30 C 
Five architects of the AI economy explain where the wheels are coming off
Earlier this week, five people who touch every layer of the AI supply chain sat down at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills, where they talked with TechCrunch about everything from chip shortages to orbital data centers to the possibility that the whole architecture that undergirds the tech is wrong.
Microsofts AI data center push is colliding with its clean power goals
The push for new data centers at Microsoft is putting one of the its key clean power goals at risk.
Robinhoods venture fund IPO attracted 150,000+ retail investors, CEO says
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says more than 150,000 retail investors joined the fintechs new venture fund, which offers exposure to private tech companies like OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks, and Oura before they go public.
How Elon Musk left OpenAI, according to Greg Brockman
Cutthroat negotiations between startup founders are rarely shared so publicly, especially when a company becomes as world-changing as OpenAI.
DOJ says ransomware gang tapped into Russian government databases
U.S. prosecutors said a ransomware gang fueled Russian government corruption, and allowed the gang's leaders to avoid paying taxes and dodge the country's military draft.
AI evaluation startup Braintrust confirms breach, tells every customer to rotate sensitive keys
Braintrust, a startup that makes an operating system for engineers building AI software, notified customers that hackers broke into one of its Amazon cloud environments, and is asking customers to rotate their API keys.
DeepSeek could hit $45B valuation from its first investment round
The Chinese AI lab came to prominence in early 2025 after launching a large language model that trained on a fraction of the compute power and at a fraction of the cost of the big U.S. models like those from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Chrome on Android now supports approximate instead of precise location sharing
The new feature is a small win for Android users, as it gives them more control over how much location data they share with websites.
Google updates AI search to include expert advice from Reddit and other web forums
While citing web forums and discussion boards can help users find answers to more niche queries, this design choice could also prove chaotic.
Khosla-backed robotics startup Genesis AI has gone full-stack, demo shows
Genesis AI, a startup that raised a $105 million seed round to build foundational AI for robotics, has unveiled its first model, GENE-26.5, but also a demo showcasing a set of robotic hands performing complex tasks.
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, all your M&A questions will be answered
Leaders from Coinbase, M13, and Mignano Law Group talk about how M&A is an early-stage strategy at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Register to hear this live.
3 days left tolock in 50% off a second ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Three days left tolock in 50% off a second ticket to Disrupt 2026. Buy one TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket, and get a second ticket at 50% off. Gain more visibility in the tech industry. Offer ends May 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Samsung crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark after shares surged on AI-driven chip demand, making it only the second Asian company after TSMC to hit the milestone.
Some kids are bypassing age verification checks with a fake mustache
A new survey found that kids find it easy to bypass age checks, despite a rise in age verification laws around the world.
Peter Sarlins QuTwo reaches $380M valuation in angel round
QyTw0, the Finnish AI lab founded by former AMD Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin, is now valued at 325 million (approximately $380 million) after raising a 25 million angel round ($29 million). It's a sign of enduring tailwinds for AI, quantum computing, and sovereign tech, especially for Europe-made companies.
Marc Lore says that AI will soon enable anyone open a restaurant
Wonder wants to turn its robotic kitchens into AI-powered restaurant factories, letting anyone spin up a virtual food brand with a prompt.
Nuro receives driverless testing permit ahead of Uber robotaxi service launch
The Silicon Valley AV startup has not started driverless testing yet.
SAP bets $1.16B on 18-month-old German AI lab and says yes to NemoClaw
SAP plans to buy German AI startup Prior Labs and invest heavily in it. It is also prohibiting customers' agents use to a select few like Nvidia's NemoClaw.
Bumbles paying users are slipping as it bets on an overhaul later this year
The company is making a big bet that the swiping model is outdated and most matches never turn into actual dates. The company wants to fix that by redesigning profiles, changing how people interact, and focusing a lot more on getting users to meet in real life.
Altara secures $7M to bridge the data gap thats slowing down physical sciences
Altaras AI aims to diagnose failures and help speed up R&D by unifying data siloed across spreadsheets and legacy systems.
Lucid Motors doesnt know how many EVs it will build this year
Lucid Motors pulled its guidance for the year, as it navigates swelling inventory and a companywide cost-cutting measure.
As crypto cools, a16z crypto raises a $2.2B fund
As some of the biggest VCs in crypto start to consider funding AI startups, a16z crypto's new fund will stay the course.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet: No one is coming for us
Christophe Fouquet, who became ASML's CEO in 2024 after more than a decade at the company, sat down with this editor on the rooftop deck of his Beverly Hills hotel Tuesday morning ahead of his appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Dressed in a blue suit and white shirt, he was relaxed even when the conversation turned to the rivals.
Volkswagen becomes Rivians top shareholder, displacing Amazon
VW Group's stake will continue to grow under the $5.8 billion joint venture with Rivian.
Threads finally brings messaging to the web
By bringing messaging to the web, Threads is aligning its desktop experience more closely with competitors like X and Bluesky.
Airbnb co-founder taps Peter Arnell as first US chief brand architect
Arnell joins Gebbias National Design Studio under Trump to unify UX across 27,000 federal sites and streamline how Americans use government services.
Pennsylvania sues Character.AI after a chatbot allegedly posed as a doctor
According to Pennsylvania's filing, a Character.AI chatbot presented itself as a licensed psychiatrist during a state investigation, and also fabricated a serial number for its state medical license.
OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 Instant, a new default model for ChatGPT
The company said the model reduces hallucination in sensitive areas such as law, medicine, and finance, while maintaining the low latency of its predecessor.
Meta will use AI to analyze height and bone structure to identify if users are underage
The visual analysis system is now operating in select countries, but Meta says it's working toward a broader rollout.
ElevenLabs lists BlackRock, Jamie Foxx and Longoria as new investors
4. ElevenLabs reveals new investors, hits $500M ARR, and expands enterprise footprint as voice AI becomes a critical interface.
4 days left: Get 50% off a second TechCrunch Disrupt2026pass to make more deals faster
For the next four days only, you can buy one pass to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and get 50% off a second of the same ticket type.That window closesMay 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT.After that, prices go up, andyoullpay more to bring apartner orcolleague.Register todayto get your plus-one pass at 50% off.
Indias first GenAI unicorn shifts to cloud services as AI model ambitions face reality
Krutrim's pivot to cloud after layoffs and limited product updates reflects the economic challenges of building AI models in India.
Amazon bets Nobel Prize-based dehumidification can cut its energy use
Amazon will buy a new type of HVAC system for its commercial buildings to slash energy use.
Coinbase to lay off 14% of staff as part of broader restructuring
The restructuring is aimed at addressing market volatility and increasing the use of AI tools to improve efficiency.
Moment Energy raises $40M to meet infinite demand for power with EV batteries
The startup has put a spin on repurposing EV batteries, CEO Edward Chiang told TechCrunch.
As workers worry about AI, Nvidias Jensen Huang says AI is creating an enormous number of jobs
The Nvidia CEO seems to feel that claims of AI's job-killing potential have been greatly exaggerated.
Geothermal startup Fervo Energy to raise up to $1.3B in IPO
Enhanced geothermal startup Fervo Energys IPO could value the company at up to $6.5 billion.
Image AI models now drive app growth, beating chatbot upgrades
Appfigures finds visual model launches generate 6.5x more downloads but most dont convert that spike into revenue.
Hackers are still exploiting the cPanel bug to gain control of thousands of websites
Days after the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in popular web hosting software cPanel and WHM, hackers keep targeting and hacking websites.
Elon Musks only AI expert witness at the OpenAI trial fears an AGI arms race
Stuart Russell is a long-time AI researcher who thinks governments need to restrain frontier labs.
Sierra raises $950M as the race to own enterprise AI gets serious
The raise gives Sierra more than $1 billion to work with capital the company says it will use to become the global standard for AI-powered customer experiences.
Amazon opens up its global logistics network to all businesses
The new service, called Amazon Supply Chain Services, pits the e-commerce giant directly against UPS and FedEx.
5 days only: Bring apartner orcolleague and get 50% off a second TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass
The BOGO offer is live.For a limited time, buy one pass toTechCrunch Disrupt 2026andget 50% off a second of the same ticket type. Offer ends this Friday, May 8. Save here.
Doordash adds AI tools to speed up merchant onboarding, edit photos of dishes
DoorDash on Monday added new AI-powered tools that let merchants speed up onboarding, edit photos to make dishes look better, and create new websites from existing content.
Barocal can cool your food and drink by squeezing a hunk of plastic crystals
Barocal might have discovered a cheap, nonpolluting material that could dethrone today's refrigeration technology.
Ousters new color lidar is coming to replace cameras
A sensor that can simultaneously capture depth and image data has long been a holy grail, Ouster CEO Angus Pacala told TechCrunch.
Well take it: a TikToker rallies pledges to buy Spirit Airlines after its abrupt weekend collapse
Within hours he'd thrown up a website a janky, one-hour job, by his own admission and by Sunday, 36,000 founding patrons had pledged nearly $23 million, crashing his servers in the process.
In Harvard study, AI offered more accurate diagnoses than emergency room doctors
A new study examines how large language models perform in a variety of medical contexts, including real emergency room cases where at least one model seemed to be more accurate than human doctors.
TechCrunch Mobility: How do you issue a ticket to a robotaxi?
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
This tiny, magnetic e-reader could stop you from doomscrolling
The Xteink X3 is a delightfully tiny, MagSafe-compatible e-ink reader that attaches to the back of your phone like a Pop Socket.
AvenuesAI Subsidiary Rediff Pre-Files DRHP
AvenuesAIs (formerly Infibeam Ventures) subsidiary Rediff has filed its IPO papers via the confidential route with SEBI. Rediff.com India Limited,
Xovian Aerospace Raises $2 Mn To Launch RF Satellite
Spacetech startup Xovian Aerospace has secured $2 Mn (about 18.7 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by ace investor
SIP Investing Guide: Young Professionals Aged 21-35 Earning 20K-75K Monthly
AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor's SIP guide: 21-35 yr olds 20K-75K. SEBI-compliant education on categories, allocation, step-up strategy. The post SIP Investing Guide: Young Professionals Aged 21-35 Earning 20K-75K Monthly appeared first on Startup Success Stories India - News & Updates for Indian Entrepreneurs .
NODWINs Pre-IPO Round, Funding Tanks In Q1 2026 & More
NODWINs Pre-IPO Funding Meal NODWIN Gaming is moving beyond gaming and esports. Emerging from the shadows of its former parent
