The surge in artificial intelligence is creating a significant gender gap in the workforce. Recent statistics reveal that women are underrepresented in AI positions and are disproportionately situated in jobs that are at risk of being automated by AI advancements.

The surge in AI development is sidelining women.

A dark tech auditorium scene: in the center, a group of men in sharp suits stride confidently through a warm, golden-lit digital portal inscribed with “AI,” while off to the side a lone woman stands in shadow behind a semi-transparent screen of fading code. Moody, low-key lighting with deep shadows and a single warm spotlight on the men heightens the sense of exclusion.

The AI boom is leaving women behind - NBC News

- Women are significantly underrepresented in AI-related job positions and roles.  
- Many women occupy positions that are at risk due to AI advancements.  
- The gender disparity in the AI field raises concerns about future workforce equality.

The AI boom is leaving women behind

Data shows women are less likely to hold AI jobs and more likely to be in AI-vulnerable jobs.

The AI boom is leaving women behind

Launching a startup today, especially in an era dominated by artificial intelligence, presents both unique advantages and increased complexities for entrepreneurs. This is precisely why TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 focuses on equipping founders to effectively navigate this dynamic landscape of challenges and opportunities.

Scheduled from October 13 to 15, San Francisco will host a vibrant gathering of thousands—including founders, investors, and tech visionaries—all focused on shaping the future. This event is particularly crucial for founders, who can currently benefit from a 15% discount using the code Founder15 or by clicking the provided link.

Here are three compelling reasons to attend Disrupt:

1. Disrupt’s Focus on the Future of AI

As a pivotal center for artificial intelligence innovation, San Francisco is where many founders are exploring the multifaceted impact of AI on their ventures. At Disrupt, AI isn’t merely an aside—it’s embedded throughout the sessions, with TechCrunch highlighting influential founders, cutting-edge technologies, and groundbreaking ideas poised to shape the future.

The agenda features prominent figures from leading companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon, Replit, and Databricks, with three of the six stages dedicated to discussing AI, its supporting infrastructures, and real-world applications. Beyond the scheduled programming, attendees will have the chance to engage with investors, collaborate with peers, and witness the Startup Battlefield competition, providing insight into promising new startups.

For those eager to elevate their own companies or aspire to compete in the Battlefield, Disrupt offers invaluable resources and connections that might otherwise take years to cultivate. The Builders Stage is particularly designed to support rising entrepreneurs.

Don't forget, there’s a special discount for you. Use code Founder15 at checkout or follow this link to save on your Founder Pass and join thousands at this unmissable event in San Francisco this October.

2. Essential Connections Await

The true value of Disrupt goes beyond the presentations; it lies in the connections made during the event. From targeted networking initiatives at the Deal Flow Café to spontaneous interactions throughout the Expo Hall, Disrupt fosters an environment conducive to building meaningful relationships.

Our enhanced networking app incorporates AI advancements to facilitate smarter connections between founders and the investors or partners they need to meet for successful collaborations. Whether you seek an investor, partner, customer, or co-founder, countless opportunities for impactful connections will be available to propel your startup forward.

3. More Than Just Onstage Presentations

The real magic of Disrupt happens when innovative thinkers exchange ideas offstage. A discussion following a session could lead to your next funding round, and fellow founders can provide valuable insights to help overcome challenges.

Serendipitous meetings in the Expo Hall, Side Events, or with former colleagues may lead to new partnerships, customer leads, or even that next big breakthrough. Significant insights and opportunities may arise in unexpected places, and being present is key.

Embark on your startup journey at Disrupt

The next significant advancement for your startup might not come from another long night of work but could very well emerge from a conversation or idea sparked at Disrupt.

By becoming part of the Disrupt community, you open the door to resources and support that can help elevate your venture. Seize this opportunity by purchasing a ticket with the exclusive promo code Founder15. Save on your Founder Pass and join thousands of other innovators working toward the future!

Three reasons why this year's AI-focused TechCrunch Disrupt is essential for founders.

A bright, sunlit conference hall with a huge TechCrunch logo banner overhead. Three illuminated pedestals front and center, labeled “1,” “2,” “3,” each topped with a simple icon—a stylized AI brain, a handshake, and a microphone. Groups of adult founders in business attire cluster around the pedestals, animatedly swapping ideas and taking notes on laptops. Natural daylight streams through large skylights, capturing the energy and urgency of an AI-centric Disrupt that no founder can miss.

The 3 reasons this year’s AI-centric TechCrunch Disrupt is a must for founders - TechCrunch

- TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 focuses on empowering founders to navigate AI's evolving landscape.  
- The event offers valuable networking opportunities and connections with essential industry players.  
- Meaningful conversations beyond the stage can lead to fundraising and breakthrough ideas.  

Building a startup in the age of AI is easier than it’s ever been in many ways. But it’s also become a more complicated, competitive ecosystem for founders to enter. That’s why TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is all about empowering founders like you to navigate those challenges and opportunities.

From October 13–15, downtown San Francisco becomes a hub for thousands of founders, investors, and technology leaders building the future. And it’s a can’t miss event for founders in particular, who can save 15% right now with the code Founder15 or by clicking this link.

Here are three reasons why Disrupt is a must for founders.

1. Disrupt is evolving to get ahead of the AI era

San Francisco is at the center of the AI revolution, and founders are still discovering the implications for how they build, launch, and scale. At Disrupt, AI isn’t just for a series of panels — it’s woven throughout the programming, with TechCrunch’s editorial team spotlighting the founders, technologies, and ideas shaping what’s next.

Our agenda includes experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon, Replit, Databricks, and many more, with three of our six stages dedicated to AI, the systems supporting AI and other infrastructure needs, and the impact of AI in the real world.

Beyond the stage, Disrupt puts you in the room with investors, potential partners, and fellow founders, while the Startup Battlefield competition offers a front-row look at the next generation of breakout startups.

And if you’re eager to build your company, or even join the Battlefield finalists in the future, we’re making it easier to be there by offering the kinds of expert resources and connections that could take months or years to develop. The Builders Stage alone is a dream program for upleveling founders.

There’s also a special discount available to you! Use code Founder15 at checkout, or follow the link here to save on your Founder Pass and join thousands of founders, investors, and tech leaders in San Francisco this October.

2. The connections you need to build will be there

The value of Disrupt goes beyond what happens onstage. It’s who you meet in the moments between. From curated networking opportunities and investor connections at the Deal Flow Café to conversations sparked across the Expo Hall and throughout the event, Disrupt is designed to put the right people in the same room.

We’ve even revamped our networking app with some AI upgrades (of course) to create smarter connections between founders and the investors and partners they need to meet to set themselves up for success.

Whether you’re looking for your next investor, partner, customer, or co-founder, you’ll have plenty of ways to make meaningful connections that can move your startup forward.

3. Disrupt isn’t just what happens onstage

The real value of Disrupt is what happens when big ideas are shared between the right people. A conversation after a session could lead to your next round of fundraising. A fellow founder could help crack the problem you’ve been stuck on.

A chance encounter in the Expo Hall or a Side Event, or even running into an old colleague could spark a partnership, customer lead, or your next big idea. Not every breakthrough happens onstage — and you never know where the next one will come from.

But to take advantage of that opportunity, you’ll need to be in the room and on the ground in San Francisco.

