Welcome again to Week in Assessment! We’ve received numerous information for you at this time: Amazon earnings, Apple earnings, ChatGPT sycophancy, Alibaba’s AI fashions, and way more. Let’s get to it!
Effectively? Throughout Apple’s earnings name yesterday, Tim Cook dinner revealed that the corporate paid $900 million in tariffs final quarter. However regardless of this, the CEO didn’t announce any price increases — but.
Huge bucks: Protection tech startup Mach Industries, which was based by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, is about to close a fresh $100 million in financing, sources advised TechCrunch. This new funding ought to carry the startup’s complete funding to about $185 million up to now.
Extra fashions: Alibaba introduced this week that it’s releasing a family of AI models, referred to as Qwen3, that it claims can outperform OpenAI and Google. In keeping with Alibaba, the Qwen3 fashions are “hybrid” fashions, and so they’re not but obtainable for obtain.
That is TechCrunch’s Week in Assessment, the place we recap the week’s greatest information. Need this delivered as a publication to your inbox each Saturday? Sign up here.
Information
Shoot for the celebs: Amazon’s effort to create a space-based web community started in earnest this week: The corporate fired off its first 27 internet satellites on Tuesday. The primary half of the community must be deployed by mid-2026 to fulfill the FCC deadline.
AI in your pocket: Meta is rolling out a stand-alone AI app, which it unveiled on the firm’s first LlamaCon occasion on Tuesday. The app permits customers to entry Meta AI in an app, just like the ChatGPT app and different AI assistant apps.
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Blocked: A choose in India blocked the encrypted email provider Proton Mail throughout the nation. This was in response to a authorized criticism filed by New Delhi-based M Moser Design Associates, which alleged that its workers had obtained emails containing obscene and vulgar content material despatched through Proton Mail.
Cheaters by no means win: Cluely went viral just lately for its daring declare of serving to folks cheat on every part. However some startups are claiming they can catch Cluely’s users.
Alexa+: Amazon’s new digital assistant goals to let customers speak with it in a extra pure fashion and ultimately have agentic skills that permit it to make use of third-party apps on a person’s behalf. Throughout Amazon’s earnings name this week, CEO Andy Jassy says that 100,000 users now have Alexa+.
AI the place it issues: Airbnb appears to be taking a extra measured strategy with AI. It began rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot within the U.S. final month. CEO Brian Chesky mentioned in February that the corporate would use AI for customer support earlier than it began implementing it for different makes use of like journey planning or reserving tickets.
Epic ruling: Epic Video games has notched a win in an ongoing authorized dispute with Apple. Decide Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers mentioned in a ruling that Apple was in “willful violation” of a 2021 injunction that prohibited the corporate from imposing anticompetitive pricing. In consequence, Fortnite might be again on iPhones as quickly as subsequent week.
LOL: Following the Epic Video games ruling, Stripe shared documentation that reveals iOS builders how to avoid the Apple commission.
Examine your settings: Meta emailed Ray-Ban Meta house owners on Tuesday with a discover that AI options will now be enabled on the glasses by default. This implies Meta’s AI will analyze images and movies taken with the glasses whereas sure AI options are switched on.
Yikes! OpenAI mentioned it was “rolling back” the newest replace to the default AI mannequin powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o, after complaints about unusual habits, particularly it being overly agreeable and validating. In keeping with OpenAI, the replace, which was supposed to make the mannequin’s default character “really feel extra intuitive and efficient,” was informed too much by “short-term feedback.” Now the corporate pledges to make adjustments that will prevent this from happening sooner or later.
Earlier than you go
Oh the drama: We learn by way of the 80-page Epic v. Apple resolution to tug out the choose’s juiciest, fieriest comments. Right here’s one to get you began: “Apple engaged in ways to delay the proceedings. The Courtroom later concluded that delay equaled earnings.”