Wolfs in the Henhouse 📧
At some point, we'll all stop writing so much about OpenAI, but this week was not that week. The company is just everywhere at the moment. In the press. In our heads. In their own heads. Soon maybe on our heads? The most interesting and most chaotic company in quite some time. I mean, we're writing about logos.
At least Meta gave everyone a brief break. The new "Orion" AR glasses seem impressive. But the Ray-Ban smartglasses are impressive, in the world, right now.
Back to AI. Audible/Amazon has what I think is a beneficial use case. James Cameron will now make the pitch that Stability does as well for Hollywood. Microsoft will seemingly have to make the case to the media as they keep trying to crack the consumer nut. Meanwhile, the US has summoned nine companions to be the Fellowship of American AI. Yes, that includes OpenAI, of course.
Brad Pitt was great in Moneyball, sadly it couldn't save the Oakland A's. Hopefully he's great in Wolfs, even if he couldn't save it in theaters. Watching tonight – at home!
Some Analysis...
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
Some Thoughts...
💪 Arm Is Rebuffed by Intel After Inquiring About Buying Product Unit – The vultures keep circling... But the more interesting aspect of this news is that this would seemingly signal not only an intention to move beyond smartphone chip design (which has obviously already been happening, but thanks largely to the additive work of Apple and Qualcomm on CPUs and Amazon and Ampere on servers), but also that Arm might be moving towards doing their own branded chips, rather than just the designs, thus competing with their key partners. Arm's market cap? $150B. Intel's? $100B – after a nice bump the past couple of weeks as they attempt to go back on the offensive. I suspect these vultures will keep coming, Apollo can only go so far. Just saying... [Bloomberg 🔒]
👁️ Apple’s ‘HomeAccessory’ Could Have Square Display – Perhaps the most interesting element of this report about what I call the "FacePod" (and have been for years) is that it indicates not some early-stage prototype, but a device that is close to release. Filipe Espósito throws out a "Spring 2025" date, which is much earlier than the "2026 or 2027" of other reports – though that device is seemingly slightly different, more mechanical, robotic, and AI-focused. This may simply be a newfangled HomePod with a screen – a square one, maybe to differentiate it from an iPad? – for the living room. Assuming it's built/marketed around FaceTime, if you squint, you can see it. Hand gestures and all. Meta actually tapped into this market early with the Portal, which ended up right place/right time during the pandemic. But then was cast aside as Meta moved to be more efficient. Amazon and Google now have home devices with screens, but they don't have FaceTime. As I wrote back in April, "If Apple isn't less than a year away from shipping a 'FacePod', something is up." Good timing? [9to5Mac]
💰 Turning OpenAI Into a Real Business Is Tearing It Apart – While this report by Deepa Seetharaman doesn't quite get to the "why now" of Mira Murati's exit, it does perhaps paint a bit of a backstory as to "why". The company seems to like to frame things as growing pains, but this is all obviously far beyond the norm – as you might expect given where the company started, where it is, and where it's trying to go. Still, there's also seemingly a lot you wouldn't expect. Two details worth calling out: that Murati and Greg Brockman were close to bringing Ilya Sutskever back into the fold, but then rescinded an offer for him to return. Thus, Safe Superintelligence was born. Meanwhile, the report states that Brockman went on leave at the behest of Altman, trying to smooth over internal complaints. That makes it sound like he will come back the company, when his sabbatical is over. So that founding group of 11, which is now currently all the way down to 2, may indeed go back to 3. We'll see. The report also confirms earlier notes that investors terms will change (saying specifically that they can "pull back their money") if the company doesn't complete a conversion into a for-profit entity in the next two years. Just what OpenAI needs: more pressure. [WSJ 🔒]
🥽 Meta’s Cheaper Quest 3S Might Just Be an Upgrade – I feel like this was lost more than a bit in Meta's Connect keynote this week, but the fact that the Quest 3S is both pretty close, spec-wise to the Quest 3 and is $299 seems like a pretty big (and good) deal. No, it's not the "Orion" AR glasses, but you can't buy those now anyway. And no, it's not the Vision Pro, but it's now less than 1/10th the price. I wouldn't recommend for anyone to buy the Vision Pro now anyway given the paucity of content, the Quest doesn't have that problem – so if you were just looking to get started in the general XR world... it seems like an easy call? I think that speaks to a larger issue with Apple's overall strategy in the space, but that's a different post. Also of note: no more Quest Pro, as expected, but still – Meta's VR lineup is pretty clean and clear now. [The Verge]
Some Links...
- Just your daily reminder that Elon Musk is a "free speech absolutist" [The Verge]
- After a downright civil (by American standards) election and transfer of power (the lowest of low bars), Keir Starmer's Labour Party in the UK has stumbled out of the gate. The reasons why are clear and obvious but more troubling for the long term is that the plans, in so far as there are any, seem to be contradictory to the goals. [The Economist]
- Speaking of the Oakland A's – if you want an awesomely accidental (come on, someone knew) "Ass" hat, you're going to have to bid on it. [SFist]
- Speaking of Ampere (up above), Oracle disclosed they own a 29% but also have an option to take over a majority control via debt conversion. Sort of incredible how Oracle, long considered an also-ran relic of the first tech boom, has played this current wave of computing... [Bloomberg 🔒]
- Ming-Chi Kuo says the next iteration of Vision Pro is set for the second half of 2025 with an M5 chip and the ability to run Apple Intelligence. We'll see, he's often way off on his timing. But this bigger question is if this would be a 'Vision Pro' or just a 'Vision'... [MacRumors]
- CNN is putting up a paywall, which will be jarring for millions as it's still the most-visited news site – no, this isn't CNN+ part 2... [NYT]
- The trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina looks good, nice use of "Tiny Dancer", but WTF is that title?! Feels more than a bit desperate, no? I guess they want to avoid a Furiosa situation (which had "A Mad Max Saga" appended on, but you can't get more explicit than this – THIS IS A JOHN WICK MOVIE EVERYONE!!!). Related: it would have been so much cooler to save the John Wick reveal for, you know, the actual movie. Sadly, this is the spoilery world we live in. [The Verge]
- It sounds like OpenAI's "oversubscribed" mega funding round will close next week, which CFO Sarah Friar sent a letter to investors about given all the reports of turmoil amidst yet more internal departures. [CNBC]
- Even more noteworthy: Sam Altman denied the reports about his would-be equity stake, while board chair Bret Taylor gave a comment to CNBC saying that it had been discussed at a high level, but not with specific figures and no decisions have been made. Wiggle room galore on all these comments, of course. Especially since any stake would likely be tied to moving to the for-profit entity which is going to take a while – well into next year, it seems. [CNBC]
- Amazon, it seems, is ramping fast when it comes to ad spending on its streaming services. Why? Well, for one, they opted all viewer into the tier, making you pay more to remove ads. Second, sports. So how will they keep growing the business? More sports. [The Information 🔒]
And I Quote...
"It might seem like we are just going the opposite direction for the sake of going in the opposite direction, but it really is trying to find what makes Nintendo special. There is a lot of talk about A.I., for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction."
-- Shigeru Miyamoto, the Legend of Nintendo, talking to The New York Times ahead of the opening of the company's museum in Kyoto next month. They're opening it, in part, because so many people would come to the actual Nintendo offices, and they're just sterile, plain offices – like a "hospital waiting room". The museum is in the old factory where Nintendo originally produced playing cards in the 1800s.