by Designer would flood social media, prompting a US bill to tackle nonconsensual sexual deepfakes, and causing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to comment on the situation as both "Alarming and terrible."

Microsoft's response to the abuse of its graphic design tool was (excuse the pun) swift, promptly closing the loophole that allowed users to generate the, now viral, sexual imagery.

There's no clear indication that the vulnerabilities highlighted by Shane Jones and the loophole in question are one and the same, but the event did lead to Microsoft doubling down on security measures — with the company eventually implementing AI Prompt Shielding across its services in March that seeks to clamp down on efforts to jailbreak its AI models in the future.

Outlook

Since Microsoft's response to the abuse of its graphic design tool, Designer has been controversy-free. However, the app remains a prime example of the need for developers of AI systems to pay close attention to potential misuse, and as a reminder that there exists a population of users who will attempt to circumvent those measures at every turn.

Microsoft Designer is now in a much better place in terms of security and usability, marking this week's wider release of the software as a new leaf and a chance to start over once again.

Microsoft Designer is available on the web, iOS, Android, and Windows for free, offering a powerful and intuitive toolset to those looking to achieve ambitious graphic design results in a fast and efficient manner.

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Of course, as it's called Prime Day, many of these deals will be exclusive to Prime members. But what if you don't have Prime? You might think you're out of luck, but don't miss this incredible opportunity to take advantage of fantastic savings through the power of a 30-day free trial!

If you activate your 30-day free trial now, you'll have more than enough time to take advantage of Prime Day's incredible savings when July 16-17 come around. So without further ado, here's how you can get Amazon Prime for free.

How to get Amazon Prime for free

Amazon Prime is not something you can keep for free, but there is a trial available that will last 30 days. It does require inputting a payment method, but you can cancel it before the free trial period ends to ensure you don't lose any money.

1. Go to Amazon.com

2. Select Join Prime to go to the Amazon Prime page.

3. Select Start your free 30-day trial.

4. If you're not already signed in, enter your email address and password. If you somehow don't have an Amazon account, now's the time to make one by selecting Create your Amazon account.

5. Now you'll have to input your payment method. Don't worry, Amazon won't actually charge you until your free 30-day trial is up. This means you'll be able to reap the benefits of Prime Day without actually having to spend money on a Prime subscription. It's important that you remember to cancel the subscription before it renews.

Once you've provided a payment method, you're all set! Here are just a few of the deals you can only get with Amazon Prime:

5 deals you can only get with Amazon Prime

There's a long list of deals that are exclusive to Amazon Prime members, and we have a full page dedicated to our favorite exclusive Prime Day deals. Here are a few examples of great deals you can only get with Amazon Prime!

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Reverse image searches can help students and journalists find the origin of an image to ensure it's properly cited. Reverse searching an image can also help people find similar images, which can be great for gathering ideas for a themed party or vetting a dating profile to prevent getting catfished.

Whether on an Android phone, an iPhone, or your computer, performing a reverse image search is a quick and painless process — here's how.

How to reverse image search on Google's website

The easiest way to do a reverse image search is via Google's website.

1. Head to Google.com, and make sure you switch to the Image tab.

2. Search for the image you're looking for and select it.

3. In the bottom left corner of your selected image, tap the Google Lens camera icon to perform a reverse image search.

How to reverse image search from a website

To reverse image search from a website, you'll first need to have the website open in a supported browser or the Chrome mobile app on your phone.

1. Locate the image you want to search.

2. If you're on a computer, right-click the image and select Search image with Google or a similar message, like Search the web for an image. Tap and hold the image to bring up the pop-up menu if you're on a phone.

After selecting this option, you should see multiple instances of the image being used elsewhere on the internet, as well as similar images taken from the same photoshoot.

It's worth noting that many native mobile browsers, like Samsung Internet or Safari, don't currently support reverse image search. Instead, you'll need to navigate to the website you're trying to search from in the Chrome app, tap and hold the image in question, and select Search image with Google Lens.

