Weekend Warp

Last week a new star emerged in the world of AI. Apple, a company used to constant stardom was living in the shade of brighter objects like OpenAI and Microsoft, finally stepped out into the limelight.

There were a lot of expectations from Apple as Tim Cook took the stage in the WWDC event last week. And Apple did not disappoint; in fact, it blew past everyone’s expectations. They unveiled Apple Intelligence (the new AI!), and a big partnership with OpenAI . Both will come with their new phones. A bunch of integrated features (read more ) seemed to make the iPhone, and Siri, cool again! The stock lit up with a big jump, briefly eclipsing Microsoft to make it the most valuable company again (read here ). It seems that every company needs Vitamin AI for its stock to soar in the markets.

Apple's stock price jump can be attributed to three factors:

1. The announcements around its OpenAI alliance and Apple Intelligence, something that every analyst and investor was clamoring for;

2. The fact that Apple had a very coherent strategy of infusing AI into its core offerings in the iPhone and made it easy to understand, relatable, and relevant;

3. Most of all the fact that this will help Apple bring out an 'AI Phone' and potentially offer $1000+ devices.

The market recognises that Apple, with its distribution might and cult consumer following, has truly brought Edge AI into the market. I wrote more about it in my LinkedIn post here . As an analyst said, AI had its iPhone moment😊

OK, Musk time again.

It was also his big big week. It started off with him not being very happy with the Apple-OpenAI announcement, citing privacy concerns and threatening to stop his employees using Apple products (read here ). Musk is known for his rants, but this one was special. I speculate why in my podcast with Forbes here . But his mood would have become considerably better later in the week when his shareholders voted overwhelmingly to award him his $56bn stock grant – thus taking his holding to 20% - which had been promised to him if he took Tesla beyond a $600bn valuation. A Delaware court had nixed this, prompting Musk to move his HQ to friendlier Texas. He won support for that move too. What played on shareholders minds was the fact that Musk threatened to take all the AI work away from Tesla into a separate company, if he did not own at least 20% of it.

Read more about this here

If we talk about Musk, we must talk about his nemesis OpenAI too. First of all, the law suit that he had slapped on OpenAI was quietly withdrawn, making it a good week for Sam Altman too (read more here ). What would have made it even better was the aforementioned Apple deal. This gives ChatGPT and other products a distribution step up of 2bn phones, a massive shot in the arm of the fledgling company. If OpenAI was listed, it would have meant a colossal stock movement upwards. There seem to be some rumblings though, with employees talking about how whistleblowers are not encouraged and news of the appointment of the ex NSA head to its Board (read more here ). Lets see where this goes.

The space is certainly heating up….at warp speed