The Pulse #85: The Pulse #85: is the “AI developer”a threat to jobs – or a marketing stunt?
One startup released “the first AI software engineer,” while another aims to build a “superhuman software engineer.” As intimidating as these sound: what if it’s more marketing than reality?
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Today, we cover:
Industry pulse. Apple unbans Epic’s developer account in just one day; The two, distinct types of layoffs happening across the industry; OpenAI’s CTO unwilling to answer what videos their Sora video product was trained on; Reddit prepares to go public; and more.
Is the “AI developer” a threat to jobs – or a marketing stunt? Magic.dev raised $100M to build “a superhuman software engineer,” and Cognition Labs released what they refer to as “the first AI software engineer.” Looking closer, Cognition Labs’ product looks more similar to an AI coding assistant. However, Microsoft has already captured the space of “AI copilots,” – and new startups like Cognition Labs are forced to make bold claims to capture attention.
A trend of lower equity grants, with forward-heavy vesting? DoorDash is offering 40% lower equity grants – but by changing equity vesting to be forward-heavy, the first year’s compensation remains unchanged. We will probably see more companies reaching for creative solutions to both reduce equity compensation but to also reward top performers more efficiently. And to not have to worry about the “four-year-cliff” anymore.
1. Industry pulse
Apple unbans Epic’s developer account, for now
A day after we discussed the news of Apple blocking Epic from launching an alternative App Store in Europe, the Coupertion tech giant restored Epic’s developer account access. This came after the European Commission requested more information from Apple. As I originally wrote, I did not understand what Apple hoped to gain with this ban:
“I expect Epic Games will either sue Apple with the EU commission, then win, and be allowed to run an alternative App Store. Alternatively, the EU commission will order Apple to restore Epic’s account.”
Indeed, Apple had no reasonable choice but to restore this account, or invite further fines.
All correspondence between Epic and Apple is now public, and it’s not pretty for Apple. It reveals that It asked Epic to confirm the games company will act in good faith, and comply with Apple’s regulations, back at the start of this episode. Epic CEO, Tim Sweeney, replied in an email, writing:
“Epic and its subsidiaries are acting in good faith and will comply with all terms of current and future agreements with Apple, and we’ll be glad to provide Apple with any specific further assurances on the topic that you’d like.”
Apple responded by letter, banning Epic and referencing a tweet from Epic’s CEO that lightly criticized Apple. Apple wrote:
“Mr Sweeney’s response to [the request asking for why Apple should trust Epic] was wholly insufficient and not credible. It boiled down to an unsupported, “trust us.” History shows, however, that Epic is verifiably untrustworthy, hence the request for meaningful commitments. And the minimal assurances in Mr Sweeney’s curt response were swiftly undercut by a litany of public attacks on Apple’s policies, compliance plan and business model. As just one example [link to this tweet by Epic’s CEO]”
This ban was indefensible to the EU Commission. It also reinforced that Apple sees it as their right to ban any developer, and that social media posts are grounds for doing so. In the EU, developers like Epic can turn to the EU Commission. Outside of this jurisdiction, it’s still tough luck if you criticize Apple and get removed from their platform as a result.
I am appalled that Apple makes no attempt to hide that they act as overlords to developers on the iOS platform. But, at the end of the day, it’s their platform until regulators impose rules on it. The worse Apple treats developers, the more of them will join Epic and Spotify in lobbying lawmakers to force Apple’s hand in their favor. I think Apple would do itself a favor by treating app developers less condescendingly.