How to reverse image search with your device files

If there's a photo on your phone or computer you want to do a reverse search on, you can! The easiest way to do this is via Google's search engine.

1. Head to Google.com in your preferred browser. If you're on mobile, you might need the Google or Chrome app for this to work.

2. Click on the Google Lens multicolor camera icon in the search bar.

3. If you're on a computer, you'll be prompted to drag an image to the box, upload an image from your computer, paste an image link in the box, and then click Search. 

If you're on a phone, tapping the camera icon will automatically allow you to search with your camera or load your device's recent images and screenshots to choose from, as long as your browser has the proper permissions. After selecting or taking a photo, tap Search.

4. Optional: For mobile users, there's an option to add more details to your query after searching for an image or screenshot from your device. You could type in price, location, what is this, or buy.

App alternatives for reverse image search

For most people, native reverse image search solutions within your preferred browser work perfectly. But if you'd prefer to have an app dedicated to performing reverse image searches, there are two great free options to choose from:

• Reversee for Android or iOS
• Photo Sherlock for Android or iOS

The data breach was released on a leading hacking forum by a threat actor under the pseudonym "ObamaCare," with the list itself being dubbed "RockYou2024" — an updated compilation of passwords that builds upon the "RockYou2021" document containing information to over eight billion accounts.

The original "RockYou.txt" data breach occurred in 2009 when the now defunct social application site RockYou was hacked, resulting in the release of 32 million user accounts to the net. Since then, the original list has been added to with further data breaches, reportedly making it one of the largest known repositories of stolen passwords of all time.

With exactly 9,948,575,739 unique passwords freely available to all in plain text format, the publication of this list is a threat to netizens and a call to action on checking the security of accounts old and new.

RockYou2024: How serious is it?

Speaking in a blog post published yesterday, Pieter Amtz of Malwarebytes highlights the threat posed by the updated RockYou document, stating: "The list has some value because it contains real-world passwords."

Amtz continues, "This means if an attacker tried this list of passwords to try to break into an account (known as a brute force attack) they’s be more likely to get in than just trying a list of any old letters and words [sic]."

While a ten billion list of real-world passwords poses a serious threat to some users, it by no means suggests that ten billion users are now at direct risk. The list, while enormous in size, is only half of the information required to access an account.

The contents of RockYou2024 will serve threat actors hoping to purposefully target individual accounts by allowing them the option of checking each password from the breach by trial and error — though most websites would never tolerate brute force attempts like this at a scale offered by the RockYou2024 list.

That's not to say that there's no threat at all, however. The data contained within the ten billion-strong list still has plenty of application in pass-the-hash attacks and the offline cracking of stolen password databases.

RockYou2024: Some have their doubts

While the breach is considerate in size, and a genuine threat to many, Malwarebyte's Amtz points out that those who "Don’t reuse passwords and never use 'simple' passwords, like single words" probably have little to worry about. 

However, Amtz also wisely insists people take the necessary safety precautions of enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts possible to protect against unwanted intrusions.

Elsewhere on the internet, security sleuths are questioning the updated RockYou2024 content, claiming much of the additions to the list to be mostly uncracked hashed passwords and random company names among other junk data and over one billion lines of text that are beyond 32 characters in length — which indicates they may not be passwords at all. 

How to check if your information was leaked

Despite reassurances from various in-the-know voices, data breaches like RockYou2024 are a notable threat to be aware of. While it may not be the most dangerous breach in recent history, it's a considerable example of how much stolen data is out there on the internet waiting to be misused.

It's estimated that there are over 24 billion stolen credentials to be found online and circulating the dark web, with lists being traded daily containing millions or more combinations of in-use and active user accounts.

With that in mind, with the release of breaches like the updated RockYou list, it's always better to be safe than sorry and check to see if your information is secure by using several free and trusted online services that can let you know if your password is secure or if any of your accounts have been included in prior breaches.

