(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Apple of my AI

Even Apple is leaning into AI spending

After taking a more disciplined approach, Apple is spending more on AI capex, but didn’t give much info on strategy.

8/1/25 9:16AM

Apple’s more disciplined approach to AI spending seems to have failed it, as its AI capabilities continue to lag its peers and its upgraded AI assistant is still a ways off (expected “next year”).

But as its Big Tech peers report blockbuster earnings thanks to blockbuster spending on AI, Apple seems to have changed its tune.

To wit, this is what CEO Tim Cook said in January, around the time DeepSeek’s lower-cost models hit the scene and it momentarily looked like Apple’s strategy of measured AI investment was a good one. AI was mentioned about five times on that call:

“From a capex point of view, we’ve always taken a very prudent and deliberate approach to our expenditure, and we continue to leverage a hybrid model, which I think continues to serve us well.”

And this was what Cook said last night on the company’s earnings call for the period ending in June, when the term “AI” was dropped about 20 times:

“We see AI as one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime. We are embedding it across our devices and platforms and across the company. We are also significantly growing our investments.”

Apple’s quarterly spending on purchases of property and equipment grew about 60% year on year, according to data from FactSet, to $3.5 billion. Year to date, that spending is up about 45%. While that’s still a drop in the bucket compared to its Big Tech peers, it’s growth nonetheless. The company also says it plans to significantly grow its AI investment in the September quarter.

Regarding what Apple plans to do with that increased AI investment, Cook was a bit lighter on Apple’s actual AI strategy and didn’t mention specific acquisitions besides saying the company is “very open to M&A that accelerates our road map.”

“Our focus from an AI point of view is on putting AI features across the platform that are deeply personal, private and seamlessly integrated. And of course, we’ve done that with more than 20 Apple Intelligence features so far from visual intelligence to cleanup to writing tools and all the rest... We are also reallocating a fair number of people to focus on AI features within the company. We have a great team, and we're putting all of our energy behind it.”

Jon Keegan3/27/26

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 Molla3/27/26

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.