Apple employee explaining Siri AI features at WWDC 2024

(Apple / YouTube)

Apple may have just explained how Siri is actually going to become useful

Using on-screen awareness and context from your personal life and app usage, Apple may finally be able to prove AI is more than just a sideshow.

Rebecca Moretti

6/10/24 4:42PM

If you missed Apple's annual developer conference, rest easy knowing that you didn't miss much.

To illustrate this point: one of the most surprising things Apple announced was that it's finally bringing the calculator app to iPad.

And then there are the AI integrations (though Apple impressively managed to avoid saying "AI" for most of the conference).

Apple's bringing "Apple Intelligence" features to iOS 18. Basically, these will allow you to use genAI across apps. Picture: generative rewrites of your emails, text-to-image generation, and summaries of group chats. Perhaps less useful: the ability to create custom AI emojis ("Genmojis").

Siri's getting an AI makeover: The OG voice assistant will supposedly be smarter (oddly, Apple chose to demonstrate this by asking it to pull up the weather). Notably, Siri will be able to pull info from different apps (messages, mail, maps, search, etc.) to better answer questions and cross-reference. For example, you could ask: "Will I make it in time to pick up mom from the airport?" and it would find the message with your mother's flight details and check the flight status + commute time to inform its answer. Partially this will work because Apple is focusing on “personal context awareness” and “on-screen awareness,” which is able to access contacts and apps on your phone that are already filled with your personalized content. Apple says it will also let third-party app-makers tap into this functionality.

Oh, and you'll also be able to type your requests to Siri (so you don't have to embarrass yourself in public).

OpenAI partnership, confirmed: As expected, Apple said it's partnering with OpenAI to infuse ChatGPT into its AI features (both Siri and other apps). If you ask Siri a question and it thinks CGPT is better suited to answer, it'll ask you if it's okay to share your query with CGPT (seems like this could happen a lot?).

Our take: Outsourcing AI is a smart move. Companies have been sinking billions into AI with no way of knowing when (or if) it’ll pay off. Apple also left the door open to integrating other AI services beyond OpenAI at a later date, keeping the company from getting locked into a single provider. By outsourcing some of its AI to ChatGPT, Apple can stay focused on the thing that’s kept it one of the world’s most valuable companies (hardware) without sinking billions into Nvidia chips.

Rani Molla18h

Palo Alto Networks surges after it beats revenue and earnings estimates

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks jumped more than 10% in postmarket trading after reporting fiscal third-quarter results that beat analyst revenue and earnings expectations.

The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.85, versus the FactSet analyst consensus estimate of $0.79 on $3 billion in revenue. (Wall Street had expected $2.94 billion.)

The company also boosted its guidance for the full fiscal year. The company now expects non-GAAP EPS in the range of $3.77 to $3.79, compared to its previous projection of $3.65 to $3.70 (and analysts’ expectations of $3.68). It also forecast revenue of $11.415 billion to $11.425 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 24%, compared to previous growth expectations of 22% to 23%.

Through Tuesday’s close, the stock had risen more than 60% in the past month.

Jon Keegan19h

Microsoft releases 7 new models, next-gen quantum chip at Build conference

Microsoft is making it clear it can stand on its own as a competitor in the AI arena.

Today at its annual Microsoft Build developer conference, the company made a flurry of announcements that move it further away from the shadow of its complicated relationship with partner OpenAI.

Among the products announced:

New Nvidia-powered Windows PCs: the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box.
Seven new homegrown AI models: MAI Image-2.5, MAI Image-2.5-Flash, MAIN Transcribe-1.5, MAI Thinking-1, MAI Voice-2, MAIN Voice-2-Flash, and MAI Code-1-Flash.
Majorana 2, the company’s next-gen quantum chip.
Microsoft Scout, an integrated always-on agent built on OpenClaw.
Project Solara, an AI gadget operating system.

Investors were unimpressed, however, as shares were down over 4% after the announcements.

PHASE 2: Noon - Microsoft Build 2026

New Nvidia-powered Windows PCs: the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box.
Seven new homegrown AI models: MAI Image-2.5, MAI Image-2.5-Flash, MAIN Transcribe-1.5, MAI Thinking-1, MAI Voice-2, MAIN Voice-2-Flash, and MAI Code-1-Flash.
Majorana 2, the company’s next-gen quantum chip.
Microsoft Scout, an integrated always-on agent built on OpenClaw.
Project Solara, an AI gadget operating system.

Investors were unimpressed, however, as shares were down over 4% after the announcements.

Rani Molla6/2/26

Amazon’s Prime Day is coming early this year

Amazon is moving its four-day Prime Day event up from July, where it’s been for the last five years, to June 23 through 26.

The retail giant cites scheduling clashes with the FIFA World Cup and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence as reasons for the move. Prime Day is one of Amazon’s biggest sales events of the year, helping drive $24.1 billion in US online spending last year, according to Adobe Analytics.

More concretely, the move means Amazon will pull a massive chunk of sales from one of its biggest events into Q2, which ends June 30, rather than Q3.

Beyond the top-line revenue shift, Amazon is also using the event to flex its newer strategic muscles, aggressively cross-promoting its same-day grocery delivery networks and its Amazon Haul discount storefront.

Rani Molla6/2/26

Tesla’s China-made EV sales grew 39% in May, marking 7 straight months of growth

Sales of Tesla vehicles made at its Shanghai plant — produced for China, Europe, and other international markets — grew 39% in May to 85,982 vehicles, a record for the year.

The data marks the company’s seventh straight month of year-over-year wholesale growth for made-in-China vehicles and the company’s continued stabilization overseas. Across the entire Chinese auto industry, overall wholesale volume of so-called new energy vehicles — EVs and hybrids — produced domestically grew 12% from May 2025.

The China Passenger Car Association will report China-only sales later this month, offering a clearer picture of performance in Tesla’s second-largest market. On Monday, several European markets posted year-over-year sales growth for Tesla.

Tesla China May wholesale volume reaches 85,982 units, highest this year

Rani Molla6/1/26

Alphabet announces $80 billion equity raise to fund AI infrastructure, including a $10 billion bet from Berkshire Hathaway

To fund its rapidly expanding AI infrastructure push, Alphabet just announced a whopping $80 billion equity capital raise.

While concerns over share dilution sent the stock down slightly after-hours, the deal secured a major anchor partner: Berkshire Hathaway, which is backing the offering with a $10 billion investment. (Berkshire was run by Warren Buffett until he stepped down as CEO at the beginning of this year, handing the reins to Greg Abel.)

Alphabet plans to spend up to $190 billion on capex this year.