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OpenAI is officially removing several older language models from its ChatGPT interface as of February 13, 2026, marking a significant shift in how users interact with its AI. The retirement affects several models, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini, alongside previously announced retirements of GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking variants. These changes apply to the ChatGPT product itself, while access via API remains unchanged for the time being.

Known for its expressive tone, multilingual capabilities, and multimodal features, GPT-4o was temporarily brought back after user pushback during the GPT-5 rollout last year. But with most users already gravitating toward newer versions like GPT-5.2, OpenAI says it’s time to sunset these older systems and concentrate its development efforts on more current technology.

What’s changing and why it matters

The official retirement means that from today forward, these legacy models simply won’t be selectable in the ChatGPT model menu for everyday users. Conversations you’ve had that relied on a now-retired model will automatically default to a newer model, like GPT-5.2, moving forward. For custom applications, workflows, and saved chats, the behaviour will remain seamless from the user’s perspective, though behind the scenes, the model powering those interactions will shift.

OpenAI says the move isn’t taken lightly. Feedback from users who favoured GPT-4o’s particular style and warmth helped shape features in its newer models, like the personality and customisation options in GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.2. However, overall usage of the older systems had dwindled to the point where only a fraction of daily users still opted for them. That said, there is a section of the user base that genuinely relied on the emotional support of the 4o model, and they seem to be quite devastated.

There’s also a practical side to this transition. From a safety and maintenance standpoint, having fewer legacy models to support means fewer resources spent on patching, hosting, and updating code for systems most people no longer use. Looking at the bigger picture, though, this change underscores how fast the world of generative AI continues to move. Models come, users adopt them, and eventually even popular systems give way to advances that promise better speed, smarter responses, and more nuanced interaction. Even if some longtime fans aren’t quite ready to say goodbye.

Anthropic just made some of the most powerful tools in Claude available to everyone for free. Features that were once locked behind paid tiers, such as file creation, connectors, and custom skills, can now be accessed by all users without a subscription.

The move significantly raises the baseline for what people can expect from a free AI assistant. By making advanced tools free and keeping the experience ad-free, Anthropic is positioning Claude as a serious alternative to ChatGPT and Gemini, especially for users who want useful features without committing to a subscription.

A closer look at Claude’s new free tools

File creation

One of the most notable upgrades is the ability to create files directly from a Claude conversation. Free users can now ask Claude to generate PowerPoint decks, spreadsheets, PDFs, or Word documents from simple prompts.

For instance, asking for a budget plan can instantly produce a usable spreadsheet with formulas. It can also outline points for a presentation and generate a ready-made slide deck, inside the same chat window.

Connectors

Connectors let Claude plug directly into the apps you already use, giving it real context instead of just isolated prompts. Once a connection is set up, Claude can pull in information from services like Google Drive, Gmail, calendars, GitHub, or design tools such as Canva and Figma.

This means you no longer have to copy and paste data. Claude will automatically review documents, reference emails or schedules, and even help you inside work platforms like Slack.

Custom Skills

With custom skills, you can shape how Claude responds to repetitive tasks, effectively turning it into a more personalized assistant. You can teach the AI assistant to draft emails in your style, format reports according to specific guidelines, or follow your workflow preferences across different tasks.

Instead of telling Claude each time what to do, you can define a specific set of instructions once and reuse them whenever needed.

Anthropic has also extended conversation length for free users, so you can now chat longer without hitting the limit. In addition to this, Claude also gets improved voice and image search features, along with a more interactive interface.

OpenAI recently stirred debate by introducing ads to its free and lower-cost ChatGPT plans. In response, Anthropic took a dig at ChatGPT by running high-profile ads that highlighted Claude’s ad-free approach.

There was a time when getting a new PlayStation console meant something: staring at your bank account, convincing yourself that it is the right decision, swiping your card, and sighing dramatically after stepping out of the shop with the console; it felt like a ritual.

However, somehow, the concept of owning something has become so outdated in 2026 that even Sony has decided to provide the PlayStation 5 on a lease or rental program (along with other PlayStation hardware), at least in one of its key markets.

A Netflix-style approach to next-gen gaming

In the United Kingdom, Sony has partnered with Raylo, a London-based fintech that offers leasing subscriptions for consumer electronics, to launch the “PlayStation Flex” program, which lets buyers rent a PS5 on a monthly basis, without paying any upfront cost.

Buyers can choose lease lengths of 12, 24, or 36 months; the longer the lease commitment, the lower the monthly rent.

For instance, the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition (825GB, with a DualSense Wireless Controller) is available for as low as £9.95 (~$13.58) per month for 36 months, £10.49 (~$14.32) per month for 24 months, and £14.59 (~$19.91) per month for 12 months.

The console is also available on a monthly rolling basis with the flexibility to cancel anytime, but at a monthly subscription of £19.49 (~$26.60).

Monthly lease flexibility comes at a premium

What’s even more interesting is that the PlayStation Flex program is offering free next-day delivery, 14-day returns, and a lifetime warranty for the console.

Once the lease has ended, buyers can either apply for a new console of their choice with no upgrade fee, carry on their monthly subscription, purchase the console, or return it.

So, instead of spending the £350 to £400 on buying a console, you can actually rent and use it for around three years for the same price.

All of this sounds too good to be true, but the PlayStation Flex Raylo page is already live, claiming you can choose from available console and hardware options, select the lease term, sign up in 60 seconds, and get the console delivered the next day.

A smart expansion strategy?

However, the fact that Raylo conducts a soft credit check does make it sound more realistic.

Although it could be the Japanese giant’s way of getting the inventory rolling, it sounds like a genius idea to me for increasing the console’s adoption by breaking into a previously unexplored audience.

Unfortunately, Sony hasn’t confirmed any such program for the United States or other regions. Would you want the company to release “PlayStation Flex” for you?

Folks over at Android Authority have pieced together an animation from an early build of One UI 9, Samsung’s version of Android 17, and it gives us the new form factor and the design of the purported Wide Fold.

The outlet has shared what appears to be an introductory device animation, depicting a swipe-up gesture on the cover screen that reveals a list-type content, then the handset unfolds, and the content expands on the main screen.

A familiar animation, but an unfamiliar shape

What other details does the animation reveal? First, the Wide Fold’s cover screen could come with a punch-hole camera located in the center. It would carry a rather boxy profile, rather than the rounded edges we’re used to seeing on non-foldable smartphones.

As the phone unfolds, we can also see a punch-hole camera on the main screen (top center of the right half). However, it is the phone’s shape and size, and how unusual it looks, that strike me the most.

So far, Samsung’s foldables have had a rather tall external screen and a broad, book-style inner screen.

While it provides more than enough screen estate for multitasking and productivity, it doesn’t have the most user-friendly aspect ratio for modern-day content (both on YouTube and on OTT platforms).

A major shift in Samsung’s foldable philosophy

The cover screen, as shown in the animation, appears dramatically shorter and wider than the tall, narrow exterior displays on existing Galaxy Z Fold models.

Based on the proportions depicted, the outer display appears closer to a 16:10 (height-to-width) aspect ratio in portrait orientation than to the elongated 20:9-style screens Samsung typically uses.

Meanwhile, the inner display appears very close to 3:4 (height-to-width), only slightly narrower, giving it a distinctly tablet-like feel when unfolded. Unlike the Fold 7’s inner screen, the Wide Fold’s isn’t in the shape of a square.

What does that mean for users?

Well, the exterior screen should feel more like a normal phone and provide a wider keyboard (which means fewer typos).

The inner screen, on the other hand, should provide a better content-viewing experience (without the horizontal bars at the top and the bottom).

Given that the Wide Fold’s animation is buried deep in the One UI 9 test build, it’s safe to conclude that Samsung is planning to launch the handset alongside the Fold 8 and the Flip 8 at the Galaxy Unpacked event in the third quarter of the year (likely in July or August 2026).

Five years after shutting down facial recognition on Facebook over privacy concerns, Meta is preparing to bring the technology back – this time through its smart glasses. According to reports, the company is developing a feature internally called “Name Tag” that would allow wearers of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses to identify people in real time using facial recognition, with assistance from its built-in AI system.

Meta had previously discontinued facial recognition for photo tagging in 2021, citing the need to find the “right balance” between innovation and privacy. Now, as its wearable ambitions expand, the company appears ready to revisit the technology. The proposed feature would not function as a universal face search engine, but instead would reportedly recognize people connected to users through Meta platforms or those with public profiles.

The move signals a broader shift in how Meta sees AI-powered wearables shaping the future of computing

The company’s smart glasses, developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, have become a surprising commercial success, with millions sold last year. Adding facial recognition could differentiate Meta’s hardware as competition intensifies from companies like OpenAI that are developing their own AI-first devices.

However, the plan carries serious privacy and civil liberties implications. Facial recognition has long drawn criticism from advocacy groups concerned about surveillance, misuse, and erosion of public anonymity. Some U.S. cities have restricted law enforcement use of the technology, while lawmakers have raised alarms about its deployment in public spaces. Critics argue that embedding such capabilities into consumer wearables could normalize constant identification in everyday life.

Meta has reportedly debated how and when to release the feature

The company has acknowledged internal concerns about “safety and privacy risks.” The company is also exploring advanced versions of its glasses – internally referred to as “super sensing” – that could continuously run cameras and sensors. In such scenarios, facial recognition would help the AI assistant provide contextual reminders or information based on who the wearer encounters.

For consumers, the technology could offer convenience, especially for accessibility use cases such as helping blind or low-vision individuals identify people nearby. But it also raises questions about consent and transparency. Meta’s current glasses include a visible LED light to signal recording, and discussions are ongoing about how to signal when facial recognition features are active.

What comes next will likely depend on regulatory scrutiny and public response. Meta remains bound by past privacy settlements with regulators, though internal reports suggest some review processes have recently been streamlined. As AI wearables move closer to mainstream adoption, Meta’s approach to facial recognition could become a defining moment in the balance between innovation and personal privacy.

Apple seems ready to kill the dreaded “No Service” label, as the purported iPhone 18 Pro models could take a major leap in satellite connectivity, not just for emergencies (as it has been the case so far), but also for everyday use cases.

Previously, iPhone users had to point the device at the sky (with a clear view of the horizon) to send an SOS signal to the emergency services. However, the upcoming iPhones (only the Pro models) could solve that problem for once and for all.

Goodbye “No Service”?

The magic comes from Apple’s in-house C2 5G modem (via Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo), which reportedly supports NR-NTN (New Radio Non-Terrestrial Networks), letting the iPhone 18 Pro models treat low-orbit satellites as distant cell towers. The connection should even work indoors.

If true, satellite connectivity on the iPhone 18 Pro models could unlock some compelling yet realistic use cases. The handsets should be able to provide reliable connectivity while hiking, sailing, road-tripping through dead zones, or simply surviving your carrier’s random outages.

Last month, I wrote a story about the rumored “5G via Satellite” feature on the iPhone 18 Pro models. In a video about renders of the proposed iPhones, Front Page Tech also discussed the rumored satellite-connectivity feature, which allows users to access 5G internet via satellites.

The C2 modem and the shift to satellite-assisted 5G

I am connecting the dots here, but it sounds like the iPhone 18 Pro models could treat satellite connectivity as a backup to poor or no cellular service. That way, the device could provide a seamless connectivity experience to the user.

Whenever they want to access the internet, the C2 modem will decide whether there’s reliable cellular service or it needs to fall back to NR-NTN, without dumping technical information on the user and asking them to choose between the available networks.

Beyond always-on connectivity, the C2 5G modem in the iPhone 18 Pro models could also improve efficiency (contributing to better battery life), enable tighter Apple integration, and introduce a new privacy feature that limits how accurately carriers can determine the iPhone’s location.

