Alex Kantrowitz, Big Technology founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss expectations for Apple this holiday shopping season, Apple's AI strategy, Google's AI advancements, and more.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Apple has demonstrated strong sales performance, accounting for 26% of smartphones sold during China's Singles Day event and projecting a record-breaking quarter. However, industry experts note that Apple continues to lag behind competitors in artificial intelligence, with much of its AI talent departing and its direction in the field remaining unclear.

Meanwhile, Google has accelerated its AI initiatives by centralizing operations under Google DeepMind and maintaining an unchallenged search business. Despite the rapid growth of generative AI platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT, analysts believe that these technologies will likely complement rather than replace traditional search, allowing both Google and emerging AI companies to coexist.

AI remains long-term threat for Apple: Big Technology's Kantrowitz

Welcome back Apple may be in a strong position to dominate holiday shopping this season some new data shows the iPhone maker drove singles day Smartphone sales over in China this year accounting for 26% of smartphones sold over the month-long event Well that momentum now carry over into the u.s. Let's bring in big technology founder and CNBC contributor Alex Cantor It's who joins us here at post tonight. Happy Black Friday, Alex. Happy Friday So this there's a lot of commentary that this is gonna be the 17s sort of chance to shine. What do you think? Well, the early data is definitely very promising Even in the most recent quarter We saw a nice bump for Apple Tim Cook is telling us that this quarter that we're in right now is going to be Apple's Best quarter in its history more than a hundred thirty billion in revenue expected So certainly after the 16, which was such a disappointment, which was tied to AI Apple just went back and said Why don't we make a great phone and the 17 is an upgrade in so many ways and consumers are really responding Where does it leave us on that sort of mid-year discussion that they were behind the eight ball on AI? Is that getting repaired? No They're still behind the eight ball on AI They have benefited from the fact that AI has moved a little bit more slowly than a lot of people anticipated remember about a year year and a half ago people thought that Google's assistant and Amazon's Alexa Plus and and whatever Apple intelligence was supposed to be would be ready now all these companies said that was Gonna be the case but today, you know, we're we're halfway there or not even so AI has moved a little bit slower than a lot Anticipated but it's still a long-term threat for Apple. This is gonna be very serious long-term. You've also been writing about the Google Comeback and turnaround that we've seen and not really a turnaround just this acceleration Because of what is it Gemini and now TPUs and Warren Buffett? I mean there been a number of catalysts here What's your overall assessment as to the staying power and the dawn and the dominance here? Well, first and foremost, they've done a great job on the AI front And the way they've done that is they've centralized a lot of their AI operations and product operations really into this Google DeepMind unit And it's not just talk they moved 250 or so engineers from search which is Google's most important product unit into Google DeepMind Okay, and then they built technology for search that was then farmed back into the products So typically within Google, they've had these very strong fiefdoms the product areas that control command and control And so what's happened within the company is they've these product areas have seeded a lot of that to the AI You know engine room that they call it in the middle and that's helped a lot The other side is on the business front Google's search business remains unchallenged open AI though It might be grabbing users does not have an advertising product doesn't have an ad tech ecosystem And there was this great. There's this great HSBC report that said by 2030 We might see 24 billion dollars in AI Advertising Google just turned in 56 billion in the most recent quarter So I think that's really the underlying thing is the business is strong Unchallenged and even if search might be losing some users to these generative use cases Google has a product and more importantly the business Yeah, it's funny. We've made the point many times a year ago It's a very serious concern that they were gonna lose their monopoly in search. It hasn't happened But are we underestimating the different things that open AI conceivably could come up with I mean to be fair it is relatively early In its life as a company. I mean open AI is gonna do great, right? They already have 800 million maybe close to 900 million weekly users of chat GPT. They're working on a consumer product They might build a cloud. They don't lack in ambition and buzz and honestly uses, right? But I think that in the best-case scenario This will all be additive It's not like search will be replaced With generative AI will find new uses for generative AI and so you could have a very big Google business and a very big open AI business working side-by-side. I don't think it's a winner-take-all kind of definitely not I mean if you think about just the different applications the way that you search the way you use chat GPT. It's really divergent Finally back to AI and Apple because you did seem to have some concerns there When are they gonna finally figure something out it's gonna be a while I mean best-case scenario mid next year But if you think about it the tech the the talent has left they've gone to places like meta and droves I don't really know what they're working on there as far as AI goes I don't know if they know and that's a real concern Yeah I mean the good news I guess is they're not spending Anywhere near the kind of capital that the hyperscale it's much better than spending all the money and having nothing to show for it So they're happy on that front

The New York Times has sued the U.S. Defence Department and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy. The Times alleges that the policy, rejected by at least 30 news organizations, violates its rights to free speech and due process.

New York

New York Times sues Pentagon, Hegseth over press restrictions

President Trump weighed in on Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. CBS News' Ramy Inocencio has more.

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

Trump insists Putin wants to end Ukraine war after Witkoff's trip

Democrats have released never-before-seen images in the Jeffrey Epstein case. They were taken at his private island estate. It comes as the Trump administration faces a deadline to release the full Epstein case files in two weeks.

Newly released images and videos show Epstein's private island estate

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, more than five times more than the United States.

