TechCrunch Industry News

Steve Ballmer wrote a fiery letter in the sentencing of disgraced founder Joseph Sanberg documenting all the harm that's befalling him as an investor. Also, the IRS has used Palantir's software since at least 2018, The Intercept reports. Plus, in a letter to the residents of Tumbler Ridge, Canada, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he is “deeply sorry” that his company failed to alert law enforcement abou...

The Citizen Lab found two separate surveillance vendors abusing the backbone of cellular networks to spy on several victims across the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cursor was on track to close a $2 billion funding round this week but chose to halt discussions after SpaceX offered a $10 billion "collaboration fee" and a path to a $60 billion acquisition. Also, Google brings Gemini-powered 'auto browse' capabilities to Chrome for enterprise users, letting workers automate tasks like research, data entry, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...

-The New Glenn rocket will have to stay grounded while the company investigates what caused the apparent failure of its upper stage. -Deezer says consumption of AI-generated music on the platform is still very low, between 1-3% of the total streams, and that 85% of these streams are detected as fraudulent and are demonetized. -The NSA is said to be using Anthropic's restricted Mythos AI model. Lea...

After 15 years, Tim Cook will hand off his role as Apple CEO to John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering. Also, Amazon has made another circular AI deal: It's investing another $5 billion in Anthropic. Anthropic has agreed to spend $100 billion on AWS in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The winning time is a massive improvement over last year’s race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes. Also, fusion startups and investors risk deepening fissures if some key disagreements aren't settled amicably. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why choose fossil fuels or electricity when you can have both? NOC Energy has figured out how to hybridize heavy industry. Also, Runway’s CEO says AI could help studios make dozens of films for the cost of one, betting volume will boost hit-making odds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LinkedIn says hiring is down 20% since 2022, but blames higher interest rates — not AI — for the slowdown. Also, Allbirds is ditching wool sneakers for AI servers, rebranding as NewBird AI after locking in a $50M convertible financing facility. Plus, Gizmo, an AI-powered learning platform, has attracted more than 13 million users and just secured $22 million in Series A funding. Learn more about y...

Anything is planning to launch a desktop companion app to aid mobile app development after its App Store removal. Also, Amazon on Tuesday agreed to buy satellite company Globalstar, known for powering Apple's "Emergency SOS" feature, for $11.57 billion in cash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uber employees can now hail a Lucid robotaxi as part of the testing. Also, Chicago-based music superfan Aadam Jacobs has been recording the concerts he goes to since the 1980s, amassing an archive of over 10,000 tapes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The OpenAI CEO's new blog post responds to both an apparent attack on his home and an in-depth New Yorker profile raising questions about his trustworthiness. Also, the report is particularly surprising since the Department of Defense recently declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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 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 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/adchoic...

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...

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 podcastc...

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/adch...

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

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, re...

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

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

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 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

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 s...