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TechCrunch

• IBM affected by DOGE cuts, downplays impact during Q1 earnings call 2025-04-23
  Tech and consulting giant IBM was not immune to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts. IBM had 15 of its federal contracts canceled due to DOGE-related cuts during the first quarter of 2025, according to reporting from Reuters and Bloomberg. These cuts amount to $100 million in future payments, per Bloomberg. Federal contracts represent […]
  Rebecca Szkutak
• Windsurf slashes prices as competition with Cursor heats up 2025-04-23
  AI coding assistant startup Windsurf cut its prices “across the board” it announced on Monday, touting “massive savings” for its users as competition with its rival Cursor intensifies. Windsurf said it’s getting rid of its complex system of “flow action credits,” which charged developers for actions its AI did in the background. It’s also cutting […]
  Charles Rollet
• Tesla begins ‘FSD Supervised’ ride-hail tests with employees in Austin, Bay Area 2025-04-23
  Tesla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with employees in Austin and the Bay Area ahead of the company’s planned robotaxi launch this summer. “FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area,” the company posted Wednesday on X. FSD stands for “Full Self-Driving,” […]
  Rebecca Bellan
• Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps … yet 2025-04-23
  Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there’s currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured. Earlier this month, Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the request of Turkish governmental authorities, according to a recent report by the Freedom of Expression Association. As a result, people in Turkey can […]
  Sarah Perez
• OpenAI seeks to make its upcoming open AI model best-in-class 2025-04-23
  Toward the end of March, OpenAI announced its intention to release its first “open” language model since GPT‑2 sometime this year. Now details about that model are beginning to trickle out from the company’s sessions with the AI developer community. Sources tell TechCrunch that Aidan Clark, OpenAI’s VP of research, is leading development of the open model, […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• Here are the 19 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2025 2025-04-23
  Last year was monumental for the AI industry in the U.S. and beyond. There were 49 startups that raised funding rounds worth $100 million or more in 2024, per our count at TechCrunch; three companies raised more than one “megaround,” and seven companies raised rounds $1 billion in size or larger. How will 2025 compare? […]
  Rebecca Szkutak
• Netflix aims to be a trillion-dollar company, says co-CEO 2025-04-23
  At Semafor’s 2025 World Economy Summit on Wednesday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he believes Netflix’s long-term goal to achieve a $1 trillion market capitalization is possible if the streaming giant continues to perform well.  Sarandos said, “In the previous five years, we’ve doubled our revenue, we grew profits 10 times, and we grew our […]
  Lauren Forristal
• 19 US fintech startups have raised over $50M in 2025 so far 2025-04-23
  After a sluggish couple of years, fintech appears to be making a comeback. In the first quarter of 2025, fintech startups globally raised a combined $10.3 billion — marking the highest level of funding since the first quarter of 2023, according to CB Insights research. The average deal size of $17.7 million also marked the […]
  Mary Ann Azevedo
• Discord appoints former Activision Blizzard exec Humam Sakhnini as CEO 2025-04-23
  Amid rumors that the company is eyeing an IPO, Discord appointed former Activision Blizzard Vice Chairman Humam Sakhnini as CEO. Discord co-founder Jason Citron will leave his CEO role after 13 years at the company. Discord straddles the gaming and social media spaces — despite its initial emergence as a platform for online multiplayer gamers […]
  Amanda Silberling
• OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 may be less aligned than the company’s previous AI models 2025-04-23
  In mid-April, OpenAI launched a powerful new AI model, GPT-4.1, that the company claimed “excelled” at following instructions. But the results of several independent tests suggest the model is less aligned — that is to say, less reliable — than previous OpenAI releases. When OpenAI launches a new model, it typically publishes a detailed technical […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• DOJ reportedly probes Disney-FuboTV deal over competition concerns 2025-04-23
  The U.S. Department of Justice is probing Disney’s deal to take a controlling stake in FuboTV, Bloomberg reports. Fubo is a live TV streaming service known for its extensive sports coverage. Officials are examining whether the deal would create a concentration of power in the sports streaming market. In January, Disney announced that it was going […]
  Aisha Malik
• Anti-Musk protests are now an official risk to Tesla’s business 2025-04-23
  Protests against Elon Musk and Tesla have been spreading around the world thanks to the CEO’s involvement in the Trump administration. Now those protests are listed as an official “risk factor” in paperwork Tesla is required to file with federal regulators. The new language, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday morning, shows […]
  Sean O'Kane
• OpenAI makes its upgraded image generator available to developers 2025-04-23
  OpenAI on Wednesday brought the tech behind its new and improved image generation feature in ChatGPT to its API, allowing developers to integrate it into their apps and services. OpenAI’s new image generator, which launched for most ChatGPT users in late March, went viral for its ability to create realistic Ghibli-style photos and “AI action figures.” […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• Google Gemini has 350M monthly users, reveals court hearing 2025-04-23
  Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot, had 350 million monthly active users around the globe as of March, according to internal data revealed in Google’s ongoing antitrust suit. The Information first reported the stat. Usage of Google’s AI offerings has exploded in the last year. Gemini had just 9 million daily active users in October 2024, but […]
  Maxwell Zeff
• Bring a plus-one to TechCrunch Sessions: AI and save 50% on their ticket through May 4 2025-04-23
  You’re not the only one thinking about where AI is headed. So why come alone? From now through May 4, buy your Early Bird ticket to TechCrunch Sessions: AI and save up to $210 — plus get 50% off a second ticket for your colleague, co-founder, collaborator, friend, or whoever you want to bring. It’s […]
  TechCrunch Events
• Fluent Ventures backs replicated startup models in emerging markets 2025-04-23
  A new venture firm aims to prove that the most successful startup ideas don’t have to be born or scaled in Silicon Valley. Fluent Ventures, a global early-stage fund, is backing founders replicating proven business models from Western markets in fintech, digital health, and commerce across emerging markets. The more cynical might describe this as […]
  Tage Kene-Okafor
• Meta’s Threads opens up ads to global advertisers 2025-04-23
  Months after first testing ads in select markets, including the U.S., Meta on Wednesday announced that its Instagram Threads app would now expand ads to all advertisers worldwide. The expansion will allow eligible advertisers to reach Threads’ over 320 million monthly active users, and it will include access to an inventory filter to control the sensitivity level […]
  Sarah Perez
• Amazon’s Starlink competitor runs into production delays 2025-04-23
  Amazon’s Project Kuiper, the company’s initiative to launch a fleet of satellites into low-Earth orbit and beam internet connection to users, is struggling to ramp up production, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink has completed only a few dozen satellites, according to the report. The venture reportedly needs to quadruple its […]
  Maxwell Zeff
• WhatsApp’s latest feature makes your messages even more private 2025-04-23
  WhatsApp announced on Wednesday it’s launching a new feature that will allow users to add an extra layer of privacy to chats. The new “Advanced Chat Privacy” setting prevents you and the people you’re chatting with from exporting chats and auto-downloading media to their phone. The setting also prevents users from mentioning Meta AI in […]
  Aisha Malik
• AI note-taking app Fireflies adds new ways to extract insights from meeting notes 2025-04-23
  Khosla Ventures-backed Fireflies.ai, an AI-powered note-taking app, on Wednesday released a set of domain-specific “mini apps” to extract insights from meeting transcripts automatically. With the widespread availability of automatic speech recognition models and generative AI, meeting intelligence startups like Otter, Read AI, Circleback, Krisp, and Granola have registered impressive growth. Fireflies, similarly, has seen 8x […]
  Ivan Mehta