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Tag: Evan Spiegel

  • Snap and Perplexity sign $400 million deal to put AI search directly in Snapchat

    Snap and Perplexity AI have struck a $400 million deal that will bring the AI search engine directly to Snapchat sometime in “early 2026,” the two companies announced. With the partnership, Perplexity’s AI search engine will be a prominent part of Snapchat’s “chat” interface so users can “ask questions and get clear, conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, all within Snapchat.”

    The news was announced alongside the company’s third-quarter earnings. The company said that revenue from the deal — Perplexity is paying Snap $400 million for the integration — is “expected to begin contributing” to the company’s bottom line in 2026. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Evan Spiegel also hinted that Snap could pursue similar partnerships with other AI companies. “This collaboration makes AI-powered discovery native to Snapchat, enhances personalization, and positions Snap as a leading distribution channel for intelligent agents, laying the groundwork for a broader ecosystem of AI partners to reach our global community,” he wrote.

    Snap, like its peers, has been leaning into generative AI in recent years. The company has its own LLM-powered chatbot, called MyAI, which uses models from OpenAI, Google and, soon, Perplexity AI. Snap has also introduced AI-powered lenses and creation tools, which have helped boost its Snapchat+ subscription service.

    Spiegel also teased other AI-powered updates coming to Snapchat. He said the company is working on a new AI video generation feature called “AI Clips” that “will allow creators to generate short, shareable videos from simple prompts.” He didn’t say when the feature might launch.

    Outside of Snapchat, Snap is also planning on launching a new version of its AR glasses, called Specs, sometime next year. Spiegel didn’t offer any new details about the device, which he has previously promised will be lighter-weight than the current version. He did, however, suggest the company was considering working with potential hardware partners. He said Snap would be “putting Specs into their own standalone, 100% owned subsidiary” to give the company more flexibility to pursue such arrangements.

    Update, November 5, 2025, 3:08PM PT: Added more details from Snap’s earnings call.

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  • Mark Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri and Evan Spiegel ordered to testify in trial over social media addiction

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel will have to testify in an upcoming trial that deals with social media safety and whether the executives’ platforms are addictive. A Los Angeles judge ruled that the three men will need to testify in the trial set to begin in January, according to CNBC.

    “The testimony of a CEO is uniquely relevant, as that officer’s knowledge of harms, and failure to take available steps to avoid such harms could establish negligence or ratification of negligent conduct,” Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl wrote. As CNBC points out, the January trial will be closely watched as it’s the first of many lawsuits alleging harms to young social media users that will head to trial.

    Lawyers for Meta and Snap had argued that the executives should be spared from testifying at the upcoming trial. Meta’s lawyers reportedly argued that forcing testimony from Zuckerberg and Mosseri would “set a precedent” for future trials. Meta is currently facing numerous lawsuits over alleged harms to younger users of its platforms. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Snap is also facing a number of lawsuits over alleged safety issues. In a statement, the law firm representing Snap said that the judge’s order “does not bear at all on the validity of Plaintiffs claims” and that they “look forward to the opportunity to explain why Plaintiffs’ allegations against Snapchat are wrong factually and as a matter of law. “

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  • Snap orders workers back to the office 4 days a week in new ‘default together’ policy

    Snap orders workers back to the office 4 days a week in new ‘default together’ policy

    Snap is the latest company to try to bring workers back to the office.

    Starting in February, Snap employees will be expected to spend at least 80% of their time in the office, coming out to four days a week for most employees, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. The policy, which CEO Evan Spiegel called “default together,” would apply to all of Snap’s 30 offices around the world.

    Spiegel said the new return-to-office policy would help Snap achieve its “full potential” and argued that what workers might give up “in terms of our individual convenience” would be offset by “our collective success.” 

    Snap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Snap was an early adherent of a remote-first policy as COVID began to spread in the U.S. But in his memo, Spiegel wrote that he worries the extended period of work-from-home has meant “we’ve forgotten what we’ve lost—and what we could gain—by spending more time together.”

    Spiegel’s comments echo other remarks from corporate leaders trying to get workers commuting again. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told Fortune in February that the bank’s “cultural foundation” required people to be back in the office, while JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has argued that remote work fostered dishonesty and procrastination.

    Many companies have tried to impose mandates on in-person work. Companies like Apple and BlackRock are asking workers to come in three days a week, with others like General Motors planning to impose their own three-days-a-week mandates in the coming year. 

    Most recently, new Twitter CEO Elon Musk demanded that workers come into the office, saying only “exceptional” workers would be granted an allowance to work-from-home. (Musk reportedly walked back this demand as Twitter employees chose not to embrace the new CEO’s “hardcore” working culture.)

    Snap’s demand for people to come back to the office comes amid a slump for the social media company. 

    Snap said it would cut about 20% of its workforce on Aug. 30, citing low quarterly revenue growth. The company also said it would slash spending in its augmented reality division.

    The social media company reported its slowest quarterly sales growth ever in late October, at just 6%, which it blamed on “macroeconomic headwinds” and “increased competition.” Snap also announced that it would also close its office in San Francisco, saying the space was “lightly used by team members following our move to flexible work” in a memo, according to Bloomberg.

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    Nicholas Gordon

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  • Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t like the metaverse—he predicts a different technology will shape the future

    Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t like the metaverse—he predicts a different technology will shape the future

    Tim Cook is the latest big name in tech to pour some cold water on the industry’s excitement over the concept of a metaverse.

    “I always think it’s important that people understand what something is,” the Apple CEO told Dutch publication Bright on Friday. “And I’m really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.”

    Unsurprisingly, Apple hasn’t yet publicly touted any plans for the metaverse, a term typically used to describe virtual reality (VR) platforms where people can interact, work, shop and play games using immersive technology like a virtual reality headset. These virtual worlds already exist, in some form, but many of the biggest names in tech are working to develop the hardware and software necessary for people to spend significant time — and money — in the metaverse.

    Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are heavily invested in the concept of the metaverse. Companies from Microsoft to Disney have laid out metaverse plans.

    But some experts suggest that any metaverse hype partially exists specifically because people don’t understand what it’s going to be. In June, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt summed up the general confusion over the concept, noting that “there’s not an agreement on what the metaverse is.”

    Similarly, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has called the idea of the metaverse “ambiguous and hypothetical.” Instead, he’s pushed his company’s plans around augmented reality (AR), where virtual elements and images are superimposed onto the real world.

    Cook is also a big proponent of AR, and Apple is reportedly developing an AR/VR headset that could hit the market in 2023, according to Bloomberg. The future of AR “will go much, much further” than today’s applications, Cook told Bright on Friday.

    “I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything,” Cook said. “Imagine suddenly being able to teach with AR and demonstrate things that way. Or medically, and so on. Like I said, we are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR.”

    Cook’s comments on the metaverse came amid a European tour that saw the Apple CEO visit the U.K. and Germany before speaking at the University of Naples Federico II’s commencement ceremony last week. In a Q&A session at that ceremony, Cook suggested people might eventually think of AR as they do the internet: ubiquitous and difficult to live without.

    “Zoom out to the future and look back, you’ll wonder how you led your life without augmented reality,” Cook said. “Just like, today, we wonder: ‘How did people like me grow up without the internet?’”

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    Don’t miss:

    ‘This is creating more loneliness’: The metaverse could be a serious problem for kids, experts say

    Bill Gates says the metaverse will host most of your office meetings within ‘two or three years’

    How we saved to quit our jobs and leave the U.S.

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