WhatsApp fights back

Friday, January 31, 2025 Posted by bloggerdaddy 0 comments

Friday, January 31, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! I'm Dominic-Madori Davis, filling in for Becca. Today we're looking at the latest Perplexity lawsuit, an investor who will offer pizza to build Lego, and a new off-broadway play about the time Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI. Let's dive in.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

🛑 WhatsApp prevents possible hacking scheme: The hacking campaign sought to target 90 people, including journalists. The company said that Paragon, an Israeli spyware maker, is possibly linked to the attacks. Read more

😬 Perplexity in the hot seat: A company called Perplexity Solved Solutions is suing the AI giant for trademark infringement based on the use of the name Perplexity. The AI maker is already being sued by Dow Jones for copyright infringement. Read more

🎭 Hey, "Doomers": A new play based on Sam Altman's ousting from OpenAI opened in New York this week, with plans to open in San Francisco next. We went to the premiere and got the scoop on how the play came together. Read more

A Message from Dataiku

Insights from 400 AI leaders on GenAI — Dataiku and Databricks

GenAI is no longer a future prospect — it's reshaping business strategies. "AI, Today" — the joint report from Dataiku and Databricks, based on a survey of 400 senior AI professionals — reveals critical insights on GenAI adoption, ROI, and emerging use cases. Check out the full report to see how you can stay ahead in the GenAI revolution.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

🔎 Microsoft looks inward: The company will create a new AI unit to help assess the implications of the AI the company wants to build. The AI unit will be housed in its AI division, which includes Copilot, Bind, and Edge. Read more

🚨 Hot new startup alert: Graze lets people build feeds on Bluesky, offering tools that help manage Bluesky feeds. Soon it will let creators monetize their efforts — which means Graze may have a viable business model before Bluesky itself does. Read more

🚀 OpenAI launched a new "reasoning" model: The company is pitching the new model, called o3-mini, as both "powerful" and "affordable." Read more

👷 NDA to play: If you have some free time this weekend and you live near Palo Alto, investor Nat Friedman has an offer for you. He posted on X that he's looking for volunteers to help build a 5,000-piece Lego set. He will provide pizza, but there's a catch: You will have to sign an NDA. Read more

⚡️ Fueling the frenzy: Meta has signed a deal with Zelestra, a renewable energy developer, weeks after signing another solar deal. It shows that Zuck is serious about his company's AI strategy, which will depend much on data centers. Read more

🔋 Ouch: Apple settled a class action lawsuit for $20 million over its Apple Watch batteries reportedly swelling. The tech giant denies any wrongdoing. Read more

🪙 Stablecoins find their way: "The rise of stablecoins — now a $205 billion market — is driven by real-world utility, not speculation, particularly in emerging markets where the most compelling use cases unfold," writes TechCrunch's Tage Kene-Okafor. Read more

Around the web

🇺🇸 Hello, Mr. President: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is finally meeting President Donald Trump, according to the Financial Times. The news comes after Huang missed the inauguration and DeekSeek took almost $600 billion from Nvidia's market cap. Read more

📕 Book tour: BIll Gates has been making the media rounds to promote his new book. He sat down with The New York Times to talk about his past, present, and future. Read more

Before you go

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

💻 Be prepared: Cyberattacks seem to be happening more frequently. We put together a brief history of mass attacks so you can stay up-to-date on the latest security developments on the web. Read more

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Musk admits he was wrong about full self-driving

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By Rebecca Bellan

Friday, January 31, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got thoughts on Tesla's long road to full self-driving, Google's newest AI model, and the dangers of not securing customer data. We've also got details of OpenAI's latest fundraising attempt, the potential of gene sequencing, the top CHIPS Act beneficiaries, a fintech by rapper Rakim and DIVINE, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Jesse Grant/The Hollywood Reporter / Getty Images

1. My own worst enemy: For almost a decade, Elon Musk has promised that Tesla vehicles have the hardware needed to support full self-driving. This week, he finally admitted that many of the company's cars actually don't have the necessary hardware and will need to be upgraded. Read More

2. A word to startups that track location data: Beef up your security! Researchers found that AngelSense, which offers assistive tech and location monitoring devices for people with disabilities, had left an unsecured database exposed to the internet. The database contained personally identifiable information and precise location data. Read More

3. No fanfare: Google has released Gemini 2.0, its next-gen flagship AI model that promises to help users with complex tasks like solving mathematical problems or developing quantum algorithms with "greater ease and accuracy." Read More

A Message from Masters of Scale

Masters of Scale Summit: Where leaders shape the future

Masters of Scale Summit, presented in alliance with Capital One Business, returns to SF this Oct 7–9. Summit brings together fast-scaling leaders with speakers like Bret Taylor & Brian Chesky to drive innovation and shape the future of business. Sign up for priority access to unlock curated Summit highlights, and fast-track your application.

Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

🤑 More, more, MORE! OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation. SoftBank is said to be leading the round as the AI company seeks to pour even more money into AI training. Read More

🧬 The ultimate health test: Nucleus Genomics imagines a world where medical treatments are linked to genetics and couples can get their DNA sequenced before having kids together. Sounds like science fiction, but top investors were convinced enough to fund a $14 million Series A. Read More

⛔ Too many pins in this cushion: Fintech startup Cushion, which described itself as the "Plaid for buy now, pay later," has shut down. Its founder and CEO Paul Kesserwani said the company didn't "reach the scale needed to sustain the business" despite bringing multiple new products to market. Read More

💸 The CHIPS Act's second act: Federal funding in the U.S. may be in limbo, but semiconductor giant Intel said it has already received $2.2 billion in federal grants from Biden's Commerce Department through the CHIPS Act. The bill was designed to encourage more semiconductor manufacturing on U.S. soil. Read More

A Message from Dataiku

See How Dataiku Drove 80% Time Savings on Manual Processes

Customer interviews & financial analysis found that a composite organization experienced benefits of $23.5 million over three years and an ROI of 413% with Dataiku. Plus, 80% time savings on manual processes, reduced costs, and improved decision making on key business activities. We call that a Return on AI! Get the full study & learn more here.

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Around the web

🤓 Bill Gates is on a book tour to promote his upcoming memoir, "Source Code." The New York Times spoke to the billionaire as he tries to square his experiences with the present moment. "I always thought of Silicon Valley as being left of center. The fact that now there is a significant right-of-center group is a surprise to me," Gates said. Read More

🦥 Not as nimble as marketing would have you believe: In a leaked recording of a Meta all-hands meeting, Mark Zuckerberg said his company was slow to respond to the rise of TikTok, because "we didn't think TikTok was social." Zuck was responding to an employee's concern that Meta would be too focused on AI to catch the next major social media trend, per Business Insider. Read More

⛴️ We mustn't pollute the seas: Spanish ferry operator Baleària is launching two 100% electric fast ferries to connect the cities of Tarifa, Spain and Tangier, Morocco, per Engineering and Technology. Two autonomous robotic arms in each port will handle the charging at each port. Read More

Before you go

⏺️ By artists, for artists: Former recording artist Victor D. Lombard, AKA DIVINE, is launching a new company with Rakim, the hip-hop legend. The fintech startup, Notes, offers tools tailored to help independent urban musicians and creators manage their careers. Read More