An OpenAI executive admitted before the Australian Parliament on Tuesday that the American technology company had mishandled an incident where one of its independent programs hacked a government website last June.
Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI, underwent a hearing in Sydney before a parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence.
“First of all, I would like to apologize,” Kwon said.
He added: “We are sorry.” We know that we have a lot of work to do to regain the confidence of the Australian people, and we are committed to doing so.”
In June, an independent artificial intelligence program from OpenAI hacked into the Australian Department of Health Statistics website and gained access to various public and private files.
This form was not intended for use by the general public. Its evaluators removed its safeguards to better assess its actual cybersecurity capabilities.
OpenAI acknowledged that its program targeted 4 Australian government platforms, noting that it did not learn of the hack until August.
“During internal training and evaluation, our models were able to access Australian government websites without being asked to do so,” the company said. An incident like this should never have been recorded. We also had to manage our response better.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticized the company for not informing the government of the incident before September.
The smartphone sector is witnessing a turning point now, with foldable phones maturing and offering exceptional experiences that combine the flexibility of tablets with the compact size of pocket phones.
In the heart of this accelerating scene, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and iPhone Duo stand out as two models that rely on a wide external screen with comfortable wide dimensions and advanced engineering that reduces the prominence of the fold in the middle of the internal screen and a low thickness. This intense competition presents the user with amazing options that raise the concepts of design, productivity, and artificial intelligence systems to unprecedented heights. Asharq Al-Awsat tested the Galaxy Z Fold8 phone, and will compare it with the iPhone Duo. Below is a summary of the experience.
“Galaxy Z Fold8”
• Design and Form Factor - New engineering that redefines elegance and durability. The phone truly revolutionizes the world of foldable phones thanks to its reliance on a unique design and form factor. When the phone is closed, it features a cover screen with wide dimensions of 16 by 10, which gives you a very comfortable user experience similar to traditional phones, which makes writing, browsing social media networks, and watching video shows very enjoyable without any compromises.
This small, compact, passport-like size makes it incredibly portable and fits seamlessly into a pocket.
-A stunning internal screen that we find when opening the phone with a 4-by-3 aspect ratio that provides an ideal and interactive space for reading books, browsing documents, and performing multiple tasks side by side with high efficiency. The company was also keen to develop the durability of the structure through engineering techniques that include flexible titanium sheets inside the AMOLED screen, which effectively contribute to reducing the visibility of the screen fold and enhancing shock resistance. The phone's body is ultra-sleek and lightweight with IP48 waterproof protection.
-The beauty of the design is through the dazzling screens that feature superior brightness and a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz, ensuring amazing clarity even under direct sunlight. Through the fine details in the corner curvatures and the flexible movement hinge that opens very smoothly, the phone provides a visual and tactile experience that develops the concept of foldable phones to completely new heights, which we witnessed shortly after its launch. Its design has been imitated by a number of leading companies, including Apple and Xiaomi.
• Camera array - exceptional imaging performance for every moment. The phone's imaging system delivers exceptional performance, as it includes an ultra-powerful camera array that meets all photographers' daily needs. The main camera is distinguished by its ability to capture stunning daytime photos with excellent contrast, a wide dynamic range, and vibrant colors that add special vitality to every shot. The ultra-wide camera with auto focus will surprise the user with its high level of detail and clarity of its images, even in low indoor lighting conditions.
- Multiple options for selfies provided by the phone thanks to the use of cameras built into the front and internal screens and the ability to take selfies with the screen open or closed. This gives amazing results characterized by high detail sharpness and very natural skin tones. It also clearly shows the superiority of cameras in recording video presentations; The phone supports recording shows at a resolution of up to 4K and at a rate of 60 images per second across all cameras, as well as advanced photography options with HDR 10 Plus technology and 10-bit resolution with cinematic effects that allow creators to create professional content with ease.