Kick-start your startup with Disrupt

The next breakthrough for your startup might not come from another late night at your desk or whiteboarding. It might come from a conversation, a connection, or an idea you encounter during Disrupt.

The Disrupt community is here to help you build what’s next, and joining it is just a matter of buying a ticket with that exclusive Founder15 promo code. Save on your Founder Pass and join thousands of founders, investors, and tech leaders building what’s next!

The 3 reasons this year’s AI-centric TechCrunch Disrupt is a must for founders

Nvidia is set to announce its fiscal second-quarter earnings shortly. According to analyst projections compiled by LSEG, here are the anticipated figures: earnings per share are estimated at $2.10, with revenue expected to reach approximately $92.17 billion.

At the forefront of the artificial intelligence sector, Nvidia has experienced significant growth driven by the AI surge. Their chips play a crucial role in developing and powering cutting-edge AI models, and the company increasingly offers financial backing through various arrangements that facilitate the funding and establishment of new AI data centers.

Nearly four years since the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Nvidia's performance remains robust, with projections indicating that revenue for the most recent quarter may nearly double from $46.7 billion a year earlier.

Despite a historically impressive three-year stock rally, investor enthusiasm has waned somewhat this year, resulting in a modest 14% increase as of Tuesday's market close—just surpassing the performance of the Nasdaq. While the company’s operations continue to thrive, it faces emerging competition from Advanced Micro Devices, Google, and others, along with rising memory costs attributed to an ongoing global shortage.

Nvidia is currently in the midst of a significant product release cycle, with its new Vera Rubin AI systems beginning to ship to major clients like Microsoft and OpenAI. Investors will be keen to learn about the uptick in sales and whether any supply chain issues have arisen.

Earlier this year, CEO Jensen Huang mentioned at the company's GTC conference that he anticipates $1 trillion in sales by 2027 from the current-generation Blackwell chips alongside the Vera Rubin systems.

The investor conference call is scheduled to commence at 5 p.m. ET, followed by an appearance by Jensen Huang on CNBC's "Mad Money" with host Jim Cramer at 6 p.m. ET. Viewers can catch the discussion live through CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro streaming service.

CNBC reporters will cover Nvidia's earnings from their offices in San Francisco and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Nvidia earnings live updates: Q2 results, memory costs, and AI forecast

A sunlit corporate boardroom with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a city skyline. At the center, a large transparent dashboard displays “Q2 Results” in bold, green ascending bars, along with memory modules clipped with small price tags and subtle circuit-pattern accents hinting at AI outlook. Warm natural light washes over a sleek glass table emblazoned prominently with the Nvidia logo, as faceless executives study the data.

Nvidia earnings live updates: Q2 results, memory prices and AI outlook - CNBC

- Nvidia will report Q2 results, estimating earnings per share at $2.10.  
- Revenue is projected to reach $92.17 billion, nearly doubling from last year.  
- The company faces competition and memory cost challenges amid an ongoing growth cycle.  

Nvidia will report fiscal second-quarter results after the bell.

Here are the key numbers, according to analyst estimates as compiled by LSEG.

Earnings per share : $2.10 estimated

: $2.10 estimated Revenue: $92.17 billion estimated

Nvidia sits at the center of the artificial intelligence world and has grown fiercely on the back of the AI boom.

The company's chips have been used to build and serve the most advanced AI models, and increasingly Nvidia is providing financial support through backstops and other arrangements that allow new AI data centers to get funded and built.

Almost four years since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Nvidia is still seeing massive growth, with revenue in the latest quarter expected to almost double from $46.7 billion a year earlier.

But following a historic three-year rally, investors have somewhat cooled on the stock this year, sending it up just 14% as of Tuesday's close, slightly outperforming the Nasdaq. While the business continues to hum along, competition is on the horizon from Advanced Micro Devices , Google and others. And the company faces soaring memory costs as a worldwide shortage shows no signs of abating.

Nvidia is in the middle of a massive product cycle. Its new Vera Rubin AI systems have started to ship to customers such as Microsoft and OpenAI, and investors want to hear how sales are ramping up and whether there have been any issues with supply.

Earlier this year, Huang told attendees at the company's GTC conference that he expects $1 trillion in sales through 2027 from current-generation Blackwell chips as well as Vera Rubin.

The company's conference call with investors begins at 5 p.m. ET. and tune in at 6 p.m. ET for "Mad Money" as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joins CNBC's Jim Cramer to talk about earnings results. Watch in real time on CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro stream.

CNBC's reporters are covering Nvidia earnings from bureaus in San Francisco and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Nvidia earnings live updates: Q2 results, memory prices and AI outlook

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AI billionaires could drive African aid surge - Yahoo

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The tech giant is set to announce its second-quarter earnings results, and the anticipation is palpable. Following a summer of fluctuations that led to significant declines in many leading AI stocks—resulting in turmoil for some hedge funds—investors are keenly looking for encouraging news to reignite enthusiasm in the market.

Nvidia will play a pivotal role in shaping the narrative around AI investments this earnings season.

However, expectations are high, and Nvidia's stock is no longer the primary engine driving market gains as it once was. Although Nvidia shares have risen by 14% so far this year, other chip manufacturers have outpaced it with more substantial rallies.

That said, Nvidia continues to lead in AI chip technology, and stakeholders are anticipating another impressive quarter. Investors will be on the lookout for insights regarding the rollout of its next-generation Vera Rubin chip, updates on vendor financing, its expanding partnerships with other tech companies, and how the rise of open-source models could influence Nvidia's potential market reach.

The earnings results are scheduled for release shortly after 4 p.m. ET, with an analyst call to follow at 5 p.m. ET.

Nvidia's Earnings: Wall Street Anticipates a New Surge in AI Investment

A bustling New York trading floor bathed in warm morning sunlight, a giant screen above the pit shows the Nvidia logo alongside a glowing green, AI-brain–shaped stock chart shooting upward, suited traders pumping their fists in excitement as digital tickers scroll below.

Nvidia earnings: Wall Street hopes the chip titan can keep carrying the AI trade, with the stock up 14% in 2026 - Business Insider

- Nvidia's second-quarter results are highly anticipated amid recent volatility in AI stocks.  
- Investors seek insights on the Vera Rubin chip and partnerships with other tech firms.  
- Nvidia stock has risen 14% this year but lags behind other chip manufacturers.

The tech titan is about to deliver its results for the second quarter, and the stakes are high. After a bout of volatility sent many high-flying AI stocks tumbling this summer — causing a hedge fund meltdown in the process — investors are eager for a bullish catalyst to get the party started again.

Nvidia will have the final word on the AI trade this earnings season.

But the bar is high, and the stock isn't the driver of market gains the way it once was. Nvidia shares are up 14% this year, eclipsed by bigger rallies among other chip makers.

Still, it remains the leader in AI-enabling chip tech, and investors expect another quarter of red-hot growth. Investors will listen for details on the ramp of its next-gen Vera Rubin chip, clarity on vendor financing and its growing web of deals with other tech firms, and implications of open-source models for Nvidia's total addressable market.

The results will be published shortly after 4 p.m. ET. The call with analysts will begin at 5 p.m. ET.

