| Here’s a look at today's tech briefing: - Apple to announce AI-generated emoji and other AI tools at WWDC.
- Uvalde families sue Meta and Activision.
- Elon Musk's AI company secures $6B in funding.
- China creates $47.5B fund to back domestic chip companies.
- Survey: Tinder is top dating app but burnout remains.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Apple will announce new AI features, such as AI-generated emoji and an improved Siri, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple will launch basic and more practical AI features for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. More: - The AI tools are reportedly coming to iOS 18 and macOS 15, due out later this year.
- According to Gurman, Apple is developing AI software that "can create custom emojis on the fly, based on what users are texting."
- Apple is also set to announce a "smart recap" feature that summarizes missed texts, notifications, web pages, news articles, documents, and notes.
- The company may unveil a more natural- and better-sounding Siri voice powered by its large language models.
- Less computing-intensive AI features will run on the device, while more demanding tasks will be handled in the cloud.
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| 2 | | The families of shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas have sued Meta and Activision, claiming the companies promoted firearm use to underage boys. Their lawsuit argues the companies "knowingly exposed" the Uvalde shooter to the weapon he used, as well as "conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it." More: - The lawsuit was filed in California on Friday, the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.
- The Uvalde shooter played Call of Duty, which was developed by Activision, according to the suit.
- The shooter also frequently visited Meta's Instagram, which plaintiffs argued gives gunmakers "an unsupervised channel to speak directly to minors, in their homes, at school, even in the middle of the night.
- The families also sued gunmaker Daniel Defense, whose rifle was used in the shooting, for advertising its firearms on Instagram and featuring one of its assault-style rifles in Call of Duty.
Zoom out: - An Activision spokesperson said the "Uvalde shooting was horrendous and heartbreaking in every way," but added that "millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts."
- Meta and Daniel Defense have not yet responded to the suit.
- 74 people were killed in mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022.
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| 3 | | Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, secured $6B in funding, marking one of the biggest AI venture capital rounds in history. The startup, valued at $18B before the new funding, reached a post-money valuation of $24B. More: - Investors in the Series B round included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed bin Talal.
- xAI said the funds would be used to launch its first products, develop advanced infrastructure, and speed up R&D for future technologies.
- Musk wrote there would be "more to announce in the coming weeks."
Zoom out: - Musk founded xAI last year "to understand the true nature of the universe."
- xAI has been pitching itself as a brand to "connect the digital and physical worlds" and integrate with Musk's other companies like X, Tesla, Neuralink, and SpaceX.
- xAI also released Grok, its "witty and rebellious" chatbot, that can summarize news and conduct searches for paid users on X, Musk's social network.
- The startup also plans to build a supercomputer to power a more advanced version of Grok. The supercomputer, made up of Nvidia's H100 GPUs, would be four times larger than current clusters.
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| 4 | | China has established a $47.5B state fund, its largest ever for semiconductor investment, to boost its domestic chip industry. The fund includes investments from the central government and six of China's largest state-owned banks. More: - Called the "Big Fund," the 344 billion yuan investment initiative is the third phase of the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.
- The fund's first phase started in 2014 with 138.7 billion yuan ($19.2B), followed by the second phase in 2019 with 204.1 billion yuan ($28.2B).
- In the third fund, China's finance ministry holds a 17% stake, while China Development Bank Capital follows as the second-largest shareholder with a 10.5% stake.
- The investments, focused on chip manufacturing, design, equipment, and materials, aim to elevate China's semiconductor industry to international standards by 2030.
Zoom out: - The fund follows the U.S. government's sweeping restrictions on advanced chip exports to China due to concerns that Beijing could use the chips for military and AI applications.
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| 5 | | According to a Forbes Health/OnePoll survey, Tinder remains the top dating app, with nearly half of survey respondents using it in the past year. Although many people report using dating apps, a large majority feel worn out by them. Nearly 80% of respondents reported feeling emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted by dating apps sometimes, often, or always. 
What the numbers show: 49% of respondents used Tinder, followed by Plenty of Fish at 38% and Bumble at 29%. Millennials reported an 80% burnout rate, followed by Gen Z at 79%, Gen X at 78%, and Baby Boomers at 70%. Additionally, women report a higher burnout rate of 80% compared to men's 74%. What it means: Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, and Bumble said they are addressing concerns of burnout among younger women through new features, content moderation, and branding. With investor pressure mounting, the companies said they are refocusing efforts on attracting Gen Z and prioritizing women's experiences. "They are literally the most critical demographic for all dating apps," Match Group chief executive Bernard Kim said. | | | |
| 6 | | Meta plans to introduce a paid version of its AI assistant across its platforms. The premium version of "Meta AI" was mentioned in an internal company post, More: - Meta first announced its Meta AI advanced conversational assistant in September. The assistant is built on Meta's Llama 3 model.
- In April, the company rolled out Meta AI to millions of users across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
- Meta now plans to charge for advanced features of the chatbot, although it's unclear what those will be, according to The Information.
Zoom out: - A price has yet to be disclosed. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google each charge $20 monthly for their advanced chatbots.
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| 7 | | QUICK HITS: *This is sponsored content. | | | |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Beth Duckett | |
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