Companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Nvidia have positioned themselves as winners in the race to own the latest wave of AI. But could they perhaps be too dominant?

That’s what federal regulators charged with ensuring fair competition between companies will be examining in the coming months, according to recent reports in the New York Times and other outlets. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have reportedly come to a deal to divvy up oversight as they open a probe into the burgeoning space.

What’s behind the move: The antitrust investigation is just one front in how the Biden administration aims to shape control of this new technology and curb its potential worst tendencies.

Biden has also staffed these agencies with leaders who have sought to reinvigorate how the government enforces antitrust laws after decades of a more hands-off approach.

The FTC previously announced an inquiry into partnerships between tech giants and buzzy startups, like Microsoft and OpenAI, in January, in a likely effort to examine whether these arrangements are efforts to skirt the legal reviews required for a more traditional acquisition.

FTC Chair Lina Khan, a noted critic of Big Tech before joining the administration, has said these efforts are meant to tackle problems as the tech develops and before dominance is cemented.

Keep reading here.—PK

Designing effective content for your brand doesn’t have to be complicated. Actually, quite the contrary. Adobe Express is now enabling organizations with access to creative teams’ assets, including generative AI features and services that are designed to be safe for business.

Adobe recently hosted its first Design Made Easy event, discussing safe content creation and supercharging design production. It brought together the industry’s best and brightest, including leaders from Unilever, IBM, + more.

And Adobe unveiled the latest innovations in Adobe Express that are empowering everyone across teams to create any kind of content while protecting their brands.

Its advanced AI is designed to be safe for businesses, so anyone across your org can produce impactful, on-brand content.

Tune in to the event on demand to catch up on everything you need to know, including how to:

• Speed up content creation.
• Stay on brand.
• Work commercially safe AI.

Watch here.

The last several months have brought negative headlines galore about robotaxis.

Scrutiny of autonomous ride-hailing operations kicked into high gear after a Cruise vehicle seriously injured a pedestrian in San Francisco in October. Cruise, the self-driving vehicle startup that’s majority-owned by GM, lost its operating permits in California and halted operations nationwide for months.

Now, as the New York Times detailed, Cruise is gradually getting back on the road. It’s testing services in Phoenix with safety operators on board, and an exec told the Times that the company wants to offer driverless ride-hailing in one city by year’s end.

Meanwhile, Cruise’s competitors—which have faced setbacks and scrutiny of their own in recent months—continue to take incremental steps forward, including with expansions announced by Alphabet-backed Waymo and Amazon-owned Zoox last week.

Keep reading here.—JG

Hey Siri, how is Apple using generative AI?

As of this week, the company finally has an answer. After seeming to sit out much of the generative AI arms race over the past year or so, Apple announced a new flagship system called “Apple Intelligence” and a flood of new features that it powers. Those span everything from new emoji generated on the spot to writing assistance and agent-like task performance.

Apple also announced a partnership with OpenAI that will tap ChatGPT to answer certain questions posed to Siri and image generation, among other integrations.

Apple sought to play up some of its existing strengths in how it rolled out its big AI play—namely, that its walled-garden ecosystem is already embedded in people’s lives and that it generally doesn’t deal in data collection for advertisers. Personalization and privacy were thus major watchwords.

“It has to be powerful enough to help with the things that matter most to you,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the keynote. “It has to be deeply integrated into your product experiences. Most importantly, it has to understand you and be grounded in your personal context, like your routine, your relationships, your communications, and more. And of course, it has to be built with privacy from the ground up.”

Apple seemed to be trying to make up for lost time with the pace at which its executives dropped new AI features during the event.

Keep reading here.—PK

Next-level features for your ride. Picture this: With AT&T In-car Wi-Fi, you won’t miss a second of that summer playlist you’ve so carefully curated. You’ll also keep your passengers entertained while taking advantage of fancy voice activation features so you can keep your hands on the wheel. Tap in for car tech.

Join us for an enlightening session with Alfonso Wright and Jamila Wright, the co-founders of Brooklyn Tea, as they dive into the revolutionary world of generative AI in business operations. We will explore the myriad ways in which generative AI is not just a buzzword but a practical toolkit for enhancing efficiency, productivity, and creativity across the board. From large-scale enterprises to nimble small businesses, discover how leaders like the Wrights leverage AI to democratize creativity, boost customer service, and overcome traditional barriers in analytics and marketing. See you in New York! Register now.