Caracas

Maduro accuses U.S. of pushing for regime change to get Venezuela’s oil

Australia starts enforcing a landmark ban requiring social media platforms to take down accounts belonging to under-16s

Canberra

Australia under-16s social media accounts to be taken down

European Union lawmakers and member states reached a deal to ban all imports of Russian gas before the end of 2027, as the bloc seeks to choke off key funds feeding Moscow's war chest. Aimed at breaking a reliance the bloc has struggled to end despite the invasion of Ukraine, the accord marks a compromise between EU capitals and the European Parliament, which wanted the ban to hit sooner.

Brussels

EU agrees deal to ban Russian gas by end of 2027

President Trump pardoned Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife on Wednesday. The couple was indicted in 2024 on more than a dozen federal charges. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing.

Washington

Trump pardons Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife

Sources say the Pentagon watchdog found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could have endangered American service members when he shared military information in a Signal group chat in March. Alex Plitsas, a former Pentagon official, joins "The Daily Report" to discuss.

Watchdog found Hegseth jeopardized sensitive military information

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee Wednesday released never-before-seen images of the private island owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has more details.

Never-before-seen images of Jeffrey Epstein's island released

The doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the actor's overdose death has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Los Angeles

Doctor who sold Matthew Perry ketamine sentenced to 30 months in prison

Google subsidiary YouTube has criticized an Australian law banning social media accounts for under-16s, arguing the legislation set to start Dec 10 makes young users of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube less safe.

YouTube attacks Australia's underage social media ban

U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on a revised Ukraine peace plan but left without a deal. Russia insists on territorial gains, army cuts, and blocking NATO membership, while Zelenskyy calls for long-term deterrence against future aggression.

U.S. envoys Kushner, Witkoff leave Kremlin without Ukraine deal

U.S. President Donald Trump, in a televised cabinet meeting, said “I don't want them in our country” about Somali immigrants, sparking outrage from politicians and migration experts. His remarks coincided with reports of planned federal raids targeting Minneapolis’ Somali community.

Trump targets Somali immigrants amid reports of Minneapolis raids

A Russian tanker carrying sunflower oil was hit by a drone off the Turkish coast, with no casualties. The attack is part of recent strikes on Russian-flagged vessels targeting Moscow’s oil sector, while Putin warns of possible retaliatory measures.

Russian tanker attacked off Turkey, Putin warns of retaliation

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he had watched the first U.S. strike in September on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in real time, but did not see survivors in the water or the second lethal strike that he described as being carried out in the "fog of war."

Hegseth says he didn't see survivors before second strike on boat

Republican comfortably beats Democratic challenger after polls showed candidates in a close race in US state.

Tennessee

Trump’s pick Van Epps wins special election in deep-red Tennessee

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to expand his crackdown on drug trafficking during a cabinet meeting, suggesting he’d order land strikes on Venezuela and attacks on any country transporting illegal drugs into the U.S.

Trump threatens to expand strikes beyond Venezuela

Ahead of a meeting to discuss the U.S. proposal for peace in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed European counter-proposals as 'unacceptable' and said his country was ready for war if Europe wants one.

Putin says Russia is 'ready' if Europe wants war

OpenAI has declared a "code red" as Google threatens to unseat the AI industry's early leader, according to the Wall Street Journal. Technology journalist Jacob Ward joins CBS News to discuss.

California

OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google threatens its AI lead

Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Tuesday (December 2) for talks on a possible way to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two.

Putin meets Trump envoys Witkoff, Kushner for Ukraine peace talks

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the deadly boat strikes in the region near Venezuela and Colombia have "only just begun." This comes as Republicans and Democrats in Congress question the legality of the military action.

Hegseth defends boat strikes near Venezuela during Cabinet meeting

President Vladimir Putin has hailed what his commanders told him was the full Russian capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine as an important victory after a prolonged campaign, saying it would help Moscow fulfil its wider war aims.

Pokrovsk

Russia claims control of Pokrovsk

Major rescue and recovery efforts are underway across Southeast Asia after a series of severe storms battered the region displacing millions and killing more than 1,100 people.

Nuwara Eliya

Severe storms batter Southeast Asia, displacing millions

Honduras’ presidential race is too close to call, with Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla nearly tied at just under 40% each as technical glitches delay official results.

Tegucigalpa

Asfura, Nasralla in tight battle for Honduras presidency

Airbus must inspect hundreds of its A320 jets for potential quality flaws in the plane's body as a total of 628 aircraft contain panels that may be too thick or too thin due to a manufacturing issue at a supplier.

Blagnac

Airbus to inspect hundreds of A320s for defective panels

U.S. President Trump warns against actions that could ‘interfere with Syria’s evolution’ amid new Israeli incursions and strikes.

Damascus

Syria demands Israel withdraw amid escalating cross-border incursions

The White House confirmed it authorized a second airstrike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September, but denied it ordered everyone on board be killed, which would be considered a war crime.

U.S. authorization of second strike of Venezuelan ship questioned

Monday is World AIDS Day. It has been recognized globally since 1988, but this year, the U.S. government is not commemorating it for the first time.

U.S. not recognizing World AIDS Day this year

Operation "Swamp Sweep," a monthslong immigration crackdown centered in New Orleans, is set to begin Monday. CBS News national reporter Kati Weis has the details.

New Orleans

Immigration enforcement operation set to begin in New Orleans

Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was in a New York City courtroom on Monday for a pre-trial hearing focused on what evidence the jury will see. CBS News' Anna Schecter has the details.

AI remains long-term threat for Apple: Big Technology's Kantrowitz

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Rise of AI