The U.S. public trusts tech companies leading the generative AI wave — like Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI — more than firms chiefly known as social media platforms, like Meta, ByteDance and X.

Why it matters: These findings — part of the 2024 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings — show that continued fallout from public disenchantment with social media could hamper companies' effort to reinvent themselves as AI innovators.

Stunning stat: Nvidia, the AI chips powerhouse, is a newcomer to the list in 2024 — and also No. 1 in overall reputation, as well as "vision" and "growth." The firm came in at No. 8 for trust.

By the numbers: In overall reputation scores, Nvidia earned 81.2 and Alphabet came in at 77.6, followed closely by Microsoft at 77.5. OpenAI's score was 71.8.

• Meanwhile, ByteDance scored only 60.7, Meta ranked 59.6, and X/Twitter is second to last on the list, with a reputation score of 58.8.
• The three social media companies all saw their reputations drop since last year — and were all in the "very poor" range.

Catch up quick: Meta, ByteDance and X have all been working on AI for years, but they are still best known for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the social network formerly known as Twitter.

• Facebook and Instagram have faced a trust crisis with users since the techlash that started with 2018's Cambridge Analytica scandal and was refueled by the ad boycotts of 2020.
• ByteDance plummeted from "fair" in 2020 to "poor" in 2024 on the reputation scale, as political leaders from both parties have denounced the company's ties with China and a new law requires it to sell TikTok or face a ban.
• Elon Musk is increasingly making AI the focus of X, even as he courts extremists and fails to moderate hate speech on the platform.
• Even Gen Z no longer trusts social media.

The big picture: The promise (and perils) of AI have come into focus in the past few years, as its moral, safety and business ramifications will define the future reputation of companies.

• While over half (58%) of respondents to the poll recognized the importance of integrating AI into products, only 30% said they would be more likely to buy the product or service just because it uses AI.

Public trust in AI is sinking overall. That means companies that rush to show they're innovative by adding AI to products could also harm their reputations.

• Google and Meta both suffered blowback from new tools that generate AI images.
• Apple wanted to highlight how thin its latest iPad is — but the ad promoting it reminded customers of the perils of AI instead.

Zoom out: Deepfakes and misinformation are stoking AI fears, and more and more Americans worry that AI will replace their jobs, or creative jobs in general.

• 74% of respondents to the survey agreed with the statement: "Human creativity is what makes many products and services amazing — and AI won't be able to replace that."

How it works: This survey is the result of a partnership between Axios and Harris Poll to gauge the reputations of the most visible brands in America, based on 20 years of Harris Poll research.

Go deeper: Full results and poll methodology

Nvidia's quarterly earnings, released yesterday, once more bested Wall Street's expectations, keeping the punchbowl out for AI's investment party.

Why it matters: Dubbed the most important stock on planet Earth by Goldman Sachs, the company has become a key bellwether for the pace of AI-driven growth.

Driving the news: Last quarter's revenue topped $26 billion, up 18% from the prior quarter, and the company now expects the current quarter's sales to top $28 billion — both numbers beating expectations.

• Share prices soared in after-hours trading, breaking $1,000 per share for the first time. The firm also announced a 10-for-1 stock split.

Between the lines: Nvidia's profit margins are the envy of the corporate world — it made $14.9 billion of net income on revenue of $26 billion last quarter.

• By contrast, Nvidia's net income was just $0.7 billion in the final quarter of 2022.
• Nvidia earned more last quarter than corporate behemoths like JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway or Amazon, all of which rank consistently among America's most profitable companies.

The big picture: The only U.S. companies to make substantially more money than Nvidia are Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet.

• Outside the U.S., state-owned oil companies Saudi Aramco and Petrobras can beat Nvidia — but Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC cannot.

The bottom line: Almost never in history has any company managed to increase its profits this quickly to such an astonishingly high level.

A new startup is coming out of stealth with a plan to offer digital pets for the Apple Vision Pro that use AI to read and respond to human emotion.

Why it matters: AIs designed to play digital characters or inhabit physical robots will need some form of emotional intelligence to interact with people — so the race is now on to develop AI that can read your feelings.

The big picture: Vietnam-based Bootloader Studio aims to combine AI and spatial computing to change the way humans interact with technology, Bryan Pelz, Bootloader's founder and CEO, tells Axios.

• A true digital friend needs to be able to judge your mood, and build on your body language, Pelz says.
• Pelz demonstrated the product to Axios via video rather than on the Vision Pro.

What they're saying: Tim Cook recently plugged the company as a "fantastic" example of Vietnam's developer community.

The digital pet product has been in development since 2023, when Pelz got early access to the Vision Pro ahead of its February launch.

• Bootloader's pet companions won't exist in a siloed-off application for the Vision Pro — instead, they will operate as services present alongside all the other apps you use.

Between the lines: Pelz says the studio intentionally chose an AI pet as its first companion rather than an AI replica of a human.

• "I felt like we didn't want to have a companion that speaks to you because it's just fraught with all sorts of issues," Pelz tells Axios. "And I want to make people feel better — so I didn't want to give them Alexa or Siri."

Zoom out: Pets powered by AI that claim to respond to you have a long pedigree.

• Sony's robot dog AIBO — which stands for "Artificial Intelligence roBOt" — was first introduced 25 years ago.

• The unnamed actor who modeled the voice of OpenAI's "Sky" says she was hired before Sam Altman offered the job to Scarlett Johansson, and that the company never mentioned Johansson or the movie "Her" in the process. (Washington Post)
• NewsCorp — parent company of The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets around the world — inks a content licensing deal with OpenAI. (Axios)
• Amazon may charge a monthly subscription fee for the revamped version of Alexa that uses generative AI. (CNBC)
• Regulators in the U.K. are said to be making inquiries into the privacy implications of Microsoft's new Recall feature for Copilot+ PCs. (BBC)
• Sam Altman said he didn't know about equity clawback provisions in OpenAI employees' exit agreements, but he signed documents that describe them. (Vox)

Among the new emoji under consideration for addition this year is a tired face with bags under the eyes. I see that one getting a lot of use.