OpenAI’s Secret iPhone Moment?

Google Gemini's Visual AI, Meta's Llama 4, & Zoox's Robotaxi Launch..

April 09, 2025

Here’s everything you need to know this week in AI:

  • OpenAI’s Bold Hardware Bet with Jony Ive

  • Google Expands Gemini Live with Real-Time Visual AI

  • Meta Unleashes Llama 4 with Massive Context and Multimodal Power

  • Zoox Enters LA with Data-Collecting Test Fleet Ahead of Robotaxi Launch

OpenAI is in talks to acquire io Products, a secretive AI hardware startup led by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and backed by CEO Sam Altman, in a deal potentially worth over $500M. The company is reportedly developing screenless AI-powered devices, with design by Ive’s firm LoveFrom and tech powered by OpenAI models.

This move signals OpenAI’s serious push into hardware, aiming to deliver a game-changing device in the AI space. With top Apple talent onboard, the project could become AI’s “iPhone moment”—a bold step in redefining how we interact with intelligent machines.

Source: The Information

Google is expanding its Gemini Live “Project Astra” features to more Android devices, including Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25, enabling real-time, multilingual conversations based on what users see or share via their camera or screen. Samsung is offering the upgrade free to flagship users.

Though current capabilities resemble enhanced Google Lens snapshots more than the full live demos, it marks a key step toward AI that understands the world visually in real time. As this tech evolves, it could lay the groundwork for fully context-aware assistants in smartglasses and wearables.

Source: Google

Meta has launched its Llama 4 family, featuring open-weight models Scout (109B) and Maverick (400B), along with a preview of the 2T-parameter Behemoth. These models bring multimodal support, advanced mixture-of-experts architecture, and massive context windows—up to 10M tokens.

Scout and Maverick outperform top rivals like GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 Flash on benchmarks while remaining cost-efficient. Available now via Meta AI platforms, they mark Meta’s strongest push yet in open-source AI. Though whether they are actually useful in real world scenarios remains to be seen as there has been skepticism regarding the output. Some even say that they have cooked the benchmarks within the training datasets to rank higher of LLM Arena.

Source: Meta

Amazon-owned Zoox has begun deploying retrofitted Toyota Highlanders in Los Angeles to collect data as it prepares for a future robotaxi service. Unlike rival Waymo, which already offers paid rides in LA, Zoox’s vehicles are manually driven and focused on mapping ahead of autonomous testing this summer.

This move marks Zoox’s sixth city and follows expanded driverless testing in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Foster City with its purpose-built robotaxis. While still behind Waymo in commercialization, Zoox is laying the groundwork for a broader rollout later this year.

Source: Zoox

In Other News

U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday after a dramatic second day of reversals, with the S&P 500 losing 1.6% and nearly 19% below its February peak. The Dow dropped 320 points after an early 1,460-point surge, and the Nasdaq fell 2.1%, as uncertainty swirled around President Trump’s looming 104% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Canada responded with 25% auto tariffs on U.S. vehicles, escalating trade tensions further. Energy markets also took a hit—U.S. crude fell 1.8%, and natural gas dropped 5.2%, dragging oil stocks like Occidental and Exxon lower. Markets remain volatile amid global economic and policy uncertainty.

Source: LSEG; Since Trump unveiled his tariffs late on Wednesday, S&P 500 companies have lost almost $6 trillion in stock market value, a record four-day decline for the benchmark going back to the 1950s

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