Microsoft's AI, Apple's new iPads, and Zuckerberg's Threads vs. Musk's X

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Image for article titled Microsoft's AI, Apple's new iPads, and Mark Zuckerberg's Threads vs. Elon Musk's X: Tech news roundup — Graphic: Images: Michael M. Santiago, Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu, Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket

This week, reports surfaced that Apple is developing its own AI chips to sit in data centers and power AI applications. While there are few details on that project, Apple did release details about its new chip, the M4, for its latest iPad Pro that’s capable of efficiently running AI workloads.

In the meantime, Reddit gave a sunny first-quarter earnings report that sent its stock price soaring 15%, and Bloomberg kicked off its annual tech conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

Quartz rounds up the biggest tech news stories of the week.

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Microsoft is training its AI model to compete with Google and OpenAI, report says

Microsoft Experience Center on Fifth Avenue on April 3, 2024 in New York City.

Photo: Michael M. Santiago (Getty Images)

Microsoft is reportedly training its own artificial intelligence model to compete with models from Google and OpenAI, which it has a multi-year, multibillion-dollar partnership with.

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Yahoo’s search engine was Apple’s first choice for Safari — not Google, DOJ says

Google logo is displayed in the Apple Store on an iPhone.

Photo: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket (Getty Images)

When Apple demoed its iPhone in 2007, the default search engine for its web browser, Safari, was Yahoo!, not Google.

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4 takeaways from the Google antitrust trial

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Google wrapped up closing arguments in a potentially historic antitrust lawsuit last week. The DOJ has released a 370-page slideshow supporting its case that Google holds a monopoly over the search engine market — and offered a revealing look at the business maneuvers of the digital giant.

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Reddit is including Redditors in its first earnings call since going public

In an unusual move, Reddit took questions from its very own users during an earnings call this week.

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Apple’s AI strategy includes making its own chips

Apple logo hangs in front of an Apple store in Chicago, Illinois.

Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images)

Apple is reportedly developing AI chips in partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The initiative code-named Project ACDC, for “Apple Chips in Data Center,” would allow Apple to run artificial intelligence software on its own chips in data centers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Apple’s new iPad Pro has an ‘outrageously powerful chip for AI’

Apple on Tuesday announced its latest iPad Pro with a new chip that it promises will majorly boost the efficiency of AI applications run on the device.

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Reddit stock surges 15% after first earnings since IPO beat expectations

Reddit debuted on the NYSE in March 2024.

Reddit, the cheeky social media platform that serves as a bridge for thousands of forums, is having a better-than-expected inaugural earnings debut as a public company.

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A billionaire Nvidia investor says he cut his stake: ‘AI might be a little overhyped now’

stanely druckenmiller wearing a suit jacket and tie with a blue button down sitting with a DealBook backdrop behind him — Duquesne Capital Management founder Stanley Druckenmiller at the New York Times 2015 DealBook Conference on November 3, 2015 in New York City.

Premier chipmaker Nvidia has been on a streak this year due to the artificial intelligence boom, but not all of its investors are fully buying into the hype.

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A tech startup just raised $1 billion — and an IPO could be around the corner

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport at 2021 Web Summit.

Cybersecurity startup Wiz said this week that it had raised $1 billion in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital.

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Microsoft and Biden announced a $3 billion AI investment in a key battleground state

Microsoft Technology Center near Times Square, June 4, 2018 in New York City.

Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)

Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar bet on artificial intelligence keeps growing — this time with a data center in Wisconsin.

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The U.S. will triple its chip manufacturing in less than a decade, report says

Joe Biden speaking at a podium with the presidential seal, behind him is a bulldozer and a sign about the project funding by the CHIPS and Science Act — U.S. President Joe Biden gives a speech at Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona.

The multi-billion dollar effort to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S. is projected to boost domestic chipmaking capacity by triple, a new report says.

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‘It’s obviously nice to have Taylor Swift’: A Meta executive on Threads playing catch-up to Elon Musk’s X

Meta executive Chris Cox wasn’t braggy about Threads’ recent dominance over Elon Musk’s X during the Bloomberg Technology Conference on Thursday.

Microsoft's AI, Apple's new iPads, and Mark Zuckerberg's Threads vs. Elon Musk's X: Tech news roundup

Plus, more from the DOJ's landmark antitrust trial against Google