-An image processing system supported by artificial intelligence works to improve night shots and accurately address noise. This ensures that the images come out in the best possible light in various circumstances. The variety of shooting angles and ease of use of the flexible camera interface gives the user the creative freedom to document precious moments in amazing ways.
• Advantages of artificial intelligence - integrated intelligent and personalized experience. The Galaxy AI system in the OneUI 9 interface is considered a major turning point that adds an intelligent and personal character to the phone user experience. Samsung has made profound improvements, including carefully designed smart menus and a smoother, cleaner user experience. One of the most amazing additions is the Call Brief feature, which intelligently listens to phone calls and displays relevant information such as appointments and events directly on the active call screen to help you organize your time moment by moment.
The phone shines with the advanced personal updates feature in the “Now Brief” feeds, which allows the user to create custom cards powered by artificial intelligence to fetch the information he prefers from multiple sources such as weather, health, and favorite videos in a completely accurate and personalized way. It does not stop there, but extends to the advanced Bixby assistant, which is equipped with advanced search capabilities and seamless integration that gives you instant answers and ultra-fast and accurate voice commands.
• Other additional benefits and operating performance – superior strength and long-lasting sustainability.
The phone offers a wide range of advanced technical features, as it comes to life thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor, which provides ultra-fast and extremely smooth performance in running heavy applications and advanced games with high efficiency. The company guarantees to provide major updates to the operating system for seven years.
The phone uses a 4800 mAh battery that relies on modern “silicon-carbon” cells to provide enough power to cover a full day of intense use. The phone also supports 45-watt fast charging, in addition to fast wireless charging and reverse wireless charging for various devices and accessories.
Technical specifications
As for the phone's specifications, they are:
- Internal screen: 7.6 inches, with a resolution of 1848 x 2448 pixels, a density of 404 pixels per inch, AMOLED 2X technology, a frequency of 120 Hz, with support for the High Dynamic Range HDR 10 Plus color range, and a brightness of 3000 nits.
- External screen: 5.5 inches, with a resolution of 1972 x 1248 pixels, a density of 428 pixels per inch, AMOLED 2X technology, and a frequency of 120 Hz.
- Memory: 12 or 16 GB.
- Built-in storage capacity: 256, 512, or 1024 GB (1 TB).
- Rear cameras: 50 and 50 megapixels (for wide and ultra-wide angles).
- Front and internal cameras: 10 and 10 megapixels (for ultra-wide and wide angles).
- Processor: “Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy”, eight cores (two cores at 4.74 GHz and 6 cores at 3.62 GHz) with a manufacturing precision of 3 nanometers.
- Battery charge: 4800 mAh.
- Charging speed: 45 watts wired or 20 watts wirelessly, with the ability to charge other accessories wirelessly at a capacity of 4.5 watts.
- Fingerprint sensor: side.
- Support for wireless networks: “Wi-Fi” a, b, g, n, ac, 6, 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and Near Field Communication (NFC).
- Speakers: Side.
- Operating system: “Android 17” and the user interface “One UI 9”.
- Water and dust resistance: according to the IP48 standard (can withstand dust particles with a diameter larger than 1 mm, and submersion in water to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes).
- Connectivity support: 5G networks via a Nano SIM and two eSIMs. Two of the three strips can be used simultaneously.
Thickness: 4.5 mm when the screen is open and 9.7 mm when it is closed.
- Weight: 201 grams.
- Availability in the market: The phone is available in the Arab region in graphite, cream, dark violet, or pistachio colors in a version of 12 GB of memory and 256 or 512 GB of built-in storage capacity, or 16 GB of memory and 1024 GB of built-in storage capacity, at prices of 7399, 8199, or 9799 Saudi riyals (about 1973, 2186, or 2613 US dollars).
“iPhone duo”
• Low thickness design. The phone is the first foldable phone from Apple, and it presents an amazing engineering concept that redefines leading phones. The phone features a low-thick design that opens like a passport and includes a wide internal screen with a diameter of 7.6 inches and dimensions of 4 by 3, in addition to a practical external screen with a diameter of 5.4 inches that gives the user flexibility for usual daily use.
A detailed titanium frame and cover were used, along with advanced protection layers that include a ceramic shield and a precise hinge consisting of more than 100 components to ensure smooth opening and closing of the screen.
• Reducing reflections:
The internal screen of the phone is considered the largest screen presented in any iPhone so far, and it is supported by a layer that prevents reflections and reduces glare. The screen consists of 10 ultra-thin layers with a scratch-resistant coating that increases its hardness by up to 40 percent compared to other phones.
- The built-in internal camera hides behind the screen when not in use, creating an immersive viewing area and a hidden folding line.
There are concerns that this layer may affect the clarity of the image under sunlight, based on similar experiences of other companies previously.
• Smart photography:
The phone comes with a high-performance dual camera system that includes a 48-megapixel main camera and another ultra-wide lens with the same resolution. This allows you to capture clear images and record 4K video presentations at a rate of 120 images per second with Dolby Vision color support.
The phone offers innovative photography features, including the “Smart Take” feature, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically take the photo as soon as everyone pays attention, without the need to use a timer, and the “Duo Preview” feature, which allows the person being photographed to see an instant preview of the image via the external screen.
• Personalized experience:
The phone runs on an operating system specifically designed to support dual screens. The user interfaces and control menus have been redesigned to appear on the right side of the internal screen when opened, with the aim of facilitating access to them with complete flexibility.
- The system supports the multitasking feature to run two applications side by side on the wide screen, as well as a custom standby mode that displays widgets and unique alarm clocks when the phone is placed at an angle, with support for using the Apple Pencil via the USB Type-C port (this feature will be supported in a future software update) to enhance productivity and take notes.
• Artificial intelligence and advanced performance:
The phone uses the A20 Pro processor with vapor chamber cooling technology. This ensures sustained performance for intense gaming and creative tasks.
The phone offers a working memory with a capacity of 12 GB and a dual neural engine with 16 cores specially designed to handle artificial intelligence tasks and the “Apple Intelligence” system efficiently.
• Dual battery:
The phone features an innovative dual battery system intelligently distributed within the two halves of the body in integration with the exclusive electronic chip design. This provides sufficient power to cover intense daily use for long periods.
- The battery can work for about 44 hours of playing video shows when using the external screen, or 31 hours when using the internal screen.
The phone supports fast charging via the USB Type-C port to reach 50 percent in just 20 minutes using a 60-watt charger, in addition to supporting MagSafe magnetic wireless charging, with a capacity of 25 watts with support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard.
Competition among the best
When comparing the two phones in terms of technical specifications, we find that the Galaxy Z Fold8 excels in:
- External screen diameter: 5.5 compared to 5.4 inches
- Color standard support: HDR Plus compared to HDR
- Processor: octa-core compared to hexa-core
- Rear cameras: 50 and 50 compared to 48 and 48 megapixels
- Memory: 16 compared to 12 GB
- Thickness: 4.5 compared to 5.2 mm when the screen is open, and 9.7 compared to 11.3 mm when it is closed.
- Weight: 201 grams compared to 254 grams
- Support for SIM cards: Yes, while the “iPhone Duo” supports electronic SIM cards (eSIM) only
The two phones are equivalent in:
- Internal screen diameter: 7.6 inches
- Screen brightness: 3000 nits
- Support for wireless networks: “Bluetooth 6.0” and Near Field Communication (NFC).
- Fingerprint sensor support: Yes
While “iPhone Duo” excels in:
- External screen resolution: 2023 x 1398 compared to 1972 x 1248 pixels
- Internal screen resolution: 2670 x 1878 compared to 1484 x 2448 pixels
- External screen density: 460 compared to 428 pixels per inch
- Internal screen density: 430 compared to 404 pixels per inch
- Water and dust resistance: IP68 compared to IP48 standard
- Built-in storage options: 256, 512, 1024, and 2048 compared to 256, 512, and 1024 GB.
