(Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Welcome to PCMag's AI wrap-up, where every week we'll catch you up on the AI news that matters, dig into the trends shaping the industry, and finish up with something weird from the web.
Headlines You Need to Know
- Apple picks Google Gemini as its AI partner. This is the biggest deal in the consumer tech world this week, though we still haven't seen what will come out of it. After months of reportedly searching for an AI model that could power the next-gen Siri, Apple has selected Google—not OpenAI, which is already baked into Siri. Apple claims Gemini's model is "the most capable." Ouch.
- Grok's perverted saga continues, with a positive update this time. After the chatbot complied to requests to undress images of minors, X vowed to block the chatbot from creating nude images where it's illegal to do so. It's a tone shift for an Elon Musk-owned business, which are consistently the most sexual of any major tech company (see anime porn and penis-shaped Tesla robotaxi service map for details).
- Following OpenAI, Anthropic debuts new healthcare tools. A new set of "HIPAA-ready products" in Claude claim to be trained on medical research, and hope to better answer your questions and help you navigate insurance. You can also add your historical health data to the chatbot and talk to it about next steps with your provider. Sounds helpful, if it works, but it's also likely a way to get users to have long, recurring conversations with an AI with lots of personal data, which is what these companies want.
- Samsung does the right thing: It won't charge more for mobile AI features. In this new world of subscriptions and constant upsells, Samsung commits to not charging for its Galaxy AI tools—at least for this year. So, if you spring for the Galaxy S26 this year, you won't pay extra to use its most exciting offerings.
- Bandcamp says no AI music allowed. The indie music community bans AI-generated content because "musicians are more than mere producers of sound. They are vital members of our communities, our culture, and our social fabric." People are happy. Meanwhile, Universal Music signed a deal last week to incorporate more AI into its music.
The Bigger Picture
Apple waved the white flag on the AI battlefield this week by selecting Google to be its AI partner. Apple's business model relies on a closed ecosystem that runs on homegrown products, but it's had to reckon with a harsh reality over the past few years: Its AI models are not the best in the biz. Its bread and butter is design, hardware, and user experiences.
So first, Apple partnered with OpenAI to allow ChatGPT to answer questions through Siri, which felt like an early admission that Siri wasn't that smart. (Everyone knows this.) But apparently Apple did not think OpenAI was the right long-term partner, so it selected Google. Now we wait to see what this new alliance comes up with. My guess? It won't just be a voice assistant for the iPhone, but also a new wearable like smart glasses or an AI note-taking device like Plaud.
Meanwhile, just like Big Tech is getting more certain about its AI plans, the public is getting more certain about its anti-AI plans. A California lawmaker proposed a ban on AI chatbots in toys, and the Bandcamp banned AI-generated music on its platform. One thing we can all agree on: We don't want higher electricity bills. After consistent backlash (and a nudge from midterm-minded President Trump), Microsoft agreed to pay for rising energy costs caused by its data centers rather than pass them off to the general public through higher monthly bills.
Overheard at the Bar
Last week, I wrote about how Silicon Valley is desperately trying to find a useful application for AI. This week, we heard from Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who told CNBC that, "A lot of people in Silicon Valley...have a solution and they're searching for a problem."
That might explain sentiment on social media about a lot of AI products, like Meta's "Vibes" app, an AI-generated video feed. "Nobody asked for this," was the gist of the response online. But at the same time, you could argue that it's still a worthwhile endeavor to try to find a meaningful use for a powerful technology. What do you think?
Finally, the drama at AI companies continues. (Every week!) No less than three executives have left Mira Murati's AI company, Thinking Machines, which she founded after leaving her CTO post at OpenAI. The employees she poached from her former employer all went back to OpenAI, and Wired reports that they were leaking secrets about Thinking Machines to OpenAI the whole time.