Some 8% of kids ages 5-12 have interacted with AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of their parents. While that’s nowhere near the usage rates of other devices like smartphones or even voice assistants, it’s still notable for a relatively new technology — especially one that’s already had devastating consequences for young people.
On Tuesday, Tesla unveiled its long-awaited lower-cost cars, which turned out to be downgraded versions of the existing Model Y and Model 3. Tesla bull and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wasn’t particularly impressed with the price point, noting that it’s “still relatively high versus other vehicles on the market.”
The Model Y Standard and Model 3 Standard cost about $40,000 and $37,000, respectively. That’s more than the Model Y Premium and Model 3 Premium — what previous editions (or “trim levels”) are now called — cost last month, before the US federal government’s $7,500 tax credit expired. And the Standard models are missing a lot of Premium features, including Autopilot, second-row screens, and Tesla’s iconic glass roofs, among numerous other downgrades.
In other words, Tesla buyers will now be paying more for less, in what amounts to car-sized shrinkflation.
The stock closed down 4.5% yesterday on the news.
Ives doesn’t think it’s the end of the world but is “disappointed” in the price tag:
“We believe the launch of a lower cost model represents the first step to getting back to a ~500k quarterly delivery run-rate which will be important to stimulate demand for its fleet with the EV tax credit expiring at the end of September but we are relatively disappointed with this launch as the price point is only $5k lower than prior Model 3’s and Y’s.”
xAI’s latest funding round has now doubled to $20 billion from $10 billion a month ago, thanks in part to backing from Nvidia, which invested $2 billion in the equity portion of the transaction, Bloomberg reports. In an interview with CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the investment, adding that his “only regret” was that he didn’t give xAI more money.
The mix of $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt will finance a special purpose vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips that xAI will then rent. It’s one of many circular AI deals these days that’s contributing to chatter over an AI bubble by some, while being seen by others as a rational way for industry leaders to boost the potential size of the addressable market and lift their longer-term prospects in the process.
Investors in Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, will vote next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on whether to invest in xAI as well — an outcome Musk has he said supports.
The mix of $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt will finance a special purpose vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips that xAI will then rent. It’s one of many circular AI deals these days that’s contributing to chatter over an AI bubble by some, while being seen by others as a rational way for industry leaders to boost the potential size of the addressable market and lift their longer-term prospects in the process.
Investors in Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, will vote next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on whether to invest in xAI as well — an outcome Musk has he said supports.
In the past few weeks, OpenAI has announced a flurry of massive deals with Oracle, Nvidia, CoreWeave, AMD, and others as hundreds of billions fly between technology partners racing to expand AI infrastructure at unprecedented scale. The Financial Times tallied it all up and found that the company has signed about $1 trillion worth of deals, and it isn’t clear at all that it will be able to fund them.
The “circular” nature of some of these arrangements is also one factor playing into fears that we’re in an AI bubble.
At the start of this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on an earnings call that his company planned to build 10,000 Optimus robots for internal use in 2025. On that same call, he hedged and said he thought the company would definitely build “several thousand” of the bots and that they would “be doing useful things by the end of the year.” Tesla apparently abandoned those plans this summer, according to new reporting from The Information, amid “difficulty Tesla has had with the hands for the robots” and other problems.
The importance of Optimus to Tesla has skyrocketed as sales of the company’s EVs have fallen. Last month, Musk said Optimus would some day amount to 80% of the value of Tesla.
Musk, who has been continually sharing videos of Optimus on X, reportedly hopes to impress investors next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting with a “dancing troupe of Optimus bots.”
The importance of Optimus to Tesla has skyrocketed as sales of the company’s EVs have fallen. Last month, Musk said Optimus would some day amount to 80% of the value of Tesla.
Musk, who has been continually sharing videos of Optimus on X, reportedly hopes to impress investors next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting with a “dancing troupe of Optimus bots.”
