Welcome back to Week in Review! Tons of stuff for you today, including Nintendo’s Switch 2; capacity issues at OpenAI; a story that deserves the Hollywood treatment; and much, much more. Let’s go!
It’s finally (almost) here: After almost 10 years, Nintendo finally released its Switch successor, the Switch 2. According to TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling, the $450 system “tries to take a console that’s already beloved and simply just make it better.” I’m into that! Unfortunately, preorders in the U.S. might be delayed in response to Trump’s tariffs.
Delays, delays: OpenAI’s Sam Altman said in a series of posts on X that the company’s new image-generating tool could cause unspecified product delays. “Working as fast [as] we can to really get stuff humming,” Altman wrote. The company promises it’ll release o3 (after effectively canceling the consumer release back in February).
The old college try: Zach Yadegari, who built the viral Cal AI app, wrote on twitter that even though he has a 4.0 GPA and a $30 million ARR company, he still wasn’t accepted into 15 top universities.
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News
Oh no: The Trump administration fired the head of the National Security Agency and Cyber Command, as well as the NSA’s deputy director, who served as the agency’s top civilian leader. It’s not clear who is currently overseeing the NSA and Cyber Command following the firing.
Do my shopping for me, please: Amazon on Monday unveiled Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some simple actions. Amazon is testing a feature it calls “Buy for Me” — powered by its Nova AI models — which shows users third-party sites that have products they may want. They can then buy things off those other sites, without leaving Amazon’s site. Pretty nifty!
Yikes: One nefarious use for ChatGPT’s new image generator: faking receipts. People are already using it to generate fake restaurant receipts, potentially adding another tool to the already-extensive toolkit of AI deepfakes used by fraudsters. The receipts generated can even include food and coffee stains to make them look more authentic. Great!
A tale of two companies: Rippling announced in March that it was suing rival Deel for alleged spying, and this week released the affidavit of the Rippling employee who testified that he was working as a spy. It’s got some juicy details, like people representing Deel allegedly telling him to smash his “old phone with an axe.” Hollywood, are you listening?
Pointing fingers: Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called out Apple and Google for their “gangster-style” business practices. You might remember that his company sued both Apple and Google for monopolistic practices over their respective app stores. Epic won its case with Google but not with Apple.
We hardly knew ye: Zelle, which facilitates person-to-person payments, said Tuesday that it’s shutting down its app. But don’t be alarmed: Of the 150 million people who use Zelle, only 2% of transactions were made via the stand-alone app, rather than via the bank. OK, that makes sense, then.
Speaking of banks: Plaid, which connects bank accounts to financial applications, sold about $575 million worth of common stock at a $6.1 billion post-money valuation. The valuation is about less than half of the $13.4 billion that San Francisco-based Plaid was valued at when it raised a $425 million Series D in April 2021.
Power hungry: New and expanded data centers are expected to double the AI sector’s power demand by 2029. As a result, developers and tech companies have been working overtime to lock in capacity. And that’s where the sun comes in.
Analysis
Backsliding: Elon Musk’s push into politics — specifically his alignment with President Trump and activities within the federal government — has dragged Tesla into uncertainty. For proof, just look at the company’s disappointing first-quarter delivery numbers. The question now is whether the Tesla brand can recover.