Does it make sense to say “AI is back in the news” when AI, like an obnoxious diva that everyone is already tired of hearing from, insists on making the news like 50 times a day?
AI, on top of the high dive: “Mom! Mom! Look at me! Mom! Mom! Look how high up I am! MOMMM!”
AI’s mom, not looking up from her magazine: “Yes, honey, I see you. You’re very high up. Sigh.”
It does often feel that we’re seeing AI in its creatively dried up and strung out on drugs and booze period, though. This week it went on another bender.
First up, the midterm elections in the U.S. caused a precipitous drop in the value of AI stocks, as concerns that–GASP!–regulation would add to its already concerning bubble trouble.
Are you saying that the U.S. government can actually regulate industries to prevent them from destroying the environment, ruining people’s communities, and being linked to enough deaths to get a Wikipedia entry detailing them all?
What is this? Europe?!
…concerns about an A.I. backlash are compounding fears of runaway spending and rising debt at tech firms.
New York Times, November 5, 2026
If only someone could have told you that AI didn’t need to be shoved into every single thing imaginable! At least the Macalope is breathing a little easier about the possibility of U.S. taxpayers having to bail out the companies that spent billions on data centers only to find no one wants to pay for a chatbot that plans parties for them.
It still seems like it’s full steam ahead on AI at Apple, though, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman: “Apple CEO Presses Software Chief to Pursue More Ambitious AI Strategy.”
Desiring more and frustrated by what he sees as a reluctance to embrace AI with the same urgency as competitors, Ternus pushed his software chief to accelerate the company’s road map and move quickly beyond merely making necessary improvements to Siri.
Faster, pussycat, code, code! (Federighi is widely considered to be a pussycat.)
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Foundry
Gurman also believes Siri enhancements are on the way:
…Siri can now execute more complicated requests and integrate more deeply with third-party software…I believe the company could make Siri more like an agent as early as next year
Hope it’s not a foreign agent! HEY-YOOO! (There are those who say that this entire column was built around that one joke, and the Macalope is here to say, uh, that is actually 100 percent true.)
Sorry. Too soon, Jensen Huang, currently still CEO of Nvidia? “Nvidia Opens Investigation Into Jensen Huang’s Relationship With Suspected Chinese Spy”
It turns out the poster child for black leather jacket addiction had an affair with a suspected Chinese operative who was funneling information to Beijing. Oops. Furthermore, Huang reportedly worked with her to sell chips to Chinese businesses by carefully circumventing U.S. trade restrictions. Double oops.
The revelation raised troubling possibilities because Mr. Huang is one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump.
Trump was briefed on the matter this past spring and took quick and decisive action by… let the Macalope just put on the ol’ reading glasses here to read what he did…
Huh. This says “…inviting Huang to travel to China with him and going so far as to call him ‘the Great Jensen Huang’.” That’s weird.
It’s gonna be a little tricky for Huang to word a screenshot-of-Notes announcement that he’s stepping down to “spend more time with my family” when his family probably has very little interest in spending more time with him.
Huang might not have to worry about it, though, because accountability is for the little people!
“The board composition suggests this is… a CEO exercising effective control over the board instead of vice versa,” said Jill Fisch, a professor at The University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School…
Semafor, November 9, 2026
How does the Macalope get to be CEO of an AI company? You get a huge compensation deal on the premise of being able to deliver competence and responsible governance, but you can still have all the illicit sexy time and illegal trade deals you want. Sounds sweet.
Well, Huang might be… problematic, but he’s just one bad apple in the world of AI CEOs, right?
“Elon Musk Confronted With List of People He’s Killed, Including Children”
Ooh. Okay, well, two is…
“Inside Sources Say Sam Altman Is a Sociopath”
Okay! Okay. You made your point.
(Who is posting those?!)
The Macalope’s not saying he wouldn’t like Siri to be capable of doing more. He’s just saying that if Apple becomes an AI company, we might not like what it does to John Ternus, based on the behavior we’re seeing here.
