Ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities last Sunday, Apple released a short film that showcased its Personal Voice accessibility feature, which debuted earlier this year in iOS 17. Personal Voice allows users to create digital versions of their voice to use on calls, supported apps and Apple's own Live Speech tool. For those who are at risk of permanently losing their voice due to conditions like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS and vocal cord paralysis, not sounding like yourself can be yet another form of identity loss. Being able to create a copy of your voice while you're still able might help alleviate the feeling that you'll never feel like yourself again, or that your loved ones won't know what you sound like. All iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma users can create a personal voice in case you need it in the future -- whether temporarily or for long-term use.

No one in their right mind would actually want to live in the world of A Quiet Place, where denizens walk around barefoot and move as silently as possible to avoid incurring the wrath of highly noise-sensitive aliens. But, if you'd like to find out how well you might cope in that universe, you can test your nerves in the franchise's first video game, which is scheduled to arrive next year. Publisher Saber Interactive has announced that a single-player, story-driven horror adventure is in development by iLLOGIKA and EP1T0ME. The iLLOGIKA team includes developers who have worked on the Rainbow Six and Far Cry franchises, and the studio helped with the development of games including Hyper Scape and Cuphead. There aren't many other details about A Quiet Place just yet, such as the platforms on which it will be available.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week made a dangerously ignorant prediction. When asked about the future of artificial intelligence, automation and the workforce, this was his reply: "It's not even on our radar screen," he said at a media event, adding that significant workforce disruption due to AI is "50 to 100" years away. "I'm not worried at all" about robots displacing humans in the near future, Mnuchin said. The Trump administration has repeatedly rejected evidence-based research and objective analysis on issues that include climate and human biology. When confronted with a complicated technology, like machine learning, administration officials now appear to be rejecting curiosity, too.