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1.	Google Rolls out ‘AI Mode’ in Search to All U.S. Users By Erin Woo Source: The Information

Google will start rolling out AI Mode, its chatbot-style search tab, to all users in the United States starting Tuesday, search chief Liz Reid announced.

The announcement was part of a bevy of AI product announcements at Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference. Soon, Google Search will also include agentic tools that automate most of the process of booking tickets or buying products online, executives said.

Google also announced new versions of its AI models, including a new version of its Veo video generation model with the ability to generate audio.

2.	Musk Says xAI Building New Data Center ‘Near’ Memphis By Anissa Gardizy Source: CNBC

XAI is building another artificial intelligence data center, which is expected to hold one million Nvidia artificial intelligence chips, Elon Musk said during an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.

Musk said the data center will be in a “location just near Memphis,” where xAI has a cluster of over 200,000 Nvidia chips that train the firm’s Grok model. The Information first reported that xAI was looking for a new data center so that it could buy more Nvidia graphics processing units.

Earlier this year Musk’s company purchased a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in Memphis, Tenn.. An xAI executive told The Daily Memphian in March that the new building could house 350,000 AI chips. It is unclear whether that is the same site where Musk said xAI plans to put one million Nvidia chips.

Musk also said he plans to keep buying chips from Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and potentially other firms, to train and run Grok. “As long as Nvidia is better than what we make, we’ll keep buying from Nvidia,” he said.

3.	Nvidia CEO Criticizes U.S. Chip Export Restrictions for China By Qianer Liu Source: Nikkei Asia

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called U.S. export controls on artificial intelligence to China a failure, saying the restrictions empowered Chinese chip developers and caused Nvidia’s market share in the country to decline.

“Local companies are very talented and the export controls gave them the spirit and energy to accelerate their development,” Huang said Wednesday during a press conference in Taipei, according to Nikkei Asia and other media outlets. Huang said that China’s market for AI chips could be worth $50 billion by 2026, and Nvidia’s market share in the country has dropped to 50% now from 95% four years ago, due to the U.S. restrictions.

Huang urged the White House to lift the ban on AI chip sales to China. If the current restrictions continue, Nvidia and other American companies risk falling behind Chinese competitors like Huawei Technologies, he said, according to the reports.

The U.S. government first launched the chip export controls for China in 2022, and has since updated the rules multiple times to prevent Nvidia from selling its advanced AI chips in the country. Last month, after the Trump administration banned Nvidia from selling its H20 chip in China, the company disclosed a $5.5 billion writedown due to the H20 ban.

4.	Waymo Hits 10 Million Paid Rides By Alex Perry Source: The Information

Waymo’s co-chief executive officer Tekedra Mawakana said at Google I/O Tuesday that the self-driving car company has completed 10 million paid rides, including rides on the Waymo One app and the Uber app. The company’s other chief executive officer, Dmitri Dolgov, said on X that half were from this year.

The milestone shows how far Waymo is ahead of all other autonomous vehicle companies. Amazon’s Zoox is expected to start taking paying customers this year in Las Vegas, while Tesla is planning its robotaxi launch for next month.

Waymo started taking paying riders in Phoenix five years ago and has since expanded to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. It just received approval from California’s Public Utilities Commission to accept paid rides in San Jose and has plans to expand to Atlanta and Miami.

5.	EU Plans Fee on Cheap Packages, Threatening Temu and Shein By Theo Wayt Source: Financial Times

The European Union is planning to put a tax of 2 euros, or $2.25, on individual packages shipped directly to consumers from outside the bloc, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. That would represent a blow to low-cost online shops like Temu, Shein and Amazon’s Haul storefront, which are looking to Europe for growth amid trade and regulatory uncertainty in the U.S.

About 4.6 billion packages valued at less than 150 euros each were sent directly to EU shoppers’ homes from outside the bloc in 2024, according to the EU. Earlier in May, the U.S. ended a trade rule that had allowed packages worth less than $800 to enter the country tariff-free from China, though imports from other countries using the rule are still permitted. Temu and Shein have raised U.S. prices in response to the change, while Temu slashed U.S. ad spending.

Under the EU’s new proposal, items that are sent to warehouses rather than directly to European shoppers would be subject to a tax of 0.50 euros, according to the Financial Times report, which cited a proposal from EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

6.	Elon Musk Wants To Remain At Tesla, Spend Less on Campaigns By Evan Robinson-Johnson Source: The Information

Elon Musk said he’s committed to remaining chief executive of Tesla for at least five years because he wants sufficient oversight of the car maker as it pivots to humanoid robots. Musk said he wanted “sufficient voting control such that I cannot be ousted by activist investors… It’s not a money thing.”

Musk currently has about 13% of Tesla’s shares but a pay package awarded him by Tesla’s board, but stalled by litigation, would double that. Musk also revealed he would likely donate less to political campaigns in the future. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said to a round of laughter. “I’m a technologist first and foremost,” he added later. Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump last year.

Speaking by video call Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk defended the demand for his electric cars, even as sales lagged across Europe, and again touted the launch of autonomous robotaxis in Austin, scheduled for next month. The world’s richest man acknowledged that his work bulldozing government agencies and spending in Washington over the past few months sparked a brand backlash that he took personally. But he defended that work saying “I did what needed to be done,” and suggested — as he told Tesla investors last month — that people who protested were on the wrong side of history.

Also on the call, Musk touted SpaceX’s dominant position as the world’s primary launch provider, supporting the company’s growing network of Starlink internet satellites. Starlink may eventually go public, Musk said, though he’s in no rush. He said SpaceX has turned down opportunities to build weapon systems.

Musk said he is still committed to his lawsuit against OpenAI, suggesting the company’s recent corporate changes were only a media play. On regulation, he talked about the challenges of having too many referees. And in his role advising Trump, he said there was no conflict of interest. Proposed cuts to federal agencies by his Department of Government Efficiency are subject to secretary approvals, he said. And many of the cuts to the United States Agency for International Development have been consumed by the state department. On the call he committed to look at cuts to HIV spending that might impact South Africa.