Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Apple ushers in a brand new period with Apple Intelligence

Welcome again to TechCrunch’s Week in Overview — TechCrunch’s publication recapping the week’s greatest information. Need it in your inbox each Saturday? Enroll right here.

Apple’s Worldwide Builders Convention had a large deal with AI. Apple unveiled its generative AI providing, Apple Intelligence, which might be out there in iOS later this 12 months. iOS 18 could have quite a few new options, together with the flexibility to schedule textual content messages and customise your own home display, main upgrades to Siri — together with ChatGPT integration — and AI-generated emojis. For those who missed it, we put collectively a useful recap of the whole lot Apple introduced.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has secured sufficient shareholder votes to have his 2018 inventory choice compensation package deal authorized. The vote means he may get a payout of as much as $56 billion, the largest CEO compensation package deal in historical past, however a decide in Delaware nonetheless has to challenge her ultimate choice after ruling the package deal was unfair. 

In funding information, Mistral AI has closed its a lot rumored Collection B funding spherical. The corporate has secured €600 million (round $640 million at at present’s change price) in a mixture of fairness and debt. The brand new spherical values the startup at $6 billion because it continues to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and different AI giants.

Information

Former NSA head joins OpenAI: Former head of the NSA, retired military normal Paul Nakasone, will be a part of OpenAI’s board of administrators and can sit on the board’s “safety and security” subcommittee. Learn extra

Tesla shareholders sue Elon Musk: Shareholders of Tesla are suing Elon Musk and members of the board of administrators over Musk’s choice to start out xAI. They argue that expertise and assets are being diverted from Tesla to the brand new startup. Learn extra

BeReal will get purchased: French cell apps and video games writer Voodoo has acquired BeReal for €500 million. BeReal co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat will go away the corporate after a transition interval. Learn extra

You may ditch the rings: Apple has lastly made a manner for customers to pause exercise rings on Apple Watches, which is particularly useful if you’re sick or in any other case unable to do bodily actions. Learn extra

Raspberry Pi goes public: The maker of tiny, low-cost, single-board computer systems priced its IPO on the London Inventory Alternate at £2.80 per share, valuing it at $690 million at at present’s change price, and shortly jumped to £3.70 per share. Learn extra

iPads lastly get a calculator app: iPads could have a devoted calculator app for the primary time. However, lecturers, beware. The app contains Math Notes, a brand new characteristic that does the mathematics for you. Learn extra

A brand new distraction-free smartphone: Minimalist smartphone maker Mild introduced its latest mannequin. The Mild Cellphone III doesn’t have entry to social media or the web, nevertheless it does sport a bigger OLED show and a digicam. Learn extra

Spotify goes in-house: Spotify is venturing additional into the advert house with its first in-house artistic company, Inventive Lab. The corporate mentioned it can additionally start testing generative AI advertisements. Learn extra

Will your gadget have iOS 18?: Apple’s iOS 18 might be suitable with many Apple gadgets this fall, however you may need to improve in order for you the total Apple Intelligence expertise. Learn extra

Evaluation

Apple Intelligence isn’t attempting to be flashy: With iOS 18, Apple is taking a extra cautious strategy. As an alternative of overwhelming customers with too many AI options to depend, the corporate is rigorously rolling out AI the place it believes it may very well be really helpful. Whereas Apple’s AI is definitely not as flashy, Sarah Perez argues that it’s the firm’s manner of defining the desk stakes for what an AI-powered gadget ought to be capable to do. Learn extra

Tesla followers get out the vote: Tesla and its followers waged an unprecedented battle over Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package deal. Over the previous few months, there was an unrelenting get-out-the-vote effort from Tesla’s greatest followers. Sean O’Kane explores the numerous calls to motion on X to get shareholders to vote sure — and reinforce their perception that Tesla is nothing with out Musk. Learn extra

Why Y Combinator is encouraging small seed rounds: In 2024, many Y Combinator startups solely need tiny seed rounds — nevertheless it may very well be repelling many institutional seed VCs. If YC startups deal with these rounds extra like pre-seed funding, it may not be all that unhealthy. However as Rebecca Szkutak writes, there’s a danger if firms are labeling these smaller rounds as “seed rounds” with their sights set on subsequent elevating a Collection A. Learn extra

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