TechCrunch Industry News
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Who decides what AI tells you? Campbell Brown, once Meta’s news chief, has thoughts; plus
Musk mulled handing OpenAI to his children; plus, Google and SpaceX in talks to put data centers into orbit
TikTok now wants to be the place you book the trip you just saw on TikTok; plus, AI is turning connected cars into pothole-finding machines
Cloudflare says AI made 1,100 jobs obsolete, even as revenue hit a record high; plus, Anthropic says ‘evil’ portrayals of AI can have real effect
Microsoft’s AI data center push is colliding with its clean power goals; plus, China’s Moonshot AI raises $2B as demand for open-source AI skyrockets
Tinder owner Match Group is slowing hiring to pay for its increased use of AI tools; plus, Apple will pay $250M to settle lawsuit
As workers worry about AI, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says AI is ‘creating an enormous number of jobs’
Ouster’s new color lidar is coming to replace cameras; plus, US healthcare marketplaces shared citizenship and race data with ad tech giants
Pentagon inks deals with Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS to deploy AI on classified networks
Apple was surprised by AI-driven demand for Macs; plus, Hackers are actively exploiting a bug in cPanel
Jack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot Divine launches to the public; plus, Roku’s $3 streaming service, Howdy, reaches 1M subs
Google expands Pentagon’s access to its AI after Anthropic’s refusal; plus, Lovable launches its vibe-coding app
Investors back Skye’s AI home screen app for iPhone ahead of launch; Data center demand drives 66% surge in natural gas power plant costs
Steve Ballmer blasts founder he backed who pleaded guilty to fraud, Palantir reportedly helping the IRS, and Anthropic created a test marketplace
Surveillance vendors caught abusing access to telcos to track people’s phone locations
How SpaceX preempted a $2B fundraise with a $60B buyout offer; plus, Google turns Chrome into an AI co-worker
FAA orders investigation into Blue Origin’s New Glenn mishap; 44% of songs uploaded to Deezer are AI-generated; and the NSA is using Anthropic’s Mythos
Who is John Ternus, the incoming Apple CEO?
Robots beat human records at Beijing half-marathon; Cracks are starting to form on fusion energy’s funding boom
What is a hybrid cement plant? Plus, Runway's CEO says AI could help Hollywood make 50 films
LinkedIn data shows AI isn’t to blame for hiring decline… yet; plus, Allbirds pivots to AI
How vibe coding app Anything is rebuilding after getting booted from the App Store twice; plus, Amazon buying Globalstar
Uber and Nuro begin testing premium robotaxi service in San Francisco; Thousands of rare concert recordings are landing on the Internet Archive
Sam Altman responds to ‘incendiary’ New Yorker article after attack on his home
Amazon CEO takes aim at Nvidia, Intel, Starlink; and Radify’s sci-fi plasma reactors could break China’s dominance of rare earth elements
Andy Jassy's annual shareholder letter reads something like a diss track to a wide range of competitors as he defends spending $200 billion in capex. Also, Radify Metals is developing a new way to process a variety of metals that promises to be pollution free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A self-driving car in Texas hit and killed a mother duck, sparking neighborhood outrage; plus Canva acquired Simtheory and Ortto
This incident has brought negative attention to the new technology. Also, Canva says the acquisitions add strengths in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and customer engagement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic ups compute deal with Google and Broadcom; plus, the AI gold rush is pulling private wealth into riskier, earlier bets
Anthropic bulked up its compute deal with Google and Broadcom as the company has seen its run-rate revenue surge to $30 billion. Also, family offices are bypassing VCs to gain direct exposure to AI startups, turning them from passive investors into active participants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI’s vision for the AI economy; plus, Iran threatened ‘Stargate’ AI data centers
OpenAI proposes taxes on AI profits, public wealth funds, and expanded safety nets to address job loss and inequality, blending redistribution with capitalism as policymakers debate AI’s economic impact. Also, Iran said it will target U.S.-linked data centers with new missile strikes, as the war between the U.S. and Iran escalates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polymarket took down wagers tied to rescue of downed Air Force officer; plus, Claude Code subscribers will need to pay extra for OpenClaw and Tesla’s Texas factory workforce reportedly shrunk 22%
A Democratic congressman had harsh criticism for Polymarket for allowing users to bet on the date the U.S. would confirm the rescue of Air Force service members shot down over Iran. Plus, it’s about to become more expensive for Claude Code subscribers to use Anthropic’s coding assistant with OpenClaw and other third-party tools. And, Tesla's headcount fell from 21,191 workers to 16,506 workers in 2025, according to a report, as it grappled with its second straight year of declining sales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ICE says it bought Paragon’s spyware to use in drug trafficking cases; plus, Tesla’s cheaper vehicles aren’t helping its declining sales
The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told lawmakers that the use of Paragon spyware is necessary to counter terrorists’ “thriving exploitation of encrypted communications platforms.” Also, Tesla's deliveries in the first quarter were just 6% higher than last year, and Tesla now faces a third straight year of falling sales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new dating app, Sonder, has a deliberately annoying sign-up process (and it’s working); plus Anthropic and Baidu issues
Sonder profiles are completely unstructured, encouraging users to build something that looks like a mood board or a digital collage Think MySpace rather than LinkedIn. Also, Anthropic executives said it was an accident and retracted the bulk of the takedown notices. And passengers in Baidu's robotaxis were trapped for up to two hours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FedEx chooses partnerships over proprietary tech for its automation strategy
FedEx recently announced a partnership with Berkshire Gray as the company works with external players to develop its automation tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why OpenAI really shut down Sora; plus, Mantis Biotech is making ‘digital twins’ of humans to help solve medicine’s data availability problem
OpenAI's decision last week to shut down Sora, its AI video-generation tool, just six months after releasing it to the public raised immediate suspicions. The app had invited users to upload their own faces — so was this some kind of elaborate data grab? Also, Mantis takes disparate sources of data to make synthetic datasets that can be used to build so-called "digital twins" of the human body, representing anatomy, physiology and behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stanford study outlines dangers of asking AI chatbots for personal advice
While there’s been plenty of debate about AI sycophancy, a new study by Stanford computer scientists attempts to measure how harmful that tendency might be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A major hacking tool has leaked online, putting millions of iPhones at risk. Here’s what you need to know
Here’s what we know, and what you need to know, about Coruna and DarkSword, two advanced iPhone hacking tools discovered by security researchers. DarkSword has now leaked online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk pauses changes to X’s creator revenue-sharing program after backlash; Sift Stack bringing the software that helped launch rockets to the factory floor
Hours after announcement of the new policy Elon Musk said X is pausing the rollout. Also, Sift is building the data infrastructure for advanced manufacturing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Agile Robots becomes the latest robotics company to partner with Google DeepMind; plus, Ultrahuman ramps up U.S. push with Ring Pro
Agile Robots will incorporate Google DeepMind's robotics foundation models into its bots while collecting data for the AI research lab. Also, Ultrahuman pushes back into the U.S. with Ring Pro, as Oura strengthens its lead in a market driving 60% of global demand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FBI says Iranian hackers are using Telegram to steal data in malware attacks; Pentagon’s decision to bar Anthropic ‘retaliation’; and Hachette pulls horror novel ‘Shy Girl’ over AI concerns
Hackers working for Iran’s government are using Telegram in hacking operations that use malware to target dissidents, opposition groups, and journalists who oppose its regime, according to the FBI. Also, in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) equated the DoD's decision to label Anthropic a "supply chain risk" as retaliation, arguing that the Pentagon could simply have terminated its contract with the AI lab. Plus, Hachette Book Group said it will not be publishing “Shy Girl” over concerns that artificial intelligence was used to generate the text. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Are AI tokens the new signing bonus or just a cost of doing business?; plus, It’s been 20 years since the first tweet
Maybe tokens really will become the fourth pillar of engineering compensation. But engineers might want to hold the line before embracing this as a straightforward win. On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey posted a simple message: “just setting up my twittr”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta decides not to shut down Horizon Worlds on VR after all; CISA urges companies to secure Microsoft Intune systems
