Microsoft is the latest to offer users free, more powerful AI

Every day it seems like AI is getting freer and more powerful for normies. Today, Microsoft announced that users of its AI assistant Copilot would have free, unlimited access to both its Voice and Think Deeper features. Last month, Microsoft announced free, limited use of Think Deeper, which is powered by OpenAI’s o1 model.

The arrival of DeepSeek’s capable and free AI models last month caused some soul-searching in the AI industry. For many Big Tech companies, that introspection has come out in the form of offering more powerful AI models for less (usually free). As we wrote yesterday, though, AI is expensive and free isn’t a great business model, so something will eventually have to give.

One solution that’s likely on the horizon: ad-supported AI.

Announcing Free, Unlimited Access to Think Deeper and Voice | Microsoft Copilot Blog

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Rani Molla

Two’s a crowd

Lucid announces Cybercab competitor and self-driving tech subscription in a bid to take on Tesla

Lucid’s vehicle has two seats and no steering wheel... a lot like another vehicle we’ve been hearing a lot about lately.

Matt Phillips4h

Palantir announces slew of defense- and security-themed partnerships

Defense, intelligence, and AI software company Palantir Technologies announced a series of security-themed partnerships Thursday, ahead of its annual conference promoting its artificial intelligence software platform (AIP).

Shares were recently up 1.7%, stretching the stock’s gains over the past month to 19%.

The deals include partnerships with uranium enrichment company Centrus Energy, jet engine maker GE Aerospace, unmanned aerial vehicle maker Ondas, and privately held World View, which sells intelligence and surveillance balloons that operate in the upper atmosphere.

Separately, it also announced a new “sovereign AI OS reference architecture,” a collaboration Palantir says “delivers customers a turnkey AI data center from hardware procurement to application deployment.”

Reference architectures are effectively blueprints that tell organizations how to set up and use AI hardware and software systems.

Known as the Palantir OS Reference Architecture, it’s based on similar AI blueprints Nvidia already sells, and it will enable customers to use Palantir’s entire product set, including the AIP and Foundry, its data organization and management product.

Palantir Unveils Nvidia Software Pact, Defense Partnerships At AI Conference

Reference architectures are effectively blueprints that tell organizations how to set up and use AI hardware and software systems.

Rani Molla5h

Tesla’s China sales jump as EV market slumps

Tesla’s China sales grew 43% to 38,206 vehicles in February, compared a low baseline a year earlier.

Still, thanks to strong sales of its Model Y, Tesla defied countrywide trends — overall China EV sales fell 35% last month.

As a result, Tesla’s market share in China, its second-biggest market, grew to nearly 14% — its highest level in nearly two years.

Tesla's China sales rebound in Feb as market share hits nearly 2-year high

Rani Molla

Uber, which exited self-driving in 2020, is now at the center of the robotaxi era

Uber, which plans to launch a robotaxi service with Wayve and Nissan in Tokyo this year, has deals with every major AV player.

US Lifts Restrictions on Chinese Chip EDA

NOBLE GAS

IMPASSE

Chris Stokel-Walker11h

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