Sam Altman dismissed what he called a conspiracy theory from a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Struggling electric van startup Canoo has placed its remaining employees on what its calling a mandatory unpaid break through at least the end of the year, according to an email obtained by TechCrunch. The company told employees they are being locked out of Canoos systems at the end of the day Friday, according to the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

On the first day of Y Combinator the founders of PearAI got cancelled. They used the hate to launch a new product, raise $1 million. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

LockBit is believed tobe responsible for at least $500 million in ransom payments alone. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday proposed a new national framework that could make it easier for companies to deploy at scale autonomous vehicles without traditional manual driving controls like steering wheels, pedals, and sideview mirrors. The guidelines also require AV companies to share a whole lot more safety data with the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

ChatGPT, OpenAIs 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 has been a big year for OpenAI, from its [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Welcome to Startups Weekly your weekly recap of everything you cant miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week was full of news, likely because it is also the last real week of 2024. Which is another way for us to say goodbye for [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Chip company Nvidia gets the green light from the European Union to complete its acquisition of Run:ai. The EU came to a unanimous decision today that Nvidia could go ahead with its acquisition of Israeli GPU orchestration platform Run:ai, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The European Commission determined that if the merger went through other [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google said Friday that the company is expanding Geminis latest in-depth research mode to 40 more languages. The company launched the in-depth research mode earlier this month, allowing Google One AI premium plan users to unlock an AI-powered research assistant of sorts. The in-depth function works in a multi-step method, from creating a research plan [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

In the first half of 2024 alone, more than $35.5 billion was invested into AI startups globally. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

OpenAI saved its biggest announcement for the last day of its 12-day shipmas event. On Friday, the company unveiled o3, the successor to the o1 reasoning model it released earlier in the year. o3 is a model family, to be more precise as was the case with o1. Theres o3 and o3-mini, a smaller, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

There is a new venture fund in town. Swizzle Fund, founded by Jessica Kamada, former COO of the marketing agency Bamboo, has raised just a little more than $5 million for its Fund I, according to an SEC filing. There was no target raise amount. The firm, which quietly opened in 2023, is an early-stage [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Lerer Hippeau, one of New York's most prolific and A-list VC firms, has filed to raise its ninth fund, according to an SEC filing made Wednesday. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The newest online-only school greenlighted by the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools comes with a twist: The academic curriculum will be taught entirely by AI. Charter schools independently operated but publicly funded typically get greater autonomy compared to traditional public schools when it comes to how subjects are taught. But Unbound Academys [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The cyberattack on Ascension ranks as the third-largest healthcare-related breach of 2024. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Four employees have sued Rivian in separate lawsuits this year over allegations they were harassed, in some cases by top executives, and that the companys leadership did little to address their concerns, according to a TechCrunch review of court records. Rivian has also reached settlements in three other harassment and discrimination cases, TechCrunch has learned. [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Cybersecurity experts, who work with human rights defenders and journalists, agree that Apple is doing the right thing by sending notifications to victims of mercenary spyware and at the same time refusing to forensically analyze the devices. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

What happens when a chemical engineer, whos previously built a hydrogen-powered drone, becomes a venture capitalist? Energy Revolution Ventures, thats what. The VC has now closed an $18 million Seed and Series A fund to invest in deeptech, such as energy storage, carbon capture, and, yes, hydrogen technologies. Marcus Clover, Co-Founder and Partner at ERV [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Principle Venture Partners will write early-stage checks anywhere from $100,000 to single digit millions. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

AI creates a dilemma for companies: Dont implement it yet, and you might miss out on productivity gains and other potential benefits; but do it wrong, and you might expose your business and clients to unmitigated risks. This is where a new wave of security for AI startups come in, with the premise that these [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Robin Capital the Germany-based, Solo GP-led VC fund by former entrepreneur Robin Haak has hit its final close of Robin Fund One at 13 million. Combined with its additional growth-focused investment vehicle of 2m, the fund now has a total of 15 million to play with. In the realm of European Solo GPs, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The writing was on the wall, seemingly. Sequoia Capital partner Matt Miller announced on Wednesday that hes leaving the powerhouse outfit after a 12-year career to build his own new firm focused on European founders. He added he will remain a venture partner with Sequoia and maintain his board seats while fleshing out the specifics [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Rapido restricted access to the exposed portal soon after TechCrunch contacted the company. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat before Congress in 2023 to testify about the dangers of AI. He told American lawmakers at the time that he owns no equity in OpenAI, something hes said many times, claiming he just runs the company because he loves it. However, Altman recently said he actually did have some equity [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

AI-powered search engine Perplexity has reportedly closed a $500 million funding round, valuing the startup at $9 billion. Bloomberg, citing sources familiar, reports that the round was led by Institutional Venture Partners, and that it closed earlier in December. In an email to TechCrunch, a Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment. The mammoth tranche comes as [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Logistics is the name of the game during the holiday season: Companies that can seal the deal and get people and things to the places they need to be, on time, rake it in this time of year. But behind that demand lies a huge amount of inefficiency and fragmentation. Are logistics businesses ready for [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Accounting firms are struggling to adopt high-tech solutions. Thats according to a survey earlier this year from Rightsworks, which found that, while 88% of firms believe tech has had a positive impact on their efficiency, 60% are suffering from disconnected systems, inconsistent processes, and a lack of standardized workflows. Startups like Aiwyn are trying to [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A team of engineers at Toyota have spent years iterating on CUE6, the basketball shooting robot. CUE6 uses machine learning to adjust his posture and arm movement in order to take the perfect shot nearly every time. The robot holds the Guinness World Record for most consecutive basketball free throw by a humanoid robot after [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

