Good morning. A new Fortune Most Powerful Women list is out this week, and you’ll spot quite a few faces—24 by our count—from the tech world.
Our long-running ranking includes CEOs (AMD’s Lisa Su, No. 4; Oracle’s Safra Catz, No. 14), CFOs (Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, No. 10; Meta’s Susan Li, No. 41), and all manner of leaders in between (Netflix CCO Bela Bajaria, No. 31; SpaceX prez Gwynne Shotwell, No. 49).
Who’d we miss? Reply and let me know. Today’s tech news below. —AN
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Fortnite returns to the Apple App Store
Fortnite has finally returned to the Apple App Store in the U.S.
It took almost five years to get there following developer Epic Games’ lengthy legal battle with Apple over the latter’s in-app payment policies.
"We back fam," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney posted on social media.
It’s a big win for Epic, though not as big as it might have been in the past.
Fortnite’s popularity has waned since its initial surge of interest from 2018 to 2020, though the battle royale game managed to break its single-day player record in 2023.
In 2020—when Fornite enjoyed 116 million iOS users—Epic accused Apple of monopolistic practices by charging up to 30% commission on in-app purchases.
Last month, a court ruling declared that Apple had violated a prior injunction to allow more competition in its App Store.
For Epic, the U.S. is the final piece of a bigger puzzle. Fortnite was reinstated last year on Google Android devices and Apple iPhones in the EU.
For everyone else, the ruling may embolden other subscription-based services (e.g. Netflix or Spotify) to bypass Apple’s app commission structure, threatening a significant revenue stream for the iPhone maker. —AN
Google’s ‘AI mode’ arrives in the U.S.
Google has officially launched its "AI Mode" to all U.S. users.
The announcement substantially changes its core Google Search experience by integrating a conversational AI chatbot directly into the service.
The company announced the feature at its annual I/O conference in Silicon Valley.
AI Mode essentially lets users engage in conversational dialogue with a search engine, not unlike rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The feature therefore replaces conventional Google Search results with AI-generated responses. It also includes visual cards that display pertinent information, e.g. product details (prices, promotions) or local business information (opening hours, reviews).
AI Mode is available to Google One AI Premium subscribers through a $20 monthly “Pro” plan or a $250 monthly “Ultra” one that affords the highest-limit access to Google’s most advanced AI models (Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think) and tools (Flow AI for filmmaking).
As AI chatbots begin to eat into Google’s iconic search business, can the company disrupt itself enough to stay ahead? Let’s just say…it’s feeling lucky. —AN
Waymo isn’t profitable yet
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana says the self-driving car company has reached 10 million trips, double what it was five months ago.
“These are all paid trips,” she told CNBC at the Google I/O developer conference. The statistic includes rides in Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
Alphabet said in its April earnings report that Waymo was taking more than 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week. (Waymo and Google are both owned by Alphabet.)
Still, Waymo isn’t yet turning a profit. Mawakana told the outlet that “there’s a path to profitability” and that the company was focused on “building a sustainable business.”
In the meantime, Waymo recently announced that it won approval to expand into more of the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose, home to nearly one million people.
The race is very much on. Elon Musk’s Tesla has promised to launch its robotaxi service in Austin next month; Amazon’s Zoox has already begun testing in Los Angeles. —AN
More tech
—Peter Thiel’s deep state. Connections to the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor run through the Trump administration.
—Entry-level jobs are disappearing. In an age of AI, companies want agents…or experts.
—Intel mulls NEX divestiture. Its network and “edge” unit generated $5.8 billion in revenue last year.
—AI is 3x more likely to take a woman’s job as a man’s, according to a UN report.
—Take-Two Interactive to sell $1 billion of stock to repay debt and make acquisitions.
—Palo Alto Networks beats on Q3 earnings. But its gross margin of 76% misses estimates by a percentage point.
—China aims to nearly double AI industry value by 2027, per a new regional government plan.
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