Apple CEO Tim Cook (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

One chart explains why Apple needed its OpenAI partnership

6/5/24 9:22AM

Apple has made a deal with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT with its iPhone and hopefully catch up to its tech peers in the AI race, Bloomberg reports. But why does Apple, which has gobs of cash and a years-long head-start with Siri need to play catch-up?

One reason could be that it hasn’t hired as many AI engineers as its peers. Data from tech compensation platform Levels.fyi shows that from January-May of 2024, 63 Apple AI engineers submitted employment information to the site — about a third of the number who did for Facebook and under a quarter of the number who did for Google and Amazon (who are all competing in the AI space). Notably, the site has recorded about the same number of AI engineers for Apple as Microsoft, which also has a partnership with OpenAI.

Typically people go to Levels.fyi when job hunting, and the site asks for employment information both during and after their searches. Of course, while this data wouldn’t include everyone these tech companies employ as AI engineers, it gives a relative sense of what hiring is like at these companies. The number of submissions for AI engineers was up at all companies from the same period last year.

That Apple hasn’t spent as heavily on AI talent as its peers tracks. More broadly we know that Apple’s spending on R&D has only recently returned to pre-iPhone levels, and its spending relative to sales is lower than its peers.

It’s also tough and expensive to hire AI talent these days.

As Levels.fyi founder Zuhayeer Musa told Sherwood recently, “Everyone trying to step into this game makes it very competitive for this limited pool of talent.”

Rani Molla2h

Apple reportedly considers adding additional camera to iPhone Air and pushing next release to 2027

Apple is delaying its next iPhone Air to the spring of 2027, from the fall of 2026, as it potentially rejiggers the model to include a second camera lens, according to The Information. Consumers have largely overlooked Apple’s latest, thinnest phone, choosing instead to buy the standard and Pro models, thanks in part to the Air’s single camera and relatively weak battery life. The preference caused Apple to greatly scale back production for its Air model.

Apple Explores Adding Second Camera to Next iPhone Air to Boost Sales

Rani Molla2h

Meta falls on report that Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun is leaving to found his own startup

Meta’s chief artificial intelligence scientist, Yann LeCun, is leaving to found his own startup, the Financial Times reports, sending the stock down more than 1% premarket.

Tensions have emerged between the new guard (headed by 28-year-old college dropout Alexandr Wang) and existing AI teams (headed by LeCun) at the company, as Meta pours billions into achieving “superintelligence,” a type of artificial general intelligence (AGI) that’s smarter than humans. LeCun now reports to Wang. Meanwhile, LeCun, who has been working on a more humanlike vision for AI, doesn’t believe large language models are a viable path to AGI.

LeCun, considered one of the pioneers of modern AI, will leave Meta in the “coming months,” according to the FT, and is in “early talks to raise funds for a new venture.”

Rani Molla18h

Apple delays release of next iPhone Air as consumers greatly prefer the standard and Pro models

When Apple releases its iPhone 18 next year, there will be a Pro model and a foldable model, but no iPhone Air, The Information reports. That’s because demand for the newest, thinnest iPhone has been exceptionally low even as iPhones generally have sold above expectations. Indeed, Apple notched an iPhone revenue record for the September quarter.

While the company had set aside only 10% of its manufacturing capacity for the iPhone Air, even that portion has remained unsold, The Information reports. Meanwhile, early sales of the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro have handily beaten last year’s version, and have been driving overall iPhone sales. Nikkei Asia previously reported that Apple was “drastically” cutting back manufacturing of the iPhone Air “end of production” levels. A KeyBanc survey also recently found “virtually no demand for iPhone Air,” which people have criticized for its lower battery life among other compromises for its small size.

As of yet, there’s no new release date for the next iPhone Air, but Apple has yet to explicitly cancel it.

Apple Delays Release of Next iPhone Air Amid Weak Sales

As of yet, there’s no new release date for the next iPhone Air, but Apple has yet to explicitly cancel it.

Rani Molla20h

Tesla’s China sales hit three-year low

Tesla sold just 26,000 vehicles in China last month, down 36% from the more than 40,000 it sold in October 2024 and the lowest it’s been since November 2022. China is Tesla’s second-biggest market after the US, where sales are expected to fall following the end of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Sales also fell in a number of countries in its third-biggest market, Europe, in October.

In China, Tesla faces increased competition from companies like BYD and XPeng, which is also getting into the robotaxi and robot markets. Notably, China also saw lower car sales overall in October amid weaker consumer sentiment.

Fortunately for Tesla, which is now focusing more on its robot, autonomous taxi, and AI goals, analysts are also placing less of an emphasis on its car business.

Tesla retail sales in China hit 3-year low in Oct

Fortunately for Tesla, which is now focusing more on its robot, autonomous taxi, and AI goals, analysts are also placing less of an emphasis on its car business.

Jon Keegan22h

Anthropic’s move to diversify from Nvidia chips may give it an edge against OpenAI

Anthropic has reportedly been upping its revenue forecasts, and appears to be catching up to market leader OpenAI.

Anthropic’s thriving API business is juicing its revenues, and it has made some strategic moves that are boosting its margins.

Unlike OpenAI’s all-Nvidia strategy, Anthropic has diversified to also use chips from Amazon and Google, according to a report from The Information.

The cheaper, more efficient chips may be part of the reason that Anthropic is projecting that it will be profitable in 2027.

The report also notes that OpenAI’s expensive $40 billion “backup” server build-out is part of its plan to eventually monetize hundreds of millions of nonpaying ChatGPT users, while Anthropic is generating 80% of its revenue from paid API access and isn’t spending as much to serve its much smaller base of free users.

Anthropic Projects Cost Advantage Over OpenAI