Ford will pause production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck starting in mid-November for almost two months as it struggles with decreased demand, increased competition, and losses in its electric vehicle business. “We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” a Ford spokesperson told TechCrunch. The news was previously reported by Automotive News. The decision to halt production comes as the Tesla Cybertruck has pushed past Ford’s popular Mach-E to bec ...

OpenAI’s Google challenger is finally here.The company on Thursday launched ChatGPT Search, an evolution of the SearchGPT prototype it unveiled this summer. Built into OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, ChatGPT Search is designed to give “timely answers” to questions, OpenAI says, drawing from a range of online sources. Powered by a fine-tuned version of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, ChatGPT Search serves up information and photos from the web — like sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more — along with links to relev ...

The European Union has tossed a spanner in the works of chipmaker Nvidia’s proposed acquisition of Tel Aviv-based AI workload management startup Run:ai. The deal, which was announced back in April — with a price-tag of $700 million per our sources — will be reviewed by the bloc after a request by competition regulators in Italy under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR).The proposed transaction does not meet the EUMR’s standard notification thresholds. However EU law allows a national regulator to notify a trans ...

In Brief More than 500 Amazon employees sent a letter on Wednesday to AWS CEO Matt Garman, urging the executive to reverse the company’s full return-to-office policy, Reuters reports. In September, Amazon asked employees to come back to the office five days a week starting in 2025.The AWS CEO previously told employees that nine out of 10 workers he spoke with supported the policy, according to reports. This letter rejects the contention that the RTO policy was widely supported, saying that statistic is inco ...

Core Insights - The political landscape is influencing the electric vehicle (EV) market, with GM's CEO highlighting the unexpected nature of this development [1] - GM is focused on enhancing vehicle affordability and charging infrastructure while pursuing battery innovations to lower costs and improve energy density [2][4] - The company aims to provide affordable EV options, with models like the Equinox EV starting in the mid $30,000 range, targeting a range of 300 miles to alleviate consumer range anxiety [3] Charging Infrastructure - GM has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve charging infrastructure in collaboration with companies like EVgo, emphasizing the importance of accessible and well-lit charging stations [4] Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) - GM's acquisition of Cruise in 2016 was aimed at leveraging autonomy technology, with the company allowing Cruise to operate independently, leading to the commercialization of fully driverless robotaxis [5] - Despite setbacks, including a safety incident that led to the suspension of Cruise's operating permits, GM remains optimistic about the future of AVs and their potential to enhance safety [6] - Plans for a purpose-built AV without human controls were halted due to safety concerns, but GM still envisions such vehicles in the future [7] Data Security - As modern EVs collect extensive data, GM prioritizes cybersecurity and data privacy, having ceased sharing consumer driving data with certain insurance companies and appointing an executive to oversee customer privacy [8][9] Market Dynamics in China - GM's operations in China are facing challenges, with the company describing the competition as a "race to the bottom" due to domestic brands benefiting from government support [10] - In Q3, GM's joint venture in China reported a loss of $137 million, a significant decline from a $192 million profit the previous year, highlighting the unsustainable nature of current market conditions [10][11]

Core Insights - General Motors CEO Mary Barra remains optimistic about the future of autonomous vehicles, specifically a model without steering wheels and pedals, despite the cancellation of the Origin project [1][2] - The decision to cancel the Origin was influenced by the challenges in changing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and the difficulty in passing new legislation [2] - GM incurred a $583 million charge due to the cancellation of the Origin, which was initially projected to be produced in the tens of thousands [2] Company Perspective - Barra has been working on autonomous vehicle initiatives for approximately six to seven years, indicating a long-term commitment to the technology [2] - The company still envisions a future where consumers will purchase personal autonomous vehicles, emphasizing the need to observe how technology is adopted by consumers [2] - The timeline for the advancement of autonomous vehicle technology has been slower than anticipated, with expectations from 2016-2017 being overly optimistic [3]

Amazon is extending the availability of its AI-enabled shopping assistant, Rufus, to more markets in Europe and the Americas.The ecommerce giant has been widely considered to be playing catchup with its Big Tech brethren in the AI sphere, particularly against the backdrop of the generative AI hype these past couple of years. Rufus is one of the ways Amazon is showing that it’s up for the game. Key features the tool offers include product search support, product comparisons, and recommendations on what to bu ...

Core Points - The European cloud market is experiencing intensified competition, with Microsoft accusing Google of covertly undermining Azure to gain favor with European regulators [1][9] - Microsoft has criticized the formation of the Open Cloud Coalition, which includes Google and smaller cloud providers, labeling it as an "astroturf group" orchestrated by Google [2][3] - The coalition aims to advocate for market principles like openness and interoperability, with its launch coinciding with ongoing regulatory scrutiny of cloud services in Europe [5][8] Group 1: Coalition Formation and Allegations - Microsoft deputy general counsel Rima Alaily claims that Google is attempting to obscure its involvement in the Open Cloud Coalition, which is led by Civo's public sector director Nicky Stewart [2][3] - The coalition is set to launch with 10 members, including Google and several smaller cloud providers, although its website is not yet live [4] - Alaily suggests that Google's strategy may involve offering incentives to smaller companies to join the coalition [3] Group 2: Regulatory Context and Antitrust Complaints - The backdrop includes a 2019 licensing change by Microsoft that raised costs for running its software on rival cloud services, prompting an antitrust complaint from the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) [5][6] - Microsoft settled with CISPE in July, reportedly including a $22 million payment and commitments to improve access for other cloud providers [6] - Google filed a separate antitrust complaint against Microsoft, alleging anti-competitive practices, after attempting to financially support CISPE's case against Microsoft [7] Group 3: Broader Implications and Goals - The launch of the coalition aligns with a new European Commission taking office and an ongoing investigation into cloud vendor lock-in practices, particularly focusing on AWS and Microsoft [8] - Alaily argues that Google's lobbying efforts aim to distract from its regulatory challenges in the U.S. and to shift the regulatory landscape in favor of its cloud services [9][10] - A Google spokesperson acknowledged its coalition membership and criticized Microsoft's licensing practices for creating negative impacts on the market [10]

Apple on Monday confirmed the general availability of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The point update is most notable for its inclusion of the first batch of Apple Intelligence features, which the company announced at WWDC back in June. However, only select Apple devices are equipped to run the new generative AI offering. This includes iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, iPads with an A17 Pro chip (including the new iPad Mini) or M1 and later, or a Mac with an M1 or later. After ...

Meta has released an “open” implementation of the viral generate-a-podcast feature in Google’s NotebookLM. Called NotebookLlama, the project uses Meta’s own Llama models for much of the processing, unsurprisingly. Like NotebookLM, it can generate back-and-forth, podcast-style digests of text files uploaded to it. NotebookLlama first creates a transcript from a file — e.g. a PDF of a news article or blog post. Then, it adds “more dramatization” and interruptions before feeding the transcript to open text-to ...