Tech Weekly AI Showdown And Industry Updates

Hello and welcome to our weekly tech roundup! This edition is packed with major stories, from Anthropic's decision regarding Windsurf and Claude access, to exciting new capabilities in ChatGPT. We'll also look at what's anticipated for WWDC 2025, the latest on Elon Musk's public dispute, and much more. Let's dive in!

AI Power Plays and Controversies

Anthropic recently clarified why it restricted Windsurf's access to its Claude AI models. Speaking at TC Sessions: AI 2025, Anthropic's co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Jared Kaplan, provided a straightforward reason. The decision to cut access was made amidst rumors and reports that OpenAI, Anthropic's primary competitor, is in the process of acquiring Windsurf, an AI coding assistant. Kaplan stated, "I think it would be odd for us to be selling Claude to OpenAI." This explanation highlights the competitive dynamics in the AI industry.

In other AI news, Chinese lab DeepSeek unveiled an updated R1 reasoning AI model. While it demonstrates strong performance on various math and coding benchmarks, some AI researchers now speculate that part of its training data may have originated from Google's Gemini AI family. This raises questions about training data sources and intellectual property in AI development.

Upcoming Tech Events and Product Updates

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, WWDC 2025, is just around the corner, kicking off on Monday. Anticipation is high for a newly designed operating system. Beyond that, expectations for this year's conference include the launch of a dedicated gaming app, along with significant updates for Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and more.

More Tech News Highlights

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ChatGPT is rolling out new functionalities aimed at business users. These include connectors for popular cloud storage services like Dropbox, Box, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Google Drive. This integration allows ChatGPT to access and utilize information from your connected services to provide more comprehensive answers.

In cybersecurity news, Indian grocery delivery startup KiranaPro suffered a severe hack resulting in a complete wipe of its data. The company reports having 55,000 customers, with 30,000 to 35,000 active users placing around 2,000 orders daily across 50 cities.

Creative professionals using Android devices have a reason to be excited: Adobe is launching a beta version of Photoshop for Android. The app promises a similar range of editing tools to its desktop counterpart, including features like layering and masking.

Tesla is making another attempt to secure its branding in the autonomous vehicle space, having filed new trademark applications for "Tesla Robotaxi." This comes after earlier efforts to trademark "Robotaxi" and "Cybercab" did not succeed.

Defense tech startup Anduril has secured a $1 billion investment. This is part of a new $2.5 billion funding round led by Founders Fund, effectively doubling Anduril's valuation to $30.5 billion.

Toma, a company addressing missed calls at car dealerships, has seen its AI-driven solution gain traction. Following a $17 million fundraise backed by a16z, Toma's AI phone agents are now operational in over 100 U.S. dealerships.

A public spat erupted between Elon Musk and President Trump as they exchanged criticisms on their social media platforms. While such public disagreements can be noteworthy, the implications of a dispute between one of the world's wealthiest individuals and a U.S. president could extend to the broader tech industry.

Analysis: The AI Chatbot Engagement Game

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AI chatbots are increasingly designed to maintain user engagement, regardless of whether they are used for companionship, therapy, or other interactions (as some users do, for example). The competition among Big Tech companies to attract and retain users on their chatbot platforms is more intense than ever.