Meta launched an AI app that uses your Facebook and Instagram history to personalize responses from day one. Built on their Llama 4 model, the app transforms years of social media data into an AI that claims to understand your preferences, habits, and interests.
Amazon plans to show customers exactly how much Trump's tariffs inflate their shopping bills. The move sparked immediate backlash from the White House, marking a dramatic shift in the previously warming relationship between Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Alibaba released eight new AI language models Monday that match or beat the performance of top competitors like Google and OpenAI. The new Qwen3 family ranges from compact 0.6-billion-parameter models to a massive 235-billion-parameter version.
Good Morning from San Francisco,
Tech's tectonic plates are shifting.
Nvidia's Jensen Huang faces an awkward spotlight this week. He needs to convince Wall Street why his power-hungry AI chips still matter after a Chinese startup showed how to do more with less. His $3 trillion empire wobbled on that news. 🎲
Meanwhile, Europe finally found its backbone. Over 90 tech leaders demanded Brussels stop playing nice with Silicon Valley. They want serious cash and "Buy European" mandates to break free from U.S. tech dominance. Trump's recent chest-thumping only strengthened their resolve. 💪
Stay curious,
Marcus Schuler
Jensen Huang walks onto a stage in Silicon Valley this week with an unusual task: explaining why his company's absurdly expensive chips still make sense. Nvidia's CEO leads a $3 trillion empire built on selling AI processors that cost more than a luxury car and consume enough electricity to power a small town.
The timing couldn't be more awkward. A Chinese startup just showed how to build competitive AI systems with far less computing muscle, sending Nvidia's stock tumbling. It's the kind of news that makes tech executives reach for their antacid tablets, especially when their company's revenue has quadrupled to $130.5 billion in three years.
Huang plans to unveil Vera Rubin, a new chip system named after the dark matter pioneer. But its predecessor, the Blackwell chip, barely made it to market through production delays that ate into profits. It's like announcing a faster sports car while the previous model still sits in the garage with engine trouble.
The real challenge comes from a shift in how AI computing works. The market moves from "training" (teaching AI systems to be smart) to "inference" (using that intelligence). Nvidia dominates training with 90% market share, but inference brings new competitors armed with cheaper, more efficient chips.
These upstarts mock Nvidia's brute-force approach. "They have a hammer, and they're just making bigger hammers," quips Bob Beachler from rival Untether AI. He's one of 60 entrepreneurs trying to build better mousetraps while Nvidia's power-hungry chips have AI companies googling "how to build a nuclear reactor."
But Huang has an ace up his sleeve: reasoning AI. These new systems think out loud, generating text and reading it back to themselves – a process that devours exactly the kind of computing power Nvidia sells. It's like teaching an AI to be its own book club.
Industry experts predict the inference market could dwarf training. Nvidia might grab a smaller slice, but of a much bigger pie. Meanwhile, the company eyes new frontiers in robotics, quantum computing, and personal computers – though Huang's recent comment about quantum being "decades away" caused such market chaos that Microsoft and Google rushed to disagree.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Prompt: Giant minotaur found on beach, with a person posing next to it, hyper-realistic, full-body shot.
Over 90 European tech leaders just delivered an ultimatum to Brussels: help us break free from foreign tech dominance, or watch Europe's digital sovereignty vanish by 2027.
The coalition, led by Airbus and including powerhouses like Dassault Systemes and OVHcloud, demands radical action. They want a new sovereign infrastructure fund and mandatory "Buy European" requirements for public bodies. Their March 14 letter to EU leadership pulls no punches.
Trump's recent saber-rattling amplified these concerns. At the Munich security conference, U.S. Vice President JD Vance left European delegates shell-shocked with threats that shattered assumptions about American reliability.
The group demands Brussels create space for European companies to compete against U.S. giants. Their plan? Pool resources, build common standards, and establish a united front - backed by serious public investment and European Investment Bank funding.
Critics claim this shift would cost trillions. But competition economist Cristina Caffarra dismisses these numbers as scaremongering. She insists targeted investments can spark a digital renaissance without breaking the bank.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Europe lags far behind the U.S. and China in critical tech infrastructure. From AI to semiconductors, the continent watches its digital autonomy slip away.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Jack Ma's bold move into artificial intelligence has revived Alibaba's fortunes. The Chinese tech mogul emerged from exile to champion AI development, sending the company's stock soaring. His strategic pivot transformed Alibaba from an e-commerce has-been into a serious AI contender.
Industry experts praise Ma's timing. As global tech giants race to dominate AI, Alibaba's $10 billion investment signals its determination to compete. The company's cloud computing infrastructure gives it a robust foundation for AI development.
Chinese regulators have welcomed Ma's new focus. After years of tension over Alibaba's market dominance, authorities see AI investment as aligned with national priorities. Ma's careful diplomacy has helped repair government relations.
Why this matters:
• A masterclass in corporate reinvention: Ma turned a potential death spiral into an AI-powered renaissance
• Sometimes the best defense is a good offense - by charging into AI, Ma changed the conversation from past missteps to future potential
Read on, my dear:
Financial Times: How Jack Ma’s pivot to AI rehabilitated Alibaba
Apple engineers pulled off a skinny iPhone miracle but stopped short of going completely wireless. The upcoming iPhone 17 Air will maintain its USB-C port, likely sparing users from the chaos of explaining to their European friends why their fancy new phone refuses to use standard cables.
