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TechCrunch

• Harvey reportedly in discussions to raise $250M at $5B valuation 2025-05-15
  Harvey AI is in discussions to raise more than $250 million in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue that would value it at $5 billion, Reuters reported
  Ram Iyer, Ivan Mehta
• Billionaire founder of Luminar replaced as CEO following ethics inquiry 2025-05-14
  Austin Russell, who became a billionaire after his lidar startup Luminar went public, appears to be out as CEO, according to the company’s board. Luminar’s board announced Wednesday — the same day of its first-quarter earnings report — it had replaced Russell and appointed Paul Ricci to the role. Ricci is the former chairman and […]
  Kirsten Korosec
• YouTube viewers will start seeing ads after ‘peak’ moments in videos 2025-05-14
  Imagine you’re watching a highly anticipated video from your favorite YouTube creator — perhaps the moment a famous couple finally gets engaged — when an ad pops up immediately after the clip. This is part of YouTube’s new ad format called “Peak Points.” The company revealed the new ad format during its Upfront presentation on […]
  Lauren Forristal
• YouTube targets TV dollars with NFL deal, bingeable ‘shows’ from creators 2025-05-14
  YouTube announced a range of initiatives designed to attract more TV ad dollars to its platform at Brandcast, its annual Upfront event for advertisers. Notably, the Google-owned video service is expanding its relationship with the NFL and plans to exclusively stream the NFL’s first Friday game of the 2025-2026 season. It’s also preparing to pilot […]
  Sarah Perez
• YouTube introduces an interactive product feed for shoppable TV ads 2025-05-14
  YouTube made its pitch to advertisers on Wednesday, accompanied by a flashy performance from Lady Gaga and special appearances from popular YouTubers like Brittany Broski and MrBeast.  During its Upfront presentation, YouTube executives introduced new ad formats coming to the platform, including an enhanced shoppable connected TV (CTV) offering that includes a new interactive product […]
  Lauren Forristal
• The latest Apple Maps update will bring out your bougie side 2025-05-14
  Apple Maps announced a collaboration with the MICHELIN Guide, The Infatuation, and Golf Digest to help users find recommended restaurants and golf courses in their area. Starting in the U.S., users will be able to filter their Maps searches to see restaurants with MICHELIN ratings, which denote exceptional dining experiences. But if you’re on the […]
  Amanda Silberling
• Netflix adds more live TV to its lineup 2025-05-14
  Netflix is adding more livestreaming content, the company announced at its Upfront presentation on Wednesday. The service, which now reaches over 94 million global monthly active users, has been steadily introducing live TV to its audience with sports content from WWE wrestling, comedy, and awards shows, and other special events (some of which definitely didn’t […]
  Sarah Perez
• Waymo recalls 1,200 robotaxis following low-speed collisions with gates and chains 2025-05-14
  Waymo issued a software recall on 1,200 self-driving vehicles after some of its robotaxis were involved in minor collisions with gates, chains, and other gate-like roadway objects. The software update, which was first reported by Reuters, was conducted late last year, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Alphabet-owned […]
  Kirsten Korosec
• Grok is unpromptedly telling X users about South African ‘white genocide’ 2025-05-14
  Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok appeared to experience a bug on Wednesday that caused it to reply to dozens of posts on X with information about “white genocide” in South Africa, even when the user didn’t ask anything about the subject. The strange responses stem from the X account for Grok, which replies to users […]
  Maxwell Zeff
• Foxconn gets nod for $435M project to make more of Apple chips in India, eventually 2025-05-14
  Foxconn, a key manufacturer for Apple, has received an approval from India’s cabinet to build a new 37 billion Indian rupees ($435 million) semiconductor plant in a joint venture with the country’s IT giant HCL Group. The deal is the latest move to reduce Apple’s reliance on China and produce more components in India. The […]
  Jagmeet Singh
• The Kids Online Safety Act is back, with the potential to change the internet 2025-05-14
  The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has been reintroduced into Congress. If passed into law, this bill could impose some of the most significant legislative changes that the internet has seen in the U.S. since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998. As it currently stands, KOSA would be able to hold social […]
  Amanda Silberling
• OpenAI brings its GPT-4.1 models to ChatGPT 2025-05-14
  OpenAI is releasing its GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini AI models in ChatGPT, the company announced in a post on X Wednesday. The GPT-4.1 models should help software engineers who are using ChatGPT to write or debug code, OpenAI spokesperson Shaokyi Amdo told TechCrunch. GPT-4.1 excels at coding and instruction following compared to GPT-4o, according to […]
  Maxwell Zeff
• White House scraps plan to block data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive data 2025-05-14
  The decision to reverse course comes after an industry lobby group called for the rule change to be withdrawn.
  Zack Whittaker
• How this VC spots the global game changers 2025-05-14
  Accel’s Sonali De Rycker chatted with TechCrunch’s Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos about what it takes to spot and scale category-defining companies in today’s fast-evolving tech landscape. She shared perspectives on identifying early-stage bets and supporting global growth.
  TC Video
• The future of digital finance is customer-centric 2025-05-14
  TS Anil, Monzo’s CEO, discusses the company’s innovative approach to customer-centric banking, the strategic decisions that fueled its growth, and insights into the future of digital finance. He shares how he led the digital bank through a remarkable transformation, from early challenges to achieving its first annual profit in 2024.
  TC Video
• Scaling innovative companies at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, and resilience 2025-05-14
  Paladin Capital Group’s Nazo Moosa sat down with Mike Butcher at StrictlyVC London to discuss scaling innovative companies at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, and resilience. She discussed how she’s driving purposeful investments that shape a secure and sustainable digital future.
  TC Video
• Radiologists aren’t going anywhere 2025-05-14
  Nine years ago, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton sent shock waves through medicine by declaring it “just completely obvious” that AI would make radiologists extinct in short order. Fast-forward and the specialists — who do more than analyze images — are thriving, observes The New York Times. In fact, the field is experiencing explosive growth amid […]
  Connie Loizos
• SoundCloud backtracks on AI-related terms-of-use updates 2025-05-14
  SoundCloud says it’s revising its terms after widespread backlash over a clause related to AI model training. Earlier this year, SoundCloud quietly updated its usage policies, adding wording that many users interpreted as legal cover to allow the company to train AI on audio uploaded to its platform. SoundCloud was quick to assert that it wasn’t […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• OpenAI pledges to publish AI safety test results more often 2025-05-14
  OpenAI is moving to publish the results of its internal AI model safety evaluations more regularly in what the outfit is saying is an effort to increase transparency. On Wednesday, OpenAI launched the Safety evaluations hub, a web page showing how the company’s models score on various tests for harmful content generation, jailbreaks, and hallucinations. […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• Stability AI releases an audio-generating model that can run on smartphones 2025-05-14
  AI startup Stability AI has released Stable Audio Open Small, a “stereo” audio-generating AI model that the company claims is the fastest on the market — and efficient enough to run on smartphones. Stable Audio Open Small is the fruit of a collaboration between Stability AI and Arm, the chipmaker that produces many of the […]
  Kyle Wiggers