TechCrunch Industry News

Meta's AI spending is starting to make Wall Street nervous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still taking swipes at each other on Musk’s social media platform X. Also, a majority of consumers say they’re worried about data centers driving up electricity costs. Is the industry prepared for a possible backlash? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Semiconductor giant Nvidia is looking to invest at least five hundred million dollars and up to one billion dollars in Poolside which builds AI models for software development. That’s according to reporting from Bloomberg, which cited sources. This investment would be part of a two billion dollar funding round Poolside is raising at a twelve billion dollar valuation. Lidar-maker Luminar is warning shareholders that it will run out of cash in early twenty twenty six and has announced a 25 percent cut to its workforce to help staunch the bleeding, its second layoff of the year, according to a Friday regulatory filing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“The dead internet theory is real,” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told Digg founder Kevin Rose, referring to the idea that much of the internet isn’t human — it’s mostly bots. The two entrepreneurs have since teamed up to re-envision how to build a social community in this world where, very soon, it will be hard to tell bot from human. Also, Canva is launching new features like Forms, email design, and makes Affinity free for all users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Design platform Figma said today that it has acquired AI-powered image and video generation company Weavy. The startup will join Figma under a new brand called Figma Weave. Also, Threads continues to ship new features at a rapid pace. Shortly after the launch of communities and disappearing “ghost posts,” the social networking app on Thursday introduced new tools that will give users more control over their conversations on the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Uplift, every subscription will contribute to neighborhood-level network expansion, while local hosts that are known as "AirNode operators" will earn a portion of network revenue by providing community coverage. Also, while San Francisco's mayor Daniel Lurie is opening his arms to autonomous vehicles, other cities are more resistant. Boston, for instance, has considered a ban on autonomous vehicles in the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. inked Technology Prosperity Deals (TPD) with Japan and South Korea with an eye towards spurring collaboration on AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotech, space, 6G and other technologies. Character AI is ending its chatbot experience for kids. After facing lawsuits and public outcry following the suicides of two teenagers, Character.AI says it's making changes to its platform to protect children, changes that could affect the startup’s bottom line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Netflix viewers will be able to vote while watching live content to directly influence the outcome of what they're watching on their TV or mobile device. Also, OpenAI says its deep learning systems are rapidly advancing, with models increasingly able to solve complex tasks faster. So fast, in fact, that internally, OpenAI is tracking towards achieving an intern-level research assistant by September 2026, and a fully automated “legitimate AI researcher” by 2028, CEO Sam Altman said during a livestream Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon said on Tuesday that it plans to reduce its corporate workforce by 14,000 jobs as it seeks to reduce bureaucracy, remove layers and invest more in its AI strategy. Plus, OpenAI has completed its recapitalization, splitting the AI lab into a for-profit corporation nested inside a non-profit foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two 401(k) management unicorns, Human Interest and Guideline, are squaring off in federal court with allegations so brazen that they're embarrassing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices