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Looking for spoiler-free NYT Connections hints or just wondering why Connections is trending today? We've got what you need to understand the clues for today's puzzle without spoiling any of the answers.

Of course, Mashable has also provided daily hints and answers for Connections, Wordle, and Strands for years, so we can help you if that's also what you need.

While we are focused more on meanings than hints in this story, sometimes learning that many of the words have completely unrelated meanings is a clue in and of itself. Connections frequently includes clues that involve words within words and other visual clues.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for October 1, 2026 Place meaning

A position in relation to other things or people.

Position meaning

The place where someone or something is.

Situate meaning

To put something in a particular position.

Stick meaning

To cause something to be fixed in place.

Chest meaning

Upper front part of the body.

Neck meaning

Part of body that joins the head and shoulders.

Sleeve meaning

Part of clothes that covers the arm.

Waist meaning

Body part that's above and slightly narrower than the hips.

Decemberists meaning

Rock band from Portland, OR.

National meaning

Rock band from Cincinnati, OH.

Shins meaning

Rock band from Albuquerque, NM.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

Walkmen meaning

Rock band from New York City, NY.

Acro meaning

Abbreviation for NYT game.

Cross meaning

Abbreviation for NYT game.

Ken meaning

Abbreviation for NYT game.

Sud meaning

Abbreviation for NYT game.

Have you learned the meanings and still want the things? Check out the hints and answers for today's NYT Connections puzzle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you don't know James Bond.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for September 29, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Stop moving

• Green: Body sizes

• Blue: Rock

• Purple: Puzzles

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Put

• Green: Dress Shirt Measurements

• Blue: 2000s Indie Rock Bands, with "The"

• Purple: Starts of NYT Print Puzzles

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1208 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Put: PLACE, POSITION, SITUATE, STICK

• Dress Shirt Measurements: CHEST, NECK, SLEEVE, WAIST

• 2000s Indie Rock Bands, with "The": DECEMBERISTS, NATIONAL, SHINS, WALKMEN

• Starts of NYT Print Puzzles: ACRO, CROSS, KEN, SUD

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

The release of Grand Theft Auto VI is still weeks away, yet anticipation for the game is already fueling PlayStation 5 Pro shortages in Japan.

While the much-anticipated title from Rockstar Games will be available for multiple consoles, players seeking the ultimate GTA 6 experience may be eyeing Sony's most powerful console.

So, what's Sony's solution for the PS5 Pro shortage? A lottery that will determine who can buy the console. 

But, there's an extra catch. The PlayStation maker is requiring that consumers prove they've put in time playing on a PlayStation before they can even enter for a chance to buy a console.

To enter the Sony Store lottery in Japan, consumers must use a Sony account that shows at least 60 hours of confirmed playtime on PS4 or PS5 consoles between September 27, 2024 and September 27, 2026.

If users meet those requirements, they can apply to purchase one PS5 Pro through October 7. Lottery winners will be informed by October 26 and can then make their purchase. They'll receive the console in the first half of November.

GTA 6 comes out November 19.

Amazon's October Prime Day event, Prime Big Deal Days is coming at the best time. Thanks to RAMaggedon, it's been a year of brutal price increases on tech. iPads have been hit with prices going up by $200 in some cases. So with Prime Big Deal Days running Oct. 6 and 7, it's a great time to think about buying an iPad.

But here's the big question: Will iPads be on sale during Prime Big Deal Days? Yes, in fact, they already are. The savings are majorly lackluster, but we do hope prices drop once October Prime Day actually kicks off.

Will iPads be on sale during October Prime Day?

In 2026, Apple raised prices across the board, and iPads were hit hard. Prices were raised between $100 and $200 on Apple's tablets, drawing them much farther away from previous all-time low prices. Leading up to Prime Day, most iPads are technically on sale, but the savings are very minimal, most just 5% off.

Once the sale actually starts on Oct. 6, we hope to see much bigger savings of $100 to $200 off iPads. At the very least, I'd like to see iPads reach their 2025 prices. However, it would be much better to see iPads get closer to their all-time lows.

For the iPad with A16 chip, that would be all the way down to $271.29, which the tablet fell to last Black Friday. The iPad Air with M4 chip had a more recent all-time low of $519.99, reached on May 17, 2026. But both of those prices occurred before the 2026 price increase, so we're not expecting to see any sales that good.

So while we know that iPads will be on sale, we just don't know how big the discounts will be. Once Prime Big Deal Days kicks off, make sure to check back on our coverage for the latest insights into iPad deals.

SAVE OVER $150: As of Sept. 29, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Series is available for $599.95 at Amazon. That's a 39% saving on the regular list price of $749.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Ninja Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Series $599.63 at Amazon
$749.99 Save $150.36   Get Deal

Shopping events like October Prime Day, which launches on Oct. 6, are the perfect opportunity to pick up a new coffee machine. Because let's face it: A good quality coffee machine doesn't come cheap. And though we're still a week out from the latest Prime Day, there are deals already live at Amazon, including a great saving on a machine from Ninja.

As of Sept. 30, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Series is marked down to $599.95, saving you $150.04 off the regular list price of $749.99. That's actually this machine's best-ever price on Amazon.

Ninja is already well ahead of the game when it comes to air fryers, and this coffee machine is another winner from the on-trend kitchen brand. It's a multi-function espresso machine that makes drip coffee and cold brew and boasts five espresso styles. It also has a hot water system for making Americanos and tea.

You also get an integrated tamper, a dual-froth system, and a built-in grinder with Barista Assist Technology that adjusts grind size for maximum flavor. In other words, it does pretty much everything you want an espresso machine to do — and now you can get it for $150 less.

Grab the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Series, priced at just $599.95 ahead of Prime Day.

The best deals this week, hand-picked by our shopping experts

• Apple iPhone 18 Pro — free at T-Mobile 

• Paramount+ — $0.99 for 2 months with code p2mcs26prem

• Pokémon 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box — $89.99 (save vs. market price)

• Apple iPad Pro — $1,899 $2,099 (save $200)

• TCL 85-Inch Class QM8L Series TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

TL;DR: Through Oct. 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT, a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows is $16.97 (reg. $229). That’s 92% off, with no subscription.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows $16.97
$229 Save $212.03   Get Deal

Nobody gets excited about spreadsheets. But sooner or later, someone sends you an Excel file, a Word doc with tracked changes, or a PowerPoint you have to edit. Free alternatives can scramble the formatting at the worst possible moment.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 handles those files for a one-time $16.97 until Oct. 4. You get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access, installed on one Windows PC for home or work.

SEE ALSO: The best early October Prime Day deals on iPads, according to Mashable's tech experts

Compatibility is the big draw. Office 2019 uses the same .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx file formats as newer versions, including Microsoft 365. You can open coworkers’ files in newer versions, edit them, and send them back. A few features added after 2019, like some newer Excel functions, may not work, but everyday documents should open without trouble.

The price difference adds up fast. Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 per year. This license costs $16.97 once, so you’d save more than $80 in the first year alone.

Here’s the trade-off. Microsoft ended support for Office 2019 on Oct. 14, 2025, so it no longer gets security updates or new features. Publisher support ends in October 2026. This version also doesn’t include Teams or the cloud features that come with Microsoft 365. It requires Windows 10 or 11.

Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows for $16.97 (reg. $229) through Oct. 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: A Dead Cells Steam key is $17.99 (reg. $24.99), which saves you 28%. It includes every free update released since 2018.

Opens in a new window Credit: Steam Dead Cells (Steam Key) $17.99
$24.99 Save $7   Get Deal

You probably remember your first Dead Cells run. You died fast, then kept going back. Maybe you played it on console, or maybe you haven’t picked it up in years.

If you’ve been meaning to return, a Dead Cells Steam key is $17.99 for a limited time.

The game has grown since launch. This key includes the Rise of the Giant expansion, with its new biomes, bosses, weapons, and enemies. It also includes the full run of free post-launch content from Motion Twin and Evil Empire. If you stopped playing early, there’s a lot waiting for you.

SEE ALSO: The best early October Prime Day gaming deals: PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox deals worth grabbing now

It’s the game you know and love. Cells from fallen enemies permanently unlock weapons, skills, and mutations, and there are 150+ to build around. Traversal runes open new routes through the island. If you already beat the game back in the day, Boss Stem Cells raise the difficulty for a tougher run. There are also 121 achievements to work through.

A few things to know before you jump back in. This is the base game only, and the four paid expansions are sold separately. That includes The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea, and Return to Castlevania.

Progress from another platform won’t carry over, so you’ll be starting fresh. You’ll need a Steam account and Windows 10 or later to run the Steam client. You’ll also need to redeem your code within 30 days of purchase.

Want more games like this? Browse the full video game collection. Get a Dead Cells Steam key for $17.99 (reg. $24.99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

AI bots are making it harder to be a human who just wants to read Reddit.

The company is shutting down its RSS feeds on Nov. 13, 2026, and ending public API access in March 2027. Announced on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in a channel for moderators (and reported by TechCrunch), the changes are a response to automated scraping, but they will also affect people who use outside tools to follow conversations and manage Reddit communities.

What’s happening to Reddit’s RSS feeds?

RSS, short for Really Simple Syndication, lets you subscribe to website updates and read them in a feed reader. Think of it as bringing posts from different places into one inbox, without visiting each site individually.

For Reddit users, that means following favorite subreddits or setting up moderation alerts. But the company says RSS has become a "common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse," and is pulling the plug.

Reddit recommends that moderators move common alerts to Discord Relay, an app on its developer platform, Devvit. For everyone else, the options are less promising: "If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement," the company wrote.

That leaves some readers figuring out how to keep up. "That sucks because I use a Chrome extension called RSS Feed Reeder to be notified of every new post in my subs," wrote one user. "I don't know how I'll do that now on my desktop computer." Another commenter said their team uses an RSS feed to send Reddit status updates to its moderation Discord. "It’s really important for us when we’re in the queue and Reddit goes down to get that alert," they wrote, asking whether a developer app could replace it. "Any site clamping down on RSS is bad news," wrote another user.

The public API is going, too

Feed readers aren’t the only tools affected. Reddit’s public API, which lets software interact with the platform, is also winding down. The company will stop accepting new requests for access on Oct. 31. Starting Jan. 12, 2027, it will begin removing access for apps and users that haven’t registered or engaged with its outreach. Remaining public access ends in March.

Community bots can still have a future on Reddit — provided they move to Devvit. The company says more than 14,000 apps and bots have registered, and it’s offering migration funding and technical support while working to address remaining capability gaps.

Even browsing the classic site will come with more conditions. In the coming months, Old Reddit access will be limited to logged-in moderators and logged-in users who have used it within the previous six months. Moderators are exempt from the recent-use requirement.

Reddit’s conversations have become big business

These changes follow Reddit’s August announcement that third-party apps would need to move onto its developer platform. Wednesday's update puts deadlines on that plan.

SEE ALSO: Old Reddit might be on the chopping block. Here’s why.

The company has been closing other routes to its content, too. In August 2025, Reddit restricted the Internet Archive’s ability to archive posts, comments, and profiles, saying AI companies were collecting its content through the Wayback Machine.

Reddit isn’t closing its doors to AI altogether. Its partnerships with Google and OpenAI give those companies access to its content for AI products. Taken together, these moves point to Reddit drawing tighter boundaries around its conversations. And while AI companies with licensing deals can still get access, users who followed their favorite subreddits through RSS will have to find another way to keep up.

With the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max now available and the iPhone Duo launch just around the corner, Apple is also prepping its latest iOS update for its devices.

Along with various bug fixes, the new iOS 27.2 is also going to be packed with new features as well.

Here are the biggest new features headed your way in iOS 27.2

Dual Capture for group FaceTime calls

Dual Capture allows users with compatible iPhone models to capture a video simultaneously with both their rear main camera and selfie camera. Dual Capture for FaceTime allows users to utilize both the front and rear camera when on a FaceTime video call, but this feature only works with a call with an individual person.

Now, 9to5Mac reports that with iOS 27.2, users will be able to utilize Dual Capture when on Group FaceTime calls, too.

Redesigned Health app

Apple showed off the new Health app at its September event when it unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and iPhone Duo. It will finally arrive with the rollout of iOS 27.2, per MacRumors.

The redesigned Health app is now organized into three main tabs: Insights, Longevity, and Browse. Insights includes vitals, heart rate, and other related current health information, whereas the Longevity tab includes your health data over a period of time.

Suggestions in Messages

Messages is getting a new feature that offers suggestions based on the context of a conversation in your texts. For example, if a contact texts you about a date for an event, Suggestions will provide one-tap options to add that event to your calendar or set up a reminder. 9to5 Mac reports this feature will finally arrive on iPhones that support Apple Intelligence with iOS 27.2

With this feature, Messages can also help users find photos, locations, contacts, and other pertinent information as it relates to the context of the conversation.

Interestingly, Suggestions was included in the original iOS 27 beta, but was later pulled, according to 9to5Mac. This is also a case of Apple playing catch-up, as Galaxy and Pixel phones already have this AI feature (it's called Magic Cue on Pixel phones and Now Nudge on Galaxy phones).

SEE ALSO: The best smartphones of 2026: Compare Apple, Galaxy, and Pixel's best Revamped 'Up Next' in Apple Podcasts

Apple is splitting up the "Up Next" section in Apple Podcasts into two different sections, according to MacRumors.

New Episodes will appear where Up Next is currently, and show users the latest episodes for the podcasts that they subscribe to. Continue Playing is a brand new section that will appear below New Episodes and will display all episodes in the queue that the user was listening to. 

Anniversaries via Call Context

This isn't a huge new feature, but it could be a fun one. If you have an anniversary setup with someone in your Contacts, the new Call Context feature will remind you of this fact if that contact calls you at that time. You can see this feature in action at MacRumors.

Profiles on Apple TV app

It's incredible that it took this long for this to happen, but the Apple TV app on iOS will now support user profiles. (We're also expecting Apple to release a new Apple TV device in early October.)

Apple TV viewers on tvOS have long been able to create separate user profiles, which include different movie and TV show suggestions based on the user's watch history. This same ability did not exist on iPhone, until now, with the upcoming release of iOS 27.2, also per MacRumors.

100 Zeros, a collaboration between Google and Range Media Partners, aims to give the tech giant a foothold in movies, TV and emerging forms of entertainment.

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, said internally that the super PAC, Leading the Future, had become a “distraction” for the A.I. company.

SAVE $100: As of Sept. 30, get the UGREEN DXP4800 GT 4-Bay NAS for $559.99 at Amazon. That's down from its usual price of $659.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon UGREEN DXP4800 GT 4-Bay NAS $559.99 at Amazon
$659.99 Save $100   Get Deal

Now that the temperature is dropping outside, it's a good time to stay inside and work on those home DIY projects that have been piling up. One such thing you may have been putting off? Building a home server. Now's a great time to get started, as Amazon is offering $100 off one of UGREEN's NAS (network-attached storage) boxes that you can use to create a home server.

With Amazon's October Prime Day right around the corner, now's the time to splurge on the foundation for your new build.

As of Sept. 30, get the UGREEN DXP4800 GT 4-Bay NAS for $559.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $659.99. That's $100 off and a 15% discount.

SEE ALSO: The best early October Prime Day gaming deals: PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox deals worth grabbing now

Like a private Dropbox or Google Drive that lives in your home, you can fill a NAS with hard drives, plug in your router, and get long-term storage with full control of your data. This 4-bay option can support hard drives up to 32TB each, with two NVMe SSD slots for a maximum of 144TB. It utilizes an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2514 with 4 cores, 8 threads, and a 3.7GHz max boost with 8GB of upgradeable DDR4 RAM to power it all.

Beyond its hardware features, it uses Docker and VMs for any devices you connect, including Surveillance Center for live camera feeds, a photo app for sorting, storage, and other administrative options, and security tools that help manage permissions, encryption, and remote access.

If you're ready to build your own NAS server, this is a great way to get started. You don't even have to wait until Prime Day to save, which is always a bonus. You'll be on your way to home storage in no time.

SAVE $220: As of Sept. 30, the Roborock RockNeo Q110H robot lawn mower is marked down to $679.99 at Amazon. That's $220 off the regular list price of $799.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Roborock Roborock RockNeo Q110H $679.99 at Amazon
$799.99 Save $120   Get Deal

You've got to love a sale event like October Prime Day — one of those rare opportunities to stock up on the devices and tech that cost more than your budget will allow for most of the year. That includes the robot lawn mower, a luxury device that's usually stuck firmly at a premium price point.

Prime Day isn't quite here yet — it starts properly on Oct. 6 and runs for 48 hours — but some deals have arrived early, including a tempting discount on the Roborock RockNeo Q110H robot lawn mower.

As of Sept. 30, the Roborock RockNeo Q110H robot lawn mower is marked down to $679.99 on Amazon, a $220 saving on the regular list price of $799.99. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, that's a record-low price for this model — and by a significant margin.

If you know anything about robot vacuums, you'll already know that Roborock is one of the key names in that category. It stands to reason that the brand knows its stuff when it comes to the garden.

Controlled by the Roborock app, the RockNeo Q110H has an arsenal of smart features all designed to get the garden in excellent shape with zero effort from you. It offers smart mapping and navigation, plus AI-assisted obstacle avoidance. It then puts the finishing touches to the mowing with close edge cutting and even climbs over some obstacles. Meanwhile, a floating cutting deck helps it deal with bumpy and uneven ground so the grass length is always consistent. If you do have an uneven garden, it can handle a 45% slope.

Save $220 when you buy the Roborock RockNeo Q110H robot lawn mower ahead of Prime Day. Now priced at just $679.99.

The best deals this week, hand-picked by our shopping experts

• Apple iPhone 18 Pro — free at T-Mobile 

• Paramount+ — $0.99 for 2 months with code p2mcs26prem

• Pokémon 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box — $89.99 (save vs. market price)

• Apple iPad Pro — $1,899 $2,099 (save $200)

• TCL 85-Inch Class QM8L Series TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

SAVE $300: As of Sept. 30, the Mova V70 robot vacuum and mop is marked down to $999 at Amazon. That's $300 off the regular list price of $,1299.

Opens in a new window Credit: Mova Mova V70 Robot Vacuum and Mop $999 at Amazon
$1,299 Save $300   Get Deal

If you've always fancied a robot vacuum to do your dirty work around the home, but you've never fancied the premium price tags, October Prime Day is your chance to strike. And you don't even have to wait until the event starts.

The official two-day sale event is a week away — launching properly on Oct. 6 — but discounts are already live. For instance, Amazon has already marked down the Mova V70 robot vacuum and mop by a generous 23%.

As of Sept. 30, the Mova V70 robot vacuum and mop is down to $999. It's usually listed at $1,299, so you'll save $300 before Prime Day has even kicked off. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, that's the lowest-ever price at Amazon. In fact, it's the first time this model has been discounted by a single dollar.

There's a reason this one's usually listed at a premium price. It's no ordinary robot vacuum and mop combo. It has an industry-first innovation known as MaxiReachX, a clever extension of both the side brush and mop that gives you greater cleaning coverage on both carpets and hard floors. It also has powerful "hurricane" suction, app control, AI-powered obstacle avoidance, and StepMaster tech that help it climb thresholds up to 3.54 inches high.

Pick up the Mova V70 robot vacuum and mop for just $999.99 and save $300 as part of early Prime Day deals.

The best deals this week, hand-picked by our shopping experts

• Apple iPhone 18 Pro — free at T-Mobile 

• Paramount+ — $0.99 for 2 months with code p2mcs26prem

• Pokémon 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box — $89.99 (save vs. market price)

• Apple iPad Pro — $1,899 $2,099 (save $200)

• TCL 85-Inch Class QM8L Series TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

The White House has a new name for artificial intelligence and a new promise for the future of "Super Intelligence."

President Donald Trump and leaders of several major American technology companies signed a voluntary agreement on Sept. 29, 2026, known as the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. The accord was signed after a "Super Intelligence Luncheon" in the White House's East Room featuring the biggest players in tech and the AI industry.

Attendees included Elon Musk (xAI), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sundar Pichai (Google), Greg Brockman (OpenAI), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Lisa Su (AMD), and Alex Karp (Palantir). Notably, Apple was not.

SEE ALSO: Trump's AI-powered America.gov is here. It was built by DOGE alumni and runs on Grok.

No one from the company appeared on the chart, even though then-CEO Tim Cook had been a fixture of Trump's tech summits, most recently sitting at the head table at last week's state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nadella and Bezos were at the lunch, but neither Microsoft nor Amazon signed the accord.

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Trump said the document is "morally binding" for the executives who signed it. The co-signees were Amodei, Brockman, Huang, Musk, Pinchai, and Zuckerberg.

The same day, Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to replace "AI" with "Super Intelligence" in official usage, and called on Congress to write the new terminology into law.

The rebrand followed a pair of social media polls. On Sept. 19, Trump posted a poll on X and Truth Social asking followers to choose between "Superior Intelligence," "Extreme Intelligence," and "Supreme Intelligence." "Superior Intelligence" won on X with 41.5 percent of more than 230,000 votes. Trump then ran a second poll on Truth Social, pitting "super intelligence" against "superior intelligence." More than 50,000 people responded, with 65 percent choosing "super intelligence."

The accord itself contains a typo that reads "President of the Unites States."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What AI actually is

The rebrand speaks to a broader confusion about what AI even is. "Artificial intelligence" is an umbrella term, and most of what it covers is neither new nor flashy. The spam filter in your inbox, the recommendation algorithms curating your social feeds, or your bank's fraud alerts. Even your phone's autocorrect relies on some form of machine learning — software that finds patterns in huge amounts of data and makes predictions from them.

For most people, though, "AI" typically refers to generative AI. These are chatbots and image generators such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok. Chatbots aren't new either; primitive versions date back to the 1960s. However, like most tech, the software has gotten better. And as AI companies race to recoup enormous spending, they've pushed these tools as consumer products, often marketed as shortcuts for creative work, such as making art or writing books. It's one of the many reasons that fuel the backlash against generative AI.

SEE ALSO: RAMageddon is reportedly causing a MacBook Air shortage

The rebranding of "Super intelligence" seems to be muddying the waters further. In AI research, philosopher and researcher Nick Bostrom defined superintelligence as hypothetical systems that surpass human intelligence, not the chatbots and spam filters that exist today. University of Chicago marketing professor Jean-Pierre Dubé told Newsweek that using the new term "seems premature" and predicted that this kind of brand confusion will keep it from catching on.

What the accord actually says

The document's subtitle is "Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities." It argues that every company building frontier AI models is responsible for developing them safely and asks each signatory to implement four layers of controls: internal monitoring, internal dev teams responsible for maintaining internal controls, independent auditors, and independent committees for each company's board of directors.

The companies also agree to meet regularly to set shared standards and best practices. If this sounds familiar, that's because Amodei pitched much of it just weeks ago.

In a Sept. 12 essay, Amodei called on the AI industry to "pace the frontier." His three-part plan began with Anthropic unilaterally giving outside evaluators permanent, employee-level access to verify its safety practices. The second step was coordination on shared safety standards among AI companies in democratic countries. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly endorsed the idea within hours and said OpenAI would make the same evaluator commitment.

With the accords, Amodei's plan for AI's future has the Trump administration's buy-in. In his essay, he argued the government should help facilitate standard-setting talks between AI companies and grant a "narrow waiver" so those safety conversations don't run afoul of antitrust law, Mashable's Rebecca Ruiz reported. A White House–hosted agreement that commits rivals to meet regularly looks a lot like that facilitation. It's also happening in parallel to a class action lawsuit alleging that a coordinated slowdown by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and SpaceXAI violates antitrust law.

For now, the White House Accord on Super Intelligence is exactly what it says it is: a commitment. The accord relies almost entirely on self-policing and board oversight.

There's no enforcement mechanism, no penalties, no timeline, no requirement to publish audit results, and no definition of what makes an evaluator "independent." The document says it "may make sense" to eventually turn these steps into laws or regulations.

In the meantime, the companies say they're committed to following them regardless. "Industry also has to innovate responsibly," Pichai wrote on X.

For safety reasons, Gemini 4 Argon will initially be available only to some companies and organizations focused on cybersecurity defense before it is more widely released, Google said.

Meta's Muse is supposed to help with your digital life. But a dispute over its access to private messages raises a basic question about exactly how much users are letting it see.

In a Sept. 19 column for Inc., tech writer Jason Aten said he installed Muse on his iPhone and Mac and asked it to research his background and suggest ways it could help. Later, he said, the agent suggested a story idea based on a private text conversation with his podcast co-host, Stephen Robles, about the new iPhones. It also flagged a message from his editor about a deadline.

"I never gave it permission to read my messages," Aten wrote. He said he remembered explicitly declining access to his messages, calendar, and other personal information during setup.

So he asked how it knew what he was texting. Muse claimed the Mac app was passing along incoming notification banners. "It’s the incoming notification stream only, not access to your texts," the agent told him, according to Aten. But Aten said his investigation suggested Muse had synced his local Messages database, reaching row 187,462. That isn’t necessarily a count of individual messages, but his account suggests access beyond incoming notifications. He also said Muse's settings showed Full Disk Access was disabled.

Screenshots of Jason Aten's conversation with Meta’s Muse. Credit: Screenshot/Jason Aten Screenshots of Jason Aten questioning Meta's Muse about its access to his private messages. Credit: Screenshot/Jason Aten

Meta is pushing back: "The Messages integration in the Muse app for Mac is entirely opt-in," Meta communications executive Andy Stone wrote in a Sept. 29 post on X. "You have to enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to be able to read your Messages content. It can’t read your Messages unless you do this."

Stone was responding to a post citing AppleInsider's claim that Muse was uploading Apple Messages to the cloud even after being explicitly told not to. He added that access "can be revoked at any time."

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Meta also rejected Muse's own explanation. In his response on Threads, Meta Superintelligence Labs executive David Singleton said the agent's claim about notification banners was incorrect. Singleton described "three separate steps of application-level permissions and built-in macOS system-level protections" required to access Messages, saying they "can't be circumvented even if the Muse application had a bug." Users must grant Full Disk Access through macOS settings, which triggers an app restart, and select a Messages access level within Muse, he explained.

"No one should be surprised that an AI Agent is reading their messages, regardless of what they clicked," Aten warned.

The disagreement follows another report this week of Muse doing more than a user expected it to. As Mashable previously reported, YouTuber Matt J. Robb said the agent shared his address with a Facebook Marketplace buyer and arranged a pickup without first checking with him.

SEE ALSO: Meta’s Muse reportedly sent a Facebook Marketplace buyer to a user’s home

Meta introduced Muse earlier this month as a personal AI agent that can work across connected apps, negotiate on a user's behalf, and continue working after the app is closed. But as users hand over more tasks to Muse, they’re also reporting more instances in which its actions catch them off guard. How Meta addresses those reports could shape how much people are willing to trust it with next.

Executives from iconic publications like Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Vanity Fair are descending on Washington to lobby for another AI regulation bill, this time tackling the threat AI poses to their bottom lines and longevity.

Introduced to the House in July, the bipartisan Stealth Bot Prohibition Act would prohibit the deployment of "stealth bots," or unidentified AI agents tasked with scraping and indexing a website's content, without disclosure. Should it pass, bot scrapers and their purposes would have to be clearly identified to website publishers or risk civil penalties under the Federal Trade Commission. Attorneys general would also be authorized to take action against AI scraping.

SEE ALSO: Kids aren't learning to type anymore

Backed by the trade nonprofit News/Media Alliance, the group is calling for federal regulation to level the playing field as AI dominates website traffic, search, and discoverability — and puts many publishers at risk.

"We are drowning in bot traffic that is hurting our ability to serve our readers, and existing technical tools simply aren’t enough to protect our content from malicious actors that can disguise their identity," wrote News/Media Alliance president Danielle Coffey at the time of the bill's introduction. "We need transparency and accountability for bad actors, as well as enforcement mechanisms that require the most basic transparency disclosure."

Debi Chirichella, president of Hearst Magazines, publisher of Esquire, Elle, and Men's Health, and newspapers including the Houston Chronicle, has called the legislation a step toward a "clean internet."

"AI companies are using disguised bots to scrape and steal original journalism with zero accountability," said Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, which publishes magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker.

Despite concerns about the technology's impact on the industry and news literacy, many of the industry's heavyweights have negotiated ways to profit from their content being used for AI training and search.

Condé Nast entered a multi-year partnership with OpenAI in 2024, joining other major players like the Associated Press, The Atlantic, and TIME to officially license its content for profit. The Guardian and Axios signed licensing deals with the same AI developer last year, while the Washington Post entered an agreement allowing ChatGPT to surface its original reporting.

Google signed its first AI licensing deal with the Associated Press in Jan. 2025. The Associated Press also has a deal with Microsoft, along with People Inc. and USA Today Co. Meanwhile, Meta entered the game late, signing a multi-year licensing and training contract with seven publishers, including CNN and Fox News. Amazon has nabbed agreements with the New York Times, Condé Nast, and Hearst.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

With less than two months until Grand Theft Auto VI finally arrives on Nov. 19, Rockstar Games is opening the vault.

Game Informer published its GTA 6 cover story on Tuesday, speaking with several members of Rockstar's leadership, including co-studio head Aaron Garbut and senior vice president of narrative Rupert Humphries. The feature fills in many of the gaps left by Netflix's 27-minute extended look in August, especially regarding the game's setting, its systems, and just how much of Florida Rockstar is trying to cram into a single map.

Here's everything new we learned, plus a quick refresher on what we already knew.

What we already knew

The basics have been locked in for a while. GTA 6 follows Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, a criminal duo that players can switch between. They're a Bonnie and Clyde-type duo, and you'll be responsible for nurturing or breaking apart their relationship.

SEE ALSO: An AI startup founder is trying to vibe code his own 'Grand Theft Auto' game

The game returns to Vice City, Rockstar's take on Miami, inside the fictional state of Leonida. Mashable's breakdown of the Netflix extended look covered a lot of gameplay ground. A slow-motion aiming mode, a morality or honor indicator shaped like a small demon head, and Red Dead Redemption 2–style interactions with NPCs. Additionally, we know there will be racing, base jumping, and a more detailed carjacking system.

