SpaceX Valued at $1.7 Trillion as Apple Restricts Siri AI Rollout

SpaceX has officially entered the public markets with an initial public offering priced at $135 per share, valuing the aerospace company at approximately $1.7 trillion. The transaction is slated to become the largest in history, with Elon Musk’s 42 per cent stake potentially elevating him to the world’s first trillionaire. Notably, SpaceX has reserved 30 per cent of its stock for retail investors, a significant allocation that contrasts with typical institutional-heavy listings.

The inclusion of SpaceX in the broader market is facilitated by recent changes to NASDAQ-100 index rules. These relaxed requirements mean that index-tracking funds must now invest in the company, effectively exposing retail investors in vehicles such as 401(k) plans to the stock without direct action. This structural integration means that many investors may hold shares in the space firm inadvertently, linking their portfolios to one of the most significant corporate debuts in recent years.

In the artificial intelligence sector, Apple unveiled a major overhaul for Siri at its Worldwide Developers Conference, rebranding the assistant as Siri AI. The update relies heavily on Google’s Gemini models for frontier capabilities, utilising a private cloud compute infrastructure involving Google and NVIDIA to enhance privacy. Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, described the change as a ground-up rebuild designed to make the assistant more personal and capable.

Despite the technical partnership, Apple has restricted the Siri AI rollout to the United States, excluding Europe and China due to regulatory concerns. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act requires large tech companies to ensure interoperability, a requirement Apple has chosen to bypass rather than comply with. An EU spokesperson stated that while the regulation does not prohibit new products, it prevents gatekeepers from closing the market to innovation, leaving the decision to withhold the service in Apple’s hands.

Meanwhile, Meta has removed facial recognition code from its smart glasses app following a WIRED investigation that exposed the silent embedding of the feature. The code was designed to capture faces, convert them into biometric faceprints, and match them against a local database on the user’s device. Meta initially denied the feature’s existence and labelled the reporting dishonest, but deleted the code within 24 to 36 hours of the story’s publication.

An investigation by WIRED also revealed that Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan operates an extensive surveillance system within his venues. The system processes faces at a rate of 40 people per minute and has been used to track lawyers, critics, and individuals such as former Knicks player Charles Oakley. The surveillance includes detailed dossiers, such as an 18-page record of a transgender fan’s movements, raising questions about privacy and the use of corporate power.

New York officials are currently scrutinising Madison Square Garden’s property tax benefits, which are estimated to be worth over $1 billion. The scrutiny follows the publication of the surveillance investigation and includes potential reviews by the mayor and attorney general. The situation underscores the growing tension between corporate data practices, privacy rights, and journalistic oversight in the technology and entertainment sectors.