Horizon Worlds was once a cornerstone of Meta's plans to build a social metaverse -- four years later, the company almost shut it down. Also, the U.S. cybersecurity agency urged companies to prevent access to systems used for remotely managing their fleets of employee devices after hackers broke into a major U.S. medical tech giant and remotely wiped thousands of phones and computers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Patreon CEO calls AI companies’ fair use argument ‘bogus’; plus Nvidia is quietly building a multibillion-dollar behemoth
Patreon CEO Jack Conte says AI companies should pay creators for training data, arguing their fair use defense falls apart when they license content from major publishers. Also, Nvidia's networking business raked in $11 billion last quarter despite getting significantly less fanfare than chips and gaming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kalshi’s legal troubles pile up; plus, Mistral bets on ‘build-your-own AI’
Arizona's lawsuit is the latest salvo in an escalating battle between state regulators and an industry that claims it's not beholden to them. Also, Mistral Forge lets enterprises train custom AI models from scratch on their own data, challenging rivals that rely on fine-tuning and retrieval-based approaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Memories AI is building the visual memory layer for wearables and robotics; plus, Nvidia’s version of OpenClaw could solve its biggest problem: security
Memories.ai is building a large visual memory model that can index and retrieve video-recorded memories for physical AI. Nvidia announced an open enterprise AI agent platform, called NemoClaw, that is built off of viral OpenClaw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The billionaires made a promise — now some want out
Written by Connie Loizos for TechCrunch. In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched a disarmingly simple campaign to get the richest people on earth to promise, publicly, to give most of their money away. The moment seemed to call for it. Tech was minting billionaires faster than any industry in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bumble will launch an AI dating assistant; plus, Webflow bought an AI content generation platform
Bumble's new AI assistant Bee will move the dating app beyond the swipe by matching people based on compatibility and goals. Also, founded in 2024, Vidoso uses large language models to help organizations generate marketing collateral like images, presentations, video clips, blog posts, and social media content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Drivers in fatal Ford BlueCruise crashes were likely distracted before impact
The National Transportation Safety Board released documents ahead of a March 31 hearing that help show how and why two drivers crashed into stationary vehicles in 2024, leading to three deaths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google wraps up $32B acquisition of cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz; plus, Amazon expands a program that lets customers shop from other retailers’ sites
Google has officially acquired Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion in all-cash, a full year after the companies announced the deal. This marks Google's biggest acquisition in its history. Also, Amazon's changes allow more merchants to participate in Amazon's Shop Direct program, which sends Amazon customers to other retailers' websites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hyperscale Power the latest to challenge transformer tech; plus, YouTube expanding AI deepfake detection
Startup Hyperscale Power is developing technology that promises to shrink power transformers, freeing up precious space within data centers. Also, YouTube's AI deepfake detection tool is becoming available to politicians, journalists, and officials, letting them flag unauthorized likenesses for removal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jensen Huang says Nvidia is pulling back from OpenAI and Anthropic; plus, Rivian is betting its future on one of the fastest EV launches in US history
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Wednesday that his company's investments in OpenAI and Anthropic will likely be its last — but his explanation may not tell the whole story. Also, if Rivian reaches its R2 sales target in 2026, it will be one of the fastest ramp-ups ever of a new EV in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EXCLUSIVE: Luma launches creative AI agents powered by its new ‘Unified Intelligence’ models
Luma introduced Luma Agents, powered by its new “Unified Intelligence” models, designed to coordinate multiple AI systems and generate end-to-end creative work across text, images, video and audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices