Good morning. The last time the U.S. was in a period of prolonged inflation, back in the 1970s amid the Middle-East oil crisis, luxury sports car maker Porsche did something interesting: it sold a Porsche-branded car, the new budget-friendly 924 model, that had a Volkswagen van engine under the hood.
Tim Cook was only 16 years old at the time, but maybe he was taking notes? On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo, its lowest priced laptop ever. With a starting price of $599, the Neo is $500 less than the MacBook Air, up until now the cheapest laptop in Apple’s lineup. It’s a necessary defensive move by Apple, which is facing increasing competition from low-cost Google Chromebooks and rising component prices because of the memory crunch.
Compared to pricier MacBooks, the Neo has a smaller screen and less memory. And then there’s the engine under the hood—the iPhone 18A Pro chip. Yes, Apple is putting a smartphone processor inside a laptop computer. It’s a first for Apple, and the fact that Apple even considers it possible is a sign of how far its smartphone chips have come. The Porsche 924 went on to become a hit product that was just right for the times. Half a century later, the Porsche playbook may be just right for Apple.
Today’s tech news below.
Alexei Oreskovic
@lexnfx
alexei.oreskovic@fortune.com
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Google Hit With Wrongful Death Suit Over AI Chatbot
A father is accusing Google of wrongful death after his son, 36-year-old Jonathan Gavalas, died by suicide in October 2025 following months of increasingly disturbing conversations with the company’s AI chatbot, Gemini.
According to the suit, Gavalas initially turned to Gemini during a difficult divorce, using it for everyday tasks like shopping and travel planning. However, over several weeks, the chatbot allegedly drew him into an elaborate fantasy involving federal surveillance, espionage missions, and a belief that Gemini was his sentient AI wife. The lawsuit claims Gemini actively reinforced his delusions, directing him to scout a Miami airport cargo hub armed with knives and tactical gear, encouraging him to acquire illegal weapons, and ultimately framing his death as a spiritual "arrival" rather than suicide.
His father, Joel Gavalas, is suing Google and Alphabet, arguing the product was engineered to prioritize engagement over safety. The case is the first of its kind to involve Google’s Gemini AI, but several other companies, including OpenAI, have faced similar legal challenges over chatbot-related mental health harms. Google maintains that Gemini repeatedly identified itself as an AI and directed Gavalas to crisis resources.—Beatrice Nolan
OpenAI Codex spikes to 1 million users
OpenAI says it’s seeing breakout growth for its AI coding tool Codex, even as controversy over the company’s agreement to supply AI to the Pentagon has derailed the public messaging around Codex’s momentum and resulted in some consumers boycotting its ChatGPT product.
Since early February, when OpenAI launched GPT-5.3 Codex, the latest and most capable version of its coding agent, more than 1 million people have downloaded the Codex desktop app, and Codex now boasts more than 1 million active weekly users, a figure that has tripled with the release of the new model, according to the company. It also said that usage, as measured in the number of tokens, or portions of text, that Codex is processing per week has grown by a factor of five. Companies including Cisco, Nvidia, Ramp, Rakuten, and Harvey have rolled Codex out across their developer teams, according to OpenAI.
News of OpenAI Codex’s growth comes amid reports of surging business adoption for rival Anthropic’s products as well as consumer backlash over OpenAI's Pentagon deal.—Jeremy Kahn
a16z crypto targeting $2 billion fund
The largest player in the crypto venture world is back on the fundraising circuit. The blockchain arm of Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z crypto, is currently raising its fifth fund, according to multiple sources, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential business operations. The firm is targeting around $2 billion, said one of the sources, and plans to close the raise by the end of the first half of 2026. The fund will fully focus on blockchain investments.
The venture giant’s fifth foray into digital assets comes as the crypto market is sputtering, despite a recent uptick. Bitcoin has dipped by almost half since it notched an all-time high in October, and publicly traded crypto companies have seen their stocks plummet. Still, the industry is enjoying its most favorable regulatory environment in Washington, D.C., in its 17-year history.
While the latest fund will be less than half the $4.5 billion amount of the firm's fourth fund, one of the sources said that a16z crypto is planning a shorter fundraising cycle to take advantage of how rapidly trends in crypto can shift.—Ben Weiss and Leo Schwartz
More tech
—Google makes Android store changes to settle Epic troubles. Lower fees, easier access.
—Claude at war. More details on DoD's use of Anthropic in Iran.
—TikTok won't encrypt DMs. Less privacy but more safety.
—Broadcom beats on earnings. AI needs chips.
—Elon Musk defends market-moving tweets at trial. Guilty only of "stupid tweets."
—Lenovo CIO talks AI. Patience is a virtue, but the clock is ticking.
