We';re thrilled to announce that Greece prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be joining us at our upcoming StrictlyVC event in Athens, co-hosted with Endeavor, on Thursday night, May 8, at the stunning Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. For those who might not be familiar with his background, Mitsotakis brings a fascinating blend of experiences to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/techcrunch-strictlyvc-in-athens-will-feature-a-special-guest-the-greek-prime-minister/

Kai Chen, a Canadian AI researcher working at OpenAI who';s lived in the U.S. for 12 years, was denied a green card, according to Noam Brown, a leading research scientist at the company. In a post on X, Brown said that Chen learned of the decision Friday and must soon leave the country. "It';s deeply [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/an-openai-researcher-who-worked-on-gpt-4-5-had-their-green-card-denied/

Welcome to Startups Weekly - your weekly recap of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week confirmed that deals can still happen in a troubled world, but price considerations and adjustments are now part of the picture. Most interesting startup stories [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/startups-weekly-tech-ipos-and-deals-proceed-but-price-matters/

ChatGPT, OpenAI's text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/chatgpt-everything-to-know-about-the-ai-chatbot/

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, walked into the sunlit hotel conference room in Brooklyn on Thursday to meet with a dozen youth leaders working in tech safety, policy, and innovation. The young adults chatted away at black circular tables, many unaware of his presence until he plopped down at a table and started talking with [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/prince-harry-meets-funds-youth-advocating-for-social-media-and-ai-safety/

Troubled electric vehicle startup Faraday Future';s board of directors has appointed founder Jia Yueting as the company';s co-CEO, three years after he was sidelined following an internal probe into allegations of fraud - a probe that led to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission that remains ongoing. Jia will serve alongside current CEO [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/faraday-future-founder-named-co-ceo-three-years-after-being-sidelined-by-internal-probe/

This glossary includes the most common terms and expressions TechCrunch uses in our security reporting, and explanations of how - and why - we use them.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/techcrunch-reference-guide-to-security-terminology/

We';re thrilled to announce that Greece';s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will be joining us at our upcoming StrictlyVC event in Athens, co-hosted with Endeavor, on Thursday night, May 8, at the stunning Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. For those who might not be familiar with his background, Mitsotakis brings a fascinating blend of experiences to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/techcrunch-strictlyvc-in-athens-will-feature-a-special-guest-the-greek-prime-minister/

Slate Auto, the buzzy new EV startup that broke stealth this week, is close to locking in a former printing plant located in Warsaw, Indiana as the future production site for its cheap electric truck, a review of public records shows. The company is expected to lease the 1.4 million-square-foot facility for an undisclosed sum. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/slate-auto-eyes-former-indiana-printing-plant-for-its-ev-truck-production/

In the latest development of an increasingly public dispute between HR and payroll services rivals, Deel has filed a countersuit against Rippling. To recap: Rippling publicly announced on March 17 that it was suing Deel over alleged corporate espionage, with accusations ranging from violation of the RICO racketeering act (typically used to prosecute organized crime) [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/deel-files-countersuit-against-rippling-as-rivalry-escalates/

In the battle between two "agentic" coding tools - Anthropic';s Claude Code and OpenAI';s Codex CLI - the latter appears to be fostering more developer goodwill than the former. That';s at least partly because Anthropic has issued takedown notices to a developer trying to reverse-engineer Claude Code, which is under a more restrictive usage license [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/anthropic-sent-a-takedown-notice-to-a-dev-trying-to-reverse-engineer-its-coding-tool/

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility - your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free - just click TechCrunch Mobility! Busy week, so let's get to it. Starting with federal regulations! Woohoo. Exciting stuff.ÿ I'm talking about the U.S. Department of Transportation's new Automated Vehicle Framework, which [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/techcrunch-mobility-slates-transformer-ev-truck-breaks-cover-and-teslas-dueling-realities/

DoorDash has asked a California Superior Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Uber that accuses the food delivery company of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. DoorDash argues in its motion that Uber';s claim lacks merit on all fronts. On a post on its website on Friday, DoorDash said, "the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/doordash-seeks-dismissal-of-uber-lawsuit/

Elon Musk';s xAI Holdings is in talks to raise $20 billion in fresh funding, potentially valuing the AI and social media combo at over $120 billion, according to a new Bloomberg report that says talks are in the "early stages." If successful, the deal would constitute the the second-largest startup funding round ever, behind only [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/musks-xai-holdings-is-reportedly-raising-the-second-largest-private-funding-round-ever/

Elon Musk';s xAI Holdings is in talks to raise $20 billion in fresh funding, potentially valuing the AI and social media combo at over $120 billion, according to a new Bloomberg report that says talks are in the "early stages." If successful, the deal would be the second-largest startup funding round ever, behind only OpenAI';s [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/musks-xai-holdings-is-reportedly-raising-the-second-largest-private-funding-round-ever/

Instagram Edits, Meta';s newly released video creation app, had a bigger debut than its direct competitor, ByteDance';s CapCut, once did. The new app, which today helps users craft videos for Instagram reels, stories, and other social posts, was downloaded an estimated 702,900 times on iOS devices during its first two days on the market. That';s [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/instagram-edits-topped-7m-downloads-in-first-week-a-bigger-launch-than-capcuts/

Move over, PayPal mafia: There's a new tech mafia in Silicon Valley. As the startup behind ChatGPT, OpenAI is arguably the biggest AI player in town. Its meteoric rise to a $300 billion valuation has spurred many employees to leave the AI giant to create startups of their own. The hype around OpenAI is so [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/the-openai-mafia-15-of-the-most-notable-startups-founded-by-alumni/

A new app called Lately launched on the App Store a few weeks ago, targeting people with ADHD to help them arrive on time and rewarding them for doing so. The service is designed to help users manage their travel plans by notifying them when it';s time to leave for a trip, sending reminders 30 [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/latelys-new-gamified-app-helps-people-arrive-on-time/

Perhaps no one in the world has made such catastrophic tech flubs this year as U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The saga started when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported that he had been mistakenly added to an unauthorized Signal group chat by U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, where numerous high-ranking [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/government-officials-are-kind-of-bad-at-the-internet/

Amazon is raising eyebrows with the timing of its big book sale for 2025, which runs from April 23 to 28 - which means it's competing directly with Independent Bookstore Day. As writer Maris Kreisman explained in Lit Hub, Independent Bookstore Day is an annual event organized by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), with events, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/amazons-big-book-sale-just-happens-to-overlap-with-independent-bookstore-day/

Welcome back to Week in Review! We';ve got tons of news for you this week: Slate EVs spotted in the wild; Airbnb pricing updates; a hack at Blue Shield; and much more. Let';s go! Get a clue: Cluely is an AI-based tool that helps people cheat on exams, sales calls, and even job interviews. Though [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/week-in-review-cluely-helps-you-cheat-on-everything/

Google announced this week that beginning on October 25, it will no longer support or release software updates for the first and second generation Nest Learning Thermostats. And it will completely stop launching new Nest products in Europe. That means owners of the Nest thermostats released in 2011 and 2012 (as well as the version [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/google-will-stop-supporting-early-nest-thermostats-on-october-25/

Around 300 London-based members of Google's AI-focused DeepMind team are seeking to unionize with the Communication Workers Union, according to a Financial Times report that cites three people involved with the unionization effort. These DeepMind employees are reportedly unhappy about Google's decision to remove a pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance from [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/googles-deepmind-uk-team-reportedly-seeks-to-unionize/

Julie Wainwright has taken two companies public, a pretty incredible feat by any standard. Yet in her new memoir, Time to Get Real, she offers readers something even more valuable: a blunt look at the messy realities of leadership. Wainwright shares the kinds of tough truths that many high-achieving CEOs can relate to but rarely [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/the-realreal-founder-julie-wainwright-has-a-startling-new-memoir/

Julie Wainwright has taken two companies public, an incredible feat by any standard. Yet in her new memoir, Time to Get Real, she offers readers something even more valuable than a kind of victory lap: a look at the messy realities of leadership. Wainwright shares the kinds of tough truths that many high-achieving CEOs can [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/the-realreal-founder-julie-wainwright-has-a-startling-new-memoir/

Julie Wainwright has taken two companies public, an incredible feat by any standard. Yet in her new memoir, Time to Get Real, she offers readers something even more valuable than a kind of victory lap: a look at the messy realities of leadership. Wainwright shares tough truths that many high-achieving CEOs can relate to but [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/26/the-realreal-founder-julie-wainwright-has-a-startling-new-memoir/

Not so long ago, the idea of public tech companies emerging from Latin America seemed far-fetched, and Mercado Libre once appeared as rare and mythical as a true unicorn. Today, however, the region is home to several startups that have reached billion-dollar valuations. Some of these startups, propelled into the spotlight by cross-border expansion, are [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/here-are-latin-americas-biggest-startups-based-on-valuation/

If you're someone who likes to bookmark a bunch of things that you find interesting or want to come back to later, it can be hard to manage everything you have saved. There are a number of great bookmark apps on the market that can help you organize all these sorts of links, articles, and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/best-bookmarking-apps-to-help-organize-and-declutter-your-digital-life/

AI chatbots available on Meta's platforms like Facebook and Instagram can engage in sexually explicit conversations with underage users, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ says that after learning about internal concerns about whether the company was doing enough to protect minors, it spent months conducting hundreds of conversations [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/report-finds-metas-celebrity-voiced-chatbots-could-discuss-sex-with-minors/

Nestled between an elementary school and a public library in Brooklyn';s Greenpoint neighborhood sits a new kind of "luxury" coworking space.ÿ Dubbed the Chat Haus, this space has many of the elements you';d find in a traditional coworking office: people hammering away at their computer keyboards, another person taking a phone call, someone else pausing [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/welcome-to-chat-haus-the-coworking-space-for-ai-chatbots/

4chan is partly back online after a hack took the infamous image-sharing site down for nearly two weeks. The site first went down on April 14, with the person responsible for the hack apparently leaking data including a list of moderators and "janitors" (one janitor told TechCrunch they were "confident" that the leaked data was [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/4chan-is-back-online-says-its-been-starved-of-money/

Cancer ranks as one of the top causes of death worldwide. The National Cancer Institute reported nearly 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths globally in 2022, with projections showing a rise to 29.9 million new cases by 2040. Craif, spun off from Nagoya University in Japan in 2018, is using microRNA(miRNA) [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/craif-a-non-invasive-early-cancer-detection-platform-grabs-22m/

In Silicon Valley, where the same high-wattage names tend to dominate the headlines, Ali Partovi has long wielded outsized influence despite limited name recognition. The Iranian-born Harvard graduate built an impressive resume early on - joining the founding team of LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million), co-founding iLike (sold to MySpace for [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/from-coding-tests-to-billion-dollar-startups-ali-partovis-eight-year-experiment-is-paying-off/

It's been a busy year for TechCrunch events - and it's about to get even bigger. StrictlyVC, our boutique, highly exclusive event series for VCs and startups, is crossing the Atlantic this May with stops in London and Athens! We're bringing StrictlyVC's insider conversations to Europe. On May 8, we'll dive into Athens' booming tech [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/27/strictlyvc-heads-global-this-may-featuring-the-prime-minister-of-greece-and-europes-leading-tech-and-vc-voices/

When Deepankar Rustagi last raised money for OmniRetail in 2022, excitement was high for African startups addressing the supply chain and operational challenges in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. At one point, these startups received more capital than all sectors, except fintech. Recently, though, the industry';s enthusiasm and venture capital';s interest have faded, as [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/omniretail-shakes-up-africas-b2b-e-commerce-market-with-20m-series-a/

AI-based coding has exploded in popularity on the promise that it will make developers' jobs faster and easier. But AI coding has also resulted in something else: a vast increase in lines of code, and thus the likelihood of bugs resulting in crashes or other mishaps. On Monday, an Israeli startup called Lightrun, which has [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/lightrun-grabs-70m-using-ai-to-debug-code-in-production/

The UK fintech sector is on a bit of roll. Allica Bank - a London-based fintech - recently announced it hadÿdoubled its profits in 2024,ÿbringing in £29.9 million, while Neobank Revolut announced a £1bn profit in 2024. Companies of this nature continue to spring out of London, a city which has become a fintech global [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/volution-doubles-down-on-booming-uk-fintech-with-new-100m-fund/

Creating animation is a time-consuming process, requiring multiple steps including storyboarding, rendering, composition, and lighting to craft a single scene. If a director wants to experiment with a different take for a scene, an animation team has to go back and tweak things before the scene can be finalized. Cheehoo, a startup founded by a [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/ai-animation-startup-cheehoo-lands-10m-funding-from-greycroft/

Enterprise tech giant IBM says that it plans to invest $150 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, which will include a "more than" $30 billion investment in mainframe and quantum computing research. The goal is to fuel the economy and "accelerate [IBM';s] role as the global leader in computing," the company said in a press release Monday. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/ibm-pledges-to-spend-150b-in-the-u-s-over-the-next-few-years/

Quantum computing has long been announced as "just around the corner," but several companies are now determined to make this a commercial reality, with the promise of solving complex problems beyond classical computers' reach. The problems in question are wide-ranging, from medicine and cybersecurity to materials science and chemistry. But first, there are very practical [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/meet-the-companies-racing-to-build-quantum-chips/

The world has a trash problem. The amount of stuff we throw away is expected to nearly double, to 3.8 billion metric tons, by 2050. Reducing what we use would go a long way to addressing the issue, but let's face it, we're not very good at buying less either. That leaves recycling, which has [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/amazon-backed-glacier-gets-16m-to-expand-its-robot-recycling-fleet/

It's been a busy year for TechCrunch events - and it's about to get even bigger. StrictlyVC, our boutique, highly exclusive event series for VCs and startups, is crossing the Atlantic this May with stops in London and Athens! We're bringing StrictlyVC's insider conversations to Europe. On May 8, we'll dive into Athens' booming tech [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/strictlyvc-heads-global-this-may-featuring-the-prime-minister-of-greece-and-europes-leading-tech-and-vc-voices/

The hub of AI innovation is here - don't miss out on the last 7 days of Early Bird ticket savings! AI is reshaping the world, and TechCrunch Sessions: AI is where you'll witness the future unfold. Join 1,000+ founders, investors, researchers, and innovators on June 5 at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall for a full [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/final-7-days-save-210-50-off-a-second-ticket-to-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

We've been blown away by the overwhelming response to speak at TechCrunch All Stage on July 15 at SoWa Power Station in Boston. After thorough consideration, we've selected six standout finalists. The power to choose who will take the stage and share their startup scaling expertise is now in your hands! This Audience Choice voting [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/vote-for-the-session-you-want-to-see-at-techcrunch-all-stage-on-july-15/

Most mortgage lenders would rather people didn't pay off their mortgages early. After all, that's that';s how they make their money. Indeed, overpayment is positively discouraged and sometimes even penalized. What if there were a solution that solved the technology behind it, alongside the financing arrangements? That's the idea behind the Sprive fintech app. This [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/uk-fintech-sprive-closes-7-3m-round-to-facilitate-mortgage-overpayments/

News about Android is being relegated to a side show at Google';s annual developer conference, Google I/O, next month. On Monday, the company announced it would share information about the latest updates coming to the Android ecosystem at an upcoming virtual event called "The Android Show: I/O Edition," airing on May 13. The decision to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/google-shifts-android-news-to-a-virtual-event-ahead-of-its-i-o-developer-conference/

The researchers said the attackers behind the campaign had "deep understanding of the target community."

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/citizen-lab-say-exiled-uyghur-leaders-targeted-with-windows-spyware/

Most mortgage lenders would rather people didn't pay off their mortgages early. After all, that's how they make their money. Indeed, overpayment is positively discouraged and sometimes even penalized. What if there was a solution that solved the technology behind it, alongside the financing arrangements? That's the idea behind the Sprive fintech app. This is [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/uk-fintech-sprive-closes-7-3m-round-to-facilitate-mortgage-overpayments/

The researchers said the attackers behind the campaign had "deep understanding of the target community."

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/citizen-lab-says-exiled-uyghur-leaders-targeted-with-windows-spyware/

Creating animation is a time-consuming process, requiring multiple steps, including storyboarding, rendering, composition, and lighting to craft a single scene. If a director wants to experiment with a different take for a scene, an animation team has to go back and tweak things before the scene can be finalized. Cheehoo, a startup founded by a [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/ai-animation-startup-cheehoo-lands-10m-funding-from-greycroft/

Temu is adding "import charges" of around 145% in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs on goods shipped from China, CNBC reports. The fees cost more than the products that U.S. consumers are buying, and in some cases are more than doubling the price of a standard order. For example, CNBC found that a summer [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/temu-adds-import-charges-after-trump-tariffs/

The U.K. fintech sector is on a bit of a roll. Allica Bank - a London-based fintech - recently announced it had doubled its profits in 2024, bringing in £29.9 million, while neobank Revolut announced a £1 billion profit in 2024. Companies of this nature continue to spring out of London, a city that has become a [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/volution-doubles-down-on-booming-uk-fintech-with-new-100m-fund/

OpenAI is updating ChatGPT search, its web search tool in ChatGPT, to give users an improved online shopping experience, the company announced Monday. When ChatGPT users search for products, the chatbot will now offer a few recommendations, present images and reviews for those items, and include direct links to webpages where users can buy the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/openai-upgrades-chatgpt-search-with-shopping-features/

YouTube';s support team is experiencing an outage, too. The company says the widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal have knocked some of YouTube';s customer support team offline, including those who offer support in related European languages. The company did not share how many employees are unable to work because of the outages, or how [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/youtube-support-affected-by-european-power-outages-too/

Chinese tech conglomerate Huawei is looking to take on semiconductor behemoth Nvidia with a new advanced AI chip. Huawei is making progress developing its latest Ascend AI GPU, the Ascend 910D, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar. The company has been reaching out to other Chinese firms to find test partners, the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/huawei-aims-to-take-on-nvidias-h100-with-new-ai-chip/

Hugging Face, the startup best known for the AI developer platform of the same name, is selling a programmable, 3D-printable robotic arm that can pick up and place objects and perform a few other basic chores. Called the SO-101, the arm is the follow-up to Hugging Face';s previous robotic arm, the SO-100, released last year. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/hugging-face-releases-a-3d-printed-robotic-arm-starting-at-100/

OpenAI is updating ChatGPT search, its web search tool in ChatGPT, to give users an improved online shopping experience, the company announced Monday. When ChatGPT users search for products, the chatbot will now offer a few recommendations, present images and reviews for those items, and include direct links to web pages where users can buy [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/openai-upgrades-chatgpt-search-with-shopping-features/

A mysterious investor out of London has asked a bankruptcy judge in Delaware to stop the sale of EV startup Canoo';s assets to its CEO, calling it a "flawed" process. Charles Garson, a U.K.-based investor with no obvious ties to the EV startup, offered $20 million for Canoo';s assets, according to a filing. A lawyer [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/mysterious-financier-asks-judge-to-stop-canoo-asset-sale/

Chinese tech company Alibaba on Monday released Qwen 3, a family of AI models the company claims matches and in some cases outperforms the best models available from Google and OpenAI. Most of the models are - or soon will be - available for download under an "open" license from AI dev platform Hugging Face [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/alibaba-unveils-qwen-3-a-family-of-hybrid-ai-reasoning-models/

HR tech giant Deel says its executives have formally accepted to be served legal documents in its ongoing court battle with rival Rippling in Ireland. This ends weeks of suspense after Rippling's bailiffs couldn't find Deel's execs to serve them - only for Deel's CEO and top lawyer to turn up in Dubai. Deel CEO [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/deel-has-finally-been-served-legal-papers-in-ripplings-lawsuit/

HR tech giant Deel says it has formally accepted to be served legal documents in its ongoing court battle with rival Rippling in Ireland. This ends weeks of suspense after Rippling's bailiffs couldn't find Deel's execs to serve them - only for Deel's CEO and top lawyer to turn up in Dubai. Deel CEO Alex [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/deel-officially-agrees/

A bug in OpenAI's ChatGPT allowed the chatbot to generate graphic erotica for accounts where a user registered as a minor, under the age of 18, TechCrunch's testing revealed, and OpenAI confirmed.ÿ In some cases, the chatbot even encouraged these users to ask for raunchier, more explicit content. OpenAI told TechCrunch its policies don't allow [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/openai-is-fixing-a-bug-that-allowed-minors-to-generate-erotic-conversations/

Chinese tech company Alibaba on Monday released Qwen3, a family of AI models the company claims matches and in some cases outperforms the best models available from Google and OpenAI. Most of the models are - or soon will be - available for download under an "open" license from AI dev platform Hugging Face and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/alibaba-unveils-qwen-3-a-family-of-hybrid-ai-reasoning-models/

Supporting super-early stage entrepreneurs in Europe seems to be suddenly in vogue. Back in March, "Project Europe" was launched to great fanfare by podcaster and VC Harry Stebbings with a small $10 million fund to back founders aged only 25 and under, riffing on the ‘Peter Thiel Fellowship' model of old. Now a new fund [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/are-ewor-fellowships-the-real-project-europe-is-looking-for/

In a bid to broaden its user base in India, Reddit has updated its machine translation feature to support the automatic translation of posts and comments into Hindi. "With this expansion, authentic, more people-powered content is now accessible in one of India's most spoken languages," the company wrote in an update to a blog post. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/reddit-now-supports-translation-of-posts-and-comments-into-hindi/

Blink and you'll miss it: a startup out of Finland is taking a new look at the market for prescription eyewear. Tapping into innovations in eye-tracking and liquid crystal lens technology, IXI is building low-power glasses that will invisibly, automatically adjust to account for Presbyopia (far-sightedness), for the wearer. Four years into its life, Hensinki-based [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/ixi-raises-36-5m-from-amazon-and-more-to-bring-the-concept-of-autofocus-to-prescription-glasses/

Supporting early-stage entrepreneurs seems to be suddenly in vogue in Europe. Back in March, podcaster and venture investor Harry Stebbings launched "Project Europe" to great fanfare, aiming to back founders aged 25 and under with a small $10 million fund - riffing on the ‘Peter Thiel Fellowship' model of yore. Now, a new fund hopes [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/are-ewor-fellowships-the-real-project-europe-is-looking-for/

Blink and you'll miss it: A startup out of Finland is taking a new look at the market for prescription eyewear. Tapping into innovations in eye-tracking and liquid crystal lens technology, IXI is building low-power glasses that will invisibly and automatically adjust to account for a wearer';s presbyopia (far-sightedness). Four years into its life, Helsinki-based [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/ixi-raises-36-5m-from-amazon-and-more-to-bring-the-concept-of-autofocus-to-prescription-glasses/

Chinese tech company Alibaba on Monday released Qwen3, a family of AI models that the company claims can match and, in some cases, outperform the best models available from Google and OpenAI. Most of the models are - or soon will be - available for download under an "open" license on AI dev platform Hugging [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/alibaba-unveils-qwen-3-a-family-of-hybrid-ai-reasoning-models/

Veterans of the European startup scene, who've launched multiple consumer apps in the past, are partly coming out of stealth Tuesday with a new app. On the face of it, Grouphug will simply generate memes from the archive of a group WhatsApp chat. However, that masks a wider play.  Grouphug is led by Felix Petersen, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/grouphug-is-a-stealth-mode-startup-that-plans-use-ai-inside-whatsapp-groups/

Storied Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is backing a fledgling U.K. startup that';s setting out to "redefine" how AI is used to match companies with talent. Dex, as the startup is called, targets candidates and companies with various AI-powered recruitment smarts, including matchmaking and coaching, with a view toward improving retention in the long [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/a16z-backs-uk-startup-dex-to-scale-ai-talent-agent-and-recruitment-matchmaker/

Governments like China and North Korea, along with spyware makers, used the most recorded zero-days in 2024.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/government-hackers-are-leading-the-use-of-attributed-zero-days-google-says/

Yelp said on Tuesday that it';s working on deploying AI-powered "voice agents" to help service providers and restaurants handle calls, answer basic questions, and accomplish tasks like adding a customer to a restaurant waitlist. Yelp says its agents don';t require a complicated setup or API integrations, and can draw from existing metadata along with data [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/yelp-is-adding-ai-powered-voice-agents-for-restaurants-and-services/

On Tuesday, Meta is hosting LlamaCon, its first-ever AI developer event. It';ll center around the company';s Llama family of open AI models, and we';re expecting some big updates for developers. Also on the agenda: keynotes from Meta executives and fireside chats with Big Tech CEOs and Meta';s chief, Mark Zuckerberg. Meta is hosting a small [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/heres-how-to-watch-llamacon-metas-first-ai-developer-event/

When it comes to creating images of the earth from above, satellites, drones and planes are the air and spacecraft that tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs is taking a very different approach to high-resolution photos from up high. It's building aircraft that are raised by helium balloons and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/near-space-labs-nabs-20m-to-take-its-high-res-imaging-swift-robots-into-the-stratosphere/

The startup's enzymes modify a cow's microbiome using enzymes, slashing methane while boosting the nutrients available to the cow. 

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/hoofprint-biome-boosts-cow-nutrition-while-slashing-methane-burps/

Amazon is bringing back its annual sales event, Prime Day, in July, the e-commerce giant said on Tuesday. This year, consumer demand for the popular sale event could be dampened by the possibility of tariffs increasing the cost of goods. To highlight the impact of President Trump';s tariffs, Amazon will reportedly begin to display the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/amazon-prime-day-to-return-in-july-despite-threat-of-tariffs/

The AI revolution isn't coming - it's already underway, and the time to grab your Early Bird ticket ends in just 6 days. Don't miss your chance to dive into the AI ecosystem and lock in the lowest rates. On June 5, TechCrunch Sessions: AI takes over UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall for a one-day gathering [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/6-days-left-to-secure-a-ticket-deal-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

Hungry to learn more about Anthropic, directly from Anthropic? You aren';t alone if so, which is why we';re so delighted to announce that Anthropic co-founder and Chief Science Officer Jared Kaplan is joining the main stage at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley';s Zellerbach Hall. Lean into this session exploring the frontier [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/anthropic-co-founder-jared-kaplan-is-coming-to-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

We're in the final stretch. TechCrunch Sessions: AI takes over Zellerbach Hall in almost a month, and the exhibit floor is almost completely booked. If you've been considering showing off your AI product or innovation, now's the time to commit. Exhibit tables are in short supply, and the May 9 deadline is fast approaching. At [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/the-deadline-to-book-your-exhibit-table-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai-is-may-9/

When it comes to creating images of the earth from above, satellites, drones, planes and spacecraft are what tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs is taking a very different approach to taking high-resolution photos from up high. Near Space Labs is building aircraft that are raised by helium balloons [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/near-space-labs-nabs-20m-to-take-its-high-res-imaging-swift-robots-into-the-stratosphere/

Spotify reported on Tuesday that its premium subscriber base grew by 5 million in the first quarter, representing a 12% increase year-over-year. This brings the total to 268 million, marking the second-highest total ever and the highest net addition of paid subs for a first quarter since 2020.ÿ Spotify also reported a record-high quarterly operating [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/spotify-adds-5m-premium-users-and-hits-record-operating-income/

The ruling, which has yet to take effect, was ordered under India's online blocking laws.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/indian-court-orders-blocking-of-proton-mail/

On Tuesday, Meta is hosting its first-ever LlamaCon AI developer conference at its Menlo Park headquarters, where the company will try to pitch developers on building applications with its open Llama AI models. Just a year ago, that wasn';t a hard sell. However, in recent months, Meta has struggled to keep up with both "open" [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-needs-to-win-over-ai-developers-at-its-first-llamacon/

After integrating Meta AI into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, Meta is rolling out a standalone AI app. Unveiled at Meta';s LlamaCon event on Tuesday, this app allows users to access Meta AI in a standalone app, similar to the ChatGPT app and other AI assistant apps. To win over users, Meta is trying to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-launches-a-standalone-ai-app-to-compete-with-chatgpt/

Google';s AI-based note-taking and research assistant NotebookLM is making its Audio Overviews feature available in 76 new languages, the company announced on Tuesday. Audio Overviews launched last year to give users the ability to generate a podcast with AI virtual hosts based on documents they have shared with NotebookLM, such as course readings or legal [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/googles-notebooklm-expands-its-ai-podcast-feature-to-more-languages/

Google announced on Tuesday that digital IDs are coming to more states and services in Google Wallet. The company also shared that Wallet is getting a way to privately verify age, and that the app is expanding to 50 more countries. Residents in Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia will soon be able to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-wallet-to-add-support-for-digital-ids-in-more-states/

Google on Tuesday is releasing three new AI experiments aimed at helping people learn to speak a new language in a more personalized way. While the experiments are still in the early stages, it';s possible that the company is looking to take on Duolingo with the help of Gemini, Google';s multimodal large language model. The [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-launches-ai-tools-for-practicing-languages-through-personalized-lessons/

After integrating Meta AI into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, Meta is rolling out a stand-alone AI app. Unveiled at Meta';s LlamaCon event on Tuesday, this app allows users to access Meta AI in an app, similar to the ChatGPT app and other AI assistant apps. To win over users, Meta is trying to leverage [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-launches-a-standalone-ai-app-to-compete-with-chatgpt/

Google announced on Tuesday that digital IDs are coming to more states and services in Google Wallet. The company also shared that Wallet is getting a way to privately verify age and that the app is expanding to 50 more countries. Residents in Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia will soon be able to [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-wallet-to-add-support-for-digital-ids-in-more-states/

At its inaugural LlamaCon AI developer conference on Tuesday, Meta announced an API for its Llama series of AI models: the Llama API. Available in limited preview, the Llama API lets developers explore and experiment with products powered by different Llama models, per Meta. Paired with Meta';s SDKs, it allows developers to build Llama-driven services, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-previews-an-api-for-its-llama-ai-models/

Tesla board member and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia acquired about 4,000 shares of the automaker';s stock, a purchase that has a value of about $1 million and change, according to a regulatory filing. That';s not a significant stock purchase, and certainly not for the billionaire board member, as Electrek noted in its reporting. It';s notable [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/a-tesla-board-member-actually-bought-some-stock/

Spotify reported on Tuesday that its premium subscriber base grew by 5 million in the first quarter, representing a 12% increase year-over-year. This brings the total to 268 million, marking the second-highest total ever and the highest net addition of paid subs for a first quarter since 2020.  Spotify also reported a record-high quarterly operating [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/spotify-adds-5m-premium-users-and-hits-record-operating-income/

The first 27 satellites in Amazon';s effort to create a space-based internet network have finally made it to orbit, paving the way for the company to attempt to compete with Elon Musk';s well-established Starlink service. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket lifted off late Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/amazons-first-27-internet-satellites-launch-to-space/

In mid-March, Meta said that its "open" AI model family, Llama, hit 1 billion downloads, up from 650 million downloads as of early December 2024. On Tuesday at its inaugural LlamaCon developer conference, Meta revealed that figure has reached 1.2 billion downloads. "We have thousands of developers contributing tens of thousands of derivative models being downloaded [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-says-its-llama-ai-models-have-been-downloaded-1-2b-times/

When it comes to creating images of Earth from above, satellites, drones, planes, and spacecraft are what tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs has a very different approach to taking high-resolution photos from up high. Near Space Labs is building aircraft, called Swift, that are raised by helium balloons [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/near-space-labs-nabs-20m-to-take-its-high-res-imaging-swift-robots-into-the-stratosphere/

CaaStle, the embattled fashion startup whose board of directors accused its founder, Christine Hunsicke, of financial misconduct, is starting to face lawsuits from a partner and a supplier over missed payments and more allegations of fraud. As first reported by Axios and by suits seen by TechCrunch, CaaStle is being sued by P180, a vehicle [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/troubled-startup-caastle-is-now-facing-two-new-lawsuits-and-more-allegations/

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday said that the company is "rolling back" the latest update to the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o, after complaints about strange behavior, in particular extreme sycophancy. "[W]e started rolling back the latest update to GPT-4o last night," Altman wrote in a post on X. "[I]t';s now 100% rolled back for [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-rolls-back-update-that-made-chatgpt-too-sycophant-y/

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Tuesday the company is "rolling back" the latest update to the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o, after complaints about strange behavior, in particular extreme sycophancy. "[W]e started rolling back the latest update to GPT-4o last night," Altman wrote in a post on X. "[I]t';s now 100% rolled back for free [ChatGPT] [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-rolls-back-update-that-made-chatgpt-too-sycophant-y/

Google Play';s app marketplace is losing apps. From the start of 2024 to present, the Android app marketplace went from hosting about 3.4 million apps worldwide to just around 1.8 million, according to a new analysis by app intelligence provider Appfigures. That';s a decline of about 47%, representing a significant purge of the apps that [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-play-sees-47-decline-in-apps-since-start-of-last-year/

Freepik, the online graphic design platform, unveiled a new "open" AI image model on Tuesday that the company says was trained exclusively on commercially licensed, "safe-for-work" images. The model, called F Lite, contains around 10 billion parameters - parameters being the internal components that make up the model. F Lite was developed in partnership with [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/freepik-releases-an-open-ai-image-generator-trained-on-licensed-data/

In mid-March, Meta said that its "open" AI model family, Llama,ÿhit 1 billion downloads, up from 650 million downloads as of early December 2024. On Tuesday at its inaugural LlamaCon developer conference, Meta revealed that figure has reached 1.2 billion downloads. "We have thousands of developers contributing tens of thousands of derivative models being downloaded [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-says-its-llama-ai-models-have-been-downloaded-1-2b-times/

As part of its Q1 2025 earnings release, Snap said it';s scrapping plans for a simplified version of its app. The news comes seven months after Snapchat began testing a redesigned version of the app without the Snap Map or Stories tabs. The new version consolidated the app';s navigation bar around three icons: chat, camera, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/snapchat-abandons-plans-for-a-simplified-version-of-its-app/

AI cheating startup Cluely went viral last week with bold claims that its hidden in-browser window is "undetectable" and can be used to "cheat on everything" from job interviews to exams. But some startups are claiming they can catch Cluely's users. And Cluely says it's ready to develop hardware products like smart glasses, or even [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/startups-launch-products-to-catch-people-using-ai-cheating-app-cluely/

CaaStle, the embattled fashion startup whose board of directors accused its founder, Christine Hunsicker, of financial misconduct, is starting to face lawsuits from a partner and a supplier over missed payments and more allegations of fraud. As first reported by Axios and by suits seen by TechCrunch, CaaStle is being sued by P180, a vehicle [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/troubled-startup-caastle-is-now-facing-two-new-lawsuits-and-more-allegations/

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Tuesday the company is "rolling back" the latest update to the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o, after complaints about strange behavior, in particularÿextremeÿsycophancy. "[W]e started rolling back the latest update to GPT-4o last night," Altman wrote in a post on X. "[I]t';s now 100% rolled back for free [ChatGPT] [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-rolls-back-update-that-made-chatgpt-too-sycophant-y/

Last month, Brett Adcock, founder of a robotics startup Figure AI, claimed in a post on X that his company "is now # 1 most sought-after private stock in the secondary market." But the company has sent cease-and-desist letters to at least two brokers who run secondary marketplaces, those brokers told TechCrunch.These people said Figure [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/figure-ai-sent-cease-and-desist-letters-to-secondary-markets-brokers/

Google Play';s app marketplace is losing apps. From the start of 2024 to the present, the Android app marketplace went from hosting about 3.4 million apps worldwide to just around 1.8 million, according to a new analysis by app intelligence provider Appfigures. That';s a decline of about 47%, representing a significant purge of the apps [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/google-play-sees-47-decline-in-apps-since-start-of-last-year/

Last month, Brett Adcock, founder of robotics startup Figure AI, claimed in a post on X that his company "is now # 1 most sought-after private stock in the secondary market." But the company has sent cease-and-desist letters to at least two brokers who run secondary marketplaces, those brokers told TechCrunch. These people said Figure [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/figure-ai-sent-cease-and-desist-letters-to-secondary-markets-brokers/

Waymo and Toyota have agreed to explore a possible deal that could one day lead to a new vehicle designed for ride-hailing and even bring self-driving tech into consumer cars. The two companies have signed a preliminary agreement to look into developing and deploying an autonomous vehicle platform, according to a blog posted by Waymo. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/waymo-and-toyota-are-dating-if-they-get-serious-a-new-autonomous-vehicle-could-be-created/

On Tuesday, Meta held its first-ever AI developer conference, LlamaCon, at its Menlo Park, California headquarters. The company announced the launch of a consumer-facing Meta AI chatbot app, which will compete with ChatGPT, as well as a developer-facing API for accessing Llama models in the cloud. Both releases aim to expand adoption of the company';s [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/metas-llamacon-was-all-about-undercutting-openai/

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that 20%-30% of code inside the company';s repositories was "written by software" - meaning AI - during a fireside chat with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Meta';s LlamaCon conference on Tuesday. Nadella gave the figure after Zuckerberg asked roughly how much of Microsoft';s code is AI-generated today. The Microsoft CEO [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/microsoft-ceo-says-up-to-30-of-the-companys-code-was-written-by-ai/

OpenAI has published a postmortem on the recent sycophancy issues with the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o - issues that forced the company to roll back an update to the model released last week. Over the weekend, following the GPT-4o model update, users on social media noted that ChatGPT began responding in an overly [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-explains-why-chatgpt-became-too-sycophant/

OpenAI has published a postmortem on the recent sycophancy issues with the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o - issues that forced the company to roll back an update to the model released last week. Over the weekend, following the GPT-4o model update, users on social media noted that ChatGPT began responding in an overly [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-explains-why-chatgpt-became-too-sycophantic/

Eight years after joining Benchmark as the firm';s first woman general partner, Sarah Tavel announced on X that she is transitioning to a more limited role at the storied venture firm. In her new position as a venture partner, Tavel will continue to make investments and serve on existing company boards, but she will have [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/sarah-tavel-benchmarks-first-woman-gp-transitions-to-venture-partner/

X is now allowing select creators to upload videos in 4K resolution, and will roll out the feature to all premium subscribers soon.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/x-is-rolling-out-support-for-4k-video-uploads/

Kintsugi, a Silicon Valley-based startup that helps companies offload and automate their sales tax compliance, has raised $18 million in new funding led by global indirect tax technology solution provider Vertex. The startup plans to enable more small and medium businesses to use its AI-enabled capabilities for tax calculations and filings. The ongoing growth of [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/ai-sales-tax-startup-kintsugi-had-doubled-its-valuation-in-6-months/

The crush of traffic going into training and running AI has quickly turned into a major cost and resource headache for organizations. Today, Cast AI, a startup building tools to ease and optimize workloads for AI and other tasks with automation, is raising a major round of funding on the back of strong growth and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/cast-ai-raises-108m-to-get-the-max-out-of-ai-kubernetes-and-other-workloads/

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has quietly updated Prover, its AI model that';s designed to solve math-related proofs and theorems. According to South China Morning Post, DeepSeek uploaded the latest version of Prover, V2, to AI dev platform, Hugging Face, late on Wednesday. It appears to be built on top of the startup';s V3 model, which [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/deepseek-upgrades-its-ai-model-for-math-problem-solving/

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has quietly updated Prover, its AI model that';s designed to solve math-related proofs and theorems. According to South China Morning Post, DeepSeek uploaded the latest version of Prover, V2, to AI dev platform Hugging Face late on Wednesday. It appears to be built on top of the startup';s V3 model, which [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/deepseek-upgrades-its-ai-model-for-math-problem-solving/

Supio, a startup that uses AI to automate data collection and analysis for legal teams, has raised $60 million in a funding round led by Sapphire Ventures with participation from Mayfield and Thomson Reuters Ventures. The new capital, which brings Supio';s total raised to $91 million, will be put toward growth, hiring, and go-to-market efforts, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/supio-an-ai-powered-legal-platform-lands-60m-in-fresh-capital/

Christoph Schell, Intel';s EVP and chief commercial officer, is leaving the company after two years in the role, according to a filing with the SEC. Schell notified Intel of his decision to leave on Monday, and will resign on June 30 "in order to pursue another career opportunity," per the filing. It isn';t clear who will replace [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/intels-chief-commercial-officer-and-sales-lead-christoph-schell-resigns/

The U.K. grocery and retail giant said the unspecified cyber incident is affecting its back office and call centers.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/uk-retail-giant-co-op-warns-of-disruption-as-it-battles-cyberattack/

You've got just 5 days to save up to $210 - plus 50% off your +1 - and get inside the minds of AI's biggest voices at TechCrunch Sessions: AI. Imagine hearing firsthand from Anthropic's Jared Kaplan, OpenAI's startup team, and top voices from firms like Khosla Ventures - all in one day. June 5 [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/5-days-left-210-ticket-discount-and-50-off-on-the-second-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

Nuvo, a company that has built a social-like platform to facilitate easier purchasing of physical goods between businesses, has raised a $34 million Series A from Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. The San Francisco-based startup previously raised $11 million in an undisclosed seed round led by Founders Fund and Index Ventures [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/nuvo-a-network-for-b2b-trade-has-nabbed-34m-from-a-whos-who-list-of-investors/

Wikipedia on Wednesday revealed its new AI strategy for the next three years - and it';s not replacing the Wikipedia community of editors and volunteers with artificial intelligence, thankfully. Instead, Wikipedia says it will use AI to build new features that "remove technical barriers," allowing editors, moderators, and patrollers tools that allow them to accomplish what they need [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/__trashed-4/

Did you miss your chance to apply for a Side Event at "TechCrunch Sessions: AI Week?" Don't worry - we've extended the deadline by three more days! You now have until May 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT to submit your proposal. This is your opportunity to connect with attendees of TC Sessions: AI and the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/side-event-submission-deadline-extended-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has quietly updated Prover, its AI model that';s designed to solve math-related proofs and theorems. According to South China Morning Post, DeepSeek uploaded the latest version of Prover, V2, and a distilled variant to AI dev platform Hugging Face late on Wednesday. It appears to be built on top of the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/deepseek-upgrades-its-ai-model-for-math-problem-solving/

Christoph Schell, Intel';s EVP and chief commercial officer, is leaving the company after two years in the role, according to a filing with the SEC. Schell notified Intel of his decision to leave on Monday, and will resign on June 30 "in order to pursueÿanotherÿcareer opportunity," per the filing. It isn';t clear who will replace [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/intels-chief-commercial-officer-and-sales-lead-christoph-schell-resigns/

TechCrunch All Stage is just around the corner - and you get to help shape the agenda.  From a competitive pool of applicants, two of the six visionary finalists are one step away from leading a roundtable session on July 15 at SoWa Power Station in Boston. Your vote determines who makes it. Audience Choice [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/cast-your-vote-help-shape-the-techcrunch-all-stage-agenda/

Duolingo is introducing 148 new language courses that were created with generative AI, the company announced on Wednesday. The launch comes as Duolingo has been facing backlash this week after sharing that it was going to replace contractors with AI and become an "AI-first" company. The company says the launch of the new courses doubles [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/duolingo-launches-148-courses-created-with-ai-after-sharing-plans-to-replace-contractors-with-ai/

There's an unspoken pressure nowadays to share all your special moments online, whether it be birthdays, graduations, or engagements.ÿ However, not everyone has the skills to take high-quality pictures, and often, people find themselves too distracted to snap the perfect shot. While hiring a professional photographer is an option, it may not always be feasible [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/social-agents-new-app-lets-you-book-a-photographer-within-30-minutes/

Anthropic agrees with the U.S. government that implementing robust export controls on domestically made AI chips will help the U.S. compete in the AI race against China. But the company is suggesting a few tweaks to the proposed restrictions. Anthropic released a blog post on Wednesday stating that the company "strongly supports" the U.S. Department [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/anthropic-suggests-tweaks-to-proposed-u-s-ai-chip-export-controls/

