🍎 Apple WWDC, 🇺🇸 AI Act and 🤖 Madrid robotaxis - the product, the law and the street

Tim Cook takes the Apple Park stage for the last time as CEO, while the US proposes its first 269-page federal AI framework and Madrid prepares to receive Spain's first commercial robotaxis. Three stories that sound like the future — but the future is today. Apple puts AI in 2.2 billion devices, the US Congress wants to regulate it, and in my city, driverless cars are already on the road. AI has stopped being something that happens on remote servers: it's already in your pocket, in the laws, and on your neighborhood streets.

🍎 Apple WWDC 2026: Tim Cook says goodbye, Siri is reborn with Gemini

Today at 19:00 CEST, Tim Cook will give his last keynote as Apple CEO at WWDC 2026. John Ternus, current VP of hardware, will take over in September. And Apple has decided his farewell will be anything but discreet: "All systems glow" is the motto, and rumors point to the deepest Siri renewal since its creation.

According to Bloomberg and Mark Gurman, the new Siri is rebuilt on a Google Gemini model with 1.2 trillion parameters. Apple would pay Google approximately $1 billion a year for this integration. Siri will have its own standalone app, chatbot-style interface, and access to the user's emails, messages, and files. For the first time, Siri could be — ten years later — what Apple promised it would be.

iOS 27 also brings changes: it will drop the iPhone 11 and earlier models. And Cook's farewell marks the end of an era that began with the iPhone in 2007. The "Tim Cook era" has been Apple's maturity, not disruptive innovation. With Ternus and a Siri that finally works, the question is whether Apple will recover its spirit or become a services company with beautiful hardware.

From product revolution in Cupertino to legislative revolution in Washington.

🇺🇸 Great American AI Act: US proposes its first federal AI framework

The US Congress has presented the Great American AI Act, a 269-page bill proposing the first comprehensive federal framework for artificial intelligence. It's bipartisan: led by Republican Obernolte (California) and Democrat Trahan (Massachusetts).

Key points: companies developing frontier models will have obligations for transparency, independent auditing, and whistleblower protection. The law also establishes a 3-year preemption period over state AI laws — meaning federal law would override state regulations during that time, giving a breather to companies currently navigating a patchwork of 20+ different state laws.

Criticism comes from both sides: safety advocates say the law is "a ceiling, not a floor" — it allows too much. Innovation advocates fear it's overregulation disguised as order. But both sides agree on one thing: it's the first time the US has attempted something serious at the federal level, and that alone is progress compared to the current legal vacuum.

We already discussed how Trump bet on offensive AI with Mythos and the national security approach. This law is the legislative counterpoint — it doesn't say "use AI to defend us," but "use it with clear rules."

And from the laws being written in Washington to the streets already changing in Madrid.

🤖 Madrid will have Spain's first commercial robotaxis

On June 2, it was announced that WeRide, Uber, and AVOMO will launch the first commercial robotaxi pilot in Madrid. Autonomous vehicles will start circulating without a human driver in selected areas of the city, competing directly with traditional taxis and VTC services.

WeRide is a Chinese autonomous driving company with global presence; Uber provides its mobility platform; AVOMO is the Spanish company that will operate the service. The pilot joins a global trend: Waymo already operates in several US cities, Baidu Apollo in China, and now Madrid becomes the first city in Southern Europe with commercial robotaxis.

The news comes at a time when autonomous driving is accelerating globally: BYD just announced its entry into humanoid robotics, and Apple puts AI in every iPhone. AI leaves the screen and gets into the car.

🔗 The thread that ties the three stories together

Apple puts AI in 2.2 billion active devices. The US Congress wants to regulate it. And in Madrid, driverless cars are already on the road. Three different scales — product, law, street — of the same phenomenon: artificial intelligence has stopped being something that happens on remote servers and has become something that happens in your pocket, in your legal system, and on your neighborhood street. 2026 is the year AI becomes real for everyone, not just those building it.

— Max