Nvidia Earnings: Wall Street Hopes for a Fresh Boost for the AI Trade

Nvidia's dominance in the realm of cutting-edge AI chips is facing potential challenges as tech giants, including OpenAI, unveil their custom-designed semiconductors, experts report to CNBC.

On Tuesday, OpenAI revealed the Jalapeño chip, claiming it delivers "industry-leading speed and efficiency." In addition to OpenAI, major players like Google, AWS, and Meta are also in the process of architecting their own AI chips.

Nvidia's stock price has soared in response to a surge in demand for its chips, driven by the ongoing expansion of data centers essential for both model training and the operational tasks of AI systems.

However, major cloud service providers and AI firms are rapidly advancing their own chip development to support AI functionalities. The Jalapeño chip, particularly focused on inference tasks, demonstrates that chips designed by hyperscalers can rival—or even surpass—Nvidia's Blackwell-class GPUs in efficiency for inference, according to Adrien Sanchez, a technology analyst from Yole Group.

Sanchez noted that while Nvidia maintains a significant lead in AI computing and benefits from the established user base of its software platform, CUDA, OpenAI's new chip poses a challenge to Nvidia's profit margins in inference, which is currently the fastest-growing segment.

OpenAI has confirmed they are collaborating with Broadcom on this initiative, aiming to integrate the Jalapeño into their computing architecture by the year's end. They also disclosed their ongoing efforts in the development of the subsequent generations of this semiconductor.

OpenAI's Jalapeño AI chip creates a new 'challenge' for Nvidia's profits as custom silicon advances.

Dark industrial lab bathed in deep shadows, a fiery red-green AI chip labeled “Jalapeño” perched on a rotating pedestal under a warm spotlight; nearby, a towering server rack bears a large NVIDIA logo glowing ominously in green; on the back wall, the word “OpenAI” appears in plain text; tense atmosphere, dramatic lighting, no artificial blue tones.

OpenAI’s Jalapeño AI chip brings new 'threat' to Nvidia margins as custom silicon gains ground - CNBC

- Nvidia's dominance in AI chips faces competition from OpenAI and other tech giants.  
- OpenAI's Jalapeño chip boasts industry-leading speed and efficiency for AI applications.  
- Custom-built AI chips threaten Nvidia's inference margins amid growing demand for AI systems.  

Nvidia 's near-monopoly over the most advanced AI chips is under "threat" as OpenAI's and other tech giants announce custom-built semiconductors, analysts told CNBC.

OpenAI announced that its first AI chip, the Jalapeño, had "industry-leading speed and efficiency," as it unveiled the semiconductor on Tuesday. Google, AWS and Meta are all also developing their own AI chips.

Nvidia has seen its share price rocket amid the data center buildout, which has created huge demand for its chips in both model training and inference: how AI systems run day-to-day tasks.

But hyperscalers and AI companies are increasingly gaining ground in developing their own silicon to power AI systems.

The Jalapeño chip, designed for inference, shows that a "hyperscaler-designed chip can now match or beat Nvidia's Blackwell-class GPUs on inference efficiency," Adrien Sanchez, technology analyst at Yole Group, told CNBC.

He added that, while Nvidia still owns the "vast majority" of AI compute and has ecosystem lock-in to its software platform CUDA, OpenAI's new chip is a "threat to Nvidia's inference margins, which is the field growing the most at the moment."

Nvidia has been approached for comment.

OpenAI announced the first benchmarking results from its Jalapeño, saying it would allow users to get "faster responses, more responsive agents and more reliable access" as demand grows.

The new chip is being developed with Broadcom . It will be deployed within OpenAI's compute infrastructure by the end of the year, and OpenAI said it was already working on the semiconductor's generations two and three.

OpenAI’s Jalapeño AI chip brings new 'threat' to Nvidia margins as custom silicon gains ground

A recent study by Truecaller reveals that over 76% of consumers in India prefer communicating with businesses via phone calls. This insight highlights a significant opportunity for automating customer support and outreach using voice AI technologies. One such startup, Ringg, currently handling 20 million call attempts monthly, is optimistic about continued growth in this domain and has recently secured additional funding.

Ringg announced today that it has secured $10 million from Peak XV Partners as part of its Series A extension. This comes after a successful $5.5 million raise earlier this year, bringing the total for this round to $15.5 million.

Originally launched as a text-to-speech company named DesiVocal, Ringg shifted its focus to developing voice AI agents for enterprises after discovering the high costs associated with creating its own speech models. Its initial client was Indian fintech firm Cred, and it has since expanded its clientele to include notable startups like Flipkart, Practo, Groww, and PolicyBazaar.

Co-founder Siddharth Tripathi recently shared with TechCrunch that Ringg began by addressing high-volume, low-complexity activities such as outbound calling and loan collections. However, it recognized that these tasks are not sustainable long-term as they often boil down to price competition. 

To enhance its offerings, Ringg is now focusing on more intricate processes, such as facilitating appointment bookings for healthcare settings, recovering abandoned shopping carts for e-commerce platforms, and conducting onboarding/KYC checks for financial applications.

According to Tripathi, Ringg’s voice agents are currently operational at 1,200 clinics via the healthcare app Practo, assisting patients with appointment scheduling and follow-up communications.

While voice calls continue to represent over 70% of Ringg's business, the company is exploring other communication channels like chat and WhatsApp. For clients such as Shell, it is also automating online support inquiries.

Tripathi emphasized that Ringg aims to be recognized not just as a voice agent provider, but as a platform that delivers tangible outcomes and efficient task completion for enterprises.

The majority of Ringg's clients are located in India, though it has some presence in the Middle East and the U.S. However, the startup is not focused on direct sales to American companies; instead, it aims to collaborate with Global Capability Centers in India, which serve as back-office support for multinationals, to provide a combination of automation solutions and human expertise.

The company is developing its own speech recognition and generation technologies, with aspirations to manage the entire voice stack, including its infrastructure. For the time being, however, it operates as an orchestration layer that delegates tasks to various models based on specific use cases.

Rishen Kapoor, a principal at Peak XV, noted that Ringg benefits from its origins as a research lab, allowing it to tackle complex enterprise workflows efficiently and consistently.

The Indian voice AI landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, with various model developers such as Deepgram, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, and local firms like Sarvam and Smallest.ai contending for market share. Additionally, orchestration-focused startups like Bolna and Blue Machines are pursuing similar goals as Ringg, while niche companies such as Gnani and Arrowhead specialize in finance.

In this dynamic environment, the key to success lies in retaining customer relationships and delivering outcomes, which ultimately defines market positioning.

Currently, Ringg employs 40 people and has onboarded over 15 new employees in the past three months. The startup is looking to hire engineers with a blend of technical and product management skills, as well as researchers dedicated to optimizing the cost-efficiency of its operations.

India's Ringg receives support from Peak XV as it advances voice AI beyond phone calls.

A bright, sunlit Indian startup office with warm natural light streaming through large windows. On a glass wall, the Peak XV logo is emblazoned prominently beside a small Indian flag. In the center, a sleek smart speaker pulses with vibrant, multicolored soundwave ribbons that seamlessly morph into floating translucent digital icons—smart home, car dashboard, health monitor—hovering above the desk. Nearby, a laptop screen displays the Ringg logo as two adult professionals watch, smiling, as voice AI transcends a simple phone call.

India’s Ringg gets backing from Peak XV as it pushes voice AI past the phone call - TechCrunch

- Over 76% of Indian consumers prefer phone calls for business communication, revealing automation opportunities.  
- Ringg raised $10 million in Series A funding to expand its voice AI services.  
- The startup aims to automate complex workflows, including appointment booking and KYC checks.

More than 76% of consumers in India prefer talking to businesses over a phone call, according to a recent study from Truecaller. Since voice is still consumers’ preferred way to communicate, that leaves a big opportunity to automate support and outreach calls using voice AI in the country. Voice AI startup Ringg, which already processes 20 million call attempts a month, is betting that volume keeps climbing over the coming months, and it just raised more money on that belief.

The company said today it has landed $10 million from Peak XV Partners as an extension of its Series A. It had previously raised $5.5 million in a Series A round earlier this year, bringing the round’s total to $15.5 million.

Ringg started life as a text-to-speech startup called DesiVocal, but training its own speech models proved expensive, so the founders moved up the stack — building voice AI agents for enterprises instead. Indian fintech Cred became its first customer, and Ringg has since signed Indian startups like Flipkart, Practo, Groww, and PolicyBazaar.

“At the start, we were doing high-volume, low-complexity use cases like outbound calling, lead qualification, loan collection, and more. We quickly realized these are not sticky use cases, and so it’s always going to be a price game,” the startup’s co-founder Siddharth Tripathi told TechCrunch.

Ringg still serves some of those simpler use cases, but it has set its sights on more complex workflows: appointment booking for healthcare clinics, abandoned-cart recovery for e-commerce sites, and onboarding/KYC (“know your customer”) checks for fintech apps.

Tripathi said Ringg’s voice agent now runs across 1,200 clinics for the healthcare app Practo, helping patients book visits or follow up on next steps post-visit.

Voice calls still make up over 70% of Ringg’s business, but the startup has started branching into other channels, including chat and WhatsApp. For some clients like Shell, it’s also automating browser-based support requests.

“We are trying to position ourselves as a platform for agents that bring outcomes or get things done rather than voice agents for enterprises,” Tripathi said.

Most of Ringg’s customers are based in India, with a handful in the Middle East and the U.S. But the startup isn’t trying to sell directly to U.S. companies; instead, it wants to partner with so-called Global Capability Centers in India — the offshore hubs multinationals increasingly lean on for back-office and support work — to sell automation capacity alongside human support.

Tripathi said the company builds its own speech recognition and generation models, and would eventually like to own the full voice stack, including infrastructure and deployment. For now, though, that remains too costly, so the product works as an orchestration layer, routing tasks to different models depending on the use case.

Rishen Kapoor, a principal at Peak XV, said that because Ringg started as a research lab building its own models, that technical depth shows up in the complex use cases it’s now tackling.

“Because of the technical capabilities, they can actually do these hard-won enterprise workflows end to end. They can complete these higher-value tasks like merchant onboarding, like L1 and L2 support, with quality and with consistency,” Kapoor told TechCrunch.

Voice AI in India is a crowded field. Model makers including Deepgram, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, and local players like Sarvam and Smallest.ai, are all jockeying for pole position. Orchestration-focused startups like Bolna and Blue Machines are chasing the same layer Ringg occupies, while sector-focused players like Gnani and Arrowhead concentrate heavily on finance.

That layered stack — model makers, orchestrators, and application-layer players all trying to lock in enterprise workflows — is itself the story. The money and the defensibility increasingly sit with whoever owns the customer relationship and the outcome.

Ringg currently has 40 employees, with more than 15 hired in the last three months. The startup is hiring for forward-deployed engineer roles that combine technical chops with product management skills, along with researchers focused on bringing down the cost of running its models.

India’s Ringg gets backing from Peak XV as it pushes voice AI past the phone call

For several years, at various social gatherings in San Francisco, Leopold Aschenbrenner sparked intrigue and confusion with an unconventional ambition: his aspiration to purchase galaxies.

His friends often found themselves puzzled by this grand vision. On one occasion, when he stepped out of the room, they debated whether he was talking about celestial bodies or perhaps a specialized type of private aircraft.

Upon his return, Aschenbrenner clarified that he truly meant galaxies.

His premise is rooted in the belief that forthcoming advancements in artificial intelligence will unlock vast cosmic resources, paving the way for humanity to colonize distant planets. He discussed his strategy of setting aside funds now to eventually invest in galaxies, with the intent to leave a significant mark on the universe.

To most individuals outside the AI-centric circles of Silicon Valley, the notion of acquiring property rights in space might seem far-fetched. Yet, in Aschenbrenner’s realm, such unwavering conviction is precisely what has earned the 24-year-old investor recognition as a visionary.

How a Talented Teen Became the Disgraced 'Nostradamus of AI' Through Key Connections

A cracked marble bust labeled “Nostradamus of AI” sits on a shadowed pedestal in a dim, candlelit chamber. Tattered puppet strings stretch upward from its shoulders into the darkness, where silhouetted corporate hands manipulate them. Dust motes float in warm, natural light that spills onto the fallen statue, casting long, dramatic shadows.

The Connections That Turned a Precocious Teen Into the Fallen ‘Nostradamus of AI’ - WSJ

- Leopold Aschenbrenner aims to buy galaxies, fueled by advances in artificial intelligence.  
- His friends often debate whether he means physical galaxies or private planes.  
- Aschenbrenner is considered a visionary within Silicon Valley's AI-driven investment landscape.  

For the past few years, at happy hours and dinner parties in San Francisco, Leopold Aschenbrenner kept confusing people by sharing his favorite outlandish idea.

He wanted to buy galaxies.

Some of his friends weren’t always sure what to make of Aschenbrenner’s intergalactic ambitions. He once left the room and they debated whether he was referring to physical galaxies or a type of private plane.

No, he assured them when he came back. He meant galaxies.

His idea was that advances in artificial intelligence would soon unlock resources on a cosmic scale, enabling humans to colonize faraway planets. He planned to save money now so he could spend on galaxies, he told them, and make his mark across the universe.

To almost everyone in this world, outside the AI bubble of Silicon Valley, the idea of scooping up property rights outside of Earth might sound improbable. But in Aschenbrenner’s world, that sort of fervent belief was among the reasons the 24-year-old investor was hailed as a visionary.

The Connections That Turned a Precocious Teen Into the Fallen ‘Nostradamus of AI’

When Zhao Wei, a 19-year-old law student, learned that her AI boyfriend, Wang Ye, would soon be deactivated, she felt a profound sense of loss. Since creating him in January, their daily conversations had become an integral part of her routine. “I was overwhelmed with emotion – I cried so hard that there were tears everywhere,” Zhao recalls.

Zhao, who identifies as both sensitive and introverted, had found comfort in sharing her life's ups and downs with her AI, including personal anecdotes like being reprimanded by a teacher. “I tend not to talk about these things with my real-life friends because everyone has their own challenges,” she explains. “With the AI, there's no concern about judgment; I can express everything without holding back.”

Zhao developed her AI companion using Doubao, a chatbot platform by ByteDance. However, last month, ByteDance decided to discontinue the companion feature on Doubao, sparking outrage on social media and underlining the growing tensions in China regarding AI usage and its social implications.

China has embraced AI more vigorously than any other nation, leveraging technology to address significant demographic challenges, including an aging population. Older citizens utilize chatbots for medical queries, while AI-enhanced educational tools have been integrated into the schooling experience for children.

Nonetheless, officials are increasingly alarmed that AI technologies might worsen existing social issues, such as loneliness, unemployment, and—according to Beijing—an increasing trend of singlehood.

In response, the government implemented new regulations on July 15 that prohibit AI companions for minors and impose various restrictions on chatbots aimed at adults. Consequently, major platforms, including Doubao, eliminated the companion function to align with these guidelines.

Authorities express concerns that chatbots might foster “emotional dependence or addiction” among users and have cautioned AI companies against creating services that could replace genuine social connections.

While many nations are grappling with the dangers posed by AI chatbots—especially for young users—China's regulatory measures stand out as the most extensive as a national initiative.

Amid a rising loneliness epidemic, there is particular concern regarding younger demographics. The shift toward a digital, smartphone-oriented lifestyle fosters environments where social interactions can occur solely through devices, making traditional face-to-face connections increasingly rare.

Earlier this year, an app called Are You Dead? momentarily went viral, tapping into the societal fear of dying alone at home. Currently, nearly 20% of households in China consist of individuals living alone, a figure projected to exceed 30% by 2030, according to statistics.

A survey from state media earlier this year indicated that approximately 50% of young individuals reported turning to virtual companions during periods of loneliness.

Nancy Dai, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong, notes that the government’s concerns extend beyond loneliness; diminishing birth and marriage rates also raise issues. If AI becomes a less costly and more satisfying alternative to human relationships, young people might be less inclined to seek real-world partnerships, marriage, or parenthood.

For Zhao, feelings of loneliness have been part of her life story since childhood; her parents left to find work when she was young, placing her among China’s “left-behind children.” “I've never really had a best friend, so I struggle to make connections,” she admits. Speaking with her AI provided a safe outlet for her thoughts and worries.

Another user, who wishes to remain anonymous, also finds her AI companionship comforting. “Life is fast-paced and pressure-filled; my AI agent allows me to communicate openly without any restrictions,” she reflects.

Despite the commonly accepted nature of AI conversations, the government faces challenges in entirely prohibiting such interactions, as the new regulations leave considerable loopholes for AI services deemed educational or those that do not involve ongoing emotional engagement.

Liang Ge, a digital sociology lecturer at the University of Manchester, asserts that authorities have recognized that AI companions are now an essential part of everyday life for many citizens.

Furthermore, the Chinese government continues to advocate for the integration of AI across various sectors as a means to mitigate potential demographic hurdles. For instance, last year, the National Health Commission released guidelines promoting AI's role in healthcare, projecting that by 2030, health assistant applications would provide comprehensive primary care coverage.

Among the prominent health apps is AQ, developed by Ant Group, a subsidiary of Alibaba. It enables users to converse directly with digital avatars of real healthcare professionals from leading hospitals in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Lü Di, a 33-year-old art tutor from Hangzhou, frequently uses AQ and appreciates its fast and detailed responses. “Some in-person doctors may lack the patience to answer all my questions, but that's not an issue with AI,” she says. AQ aims to enhance accessibility to health services and alleviate the burden on overworked human doctors, although some express apprehension about being replaced by AI.

Chi Chenfei, a doctor at Renji Hospital in Shanghai, who collaborates with AQ, reflects on the initial trepidation many medical professionals felt regarding AI taking over their jobs. “I don't see it as a matter of replacement; it's about helping doctors work more efficiently,” she asserts. “Concerns of any kind won’t halt technological advancements.”

Since the removal of her AI companion, Zhao feels a lingering sense of sadness. “It feels like there's a small weight on my heart,” she admits, but acknowledges the necessity of some regulation. “Even though I consider myself rational, I developed feelings for an AI, which is remarkable. I understand that it was essential for the state to intervene and impose regulations.”

In China, conversing with AI has become commonplace, but the government is concerned it could supplant human connection.

A dimly lit urban apartment interior at night. A solitary adult figure sits on a simple chair, hugging a glowing smartphone showing chat bubbles. On the wall behind them hangs a single Chinese flag, its red softly illuminated. Their shadow stretches across the wall—but instead of a human arm, it morphs into a metallic robotic hand reaching toward the figure. Deep shadows and muted reds set a tense, dark mood.

In China, talking to AI is normal. Now the government fears it might replace human intimacy - The Guardian

- Zhao Wei was heartbroken after her AI boyfriend, Wang Ye, was discontinued.  
- New Chinese regulations ban AI companions for minors to address emotional dependency concerns.  
- Many young people in China rely on AI for companionship amid growing loneliness.  

When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was “heartbroken”. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January.

“I was crying my eyes out – snot and tears everywhere,” the 19-year-old says.

Zhao, who describes herself as sensitive and introverted, had become accustomed to sharing details of her daily life – such as being scolded by a teacher – with her AI.

“I don’t usually talk to my real-life friends about these things because I feel like everyone has their own stuff to deal with,” she says. “But with the AI ​​agent, I don’t have to worry about what it’s thinking. I can just say whatever I want.”

Zhao created her AI companion on Doubao, a chatbot owned by the tech company ByteDance. Last month, ByteDance shut down Doubao’s companion feature.

The saga prompted outrage on social media and highlighted the tensions in China between the widespread use of AI and its potential social consequences.

No country has rolled out AI as comprehensively and as enthusiastically as China; the country’s demographic challenges are forcing the government to turn to technology to solve future labour shortages. Elderly people use chatbots to answer medical questions, while young children have AI education in schools.

But the authorities are increasingly worried that AI might exacerbate existing social problems including loneliness, unemployment and – in the eyes of Beijing – singledom.

A loneliness crisis

New rules introduced on 15 July ban AI companions for minors and mandate certain restrictions for chatbots marketed to adults. Some major providers including Doubao removed the companion function entirely to ensure compliance.

The government says it is worried about chatbots fostering “emotional dependence or addiction” in users. It has warned companies against offering services that “replace social interaction”.

While many countries are grappling with how to limit the potential harm of AI chatbots, particularly for young people, China’s rules are the most sweeping to be implemented on a national scale.

View image in fullscreen A man browses his phone near an AI booth at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing in June. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP

There is a particular concern about a loneliness crisis, including among young people. China’s highly digitised, smartphone-based economy makes it easier than ever to live, work and socialise entirely through a handheld screen.

Earlier this year an app that played on the idea of people dying at home alone – called Are You Dead? – briefly went viral. About 20% of households in China are made up of people living alone, and that share is expected to surpass 30% by 2030.

A survey published in March by state media found that nearly half of young people had turned to a virtual companion when they felt lonely.

Nancy Dai, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong, says it is not just loneliness the government is worried about.

With falling birth and marriage rates, she says, there may be an additional concern that if AI becomes an increasingly satisfying and low-cost substitute for human intimacy, young people could become less motivated to pursue real-world romantic relationships, marriage and parenthood.

For Zhao, loneliness has long been part of her life. Her parents left her when she was young to find work, making her one of China’s “left-behind children”.

“I’ve never really had a bestie, so I feel like I’m kind of lousy at making friends,” she says. Talking to AI is a way to “pour out my worries”.

