Dr. ChatGPT Isn’t Quite There Yet

0:00Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash. Got paid back? With the Venmo debit card, you can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want, like game day snacks, gear, tickets, and more. The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus, there's no monthly fear minimum balance. Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo master card is issued by the Bankport Bank NA, select schools available. Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. Welcome to the Techbury Write Home for Thursday, March 5th, 2026. I'm Brian McCalla. Today is the long war between Google and Epic Games finally over. Hopefully, I want you to know, its revenue numbers are also stellar. Maybe Chad GPD isn't so great at medical advice. Maybe the chip shortage isn't great for Nintendo specifically. And maybe the MacBook Nano isn't great for the Windows ecosystem generally. Which you missed today in the world of tech.

1:03Is this whole saga finally at an end? Google has announced an Android App Store program and lower developer fees to resolve Epic's antitrust litigation and also comply with new rules in Europe and elsewhere. Quoting Bloomberg. These announcements are not about just doing what's required. Samir Samat, Google's vice president, a product development said in an interview with Bloomberg news. Go, quote, well beyond what is being required by legal changes in Europe and the UK, he said. Under the proposal, other companies can register with Google, pay a one-time fee and offer an App Store on Android, Samat said. Google will also lower the fees it charges developers from a standard 30% to as low as 15 or 10% on recurring subscriptions, he said. Feed changes in the US, UK, and EU are expected to go into effect by June. With changes in Australia, Korea, and Japan before the end of 2026. Epic Games, which had been involved in a long-running antitrust case with Google said the new policies would eliminate the Fortnite makers' concerns with the Android platform and resolve litigation in the US, UK, Australia, and elsewhere.

2:05Anybody can launch a competitive App Store now, Epic Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney said in a joint interview with Samat. Alphabet doesn't offer standalone figures for how much revenue is attributable to its Android operating system or the Google Play Store. Epic indicated the technology giant's App Store brought in $14.66 billion in sales in 2020, analysts had estimated that changes to its App Store required by new regulations and the litigation could result in a $1 billion loss in gross profit. Funny little addendum to that though, quoting the Verge. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney might be one of the most outspoken people in the history of the world. He fought two of the world's most valuable and powerful companies, almost all the way to the US Supreme Court, insulting them again and again, crooked, deceitful, insanely sneaky, calling Android a fake open platform, calling both companies gangster-style businesses that will do anything they think they can get away with, telling me how Google's project Hugg was an astonishingly corrupt effort at a massive scale.

3:08But Google has finally muzzled at Tim Sweeney. It's right there in the binding term sheet for his settlement with Google. In March 3rd, he not only signed away Epic's rights to sue and disparage the company, he signed away his right to advocate for any further changes to Google's App Store policies. He can't criticize Google's App Store practices, in fact, he has to praise them. The contract states that Epic believes that the Google and Android platform with the changes in this term sheet are pro-competitive and a model for App Store slash platform operations and will make good faith efforts to advocate for the same. He may even have to appear in other courts around the world to defend this deal with Google and Google gets to make sure his public statements are supportive of the deal from here on out. Nose You Can Use Google has expanded its canvas workspace to everyone in the US using Google Search's AI mode so they can get the latest info to organize plans, draft documents

4:11and more. Google is bringing Canvas to everyone in the US using AI mode in Search. The feature opens up a dedicated workspace within its AI-powered search tool, allowing it to use the latest information from Search to organize plans, develop tools and draft documents in a panel alongside your chat. Though Google initially launched Canvas inside its Gemini app as a way to create documents and code in real time, it later tested the feature in AI mode but only for visualizing travel plans. Now you can use Canvas in AI mode for tasks related to creative writing and coding as well, giving you the ability to view an AI-generated dashboard, laying out information related to your prompt or an interactive prototype of a tool you're developing. You can try out the feature by navigating to AI mode in Search, selecting the plus button inside the chat window and then choosing Canvas. From there you can describe what you want to create and Google will display the results in a panel on the right side of your screen. This feature is currently only available in English.

5:15Open AI wants you to know, I'm assuming this is a strategic leak after yesterday's anthropic numbers that they hit $25 billion in annualized revenue by the end of February up from $21.4 billion at the end of 2025, quoting the information. That's a 17% increase from the $21.4 billion in annualized revenue. The company was generating at the end of the year according to the person and a second person with knowledge of the figures. Open AI is still generating more revenue than its younger rival anthropic though the difference between the arch rivals has been narrowing. Anthropics annualized revenue recently topped $19 billion up nearly three times from the end of last year and up 36% from just two weeks ago. Open AI calculates annualized revenue by multiplying the last four weeks revenue by 12. If Open AI calculated the metric based on revenue spikes just in the last week, Open AI's annualized revenue would be roughly $30 billion, one of the people said. Anthropics recent success in selling AI models that handle coding tests has helped it quickly shrink its revenue gap with Open AI in 2025, Open AI generated about three times

