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Apple CEO Tim Cook has a different AI problem than everyone else (Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)

Apple doesn’t have an AI spending problem. It has an AI execution problem.

Apple isn’t falling far from the AI tree.

2/13/26 8:16AM

While all of the Magnificent 7 fell yesterday, one of them is decidedly not like the others.

Apple fell harder than the rest Thursday, down 5% and notching its worst day since last April. Yet it’s arguably the most insulated from fears about overspending on AI — the nominal reason for the overall market’s decline.

AI isn’t integral to Apple’s current success. The company just reported its best quarter ever without a fully functional AI product. And unlike many of its Big Tech peers, which are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and GPUs, Apple’s capex actually declined last quarter. As a result, Apple, whose larger hardware business keeps its services arm more insulated from pure software headwinds, has largely avoided AI-related sell-offs.

That’s what makes this drubbing notable.

Apple’s problem isn’t overspending on AI. It’s under-delivering on it.

Earlier this year, Apple announced it would leverage Google’s Gemini AI model to power its iPhones — a move that should have upped its AI prowess without emptying its coffers. But repeated delays to iPhone AI features, including reports this week that key upgrades are being pushed back again, suggest execution — not spending — is the issue. Investors aren’t worried Apple is burning cash; they’re worried it’s falling behind.

There are expectations that Apple will deliver material AI monetization, with Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives suggesting that this could add $75 to $100 to its share price in the “coming few years,” but its track record so far is not inspiring any confidence.

That anxiety may help explain why Apple is now the most sold stock among retail investors this year. JPMorgan estimates retail investors have pulled a net $539 million from Apple — more than double the next most sold name. Retail traders aren’t reacting to capex discipline or FTC warning letters about Apple News. They’re reacting to momentum, and right now, Apple’s AI story lacks it.

Jon Keegan11h

Judge blocks Pentagon’s move to blacklist Anthropic

A federal judge in Northern California has granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon from labeling Anthropic as a national security supply chain risk.

The ruling temporarily prevents the Defense Department from restricting the AI company’s access to federal contracts amid a dispute over its refusal to allow certain military and surveillance uses of its technology. The designation could also have shifted lucrative government work toward competitors, including OpenAI.

Earlier this month, Anthropic, the company behind Claude, sued 17 federal agencies and their heads, alleging the government exceeded its statutory authority.

Rani Molla12h

Report: SpaceX’s record IPO may grant preferential access to retail investors and Tesla shareholders

SpaceX’s impending IPO could raise $40 billion to $80 billion and rank as the largest ever — as well as one of the most unconventional.

The Wall Street Journal reports several ways CEO Elon Musk is considering breaking with IPO norms:

Investors in his other companies, including Tesla, could receive preferential access to shares.
Individual investors may get a third or more of the allocation, far above the typical ~10% mark.
Instead of a traditional road show, Musk wants investors to visit SpaceX facilities in person.

Exclusive | The SpaceX IPO Will Be Just as Unconventional as Musk Himself

Investors in his other companies, including Tesla, could receive preferential access to shares.
Individual investors may get a third or more of the allocation, far above the typical ~10% mark.
Instead of a traditional road show, Musk wants investors to visit SpaceX facilities in person.

Rani Molla3/26/26

Tesla released estimates for Q1 deliveries and they’re lower than analysts expected

Ahead of first-quarter earnings next month, Tesla released its own company-compiled Wall Street consensus estimate for deliveries: 365,645 vehicles. While that’s lower than the 382,000 FactSet consensus estimate, it represents a nearly 9% jump from Q1 2025, when Tesla sold 336,681 vehicles.

Tesla started releasing its own consensus estimates to the public — not just institutional investors — for the first time in Q4 2025. The move was seen as a way to temper investor expectations, as other estimates were too high. Last quarter, Tesla’s compilation was closer to actual numbers, which fell 16% year over year.

The market-implied odds from event contracts suggest 64% of traders think Tesla’s Q1 deliveries will be more than 350,000, 44% think it will be higher than 360,000, and just 21% have it at higher than 370,000.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

The toughest AI benchmark just got a whole lot tougher

ARC-AGI-3 is the latest version of a clever benchmark that challenges AI models to solve mini video games with no written instructions.

Jon Keegan3/26/26

Rani Molla3/26/26

The US leads the world in robotaxi deployments

Every day it seems another robotaxi launches somewhere in the world. But most of them are in the US.

Of the 171 active robotaxi deployments globally, 69 — or 40% — are in the US, according to a new report from the Bank of America Institute. China, the next largest market, accounts for 24% of deployments.

Most of those deployments are still in testing or early commercial stages. Only 10 US cities currently have fully commercial robotaxi operations, defined as services that operate on public roads, carry paying passengers, run fully driverless without a safety driver, and function all day in any weather.

For now, that effectively refers to Alphabet’s Waymo, which operates commercially in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area. That definition excludes competitors like Tesla, whose Robotaxi service uses safety monitors, and Amazon’s Zoox, which has yet to charge customers for rides.