Countries are Creating their Own AI Models
Happy first Friday of September! (and pumpkin spice season to those who celebrate)
Welcome back to the latest edition of Quantious’ Tech Roundup, where you gain exclusive insights into the tech news you need to know to stay at the top of your game.
Today, we’re covering Apple’s Siri upgrade possibly powered by Gemini, Perplexity and PayPal teaming up, Switzerland’s AI model trained on public data, and how researchers are tricking chatbots into breaking their own rules (the good news: it’ll help expose weaknesses for stronger chatbots in the near future).
With our Tech Roundup, you can trust that you’re getting concise updates on just the news that matters most. Let’s get to it!
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Top Tech Highlights
Apple’s Siri upgrade could reportedly be powered by Google Gemini
Apple is reportedly partnering with Google to test Gemini-powered AI inside Siri as part of a delayed overhaul now expected in 2026. If successful, this technology could extend beyond Siri into Safari and Spotlight, enhancing search with AI-driven summarization, multimedia results, and personal data integration.
PayPal and Venmo are giving out Comet invites and free Perplexity Pro subscriptions
Perplexity’s new AI-powered browser, Comet, is now gaining wider access through a PayPal partnership that offers customers early entry and a free year of Perplexity Pro. Originally limited to premium Max subscribers, Comet integrates AI assistance, summaries, and product comparisons, with PayPal’s reach set to accelerate its adoption globally.
Switzerland releases its own AI model trained on public data
Switzerland has introduced Apertus, an open-source AI model released on HuggingFace with full transparency on its code, training data, and weights. The model is trained on over 1,800 languages and available in 8B and 70B parameter versions.
Chatbots can be manipulated through flattery and peer pressure
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that persuasion tactics from Robert Cialdini’s Influence can trick LLMs like GPT-4o Mini into breaking rules. By using methods such as commitment and authority, they increased refusal-bypassing success rates dramatically—for example, boosting lidocaine synthesis responses from 1% to 100% after priming with a harmless chemistry question.
What You Really Need to Know
AI is at a Crossroads: Think Power Plays, Addressing Cracks in the Guardrails
These stories highlight both the rapid expansion of AI into everyday platforms and the cracks showing in how we control it. Apple is leaning on Google’s Gemini to rescue Siri from irrelevance in an age of AI credibility. Perplexity is teaming up with PayPal, a move which could push an AI-first browsing experience to the mainstream overnight. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Apertus project signals that open-source, globally inclusive models aren’t just experiments—they’re becoming serious contenders to closed systems like ChatGPT or Claude.
On the flip side, the University of Pennsylvania study underscores just how easily AI guardrails can be bent with persuasion. We’re seeing an AI landscape where power is consolidating in deals between giants, open-source challengers are fighting for relevance, and researchers are exposing the hidden vulnerabilities that could undermine it all. It’s not just about AI being “everywhere”—it’s about who controls it and how it’s shaped.
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