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Rani Molla

Tesla lays off charging team

Tesla laid off practically the entire 500-person team that runs the company’s Supercharger network, the Information reported.

The network is considered a “crown jewel” and a competitive advantage compared with other carmakers, which have recently cut deals with Tesla to use the network.

It’s not clear yet where that leaves Tesla’s plans to build a 1,800 mile charging corridor for semi trucks, but it also laid off the public policy team, which had failed to get $100 million in federal funding for the project.

It’s certainly bad news for people trying to take long roadtrips with their Teslas. “We will continue to build out some new Supercharger locations, where critical, and finish those currently under construction,” Musk wrote in a memo on the layoffs.

It’s not clear yet where that leaves Tesla’s plans to build a 1,800 mile charging corridor for semi trucks, but it also laid off the public policy team, which had failed to get $100 million in federal funding for the project.

It’s certainly bad news for people trying to take long roadtrips with their Teslas. “We will continue to build out some new Supercharger locations, where critical, and finish those currently under construction,” Musk wrote in a memo on the layoffs.

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Report: Apple staggers Siri AI rollout, with key features pushed to summer

Thanks to Apple’s new partnership with Google, the Gemini-backed version of Siri should begin rolling out this spring, but several key features Apple previewed in 2024 may not come until summer, The Information reports.

The new Siri is soon expected to answer general questions with ChatGPT-like answers — rather than quoting directly from websites or not answering at all. But more personalized, proactive features, like, for example, remembering past conversations and information from them to suggest you leave for a planned trip earlier to beat traffic, may not be unveiled until June at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

The report also clarifies that while Apple’s partnership with Microsoft-backed OpenAI, wherein users could summon ChatGPT for complex questions, isn’t changing, the Google deal might reduce the need for people to do so because Siri will likely be able to answer those questions itself. The Information notes, citing a person familiar with the deal, that the ChatGPT option hadn’t driven much traffic to OpenAI before.

The new Siri is soon expected to answer general questions with ChatGPT-like answers — rather than quoting directly from websites or not answering at all. But more personalized, proactive features, like, for example, remembering past conversations and information from them to suggest you leave for a planned trip earlier to beat traffic, may not be unveiled until June at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

The report also clarifies that while Apple’s partnership with Microsoft-backed OpenAI, wherein users could summon ChatGPT for complex questions, isn’t changing, the Google deal might reduce the need for people to do so because Siri will likely be able to answer those questions itself. The Information notes, citing a person familiar with the deal, that the ChatGPT option hadn’t driven much traffic to OpenAI before.

Mark Zuckerberg in the metaverse

RIP the metaverse

Meta seems to be winding down its metaverse ambitions. We took a look back at what the company was going for.

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Salesforce falls as Anthropic debuts Cowork tool

Salesforce is on track for its worst trading day in nearly two years, with shares down more than 6% Tuesday afternoon. One potential contributor: Anthropic’s release of Cowork, an autonomous digital assistant for completing office tasks. Essentially, Cowork is an agent-based version of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot that can access and manipulate files, automate workflows, and execute tasks on a user’s behalf.

Salesforce watchers will recall that the SaaS giant has thrown its weight behind its own agent-based workplace AI, Agentforce, which CEO Marc Benioff recently described as one of the company’s two main “momentum drivers.” In December, Benioff said he would consider renaming the company "Agenforce."

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