Did you think the AI news was gonna slow down?

Naaaaaaah, shorties. Notachance.

Last week, we finally capped off ‘Tech Announcement Season’ as Apple’s WWDC announcement capped off an action-packed few weeks with big AI reveals from Microsoft, Google and OpenAI.

Yeah, things didn’t slow down at all on the AI front.

• Amidst all the busyness, Apple may have gotten the steal of the decade in OpenAI. (Like whooooooooa.)

• Microsoft’s misstep could cost them big time.

• There’s a new AI video maker grabbing headlines, and it beat OpenAI’s Sora in at least one category.

• It’s gettin so wild out here that even the Pope had to blow the whistle on AI.

(Y’all remember Puffy Coat Pope? One of our favorites.)

Alright, the week was a whirlwind. Here’s what went down, what it means, and how you can keep up.

Let’s get it.

Steal of the decade?

According to reports, Apple’s cozying up to OpenAI without spending a dime. That’s right, no cash involved. Like OpenAI’s an unpaid intern at Cupertino.

Last week, Apple made things official with OpenAI in its ‘Apple Intelligence’ unveiling at its Worldwide Developers Conference. In short, Apple is tapping into OpenAI’s GPT-4o to power various parts of its operating systems.

Buuuuuuttttt….. not paying them for it. WTF?

Instead, they’re ‘trading exposure’ for OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Apple devices.

Apple’s got big plans — integrating ChatGPT with Siri and Apple Shortcuts, making your iPhone and iPad even smarter.

OpenAI’s may end up losing money on the deal initially, having to foot the bill with undoubtedly crazy demand on Microsoft’s servers and their own subscription plans.

What It Means: 

Let’s be honest here — Apple fleeced OpenAI.

Apple was in a tight spot without this integration. As we reported on for months, Apple kept flip flopping between potential AI partners. They reportedly talked with Google, Anthropic and OpenAI.

That meant = they didn’t have the tech.

And if we’re being honest, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude are legit lightyears behind OpenAI’s GPT-4o.

In theory, OpenAI coulda/shoulda had Apple in a tight grip. Apple literally didn’t have any other choice but to partner with OpenAI. (We legit said this months ago. Didn’t the whole world know this?)

Sure, OpenAI’s gonna get a lot of ‘exposure.’ And it seems like Apple will later be unveiling more advanced features in its ‘Apple Intelligence’ that may require a paid ChatGPT subscription.

So OpenAI will likely be cashing checks from a huge audience that they didn’t have before.

We get there’s value there.

But the fact that OpenAI didn’t net tens of billions on this one baffles our mind. Apple’s other choices would have been to partner with Google/Anthropic, which woulda tanked their stock, or punted on AI again, which woulda tanked their stock.

Seems like a huge W for Apple, TBH.

Microsoft’s new Copilot Plus PCs were supposed to ship this week with Recall, a feature giving Copilot a photographic memory of your virtual activities.

But what’s that screeching sound?

Privacy and cybersecurity concerns have hit the brakes on the highly controversial feature.

Yeah, Recall’s kinda getting a premature recall.

(Had to sneak in a dad joke being the day after father’s day y’all. Lolz)

Recall’s getting a trial run with Windows Insider program users first. And once it does release, the feature will be opt-in, so users have to give the thumbs up to enable it.

What It Means:

Apparently, Microsoft didn’t give Recall the full beta treatment. They should have publicly tested Recall before promising it.

This could be their first big AI blunder after swinging on AI early and often, and seemingly hitting a home run each time.

We see the blip being short-lived, as Microsoft is in the driver’s seat for all things AI.

(Oh, guess who wins in that Apple-OpenAI partnership? Microsoft — which reportedly has a 49% ownership stake in OpenAI.)

Luma AI just dropped Dream Machine, and it’s getting pretty rave reviews.

This text-to-video model cranks out high-res videos with lifelike motion and flexible aspect ratios. It’s rivaling big names like Sora and Kling, and users are Mcloving it.

Future updates could bring real-time video editing and more creative tools to the mix.

What It Means:

Dream Machine beat Sora in this one metric — time to market.

We gave Luma’s Dream Machine a quick overview, and showed you how to use it for free in this video.

And while OpenAI hasn’t released Sora and we don’t have access to Kling, we feel safe-ish with our early rankings for AI videos:

1A. Sora

1B. Kling

2A. Dream Machine

2B. Runway Gen-3 (just announced) 

3. Pika Labs

According to a Fortune report, Alexa’s having a tough time keeping up with the generative AI makeover.

Despite being a leading voice assistant, internal chaos and tech hurdles are apparently slowing progress.

The new AI-powered Alexa that Amazon’s been teasing isn’t widely released yet, raising concerns about readiness.

Or, maybe it still stinks and can’t answer simple questions? Lolz

What It Means:

Let’s call this one out — Amazon dropped the ball big time. They were the first to market with a smart assistant.

They WERE the market.

But now they might finish last in the AI-powered-and-actually-smart Assistant category.

This is a huge L for Amazon.

If you’re an Alexa user, you might want to start looking at alternatives. Maybe the Siri+GPT-4o will work for most. Or, we could see Google’s updates here stick.

For Amazon, though, it’s critical to fix these issues fast or risk losing significant market share.

Pope Francis is joining the AI conversation, and he’s not mincing words. 

Addressing G7 leaders in Italy, he emphasized keeping human dignity at the forefront of AI development. 

He warned against AI turning human relations into algorithms and stressed the need for human decision-making over machine autonomy. 

The G7 leaders echoed his concerns, committing to a human-centered approach in their final statement.

What It Means:

The Pope’s call is a stark reminder of the ethical implications of AI. 

Also, who are we fooling here, G7 nations? 

The world is unlikely to agree on anything AI.

That’s because it’s too powerful and crucial for economies. So while the Pope’s calls here are noble and all, they won’t mean squat shorties. 

Also, the U.S. is so far ahead of the other nations. (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K.) 

And some of the European nations have the strictest regulations on AI. 

So while the ‘ethical AI’ schtuff is nice and all, it’s pretty meaningless platitudes because the U.S. is gonna keep steamrolling ahead with little regulation as China starts turning up the artificially intelligent heat.