🍏 Apple Delays, AI Secrets Targeted, Robots Get Smarter

Newslit Daily

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🍏 Apple Delays, AI Secrets Targeted, Robots Get Smarter

Plus: UK Targets Apple, Google; D-Wave Claims Quantum Edge.

Jose Montes de Oca

Mar 13, 2025

Transcript

Good morning. It’s Thursday, March 13. Today we are covering:

Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino
Anthropic CEO says spies are after $100M AI secrets in a 'few lines of code'
Gemini Robotics brings AI into the physical world
UK investigation says Apple and Google are 'holding back' mobile browsers
D-Wave Claims 'Quantum Supremacy,' Beating Traditional Computers

Let’s dive in

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Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino

By John Gruber via Daring Fireball

Apple's "more personalized Siri" features, part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, have been delayed until at least 2026, raising concerns about their readiness and authenticity after Apple failed to demonstrate them at multiple major events.
The features, including personal context awareness, onscreen awareness, and in-app actions, were heavily promoted but never demoed live, leading to accusations of overpromising and misleading marketing.
The debacle has damaged Apple's credibility, with criticism aimed at leadership for promoting features that were potentially non-functional, marking a shift from Apple's historically reliable product announcements.

𝕏: Ex-MobileMe team here. This was a brutal time. It was so bad that when he presented iCloud onstage, Steve said “I know what you’re thinking: why should I trust them? They're the ones who gave us MobileMe!” - Sebastiaan de With (@sdw)

Anthropic CEO says spies are after $100M AI secrets in a 'few lines of code'

By Charles Rollet via TechCrunch

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that spies, likely from China, are targeting costly AI "algorithmic secrets" worth $100 million, emphasizing that even a few lines of code could be critical.
Amodei called for greater U.S. government support to defend against espionage, suggesting partnerships with intelligence agencies to strengthen security at frontier AI labs.
He has previously advocated for strict export controls on AI chips to China, citing concerns over China's use of AI for authoritarian and military purposes, a stance that has drawn criticism from some in the AI community.

𝕏: Dario insists the “next version” of Anthropic is “unbelievable” and that in 6-12 months it will do super human things. Yet he is begging the US govt to protect him from Chinese spies. Perhaps his agentic AI could thwart the threats? Since it so amazing? - Bill Gurley (@bgurley)

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Gemini Robotics brings AI into the physical world

By Carolina Parada via Google DeepMind

Google DeepMind introduces Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, AI models based on Gemini 2.0, designed to enable robots to understand, act, and react in the physical world through advanced vision-language-action (VLA) and embodied reasoning (ER) capabilities.
Gemini Robotics excels in generality, interactivity, and dexterity, allowing robots to adapt to novel tasks, interact naturally with humans, and perform complex manipulations, while Gemini Robotics-ER enhances spatial reasoning and supports integration with low-level robotic controllers.
DeepMind is prioritizing robotics safety by releasing new datasets like the ASIMOV benchmark and collaborating with partners like Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, and Agile Robots to develop safer, more capable robotic systems.

𝕏: Today our team is so excited to bring Gemini 2.0 into the physical world with Gemini Robotics, our most advanced AI models to power the next generation of helpful robots. - Carolina Parada (@parada_car88104)

UK investigation says Apple and Google are 'holding back' mobile browsers

By Jess Weatherbed via The Verge

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that Apple and Google are restricting competition in the mobile browser market, with Apple's WebKit restrictions and Safari's default status on iPhones being key issues.
The CMA proposed remedies, including allowing alternative browser engines on iOS, enforcing browser choice during device setup, and prohibiting Google-Apple revenue-sharing arrangements that limit competition.
Ongoing investigations could designate Apple and Google as holding Strategic Market Status (SMS) under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC), potentially leading to stricter antitrust regulations.

𝕏: UK investigation says Apple and Google are “holding back” mobile browsers. I’m glad the CMA has acknowledged that something needs to change to get more innovation in mobile browsers - Tom Warren (@tomwarren)

D-Wave Claims 'Quantum Supremacy,' Beating Traditional Computers

By Belle Lin via Wall Street Journal

D-Wave claims to have achieved quantum supremacy, asserting its quantum computer outperforms traditional systems in specific computational tasks.
The company highlights advancements that position it as a leader in the evolving quantum computing sector.
The milestone underscores the growing competition in quantum technology and its potential to transform industries reliant on high-performance computing.

𝕏: Today is a monumental day for D-Wave. The esteemed journal Science has published our peer-reviewed paper which shows the first true demonstration of quantum supremacy on an important and useful problem… - Alan Baratz (@Alan_Baratz)