Uber and…Travis Kalanick? And a robotaxi company?

There’s a lot of human-generated goodness within. Don’t miss Jeff John Roberts on how AI is influencing the practice of law, Allie Garfinkle on the deployment of AI avatars in the enterprise, Jeremy Kahn on AI’s role in the revival of American manufacturing, and Leo Schwartz on how AI is transforming finance.

My favorite? Chris Stokel-Walker on the use of AI in farming, specifically cattle analytics. There’s a joke in there somewhere.

I encourage you to read the entire issue. Today’s tech news below. —Andrew Nusca

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Uber might help Travis Kalanick acquire a robotaxi company

Uber and Travis Kalanick in the same headline? What is it, 2016?

It’s true. The king of ride-hailing is reportedly in talks with its cofounder—famously forced out of the company eight years ago—to help fund his acquisition of the U.S. arm of the Chinese self-driving car company Pony.ai.

“Always be hustling,” indeed.

Pony, as it so happens, was founded in Silicon Valley in 2016. It’s publicly traded in the U.S. and is currently worth about $4.5 billion, but the majority of its operations are in China, split between Beijing and Guangzhou. (A slight issue given this Trump administration’s priorities.)

If the deal happens—and that’s a big if, according to the New York Times—Kalanick would run Pony U.S. on top of his existing job as CEO of CloudKitchens, which operates so-called dark kitchens dedicated to food delivery.

So what’s in it for Uber, besides a bit of super pumped nostalgia? Answer: A stronger position in the autonomous driving race.

As Tesla and Zoox engage in their plans to roll-out robotaxi services across the U.S., there’s a creeping sense that the market leader, Alphabet’s Waymo, is so far ahead that it might lap the pack.

And Uber, by far the largest ride-hailing service in the U.S. (and a major player in myriad global markets), has no interest in watching customers migrate to another app as human drivers become an anachronism. —AN

Apple overhauls EU App Store to comply with law

Apple on Thursday announced several major changes to its App Store in the European Union.

The changes come under pressure from the European Commission with regard to compliance with the Digital Markets Act, or DMA.

In general, the changes loosen restrictions on app developers who distribute their wares in the EU, even if they haven’t agreed to Apple’s EU-specific terms of business.

Developers can now promote offers across myriad channels—third-party websites, other apps, other app marketplaces—rather than only their own websites.

Developers can now direct users of their apps to multiple destinations, rather than a single static URL, and use tracking parameters and redirects.

Perhaps most notably, Apple will still display an interstitial—sometimes described as a “scare sheet”—warning users that they are going to an external destination, but there’s a new option to opt out of seeing it every time within the same app.

The changes, which were accompanied by a litany of adjusted terms and fees, took effect immediately.

Apple continued to express disagreement with the position of EU regulators and vowed to appeal. The deadline for doing so is July 7. —AN

Google launches Doppl, which uses AI to visualize outfits

What is all this AI going to do for me, you might ask. Finally, an answer.

Google announced on Thursday a new, experimental app that uses AI to visualize how different outfits look on you.

Called Doppl, it’s available on iOS and Android in the U.S. 

Here’s how it works. First, you upload a full-body photo of yourself. (Courage, reader.) Then, snap a photo of an outfit you like—you can use a screenshot, too–to virtually try it on. 

Doppl can even take the static images and, through the magic of AI, turn them into videos to better realize the lewk.

Google is quick to warn that Doppl is a Google Labs experiment and “might not always get things right,” including fit, appearance, and clothing details. But the prospect is compelling if you’re the kind of person who cares about your #OOTD.

Virtual try-on software isn’t a new concept—the “Cher’s Closet” application in the 1995 film Clueless comes to mind—but AI certainly adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the experience. 

For Google, it’s also an opportunity to sweeten its offering to retailers as it pushes deeper into the commerce category, which in turn protects its highly lucrative ad business. —AN

More tech

—U.S. immigration enforcement is using facial recognition tech to identify people of interest.

—Google Pixel 7 banned in Japan. It’s related to an unresolved patent issue.

—Meta might buy PlayAI. The Silicon Valley startup uses AI to generate voices.

—R.I.P., Blue Screen of Death. Microsoft will replace the Windows fixture with something black and more helpful.

—Kraken launches Krak. It’s a payments app covering more than 300 assets, from fiat to crypto.

—Stream on YouTube? You must now be 16 years old.

—Salesforce dogfoods AI. Up to half of all work done at the business software company is done by AI, CEO claims.

—DeepSeek R2 delays. The hotly anticipated AI model is reportedly suffering from U.S. restrictions on Nvidia chip exports to China.

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