TechCrunch Daily Crunch
1,839 episodes — Page 3 of 37
Backlash over OpenAI’s GPT-4o retirement shows how dangerous AI companions can be
Plus, the EU says TikTok must disable ‘addictive’ features like infinite scroll, fix its recommendation engine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta tests a standalone app for its AI-generated ‘Vibes’ videos
Plus - Google’s subscriptions rise in Q4 as YouTube pulls $60B in yearly revenue; Spotify ventures into physical book sales, adds new audiobook features Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alexa+ is now available to everyone in the US
Plus - Tinder looks to AI to help fight ‘swipe fatigue’ and dating app burnout; Spotify upgrades its lyrics feature with offline access, more translations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok recovers from dip in usage
Plus - The latest in startup businiess news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UpScrolled zooms past 2.5M users
Plus: Grubhub waives delivery and service fees on restaurant orders over $50; Ring brings its ‘Search Party’ feature for finding lost dogs to non-Ring camera owners Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic brings agentic plugins to Cowork
Plus - Bluesky issues its first transparency report, noting rise in user reports and legal demands; The iPhone just had its best quarter ever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Music publishers sue Anthropic for $3B over ‘flagrant piracy’ of 20,000 works
Plus - Spotify rolls out group chats; Meta burned $19 billion on VR last year, and 2026 won’t be any better Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chrome takes on AI browsers
Plus - LinkedIn will let you show off your vibe-coding chops with a certificate; Amazon says it is laying off 16,000 employees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI launches Prism
Plus -Google’s more affordable AI Plus plan rolls out to all markets, including the U.S.; Anthropic reportedly upped its latest raise to $20B Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok alternatives see surge in downloads
Plus - ChatGPT is pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla discontinues Autopilot in bid to boost adoption of its Full Self-Driving software
Plus - Google Photos’ latest feature lets you meme yourself; Meta pauses teen access to AI characters ahead of new version Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google’s AI Mode can now tap into your Gmail and Photos
Plus - Substack launches a TV app; Tesla launches robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety driver Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads rolls out ads to all users worldwide
Plus - Studies show Consumers spent more on mobile apps than games in 2025; YouTube will soon let creators make Shorts with their own AI likeness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky
Plus Netflix is rolling out a live voting feature; Netflix revises offer to pay all cash for Warner Bros. to fend off Paramount Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows
Plus - Well, there goes the metaverse!; TikTok quietly launches a microdrama app called ‘PineDrama’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChatGPT users are about to get hit with targeted ads
Plus, Chinese EVs inch closer to the US as Canada slashes tariffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix’s first original video podcasts feature Pete Davidson and Michael Irvin
Plus - Spotify raises its subscription prices in the US again; Wikimedia Foundation announces several new AI partnerships Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
App downloads declined again in 2025, consumer spending soared
Plus - Google’s Trends Explore page gets new Gemini capabilities; Meta to reportedly lay off 10% of Reality Labs staff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Doctors think AI has a place in healthcare
Plus - The latest in startup business news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon says 97% of its devices can support Alexa+
Plus - Google’s Gemini to power Apple’s AI features like Siri; Anthropic’s new Cowork tool offers Claude Code without the code Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X restricts Grok's image generation to paying subscribers
Plus, Meta signs deals with three nuclear companies for 6-plus GW of power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo
Plus - Illinois health department exposed over 700,000 residents’ personal data for years; Disney+ is launching short-form videos this year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Classroom’s new tool uses Gemini to transform lessons into podcast episodes
Plus - Spotify now lets you share what you’re streaming in real time with friends; Spotify lowers monetization threshold for video podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Threads is developing in-message games
Threads is developing in-message games; Meta pauses international expansion of its Ray-Ban Display glasses; Amazon’s Ring doorbells get fire alerts, an app store, and new sensors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google previews new Gemini features for TV at CES 2026
Plus - DoorDash says it banned driver who seemingly faked a delivery using AI; Amazon revamps Fire TV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI bets big on audio as Silicon Valley declares war on screens
