TechCrunch Industry News
3,880 episodes — Page 2 of 78
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
Father sues Google, claiming Gemini chatbot drove son into fatal delusion
A father is suing Google and Alphabet, alleging its Gemini chatbot reinforced his son’s delusional belief it was his AI wife and coached him toward suicide and a planned airport attack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Who needs data centers in space when they can float offshore?
The social media giant says that end-to-end encryption would make users less safe. Plus, TikTok says that end-to-end encryption would make users less safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Audible launches a cheaper ‘Standard’ subscription plan, challenging Spotify; plus, X begins testing standalone X Chat app on iOS
The new Audible Standard plan is $6 cheaper than the platform's existing "Premium" plan, which costs $14.95 per month. The new X chat app promises a way to send and receive messages without being distracted by your timeline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after DoD deal; plus, Stripe wants to turn your AI costs into a profit center
Many consumers ditched ChatGPT's app after news of its DoD deal went live, while Claude's downloads grew. Also, Stripe released a preview intended to allow AI companies to easily track, pass through, and make a profit on underlying AI model fees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tech workers urge DOD, Congress to withdraw Anthropic label as a supply chain risk
Tech workers have signed an open letter urging the Department of War to withdraw its designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" and instead to settle the matter quietly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hacktivists claim to have hacked Homeland Security to release ICE contract data; also X ads ‘Paid Partnership’ labels for creators
As TechCrunch's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai writes, a hacking group called Department of Peace said they hacked a specific office within Homeland Security to protest ICE’s mass deportation campaign, and the companies aiding it. Also, the new labels comply with regulations and allow creators to be more transparent with their followers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Polymarket saw $529M traded on bets tied to bombing of Iran; plus, Investors spill what they aren’t looking for anymore in AI SaaS companies
Six newly-created accounts made a profit of $1 million by correctly betting that the U.S. would strike Iran by February 28. TechCrunch spoke with VCs to learn what investors aren't looking for in AI SaaS startups anymore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Netflix backs out of bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, giving studios, HBO, and CNN to Ellison-owned Paramount
In a one-two punch of centibillion-dollar offers, the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is over. David Ellison-owned Paramount will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix has lost. Plus, Plaid valued at $8B in employee share sale. The new valuation is a 31% increase from $6.1 billion Plaid reached in April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Walmart agrees to $100M settlement; plus, Read AI launches an email-based ‘digital twin’
The suit said Walmart mislead drivers about their possible tips and would reduce their base pay, among other things. Also, Read AI is launching Ada, which can reply with your availability and extract answers from the company knowledge base and the web. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Memory shortage could cause the biggest smartphone shipments dip in over a decade; plus, Mistral AI inks a deal with global consulting giant Accenture
IDC says phone makers will ship only 1.12 billion smartphones as compared to 1.26 billion last year Also, Mistral AI lands a partnership with Accenture, the consultant that has also recently announced partnerships with rivals OpenAI and Anthropic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Americans now listen to podcasts more often than talk radio; plus, About 12% of US teens turn to AI for emotional support or advice
Recent findings also show that video podcasting -- while popular -- is not necessarily replacing audio shows. Also, general purpose tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok are not designed for this use, making mental health professionals wary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI COO says ads will be ‘an iterative process’; plus, OpenClaw's creator has some advice for AI builders
OpenAI introduced ads to ChatGPT earlier this month Also, Peter Steinberger talks about the creation of his viral AI agent OpenClaw and how being more "playful" makes for a better way to learn AI coding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify and Liquid Death release a limited-edition speaker shaped like… an urn?
Spotify and Liquid Death launched what might be the wildest product of the year: a speaker shaped like a urn. Also, earlier this month, OpenAI launched a new platform called OpenAI Frontier for enterprises to build and manage agents, but OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said that businesses haven’t yet seen AI adoption at scale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta strikes up to $100B AMD chip deal as it chases ‘personal superintelligence’; plus, Mogul says it has tracked $1.5B in music royalties
Meta is buying billions of dollars in AMD AI chips in a multiyear deal tied to a 160 million-share warrant, deepening its push to diversify beyond Nvidia and expand data center capacity. Also, Mogul, which helps artists track royalties and value their catalogs, raised $5 million in a round led by the Yamaha Music Innovations Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic accuses Chinese AI labs of mining Claude as US debates AI chip exports
Anthropic accuses DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax of using 24,000 fake accounts to distill Claude’s AI capabilities, as U.S. officials debate export controls aimed at slowing China’s AI progress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras; plus, OpenAI calls in the consultants for its enterprise push
While some cities are moving to end their contracts with Flock over its links to ICE, others are taking matters into their own hands. Also, OpenAI is partnering with four consulting giants in an effort to see more adoption of its OpenAI Frontier AI agent platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s brain-computer interface industry is racing ahead
China’s brain-computer interface industry is rapidly scaling from research to commercialization, driven by strong policy support, expanding clinical trials, and growing investor interest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why investors are going gaga over solid-state transformers
The technology promises to replace several parts of the grid with one device that’s both controllable and updatable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An AI data center boom is fueling Redwood’s energy storage business; plus, Toyota hires seven Agility humanoid robots for Canadian factory
Redwood Materials says its new energy storage business is the fastest growing unit within the company. Plus, Toyota's robots will be unloading totes full of auto parts from an automated warehouse tugger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices