Joshua Topolsky and Rani Molla are back to discuss what’s happening right now — and next — in the world of technology, culture, business, and the internet. This week:
Bitcoin’s is blowing up.
X’s big exodus. Bluesky’s ahead.
Tech CEOs are behaving very differently for Trump 2.0.
New details are emerging about the mysterious AI gadgets being designed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive since OpenAI purchased his startup “io” in May.
According to a report by The Information, Ive’s team has recruited several key Apple design and hardware employees to work on the gadgets. The Information reported some details of the devices:
“One of the products OpenAI has talked to suppliers about making resembles a smart speaker without a display, the people said. OpenAI has also considered building glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, and is targeting late 2026 or early 2027 for the release of its first devices, one of the people said.”
OpenAI is also turning to Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partners to build the products, having signed contracts with Luxshare, and has been in talks with Goertek, per the report.
“One of the products OpenAI has talked to suppliers about making resembles a smart speaker without a display, the people said. OpenAI has also considered building glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, and is targeting late 2026 or early 2027 for the release of its first devices, one of the people said.”
OpenAI is also turning to Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partners to build the products, having signed contracts with Luxshare, and has been in talks with Goertek, per the report.
We checked how it stacks up to iconic gadgets, and the results are mixed.
“It’s quite possible” that AI is a bubble, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told tech journalist Alex Heath, formerly of The Verge, on his new podcast, “Access,” and for his newsletter, Sources. That isn’t stopping Zuckerberg’s social media company from going all in on AI in hopes of achieving superintelligence, aka AI that’s smarter than humans.
“If we end up misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars, I think that that is going to be very unfortunate, obviously,” said Zuckerberg, who’s shelling out $600 billion on US data centers and infrastructure through 2028. “But what I’d say is I actually think the risk is higher on the other side.”
“The risk, at least for a company like Meta, is probably in not being aggressive enough rather than being somewhat too aggressive,” he added.
“If we end up misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars, I think that that is going to be very unfortunate, obviously,” said Zuckerberg, who’s shelling out $600 billion on US data centers and infrastructure through 2028. “But what I’d say is I actually think the risk is higher on the other side.”
“The risk, at least for a company like Meta, is probably in not being aggressive enough rather than being somewhat too aggressive,” he added.
Daddy, it seems, is very much not home.
CEO Elon Musk spent the majority of his time at xAI this summer rather than at Tesla, where he recently claimed to have shifted his focus, The New York Times reports. The piece is full of other great details on his AI startup — read it all — but here are some notable tidbits from the story and from one of its reporters, Kate Conger, who shared extras on social media:
xAI’s Grok has 64 million monthly users, compared with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has about 700 million weekly users. Musk is currently suing OpenAI and Apple over what he says is unfavorable positioning on the iOS App Store.
Musk wanted Grok to be less woke and more popular, a command that led it to post antisemitic remarks and call itself “MechaHitler.”
Musk plans on building a Microsoft competitor called “Macrohard,” something he said he’s painting on the roof of xAI’s new Memphis data center.
xAI’s execs said after Grok 4, the next model will be called Grok 420.
UPDATE (September 19): Corrected headline of piece to reflect ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users, not daily.
xAI’s Grok has 64 million monthly users, compared with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has about 700 million weekly users. Musk is currently suing OpenAI and Apple over what he says is unfavorable positioning on the iOS App Store.
Musk wanted Grok to be less woke and more popular, a command that led it to post antisemitic remarks and call itself “MechaHitler.”
Musk plans on building a Microsoft competitor called “Macrohard,” something he said he’s painting on the roof of xAI’s new Memphis data center.
xAI’s execs said after Grok 4, the next model will be called Grok 420.
UPDATE (September 19): Corrected headline of piece to reflect ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users, not daily.
