A four-dollar check that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wrote to Radio Shack in 1976 was up for auction on Wednesday at Boston-based RR Auction with a bid of more than $33,000 with five hours left to go. The signed check, drawn against an "Apple Computer Company" account at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Los Altos, California, joins a hot market for Jobs' signature and memorabilia. Last year, a $9.18 Apple Computer cheque signed by Jobs in 1976 sold for $55,000; another from the same year, for $13.86 to Elmar Electronics, sold in March for $37,564. The Apple inventor's signature on a job application for employment as an "electronics tech or design engineer" from 1973, classified as Jobs' earliest known signature by the auctioneer, sold in 2018 for $174,757. A signature from three years later, when Jobs was 21, that appeared on an original Apple founding contract signed by Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne was sold by Sotheby's in December 2011 for $1,594,500.

OpenAI CEO confirms ChatGPT not training GPT-5, addresses safety concerns raised by open letter from tech community, Italy establishes task force on ChatGPT. OpenAI, a leading AI research organisation, has developed the ChatGPT programme, which has become immensely popular for its ability to provide quick and comprehensive answers to a wide range of queries. However, its fast expansion has sparked worries regarding its potential effects on employment, privacy, and safety. Recently, an open letter signed by tech giants Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and others urged companies to pause the development of AI systems that are more powerful than GPT-4, which was released by OpenAI. The open letter signed by Elon Musk and other researchers called for a halt in the development of AI systems that are more powerful than GPT-4, citing concerns about potential impacts on safety, privacy, and employment.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly entwined with our daily lives, the potential challenges and consequences of a world where AI technology surpasses human intelligence have become critical topics of discussion. The AI Wars depict a dystopian future in which the relentless pursuit of ever more sophisticated technology has driven a wedge between humans, resulting in a society bereft of reason. We will reference a recent petition signed by notable tech leaders calling for a pause on major AI developments and discuss the importance of addressing the ethical implications of AI, fostering a dialogue to ensure a future guided by reason and empathy. AI has brought remarkable advancements to fields such as healthcare, education, and transportation. While these breakthroughs offer numerous benefits, we must also recognize our growing dependency on technology.

Prominent'experts' recently released an open statement for a'pause' to developing AI citing ambiguous risks and yet to be proven'dangers'. I am surprised that exceptionally intelligent persons such as Yoshua Bengio, Stuart Russell, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Yuval Noah Harari and others have signed on this. If they had that option, I may have joined in too – with caveats as described below. Before expressing disagreement with parts of this letter, I agree with these set of experts that AI could be misused or abused, and present future dangers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is of itself not evil or good, nor safe or dangerous. It would have been better to exclude the "PAUSE" as an emphatic part of the open letter / solution.

A fully-functional Apple 1 computer has gone up for sale – and could be yours if you have a spare $241,000 (£196,000) lying around. The'amazing' machine, which is hand-numbered by Apple founder Steve Jobs, comes with'all components and accessories required for operation'. Bidding currently stands at $241,557 and ends on December 15 – but auctioneers are anticipating a final selling price of $375,000 (£305,000). Launched in 1976, Apple 1, the tech giant's first ever product, was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard or monitor. The original Apple-1 board (pictured) is marked in the hand of Steve Jobs with stock number '01-00002' Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made the Apple-1 computer in 1976 and presented it at a computer club in Palo Alto, although there were few takers. Paul Terrell, owner of retail chain called The Byte Shop, placed an order for 50 Apple-1s and sold them for $666.66 (£420) retail - once Wozniak and Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than offer them as kits.

'Apple Computer A', the prototype for the tech giant's first ever computer, is up for sale – and could sell for more than half a million dollars at auction. Considered'lost' until recently, the prototype was hand-soldered by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1976, the year the company was established. The'rare' and'historic' item is essentially a circuit board covered in chips and wires, embossed with the words'Apple Computer A 76'. It was a prototype for the Apple-1, the firm's first ever product, which was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard or monitor. The prototype is now being sold off by RR Auction, an auction house based in Boston.

Adam: Hello, this is CoRecursive and I'm Adam Gordon Bell. Today on April 1st, 2014, something interesting happened. Hacker News moderator Dan G, or dang, he made the following post. Challenge: Keep lame April Fools' jokes off the front page. Most April Fools' gags are lame. Only the very best ones that show some sort of ingenuity deserve attention. I propose that we, or rather you, flag these jokes so they don't end up on the front page. Dang wasn't the first person to complain about the lameness of tech company April Fools' Day jokes, but I think to the various developers and tech company people hanging out on Hacker News, dang's statement was a really big one. It kind of marked the end of this era of companies dropping these big jokes on April Fools'. So today in our first This Day in History Segment, I want to share some of history not just of April Fools', but of tech pranks in general, all leading up to that sort of cancellation statement by dang, and even right up to today actually. Why were pranks and April Fools' jokes traditionally celebrated in tech, and why are they now considered as dang said, "lame?" And here to talk about those pranks, I have my frequent co-host and developer extraordinaire, possible neighbor, Don McKay, and also my favorite PhD candidate and mathematician, Krystal Maughan. Why don't you guys say hello? Krystal: Hi, I'm happy to be here! I would challenge your assumption that they died on that day. I think we very much still see them today and they're just as an annoying today as they were in 2014. Krystal: I really like them because for me, getting into tech in general was through things like Hackerspaces and DEFCON, maybe some of these jokes flop, but when they're great, they're really funny. And I think that those kind of things should be encouraged as long as they're not necessarily malicious. That's the goal, but the reality is that everybody tries to do it and not everybody's good at it.

A rare Apple 1, the first computer ever built by Apple and its co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, is going up for auction on Tuesday. The 45-year-old computer could sell for as much as $600,000 when the sale is finished, according to John Moran Auctioneers, the organization handling the sale. Known as the'Chaffey College' Apple 1 (due to the fact it was first owned by a Chaffey professor), it is encased with koa wood. It also comes with the original Apple 1 'NTI' motherboard, power regulators and a blue Sprague 39D capacitor. The winner of the Apple 1 will also receive a 1986 Panasonic video monitor, a Xerox copy of the Apple-1 Basic manual, the operations guide and a MOS 6502 programming manual.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay had the winning bid for a vintage Apple II manual signed and inscribed by Steve Jobs back in 1980. Irsay, who inherited the NFL team from his late father, Bob, in 1997, paid $787,484 for the spiral-bound user's guide, 9 to 5 Mac reported. The 8-bit Apple II was one of the first successful personal home computers, unveiled by Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire. It was sold via online auction on Thursday, alongside a letter to a fan typed and signed by Jobs that went for $479,939, and an working Apple-1 computer that nabbed $464,876. The Apple-1 was discontinued in October 1977, with Jobs and Wozniak offering discounts and trade-ins for the more advanced Apple II.

A job application form signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as a teenager back in 1973 -- one that hints at his computer skills -- is being sold at auction in London. The paperwork for the unspecified position dates from a year before Mr Jobs joined then video game start-up Atari as a technician and worked alongside Steve Wozniak. The duo would go on to found the Apple Computer Company, releasing their first machine, the Apple-1, just two years later. Had teenaged Jobs' application been successful, he may not have met Mr Wozniak and the landscape of modern computing would likely have ended up very different. London auctioneer Charterfields is auctioning the item online on February 24, 2021 -- with bids set to open at £15,000 (which is around $20,950).