Welcome again to Week in Overview! I’m Karyne Levy, TechCrunch’s deputy managing editor, and I’ll be writing this article from right here on out. Thrilled to be right here!
This week we’re trying out all the pieces at SXSW; Waymo’s enlargement into Silicon Valley; Intel’s new CEO; TikTok’s new suitor; and why DeepSeek isn’t taking VC cash. Let’s get to it!
Environmental influence: The FBI, the EPA, the EPA inspector basic, and the Treasury Division requested that Citibank freeze accounts of a number of nonprofits and state authorities businesses. The accounts had been frozen in February, however the brand new paperwork make public particulars that had beforehand been unknown till they had been revealed in court docket filings this week.
SXSW involves an finish: TechCrunch was throughout SXSW in Austin this week, using in Waymo taxis, studying Mark Cuban’s thoughts on AI (it’s a software, not a panacea), and deciphering the T-shirt that Bluesky’s CEO wore (seems she was taking a swipe at Mark Zuckerberg).
Intel’s new chief: Intel appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its next CEO. Tan, a Malaysia-born, longtime tech investor, previously served as CEO of Cadence Design Methods and stated that Intel shall be an “engineering-focused firm” below his management. And he’ll have his work cut out for him.
That is TechCrunch’s Week in Overview, the place we recap the week’s greatest information. Need this delivered as a e-newsletter to your inbox each Saturday? Sign up here.
Information
A brand new period: Rad Energy Bikes has a new CEO just some days after its earlier CEO stepped down. Kathi Lentzsch, who has spent years serving to flip round underperforming firms in each the patron and B2B areas, will take over the e-bike firm because it continues to shift away from direct-to-consumer in favor of a retail-based method.
Backdoor insurance policies: Final month it was revealed that the U.Ok. authorities secretly ordered Apple to create a “backdoor,” permitting authorities to entry the cloud-stored knowledge of all Apple clients. U.S. lawmakers are asking the top of the U.Ok.’s surveillance court docket to hold an open hearing for Apple’s attainable problem to the alleged secret U.Ok. authorities authorized demand.
Meals for thought: Bryan Johnson — the investor and founder behind the Don’t Die motion — wants to start “foodome” sequencing. His purpose is to check as a lot meals as attainable, making a public database the place folks can donate cash to have sure meals and types examined for toxins.
No parking: Waymo’s 300 driverless automobiles in San Francisco are racking up parking tickets. The automobiles’ 589 parking violations totaled $65,065 in fines final 12 months.
Open Sesame: AI firm Sesame has released the base model used for Maya, its super-realistic voice assistant. The mannequin is open supply, too, which suggests it may be used commercially.
Tick tock, TikTok: TikTok’s deadline to finalize its sale to a U.S. firm is simply across the nook, and now another suitor is showing interest — Oracle. Sources advised The Info that ByteDance, TikTok’s mum or dad firm, is favoring Oracle over different firms.
Little tech’s hero: Y Combinator sent a letter to the White House this week, urging the federal government to help Europe’s Digital Markets Act, which goals to bust up Large Tech’s market energy. It’s unclear how the White Home will reply.
Caviar desires: Trump’s household has been looking into investing in Binance U.S. This comes simply a few years after Binance’s U.S. arm plead responsible to violating anti-money laundering rules.
That was simple: I’m not against AI, particularly when it helps me be extra environment friendly. Take, for instance, a new feature that rolled out this week to Gmail. We will now add occasions to a Google Calendar straight from an electronic mail. That’s cool!
Received him: The co-founder of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency change, was arrested in India. Final week, the U.S. Division of Justice accused Aleksej Besciokov of personally approving transactions on Garantex linked to North Korean-government hackers and different cybercriminals.
Pokémon offered: Niantic, the corporate behind the viral sensation Pokémon GO, is selling its gaming division to Scopely for $3.5 billion. Niantic stated it would now give attention to constructing real-world 3D maps by way of a brand new stand-alone entity referred to as Niantic Spatial.
DeepSeek, deep pockets? Although it has tons of curiosity, Chinese AI company DeepSeek isn’t taking VC money — but. Charles Rollet runs by way of just a few the explanation why.
New day, new deal: OpenAI has signed a five-year, $11.9 billion agreement with the GPU-heavy cloud service supplier CoreWeave. However the amount of cash isn’t the one cause why this deal is eye-popping. Earlier than this deal, CoreWeave’s greatest buyer was Microsoft.
Waymo One: Waymo is expanding its early rider program throughout Silicon Valley, now providing robotaxi rides to folks in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, and components of Sunnyvale. The brand new territories add to the 55 sq. miles of protection already provided within the San Francisco Bay Space.
Cool, cool: Truth-checking at Meta is getting an overhaul. Beginning Tuesday, the corporate will start releasing its model of Neighborhood Notes for Fb, Instagram, and Threads customers in the USA.
We’ve acquired questions: Three years after its launch, precisely how Lockdown Mode works is still a mystery. There’s no rationalization for why it takes among the actions it takes, and a few of its notifications are tremendous complicated.
Evaluation
The writing’s on the wall: OpenAI’s new artistic writing AI is spectacular but feels like that one kid in high school fiction club who tries approach too laborious to sound deep. Whereas the AI can churn out intelligent metafiction, critics say its writing lacks actual emotion and originality, making it extra of a showoff than a real storyteller.
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