Why Apple Stands Up to OpenAI, New York Adopts Data Centers, and What You Need to Know About Cyclosporiasis

Brian BarrettSoftware: Vision Pro.

Zoë SchifferSoftware: Vision Pro. Thank you very much.

Brian Barrett: You don’t think about Vision Pro every day?

Zoë Schiffer: No. I must say that it lived and died very quickly, and I have not thought about it since. But I think this story, and this has been true for other AI tools, like the famous pin from Humane AI and all that. There are a lot of things that are good to do on screen, and I don’t think that will change. However, if you can find assistants and voices that work well, there are some things you can ask an assistant to do for you, and you’d rather not have to look at the screen all the time. And so myself, as someone who has a very tortured relationship with my screens, I’m ready for something that might work a little better. But it’s hard to do well, and I don’t think we’ve seen anything that’s managed to do that. To kick things off a bit, OpenAI has hired more than 400 former Apple employees, according to the lawsuit.

Leah Feiger: Oh.

Zoë Schiffer: And last year he paid $6.5 billion to acquire a start-up called IO Products which was founded by long-time Apple executives, including Tan, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and a very famous person, Jony Ive.

Brian Barrett: Yeah, it’s a lot of money they’re making in this area, and it’s obviously a problem that Apple is losing all these people. They have also lost AI researchers to other companies as well. Apple bleeds AI talent and hardware talent too, which hits them where it hurts. What I’m most excited about is that we’re not there yet, and that prosecutions mean discovery, and—

Zoë Schiffer: Then.

Brian Barrett: No, finding, yes. And awareness means we’re going to read a lot of emails from these companies talking trash about each other and themselves. And it will be fun. It’s always fun when these things happen.

Zoë Schiffer: It’s very interesting. No one is sweeter than a lawyer with an IP problem.

Brian Barrett: Put that on the cup, Zoë.

Zoë Schiffer: He is.

Brian Barrett: Oh. Do we have a sale? Can this –

Zoë Schiffer: It makes me happy.

Brian Barrett: That is our business. Yes.

Zoë Schiffer: That is our business.

Brian Barrett: The topic of OpenAI was not limited to Apple’s case this week. WIRED has learned that OpenAI employees are donating money to a competitive PAC to push for stricter regulations on Frontier AI Labs. It’s a competition, of course, with all the money that people like Greg Brockman, the head of OpenAI, and others have invested in advancing AI and closing barriers. This new super PAC, called the Guardrails Alliance, is interesting. It was launched last month.