Weekly Series #6
Topics: Big week for Elon - Starship soft landing and shareholder voting on pay package, Apple Intelligence, Scientists cure a form of deafness in children, Texas Stock Exchange
SpaceX Starship test flight and Tesla pay package:
Starship made its fourth test flight early this month and here’s a breakdown:
Successful Test: SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket achieved a controlled splashdown at sea for the first time, marking a significant step towards reusable space exploration.
Powerful Launch: The two-stage rocket launched with over 15 million pounds of thrust, demonstrating power roughly twice that of NASA’s Saturn V rocket.
NASA’s Interest: Starship is crucial for SpaceX and has been selected by NASA as the human-rated lunar lander for the Artemis program.
Future Goals: Despite some issues like engine failures and tile loss, the test flight provided valuable data, bringing SpaceX closer to its goal of a rapidly reusable transportation system for missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Tesla shareholders approve Elon’s $56B pay package:
Musk’s Pay Package: Tesla shareholders voted to reinstate CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package during their annual meeting in Austin, Texas.
Reincorporation: Shareholders also approved the change of Tesla’s state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
Delaware Judge’s Ruling: A Delaware judge had voided the pay plan earlier, citing inadequate disclosure of conflicts of interest and performance-based goals achievements.
Shareholder Support: Despite the judge’s ruling, the strong shareholder support may influence a potential appeal and future litigation regarding the compensation plan.
This is a developing story, and updates may follow.
Apple Intelligence…finally:
At their World Wide Developer Conference last week, Apple unveiled their latest software advances across its products and the biggest highlight of the event was its AI update - Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence is powered by a set of generative AI models developed by Apple that specialize in everyday tasks for users. The system includes a ~3 billion parameter on-device language model and a larger server-based model, both designed for efficient, accurate, and responsible task performance.
Apple published some details related to these models and its evaluation in comparison to other models such as Phi-3, Mistral, Gemma, etc. More details to be released as per their blog. Privacy was a huge emphasis of this announcement, ensuring no data being shared with outside systems by Apple’s LLMs
Release: The new Apple Intelligence features are expected to rollout slowly into devices as per this Bloomberg article, with some features slated to come alive this fall and other features later after that. Additionally, it will only be available alongside their latest silicon, which means it will come with iPhone 15 Pro onwards and other devices with M1 chip or greater.
OpenAI partnership: Towards the end of Apple Intelligence demo, they also announced the integration of ChatGPT into it, giving the users options to use it for complex questions. According to this Bloomberg report, Apple is not paying OpenAI for this integration, but providing massive distribution through it’s ecosystem.
Gene Therapy cures a form of deafness:
Gene Therapy Trial: A clinical trial has restored hearing in 5 children born with inherited deafness by administering gene therapy to both ears.
Hearing Improvements: Two children gained the ability to appreciate music, with significant progress in speech perception and sound localization.
Study Details: Published in Nature Medicine, the study builds on earlier work, showing promising results for larger international trials.
Safety and Efficacy: The gene therapy, delivered via minimally invasive surgery, is deemed feasible, safe, and efficacious after a follow-up period.
Texas Stock Exchange to launch soon:
New Challenger: The Texas Stock Exchange, backed by $120 million from entities like BlackRock and Citadel Securities, aims to rival NYSE and Nasdaq.
Market Concentration: Currently, the U.S. market is dominated by the top two exchanges, with the third-largest, CBOE, holding only about 12% of trading volume.
Key Hurdles: TXSE faces challenges such as obtaining regulatory approval, convincing companies to switch listings, and ensuring sufficient liquidity.
Future Plans: The exchange plans to file for SEC approval this year, start trading next year, and begin listings in 2026.