Welcome back to Daily Zaps, your regularly-scheduled dose of AI news ⚡️ 

Here’s what we got for ya today:

• 🍎 Apple to hire 20,000 US workers

• 🦾 Robot with human-like movements

• 🙊 Grok 3 and censorship issue fixed

• 👯 Gemini integration with Apple Intelligence

Let’s get right into it!

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BIG TECH

Apple to hire 20,000 US workers

Apple announced plans to invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, hiring 20,000 additional workers as part of its largest-ever domestic investment. The initiative includes constructing a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Houston to produce servers for Apple's AI services, expanding data centers across multiple states, and establishing an educational academy in Michigan focused on manufacturing.

The investment aligns with Apple's strategy to diversify its manufacturing footprint while navigating potential tariff implications under former President Donald Trump’s administration. Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company's commitment to American manufacturing and innovation, with analysts viewing the move as both a business strategy and a political consideration.

STARTUPS

Robot with human-like movements

Protoclone, the world’s first bipedal, musculoskeletal android, is redefining robotics with its human-like movement and precision. Unlike traditional rigid-frame robots, Protoclone features 200+ degrees of freedom, 1,000+ myofibers mimicking real muscles, and 500 sensors that provide real-time control and feedback.

Its synthetic muscle-powered design allows for natural motion, making it a game-changer in fields like healthcare, search and rescue, manufacturing, space exploration, and AI-driven companionship. As we enter a new era of robotics, the question remains—where will human-like machines make the biggest impact?

STARTUPS

Grok 3 and censorship issue fixed

Elon Musk’s AI company xAI faced controversy after users discovered that its latest model, Grok 3, briefly censored unflattering information about Musk and former President Donald Trump. Over the weekend, social media users reported that Grok 3’s “chain of thought” was instructed not to mention Trump or Musk in response to a misinformation-related query.

xAI’s engineering lead, Igor Babuschkin, confirmed the change was made by an employee but was quickly reverted as it did not align with the company’s values. The incident follows previous criticisms that Grok models leaned left on political topics, despite Musk’s promise to make the AI “anti-woke” and unfiltered. Musk attributed Grok’s political biases to its training data and has pledged to make future versions more neutral, aligning with broader industry efforts to address accusations of ideological bias in AI.

BIG TECH

Gemini integration with Apple Intelligence

Apple appears to be expanding its AI capabilities by integrating multiple models into Apple Intelligence, as evidenced by a recent backend update in iOS 18.4 that includes coding language for supporting Google Gemini. While a launch date remains uncertain, Apple executive Craig Federighi previously suggested Gemini could arrive on iPhones in 2024.

This move aligns with Apple’s broader goal of enhancing Siri’s intelligence and personalization, particularly as it competes with Google and Amazon in smart home technology. Apple is also expected to introduce a generative AI-powered Siri soon, though some previously announced features are still missing.