Plus, Tesla annual sales decline 9% as it’s overtaken by BYD as global EV leader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The best AI-powered dictation apps of 2025
In some ways, 2025 was when AI dictation apps really took off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic brings agentic plugins to Cowork
Plus - Bluesky issues its first transparency report, noting rise in user reports and legal demands; The iPhone just had its best quarter ever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2025 was the year AI got a vibe check
Money was no object for the AI industry in early 2025. A vibe check crept in the second half of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon’s Ring rolls out controversial, AI-powered facial-recognition feature to video doorbells
Plus - Slack CEO Denise Dresser to join OpenAI as chief revenue officer; Three in 10 US teens use AI chatbots every day, but safety concerns are growing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix doubles down on video podcasts
Plus - Instagram brings Reels to the big screen; DoorDash rolls out an AI social app for discovering new restaurants Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Inside Uzbekistan’s nationwide license plate surveillance system
Across Uzbekistan, a network of about a hundred banks of high-resolution roadside cameras continuously scan vehicles’ license plates and their occupants, sometimes thousands a day, looking for potential traffic violations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok Shop launches digital gift cards
Plus - ChatGPT launches a year-end review like Spotify Wrapped Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI is reportedly trying to raise $100B at an $830B valuation
Plus - TikTok agrees to deal to cede control of US business to American investor group; Netflix is betting on podcasts to become the new daytime talk show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChatGPT’s mobile app hits $3B in consumer spending
Plus - Rivian rolls out new ‘Universal Hands-Free’ driving feature; Instacart’s AI-driven pricing tool attracted attention — now the FTC has questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
YouTube will stream the Oscars exclusively
Plus - Google launches Gemini 3 Flash; YouTube to pull music data from Billboard’s charts because it doesn’t like its ranking formula Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook Messenger’s desktop app is no more
Plus - Netflix responds to concerns about WBD deal; Snapchat rolls out its end-of-year Recaps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Trump’s AI executive order promises ‘one rulebook’ — startups may get legal limbo instead
Plus, Reddit argues it isn’t like other social platforms in case against Australia’s social media ban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disney signs deal with OpenAI
Plus - Disney hits Google with cease-and-desist claiming ‘massive’ copyright infringement; Google’s AI try-on feature for clothes now works with just a selfie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChatGPT is Apple’s most downloaded app of 2025 in the US
Plus - Amazon now offers same-day delivery of perishable groceries in 2,300 US cities; YouTube TV to launch genre-based subscription plans in 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paramount battles with Netflix over Warner Bros.
Plus - TikTok adds a space for organizing content with others, teases ‘Shared Feeds’; Claude Code is coming to Slack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix to acquire Warner Bros
Plus, the New York Times is suing Perplexity for copyright infringement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok rolls out a ‘Nearby Feed’
Plus - Spotify says Wrapped 2025 is its biggest yet, with 200M+ users in its first day; Amazon reportedly considering dropping USPS and building a competing postal service Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify Wrapped 2025 adds its first multiplayer feature with ‘Wrapped Party’
Spotify Wrapped is back. After last year’s widely criticized flop that included an AI podcast as its highlight, the streamer’s highly anticipated annual review feature has returned to its roots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon starts testing ‘ultra-fast’ 30-minute deliveries
Plus - Bending Spoons agrees to buy Eventbrite for $500M; YouTube releases its first-ever recap of videos you’ve watched Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon’s AI chatbot drove sales on Black Friday
Plus - The latest in startup business news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Find Your Grind raises $5M to grow platform empowering students to explore unique career paths
If you’re a fan of the punk scene from the early 2000s, you may recognize Nick Gross, the drummer for the band Goldfinger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI learned the hard way that Cameo trademarked the word ‘cameo’
Plus, Fleet Space finds massive lithium deposit using AI and satellites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new AI benchmark tests whether chatbots protect human wellbeing
Plus, US banks scramble to assess data theft after hackers breach financial tech firm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s upgraded Starship suffers explosion during testing
Plus, despite Chinese hacks, Trump’s FCC votes to scrap cybersecurity rules for phone and internet companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices