The Tech Drop

July 14th 2025

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Tech Drop
July 14, 2025

The Tech Drop Today:

  • Amazon’s Robot Army Hits 1 Million Mark

  • States Regain Power to Regulate AI After Senate Vote

  • AI is Changing the Game for Publishers’ Web Traffic

Amazon’s Robot Army Hits 1 Million Mark:

Image Credits: Amazon

The Drop: Amazon hits a major milestone with 1 million robots working in its warehouses worldwide, backed by a new AI model that boosts robotic efficiency.

The details:

  • Amazon announced the delivery of its one millionth warehouse robot, now working at a fulfillment center in Japan.

  • According to The Wall Street Journal, the company is now close to having as many robots as human workers in its warehouses.

  • Amazon introduced DeepFleet, a generative AI model built with AWS SageMaker, which optimizes robot routes and improves fleet speed by 10%.

Why it matters: Amazon’s continued investment in warehouse automation shows how AI and robotics are transforming supply chains, increasing efficiency while reshaping the future of work. The advancements that have been made in robotics could have huge impacts on labour markets in the years to come.

States Regain Power to Regulate AI After Senate Vote:

The Drop: U.S. Senate overwhelmingly votes to remove a controversial 10-year ban preventing states from regulating AI, ending a major provision in the Trump-era "Big Beautiful Bill."

The details:

  • The AI moratorium was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz and sought to block states from passing their own AI rules for 10 years.

  • Prominent Silicon Valley figures, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen, supported the moratorium, fearing a patchwork of state laws would hinder AI innovation.

  • Bipartisan opposition grew over concerns the ban would limit consumer protections and allow powerful AI companies to operate with little oversight. The Senate voted 99-1 to remove the provision.

Why it matters: This decision signals a shift toward more local control and oversight in AI regulation, emphasizing consumer protection over broad federal restrictions, and sets the tone for how AI governance might evolve in the U.S.

AI is Changing the Game for Publishers’ Web Traffic:

The Drop: ChatGPT boosts referrals to news sites, but AI-driven search still cuts deep into publishers’ traffic.

The details:

  • Since Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024, web news searches with no clicks to news sites jumped from 56% to nearly 69%, causing organic traffic to drop from 2.3 billion visits to under 1.7 billion.

  • ChatGPT referrals to news publishers surged 25 times from under 1 million in early 2024 to over 25 million in 2025, yet this boost is too small to offset the massive overall traffic losses.

  • Some outlets like Reuters and NY Post are seeing strong growth in AI-driven referrals, while others like The New York Times experience more modest increases amid legal battles with OpenAI.

Why it matters:
As AI-powered tools reshape how people consume news, traditional SEO and search rankings no longer guarantee web traffic. Publishers must rethink monetization strategies and adapt to an evolving ecosystem. This also points to a future where people increasingly get their information soley from AI chat bots. Understanding this shift is crucial for anyone involved in media, technology or information dissemination.