Ai's consumer appeal remains limited despite industry growth

The White House recently brought together major tech CEOs, including Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, to sign an AI safety pledge, which President Donald Trump labeled 'morally binding.' Trump also signed an executive order rebranding AI as 'super intelligence.' Meanwhile, Meta and OpenAI are enhancing the public image of their AI products, even as enterprise investments continue to dominate the AI market. Only 2% of consumers are purchasing AI products, highlighting the limited appeal to the general public. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane discuss the latest AI developments, the economic challenges of consumer AI, and the evolving IPO market. Additional coverage includes Google’s Gemini 4 Argon, the Pentagon’s collaboration with Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey, and AMD’s acquisition of Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 billion. The episode also highlights the rise of Instinct, a viral AI agent that raised $1 billion in Series C funding at a $10 billion valuation. Other notable updates include the completion of the world’s first enhanced geothermal power plant in 23 months and Google’s assertion that SpaceX’s Starship must launch 1,800 times before space data centers become viable. The Disrupt 2026 event will feature Equity’s live show on the Builders Stage, with a 25% discount available using the code Equity25.