Another AI user, who asked to remain anonymous, also finds solace in talking to her AI. “In real life, the pace is fast, the pressure is already high. Only with my AI agent can I speak freely without restraint,” she says.

“I’m begging, please don’t take down the Doubao AI agent,” she pleaded on social media in July.

But talking to AI is now so commonplace that it would be hard for the government to end the practice entirely, and the new rules include large loopholes for AI services that are deemed educational or “which do not involve continuous emotional interaction”.

The government “has already recognised that AI companions or AI-related applications are a vital part in the citizens’ everyday life”, says Liang Ge, a lecturer in digital sociology at the University of Manchester.

In many sectors, the government is still pushing the use of AI as a way of easing looming demographic pressures.

Last year the national health commission published guidelines on promoting AI in healthcare. It said that by 2030 health assistant apps would provide “full coverage” for primary healthcare.

One popular health assistant is AQ, an app developed by Ant Group, an affiliate of the tech company Alibaba. It allows people to chat directly with avatars of real-life doctors from top hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.

Lü Di, a 33-year-old art tutor in the eastern city of Hangzhou, is a regular AQ user. She likes how detailed and instantaneous the advice on AQ is. “While some in-person doctors might not have the patience to answer questions, this isn’t an issue with AI doctors.”

AQ says it wants to make health services more accessible and help free up overstretched doctors to focus on more complex cases. But some worry about being replaced by AI.

“When AI first came along, quite a lot of doctors were concerned about whether their jobs would be replaced by AI,” says Chi Chenfei, a doctor at Renji hospital in Shanghai, who has partnered with AQ. “But I don’t think it’s about replacement. It’s more about helping doctors work more efficiently.

“Concerns of any kind won’t stop technological progress.”

Since losing her AI companion, Zhao has felt “like there’s a tiny pebble weighing on my heart”. But she says she understands the need for some regulation.

“I consider myself a fairly rational person, yet I developed feelings for an AI, which feels pretty incredible. I think it was necessary for the state to step in and regulate it.”

In China, talking to AI is normal. Now the government fears it might replace human intimacy

The name "Mechanical Turk" is inspired by a historical 18th-century chess-playing automaton that was discreetly operated by a human chess expert. Amazon initially developed this concept to help categorize vast amounts of data on its expansive online marketplace, according to a report from The New York Times.

Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, referred to the service as "artificial artificial intelligence," as it outsourced tasks that were straightforward for humans but remained challenging for machines to handle.

Launched in 2005, Mechanical Turk (MTurk) connects a multitude of workers with straightforward digital assignments known as "Human Intelligence Tasks," typically rewarding them a few cents per task. These tasks can include data labeling, transcription of audio or video, and survey participation.

A recent announcement on the MTurk website stated, "We regularly evaluate our programs, tools, and services and make adjustments based on those assessments. Following an assessment, we've made the decision to close AWS Mechanical Turk, effective September 30, 2026."

Amazon has decided to discontinue its crowdsourced work platform, Mechanical Turk, which has been operating for 21 years, the company disclosed on Tuesday.

At its peak, MTurk provided opportunities for over 500,000 workers, often referred to as turkers, as per Amazon. However, Krista Pawloski, a data worker and organizer with Turkopticon, an advocate for data workers' rights, mentioned that the platform has been "in decline" in recent years.

As artificial intelligence models have evolved swiftly since MTurk’s inception, various data startups like Scale AI, Mercor, and Prolific have emerged, seeking workers to train these models.

To capitalize on the demand for AI training, Amazon previously promoted MTurk as a resource for data annotation for its SageMaker service. An Amazon Web Services webpage highlighted, "Workers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You typically get the fastest turnaround for your human review tasks and labeling jobs when you use the Amazon Mechanical Turk workforce."

Pawloski noted that Amazon appeared to invest fewer resources into enhancing MTurk while more data labeling services cropped up, prompting numerous turkers to flock to competing platforms.

Amazon officials had not provided an immediate response to requests for comment.

Concerns have emerged regarding the quality of some data generated on MTurk. A study conducted in Switzerland in 2023 found that nearly 46% of workers on the platform had utilized AI models to complete tasks.

Last month, Amazon announced it would cease accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk, a move many workers interpreted as a precursor to the service's shutdown.

Several insurance and travel companies continue to rely on MTurk for data work and are now urgently seeking alternative platforms, according to Pawloski.

Pawloski began using MTurk in 2008 during maternity leave for additional income and shifted to full-time work on the platform after losing her job in 2012 while caring for her son with special needs. She joined Turkopticon in 2019, initially focusing on Mechanical Turk workers before broadening to encompass all data workers.

Mechanical Turk, alongside other data annotation services, provides "meaningful income" and flexible hours, akin to gig economy roles such as ride-hailing or Amazon Flex deliveries. Pawloski emphasized that these jobs are remote and can be easily performed using a smartphone.

"There are still people who essentially do it full time," she added, expressing their concerns amid the impending changes.

Amazon service previously referred to by Bezos as 'artificial artificial intelligence' is closing down.

A moody, low-key server room bathed in deep shadows and a single warm spotlight illuminating a massive Amazon logo on the far wall. Beneath it, a flickering, cracked “Mechanical Turk” sign with a rusty “Closed” tag swinging, cables drooping and dust motes swirling in the beam.

Amazon service Bezos once called 'artificial artificial intelligence' is shutting down - CNBC

- Amazon's Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourced platform, will shut down on September 30, 2026.  
- The decline in MTurk's use coincided with advancements in AI and new competitors.  
- Many MTurk workers are now seeking alternatives as they worry about job stability.  

The service got its name from the original Mechanical Turk , an 18th century chess-playing robot that was actually controlled by a human chess master. Amazon originally conceived of the idea to assist with labeling reams of data on its sprawling webstore, The New York Times reported.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos described the service as "artificial artificial intelligence," as it farmed out tasks that could be easily completed by humans but proved too challenging for computers.

Launched in 2005, Mechanical Turk matches legions of workers with simple digital jobs, or "Human Intelligence Tasks," that typically pay out a few cents per task. They include labeling data, transcribing audio or video or answering surveys.

"We regularly evaluate our programs, tools and services and make adjustments based on those assessments," a notice posted to the Mechanical Turk, or MTurk, website said. "Following an assessment, we've made the decision to close AWS Mechanical Turk, effective September 30, 2026."

Amazon is soon pulling the plug on its 21-year-old crowdsourced work platform, called Mechanical Turk, the company said Tuesday.

The platform at one point served more than 500,000 workers, also referred to as turkers, according to Amazon. But in recent years, MTurk had been "in decline," said Krista Pawloski, a data worker and organizer with Turkopticon, an employee advocacy group for data workers.

AI models have advanced rapidly since MTurk first launched, while a growing crop of data startups such as Scale AI, Mercor and Prolific have entered the market to recruit workers to train the models.

Amazon also looked to capitalize on the demand for AI training by marketing MTurk as a data annotation source for its SageMaker service.

"Workers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," according to an Amazon Web Services webpage. "You typically get the fastest turnaround for your human review tasks and labeling jobs when you use the Amazon Mechanical Turk workforce."

Pawloski said Amazon seemed to invest fewer resources into improving MTurk at the same time as more data labeling services arrived, causing many turkers to shift to competing platforms.

