Sherwood Staff1/16/25

“Tomorrow” podcast, today! Is TikTok’s time up? Meta’s CEO completes his makeover. Apple Intelligence is still dumb.

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:

TikTok will either die a sudden death or enjoy a remarkable recovery.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg completes his agro transition to Dark Zuckerberg, with “masculine energy,” layoffs, and a party for President-elect Donald Trump.
Apple’s Siri has to call in the help of OpenAI’s ChatGPT — for stuff Siri should know how to do.

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44%

Matt Phillips1h

JPMorgan economists estimate that the basket of stocks they use as a rough gauge of AI’s market impact is now worth about 44% of the S&P 500’s total market cap, up from 26% in 2022.

Using a basket of 30 AI stocks picked by the bank’s equity analysts as a barometer of AI, the economists find that American households have seen their aggregate wealth go up by about $5 trillion over the last year as a result of AI, they reported in a note published Thursday.

They also estimate the surge in stock market wealth could raise annualized US consumer spending by some $180 billion, due to wealth effects.

JPM acknowledges some uncertainty around this estimate, noting that the spending impact could be lower “if the wealth gains are accruing disproportionately to upper income households with lower [marginal propensity to spend].”

Jon Keegan2h

Report: Apple’s next MacBook Pro will have a touch screen, a decade after everyone else

Steve Jobs would NEVER!

Apple’s next iteration of the MacBook Pro could have a touch screen, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Apple will be late to the party, as the rest of the industry adopted touch screens years ago. Apple cofounder Steve Jobs famously resisted the idea of a touch screen Mac, but over the years, the lines between Macs and iPads have been blurring.

The new high-end touch screen MacBook Pros are expected to have a slimmer design, run on Apple’s custom M6 chips, and feature a “hole-punch” at the top of the OLED display, matching the design of the iPhone, which allows the camera and sensors to be surrounded by screen at the top of the display.

This week, Apple released an updated MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro running on the M5 chip.

Apple Readies High-End MacBook Pro With Touch, Hole-Punch Screen

This week, Apple released an updated MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro running on the M5 chip.

Live "Severance" Podcast Taping With Ben Stiller And Adam Scott

Partnering with Peacock won’t put the “plus” back in Apple TV

Apple and NBCUniversal inked a deal to bundle their streaming services for a 30% discount.

Rani Molla3h

Jon Keegan3h

Report: Hollywood talent agencies were blindsided by OpenAI’s Sora and its hazy opt-out scheme

Just before OpenAI unleashed its Sora app on the world, reports emerged that the company was taking a novel approach to dealing with intellectual property rights: rights holders would have to opt out of the service to prevent their likeness or characters from being featured in objectionable or disturbing ways.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and Sora now sits atop the App Store leaderboards and new details are emerging about how OpenAI engaged with Hollywood talent agencies seeking to protect their clients’ rights. According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, the agency heads felt blindsided by the company’s approach of asking for forgiveness rather than permission.

One talent agency executive said OpenAI was “purposely misleading” in heated discussions about the use of represented clients’ likenesses, per the report. OpenAI executives reportedly told talent agency heads that individual clients would have to individually opt out of the platform, but did not yet have a streamlined process or dedicated staff to process the requests.

Days after Sora’s launch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on his blog that the company would “give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls.”

But that hasn’t stopped calls from groups like the Motion Picture Association for OpenAI to respect copyright law and “prevent infringement” of rights owners’ intellectual property.

How Sam Altman Played Hollywood

But that hasn’t stopped calls from groups like the Motion Picture Association for OpenAI to respect copyright law and “prevent infringement” of rights owners’ intellectual property.

Jon Keegan8h

Apple suffers another AI setback as it loses key AI search leader to Meta

Apple’s efforts to get back into the AI race took another hit with news from Bloomberg that the head of AI search for a revamped Siri is leaving for Meta.

According to the report, Ke Yang took charge of Apple’s “Answers, Knowledge and Information” team just weeks ago. The team is reportedly targeting a March 2026 launch for the new version of Siri, which will feature the ability to search the web for answers to user queries.

Yang’s exit is the latest in a series of executive departures that have plagued Apple, and continues Meta’s hiring spree across the tech industry to lure top AI talent to the company with reported eye-popping nine-figure pay packages.

Bloomberg reports that roughly a dozen members of the Apple Foundation Models team have also departed recently, many joining Meta’s “superintelligence” team.

Apple’s Head of ChatGPT-Like AI Search Effort to Leave for Meta

Bloomberg reports that roughly a dozen members of the Apple Foundation Models team have also departed recently, many joining Meta’s “superintelligence” team.

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