Here’s a rundown of the top tech stories this week: The public beta of iOS 26, the launch of GitHub’s Spark AI, Sam Altman’s warning about AI usage, the potential launch of GPT-5, and a major Starlink outage.
Apple has released the first public beta of iOS 26. This allows users to experience the new Liquid Glass interface and features. These public betas generally arrive in July, providing a preview of the new iOS and are considered more stable than the developer versions.
GitHub, owned by Microsoft, has launched Spark AI, an AI tool that simplifies app creation by enabling users to provide instructions in natural language. Users can select either the OpenAI GPT or the Claude Sonnet model. Spark generates code and offers an interactive preview.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman cautioned about the increasing use of ChatGPT as a substitute for therapists and consultants, highlighting the absence of legal frameworks to protect these interactions.
GPT-5, OpenAI’s next model, could launch in early August and is expected to feature unified reasoning capabilities, as reported by The Verge.
Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, faced a significant global outage this week. The outage affected millions of users for approximately 2.5 hours. This outage is one of the longest in Starlink’s history. The incident occurred shortly after the company announced its partnership with T-Mobile to deliver signals to remote areas via the new T-Satellite.