TechCrunch Industry News

Peter Diamandis, a futurist with degrees from both MIT and Harvard, has spent much of the past two decades evangelizing a vision of an “abundant future” driven by exponential technologies that will lengthen our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta has released a new collection of AI models, Llama 4, in its Llama family — on a Saturday, no less. There are four new models in total: Llama 4 Scout, Llama 4 Maverick, and Llama 4 Behemoth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

X’s plan to boost revenue by selling off dormant usernames on its service is starting to shape up. According to recent changes found in X’s web application, the company is setting up a “handle inquiry” process that will allow Verified Organizations — companies and other organizations that already have a $1,000 per month X subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

Starting Wednesday, Meta says it will begin combining the Instagram accounts of the Second Lady of the United States, Usha Vance, and the former Second Gentleman of the United States, Doug Emhoff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla trade-ins in the U.S. are at an all time high as some owners become disillusioned with Elon Musk’s politics, and some just want to avoid their car getting keyed by Musk haters.  Automakers are pouncing on the opportunity. Polestar, Lucid Motors, Volvo, and Ford Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI has been accused by many parties of training its AI on copyrighted content sans permission. Now a new paper by an AI watchdog organization makes the serious accusation that the company increasingly relied on non-public books it didn’t license to train more sophisticated AI models. AI models are essentially complex prediction engines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co...

Rather than divide people into demographic buckets, Northwind Climate analyzes survey responses for behavioral clues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla recorded 336,681 deliveries, its worst quarterly performance in more than two years as the brand suffers a backlash to CEO Elon Musk’s political maneuverings. The dip in sales comes as Musk continues leading DOGE, the “advisory body” that has laid off thousands of federal employees and attempted to eliminate entire agencies and programs; Rivian delivered just 8,640 vehicles in the first thre...

Oracle has denied at least one breach, despite evidence to the contrary, as it begins notifying healthcare customers of a separate patient data breach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Substack continues to double down on video amid TikTok’s uncertain future in the U.S. The company announced on Monday that it’s rolling out a scrollable video feed in its app, making it the latest platform to introduce a TikTok-like feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As it gears up to go public, Chime is going all in on new features in an effort to attract more customers. The digital bank is offering customers who agree to have their paychecks directly deposited into a Chime savings or checking account an APY of 3.75%, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon on Monday unveiled Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some simple actions. Alongside the new agentic AI model, Amazon is releasing the Nova Act SDK, a toolkit that allows developers to build agent prototypes with Nova Act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI web crawling bots are the cockroaches of the internet, many developers believe. FOSS devs are fighting back in ingenuous, humorous ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump is slapping 25% tariffs on all cars imported to the United States, including from our immediate North American neighbors. He’s also placed a 25% tariff on certain parts used to build cars. It’s a decision that will likely supercharge the cost of new and used cars, but it’s also a gift to Tesla Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Americans’ support for a TikTok ban is declining, according to a study from the Pew Research Center. This survey of over 5,000 U.S. adults found that just 34% of respondents supported banning the short form video app. When Pew ran a similar study in 2023, 50% of adults supported the TikTok ban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has allowed Chinese investors to buy stakes as long as the funds are routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore hubs, according to reporting from ProPublica.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s virtually impossible today to determine when a student’s writing has been composed using ChatGPT or another GenAI tool, and it can be a nightmare to disprove incorrect accusations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup uses AI to quickly search for minerals over wide areas, identifying promising potential deposits for exploration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year, AI-powered sales automation startup 11x appeared to be on an explosive growth trajectory. However, nearly two dozen sources – including investors, current and former employees – tell TechCrunch that the company has experienced financial struggles, largely of its own making.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Commonwealth Fusion Systems marked a major milestone Tuesday morning, announcing the installation of a key component of its Sparc demonstration reactor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What we found mostly supports the auto makers claims, with a few caveats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As 23andMe's bankruptcy looms, privacy experts warn customers to delete their DNA data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two sources in the zero-day industry say Operation Zero's prices for exploits against the popular messaging app Telegram will depend on different factors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft is launching a research project to estimate the influence of specific training examples on the text, images, and other types of media that generative AI models create. That’s per a job listing dating back to December that was recently recirculated on LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wiz’s $32 billion all-cash acquisition by Google parent Alphabet promises a colossal payday for the cybersecurity startup’s early-stage investors. The deal is a big win for Sequoia, one of the best-known VC firms, which stands to make $3 billion, about 25x the money it invested in the company, Bloomberg reported. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices