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OpenAI has just launched an initiative called OpenAI For Government starting with a modest new contract. The company was awarded $200 million by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to develop “prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” according to the DoD’s website.

The contract is the DoD’s first with OpenAI. It will last a year and take place largely in an area that includes Washington, DC and nearby counties in Maryland and Virginia. The company said its new program will provide federal, state and local governments access to its latest models through ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Gov, along with custom models for national security on a limited basis.

“This contract, with a $200 million ceiling, will bring OpenAI’s industry-leading expertise to help the Defense Department identify and prototype how frontier AI can transform its administrative operations, from improving how service members and their families get health care, to streamlining how they look at program and acquisition data, to supporting proactive cyber defense,” the company said.

Last last year, OpenAI announced that it was partnering with Palmer Lucky’s defense startup Anduril Industries to develop AI for the Pentagon. The companies said they aimed to combine OpenAI’s models, including GPT-4o, with Anduril’s systems and software to improve the US military’s defenses against unpiloted aerial attacks. However, OpenAI and the DoD didn’t reference Anduril or drone defense in their announcements today.

The contract opens up a new source of revenue for OpenAI. The company recently said that it will increase sales from around $10 billion currently all the way to $125 billion in just four years, without providing many details on how it plans to do that. Currently, OpenAI makes money from ChatGPT for consumers, along with business products and its application programming interface (API). It spends a lot more than it makes, having lost $5 billion in 2024 on around $4 billion in revenue. 

In January, OpenAI announced the $500 billion Stargate program to develop additional computing power in the US. The company completed a $40 billion financing round that values it currently at over $300 billion. However, critics have argued that that despite burning enormous amounts of cash on cloud infrastructure, it still has no clear path to profitability. Relations are also reportedly tense with the company’s close partner Microsoft at the moment. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-awarded-200-million-us-defense-contract-for-the-use-of-its-ai-models-120052807.html?src=rss 

Tinder has officially launched a new feature that will help you find people to double date with a friend. The dating service says it’s a “low-pressure, group-first” way to date, but really, it’s a fantastic option if you prefer meeting someone new with a friend beside you, whether for your safety or your anxiety. To use the feature, you’ll have to tap the Double Date icon and choose up to three friends to create a pair with. As TechCrunch notes, you’ll then be able to scroll through other Double Date pairs who share at least one of your preferences, such as gender and sexual orientation. 

A group chat is created with all four participants even if just one pair gets a match, though you can always swipe right on an individual in the group for a one-on-one chat. According to Tinder, the feature was a hit with users 29 and under when the service was tested. It was also more popular with women, who were apparently three times more likely to like a pair than an individual profile. 

Perhaps more importantly for Tinder owner Match Group, the feature was able to get new users onboard and to convince old ones to come back to the service. Based on its tests, 15 percent of users who accepted a Double Date invite were either new to Tinder or had recently reactivated. In March, the company announced its plans to cut 13 percent of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure after a 5 percent decline in paying users in the first quarter of the year, which resulted in lower revenue and share prices. Double Date builds on the success of Tinder Matchmaker and Share My Date, which “turn dating into more of a team sport,” the service’s head of marketing, Cleo Long, told TechCrunch. It was designed with the understanding that most single people seek support from friends when dating. 

At the moment, Double Date is only available in the US, Spain, as well as parts of Latin America and the Nordic region. Tinder is rolling it out to users around the world in July. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/tinder-now-lets-you-find-double-dates-with-friends-123050143.html?src=rss 

The Roomba 105 Vac Robot + AutoEmpty Dock has been discounted to $280 as part of an extended Father’s Day sale. This is a record-low price, as it usually costs $450. Math tells me that’s a cool $170 off.

As the name suggests, this lil robovac will automatically head to the included debris dock to empty its contents. It’ll do this after every cleaning session and the company says the canister is large enough to go 75 days before requiring manual disposal. However, results will likely vary on that front. I’m talking to you, pet owners.

This is a solid effort by Roomba, which is a company that appeared numerous times in our list of the best robot vacuums. The suction power is on point and the dock includes a filtration bag that traps allergens. It ships with a multi-surface bristle brush and an edge-sweeping brush. Of course, it also provides access to the company’s LiDAR software for navigation. It can even clean in the dark.