One trusted site we can recommend would be HaveIBeenPwned.com, one of the largest and most reliable repositories of stolen accounts and data breaches online. Here you can search by email to see if any of your accounts have appeared in breaches, and the site's Pwned Passwords Tool search lets you know if the password you're using at present has been found within numerous lists like RockYou2024 found online.

Check out the following article about staying safe against data breaches and checking to see if your email or password has been stolen for more information about HaveIBeenPwned and similar services.

• Has your email or password been stolen? Here's how to find out

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Recall, a somewhat contentious upcoming Copilot+ exclusive feature that takes frequent snapshots of what the user is doing at any given time — whether that be through applications, websites, documents, or more — is essentially meant to act as a memory for your laptop.

With those snapshots saved, users can go back in time and find any information that they might have trouble remembering themselves.

All of that user data is stored locally on your PC. The feature can not only be turned off, but the user can omit certain applications or websites from appearing in Snapshots if they so please.

However, Recall was delayed from its June 18 launch to a release that's exclusively available to participants in the Windows Insider Program, an open software testing initiative for Microsoft users who want to try out features before they go live.

Now, you can only access the feature by jumping through a few hoops on your Copilot+ PC, with a full launch "coming soon," according to the Windows Experience Blog.

Keep in mind that you cannot use Recall unless you have a Copilot+ PC. Check out our full list of Copilot+ PCs announced so far to get an idea of the types of devices we're talking about.

Without further ado, here's how to activate Recall on your Windows 11 Copilot+ PC.

How to access Recall on Copilot+ PCs

Because Recall is currently trapped behind the walls of the Windows Insider Program, several steps are required to turn it on. 

This process should become significantly simpler when the feature is officially available for all Copilot+ PCs, but for now, let us explore what you need to do.

1. Go to Settings.

2. Go to Windows Update.

3. Select Windows Insider Program.

4. Press Get Started next to where it says Join the Windows Insider Program.

5. Select Link an account when it says Link an account to join the program.

6. Once your Microsoft account is linked, select Continue when it asks to Review the agreements for your account.

7. When it says Choose your Insider channel, select Release Preview.

8. Select Continue when it says Review the agreements for your device.

9. It'll ask you to Restart this device to finish. Select Restart now.

10. Once your laptop has restarted, return to Settings.

11. Go to Windows Update.

12. If it says To access the Insider program, you'll need to turn on optional diagnostic data, select the Open Diagnostics & feedback link at the side.

13. Underneath Diagnostic Data, there will be an option that says Send optional diagnostic data. Toggle that to On.

14. Return to the Windows Update section and select Check for updates next to where it says You're up to date.

15. Once the update is finished, it will say Restart Required. Select Restart Now.

16. Once your laptop is done restarting, go to Settings.

17. Select Privacy & Security.

18. Go to Recall & snapshots.

19. Toggle Save snapshots to On.

Recall is now activated! You can make further changes to the settings, including adding app or website filters to prevent them from being a part of the snapshots, alongside storage allocation options that allow more or less dedicated storage to the feature.

Open AI announced the four-year plan Superalignment on July 5, 2023. The project's mission statement still reads: "We need scientific and technical breakthroughs to steer and control AI systems much smarter than us. To solve this problem within four years, we’re starting a new team, co-led by Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, and dedicating 20% of the compute we’ve secured to date to this effort. We’re looking for excellent ML researchers and engineers to join us."

Everything fell apart less than a year later.

In May 2024, Open AI co-founder Sutskever and Superalignment co-lead Leike left the company after the messy break between the Open AI founders, Sutskever and Sam Altman, earlier this year. 

As Superalignment was Sutskever and Leike's program, it was unsurprising that it was abandoned after both project leaders left Open AI.

But on this would-be anniversary, we wonder what Superalignment accomplished in that short lifespan and what could have been if the project had continued.

What did Superalignment accomplish?

In the handful of months Superalignment was operating, the group managed a few key feats before the doors closed for good.