China's Baidu grabbed its credit card this week after smaller rival DeepSeek crashed its AI party. The search giant unleashed a free AI model called Ernie X1 and unlocked $1.6 billion for development - moves that smell distinctly like panic sweat in Beijing's tech corridors.
Alphabet just spun off Taara, a laser-based internet provider that aims to zap data through the air at 20 gigabits per second. The company claims it can deliver internet access at higher speeds than Starlink and for "a fraction of the cost," though presumably without the drama and tweets that come with Musk's satellite service.
Google added its Chirp 3 voice model to Vertex AI, joining the rush to make machines sound more human. The AI tool, which can handle 31 languages and create eerily realistic voices, comes with safety restrictions that suggest even Google is a bit nervous about what people might do with artificial voices that chirp too convincingly.
Google's newly released Gemma AI models arrived this week wearing what looked like open-source clothing, but lawyers spotted the emperor's new clothes. The tech giant's license terms let it "restrict usage" of the models anytime - prompting smaller companies to back away slowly, remembering that free cheese usually comes in mousetraps.
In a scathing opinion piece for MIT Technology Review, Editor-in-Chief Mat Honan dissects Google's AI stumbles. The tech giant's new features - from enhanced Gemini to experimental AI Mode - mirror ChatGPT's playbook from six months ago, while its $100 billion advertising empire might be doing what empires do best: slowing innovation when it matters most.
Companies now deploy AI "coachbots" to help employees practice difficult conversations and navigate workplace drama, reports the Financial Times. HubSpot's Vrnda Boykin found herself sweating through repeated arguments with an AI programmed to act like her most irritating colleague - and surprisingly, it worked better than an HR complaint.
Anyware Robotics has secured $12 million in seed funding to deploy robots that handle the heavy lifting in warehouses, potentially reducing worker injuries and labor costs by 60%. Their first robot Pixmo, which unloads shipping containers with a patent-pending conveyor system, is already hard at work for several logistics companies who are presumably tired of paying worker's comp claims.
CBRE's artificial intelligence chief explains how AI is revolutionizing the world's largest real estate firm while keeping his feet firmly on the ground. In a candid chat at TechEx Global, UK AI lead Ricky Bartlett showcases how the company transforms everything from workflow optimization to customer service, with just a hint of healthy skepticism toward the AI hype.
Turkey decided to poke the Silicon Valley bear, drafting rules to force tech giants like Apple and Google to play nice - or pay up to 10% of their revenue. The move copies Europe's playbook for taming tech titans, though with former President Trump already fuming about "overseas extortion" of US companies, Ankara might find itself wishing it had picked a smaller fight.
Silicon Valley harbors a strange secret: its developers code by feel. They trust vibes over documentation. They ship code they barely understand. And somehow, it works.
This isn't a bug. It's the industry's most successful feature.
Vibe Coding emerged from developer trenches across the tech landscape. These digital mystics discovered a truth: thinking too hard about code leads to paralysis. Their solution? Don't think. Feel.
Meet the maestros of this arcane art:
The Optimist 🦁 radiates unshakeable confidence while copying Stack Overflow snippets. When systems crash, he blames framework updates. His mantra? "It worked on my machine." He'll defend this hill until production burns down.
Framework Surfer 🏄♀️ rides every tech wave. She knows enough about 27 frameworks to be dangerous. Her LinkedIn profile lists every technology she used to print "Hello World." She pronounces "React" with carefully practiced gravitas.
Legacy Whisperer 👻 tends ancient codebases like digital archaeology sites. He changes code based on vibes rather than logic. His wisdom? "These nested loops appear everywhere - they must matter." He's probably right, though nobody knows why.
Stack Overflow Artist 🎨 builds Frankenstein monsters from code snippets. Her programs work through divine intervention. She never questions why - it might break the spell.
AI Whisperer 🤖 outsources everything to ChatGPT. He doesn't understand the code. Neither does the AI. When bugs appear, they share confused glances before asking a different AI for help.
Debug Poet 🔍 renames variables until errors vanish. She writes cryptic comments like "TODO: Clean this up later" and "Don't touch - works somehow." Her commit messages read like zen koans: "Various improvements / Nature unknown / Do not ask why."
Their digital fingerprints lurk in every codebase:
// TODO: Clean this mess up someday
# Don't touch - works for reasons unknown
/* Magic numbers - touching these summons demons */
// Remove this loop and everything dies (we think)
They share one truth: overthinking kills deadlines. Ship fast. Debug later. Never question working code.
The next wave of AI tools will supercharge this trend. Soon, developers will deploy code that neither human nor machine comprehends. Everyone pretends this is fine.
Tech leads watch with knowing smiles. They once coded by vibes too. Now they write Medium articles about best practices while their teams carry on the ancient traditions.
The industry's biggest secret? It delivers. Software ships. Users click. Data flows. The digital world spins on, powered by developers who trusted their gut and hoped for the best. 🤷♂️
Read on, my dear:
Good Morning from San Francisco, The tech world's most intriguing power couple hits turbulent waters. Microsoft and OpenAI,
Good Morning from San Francisco, Meta's AI chatbots slipped into dangerous territory. 🚨 The Wall Street Journal busted them
Good Morning from San Francisco, Baidu unleashed chaos in China's AI market. The search giant slashed prices on
Good Morning from San Francisco, While Apple keeps polishing its promises, Perplexity just crashed the voice AI party 🎭. Their revamped
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