There’s one downside. This is a fantastic vacuum, but it is just a vacuum. The Roomba 105 is not a hybrid unit, so there’s no mopping functionality. For that, you’ll have to spring for a pricier model.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-roomba-with-an-auto-empty-dock-is-down-to-a-record-low-price-184105673.html?src=rss 

Borderlands 4, the latest entry in Gearbox Software’s popular looter shooter franchise, is available to pre-order now for $70, a good $10 less than many assumed it would cost. The game’s price first came into question when its September 12 release date was announced without pre-order details, and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford suggested that whether the game came with a $80 price tag was out of his hands.

Pitchford put his foot in his mouth in a thread on X sharing a behind-the-scenes video about bringing Borderlands 4 to the Switch 2. A fan replied to the video asking Pitchford to not charge $80 for the game, to which Pitchford responded, “A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Naturally, that came off as a bit glib to anyone surprised by the sudden emergence of $80 games following the release of Mario Kart World. Pitchford didn’t exactly double-down next, but at a PAX East panel later in May, he also didn’t deny the game would have a higher price, noting that “Borderlands 4 has more than twice the development budget than Borderlands 3.“

The official pre-order information settles things: the game is not going the way of Mario Kart. The Standard Edition of Borderlands 4 costs $70 and comes with free Vault Hunter, weapon and drone skins if you pre-order. If you step up to the $100 Deluxe Edition, you get even more skins and a “Bounty Pack Bundle” that includes exclusive areas and weapons. For the $130 Super Deluxe Edition, you get all of that plus the “Vault Hunter Pack,” which includes the game’s two story DLC packs and new playable characters. A $70 game is not a $60 game, but if price is your biggest concern, it’s better than $80.

Gearbox plans to show off more of Borderlands 4‘s story and gameplay at Borderlands Fan Fest on June 21. The game is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S and PC on September 12. The Switch 2 release is scheduled for 2025, too, and Gearbox plans to share more information about it at a later date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/borderlands-4-will-not-cost-80-despite-misguided-executive-comments-205622443.html?src=rss 

Instagram is testing a new repost feature. TechCrunch reported that social media network is currently running a test that gives users the opportunity to repost content. The current feature test is focused on resharing a post, the content that appears in a user’s feed, as a new post. The platform does already offer the ability to share a post to someone’s Story, but this post-to-post repost would be a new addition to the available interactions. A rep from Meta confirmed that the tests are happening, but declined to add any additional comments.

Instagram did a very similar test of a very similar feature in 2022 and also trialed a repost button all the way back in 2017. Considering the company has made multiple attempts at an idea that’s already well-established on other social networks, it seems surprising that the platform would once again revisit this idea. Between posts, Stories, Reels and DMs, Instagram already has a lot of unique content types. On the one hand, there are plenty of ways to share and resurface content, either your own or another account’s to the feed. On the other hand, though, having different rules about what material can be shared to which format can put users in confusing situations.

Update, June 16, 2025, 6:22PM ET: Added response from Meta representative confirming the feature test.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-is-running-another-test-of-a-repost-feature-210309548.html?src=rss 

Meta seems to have finally taken a small step to address the epidemic of over-sharing happening in the public feed of its AI app. The company has added a short disclaimer that warns users to “avoid sharing personal or sensitive information” to the “post to feed” button in the Meta AI app.

The change was first spotted by Business Insider, which labeled the app “one of the most depressing places online” due to the sheer volume of intimate, embarrassing and sometimes personally-identifying information Meta AI users were — apparently unwittingly — publicly sharing to the app’s built-in “discover” feed. Though Meta AI doesn’t share users’ chat histories by default, it seems that many of the app’s users were choosing to “share” their interactions without realizing it would make the voice and text chats visible to the public.

Last week, I found posts where users asked for advice on “improving bowel movements” and inquiring whether a relative could be liable for their employer’s unpaid taxes. Another user desperately added “keep this private” to his public posts in an apparent attempt to hide his embarrassing chats after the fact. These types of strange public interactions have been happening since the Meta AI app rolled out in April, but received renewed attention last week after social media users began posting about all of the weird conversations that were visible in the app’s “discover” feed.

Privacy experts criticized Meta, noting that most other mainstream AI chatbots don’t include a social, publicly-visible feed. “If a user’s expectations about how a tool functions don’t match reality, you’ve got yourself a huge user experience and security problem,” Rachel Tobac, a security expert who has previously partnered with Meta, observed last week. “Humans have built a schema around AI chat bots and do not expect their AI chat bot prompts to show up in a social media style Discover feed — it’s not how other tools function.” The Mozilla Foundation also urged Meta to change the app’s design. “Meta AI’s app doesn’t make it obvious that what you share goes fully public,” it wrote in a statement last week There’s no clear iconography, no familiar cues about sharing like in other Meta apps.”

