DTH-6-150x150 The White House proposes a “minimally burdensome” federal AI framework, OpenAI is reportedly developing a unified “super app” for desktop, and Bluesky announced a $100 million Series B funding round.

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Show Notes

Amazon Plans Smartphone Comeback

Amazon is developing a secret smartphone, codenamed “Transformer,” as a second attempt to enter the mobile market after the 2014 Fire Phone failure. The project aims to fulfill Jeff Bezos’ vision of a voice-driven assistant by creating a personalized mobile device that integrates deeply with Alexa and Amazon services. The company is focusing on using AI, potentially to bypass traditional app stores, and is exploring both a traditional smartphone and a limited “dumbphone” concept, though the project’s success is uncertain due to the challenge of competing with Apple and Samsung’s established ecosystems.

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White House Proposes Federal AI Framework

The White House proposes a “minimally burdensome” federal AI regulation framework to preempt most state laws, aiming to protect innovation. The plan focuses on innovation, political bias, and child safety, including banning AI-generated child sexual abuse material, requiring age-gating, and AI skills training. While seeking federal preemption, it asks Congress to maintain state child protection laws. The proposal’s future is uncertain due to Republican concerns about overreach, though linking it with the KOSA online safety bill could secure Democratic support.

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OpenAI Developing Unified “Super App”

OpenAI is reportedly developing a unified “super app” for desktop, combining ChatGPT, its browser, and Codex, to improve user experience and consolidate resources. This move, championed by Chief of Applications Fidji Simo and President Greg Brockman, aims to address application fragmentation and quality issues by focusing aggressively on high-productivity use cases and developing agentic AI capabilities for complex tasks like software development and data analysis with minimal human supervision.

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Bluesky Raises $100M to Scale Platform

Social network Bluesky announced a significant $100 million Series B funding round, led by Bain Capital Crypto, to scale its team and further develop the Bluesky app and its underlying AT Protocol. This funding follows rapid growth to over 43 million users and comes after CEO Jay Graber transitioned to chief innovation officer to seek a new chief executive. The investment from a crypto-oriented firm is notable as Bluesky does not use cryptocurrencies or blockchain, but its decentralized design, inspired by Graber’s previous work, appeals to the crypto space, aligning with the vision of an open and distributed “Atmosphere” for social media.

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Google Offers AI Opt-Out to Publishers

To address UK competition concerns, Google is proposing concessions, including an eventual opt-out for sites from generative AI features like AI overviews in search. This move aims to appease publishers, like the Publishers Association, who report lower click-through rates due to AI. Key details and the timeline for this opt-out are missing, and concerns remain that opting out might harm a site’s standard search ranking.

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Fortnite Expands Star Wars Creator Tools

Epic Games and Disney are deepening their partnership by allowing Fortnite creators to build and publish custom Star Wars-themed games and experiences starting May 1st, using a variety of Star Wars assets. This long-requested feature, facilitated through the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), requires creators to give Disney 20 percent of their payout. This launch is part of the ongoing development of a “persistent universe” tied to Fortnite, following Disney’s $1.5 billion investment, and coincides with Fortnite’s new “Showdown” battle royale season, a global Android return, and a price increase for V-Bucks.

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Rivian and Uber Partner on Robotaxis

Rivian and Uber have partnered in a deal potentially worth up to $1.25 billion to develop and deploy autonomous robotaxis based on the Rivian R2 SUV. The initial $300 million investment covers 10,000 robotaxis planned for a 2028 rollout in San Francisco and Miami. This aligns with Rivian’s focus on automated driving, but development challenges remain, as the R2, its Georgia factory, and the untested AI-first Rivian Autonomy Platform are still under construction. Rivian plans a late 2026 hardware upgrade for a fully autonomous “personal L4” system. The deployment timeline is later than some of Uber’s other autonomous vehicle initiatives.

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Bezos Targets $100B AI Industrial Fund

Jeff Bezos is reportedly aiming to raise $100 billion for a new fund dedicated to acquiring major industrial companies—specifically in aerospace, chipmaking, and defense—to implement AI-driven modernization and automation. This effort is linked to his AI startup, Project Prometheus, co-founded with Vik Bajaj, which has already secured $6.2 billion in funding and seeks to develop high-level AI models for manufacturing and engineering. The new fund will use the acquisitions as customers for Prometheus’s AI technology.

Amazon Attempts Mobile Comeback with Secret “Transformer” Smartphone – DTH