Welcome again to TechCrunch’s Week in Assessment — TechCrunch’s e-newsletter recapping the week’s greatest information. Need it in your inbox each Saturday? Enroll right here.
Apple’s Worldwide Builders Convention had a large deal with AI. Apple unveiled its generative AI providing, Apple Intelligence, which might be obtainable in iOS later this 12 months. iOS 18 can have quite a lot of new options, together with the flexibility to schedule textual content messages and customise your property display screen, main upgrades to Siri — together with ChatGPT integration — and AI-generated emojis. When you missed it, we put collectively a helpful recap of every little thing Apple introduced.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has secured sufficient shareholder votes to have his 2018 inventory choice compensation bundle accredited. The vote means he may get a payout of as much as $56 billion, the most important CEO compensation bundle in historical past, however a decide in Delaware nonetheless has to concern her closing choice after ruling the bundle was unfair.
In funding information, Mistral AI has closed its a lot rumored Collection B funding spherical. The corporate has secured €600 million (round $640 million at right this moment’s alternate fee) in a mixture of fairness and debt. The brand new spherical values the startup at $6 billion because it continues to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and different AI giants.
Information
Former NSA head joins OpenAI: Former head of the NSA, retired military normal Paul Nakasone, will be a part of OpenAI’s board of administrators and can sit on the board’s “safety and security” subcommittee. Learn extra
Tesla shareholders sue Elon Musk: Shareholders of Tesla are suing Elon Musk and members of the board of administrators over Musk’s choice to begin xAI. They argue that expertise and assets are being diverted from Tesla to the brand new startup. Learn extra
BeReal will get purchased: French cellular apps and video games writer Voodoo has acquired BeReal for €500 million. BeReal co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat will go away the corporate after a transition interval. Learn extra
You possibly can ditch the rings: Apple has lastly made a method for customers to pause exercise rings on Apple Watches, which is particularly useful in case you are sick or in any other case unable to do bodily actions. Learn extra
Raspberry Pi goes public: The maker of tiny, low-cost, single-board computer systems priced its IPO on the London Inventory Alternate at £2.80 per share, valuing it at $690 million at right this moment’s alternate fee, and rapidly jumped to £3.70 per share. Learn extra
iPads lastly get a calculator app: iPads can have a devoted calculator app for the primary time. However, lecturers, beware. The app consists of Math Notes, a brand new function that does the maths for you. Learn extra
A brand new distraction-free smartphone: Minimalist smartphone maker Gentle introduced its latest mannequin. The Gentle Telephone III doesn’t have entry to social media or the web, nevertheless it does sport a bigger OLED show and a digicam. Learn extra
Spotify goes in-house: Spotify is venturing additional into the advert house with its first in-house artistic company, Inventive Lab. The corporate mentioned it’ll additionally start testing generative AI adverts. Learn extra
Will your machine have iOS 18?: Apple’s iOS 18 might be suitable with many Apple gadgets this fall, however you might need to improve if you’d like the complete Apple Intelligence expertise. Learn extra
Evaluation
Apple Intelligence isn’t making an attempt to be flashy: With iOS 18, Apple is taking a extra cautious method. As an alternative of overwhelming customers with too many AI options to rely, the corporate is rigorously rolling out AI the place it believes it might be really helpful. Whereas Apple’s AI is actually not as flashy, Sarah Perez argues that it’s the firm’s method of defining the desk stakes for what an AI-powered machine ought to be capable of do. Learn extra
Tesla followers get out the vote: Tesla and its followers waged an unprecedented battle over Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay bundle. Over the previous couple of months, there was an unrelenting get-out-the-vote effort from Tesla’s greatest followers. Sean O’Kane explores the numerous calls to motion on X to get shareholders to vote sure — and reinforce their perception that Tesla is nothing with out Musk. Learn extra
Why Y Combinator is encouraging small seed rounds: In 2024, many Y Combinator startups solely need tiny seed rounds — nevertheless it might be repelling many institutional seed VCs. If YC startups deal with these rounds extra like pre-seed funding, it won’t be all that dangerous. However as Rebecca Szkutak writes, there’s a danger if corporations are labeling these smaller rounds as “seed rounds” with their sights set on subsequent elevating a Collection A. Learn extra
