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Rani Molla4/21/25

Analyst: Brand damage from DOGE could create “15%-20% permanent demand destruction” at Tesla

Elon Musk has got to go... back to Tesla full time and leave the government, says Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. That means stepping back from his role at the Department of Government Efficiency before the dents done to Musk’s electric car company become a full-on wreck.

“...if Musk leaves the White House there will be permanent brand damage... but Tesla will have its most important asset and strategic thinker back as full time CEO to drive the vision and the long term story will not be altered,” the Tesla bull wrote in a note Sunday, ahead of the EV company’s earnings call this week. “IF Musk chooses to stay with the Trump White House it could change the future of Tesla/brand damage will grow.”

Already, Ives blames Musk’s role at DOGE for making Tesla a “political symbol globally of the Trump Administration/DOGE,” which has played a role in crushing the stock and causing a “terrible 1Q delivery number with much lower 2025 deliveries on the horizon,” potentially creating “15%-20% permanent demand destruction for future Tesla buyers.”

Don’t believe him? Check out these satellite images with rows and rows of the giant stainless steel Cybertrucks languishing outside their factory in Texas.

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White House releases AI legislative framework

The White House has released its policy wish list for AI legislation — and what it wants excluded.

Still, the odds of any actual AI regulation getting passed in Congress right now are very slim.

The “National Policy Framework” for AI lays out seven issues that the Trump administration wants to see reflected in any congressional action around AI.

The items listed in the framework include:

Child safety protections, age verification, and parental controls for AI.
Data center projects voluntarily pay their own way when it comes to power, but incentives should still be encouraged.
Copyright laws should allow for training models on copyrighted works, while protecting individuals’ voice and likeness.
Free speech should be defended for AI systems, preventing the government from pressuring companies to ban or alter content based on partisan agendas.
A light touch to regulation to encourage innovation, and no federal agency to regulate AI.
American workers vulnerable to AI job replacement should be retrained and supported.
Federal AI rules should preempt any state AI legislation to prevent a patchwork of laws that companies would hate.

The policy list is the latest in a series of proposals from the AI-friendly Trump administration.

President Donald J. Trump Unveils National AI Legislative Framework

President Donald J. Trump Unveils National AI Legislative Framework

The items listed in the framework include:

Child safety protections, age verification, and parental controls for AI.
Data center projects voluntarily pay their own way when it comes to power, but incentives should still be encouraged.
Copyright laws should allow for training models on copyrighted works, while protecting individuals’ voice and likeness.
Free speech should be defended for AI systems, preventing the government from pressuring companies to ban or alter content based on partisan agendas.
A light touch to regulation to encourage innovation, and no federal agency to regulate AI.
American workers vulnerable to AI job replacement should be retrained and supported.
Federal AI rules should preempt any state AI legislation to prevent a patchwork of laws that companies would hate.

The policy list is the latest in a series of proposals from the AI-friendly Trump administration.

Elon Musk closeup

Rani Molla, Nate Becker17h

tech

WSJ: OpenAI rolling everything into one desktop “superapp”

OpenAI is trying to eliminate distractions and focus on building AI that helps with enterprise productivity tasks like coding and organizing spreadsheets.

As part of that effort, the startup is consolidating some of its “side quests” into one “superapp,” according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The plan is to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and the Atlas browser together, as it seeks to focus its efforts as it competes with Anthropic and Google for lucrative enterprise customers.

OpenAI Head of Apps Fidji Simo told staffers in an internal memo that “we realized we were spreading our efforts across too many apps and stacks, and that we need to simplify our efforts. That fragmentation has been slowing us down and making it harder to hit the quality bar we want,” per the report.

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Launch of Desktop ‘Superapp’ to Refocus, Simplify User Experience

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Launch of Desktop ‘Superapp’ to Refocus, Simplify User Experience

The plan is to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and the Atlas browser together, as it seeks to focus its efforts as it competes with Anthropic and Google for lucrative enterprise customers.

OpenAI Head of Apps Fidji Simo told staffers in an internal memo that “we realized we were spreading our efforts across too many apps and stacks, and that we need to simplify our efforts. That fragmentation has been slowing us down and making it harder to hit the quality bar we want,” per the report.

What we know about Tesla’s Semi truck as production nears

Musk says “high-volume production” will start this year. Wall Street thinks that’s more like 5,000 to 15,000 trucks.

Tesla Semi

The metaverse’s slow, drawn-out demise is getting painful

Maybe Meta execs are just picking out a nice $80 billion plot in the Big Tech graveyard.

Mark Zuckerberg in the metaverse

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