The group's first research paper, "Weak-to-strong generalization," attempted to understand how humans could supervise AI that is much smarter than they are and used Open AI's GPT large language models (LLMs) GPT-2 and GPT-4 to simulate the experience. 

Concluding, "our results suggest that (1) naive human supervision—such as reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF)—could scale poorly to superhuman models without further work, but (2) it is feasible to substantially improve weak-to-strong generalization."

The group also launched a program to give applicants $10 million in fast grants in December 2023.

.

Superalignment: What could have been

Open AI had grand ambitions for Superalignment. According to the project's announcement, the key idea behind the program was to answer the question, "How do we ensure AI systems much smarter than humans follow human intent?"

It's the sort of question that is rarely solved, even in our most enduring sci-fi classics. It's hard to say what the future might look like if Superalignment had continued and even succeeded in its purpose. 

Having human-safety-minded super-intelligent machines could be groundbreaking in several ways. However, it could also cause unintended harm. Our best guesses about the future of super-intelligent AI may as well be science fiction because we just don't know enough to make a reasonable estimate.

Sutskever and Leike may continue to work on the problem of supervising superintelligent artificial systems in the future. But for now, Superalignment remains a beautiful dream that almost lived.

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As the developer of the world's most popular AI chatbot, it's no surprise that OpenAI is a target for hackers. The company has been quick to respond to recent security issues, but it's still important for users to know how they might be affected and how they can keep their data safe moving forward. 

Here's a look at OpenAI's recent security controversies and what you can do to stay safe while using ChatGPT. 

OpenAI was hacked in 2023 and kept it quiet: What users should know

On July 4, the New York Times reported that OpenAI experienced a breach in early 2023, but chose not to tell the public about it. A hacker accessed OpenAI's internal messaging forums, where they were able to view conversations about the inner workings of OpenAI's technologies. 

Anonymous OpenAI employees told Cade Metz of the New York Times that OpenAI's executives decided against revealing the incident to the public since the hacker didn't access any of the company's actual systems, such as customer data. One of OpenAI's employees, Leopold Aschenbrenner, raised concerns about the company's lack of adequate security measures in the aftermath of the incident but was fired shortly after for sharing information with researchers outside the company. 

This is important to note since Aschenbrenner was part of OpenAI's Superalignment team, the group of engineers and researchers tasked with ensuring OpenAI's products are ethical and safe. The Superalignment team has seen a few other major exits over the past few months due to similar concerns about security and safety. 

In fact, OpenAI's Head of Alignment, Jan Leike, specifically outlined his safety concerns on X after resigning in May 2024. Leike said in an X post that "over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products." 

While the April 2023 OpenAI breach likely had no direct effect on end users, the way OpenAI handled it demonstrates a lack of transparency. It could also have long-term ramifications if the hacker, and any others that might duplicate their strategy, accessed information that would allow them to jailbreak or hack ChatGPT itself. 

ChatGPT security flaws spotted by users on Reddit and macOS

Unfortunately for OpenAI, the 2023 internal messaging hack wasn't the only security vulnerability to come to light this week.

On June 30, Reddit user F0XMaster posted on r/ChatGPT about a strange glitch they experienced while using the chatbot. After greeting the chatbot with a simple "Hi," ChatGPT replied with an outline of its system instructions, which are only intended to be visible to developers. 

The system instructions revealed the inner workings of ChatGPT, including some of the guardrails in place to regulate the chatbot's behavior. For example, it instructs ChatGPT to only generate one image per prompt, even if a user asks for more. 

Other users quickly replied to the post with workarounds they figured out, allowing them to get around the chatbot's system instructions. OpenAI patched the issue within a day of the post going live so these "jailbreak" tactics no longer work. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, OpenAI is also facing concerns from Mac users after a Threads user revealed the macOS ChatGPT app was storing conversations as plain text files. That means a hacker, malicious app, or anyone curious enough could freely access a victim's entire conversations from the macOS ChatGPT app. 