Now, the company has apparently taken note. With the change, choosing to share a Meta AI interaction publicly prompts the warning seen above, though it only seems to appear on the first share. “Prompts you post are public and visible to everyone,” it states. “Your prompts may be suggested by Meta on other Meta apps. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information.”

As Business Insider notes, the app’s public feed also seems to no longer feature text exchanges other users have shared with the app, only AI-generated images and video. It’s unclear if that’s a permanent change, or the result of the recent negative attention the app’s received. We’ve reached out to Meta for more information and will update if we hear back.

In the meantime, if you’ve found yourself the victim of unintended public posts in the app, you can remove them by tapping on your profile in the top right corner of the app, heading to Data & Privacy -> Manage your information -> Make all public prompts visible only to you and selecting “apply to all.”  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-warns-users-to-avoid-sharing-personal-or-sensitive-information-in-its-ai-app-233900625.html?src=rss 

You can grab a number of games from Amazon at no cost if you have a Prime subscription in the days leading up to Prime Day 2025, which takes place from July 8 to July 11. Starting today, June 17 at 12 PM Eastern time, you can get Dungeon of the Endless Definitive Edition without paying for it through the Amazon Games App. In the roguelike game, you take on the role of a prison spaceship survivor who has to fight off several floors of creatures after your escape pod crashes into a strange planet. Amazon will also give you free access to TOEM, a photography game by Swedish studio Something We Made, through a GOG code. You’re a photographer in this game who has to solve puzzles using the character’s camera. 

In addition to those two, you can also get Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft at no cost through GOG. It includes all the original three Tomb Raider Adventures games, all its expansions and secret levels. Saints Row 2, an open world action-adventure game that’s a direct sequel of the first, is free via GOG, as well. In it, you play the same character in the first Saints Row, except you wake up after a coma to find your gang disbanded. You can also claim Saints Row IV: Re-Elected and Star Wars: Rebellion for free via GOG. 

Mordheim: City of the Damned, The Abandoned Planet, Station to Station and Death Squared are also all free to claim. Dark Envoy and FATE: Undiscovered Realms will be available on June 19, while Thief: Deadly Shadows, Jupiter Hell and Gallery of Things: Reveries will be available on June 26. 

Prime Gaming comes bundled with all your other Amazon Prime membership perks. It gives you access to a rotating selection of free games, in-game content, along with a free monthly Twitch subscription. Prime costs $15 a month or $139 a year, but you can get a free 30-day trial when you sign up if you’re unsure about paying for it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/amazon-is-giving-away-some-great-games-in-the-lead-up-to-prime-day-050012540.html?src=rss 

Amazon has officially announced the dates for its next annual shopping event, and there’s a twist this year. Prime Day 2025 will be four days long, running from July 8 through July 11. A departure from previous years in which Prime Day was a 48-hour affair, this year the shopping event will span nearly an entire week, bringing thousands of exclusive, Prime-only deals on everything from electronics to fashion.

In addition to spurring a large number of sales in a short period of time, Amazon Prime Day has always been a way for the online retail giant to increase the overall number of Prime subscribers. Prime Day isn’t necessarily a perk of the $139-per-year service like access to Prime Video content or free two-day shipping are, but it certainly helps that most deals you’ll find on Amazon during the event are exclusively available to Prime members.

With the event being four days long this year, we expect to see some one-day-only deals as well as sales that span the entirety of Prime Day(s) proper. We usually recommend buying things on your list as soon as you see them go on sale just to avoid the disappointment that comes with items selling out, and this time is no different. That’s especially true for deals that as listed as “limited time,” or any Lightning Deals that only last a few hours.

Prime Day in July has been the main shopping event for Amazon for a decade now, but that hasn’t stopped the company from expanding the event’s reach. “October Prime Day” has become a mainstay in the fall, and Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is a relatively new shopping event that has taken place in March over the past couple of years. No word yet on if October Prime Day 2025 will be a thing, but we believe it’s almost guaranteed at this point.

If you do plan on putting that Prime membership to use next month, you can turn to Engadget to find the tech deals worth your month during the two-day event. Unsurprisingly, Amazon Prime Day is one of the best times of the year to get Amazon devices, since most of them will likely be down to all-time-low prices. But we also expect to see worthwhile sales on headphones, robot vacuums, laptops, SSDs and much more. You can also follow Engadget Deals on X for the latest news during Prime Day.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-prime-day-2025-dates-officially-announced-the-shopping-event-returns-from-july-8-to-11-050449132.html?src=rss