Good morning. It’s Friday, so: pop quiz time!
Social media usage is believed to have peaked in 2022. (Turns out all that trolling your neighbor is doing in the community group is not engaging!)
Which demographic gave up on it first: 16 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, or 55 to 64?
Take your best guess and find the answer below in “Endstop triggered.” Have a wonderful weekend. —Andrew Nusca
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Ron Conway relinquishes board seat, citing Marc Benioff's politics
One of the most noted venture capitalists in Silicon Valley resigned yesterday from the board of the philanthropic arm of Salesforce.
The reason? CEO Marc Benioff’s recent comments expressing support for President Trump and welcoming his order to send the National Guard to San Francisco to prevent crime.
“I have expressed candidly to you, repeatedly, in recent days, that I am shocked and disappointed by your comments calling for an unwanted invasion of San Francisco by federal troops,” Ron Conway wrote in an email, “and by your willful ignorance and detachment from the impacts of the ICE immigration raids of families with NO criminal record.”
He added: “It saddens me immensely to say that with your recent comments, and failure to understand their impact, I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired.”
Conway—famous for his investments in Airbnb, Google, Facebook, PayPal, Twitter, and Snap, among others—had been a member of the Salesforce Foundation board for a decade and a friend of Benioff for more than twice that. He’s also a longtime Democratic donor.
Benioff, for his part, has backed political candidates on both sides of the aisle: Republicans Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, John Boehner, John McCain, and George W. Bush; Democrats Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Hillary Clinton. —AN
Microsoft adds AI features to regular Windows 11 PCs
As every major company reorganizes itself around AI—products, processes, people, strategies—one of the leaders of the revolution isn’t leaving its own goods untouched.
Microsoft said Thursday that it would revamp its Windows 11 operating system (which came out in 2021, a year before ChatGPT launched) by adding a slew of new features to bridge the gap between today’s regular PCs and tomorrow’s “AI PCs.”
“When we think about what the promise of an AI PC is, it should be capable of three things,” the company wrote in a blog post. “First, you should be able to interact with it naturally, in text or voice, and have it understand you. Second, it should be able to see what you see and be able to offer guided support. And third, it should be able to take action on your behalf.”
Of the new features, the most notable are those that encourage you to talk to your device—get ready for “Hey, Copilot”—or review things on your screen (to, say, answer questions about a document or guide you through an unfamiliar app).
Then there are the agents. Copilot Actions promise to complete computing drudgery for you behind the scenes; a provided example is correcting orientation and removing duplicates in a folder full of photos.
Microsoft has yet to announce a release date for Windows 12, but it took six years to make the leap from Windows 10 to 11. Hopefully these new AI features are enough to tide us over until 2027. —AN
A touchscreen MacBook is reportedly in the works
Apple is preparing to launch a MacBook Pro with a touch display in late 2026 or early 2027, according to a new report.
The laptop will be powered by Apple’s M6 chip, the successor to its just-announced M5, per Bloomberg.
Critics of the company will say that Apple is once again late to the PC party. Touchscreen laptops have been out for more than a decade; today, Microsoft’s Surface and Acer’s Chromebook lead the way.
The new laptops will feature the same OLED tech found in Apple’s mobile devices and “retain a full trackpad and keyboard” so touch isn’t the only way to use them, according to the report.
They’ll also cost “a few hundred dollars more” thanks to stronger hinges and other components necessary to make the format work. Today’s MacBooks start at two and two-and-a-half grand.
It's been a long time coming for Apple. Way back in 2010, Steve Jobs argued that “touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical.” But as the late co-founder would no doubt recognize, the times, they are a-changin’. —AN
More tech
—OpenAI hires black hole theoretical physicist. There’s a joke in here somewhere.
—Ripple acquires GTreasury. A billion-dollar buy of the platform for corporations to manage cash, foreign exchange, and risk.
—Spotify partners with Sony, WMG, UMG, and others to develop “responsible AI products.”
—Apple, NBCU roll out TV bundle. Apple TV plus Peacock Premium for $14.99/mo. Just don’t call it cable!
—Amazon's Ring partners with Flock. Law enforcement agencies that work with Flock can request Ring footage.
—DoorDash, Waymo partner. Robotaxis for food delivery? Strap in.
—South Korea rolls back AI textbook initiative. Teachers, students, and parents alike rejected the $850 million effort.
Endstop triggered
Answer: 16 to 24, according to a usage analysis of 250,000 adults in more than 50 countries conducted by the digital audience insights company GWI and published in the Financial Times.
“Across the developed world, adults aged 16 and older spent an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day on social platforms at the end of 2024, down by almost 10 percent since 2022,” the FT writes. “Notably, the decline is most pronounced among the erstwhile heaviest users — teens and 20-somethings.”
They started the trend, and now they’re ending it. Poetic, really.