OpenAI has since patched the app to encrypt saved conversations. So, these files should be secure moving forward. However, it is possible the text files containing users' ChatGPT conversations were vulnerable prior to the most recent app update. 

How do these security vulnerabilities affect users?

It's certainly not a good time to be OpenAI, between news of its 2023 internal messaging breach, a concerning glitch on ChatGPT, and a major security flaw in the ChatGPT macOS app. However, if you're a ChatGPT user, only one of these issues could potentially directly impact you. 

The 2023 breach only affected OpenAI's internal messaging forums, likely to place company secrets at risk but not user data. Similarly, the glitch revealed on Reddit last weekend has been patched and seems to have only exposed ChatGPT's own instructions. 

The macOS ChatGPT app vulnerability is concerning, though. If you've been using the Mac app, the good news is that your conversations are encrypted as of the latest app update. Before this update, it's possible those conversations were vulnerable to hacking. 

However, unless your Mac was hacked between when you downloaded the Mac ChatGPT app and this week when the encryption patch rolled out, you probably don't have anything to worry about. If you're not sure whether or not your Mac was exposed to malware recently, you can use an antivirus program to check for any suspicious activity or downloads. 

You can also protect your data in the ChatGPT app moving forward by deleting conversations when you no longer need them. It may also be a good idea to turn off the "Improve the model for everyone" feature in the app. This feature allows OpenAI to use your conversations to train ChatGPT. If you're concerned about privacy, it's probably a good idea to opt out of this program. 

You may also want to keep an eye out for macOS 15 and Apple Intelligence, which will allow you to use ChatGPT on your Mac without sharing your data with OpenAI. This will likely be the most private and secure way to access ChatGPT once the feature launches later this year. 

More from Laptop Mag

• A timeline of OpenAI controversy: November 2023 to May 2024
• OpenAI employees sound the alarm ahead of Apple partnership
• Apple warns against cloud-AI data collection, leans into on-device AI

On Wednesday, Proton — the Geneva-based tech company best known for its Proton Mail email service — launched a new product that aligns with its belief "that a better world begins with privacy."

Enter Proton Docs. 

Put simply, Proton Docs (or Docs in Proton Drive) offers end-to-end encryption for shared online documents for anyone with a free Proton Drive account. In title and function, it's very similar to Google Docs but much more private and secure.

Proton's Head of Communications, Edward Shone, wrote on LinkedIn, "The release of Docs in Proton Drive is a monumental step forward" in the company's journey to "protect more facets of our users' lives."

This journey has been in the works for years. In a 2018 interview, Proton's co-founder and CEO, Andy Yen, said encrypted docs, spreadsheets, and slideshow presentations were in the works. Yen said, "We want you to be able to completely de-Google-fy your life."

But why, exactly? You might think, "What's so bad about using Google services?" And the answer may surprise you.

Who, or what, is Proton Docs made for?

Feature-wise, Proton Docs feels very similar to Google Docs. It offers rich text options, real-time collaboration with friends or coworkers, the ability to comment, multiple supported formats, and multimedia support.

But here's the big difference: When using Docs in Proton Drive, everything is end-to-end encrypted, "even keystrokes and cursor movements." 

And when your documents are encrypted, which could include private diary entries, plans for next summer's garden, or sensitive business information, big tech companies aren't able to track, collect, and profit from your private information.

In Proton's blog post, Proton Product Lead Anant Vijay writes that "there is a growing concern about Big Tech platforms having access to your content, tracking you across the web, and collecting data to train privacy-invading AI models." 

For that reason, Proton Docs is made for everyone, not just those working with sensitive information.

Look at this eerie privacy disclaimer for Google Gemini. Google warns users not to enter "confidential information" or "any data you wouldn't want a reviewer to see or Google to use."

Proton doesn't aim to offer more full-featured products and services than Google. Instead, the company aims to provide what Google does but with a clear privacy-first focus. In a world where your data is being collected at every possible moment, Proton Docs is a refreshing new service.