Why Apple Sued OpenAI, New York Takes on Data Centers, and What to Know about Cyclosporiasis

Brian Barrett: Vision Pro.

Zoë Schiffer: The Vision Pro. Thank you so much.

Brian Barrett: You don’t think about Vision Pro every day?

Zoë Schiffer: No. I have to say that it lived and died very quickly, and I haven’t thought about it since. But I think the issue, and this has been true for other AI hardware the devices, like the famous pin from Humane AI and all of that. There just are many things that are better to do on a screen, and I don’t think that’s going to change. However, if you can get agents and voice mode that works really, really well, there are other things that you really could just ask an agent to execute for you, and you might prefer not to look at a screen the whole time. And so I personally, as someone who has a very tortured relationship with my screens, I’m ready for something that could work a little bit better. But it’s hard to execute correctly, and I don’t think we’ve seen a product so far that has been able to do that. Just to ground what we’re talking about a little bit more, OpenAI has hired more than 400 former Apple employees according to the lawsuit.

Leah Feiger: Wow.

Zoë Schiffer: And last year it paid $6.5 billion to acquire a startup called IO Products that was co-founded by longtime Apple executives, including Tan, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and the most famous person, Jony Ive.

Brian Barrett: Yeah, it is a huge investment that they’re making in this space, and it’s obviously got a sting for Apple to be losing all of these people. Plus they’ve lost AI researchers to other companies as well. Apple’s hemorrhaging AI talent and now hardware talent too, which really hits them where it hurts. What I am most excited about about this whole process is we’re not even really there yet, is that lawsuits mean discovery, and—

Zoë Schiffer: Yay.

Brian Barrett: Yay, discovery, yay. And discovery means we’re going to get to read so many emails of these companies talking trash about each other and themselves. And it’s going to be such a delight. It’s always a joy when these things happen.

Zoë Schiffer: It’s so fun. No one is cattier than a lawyer with an IP issue.

Brian Barrett: Put that on a mug, Zoë.

Zoë Schiffer: They are.

Brian Barrett: Wow. Do we have merch yet? Can that be on—

Zoë Schiffer: I love it.

Brian Barrett: That’s our merch. Yeah.

Zoë Schiffer: That’s our merch.

Brian Barrett: OpenAI’s headaches are not just limited to the Apple lawsuit this week. WIRED learned that OpenAI staffers are funding a rival super PAC to advocate for tighter regulations on Frontier AI Labs. It’s a rival, of course, to all of the money that people like Greg Brockman, OpenAI executive, and others have put towards boosting AI and shutting down guardrails. This new Super PAC called Guardrails Alliance, catchy. It launched last month.