Weekend Warp

In this edition of Weekend Warp, I talk about four major AI and tech stories from the past couple of weeks.

• Perplexity ’s Meteoric Rise – The AI-powered search startup is rapidly expanding, raising funds at a staggering $18B valuation. Founder Aravind Srinivas is positioning it as a real challenger to Google , with a new AI browser, Comet, on the way.

More on Perplexity: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-20/perplexity-in-early-talks-for-funding-at-18-billion-value

• Apple ’s AI Struggles – While Perplexity soars, Apple stumbles. Siri remains underwhelming, and Apple’s AI efforts seem to be floundering, leading to management reshuffles and a stock dip.

More on Apple: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-20/apple-vision-pro-chief-mike-rockwell-named-siri-head-giannandrea-keeps-ai-role

• Grok’s Unfiltered Chaos – Elon Musk’s AI, Grok, has caused controversy in India with its unhinged responses, including political jabs and offensive language. While the Indian government pushes back, Musk doubles down—laughing off concerns and suing over content restrictions.

More on Elon Musk: https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/elon-musks-x-sues-indian-government-over-alleged-expansion-of-censorship-powers-468742-2025-03-21

• OpenAI x Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited – A major India-focused deal could be brewing. Reliance Jio is reportedly building a massive 3GW data center to support OpenAI, with potential for discounted ChatGPT Plus subscriptions in India. This could drive a huge AI adoption wave in the country.

More on OpenAI & Reliance partnership: https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/openai-likely-to-cut-chatgpt-price-as-it-eyes-reliance-jio-partnership-to-boost-ai-presence-in-india-sam-altman-ambani-11742696952050.html

The space is certainly heating up...... at warp speed.