Since it launched nearly 20 years ago, Speedtest.net has been one of the most popular tools used to measure internet speeds. However, Doug Suttles, the founder and former CEO of Ookla, the network testing company behind Speedtest, felt that just measuring speed was not enough to tell people all they wanted to know about their [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/former-ookla-ceos-new-app-aims-to-measure-internet-reliablity-along-with-speed/

Did you miss your chance to apply for a Side Event at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Week? Don't worry - we've extended the deadline by three more days! You now have until May 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT to submit your proposal. This is your opportunity to connect with attendees of TC Sessions: AI and the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/side-event-submission-deadline-extended-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

TechCrunch All Stage is just around the corner - and you get to help shape the agenda.ÿ From a competitive pool of applicants, two of the six visionary finalists are one step away from leading a roundtable session on July 15 at SoWa Power Station in Boston. Your vote determines who makes it. Audience Choice [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/cast-your-vote-help-shape-the-techcrunch-all-stage-agenda/

There's an unspoken pressure nowadays to share all your special moments online, whether it be birthdays, graduations, or engagements.ÿ However, not everyone has the skills to take high-quality pictures, and people often find themselves too distracted to snap the perfect shot. While hiring a professional photographer is an option, it may not always be feasible [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/social-agents-new-app-lets-you-book-a-photographer-within-30-minutes/

JetBrains, the company behind a range of popular app development tools, has released its first "open" AI model for coding. On Wednesday, JetBrains made Mellum, a code-generating model the company released for its various software development suites last year, openly available on the AI dev platform Hugging Face. Mellum, trained on more than 4 trillion [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/jetbrains-releases-mellum-an-open-ai-coding-model/

Companies of all sizes are recognizing the game-changing possibilities of AI. Despite the excitement about the new technology, most of their pilot projects don';t make it into production. Gruve.ai, a startup founded by the team behind Rahi Systems aims to help enterprises get AI solutions out of testing phase and into real-world application by using [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/gruve-ai-promises-software-like-margins-for-ai-tech-consulting-disrupting-decades-old-industry/

You've got just 5 days to save up to $210 - plus 50% off your plus-one - and get inside the minds of AI's biggest voices at TechCrunch Sessions: AI. Imagine hearing firsthand from Anthropic's Jared Kaplan, OpenAI's startup team, and top voices from firms like Khosla Ventures - all in one day. June 5 [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/5-days-left-210-ticket-discount-and-50-off-on-the-second-for-techcrunch-sessions-ai/

Wikipedia on Wednesdayÿrevealedÿits new AI strategyÿfor the next three years - and it';s not replacing the Wikipedia community of editors and volunteers with artificial intelligence, thankfully. Instead, Wikipedia says it will use AI to build new features that "remove technical barriers," allowing editors, moderators, and patrollers tools that allow them to accomplish what they need [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/__trashed-4/

Two alleged victims came forward claiming they received a spyware notification from Apple.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/apple-notifies-new-victims-of-spyware-attacks-across-the-world/

Meta has updated the privacy policy for its AI glasses, Ray-Ban Meta, giving the tech giant more power over what data it can store and use to train its AI models. The company emailed Ray-Ban Meta owners on Tuesday with a notice that AI features will now be enabled on the glasses by default, according [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/if-you-own-ray-ban-meta-glasses-you-should-double-check-your-privacy-settings/

Christoph Schell, Intel';s EVP and chief commercial officer, is leaving the company after two years in the role, according to a filing with the SEC. Schell notified Intel of his decision to leave on Monday and will resign on June 30 "in order to pursue another career opportunity," per the filing. It isn';t clear who will replace [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/intels-chief-commercial-officer-and-sales-lead-christoph-schell-resigns/

Rivian built up a stockpile of batteries for its trucks, SUVs, and commercial vans before and after the election of Donald Trump, a strategy used to soften the blow of the president';s tariffs, according to Bloomberg News. The company apparently bought an undisclosed number of lithium iron phosphate batteries from Chinese firm Gotion before the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/rivians-reportedly-sitting-on-a-stockpile-of-tariff-free-batteries/

The nonprofit behind Wikipedia on Wednesday revealed its new AI strategy for the next three years - and it';s not replacing the Wikipedia community of editors and volunteers with artificial intelligence, thankfully. Instead, the Wikimedia Foundation says it will use AI to build new features that "remove technical barriers," allowing editors, moderators, and patrollers tools that allow them [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/wikipedia-says-it-will-use-ai-but-not-to-replace-human-volunteers/

Amazon wants companies to build public-facing chatbots using its Q Business assistant. On Wednesday, the company announced that Q Business, its AWS-hosted AI assistant that can answer questions, provide summaries, and complete tasks, now supports anonymous user access. This effectively means that AWS users can now create Q Business chatbots for websites, support portals, and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/amazon-updates-q-business-to-let-companies-build-public-facing-chatbots/

Pinterest says it';s finally going to do something about the AI slop that';s taken over its platform. After an increasing volume of complaints, the social networking and image pinboarding site announced Wednesday a plan to begin labeling AI-generated and AI-modified images. It will also introduce a new option that allows users to reduce the number [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/pinterest-launches-new-tools-to-fight-ai-slop/

Instagram Threads, Meta';s X competitor, has now grown to over 350 million monthly active users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during the company';s Q1 2025 earnings call on Wednesday. That';s an increase of 30 million users since the prior quarter, where Meta reported that Threads had 320 million users. The new figure represents increased growth, as [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/threads-tops-350m-monthly-users-after-adding-30m-in-the-quarter/

Artificial intelligence is not just infiltrating the startup world. Now, credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are getting into the AI game. Visa announced on Wednesday "Intelligent Commerce," which it says enables AI "to find and buy." AI agents will be able to shop and make purchases on behalf of consumers, based on preselected preferences. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/visa-and-mastercard-unveil-ai-powered-shopping/

Google';s Gemini chatbot app now lets you modify both AI-generated images and images uploaded from your phone or computer, Google announced in a blog post Wednesday. Native image editing in Gemini will start rolling out gradually today, expanding to more people in over 45 languages and most countries in the coming weeks. The launch follows [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/googles-gemini-chatbot-gets-upgraded-image-creation-tools/

A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2024.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/tech-layoffs-2025-list/

An executive cautioned during Microsoft';s earnings call on Wednesday that customers might face AI service disruptions as demand outstrips the company';s ability to bring data centers online. Microsoft';s EVP and CFO Amy Hood said during the company';s fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings call that the company may face AI capacity constraints as early as June. "We [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/microsoft-expects-some-ai-capacity-constraints-this-quarter/

Artificial intelligence is not just infiltrating the startup world. Now credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are getting into the AI game. Visa announced on Wednesday "Intelligent Commerce," which it says enables AI "to find and buy." AI agents will be able to shop and make purchases on behalf of consumers, based on preselected preferences. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/visa-and-mastercard-unveil-ai-powered-shopping/

A new paper from AI lab Cohere, Stanford, MIT, and Ai2 accuses LM Arena, the organization behind the popular crowdsourced AI benchmark Chatbot Arena, of helping a select group of AI companies achieve better leaderboard scores at the expense of rivals. According to the authors, LM Arena allowed some industry-leading AI companies like Meta, OpenAI, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/study-accuses-lm-arena-of-helping-top-ai-labs-game-its-benchmark/

Amazon on Wednesday released what the company claims is the most capable AI model in its Nova family, Nova Premier. Nova Premier, which can process text, images, and videos (but not audio), is available in Amazon Bedrock, the company';s AI model development platform. Amazon says that Premier excels at "complex tasks" that "require deep understanding [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/amazon-launches-nova-premier-its-largest-ai-model-yet/

Epic Games notched a win in an ongoing legal dispute with Apple. The result could be Fortnite returning to the U.S. iOS app store as early as next week. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in a ruling Wednesday that Apple was in "willful violation" of a 2021 injunction that prohibited the company from anticompetitive pricing. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/epic-games-just-scored-a-win-against-apple/

Meta made a prediction last year its generative AI products will rake in $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue this year, and between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion by 2035, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. The documents, submitted by attorneys for book authors suing Meta for what they claim is unauthorized training of [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/meta-forecasted-it-would-make-1-4t-in-revenue-from-generative-ai-by-2035/

Meta made a prediction last year its generative AI products would rake in $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue in 2025, and between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion by 2035, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. The documents, submitted by attorneys for book authors suing Meta for what they claim is unauthorized training of [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/meta-forecasted-it-would-make-1-4t-in-revenue-from-generative-ai-by-2035/

World, the biometric ID company best known for its eyeball-scanning Orb devices, on Wednesday announced several partnerships aimed at driving sign-ups and demonstrating the applications of its tech. World is partnering with Match Group, the dating app conglomerate, to verify the identities of Tinder users in Japan using World';s identity verification system. Additionally, World has [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/world-partners-with-tinder-visa-to-bring-its-id-verifying-tech-to-more-places/

Tools for Humanity, the startup behind the World human verification project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, unveiled Wednesday a mobile device designed to help people determine the difference between a human and an AI agent. The company, which debuted the device during its "At Last" event in San Francisco, also announced plans to open [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/sam-altmans-world-unveils-a-mobile-verification-device/

Tools for Humanity, the startup behind the World human verification project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, unveiled Wednesday a mobile device designed to help people determine the difference between a human and an AI agent. Rich Heley, Tools for Humanity';s Chief Device Officer and a former Apple director, debuted the Orb Mini device during [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/sam-altmans-world-unveils-a-mobile-verification-device/

Microsoft launched several new "open" AI models on Wednesday, the most capable of which is competitive with OpenAI';s o3-mini on at least one benchmark. All of the new pemissively licensed models - Phi 4 mini reasoning, Phi 4 reasoning, and Phi 4 reasoning plus - are "reasoning" models, meaning they';re able to spend more time [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/microsofts-most-capable-new-phi-4-ai-model-rivals-the-performance-of-far-larger-systems/

Apple has changed its App Store rules in the U.S. to let apps link users to their own websites so they can buy subscriptions or other digital goods. This change comes after a U.S. court ruled in favor of Epic Games in a case against the iPhone maker, ordering the latter not to prohibit apps [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/apple-changes-us-app-store-rules-to-let-apps-redirect-users-to-their-own-websites-for-payments/

Airbnb started rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot in the U.S. last month, CEO Brian Chesky said during the firm';s first-quarter conference call on Thursday. Chesky said 50% of Airbnb';s U.S. users are already using the AI bot for customer service, adding that the company plans to roll out the feature to all its [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/airbnb-is-quietly-rolling-out-an-ai-customer-service-bot-in-the-us/

Spotify said on Friday thatÿApple has approved its U.S. app update that will allow users to access pricing information and external payment links. The approval comes days after a U.S. judge ordered Apple to stop charging commissions on purchases through iPhone apps. "In a victory for consumers, artists, creators, and authors, Apple has approved Spotify's [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/apple-approves-spotify-app-update-that-allows-u-s-users-to-access-pricing-info-external-payment-links/

