Fast Facts
- Xiaomi has announced a launch date of March 28 for its coming SU7 electric vehicle.
- Wedbush's Dan Ives says that the current AI boom is "not a bubble."
- OpenAI said in a filing that Elon Musk's lawsuit is designed to "advance his own commercial interests."
Hello and welcome to Tech News Now, TheStreet's daily tech rundown.
In today's edition, we're covering the launch date for Xiaomi's coming electric vehicle, OpenAI's response to Elon Musk's lawsuit, Oracle's earnings and Dan Ives' contention that the current AI boom "is not a bubble."
Tickers we're watching: (ORCL) , (NVDA) , (MSFT) .
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Related: No, Elon Musk, AI self-awareness is not 'inevitable'
The SU7 is on its way
Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi said in a Weibo post Tuesday that it will hold a launch event for its SU7 EV on Mar. 28.
The vehicle, according to the post, will be "delivered as soon as it is launched."
Xiaomi has opened reservations for the car at 59 stores in 29 cities across China. The price point for the vehicle is still unclear, though it is expected to be revealed during the launch event.
Xiaomi President Weibing Lu said last month that the company is planning to target the "premium segment," saying: "We think it’s a good starting point for us in the premium segment because we have already 20 million premium users in China based on the smartphone."
He said at the time that Xiaomi was considering a range of price points, from entry-level to luxury, for the vehicle, which Xiaomi has poured billions of dollars into.
Related: Chinese smartphone giant targets Elon Musk with latest announcement
OpenAI responds to Musk suit
In an application for a complex case designation — a case under California law expected to raise "difficult or novel legal issues that will be time-consuming to resolve" — filed last month by OpenAI, the company argued that Elon Musk's complaint against it is designed to "advance his own commercial interests."
Musk's suit argues that OpenAI has violated its original nonprofit charter in becoming a closed-source company focused on helping shareholders, rather than humanity. Musk has alleged breach of contract and fiduciary duty, among other things, and is seeking a legal requirement forcing OpenAI to return to that original humanity-first charter.
The application, however, claims that this contract "never existed."
"Seeing the remarkable technological advances OpenAI has achieved, Musk now wants that success for himself. So he brings this action accusing Defendants of breaching a contract that never existed and duties Musk was never owed, demanding relief calculated to benefit a competitor to OpenAI," the application reads. "Musk purports to bring this suit for humanity, when the truth — evident even from the face of Musk’s contradictory pleading — is that he brings it to advance his own commercial interests."
The application further says that there is no "Founding Agreement" promising that OpenAI would never operate for profit, and further that there is no "agreement at all with Musk."
"The relief Musk seeks is as extraordinary as his claims are contrived," the application reads.
OpenAI previously published email conversations with Musk that show he agreed with the idea that eventually, the company would have to become for-profit and close-source.
Related: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has a harsh response to Elon Musk's lawsuit
Oracle shares surge
Shares of cloud provider Oracle surged more than 11% Tuesday after it reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.41 per share, above expectations of $1.38, on revenue of $13.28 billion.
Oracle's cloud revenue spiked 25% year-over-year to $5.1 billion.
The company said it remains committed to hitting its goal of achieving $65 billion in sales by 2026, with CEO Safra Catz saying: "Some of these goals might prove to be too conservative given our momentum."
Oracle said it expects to see earnings of $1.62 to $1.66 for the current quarter. The company said it has a backlog, also known as Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO), of $80 billion.
Wedbush's Dan Ives called the report a "trophy case performance," saying that Oracle's "robust numbers and guidance" are further evidence that his so-called AI Revolution has arrived.
"Lets be clear: we have covered tech on the Street since the late 90's and this is NOT a bubble but instead the start of a 4th Industrial Revolution now on the doorstep that will have major growth ramifications for the tech sector led by the software/use case phase in motion," Ives said in a note.
Related: Analysts revise Oracle price targets after Q3 earnings and Nvidia deal tease
The AI Corner: AI and education
Since ChatGPT became available, educators have been faced with a whole new challenge: the role of artificial intelligence in education. Some are pushing the further integration of AI tools in education, following Big Tech's assertion that AI will transform everything, schools included, for the better.
Others, like writer and former professor John Warner, have called the approach an "unmitigated disaster."
A new report published by the National Education Policy Center argues that, without effective public oversight, AI in schools will do far more harm than good.
"The adoption of largely unregulated AI systems and applications would, we conclude, force students and teachers to become involuntary test subjects in a giant experiment in automated instruction and administration that is sure to be rife with unintended consequences and potentially negative effects," the report reads, citing concerns of increased surveillance, less student privacy, less transparency and rigid models of instruction combined with a suffusion of misinformation into the learning ecosystem.
The report calls for a pause in the adoption of AI systems by the education sector "until policymakers have had adequate time to fully educate themselves about AI and to formulate legislation and policy ensuring effective public oversight and control of its school applications."
Read the report here.
Contact Ian with tips and AI stories via email, ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net, or Signal 732-804-1223.
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