Meta has launched a standalone competitor to ChatGPT. But is ChatGPT bending too far backwards in an attempt to please you? Even OpenAI thinks so. Waymo and Toyota cut a deal. And concerns about sovereign tech stacks rear their head again.

Sponsors:

• Go to my sponsor https://venice.ai/techmeme and use code techmeme to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using my code will get you 20% off a pro plan.

Links:

• Meta’s ChatGPT competitor shows how your friends use AI (The Verge)
• Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company’s code was written by AI (TechCrunch)
• OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT ‘too sycophant-y’ (TechCrunch)
• Waymo, Toyota strike partnership to bring self-driving tech to personal vehicles (CNBC)
• Google Play sees 47% decline in apps since start of last year (TechCrunch)
• EU views break from US as ‘unrealistic’ amid global tech race (Politico)
• Microsoft vows to protect European operations from Donald Trump (Financial Times)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is Amazon about to start showing tariff prices in listings? Armageddon has finally come for Temu and Shein. Is OpenAI getting into the shopping game because their web search usage is exploding? And Project Kuiper finally gets off the ground in a literal and meaningful way.

Links:

• 042925 (PunchBowl News AM)
• Kickstarter Introduces ‘Tariff Manager Tool’ to Add Charges to Already Fully Funded Projects (404 Media)
• Temu adds ‘import charges’ of about 145% after Trump tariffs, more than doubling price of many items (CNBC)
• Congress passes bill to fight deepfake nudes, revenge porn (Washington Post)
• Alibaba unveils Qwen3, a family of ‘hybrid’ AI reasoning models (TechCrunch)
• OpenAI Adds Shopping to ChatGPT in a Challenge to Google (Wired)
• Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI (The Verge)
• Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Starlink (Reuters)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is Apple’s 20th Anniversary iPhone the reason they can’t quit China just yet? That Chinese AI Manus just raised a big round. Is Prompt Engineer the job title that never was? And what really goes on in those powerful, behind the scenes Silicon Valley group chats?

Sponsors:

• Freshbooks.com

Links:

• Apple Begins Breaking Up Its AI Team With Robotics, Siri Changes (Bloomberg)
• Why Trump can’t build iPhones in the US (FT)
• The Future of Gadgets: Fewer Updates, More Subscriptions, Bigger Price Tags (WSJ)
• Google is killing software support for early Nest Thermostats (The Verge)
• Chinese AI Startup Manus Scores Funding at $500 Million Value (Bloomberg)
• The Hottest AI Job of 2023 Is Already Obsolete (WSJ)
• The group chats that changed America (Semafor)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alphabet earnings. Intel earnings. Apple is making moves to make sure all iPhones heading to the US are no longer manufactured in China. Zuck seems bound and determined to revive his original baby. Sexy looking new Motorola Razr phones. And, of course the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Links:

• Alphabet shares rise on stronger-than-expected revenue growth (CNBC)
• Intel offers weak forecast amid trade tensions as CEO talks to TSMC (Reuters)
• Apple aims to source all US iPhones from India in pivot away from China (Financial Times)
• Publisher of PCMag and Mashable Sues OpenAI (NYTimes)
• Facebook cracks down on spammy content by cutting reach and monetization (TechCrunch)
• Mark Zuckerberg once considered deleting all your Facebook friends (TechCrunch)
• Motorola’s new Razr Ultra brings the wood back panel back (The Verge)
• Netflix rolls out dialogue-only subtitles (The Verge)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• The Apple Watch Just Turned 10. Here’s How Far It’s Come (Wired)
• The Race to Fix Aging Computer Systems Heats Up With AI’s Help (Bloomberg)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More fallout from those EU fines yesterday. A whole slew of self driving car news. The AI Coding Wars have officially begun. The back to the office wars continue. Is Chrome worth $50 billion? And let me tell you about the AI app that wants to help you cheat at everything.

Links:

• Apple and Meta Are First to Be Hit by E.U. Digital Competition Law (NYTimes)
• Uber, Volkswagen pair up to launch robotaxi service in US with self-driving, electric microbuses (TechCrunch)
• Windsurf slashes prices as competition with Cursor heats up (TechCrunch)
• Google Chrome Worth ‘Upwards of $50 Billion,’ Browser Rival Says (Bloomberg)
• Google forcing some remote workers to come back 3 days a week or lose their jobs (CNBC)
• Columbia student suspended over interview cheating tool raises $5.3M to ‘cheat on everything’ (TechCrunch)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

That delayed action from the European Commission finally came down on Apple and Meta. Would OpenAI be a logical home for the Chrome web browser? Massive layoffs coming to Intel. Anysphere turned down an acquisition offer from OpenAI. And are the tariff wars coming for Elon Musk’s robots?