Google';s NotebookLM Android and iOS apps are expected to launch on May 20, according to app store listings. The apps are currently available for preorder. Since its launch in 2023, the AI-based note-taking and research assistant has only been accessible via desktop. Google is now gearing up to make the service available on the go. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/googles-notebooklm-android-and-ios-apps-are-available-for-pre-order/

OpenAI says it';ll make changes to the way it updates the AI models that power ChatGPT, following an incident that caused the platform to become overly sycophantic for many users. Last weekend, after OpenAI rolled out a tweakedÿGPT-4o - the default model powering ChatGPT - users on social media noted that ChatGPT began responding in [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/openai-pledges-to-make-changes-to-prevent-future-chatgpt-sycophancy/

Ara Partners recently raised an $800 million infrastructure fund focused on reducing carbon emissions in industrial sectors.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/ara-partners-new-800m-fund-will-decarbonize-old-industrial-assets/

Welcome to Startups Weekly - your weekly recap of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week was low on M&A and IPO news, but there was still some drama to follow, if that';s your thing - and more importantly, some worthy [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/startups-weekly-drama-or-game-changer-you-decide/

The app claims it uses end-to-end encryption, but spilled its users' dating preferences and granular location data to the open web.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/dating-app-raw-exposed-users-location-data-personal-information/

Uber announced Friday yet another autonomous vehicle partnership as it leverages its dominant ride-hail and delivery position while relying on partners to supply the self-driving tech it isn';t building in-house. Today, the lucky startup is Chinese self-driving firm Momenta. The tie-up comes a day after Uber added Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility to its roster [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/ubers-latest-autonomous-vehicle-partner-chinese-startup-momenta/

Apple and Anthropic are teaming up to build a "vibe-coding" software platform that will use generative AI to write, edit, and test code for programmers, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The iPhone maker is planning to roll out the software internally, according to Bloomberg, but hasn';t decided if it will launch it publicly. The system is [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/apple-and-anthropic-reportedly-partner-to-build-an-ai-coding-platform/

A recently released Google AI model scores worse on certain safety tests than its predecessor, according to the company';s internal benchmarking. In a technical report published this week, Google reveals that its Gemini 2.5 Flash model is more likely to generate text that violates its safety guidelines than Gemini 2.0 Flash. On two metrics, "text-to-text [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/one-of-googles-recent-gemini-ai-models-scores-worse-on-safety/

Next week, Google will begin allowing kids under 13 who have parent-managed Google accounts to use its Gemini chatbot, according to The New York Times. The Times reports that Gemini will be available to kids whose parents use Family Link, a Google service that enables families to opt into various Google services for their child. A Google [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/google-will-soon-start-letting-kids-under-13-use-its-gemini-chatbot/

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility - your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free - just click TechCrunch Mobility! Your usual host Kirsten has passed the reins to me, Rebecca Bellan, for the day, and I want to talk about Aurora Innovation and its last-minute save.ÿ [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/techcrunch-mobility-aurora-launches-its-driverless-commercial-trucking-service-and-a-surprise-bidder-joins-canoos-bankruptcy-case/

Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says AI companies are trying too hard to "juice engagement" by pestering their users with follow-up questions, instead of providing actually useful insights. Systrom said the tactics represent "a force that's hurting us," comparing them to those used by social media companies to expand aggressively.ÿ "You can see some of these [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/02/ai-chatbots-are-juicing-engagement-instead-of-being-useful-instagram-co-founder-warns/

Riot's "anti-cheat artisan" Phillip Koskinas explains how he and his team go after cheaters and cheat developers to protect the integrity of games, such as Valorant and League of Legends.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/how-riot-games-is-fighting-the-war-against-video-game-hackers/

Like virtually every sector in the business world, the secondhand industry is grappling with the ramifications of President Donald Trump';s tariffs.ÿ However, based on the comments made by eBay and Etsy earlier this week, both don';t appear to be overly concerned.ÿ The companies recently reported Q1 2025 earnings results, both addressing the pressing topic of [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/ebay-and-etsy-are-relatively-confident-despite-tariff-pressures/

Google's most expensive AI model seems to have crossed a major milestone: Beating a 29-year-old video game. Last night, Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted triumphantly on X, "What a finish! Gemini 2.5 Pro just completed Pokémon Blue!" To be clear, the Gemini Plays Pokemon livestream was created by (in his own words) "a 30 year [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/googles-gemini-has-beaten-pokemon-blue-with-a-little-help/

Welcome back to Week in Review! We';ve got lots of news for you today: Amazon earnings, Apple earnings, ChatGPT sycophancy, Alibaba';s AI models, and much more. Let';s get to it! Well? During Apple';s earnings call yesterday, Tim Cook revealed that the company paid $900 million in tariffs last quarter. But despite this, the CEO didn';t [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/week-in-review-apple-wont-raise-prices-yet/

Legendary investor Warren Buffett announced today that he will ask the Berkshire Hathaway board to have Greg Abel replace him as CEO at the end of 2025. "I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end," Buffett said at the end of the company's [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/warren-buffett-will-step-down-as-berkshire-hathaway-ceo/

Chinese retailer Temu has shifted strategy in the face of U.S. tariffs. Through executive order, President Donald Trump has ended the so-called de minimis rule, which allowed goods worth $800 or less to enter the country without tariffs. He';s also increasing tariffs on Chinese goods by more than 100%, forcing both Chinese companies like Shein [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/temu-stops-shipping-products-from-china-to-the-u-s/

Spotify generates the vast bulk of its income from ads and subscriptions, but for the past few years the music-streaming giant has also been quietly building out a developer tooling business. Backstage, a project it open-sourced in 2020, has been adopted by more than 2 million developers across 3,400 organizations, including Airbnb, LinkedIn, Twilio, and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/backstage-access-spotifys-dev-tools-side-hustle-is-growing-legs/

While many tech companies are mandating that their employees return to their offices, and putting an emphasis on building in-person teams, they are also turning in droves to Latin America to find developer talent - especially for post-training AI models. Revelo, a full-stack platform of vetted developers in Latin America, is seeing a new surge in [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/revelos-latam-talent-network-sees-strong-demand-from-us-companies-thanks-to-ai/

Elon Musk's SpaceX is getting its own official company town. Residents of an area around SpaceX's Starbase launch site in southern Texas voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to incorporate as a city - also named Starbase. According to results posted online by the Cameron County Elections Department, there were 212 votes in favor and only six [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/residents-of-spacexs-starbase-launch-site-vote-to-incorporate-as-a-city/

President Donald Trump has already delayed a TikTok ban twice, and he said Sunday that he's willing to do it again. Axios reports that during an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said that if a deal isn't made to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to American owners before the current June 19 deadline, he [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/trump-says-hes-willing-to-delay-tiktok-ban-again/

Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and become an "AI-first" company - a move that journalist Brian Merchant pointed to as a sign that the AI jobs crisis "is here, now." In fact, Merchant spoke to a former Duolingo contractor who said this isn't even a new policy. The company cut [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/is-duolingo-the-face-of-an-ai-jobs-crisis/

While most African digital lenders depend on working capital to fuel growth, MoneyFellows has quietly done what few others have: lend billions of Egyptian pounds with almost no debt or balance sheet exposure. Now, after raising $13 million in a pre-Series C round led by Casablanca-based Al Mada Ventures and DPI's Nclude Fund, the Cairo-based [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/moneyfellows-raises-13m-to-take-its-group-savings-model-outside-egypt/

Anysphere, the maker of AI-powered coding tool Cursor, has attracted $900 million in a fresh round of funding led by Thrive Capital, The Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Accel are also participating in the round, which values Anysphere at about $9 billion, the report said. Cursor [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/04/cursor-is-reportedly-raising-funds-at-9-billion-valuation-from-thrive-a16z-and-accel/

Apple is planning to split the launch of its iPhone 18 range, expected in 2026, by about half a year, The Information reported, citing supply chain sources. The company is planning to release the Pro versions of the iPhone 18 in fall 2026, and push the release of the less expensive iPhone 18, along with [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-plans-to-split-iphone-18-launch-into-two-phases-in-2026/

A hacker has exploited a vulnerability in TeleMessage, which provides modded versions of encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, to extract archived messages and other data relating to U.S. government officials and companies who used the tool, 404 Media reported. TeleMessage came into the spotlight last week after it was reported that [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/telemessage-a-modified-signal-clone-used-by-us-govt-officials-has-been-hacked/

A hacker has exploited a vulnerability in TeleMessage, which provides modded versions of encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, to extract archived messages and other data relating to U.S. government officials and companies who used the tool, 404 Media reported. TeleMessage came into the spotlight last week after it was reported that [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/telemessage-a-modified-signal-clone-used-by-us-govt-officials-has-been-hacked/

After 23 years of connecting people around the world, Skype, the popular video-calling service, is shutting down on Monday. Microsoft, the parent company, confirmed that the official sunset date for the service is today, May 5, 2025. Skype users can either migrate all their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams, or they can choose [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/skype-shuts-down-in-may-these-are-the-best-alternatives/

Datadog is on an acquisition spree. Just a few weeks after snatching up Metaplane, an AI-powered observability startup, the cloud monitoring and security company has acquired Eppo, a feature flagging and experimentation platform. Eppo will continue supporting existing customers and bringing on new ones under the brand "Eppo by Datadog." Terms of the deal weren';t disclosed, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/datadog-acquires-eppo-a-feature-flagging-and-experimentation-platform/

Tesla';s new car sales in Spain fell 36% in April to just 571 vehicles year-over-year, Reuters reports. That slump comes as sales of electric cars made by other brands rose in the Iberian country. Tesla sales in Spain mirror those in Europe generally, which plunged in the first four months of the year by 37.2%, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/tesla-sales-continue-to-slump-across-europe-despite-april-ev-sales-swell/

Pinterest is upgrading its visual search feature with a handful of new capabilities. On Monday, the company announced it';s rolling out new functionality to improve its feature that allows users to search using an image instead of text. This includes new tools to more precisely narrow and refine searches, as well as those that make [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/pinterest-updates-visual-search-with-more-ai-powered-features/

Datadog is on an acquisition spree. Just a few weeks after snatching up Metaplane, an AI-powered observability startup, the cloud monitoring and security companyÿhas acquired Eppo, a feature flagging and experimentation platform. Eppo will continue supporting existing customers and bringing on new ones under the brand "Eppo by Datadog." Terms of the deal weren';t disclosed, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/datadog-acquires-eppo-a-feature-flagging-and-experimentation-platform/

After 23 years of connecting people around the world, Skype, the popular video-calling service, is shutting down on Monday. Microsoft, the parent company, confirmed that the official sunset date for the service is today, May 5, 2025. Skype users can either migrate all their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams, or they can choose [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/skype-is-shutting-down-today-these-are-the-best-alternatives/

Every year, donors contribute billions of dollars to charities, yet the donation process still feels outdated and cumbersome. Founders Dan Eblagon and Ron Levy believe there is an easier way to donate, leading to the creation of Bono, a platform designed to facilitate a more modern and streamlined approach to giving.  The platform (named after [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/a-new-startup-called-bono-aims-to-modernize-the-way-people-donate-to-charities/

Rork founders Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan are living a life that sounds like a plot for a movie. But it really happened.  They went from broke, life savings spent, and in debt $15,000 apiece on credit cards - Kvirkvelia was even sleeping on a mattress at a friend's apartment - to $100,000 of revenue [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/rorks-founders-were-almost-broke-when-a-viral-tweet-led-to-2-8m-and-a16z/

After more than two decades, Skype is shutting down. The once-monolithic video calling platform wasn';t able to keep pace with competitors like Zoom and FaceTime, so its parent company, Microsoft, is rolling the product into Microsoft Teams. In this video, we';re sending off the iconic platform and some other legendary apps.

https://techcrunch.com/video/skype-shuts-down-after-23-years/

A hacker has exploited a vulnerability in TeleMessage, which provides modded versions of encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, to extract archived messages and other data relating to U.S. government officials and companies who used the tool, 404 Media reported. TeleMessage came into the spotlight last week after it was reported that [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/telemessage-a-modified-signal-clone-used-by-us-government-officials-has-been-hacked/

After 23 years of connecting people around the world, Skype, the popular video-calling service, is shutting down. Microsoft, the parent company, confirmed that the official sunset date for the service is Monday, May 5, 2025. Skype users can either migrate all their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams, or they can choose to download [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/skype-is-shutting-down-today-these-are-the-best-alternatives/

Rork founders Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan are living a life that sounds like a plot for a movie. But it really happened.ÿ They went from broke, life savings spent, and in debt $15,000 apiece on credit cards - Dhawan was even sleeping on a mattress at a friend's apartment - to $100,000 of revenue [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/rorks-founders-were-almost-broke-when-a-viral-tweet-led-to-2-8m-and-a16z/

As promised, Apple has now filed its appeal to the recent court ruling that required it to open up its App Store to external payment mechanisms. Last week, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers took the tech giant to task for defying the court';s orders in its battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games by not freely allowing [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-appeals-decision-that-forced-it-to-allow-links-to-external-payments-in-apps/

Anthropic is launching an AI for Science program to support researchers working on "high-impact" scientific projects, with a focus on biology and life sciences applications. The program, announced Monday, will offer up to $20,000 in Anthropic API credits over a six-month period to "qualified" researchers who';ll be selected based on their "contributions to science,ÿthe potential [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/anthropic-launches-a-program-to-support-scientific-research/

Google is reportedly spinning up a film and TV production project called 100 Zeroes. According to a report from Business Insider, this initiative is intended to make young audiences feel more positively about Google';s products, as well as tech at large. Like Apple';s TV shows, where actors will use MacBooks and iPhones with clearly visible [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/google-is-making-tv-and-movies-to-convince-you-that-tech-is-not-evil/

Apple is planning to split the launch of the iPhone 18, expected in 2026, by about half a year, The Information reported, citing supply chain sources. The company is planning to release the Pro versions of the iPhone 18 in fall 2026 and push the release of the less expensive iPhone 18, along with a [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-plans-to-split-iphone-18-launch-into-two-phases-in-2026/

Rork founders Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan are living a life that sounds like a movie plot - but it actually happened.  They went from broke, with depleted life savings and $15,000 in credit card debt - Dhawan was even sleeping on a mattress at a friend's apartment - to generating $100,000 of revenue within [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/rorks-founders-were-almost-broke-when-a-viral-tweet-led-to-2-8m-and-a16z/

As promised, Apple has now filed its appeal to the recent court ruling that required it to open up its App Store to external payment mechanisms. Last week, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers took the tech giant to task for defying the court';s orders in its battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games by not freely allowing [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-appeals-court-decision-that-forced-it-to-allow-links-to-external-payments-in-apps/

More than 250 CEOs signed an open letter published in The New York Times on Monday calling for AI and computer science to be "core components" of K-12 curricula. The signatories, which include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, argue that computer science and AI education are essential [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/over-250-ceos-sign-open-letter-supporting-k-12-ai-and-computer-science-education/

OpenAI has decided that its nonprofit division will retain control over its for-profit org, after the company initially announced that it planned to convert to a for-profit organization. According to the company, OpenAI';s business wing, which has been under the nonprofit since 2019, will transition to a public benefit corporation (PBC). The nonprofit will control [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/openai-reverses-course-says-its-nonprofit-will-remain-in-control-of-its-business-operations/

Rork founders Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan are living a life that sounds like a movie plot - but it actually happened.ÿ They went from broke, with depleted life savings and $15,000 in credit card debt - Dhawan was even sleeping on a mattress at a friend's apartment - to generating $100,000 of revenue within [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/rorks-founders-were-almost-broke-when-a-viral-tweet-led-to-2-8m-and-a16z/

As promised, Apple has now filed its appeal to the recent court ruling that required it to open its App Store to external payment mechanisms. Last week, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers took the tech giant to task for defying the court';s orders in its battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games by not freely allowing apps [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-appeals-court-decision-that-forced-it-to-allow-links-to-external-payments-in-apps/

OpenAI has decided that its nonprofit division will retain control over its for-profit organization, after the company initially announced that it planned to convert to a for-profit organization. According to the company, OpenAI';s business wing, which has been under the nonprofit since 2019, will transition to a public benefit corporation (PBC). The nonprofit will control [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/openai-reverses-course-says-its-nonprofit-will-remain-in-control-of-its-business-operations/

Hasan Sukkar, the founder of AI startup 11x, is stepping down from his role as CEO, Sukkar announced on LinkedIn this morning. Prabhav Jain, 11x's CTO, has been named the company's new CEO.ÿ Sukkar will move into a "non-executive chairman" position, where he will work with Jain on "strategic direction, product vision, industry relationships, and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/11x-ceo-hasan-sukkar-steps-down/

Hackers claiming to be part of the hacktivist group Anonymous claimed the data breach.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/globalx-airline-used-for-trump-deportations-gets-hacked-report/

YouTube is testing a new two-person Premium subscription plan in select countries, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The tier is being piloted in India, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The news was first reported by Money Control. "We';re experimenting with new ways to provide greater flexibility and value to our YouTube Premium subscribers, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/youtube-is-testing-a-discounted-two-person-premium-subscription-tier/

Datadog is on an acquisition spree. Just a few weeks after snatching up Metaplane, an AI-powered observability startup, the cloud monitoring and security company has acquired Eppo, a feature-flagging and experimentation platform. Eppo will continue supporting existing customers and bringing on new ones under the brand "Eppo by Datadog." Terms of the deal weren';t disclosed, but [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/datadog-acquires-eppo-a-feature-flagging-and-experimentation-platform/

Google is reportedly spinning up a film and TV project called 100 Zeroes. According to a report from Business Insider, this initiative is intended to make young audiences feel more positively about Google';s products, as well as tech at large. The report also states that Google is not intending to share these projects via YouTube, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/google-is-making-tv-and-movies-to-convince-you-that-tech-is-not-evil/

A hacker has exploited a vulnerability in TeleMessage, which provides modded versions of encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, to extract archived messages and other data relating to U.S. government officials and companies who used the tool, 404 Media reported. TeleMessage came into the spotlight last week after it was reported that [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/telemessage-a-modified-signal-clone-used-by-us-government-officials-has-been-hacked/

Elon Musk has long been credited with turning Tesla into a beacon of innovation, the visionary who pushed the world into an era of electrification. But his slide into politics - specifically his alignment with President Trump and activities within the federal government - has dragged Tesla into uncertainty.ÿ For many would-be Tesla buyers, the [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/elon-musk-took-a-chainsaw-to-the-us-government-tesla-is-taking-the-hit/

CEO Greg Twiney posted an open letter on the company's website today pleading for money.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/layoffs-hit-general-fusion-as-the-fusion-power-startup-runs-short-on-cash/

Mistral AI, the French company behind AI assistant Le Chat and several foundational models, is officially regarded as one of France's most promising tech startups and is arguably the only European company that could compete with OpenAI. But compared to its $6 billion valuation, its global market share is still relatively low.ÿ However, the recent [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/what-is-mistral-ai-everything-to-know-about-the-openai-competitor/

Hasan Sukkar, the founder of AI startup 11x, is stepping down from his role as CEO, Sukkar announced on LinkedIn this morning. Prabhav Jain, 11x's CTO, has been named the company's new CEO.  Sukkar will move into a "non-executive chairman" position, where he will work with Jain on "strategic direction, product vision, industry relationships, and [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/11x-ceo-hasan-sukkar-steps-down/

Anduril announced its ninth acquisition on Monday with the purchase of Dublin's Klas, makers of ruggedized edge computing equipment for the military and first-responders. Anduril wouldn't reveal financial details of the deal, and the purchase is subject to regulatory approval, but the company did say that Klas employs 150 people.ÿ Relatedly, on Monday, Anduril also [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/anduril-is-working-on-the-difficult-ai-related-task-of-real-time-edge-computing/

Not so long ago, the idea of public tech companies emerging from Latin America seemed far-fetched, and Mercado Libre once appeared as rare and mythical as a true unicorn. Today, however, the region is home to several startups that have reached billion-dollar valuations. Some of these startups, propelled into the spotlight by cross-border expansion, are [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/here-are-latin-americas-biggest-startups-based-on-valuation/

Quantum computing has long been announced as "just around the corner," but several companies are now determined to make this a commercial reality, with the promise of solving complex problems beyond classical computers' reach. The problems in question are wide-ranging, from medicine and cybersecurity to materials science and chemistry. But first, there are very practical [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/meet-the-companies-racing-to-build-quantum-chips/

Google will unveil a new version of its Android design language at its upcoming Google I/O developer conference, according to an event schedule posted to its website as well as an accidentally published Google blog post. The I/O session title hints at significant changes in store for Android';s design system, which will evolve from "Material [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/google-accidentally-reveals-details-about-its-new-android-design-language-material-3-expressive/

Recraft, the startup behind a mysterious image model that beat OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney on a respected industry benchmark last year, has raised a $30 million Series B round led by Accel, it exclusively told TechCrunch.ÿ Other investors in the round include Khosla Ventures and Madrona. Based in San Francisco, Recraft previously raised a $12 [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/a-stealth-ai-model-beat-dall-e-and-midjourney-on-a-popular-benchmark-its-creator-just-landed-30m/

With long waiting lists and rising costs in overburdened healthcare systems, many people are turning to AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT for medical self-diagnosis. About 1 in 6 American adults already use chatbots for health advice at least monthly, according to one recent survey. But placing too much trust in chatbots'; outputs can be risky, in [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/people-struggle-to-get-useful-health-advice-from-chatbots-study-finds/

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday released new documentation detailing its new "Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees." The rule, set to take effect on May 12, prohibits hidden fees for live events, hotels, and short-term rentals. It also bans practices such as "bait-and-switch pricing" and any actions that conceal or misrepresent total prices [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/ftc-bans-hidden-fees-for-live-events-and-short-term-rentals-effective-may-12/

Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide plan to expand a commercial robotaxi partnership and bring the service to another 15 cities over the next five years. The expansion comes five months after the two companies launched a commercialÿrobotaxi service in Abu Dhabi.ÿ The companies said the expansion will include cities in Europe. Under [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/uber-and-weride-set-their-robotaxi-sights-on-15-more-cities/

Anduril announced its ninth acquisition on Monday with the purchase of Dublin's Klas, makers of ruggedized edge computing equipment for the military and first responders. Anduril wouldn't reveal financial details of the deal, and the purchase is subject to regulatory approval, but the company did say that Klas employs 150 people.ÿ Relatedly, on Monday, Anduril [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/anduril-is-working-on-the-difficult-ai-related-task-of-real-time-edge-computing/

Google will unveil a new version of its Android design language at its upcoming Google I/O developer conference, according to an event schedule posted to its website, as well as an accidentally published Google blog post. The I/O session title hints at significant changes in store for Android';s design system, which will evolve from "Material [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/google-accidentally-reveals-details-about-its-new-android-design-language-material-3-expressive/

With long waiting lists and rising costs in overburdened healthcare systems, many people are turning to AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT for medical self-diagnosis. About one in six American adults already use chatbots for health advice at least monthly, according to one recent survey. But placing too much trust in chatbots'; outputs can be risky, in [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/people-struggle-to-get-useful-health-advice-from-chatbots-study-finds/

Waymo has played coy for years about exactly how many Jaguar I-Pace EVs are in its autonomous fleet - a figure that covers vehicles used in testing and commercial robotaxi operations. On Monday, the Alphabet company finally provided a peek at the commercial side of the fleet. Waymo said Monday, as part of a larger [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/waymo-ramps-up-robotaxi-production-at-new-arizona-factory/

Employer.com has acquired MainStreet.com for an undisclosed amount, the latest fintech startup to get snapped up by the workforce management company. In a post on X, Employer.com Chairman and co-founder Jesse Tinsley said the two companies were "merging forces to simplify business back office solutions into one powerhouse platform." Tinsley confirmed the acquisition to TechCrunch. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/employer-com-scoops-up-another-fintech-in-purchase-of-mainstreet-com/

Elon Musk may have a sizable fan base, but residents of the upscale Austin suburb of West Lake Hills, Texas, are unimpressed by their celebrity neighbor, reports the New York Times. Instead, a $6 million home Musk purchased in 2022 has become the center of a battle after his team erected an unauthorized 16-foot chain-link [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/musk-clashes-with-neighbors-in-exclusive-austin-suburb/

DoorDash said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy its U.K. rival Deliveroo for about £2.9 billion (around $3.85 billion).

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/doordash-to-buy-uks-deliveroo-for-3-86b/

It';s 2025, but business cards are still in vogue - just visit any conference or industry expo and you';ll end up with a pile that';s likely to be discarded sooner than later. But as smartphones have become our repositories of information and contacts, people are understandably keen to try out digital alternatives to business cards. [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/blinq-grabs-25m-series-a-for-its-digital-business-card-platform/

The U.S. Department of Justice is proposing that Google sell two of its advertising products to restore competition in the ad tech space, according to a new filing. The proposal comes after a judge found Google guilty of "willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power" in the digital ad space last month. The DOJ';s filing notes [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/us-doj-wants-google-to-sell-two-of-its-ad-products/

The autonomous navigation market - where ships, guided by AI, steer themselves, resulting in fuel and time savings - is projected to sail past $11 billion by 2028. As a result, companies in this space are pushing on an open door. The latest is Orca AI, which closed a Series B funding round of $72.5 million [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/boosted-by-defense-and-starlink-orca-ai-pulls-in-72-5m-for-its-autonomous-shipping-platform/

YouTube continues to dominate the podcasting space, but Spotify is actively working to close the gap. The latest development: a new feature that lets users see how many times an audio-only or video podcast episode has been actively listened to or watched. The streaming giant revealed its new podcast metric called "plays" on Tuesday, making [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/spotify-now-shows-how-many-times-people-listened-to-podcast-episodes/

In 2017, Raghav Gupta set out to solve a personal problem: he wanted easy access to the home-cooked meals he grew up eating without having to spend time cooking or spend money on takeout or hiring a private chef. He turned to robotics, which led him to found the startup Posha. Posha, a former TechCrunch [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/meet-posha-a-countertop-robot-that-cooks-your-meals-for-you/

Instacart has launched a new drinks and snack delivery app called Fizz, the company announced on Tuesday. The 21+ app is built for friends and family and is designed to make it easier to stock up for a party or get-together. The host of a party can invite guests into their Fizz cart to allow [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/instacart-launches-fizz-a-new-app-for-ordering-drinks-and-snacks-for-parties/

Individuals may work closely with AI agents as they become increasingly prevalent in the workplace. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, the market for AI agents is expected to grow at a 45% compound annual growth rate over the next five years. Just like human employees, AI agents could be onboarded to learn [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/relevance-ai-raises-24m-series-b-to-help-anyone-build-teams-of-ai-agents/

DoorDash said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy its U.K. rival Deliveroo for $3.85B, and CRM software startup SevenRooms for $1.2B.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/doordash-to-buy-uks-deliveroo-for-3-86b/

Agree.com says its AI-powered e-signature platform is different from competitors because it includes invoicing and payment processing. That's why the company might have a shot at tackling the industry goliath, Docusign.  Because the startup makes its money from transaction fees for any money movement facilitated by its platform, Agree.com has made e-signatures free to all [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/agree-com-raises-7-2m-to-take-on-docusign-bill-com-with-ai/

Cnaught is a market maker seeking to ease the pain of buying carbon credits for companies without dedicated teams.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/cnaught-wants-to-make-carbon-credits-easy-for-businesses-small-and-large/

Nearly three years after unveiling the concept version of its flagship Celestiq EV, Cadillac has finally released the real thing: a $300,000 electric vehicle that oozes luxury and a come-gawk-at-me exterior designed to lure in passersby. But is this bespoke EV enough for Cadillac to regain its position as the "Standard of the World?" I [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/can-the-celestiq-ev-make-cadillac-great-again-dont-rule-it-out/

Uber is expanding its presence in Turkey with its latest acquisition.  The ride-hail and delivery giant has acquired an 85% controlling stake in Trendyol Go, the online meal and grocery delivery business based in Istanbul, for about $700 million in cash. The deal gives Uber instant market share for Uber Eats in the country, where [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/uber-eats-comes-to-turkey-via-700m-trendyol-go-acquisition/

Nearly three years after unveiling the concept version of its flagship Celestiq EV, Cadillac has finally released the real thing: a $360,000 electric vehicle that oozes luxury and a come-gawk-at-me exterior designed to lure in passersby. But is this bespoke EV enough for Cadillac to regain its position as the "Standard of the World?" I [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/can-the-celestiq-ev-make-cadillac-great-again-dont-rule-it-out/

NewLimit, a startup that aims to increase how long people can live a healthy life by genetically programming their cells, has raised $130M.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/newlimit-founded-by-coinbase-ceo-brian-armstorng-raises-130m-to-develop-age-reversing-therapies/

Every developer has their own unique style of writing code. Despite companies establishing best practices and drawing up documentation, it can be hard for developers to understand someone else';s codebase. To solve this problem, Dennis Pilarinos built a tool called Unblocked - an AI-powered assistant that answers contextual questions about lines of code. Pilarinos is [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/unblocked-raises-20-million-for-its-ai-assistant-to-help-devs-understand-legacy-codebases/

CNaught is a market maker seeking to ease the pain of buying carbon credits for companies without dedicated teams.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/cnaught-wants-to-make-carbon-credits-easy-for-businesses-small-and-large/

NewLimit, a startup that aims to increase how long people can live a healthy life by genetically programming their cells, has raised $130M.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/newlimit-founded-by-coinbase-ceo-brian-armstrong-raises-130m-to-develop-age-reversing-therapies/

Google on Tuesday announced the launch of Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition), an updated version of its flagship Gemini 2.5 Pro AI model that the company claims tops a number of widely used benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition) is available via the Gemini API and Google';s Vertex AI and AI Studio platforms, [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/google-debuts-an-updated-gemini-2-5-pro-ai-model-ahead-of-i-o/

Google';s iOS app is getting a new "Simplify" feature that uses AI to make complex or technical text on the web easier to understand, all without leaving a web page. Simplify features a prompt refinement approach developed by Google Research, and uses Gemini to make complicated text more digestible, without losing key details. Google says [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/googles-new-simplify-feature-for-ios-uses-ai-to-make-dense-text-easier-to-understand/

Finom, an Amsterdam-based digital bank for small- and medium-sized businesses, has raised €92.7 million (roughly $105 million) in a growth investment from General Catalyst';s Customer Value Fund, the company tells TechCrunch exclusively. The capital infusion "will be used exclusively and only for growth" and not for operational expenses or product development, Kos Stiskin, Finom's chairman [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/finom-a-challenger-bank-aimed-at-smbs-lands-104m-in-growth-funding-from-general-catalyst/

Particle, the startup behind an AI-powered newsreader that aims to help publishers, not just steal their work, is bringing its product to the web. On Tuesday, the company announced the launch of the new Particle.news website that connects news consumers with headlines and AI summaries from a variety of sources, plus the ability to delve [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/particle-brings-its-ai-powered-news-reader-to-the-web/

Nearly three years after unveiling the concept version of the flagship Cadillac Celestiq EV, GM has finally released the real thing: a $360,000 electric vehicle that oozes luxury and a come-gawk-at-me exterior designed to lure in passersby. But is this bespoke EV enough for Cadillac to regain its position as the "Standard of the World?" [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/can-the-cadillac-celestiq-ev-make-gms-luxury-brand-great-again-dont-rule-it-out/

Nearly three years after unveiling the concept version of the flagship Cadillac Celestiq EV, GM has finally released the real thing: a $360,000 electric vehicle that oozes luxury and a come-gawk-at-me exterior designed to lure in passersby. But is this bespoke EV enough for Cadillac to regain its position as the "Standard of the World"? [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/can-the-cadillac-celestiq-ev-make-gms-luxury-brand-great-again-dont-rule-it-out/

OpenAI said on Monday it is pursuing a new restructuring plan after conversations with Delaware and California's attorneys general, both of whom were closely watching as OpenAI tried to break free of its odd corporate structure. Currently, OpenAI';s nonprofit board governs the organization';s for-profit operations. Under the new plan, OpenAI's for-profit arm will become a [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/what-openais-restructuring-plan-means-for-its-corporate-future/

Uber announced its third partnership with a Chinese autonomous vehicle company this week, revealing the ride-hail and delivery giant';s appetite for global domination in the emerging robotaxi sector. Uber said Tuesday it would work with Guangzhou-based Pony AI, which late last year went public on the Nasdaq at a $5.25 billion valuation, to launch robotaxis [...]

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/uber-turns-to-chinese-companies-to-snap-up-robotaxi-market-share-in-europe-middle-east/