A driverless Tesla robotaxi and a Waymo autonomous vehicle make their way through roadwork on a residential street in Austin (Jay Janner/Getty Images)

Tale of the Gate

Tesla jumps amid AI bullishness as analyst says Full Self-Driving software is “already better at driving than the average American”

Tesla is betting that it can turn its consumer vehicles into autonomous cars faster than Google’s Waymo can roll out new vehicles.

Rani Molla

11/20/25 11:12AM

Tesla is up sharply today, with investors and Wall Street looking more bullish on AI, at least for the moment.

That seems to include Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter, who wrote that Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving software “is a truly impressive product that is (probably) already better at driving than the average American.”

Investors are hoping that Tesla can turn its consumer vehicles into autonomous cars faster than Google’s Waymo can roll out its robotaxis.

“There are millions of cars out there that, with a software update, become Full Self-Driving cars,” CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s recent earnings call. Potter, after attending an investor meeting at Tesla’s Fremont plant, also beamed about a “flawless robotaxi ride to the hotel,” and reiterated his $500 price target.

Waymo currently operates its autonomous service with more than 2,500 vehicles in five markets, and has plans to expand to more than 20. Just this morning, it announced planned expansion to Minneapolis, Tampa, and New Orleans.

Meanwhile, Musk has said he expects Tesla to operate 1,500 cars in its two markets, Austin and the Bay Area (where a safety monitor is present in the cars), by the end of the year, when it claims the service will be available in a total of 8 to 10 markets.

After getting drubbed recently, AI and tech companies are getting a broad lift following Nvidia’s blowout earnings yesterday, which also helped push Google to a record high.

Jon Keegan3/6/26

OpenAI reportedly delaying erotica feature to focus on “gains in intelligence”

OpenAI is delaying its planned “adult mode,” as it seeks to shore up ChatGPT’s core capabilities before the chatbot can generate erotic content.

A source within OpenAI told tech news site Sources that the company will miss its Q1 target for launching the feature:

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

The company said it still believes in “treating adults like adults,” but said it wants to get the experience right. OpenAI has been testing user age estimation technology ahead of the planned release.

Liz Reid on where Google Search ends and Gemini begins

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

Rani Molla

3/6/26

Why Apple is moving into the lower-cost smartphone and laptop markets

The luxury tech maker is heading down-market.

Man taking picture of Times Square using smart phone, personal perspective view

Ads have entered the chat

Advertisers are crowding into the next digital frontier.

Rani Molla3/6/26

Jon Keegan3/6/26

Anthropic will sue the Pentagon over supply chain risk designation, Amodei says

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a public post that the company will sue the Pentagon after receiving a letter from the Department of Defense officially designating Anthropic as “a supply chain risk to America’s national security.”

Amodei says that the effect of the unprecedented designation for an American company is more narrow than originally described, and that most of its customers would not be affected.

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

Where things stand with the Department of War

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

$40B💰

Rani Molla3/6/26

SoftBank is going to great lengths to double down on OpenAI — including taking on significant debt. After completing a $40 billion investment to become one of the ChatGPT maker’s largest backers, the Japanese conglomerate is now seeking a roughly $40 billion loan with a 12-month term, Bloomberg reports.

The financing would be SoftBank’s largest-ever dollar-denominated deal. The AI investment has helped lift profits, but it is also pressuring SoftBank’s credit profile.