(Thomas Fuller/Getty Images)

Apple of my Eye

Apple’s latest phone is betting on looks, while Google looks inward

Apple gets a hardware upgrade. Google gets a software overhaul.

9/5/25 10:51AM

During Apple’s iPhone 17 event on September 9, the company is expected to release the first of three major hardware upgrades to its flagship device, starting with a skinny iPhone Air without many AI upgrades.

(For a full list of what Apple is expected to show at the event, check Mark Gurman’s coverage at Bloomberg.)

Apple’s first major physical iPhone changes in years put it in sharp contrast with Google, which at its phone event last month debuted a Pixel 10 that looked pretty much like the Pixel 9. The real changes for Google’s phone are under the hood, as the device leverages AI in ways Apple has only advertised, proactively fetching information and displaying it when you need it. A number of reviews are in and the AI upgrades have been mostly well received so far.

It’s not that Apple doesn’t want to work on its inner iPhone, but rather that it has mostly failed to bring the AI upgrades it promised last year to fruition and has been struggling ever since.

Apple is certainly hoping to course-correct its AI efforts by promising an even better revamped AI Siri this spring. But to do so, it appears that Apple is... relying on Google. Earlier this week, Apple’s stock rose on news that it was working on its own ChatGPT competitor, but it may be relying on Google’s AI technology to do so.

Despite its missteps, however, Apple has a major advantage in this situation in that it has a much bigger, notably locked-in customer base that will be difficult to chip away.

Jon Keegan12h

OpenAI shares how it will charge for ChatGPT ads

Last week, OpenAI announced that ads were going to be rolling out in ChatGPT in the coming weeks.

Now we have more details about what OpenAI is telling advertisers. According to a report from The Information, the company has reached out to “dozens” of advertisers, and will charge based on ad views.

Advertisers are still waiting for further details, but OpenAI is asking for less than $1 million each in ad spending while it tests out the new system, per the report.

Ads are supposed to begin in February, and will only appear for free ChatGPT and ChatGPT Go users.

OpenAI Lines Up Advertisers, Reveals Key Details Ahead of Ads Launch

Advertisers are still waiting for further details, but OpenAI is asking for less than $1 million each in ad spending while it tests out the new system, per the report.

Ads are supposed to begin in February, and will only appear for free ChatGPT and ChatGPT Go users.

Rani Molla13h

Apple is reportedly working on a wearable AI pin

Move over OpenAI, Apple is reportedly also developing a mysterious AI-powered wearable device: a pin that looks like a “thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell.”

The Information reports that the device is the size of an Apple AirTag and has two cameras, a speaker, three microphones, and wireless charging. It could be available by early 2027.

Apple, which has lagged its peers in AI and recently teamed up with Google to support its upcoming Siri revamp, is hoping to keep up with ChatGPT and Google, which, like Apple, has an AI smartphone. Meta and Google are both also pushing into smart AI glasses.

It’s not to be mistaken with OpenAI’s secretive wearable AI device, which is being made in conjunction with former Apple designer Jony Ive and expected to debut in late 2026. The latest rumors suggest the unnamed device, meant to eventually compete with smartphones, might be earbuds.

Apple Developing AI Wearable Pin

Jon Keegan

16h

As public pushback against data centers grows, AI companies promise they’ll be good neighbors

Communities concerned with energy prices, pollution, and water usage are starting to push back on Big Tech’s AI data center building spree. The companies are trying to assure the public that they will pay their way.

Rani Molla17h

Morgan Stanley expects Tesla to have 1,000 Robotaxis by the end of 2026. Musk had predicted 1,500 by the end of 2025

Ahead of Tesla’s earnings report next week, Morgan Stanley has released a note estimating that the company will scale its Robotaxi fleet much more slowly than CEO Elon Musk has said. The firm thinks the automaker will have 1,000 vehicles in its Robotaxi service by the end of 2026 — 500 fewer than Musk estimated a few months ago Tesla would have by the end of 2025.

More key to Tesla’s success, however, will be removing the safety monitors from those rides, which Morgan Stanley says will be a “precursor to personal unsupervised FSD [Full Self-Driving] rollout.” Musk, of course, had also promised to remove safety drivers in Austin by the end of 2025, but driverless rides are still in the testing stage.

Rani Molla20h

Meta says it’s delivered new AI models internally this month and they’re “very good”

Meta’s last AI model release, Llama 4, was marred by delays and accusations of rigged benchmarks, but the company says the latest models built by its Superintelligence Labs team look promising. CTO Andrew Bosworth told reporters at the World Economic Forum that the team delivered new models internally in January and they’re “very good.”

Bosworth didn’t specify what the models are, though The Wall Street Journal has reported that Meta is working on a large language model and an AI image and video model code-named Avocado and Mango, respectively.