TuSimple has completed its pivot away from autonomous trucking to AI animation and gaming with a rebrand. The company shall henceforth be known as CreateAI. The rebrand comes as TuSimple is embroiled in controversy over the companys plans to move its remaining U.S. assets to China to fund the new business, which it initially announced [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, is launching a new AI startup, TechCrunch has learned. The startup, called Stem AI, is currently in stealth. But public documents show it was incorporated in June 2023, and filed for a trademark in August 2023. Shear is listed as CEO on an incorporation document filed with the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Real estate venture firm Fifth Wall is raising a new $500 million fund called Fifth Wall React, according to a regulatory filing. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Anysphere, the developer of AI-powered coding assistant Cursor, raised $100 million Series B at a post-money valuation of $2.6 billion, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. The round is being led by returning investor Thrive Capital, the person said. This new funding comes just four months after Anysphere raised its $60 million Series [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Led by Markforged veterans and backed by a16z, Backlip has raised $30M to democratize product design thanks to AI. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A new app called Tapestry promising to unify social media, news, and RSS in one place, is nearing completion. Designed by Iconfactory, the same team that created the third-party Twitter client Twitterific back in the day, Tapestry was unveiled at the beginning of the year as a tool that could better organize todays fragmented online [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. This will be the last newsletter of 2024! But dont worry, well be back in 2025 sign up here to get it in your inbox every week. Thank you for reading and your emails. I love [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri is teasing upcoming generative AI features for the social app that will allow creators to change nearly any aspect of their videos using text prompts. The editing tools will be powered by Metas Movie Gen AI model, and are expected to launch on the social network sometime next year, Mosseri said [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Founders now have a way to ensure that their investors havent taken money from countries like China, Russia, Iran or Cuba. Over 20 venture firms have signed the Clean Capital Certification, attesting that they have not and will not take money from foreign adversaries. Some of the firms that have signed include Marlinspike Partners, Humba [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google has released what its calling a new reasoning AI model but its in the experimental stages, and from our brief testing, theres certainly room for improvement. The new model, called Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental (a mouthful, to be sure), is available in AI Studio, Googles AI prototyping platform. A model card describes [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Digital bank Chime has reportedly filed its confidential IPO paperwork with the SEC, with an eye toward a 2025 debut. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

It took a lot more than the initially slated few weeks to arrive, but a pivotal privacy decision thats been hanging over Sam Altmans World (aka Worldcoin) for months has finally landed, via a late December decision from the Bavarian data protection authority enforcing the blocs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a comprehensive privacy framework [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Tesla is evaluating multiple Texas cities where it wants to test a long-promised robotaxi service, including Austin, according to emails obtained by Bloomberg News. An employee has apparently been in touch with Austin officials since May, and recently held an event in December to train first responders on how to best work with Teslas autonomous [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

K2 Space is betting that the future of the space hardware will be big really big. The startup is building massive spacecraft under the assumption that launch costs will continue to drop as SpaceXs Starship and other heavy-lift vehicles come online. It looks like the Space Force is taking up their side of that [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Doug Schuessler has always been a founder. This passion, which has been with him since childhood, saw him launch two startups, move to San Francisco, and take a job at Square to see what a real rocket shop looked like. He later became chief revenue officer atrestaurant booking platform Resy, before becoming a founder once [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As a dietitian, Vanessa Rissettos main goal is to help people stay healthy. She also knew that there were some roadblocks to achieving that. For example, the Black community deals with pressing health concerns, in addition to a disproportionate lack of access to care. More than 80% of registered dietitians in the U.S. are white, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A young startup that emerged from stealth less than two months ago with big-name backers and bigger ambitions to make a splash in the world of AI is returning to the spotlight. Decart is building what its CEO and co-founder Dean Leitersdorf describes as a fully vertically integrated AI research lab, alongside enterprise and consumer [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The move to urge Americans to use end-to-end encrypted apps comes as China-backed gangs are hacking into phone and internet giants. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Smart ring maker Oura announced on Thursday that it has closed a $200 million Series D funding round, bringing the companys valuation to $5.2 billion. The round included participation from Fidelity Management and glucose device makerDexcom. Oura says the new capital will allow it to expand its product offerings and further invest in product, science, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Theres an ocean of meme coins beyond Dogecoin, and a new startup called Neverless wants to make it easier to get started with trading crypto, with a particular focus on providing access to small-cap tokens. This is an interesting new crypto startup, founded by three former executives at Revolut, the London-based fintech juggernaut. Phuc To [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Alongside the rising adoption and value of crypto assets, theft is also on the rise. This year, the total value of cryptocurrency stolen surged 21%, reaching a substantial $2.2 billion. And according to a Chainalysis report released on Thursday, more than half of this amount was stolen by North Korea-affiliated hacking groups. Earlier this year, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

I think the most ironic way the world could end would be if someone makes a memecoin about a mans stretched anus and it brings about the singularity. Thats Andy Ayrey, the founder of decentralized AI alignment research lab Upward Spiral, who is also behind the viral AI bot Truth Terminal. You might have heard [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.