Sponsors:

• Shopify.com/ride

Links:

• Apple, Meta Fined by EU, Ordered to Comply With Tech Competition Rules (WSJ)
• OpenAI Would Buy Google’s Chrome Browser, ChatGPT Chief Says (Bloomberg)
• Intel to Announce Plans This Week to Cut Over 20% of Staff (Bloomberg)
• A new, open source text-to-speech model called Dia has arrived to challenge ElevenLabs, OpenAI and more (VentureBeat)
• Why OpenAI wanted to buy Cursor but opted for the fast-growing Windsurf (TechCrunch)
• Ex-OpenAI staff and top AI experts seek to block proposed for-profit restructure (FT)
• Tesla Humanoid Robot Plan Hampered by China Rare Earth Curbs (Bloomberg)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As the US v. Google remedy trial begins, the FTC also sues Uber and makes Airbnb disclose all fees. Looks like tech regulation is still very much a thing. Bluesky begins rolling out verification. Meta is using AI to find if kids are lying about their age on Instagram. And Microsoft is forging ahead with that Recall feature.

Sponsors:

• Udacity.com/ride and code RIDE

Links:

• Justice Dept. asks judge to ‘thaw’ Google’s search monopoly by forcing Chrome sale (Washington Post)
• FTC sues Uber, says company charged for Uber One without consent (CNBC)
• Airbnb to Show Fees in Price Display to Comply With FTC Rule (Bloomberg)
• Bluesky Is Rolling Out Official Verification (Wired)
• Google Messages Sensitive Content Warnings for nudity rolling out (9to5Google)
• Meta is ramping up its AI-driven age detection (The Verge)
• Microsoft Is Dedicated To Building A Dodgy New Database Of Every Windows 11 User’s Online Behaviors (TechDirt)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meta and Apple were about to go to the woodshed in Europe, but it looks like Trump’s tariffs have run interference for them. Everyone wants in on stablecoins, example number 23. Beware of phishing emails from Google.com. And are OpenAI’s latest models good, bad, or just “jagged”?

Sponsors:

• QualiaLife.com/ride and code RIDE

Links:

• EU Delayed Punishing Apple, Meta Just Before Trade Talks Started (WSJ)
• Crypto Knocks on the Door of a Banking World That Shut It Out (WSJ)
• Phishers abuse Google OAuth to spoof Google in DKIM replay attack (Bleeping Computer)
• Coinbase in hot water over $12 million ‘content coin’—but exec tells haters to lean in (Fortune Crypto)
• OpenAI’s new reasoning AI models hallucinate more (TechCrunch)
• On Jagged AGI: o3, Gemini 2.5, and everything after (Ethan Mollick)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google is ruled an illegal monopoly. Again. But for a different reason this time. Switch 2 pre-orders are back on. Americans are flocking to Temu and Shein alternatives. And in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, what if I told you 25 percent of community college applicants are now AI bots? And not only that, the bots are now “attending classes” in quotes.

Sponsors:

• FactorMeals.com/ride50off and code ride50off

Links:

• Google Broke the Law to Keep Its Advertising Monopoly, a Judge Rules (NYTimes)
• Google loses online advertising monopoly case (Axios)
• Google Found GUILTY of Monopolization Again (The Big Newsletter)
• Nintendo Switch 2 preorders start April 24th and the price is still $449.99 (The Verge)
• The latest viral ChatGPT trend is doing ‘reverse location search’ from photos (TechCrunch)
• Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store (TechCrunch)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• As ‘Bot’ Students Continue to Flood In, Community Colleges Struggle to Respond (Voice Of San Diego)
• Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet (NYTimes)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

OpenAI has a new reasoning model, and more lower cost models as well. Is OpenAI about to acquire a coding startup? Is Perplexity turning to Samsung for distribution and branding? A Neuralink rival gets FDA approval. And why is Jensen Huang on a code-red mission to China at the moment?

Sponsors:

• 1Password.com/ride

Links:

• OpenAI's new o3 and o4-mini models are all about 'thinking with images' (Engadget)
• OpenAI debuts Codex CLI, an open source coding tool for terminals (TechCrunch)
• Vibe Check: o3 Is Here—And It’s Great (Every)
• OpenAI In Talks to Buy Windsurf for About $3 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Perplexity AI in Talks to Integrate Assistant Into Samsung, Motorola Phones (Bloomberg)
• Neuralink Rival Gets FDA Clearance in Path to Less Invasive Brain Implants (Bloomberg)
• Nvidia chief Jensen Huang flies to Beijing for talks (FT)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.