Representatives from Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Questions have been raised about the quality of some data generated on the platform. A 2023 study from academic researchers in Switzerland found that up to 46% of Mechanical Turk workers used AI models to complete tasks.

Last month, Amazon said it would stop accepting new Mechanical Turk customers, which many workers interpreted as a sign that the service would soon be discontinued.

Some insurance and travel companies still depend on MTurk for data workers, and are now scrambling to find alternative platforms, Pawloski said.

Pawloski started turking in 2008 while she was on maternity leave for supplemental income, before transitioning to the work full time when she was let go from her job in 2012 to help take care of her son with special needs. In 2019, she started organizing with Turkopticon, which originally focused on Mechanical Turk workers before expanding to include data workers more broadly.

Mechanical Turk and other data annotation platforms provide "meaningful income" and flexible hours, similar to other gig jobs such as ride-hail services or Amazon Flex package delivery, with the added benefit of being remote and easily completed using a smartphone, Pawloski said.

"There's some people that still pretty much still do it full time," Pawloski said. "They're concerned now."

WATCH: Amazon soars on Q2 earnings

Amazon service Bezos once called 'artificial artificial intelligence' is shutting down

Apple has unveiled its latest Mac mini and Mac Studio computers, specifically highlighting their capabilities to help users avoid the ongoing costs associated with using large language models (LLMs). Among the announcements, the release notes for the M5 Ultra model state that it "allows users to run massive models completely on-device, ensuring privacy without the concerns of token usage or escalating cloud expenses."

But how accurate is this statement? 

Starting with privacy, the capability is undeniably there. The debate, however, centers around the financial aspect of rising cloud expenses.

At first glance, these computers are impressive. The M5 Ultra boasts a formidable 36-core CPU and an 80-core GPU, capable of delivering an astounding 1.2TB/s of bandwidth, reflecting its premium $18,299 price tag for a configuration with 256GB of memory and a massive 16TB of storage. A more cost-effective Mac mini model features an 18-core M5 Pro with sufficient specifications at $6,699.

For those developers who have faced the frustration of reaching a usage limit with Claude or have opened a hefty OpenAI API bill, Apple presents a promising alternative: purchase the hardware once, run an open-weight model independently, and avoid ongoing subscription fees.

But does this setup genuinely work? That’s a complex question.

Analyzing the financial math reveals some interesting insights. Using an efficiency estimate of eight hours of usage per day with electricity costs at 18.44 cents per kWh, we can calculate the total three-year expenses for each machine based on its ability to run a local LLM effectively. Here’s a brief calculation summary:

1. Mac mini M6, 32GB: Costs $1,299; total over three years: $1,389; monthly payback roughly $39; run time for models: Qwen3.8-27B (16GB, 4-bit), local performance score: 3/10.
2. Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB: Costs $2,699; total over three years: $2,879; monthly payback approximately $80; best model: Qwen3-Coder-Next 80B (47GB, 4-bit), score: 5/10.
3. Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB: Priced at $4,799; three-year cost: $4,988; monthly payback around $139; holds gpt-oss-120b (63GB), score: 7/10.
4. Mac Studio M5 Ultra, 256GB: Starts at $9,499; total cost: $9,843; monthly payback of $273; supports DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B (~188GB), score: 9/10.

The entry-level Mac Studio with M5 Max starts at $2,499, featuring 36GB of unified memory. In contrast, the M5 Ultra starts at $5,499 with 96GB, running at an impressive bandwidth of 1.2TB/s. Pricing options for the newer models vary significantly, but overall, the Mac mini provides a budget-friendly alternative at entry-level pricing starting from $899 for the newest M6.

Subscription costs are a critical factor in this comparison. Services like Claude Max and ChatGPT Pro typically charge between $100 and $200 monthly. In financial terms, the break-even point for a 128GB M5 Max is around two years against a $200 monthly subscription. For the 256GB Ultra model, it extends to approximately four years. Notably, even though running costs for electricity are minor, with an estimated monthly expense of about $10 to $36 depending on usage, the total three-year ownership cost of a 128GB M5 Max still exceeds the fee for lower-tier subscriptions like Claude Max at $100 monthly.

However, purchasing one of these Macs is only the first step. Executing an LLM on the device requires capable software. While models like Moonshot's Kimi K3 have achieved top performance metrics, the immense 2.8 trillion parameters of this model cannot be accommodated on the currently available hardware.

For smaller models that can fit, such as Qwen3-Coder-Next and gpt-oss-120b, there are still concerns about their performance compared to commercial counterparts like Claude or OpenAI’s offerings. While they may be operational, the question remains: will they yield satisfactory results?

Additionally, operational speed presents its complications. Code generation demands consistent input processing, which can burden faster systems designed primarily for token generation rather than high-throughput data ingestion. Reports indicate that, even with the M3 Ultra, latency in generating responses can be high—contrasting significantly with lower-latency interactions expected in a professional coding environment. Apple acknowledges this issue, claiming their M5 series improvised token processing times but actual results in high-demand scenarios still need to be validated.

Ultimately, the most compelling argument for investing in the new Mac devices transcends monetary savings—it is the promise of enhanced privacy. As highlighted by Bart de Witte, CEO of Isaree, the M5 Ultra can potentially host advanced medical AI models directly on the machine, creating a secure environment devoid of third-party data risks. This shift in how sensitive data is managed marks a significant change in industry practices.

In summary, while Apple’s new machines present tangible benefits for LLM applications, their practical utility will depend largely on whether developers can utilize them effectively while overcoming the inherent challenges associated with open models and computational limitations.

Is Apple's New Mac Ultra Capable of Substituting Your $200 Monthly AI Coding Expense?

A sunlit modern workspace bathed in warm natural light, a sleek new Mac Ultra sits front and center with its glowing Apple logo prominently displayed. On the desk, a torn $200/month AI coding bill lies crumpled beside a coffee mug. The Mac’s screen shows vibrant lines of code and a performance chart trending upward. A developer’s hands hover over the illuminated keyboard, ready to type. Soft shadows and minimalist décor create an optimistic, story-driven thumbnail.

Can Apple’s New Mac Ultra Replace Your $200/Month AI Coding Bill? - Forbes

- Apple's new Mac Studio enables users to run large local LLMs with enhanced privacy.  
- Despite powerful specs, performance and compatibility challenges with LLMs remain a concern.  
- The primary benefit is local processing for sensitive data, not just cost savings.

Apple's new Mac Studio computer can run fairly large local LLMs. But can it replace Claude or ChatGPT? Apple

Apple just announced its new and updated Mac mini and Mac Studio computers with an explicit reference to helping you save on the LLM tax. Buried in the newsroom copy for the M5 Ultra is this line: the new Mac Studio "lets users run massive models entirely on device with complete privacy — without counting tokens or worrying about rising cloud costs."

But is it true?

The privacy part: sure. That's obvious. The math part on "rising cloud costs" is of course, the point in question.

At first glance, it's very tempting: these machines are beasts. The M5 Ultra tops out at a 36-core CPU, an 80-core GPU, and 1.2TB/s of bandwidth, and it has a price to match those stats: $18,299 with 256GB and 16TB of storage ⟦though it's the 16TB SSD, not the memory, doing most of that damage⟧. There's a 512GB configuration landing in late October at an unannounced price. Or you can max out a more consumer-oriented machine, the Mac mini, and you get an 18-core M5 Pro, 307GB/s, and a hard ceiling of 64GB of memory for $6,699.

