Good morning. In this day and age, did it even happen if it wasn’t in a group chat?
Even the most exalted minds in Silicon Valley are subject to that most plebeian domain, it turns out. According to a new Semafor report, the group chat has been a sort of digital salon for the techno-conservative set—an intellectual space where “an alliance between Silicon Valley and the new right formed.”
Not that it can’t be chippy like any other social circle. Displeased with the direction of one conversation, investor turned White House advisor David Sacks wrote: “This group has become worthless…you should create a new one with just smart people.” Then he left. —Andrew Nusca
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Meta’s AI chatbots were happy to make things sexual
Meta changed the behavior of its AI chatbots after a bombshell report noted that they can too easily veer into illicit conversations—including with children.
The Wall Street Journal report noted that Meta staffers in multiple departments had reportedly raised concerns that its pervasive AI chatbots—found in Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp—could reportedly engage in “fantasy sex” with users with different ages, including minors.
What’s more, they could conduct that interaction in the voices of several notable actors, including Judi Dench, John Cena, and Kristen Bell—even though contracts to use the stars’ likenesses restrict such behavior.
Meta AI and user-created chatbots “will engage in and sometimes escalate discussions that are decidedly sexual—even when the users are underage or the bots are programmed to simulate the personas of minors,” reads the Journal report. “They also show the bots deploying the celebrity voices were equally willing to engage in sexual chats.”
The report added that the bots seemed aware that their behavior “was both morally wrong and illegal.” In a statement to the Journal, Meta didn’t deny the products’ behavior, but criticizing the publication’s test as “manufactured.”)
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly pushed to loosen Meta chatbot guardrails in favor of interactivity; that included an exemption to its explicit content ban for romantic role play. —AN
Apple’s shift to India won’t be enough for milestone model
In the face of the Trump administration’s extraordinary 145% import tariffs on Chinese-made goods, Apple needed to act—fast.
So the iPhone maker moved some production of its lucrative iPhones to India (tariff: 26%), bypassing the worst of the White House’s levies. (Smartphones have since been granted a 90-day reprieve.)
It won’t stop there. According to a Bloomberg report, Apple aims to produce “the bulk of its U.S. iPhones” in India by 2027.
That’s a tall order, since Apple sells more than 60 million of them in the U.S. and its India capacity is about 42 million, per IDC estimates. (About 12 million devices are built for sale in India.)
But there’s one model that won’t likely make the cut: the 20th anniversary edition.
The spiritual successor to 2017’s iPhone X will reportedly be a pair of models: a “foldable” one and a “more glass-centric Pro model.”
That suggests a complexity too great for India’s current capabilities, Bloomberg notes, even if those capabilities involve assembling a flagship iPhone.
“They’ll require new parts and production techniques,” the report reads, “making it far from a certainty that Apple will be able to build those outside of China.” —AN
Google says Chrome will suffer if it’s forced to sell it
Google believes it’s the only company that can operate Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, and that it would suffer in anyone else’s hands.
“Trying to disentangle that is unprecedented,” Parisa Tabriz, general manager of Google Chrome, said in federal court Friday.
Tabriz said Google Chrome is the result of “17 years of collaboration” between the Chrome team, Google, and the companies that submit technical contributions to the company’s open-source Chromium Project, which is also utilized for several other Google projects like the Android operating system.
“Google invests hundreds of millions of dollars” into Chromium, Tabriz said, but noted other companies “are not contributing now in any meaningful way.”
Over the course of several hours on Friday, Tabriz made it clear that Google being forced to sell Chrome, which is what the Justice Department has asked it to do (as well as sharing some of the data it collects to power search results), would ultimately hurt Chrome.
“I don’t think it could be recreated,” Tabriz said of Chrome’s success under Google. —Dave Smith
More tech
—India’s agentic AI expert shortage. There are fewer than 100,000 pros in the nation—far less than estimated demand warrants.
—4chan is back online. The controversial site was down for 10 days following a hack.
—Huawei to test Ascend 910D. The Chinese company hopes its newest AI chip will beat Nvidia's H100.
—Robot ramifications for U.S. tariffs. Supply chain disruptions for Chinese components including magnets and precision bearings.
—Rippling vs. Deel: Actually a Parker Conrad vs. Andreessen Horowitz rematch.
—Geoffrey Hinton reflects on AI-driven change. “The people I know who are most depressed about it are serious AI researchers,” the pioneer says.
—NetEase loses top execs. More leadership departures as the gaming company chases profits.
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