tech

Rani Molla7/11/25

Tesla has applied to test robotaxis in Arizona, but not California

Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s nascent robotaxi service would be expanding to the Bay Area “in a month or two,” but was notably light on the details. So far, the EV company has yet to apply for testing permits in California, Reuters reports, citing a statement from the California Public Utilities Commission. Tesla has, however, applied for self-driving testing and operating permits in Phoenix, where competitor Google’s Waymo also operates, with a decision on the matter expected by the end of the month.

In Austin, Texas, where there’s little regulation on autonomous driving, Tesla deployed roughly 20 robotaxis for the use of about the same number of Tesla influencers last month. Musk said that program is expanding “this weekend.” On the company’s last earnings call, Musk said he expects “millions of Teslas operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year.”

Tesla has not yet applied for robotaxi permits in California, state regulators say

Tesla has not yet applied for robotaxi permits in California, state regulators say

In Austin, Texas, where there’s little regulation on autonomous driving, Tesla deployed roughly 20 robotaxis for the use of about the same number of Tesla influencers last month. Musk said that program is expanding “this weekend.” On the company’s last earnings call, Musk said he expects “millions of Teslas operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year.”

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OpenAI’s Sora has bumped Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT from the top of the App Store

OpenAI’s AI-only social media app, Sora, launched three days ago and is already No. 1 on the US free App Store, where it has displaced regular favorite AI apps Gemini from Google and ChatGPT, OpenAI’s main app. It’s an especially impressive feat given that for now the highly addictive, legally murky app is invite-only.

Of course many a buzzy app has surged up the App Store ranks only to fizzle over time. We’ll see what happens with Sora.

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OpenAI’s hot Sora video app is a copyright lawsuit waiting to happen

OpenAI has generated some serious buzz surrounding its new Sora video generation app. The app is currently No. 3 on the iOS free app leaderboards, even though it’s invitation-only for the time being.

But users have been flooding social media with videos generated by Sora, and in addition to a “Skibidi Toilet” Sam Altman and the OpenAI CEO dressed as a Nazi, the app is able to create videos featuring iconic characters from Disney, Nintendo, and Paramount Skydance.

On the system card for the Sora 2 AI model (which powers the Sora app), OpenAI says it was trained on things found on the internet:

“Sora 2 was trained on diverse datasets, including information that is publicly available on the internet, information that we partner with third parties to access, and information that our users or human trainers and researchers provide or generate.”

This seems like an invitation for a big copyright lawsuit, along the lines of the one Disney, Dreamworks, and NBCUniversal recently filed against AI image generator Midjourney.

But OpenAI is trying to flip the responsibility of protecting copyrighted material to the intellectual property owners themselves. According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is allowing copyrighted material in Sora by default, unless copyright holders opt out of the service.

The courts will have to decide if this novel approach to intellectual copyright law works, but government regulators may not be that big of a problem, as Altman has made sure OpenAI is in the good graces of the Trump administration. If OpenAI has to pay up to copyright holders after a lawsuit, what’s a few billion dollars here or there when you’re raising so much capital?

OpenAI’s AI video app stirs copyright questions, pumping out videos of Mario and Pikachu

OpenAI’s AI video app stirs copyright questions, pumping out videos of Mario and Pikachu

On the system card for the Sora 2 AI model (which powers the Sora app), OpenAI says it was trained on things found on the internet:

“Sora 2 was trained on diverse datasets, including information that is publicly available on the internet, information that we partner with third parties to access, and information that our users or human trainers and researchers provide or generate.”

This seems like an invitation for a big copyright lawsuit, along the lines of the one Disney, Dreamworks, and NBCUniversal recently filed against AI image generator Midjourney.

But OpenAI is trying to flip the responsibility of protecting copyrighted material to the intellectual property owners themselves. According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is allowing copyrighted material in Sora by default, unless copyright holders opt out of the service.

The courts will have to decide if this novel approach to intellectual copyright law works, but government regulators may not be that big of a problem, as Altman has made sure OpenAI is in the good graces of the Trump administration. If OpenAI has to pay up to copyright holders after a lawsuit, what’s a few billion dollars here or there when you’re raising so much capital?

Tesla delivered way more Teslas than it produced last quarter

That’s helping it claw its way through its surplus.

GOP Lawmakers In D.C. Poised To Vote On Waivers That Allow California To Set Own Emissions Standards

Yann Le Cun meta AI

Tension emerges between Meta’s AI teams

Discontent between Meta’s AI research teams is growing, according to a report by The Information, at a critical time for Meta’s effort to get back into the AI race.

Mon-AI Mon-AI Mon-AI Mon-AI

OpenAI beats SpaceX as most valuable private company, at $500 billion valuation

It also reached that valuation very quickly.

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