YouTube’ promises less AI slop and… more AI slop in 2026
If you’re worried about AI-generated content flooding YouTube, thus forcing out the hard work of real-life humans, don’t. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan gave assurances in a recent blog post that it has everything under control. And to celebrate, it’s adding even more AI-generated content to the platform. You read that right.
What Mohan means, then, is that he hopes to only plague the platform with YouTube-made AI slop — evidenced by the upcoming feature that will allow creators to “create a Short using [their] own likeness,” nudged along by the advent of AI, of course. What Mohan calls “AI slop” will be heavily scrutinised and managed going forward.
It’ll do so by beefing up the established security systems designed to combat spam, clickbait, and other “low-quality AI content”. These will join the new protections put in place to help creators guard their own likeness, stopping any unauthorised usage in its tracks by scanning new uploads before they can take off in the algorithm.
While a brave sentiment, YouTube’s own tools — including the AI-generated likeness of creators, or the new powers that’ll enable the creation of an entire game using only Gemini 3 and a single text prompt — will continue to bombard users until the heat death of the universe. Or until the AI bubble bursts. Whichever comes first.
Please, Siri, I want some more [Apple Intelligence]?
Apple appears to be wasting no time in getting the Gemini-powered Siri reboot into the hands of customers, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reckoning that a February announcement is imminent. Specifically, the “second half of February, when it will give demonstrations of the functionality.” Whether Apple will glam the presentation up, or quietly unveil Siri’s new powers to a tight-knit group of press, is still unclear, Gurman says.
The demonstration will clear the path to introduce the features to iOS 26.4, set to enter beta testing next month and hit the public by March or early April. The update will finally bring many of the Apple Intelligence features Apple promised customers in 2024, which were the primary selling point of the iPhone 16.
“But that’s only the first phase,” Gurman continued. “Apple plans to unveil a fully reimagined Siri at this year’s WWDC. Code-named Campos, the new system is a fresh architecture and interface designed from the ground up for the chatbot era.”
This more robust Siri will still rely on Gemini’s capabilities, though a more robust model known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11 will compete with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot. There’s no use putting stock into any Apple Intelligence claims about a potential release, though Gurman notes that the Fruit Company expects the chatbot to debut iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 — with a beta later this year.
Anbernic’s RG G01 wants you to follow your heart
Anbernic may stray from the path of what we’d call ‘normal’ every so often, but even the company’s latest invention, the Anbernic RG G01 controller, had us doing a double-take. At first glance, it looks totally ordinary — even if the 2.5in HD display probably hasn’t been seen since the last Temu ad you saw. But the real kicker isn’t the 1,000Hz polling rate or the ‘electro-inductive’ joysticks. It’s the built-in heart rate monitor.
“With the built-in heart rate monitor, you can track your heartbeat in real time during intense boss battles, enjoying an unprecedented level of immersion!”
While the HD display will be most useful for hot-swapping your gaming profiles on the fly, it’ll also provide a high-definition insight into all the fluctuations of your heart as Yennefer does whatever she’s doing on that unicorn. Why? Because it can, apparently. The RG G01 supports Bluetooth 5.0, 2.4Ghz wireless, and wired play. It’s built for gaming on PC, Switch, Android, and iOS and is apparently “coming soon”. Pricing is not yet known.
Ubisoft could remaster the one game that doesn’t actually need it
We love returning to an old Ubisoft world. It’s about all the company is good for these days. As though to prove its incompetence to the world at large (despite the Prince of Persia cancellation already doing that), rumours of the recent goings-on at Ubisoft behind closed doors all but cement the idea. According to industry insider Tom Henderson, Ubisoft is hard at work on two Rayman projects, one of which centres on a fabled Legends remake.
Rayman Legends is the direct sequel to Rayman Origins and absolutely still holds up today. It plays, looks, and sounds fantastic, even more than a decade later. Part of that is due to the incredible art style that does the Wind Waker thing and never quite ages the same as other games.
It seems the Legends remake will, at least, arrive sometime after whatever the new Rayman game is, codenamed ‘Iceman’. Henderson intimates that the project could be ready for the upcoming Rayman 30th anniversary, and is expected to come “very, very soon”.
