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The Breakdown

November 2024

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shows off one of the company’s AI accelerator chips for data centres during the recent Nvidia AI Summit in Japan.

Nvidia’s ‘godfather’ struggles to keep markets excited about AI miracles

The sharemarket simply shrugged as the company’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, unveiled more eye-watering earnings numbers.

  • Paul Smith
Amazon’s Andy Jassy has told the AI story better than his big tech peers this earnings season.

Why Amazon was the big tech AI winner this earnings season

Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft were sold off after their artificial intelligence-laden results calls, but the online retailer had a better story to tell.

  • Paul Smith

October 2024

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has had a glow up, but investors still aren’t sold on the metaverse.

Reality check: The VR dream costing Meta tens of billions of dollars

Mark Zuckerberg is deep in his mission to convince people he’s cool. But his company’s earnings call showed it is not just him in the midst of an identity crisis.

  • Amelia McGuire
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

Alphabet delivers earnings beat but investors wary of AI hit on Google

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of the world’s second-largest technology company, says the search engine giant can move quickly to respond.

  • Amelia McGuire
AI can now mimic some off the ways humans work on PCs, and follow thought patterns.

These new ‘AI agents’ could change white-collar workforce

A “groundbreaking” development means bots can now work computers like a human, leading people to question whether office workers could be replaced.

  • Paul Smith
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Elon Musk at the robotaxi event “We, Robot”.

Musk says it is ‘blindingly obvious’ autonomous cars are Tesla’s future

Elon Musk remains obsessed with plans to deliver self-driving “Cybercabs” and robots instead of traditional electric vehicles, and Tesla’s shares have surged.

  • Amelia McGuire

August 2024

Apple and NVIDIA have their own separate reasons for needing to keep OpenAI investing.

Why Nvidia, Apple and OpenAI need to strike a big deal

Microsoft has long been a major investor in the ChatGPT maker, now the two biggest companies in the world look like jumping on board, and OpenAI needs them.

  • Paul Smith
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia’s fall shows ‘just great’ isn’t good enough any more

On the surface everything was rosy in Nvidia’s market-shifting earnings call, so why have investors headed for the door?

  • Updated
  • Paul Smith
Search function on Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro With Gemini.

Cool or dystopian? Google launches AI-powered phones

The tech giant has launched a new range of AI-packed phones, earbuds and watches. Here’s what they will do (if you really want them to).

  • Paul Smith
Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet – Google’s parent company –  was among tech bosses to testify.

Google is a monopolist, but the egg can’t be unscrambled

The company paid tens of billions of dollars to become the world’s dominant search engine. Even Microsoft couldn’t compete.

  • Nick Bonyhady
Mark Zuckerberg has forecast his company’s AI assistant will soon be used by more people than any other.

The AI delusion says ‘we’re all going to get rich quick’

That sum is the staggering gap between what tech companies are making from selling artificial intelligence and the likely costs of running it.

  • Nick Bonyhady

July 2024

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has a big AI story to tell, but the proof of his claims is still in the future.

Investors aren’t buying Google’s AI future – yet

The search giant’s parent, Alphabet, produced solid earnings, but shareholders are tiring of claims about future magic without answers to important questions.

  • Paul Smith
Mark Zuckerberg surfs to celebrate Independence Day.

Mark Zuckerberg shows he is, like a teen, desperate to be cool

The man who has everything is still stung by criticism and anxious for validation online, proving his critics right about Meta’s effects on mental health.

  • Nick Bonyhady

May 2024

Tesla chargers

Tesla slashes jobs in Australian charging team

The company’s global cuts have come to Australia, with staff laid off and at least one charger location cancelled.

  • Nick Bonyhady

April 2024

  • Analysis
  • AI
The word ‘delve’ has taken off in medical research papers, but the Aussie academic behind the finding says using AI is nothing to be ashamed of.

Is this one word the shortcut to detecting AI-written work?

The word ‘delve’ has taken off in medical research papers, but the Aussie academic behind the finding says using AI is nothing to be ashamed of.

  • Nick Bonyhady
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‘AI honeymoon is over’, Canva co-founder declares

Just two years after the last technology bubble burst, investors shouldn’t mistake AI tools that look like magic for a business model that is.

  • Nick Bonyhady

March 2024

TikTok star Charli D’Amelio is one who lose a huge audience in a US ban, as Joe Biden gives his support to a forced sale by TikTok’s Chinese owners.

Why a TikTok ban could finally become a reality

A bipartisan group of US politicians, with White House backing, have introduced a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell or face a ban.

  • Nick Bonyhady
  • Analysis
  • AI
Google Gemini image that triggered controversy.

Black George Washington? Google shows pitfalls of ‘woke’ AI

Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, apologised after his company’s AI tool inserted people of diverse backgrounds into requests for historical images.

  • Nick Bonyhady

February 2024

  • Analysis
  • AI

Nvidia proves it’s the weapons dealer for the AI age

Nvidia’s shares surged in extended trading after its latest results and its next quarter revenue outlook exceeded Wall Street’s already high expectations.

  • Updated
  • Nick Bonyhady
Arm Holdings chief executive Rene Haas celebrated the company’s public listing last year. His optimism has been rewarded.

Chips aren’t down: The star of 2023’s big three tech IPOs emerges

Arm Holdings soared 20 per cent after its earnings, with its post-IPO performance alongside Instacart and Klaviyo giving food for thought ahead of Canva’s IPO.

  • Nick Bonyhady

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/the-breakdown-6g9z