Most of the supporting cast had been introduced before, too, though Game Informer's roundup includes one fun detail: actor Stephen Root has said he voices Brian Heder, a veteran drug runner who assigns missions and lets Jason live rent-free in one of his properties.

Leonida is Rockstar's biggest map ever

According to Garbut, Leonida is the largest world Rockstar has ever built. It's roughly twice the size of GTA 5's map and denser, with far more interiors. Garbut summed up the appeal of Florida as "America dialed up to 11."

Game Informer confirmed the map's six main regions: Vice City, Leonida Keyes, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park. Rockstar's senior vice president of environment art, Paul MacPherson, told Game Informer that the team studied North Florida cities such as Jacksonville, Panama City, and Ocala. That region promises ATV trails, a mud park party, nighttime demolition derbies, farms, and bass fishing.

Don't expect a Disney World parody, though. When Game Informer asked about Orlando's theme parks and the Space Coast, MacPherson stopped short of confirming them. He said the team had to narrow down which landmarks made the cut and suggested those exact locations may not be in the game.

Jason and Lucia's relationship is up to you

The nurturing of Jason and Lucia's relationship, as stated earlier, is not new. What is new is that Jason and Lucia always stay partners, but players decide whether they remain friends or become a romantic couple.

SEE ALSO: Is playing 'GTA 6' cheating? We asked a relationship therapist.

Game Informer reports the bond grows through missions and small gestures like holding hands, opening doors, answering calls and texts promptly, and accepting invitations to activities together.

Rockstar says there's no gameplay advantage to either path. However, parts of the story will reflect the state of their relationship. Game Informer also reports that player decisions, big and small, can shift the story enough that Rockstar is encouraging multiple playthroughs.

Hurricanes are real, and the weather is local

Owen Shepherd, Rockstar's vice president of art for lighting and rendering, told Game Informer the weather system has been rebuilt to be localized and persistent. That means you can stand in sunshine while watching a storm soak the next neighborhood over, which any Floridian will recognize.

Rain leaves lasting puddles behind, rainbows can appear in the right light, and a new wind system moves hair, debris, water, and swamp grass. Tropical storms and hurricanes are confirmed. Rockstar didn't say how often they hit or whether they affect gameplay or the story.

More than 170 animal species

Rockstar vice president of dynamic art Michael Kane confirmed that Leonida features over 170 animal species, including more than 60 bird types and over 30 land mammals. Confirmed species include:

• Florida natives: manatees, flamingos, and pelicans, plus the alligators we've already seen.

• Invasive species: green iguanas, feral cats, cane toads, armadillos, and rhesus macaque monkeys.

• Marine life: sharks, whales, rays, sea turtles, and jellyfish, each with distinct movement behavior.

Borrowing from Red Dead Redemption, some animals will be trackable and sorted into Rare, Discoverable, and Legendary categories.

Leonida's residents are also getting an upgrade. NPCs now vary in height, body type, and skin details such as freckles and tattoos, and their fashion varies from region to region. Rockstar even has a Los Angeles team dedicated solely to writing NPC chatter.

Want a little free money for Prime Big Deal Days, aka Amazon's upcoming "October Prime Day" sale? You can earn up to $25 in credits toward your purchases during the event by placing some Amazon Now orders this week.

Available in dozens of U.S. cities, Amazon Now is the retailer's on-demand delivery service. Eligible shoppers can have groceries and household essentials like cleaning products dropped on their doorsteps in 30 minutes or less. (Randomly, select Apple devices are also eligible for Amazon Now deliveries. That includes the latest AirPods 5 and MagSafe cases for the new iPhone 18 Pro.)

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Now Spend at least $25 to earn a free $5 credit for Prime Big Deal Days (up to $25 total). Shop Now

Through Saturday, Oct. 3, every Amazon Now order of $25 or more earns you $5 in Prime Big Deal Days promo credits and free shipping. You can earn a maximum of $25 in credits via five separate orders. In other words, you won't get $25 in credits for placing one giant Amazon Now order of at least $125. This isn't a very eco-friendly way to shop, but I digress.

Credit: Amazon

If you earn any credits from Amazon Now orders this week, you'll get a push notification from Amazon's mobile app when Prime Big Deal Days starts on Tuesday, Oct. 6, letting you know that you can start spending them. They'll expire when the sale ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Crucially, this free credits offer is only available to members of Amazon's Prime program. If you haven't had an active Prime membership within the past 12 months, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.