6:17more revenue than Anthropic. Now there is basically only a $5 billion gap between them. While Chats GPT contributes to the vast majority of Open AI revenue, the company expects an increasing portion of its revenue will come from business customers as well as new products such as advertising. AI has been in talks with ad tech firm The Trade Desk on a partnership that could expand its advertising clients, for instance. In recent years both companies blew past the revenue projections they shared with investors. The recent figures suggest they will do so again this year as businesses increase their spending on the technology including for coding tasks. Open AI recently hiked its revenue forecast for the next five years with plans to generate as much as $284 billion in revenue by 2030. It also raised its forecast for cash burn predicting it would spend $665 billion in server-related costs through the end of the decade. While both companies recently projected they would each burn tens of billions of dollars over the next couple of years as they spend more to rent cloud servers and chips to develop their technology, the revenue growth surge could propel their respective initial public

7:19offerings as soon as this year. Open AI recently selected law firms for its proposed IPO the information has reported. The number of chat GPT users grew to about 920 million weekly active users by the end of February according to the person. That's a gain of roughly 10 million from a few weeks earlier though it's still short of its goal of getting 1 billion users by the end of 2025. The company's release last summer of chat GPT 5 which generated complaints from some users over its colder personality than its predecessor GPT 40 appeared to contribute to the growth slowdown end quote. Spring styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now and they're up to 60% off. Stock up and save on Ragnbonne made well. Vince, all saints and more of your favorites. I'm a Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more plus buy online

8:22and pick up at your favorite Rack store for free. Great brands, great prices, that's why you rack. This episode is brought to you by White Claw Search. Great podcast pick friend, no surprises there, after all you're all about finding the tastiest flavors out there just like White Claw Search. I'm with big bold flavors to enjoy like blood orange, blackberry, cranberry and more, it's time to go all in untaste, unleash the flavor, unleash White Claw Search. Please drink responsibly, hard sell to with flavors, 8% alcohol by volume, White Claw Seltzer works, Chicago, Illinois. Exama is unpredictable, but you can flare less with eggless, a once monthly treatment for moderate to superior exama. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four and ten people taking eggless achieved itch relief and glare are almost glare skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people maintain skin that's still more glare at one year with monthly dosing. Hemgless, library kizumap, LBKZ, a 250-milligram per 2-milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds

9:25or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe exama. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin, or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. Hemgless can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to hemgless, allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur, tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with eggless. Before starting eggless, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask a doctor about eggless and visit eggless.lily.com or call 1-800-LilyRX or 1-105-4-5-9-7-9. This episode is brought to you by Focus Features. Would you let AI pilot your plane, raise your child, decide your future? On March 27th, Focus Features presents the AI doc or how I became an apocalypticist. Critics and audience at the Sundance and Southwest Film Festivals call it the most urgent movie of our time. The AI doc or how I became an apocalypticist rated PG-13 only in theaters March 27th.

10:26But this is not great for another potential growth area, quoting NBC News. CHAT GPT Health, OpenAI's new health-focused chatbot frequently underestimated the severity of medical emergencies according to a study published last week in the journal Nature Medicine. Previous research has shown that CHAT GPT can pass medical exams and nearly two-thirds of physicians reported using some form of AI in 2024, but other research has shown that chatbots including CHAT GPT don't provide reliable medical advice. CHAT GPT Health is separate from OpenAI's general chat GPT chatbot. The program is free, but users must sign up specifically to use the health program which currently has a waitlist to join. OpenAI says chat GPT Health uses a more secure platform so users can safely upload personal medical information. In the study, the researchers fed 60 medical scenarios to chat GPT Health. The chatbot's responses were compared with the responses of three physicians who also reviewed the scenarios and triaged each one based on medical guidelines and clinical expertise.

11:27Each of the scenarios had 16 variations, changing things including the race or gender of the patient. The variations were designed to, quote, produce the exact same result according to lead study author Dr. Ashwin Ramaswami, an instructor of urology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. This meant that an emergency case involving a man should still be classified as an emergency if the patient was a woman. The study didn't find any significant differences in the results based on demographic changes. The researchers though found that chat GPT Health under triaged 51.6% of emergency cases. That is, instead of recommending the patient go to the emergency room, the bot recommended seeing a doctor within 24 to 48 hours. Compared with the doctors in the study, the bot also over triaged 64.8% of non-urgent cases recommending a doctor's appointment when it wasn't necessary. The bot told a patient with a three-day sore throat to see a doctor in 24 to 48 hours when at home care was sufficient. There's no logic for me as to why it was making recommendations in some areas versus

12:27others. Ramaswami said, quote. The soaring cost of memory chips is beginning to take a bite out of gaming, quoting Bloomberg. The additional cost is denting consumer appetite for new Switch 2 games. It's a problem for Nintendo, which needs to sell as many games as possible to make up for razor-thin margins on the consoles, which retail for around $450 and are already under pressure from US tariffs as well as a likely rise in shipping costs related to the conflict in the Middle East. I used to buy games on a whim without paying attention to storage, said Shinsuki, Hasagawa, and avid gamer in Tokyo with dozens of games for the Switch and its successor. But now I need to make sure that games I buy are really ones I want to play because the space is filling up so quickly at a pace that I didn't imagine. Nintendo's storage problem is weighing on software demand alongside factors such as game launch timings, initial software sales momentum for the Switch 2, the world's fastest

13:29selling console, lags behind the original Switches. As of end of December, when Switch 2 sales hit 17.37 million units, the average number of games purchased per console came to 2.18 according to Bloomberg calculations based on company filings. When the original Switch reached a similar hardware sales milestone in March of 2018, that figure stood at 3.88. The Switch 2 is able to run higher end games and their file sizes are growing accordingly. Square Enix will release its Final Fantasy 7 rebirth for the Switch 2 in June, requiring an estimated 102.5 gigabytes, roughly 40% of the console's 256 gigabytes of internal storage. That's as the cost to expand storage continues to climb exacerbated by Nintendo's use of a new format with limited supply. Japanese storage memory maker next storage now sells 256 gigabytes micro SD express cards that are compatible with the Switch 2 for $85, a 30% hike from when the console was released in June.

14:29Prices for comparable storage products are also rising in the US where tariffs are adding to consumer costs. Besides consumer unhappiness about having to spend $50 plus the cost of a new game for micro SD cards that can provide additional storage, the problem poses a long-term risk for the company said, Pelham Smithers, managing director at Pelham Smithers Associates. If the Switch 2 gets a reputation for just being a vehicle for Nintendo games, then third parties may stop trying, which can start a domino effect in terms of consumer interest, he said. No new Apple products today. I guess that's done for now, though the rumor is a new chat GPT might be dropping at any minute. So maybe it'll be out by the time you hear this, but back to Apple. No less an authority than Windows Central says that Apple's new MacBook Neo is a serious threat to OEMs like HP Lenovo and Dell and their $599 laptops seem inferior.

15:32Windows 11's reputation is at an all-time low, a sort of perfect storm. Quote, you can definitely get a more capable, perhaps even more powerful Windows laptop for $599. It would likely have more RAM and storage, but to most mainstream laptop buyers, none of this truly matters. Owning a Mac is less about the raw specs and more about it being a Mac and not a Windows PC. One of the reasons Windows laptops are so popular is that they're cheap. Macbooks have historically never been considered to be affordable laptops, but that changes with the MacBook Neo. Because of this, someone who had no choice but to buy a mid-range Windows laptop in the past now has the option of buying a MacBook. And because Windows 11's reputation is at an all-time low, people are looking to jump ship from Windows more than ever. With millions of Windows 10 users running unsupported hardware, a $599 MacBook is going to look ever so appetizing. The timing couldn't be better for Apple. In fact, it's clear that Apple is anticipating a lot of Windows users to make the switch. It even has a dedicated switch to Mac tab on the MacBook Neo page, advertising just how

16:35easy it is to move from a Windows PC to a MacBook Neo. For those of us who don't like Mac OS, nothing really changes today, but for the large percentage of people who only use a Windows laptop because they had to or couldn't afford a MacBook, there's now an affordable and easy way of attaining a new MacBook from Apple. Windows OEMs are going to feel the heat too. For years, OEMs have gotten away with shipping what can essentially be described as E-Waste in this price bracket, with a few exceptions, of course. Most new 599 laptops from HP, Lenovo, Dell, or any of the other big name brands aren't going to hold a candle to the desirability of a brand new Mac laptop at the same price, although when the ASUS ZenBook A14, one of our top Windows laptops drops to 599, it's an amazing value. If I were Microsoft, I'd be on full-blown panic alert at this point, unlike Chrome OS, which was never desirable even at a lower price point, a full-blown Mac OS laptop at 599 is a serious threat to Windows. Young people are going to flock to this, and it's going to sell like hotcakes, not giving Windows laptops even a second thought.

17:36As those young people grow up, they're only going to want to use Mac laptops as they become adults, and Windows will slowly but surely lose all relevance outside specific use cases such as gaming and enterprise. As things currently stand, I can't help but think this is nothing but bad news for the Windows ecosystem and Microsoft. I'd honestly be shocked if this 599 MacBook doesn't make a dent in the Windows laptop market, end quote. Nothing more for you today, talk to you tomorrow. Rinse knows that greatness takes time, but soda's laundry. So rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned, and you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time one spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card and leave the laundry to us.

18:37Rinse, it's time to be great.