Google faces mounting evidence of its search monopoly. A federal judge recently ruled – for the second time in a year – that Google illegally maintains a monopoly in ad tech. Google's response?
The United States set out to win a trade war with China. It failed. Years of tariffs, tech restrictions, and tough rhetoric have backfired, leaving America in a weaker position while China charges ahead with innovation and global influence.
Good Morning from San Francisco, Meta just kicked Apple's AI tools to the curb. All of them. 🥾 No
☀️ Good Morning from San Francisco,
🔥 OpenAI's Sam Altman just threw GPT-4 under the bus. He labeled their $100 million model "the dumbest you'll ever use" while announcing its retirement next April.
🚀 Enter GPT-4o: The new AI rockstar that's already making waves with its "magical" image skills. It grabbed a million users in one hour. Pretty slick.
📊 Meanwhile, ChatGPT keeps crushing it with 173.3 million daily visits. Microsoft's Copilot? Let's just say it's still trying to find its running shoes.
🔮 OpenAI's also cooking up some 4.1 nano and mini models. Because apparently, we needed more confusing names in tech.
Stay curious,
Marcus Schuler
OpenAI plans to retire GPT-4 by April 2025. CEO Sam Altman didn't mince words about the $100 million model, calling it "the dumbest model you'll ever have to use." Talk about brutal honesty from the boss.
The company will replace GPT-4 with GPT-4o, which has already turned heads with its "magical" image generator. The new model sparked a user stampede, adding one million users within an hour of launch. Someone at OpenAI's marketing department is probably getting a raise.
ChatGPT continues to dominate the AI landscape, with 173.3 million daily visits. Microsoft's Copilot trails far behind - though calling it a race at this point might be generous. It's more like a marathon where one runner took a taxi.
Internal tests show GPT-4o outperforms its predecessor in writing, coding, and STEM tasks. The upgrade focuses on better instruction-following and problem-solving, though hopefully it won't get smart enough to realize what Altman said about its older sibling.
These changes come as OpenAI prepares to launch several new models. The lineup includes variations like 4.1 nano and 4.1 mini - because apparently, the AI world needed more confusing model names.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Prompt:
"A young woman with a peaceful smile stands in a vibrant Indian market during sunset. She wears a traditional green saree with gold embroidery and a matching dupatta covering her head. In her hands, she holds a large plate of biryani decorated with colorful vegetables, rice, and pieces of chicken. Behind her, people in traditional Indian clothing walk through a busy market with hanging lights, and an Indian flag waves in the background. A temple dome can be seen in the soft sunset light, creating a warm, celebratory atmosphere
A high-stakes trade battle is unfolding that could reshape the tech industry. China halted exports of rare earth minerals critical for electronics, while Trump warned that the iPhone's temporary tariff exemption won't last.
China's export freeze targets six heavy rare earth metals and specialized magnets - materials essential for everything from smartphones to electric cars. With China controlling 90% of global production, manufacturers worldwide face a supply crisis.
Trump's administration initially excluded phones and computers from steep tariffs on April 12. But the relief proved short-lived. "NOBODY is getting 'off the hook'," Trump declared on Truth Social, signaling that tech tariffs would return within months.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the temporary nature of the exemptions. "We need our medicines and semiconductors and electronics to be built in America," he said, apparently forgetting that reshoring decades of manufacturing takes more than tough talk.
The impact could be severe. Apple makes 80% of iPhones in China, while American military contractors rely on Chinese rare earth magnets for drones and missiles. As one executive noted dryly, "The critical inputs for our future supply chain are shut down."
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Safe Superintelligence, launched by OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, just landed $2 billion in new funding. The startup aims to build what it calls "safe superintelligence," though details remain under wraps since Sutskever left OpenAI in the wake of last year's leadership drama.
Intel slashed the price tag on its Altera unit by half, selling 51% to Silver Lake for $8.75 billion - quite the markdown from its $17 billion purchase in 2015. The chipmaker desperately needs cash to fund its ambitious factory-building spree, proving that sometimes you have to sell the family silver to keep the lights on.
OpenAI plans to verify organizations' identities before granting access to future AI models. The move comes after the company blocked API access in China and investigated potential data theft by DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab.
Google just made its AI search results more self-referential by adding clickable links within its AI Overviews that lead users back to more Google searches. While the company frames this as helping users "explore topics more easily," publishers might notice their traffic taking a hit as Google keeps users bouncing around its own ecosystem rather than visiting external websites.
Mistral AI outlines a method to evaluate AI systems using other AI models as judges. Their approach tests if AI responses are accurate and grounded in facts, not just well-written.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk want to scrap intellectual property law entirely, sparking fierce pushback from creators and lawyers. Their call comes as AI companies face mounting copyright lawsuits over training data - though Dorsey claims there are "better ways to pay creators" than the current system.
Mark Zuckerberg heads to court Monday in the FTC's antitrust case against Meta, his most consequential testimony yet. Unlike his eight previous Congressional appearances, this time he'll face seven hours of questioning about Meta's alleged "buy-or-bury" tactics with Instagram and WhatsApp.
Alibaba's Quark now leads China's AI app race with 150 million monthly users, beating ByteDance's Doubao at 100 million. The app ranks sixth globally, behind ChatGPT but ahead of most Chinese rivals.
Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner wants the US and EU to team up against China on trade. The German media boss, who owns Politico and Business Insider, says Trump's tariffs might work as a bargaining chip to force China into fair trade deals.
Journalists are rethinking their relationship with tech giants. At this year's International Journalism Festival in Perugia, former tech allies faced harsh criticism.
"These platforms are our enemies now," says British journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
She warns that Trump officials are feeding government data to AI companies like Elon Musk's, while most newsrooms remain unaware of the implications.
Good Morning from San Francisco, Meta just kicked Apple's AI tools to the curb. All of them. 🥾 No
Good Morning from San Francisco, OpenAI's AI just learned to think in pictures. Their new o3 model doesn&
Good Morning from San Francisco, OpenAI wants to play social media kingmaker. Sam Altman's crew is quietly testing
Good Morning from San Francisco, OpenAI just fired another shot in the AI race 🎯. Their new GPT-4.1 devours text
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