This Week in AI: Intel and AMD's New Chips, Apple's AI Push and More

Now, it's easy to just think of it as another spec number next to GHz, Megapixels, TDP and all the other things we track. But TOPS will become increasingly important for assessing on-device AI processing.

Today, those on-device AI features show up as the smart assistant features in Copilot Plus PCs running Windows. Over time, it'll translate to AI capabilities like advanced chatbots, image generators and other features that won't need to connect with powerful computers on the internet in order to work.

Read more: What is TOPS? The AI Performance Metric Explained

So, with that in mind, here's what happened in the AI world this week.

AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, NVIDIA trade TOPS claims

The world's biggest chip makers announced their latest offerings, including AI-specific chips primarily aimed at laptops. 

• AMD's announcements included the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Ryzen AI 9 365, which offer a peak of 50 TOPS. 
• Intel, meanwhile, announced its Lunar Lake mobile processors, whose NPUs promise up to 48 TOPS. The chips will also include GPU designs that can push up to 67 TOPS through a second AI accelerator.
• Qualcomm teased Snapdragon X Elite chips for dekstop PCs, which can reportedly hit 75 TOPS.
• NVIDIA announced mobile GPUs for laptops that can push up to 686 TOPS, "an order of magnitude faster than the latest SOCs equipped with NPUs." The company also teased its next-generation Rubin datacenter chips to come in 2026, following its just-announced Blackwell chips. Shortly after those announcements, NVIDIA's shares passed Apple in market cap, hitting a value of $3 trillion for the first time on Wednesday. NVIDIA is now the second-most valued company in the U.S., behind Microsoft.

Apple's Big AI plans

Over the past few weeks, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have each announced their major AI efforts. Next, it will be Apple's turn. 

On June 10, Apple will begin its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), during which the company is expected to announce a series of AI-powered enhancements for its iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, powered, at least for now, by OpenAI's ChatGPT. 

The company's already announced its next-generation M4 chip, which it said is capable of 38 TOPS. Currently, it's only sold in the company's new $999 iPad Pro, though it's expected to be added to the company's other products later this year.

AI industry employees speak out

More than a dozen current and former employees from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google's DeepMind signed a public letter at RightToWarn.ai calling on AI companies to adopt a series of rules to ensure more transparency about the capabilities and limitations of their systems. 

"They currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, and none with civil society," the group wrote. "We do not think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily."

The group asked that companies commit to providing ways for workers to provide anonymous feedback, and not to punish employees who speak out about their concerns. The group noted that risks from AI include that the technology could exacerbate inequality and that it could be used to spread misinformation. To their point, OpenAI recently said it caught groups in Russia, China, Iran and Israel who used the company's technology to generate articles, comments, and posts on social media sites including X, Instagram, Facebook, and Medium.

Humane AI Pin gets hot

Buzzy startup Humane sent emails to users of its $699 AI Pin telling them to stop using its Charge Case due to battery issues that may turn it into a fire hazard. The company didn't indicate in its email whether it plans to replace the accessory, which is meant to help top up battery power while on the go. The company did say it will give users two months of subscription as compensation, which will be worth $48.

"While we know this may cause an inconvenience to you, customer safety is our priority at Humane," the company wrote in the email, which was sent Wednesday, June 5 and published online by reviewers, and on the company’s website. 

Humane's AI Pin was widely panned when it launched in April, with reviewers complaining it was buggy, slow and that it tended to overheat. 

Read more: AI Tools and Tips 

• What is TOPS? The AI Performance Metric Explained
• Copilot Plus PCs vs AI PCs: What's The Difference?
• Microsoft Launches a New Era of Copilot Plus PCs
• Hands-on with the Faster, Smarter ChatGPT-4o AI
• Why Coders are Learning to Love Copilot
• Roll Your Own GPT: Setting Up Your Computer for Local AI
• How to Get NVIDIA Chat with RTX: Local AI for Everyone
• How to Make Sure Your Next Computer Is AI Ready