Good morning. Here at Fortune, we just closed the latest issue of our print magazine. It should be hitting newsstands soon (or, if you’re a subscriber, your good old mail box), and as always, it’s chock-full of great long reads about the people and companies shaping business today.
And since this is a tech newsletter, here’s a sneak peak at the cover story, which looks at what may be this year’s biggest tech story: Alexandr Wang’s new role leading Meta’s new superintelligence team. If you’re wondering what exactly this Meta superintelligence bet is all about, and who the startup founder is that’s leading it, Fortune correspondent Sharon Goldman’s excellent article will set you straight. Read it here. —Alexei Oreskovic
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Amazon's new wearable
Amazon has acquired a nice collection of startup gadget-makers over the years, from smart doorbell maker Ring to mesh networking company Eero.
The latest gadget to join the club is Bee, a Fitbit-like wristband that listens to your conversations and tracks your actions, feeding all the data to an AI that creates to-do lists, reminders, and personal insights. "We believe everyone should have access to a personal, ambient intelligence that feels less like a tool and more like a trusted companion," the company says on its website.
Amazon did not disclose the price it paid to acquire San Francisco-based Bee. The startup's $50 smart bracelet is part of the emerging AI wearables category, which has seen a mix of successes (Meta's RayBan smart glasses) and some notable flops (the $699 Humane Pin). One key question: how the device jibes with privacy laws in U.S. states which require two-party consent to record conversations.
But as recently hired Amazon exec Panos Panay moves to update Alexa for the AI age, the new wristband raises some interesting possibilities. —AO
Microsoft joins the AI poaching party
Mark Zuckerberg isn't the only one raiding rivals to steal their AI talent. Over the past six months Microsoft's recruiting commandoes have lured some two dozen of Google's AI experts, according to a Financial Times report on Tuesday.
The biggest catch appears to be Amar Subramanya, the former Google Gemini head of engineering and a 16-year Google veteran, who announced his new role as Microsoft's CVP of AI in a Linkedin post brimming with shade. "Just one week into my new role, I’m already feeling deeply energized. The culture here is refreshingly low ego yet bursting with ambition," he said.
Adding to the rivalry, Microsoft's consumer AI boss Mustafa Suleyman and Google's DeepMind AI boss Demis Hassabis were both once colleagues, as cofounders of DeepMind. A unnamed source told the FT that Google DeepMind's attrition rates are below industry average and that, for its part, it has lured a similar number of AI researchers from Microsoft. Whatever the case, the industry-wide AI talent wars don't seem like they'll be cooling anytime soon. —AO
Apple App Store rules to get EU blessing
Apple's latest changes to its App Store rules in Europe are set to get the green light from the EU antitrust regulators, Reuters reports citing anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
With the approval, said to be coming in the next few weeks, the iPhone maker will avoid hefty daily fines and will resolve a cloud hanging over one of its key businesses.
Under Apple's new terms, app developers pay Apple a 20% processing fee for purchases made within the App Store (13% for those deemed to be small businesses), while developers who send customers outside Apple's walled garden would pay Apple fees ranging between 5% and 15%. It's a significant change from the roughly 30% fee Apple once charged app developers.
Apple's Services business, which includes App Store fees, represented 28% of Apple's total revenue last quarter and was its second fastest-growing business, outpacing iPhone and Mac sales growth. Apple is due to report its latest quarterly results on July 31. —AO
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