Recent research into artificial intelligence’s emotional capabilities indicates that AI chatbots – long dismissed as rule-based and mechanical – may be better at recognizing empathetic patterns in text-based communication than many humans. This shift is emerging as large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini and other generative systems are increasingly used in everyday interactions, from customer service to mental-health support.

A study published in Nature Machine Intelligence found that AI models can evaluate the subtleties of empathic communication nearly as well as human experts and significantly better than non-expert people. Researchers analysed hundreds of real text conversations involving emotional support and discovered that AI could detect nuances of empathy consistently across a variety of contexts, suggesting these systems have ‘learned’ patterns of compassionate language that many humans struggle to apply reliably.

Empathy is a plus for AI chatbots

This matters because empathy – the ability to understand and reflect someone else’s emotional experience – has traditionally been viewed as a uniquely human skill rooted in personal experience and emotional resonance. In AI development, empathy has often been treated as an afterthought or superficial add-on, rather than a core communicative function. But as people interact with conversational agents in more emotionally charged situations, such as seeking health advice or discussing personal struggles, the ability of AI to generate responses that feel understanding and validating has real-world impact.

For users, this means that in text-only environments like chat windows or support forums, AI can offer a level of responsiveness that feels comforting and relevant. In some comparative assessments, AI systems have even been rated more compassionate than human respondents, especially when humans lack training in supportive communication. That said, empathy isn’t a single unitary trait: while AI can be adept at mimicking the form of empathetic language, it does not experience emotions as humans do and may still fall short in contexts requiring deep emotional insight or personal connection.

The shift toward empathic AI has broad implications

In healthcare, for example, accessible AI tools could offer emotional validation when clinicians are unavailable, but researchers caution that such tools should complement, not replace, human care because relational nuance and ethical judgement remain crucial. There are also ethical concerns about users misinterpreting AI responsiveness as genuine understanding, highlighting the need for transparency about what AI can and cannot provide.

Looking ahead, AI developers and psychologists are exploring how to refine these systems so they can better support human needs while avoiding overreliance on simulated empathy. While AI’s performance in recognizing emotional language is growing stronger, the next challenge will be ensuring that these models enhance human connection without undermining the value of authentic human empathy in social and clinical contexts.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is officially making its way to PC, as Sony has confirmed the game will release on PC on March 19. Kojima Productions has partnered with Nixxes Software, a Dutch studio acquired by Sony in 2021, for the PC edition.

The sequel picks up nearly a year after the events of the original Death Stranding with a new adventure in Australia. Players once again step into the boots of Sam Porter Bridges, navigating a fractured, post-apocalyptic world haunted by otherworldly threats. The core mission remains familiar, with Sam reconnecting isolated survivors by expanding the chiral network.

Kojima Productions says Death Stranding 2 on PC will support upscaling and frame generation technologies from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, along with uncapped frame rates and full 4K resolution. Players will also get support for ultrawide monitors with a 21:9 aspect ratio, as well as super ultrawide displays at 32:9.

Audio support includes 3D sound through Dolby Access, DTS Sound Unbound, and Windows Sonic for headphones. Input options are flexible, and you can choose to play with a mouse and keyboard or a DualSense controller.

New modes and features at launch for PC and PS5

Alongside the PC release, Sony has confirmed that ‘new modes and features’ will arrive simultaneously on both PC and PS5. These additions are meant to introduce new challenges and rewards, giving players fresh reasons to revisit the game’s sprawling, often unforgiving world.

While specific details have not yet been revealed, the announcement suggests that On the Beach could raise the stakes with optional challenges or additional objectives tied to unique unlockables. The first Death Stranding received a similar upgrade with its Director’s Cut, which added new missions and equipment that subtly added to the experience.

PC players can pre-purchase Death Stranding 2: On the Beach right away on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $70, which includes bonus in-game items. A Digital Deluxe Edition is also available for additional $10, offering additional in-game extras for those who want a bit more from the start.