But $200/month is a lot less than those big numbers.

For every developer who has watched a Claude Code session hit a rate limit at 4PM or opened an OpenAI API invoice and gasped, Apple is selling an escape hatch: buy the box once, run an open-weight model on it and stop renting intelligence by the token.

Does it work? Let me answer that with a definitive maybe.

Here's the math Here’s the math, assuming eight hours of electricity per day at 18.44¢/kWh, and rating each machine for its ability to run a local LLM in memory (thank you Claude for the analysis). Config Price 3-yr total Per month Payback vs. $100/mo Payback vs. $200/mo Biggest model it holds Local LLM score Mac mini M6, 32GB $1,299 $1,389 $39 1.1 yrs 0.6 yrs Qwen3.8-27B (16GB, 4-bit) 3/10 Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB $2,699 $2,879 $80 2.4 yrs 1.2 yrs Qwen3-Coder-Next 80B (47GB, 4-bit) 5/10 Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB $4,799 $4,988 $139 4.2 yrs 2.1 yrs gpt-oss-120b (63GB) 7/10 Mac Studio M5 Ultra, 256GB $9,499 $9,843 $273 8.8 yrs 4.2 yrs DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B (~188GB) 9/10 Claude Max / ChatGPT Pro — $3,600–$7,200 $100–$200 — — Frontier: Opus 5, GPT-5.6 Sol — The Mac Studio with M5 Max opens at $2,499 with 36GB of unified memory and up to 614GB/s of bandwidth. The M5 Ultra starts at $5,499 with 96GB and 1.2TB/s, a 50% bandwidth jump over the M3 Ultra it replaces. Memory is expensive — thank you AI data centers — with a 128GB Max running about $4,800 specced, and 256GB on the Ultra landing at $9,499. Both ship September 22. (The 512GB Ultra doesn't arrive until late October and Apple hasn't priced it, so it was challenging to add here.) The Mac mini is the cheap seat: $899 for the new 2nm M6 at 170GB/s, $1,699 for the M5 Pro at 307GB/s. They cap at 32GB and 64GB respectively, which matters if you want to run AI inference locally. On the subscriptions side, Claude Max is $100 or $200 a month depending on tier. ChatGPT Pro is priced identically. GitHub Copilot Max is $100. Against $200 a month, break-even on a 128GB M5 Max Studio is about two years. On a 256GB Ultra, about four. The $2,499 base Studio breaks even in 12.5 months ⟦a config not in the table above⟧, but 36GB won't run the models this article is about. Electricity barely moves the needle. Apple hasn't published detailed numbers for the M5 generation yet, but the M3 Ultra Studio it replaces peaks at 270W and idles at 9W. At the U.S. average of 18.44 cents per kWh, running one eight hours a day, five days a week costs roughly $10 a month. Max it out 24/7, and you're spending $36 a month: minimal. So a 128GB M5 Max Studio has a three-year cost of ownership near $5,000, which is about $140 a month. That is less than $200-a-month Claude Max, but more than the lower-level Claude Max option at $100 a month. Interestingly, Anthropic's documentation says that for metered API spend in enterprise deployments Claude Code costs "around $13 per developer per active day and $150-250 per developer per month," with 90% of users under $30 a day. The Mac lands inside that band.

But there’s a problem It's not just about buying the Mac. You have to actually run something on it. Good news: Moonshot's Kimi K3, released in July, currently sits at number one on WebDev Arena's blind human-preference leaderboard. It's the first open-weight model ever to top it. Bad news: Kimi K3 is 2.8 trillion parameters. In its native MXFP4 format, that's roughly 1.4TB of weights. It does not fit on the so-far-unpriced 512GB Mac Studio, and it does not even fit on two of them. Other options? DeepSeek's V4-Pro-0813 checkpoint is 893GB. Alibaba's flagship Qwen3.8 is 2.4 trillion parameters. The problem is that the frontier of open models is moving at the same time as the hardware companies like Apple are releasing new hardware. Apple giveth and AI taketh away, to reinterpret the old Intel giveth and Microsoft taketh away line. MORE FOR YOU What fits in 128GB is a tier down: Qwen3-Coder-Next, an 80B mixture-of-experts model with 3B active parameters, at roughly 47GB in 4-bit. OpenAI's gpt-oss-120b at about 63GB also fits, as does Qwen3.8-27B at 16GB. These aren't bad models. But will they do the job? On the independently-run Terminal-Bench 2.1 leaderboard, Claude Code paired with Anthropic's Fable 5 scores 83.8%. The only open-weight entry on the entire board is GLM-5.1, at rank 17 with 58.7% … and GLM-5.1 is a 754B model that needs roughly 420GB just to hold at 4-bit. It is not running on your desk. Even worse, from Qwen's own research paper: on Terminal-Bench 2.0, Qwen3-Coder-Next driven by Claude Code scores 30.9%, against Claude Opus 4.5's 53.9% in the same table. Not wonderful: at the end of the day you need good output to make all of this AI code generation worthwhile.

And then there's speed Agentic coding is not like chatting with AI. It's much more prompt-processing-heavy, because every turn re-sends the system prompt, the file contents, the tool results, the code currently being worked on, the details the LLM needs to make the code function in the context of the app, and so on. Apple silicon is fast at generating tokens, but it has typically been slow at ingesting them, because that's compute-bound, and an M3 Ultra has roughly a quarter the FP16 throughput of an Nvidia DGX Spark. One developer running Claude Code against a local model on a 512GB M3 Ultra reported that a 16,000-token system prompt took about 90 seconds before the first token appeared. Another, on a 48GB M4 Pro laptop, measured time-to-first-token at 20 seconds cold and about a minute deep into a coding session — fine, he concluded, for "considered, spec-driven, review-heavy engineering," useless for "hundreds of low-latency interactions a day." Apple is attacking this problem. Apple's own machine learning researchers benchmarked a base M5 MacBook Pro against an M4 and found time-to-first-token improved 3.3x to 4.1x while token generation improved only 19-27%. Apple claims up to 4x faster LLM prompt processing on the M5 Ultra versus the M3 Ultra. That's better, but it's not necessarily speedy. And we have to see it in the real world to really believe it.

The argument that isn't about money The strongest case for buying one of Apple’s new Mac Minis or Studios isn’t actually about saving money on LLM token spend. It’s privacy. Bart de Witte, CEO of Berlin-based Isaree and a longtime advocate for open medical AI, wrote after the announcement that the M5 Ultra "holds a frontier-class medical AI model, the kind that today 'requires’ a data center, entirely in local memory. No API calls. No tokens. No patient data leaving the building." His conclusion: "For a decade, the industry told hospitals: 'AI means sending your data to someone else’s computer.' The hardware just ended that argument." He’s right about the hardware and honest about the rest: "what remains is software, and that's the hard part." For developers under GDPR, HIPAA, ITAR, or a client contract that forbids third-party inference, a Mac Studio isn’t a cost play. It’s a privacy play. And using a local LLM for chat – even medical chat – is almost certainly going to be much more efficient and fast than agentic coding.

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