26-year-old OpenAI whistleblower found dead

Monday, December 16, 2024 Posted by bloggerdaddy

Monday, December 16, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got some words about the OpenAI whistleblower found dead in his home, how Cellebrite tech is being used to spy on journalists, and new internet guidelines from the U.K. We've also got notes on the new head of Google India, a startup with a solution for software bugs, the EU's $11 billion space bet, my review of the Lucid Air Pure EV, and more. Let's jump in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

1. An OpenAI whistleblower has been found dead in his San Francisco apartment. Suchir Balaji was a 26-year-old researcher who raised concerns about OpenAI breaking copyright law, and told the NYT that he left the company when he realized OpenAI's tech would bring more harm than good to society. Read More

2. Big Brother is always watching: Serbian authorities apparently hacked a local journalist's phone this year using a cellphone-unlocking device from Cellebrite, and used the tool to install spyware for future surveillance, per a new Amnesty report. TC's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai has the story, and a neat explainer on spyware history. Read More

3. Ain't no Section 230 in Britain: The U.K.'s internet regulator has published some strong internet safety guidelines that U.S. tech companies will likely be furious about. In three months, online service providers will be legally required to protect users from illegal harms. This comes after riots in the U.K. this summer that were fueled by social media activity. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Prequel

📊 It takes a village: Imagine being able to tap an open-source database of software failure patterns and misconfigurations to fix bugs before they're released. That's the kind of community-driven approach, which the cybersecurity world is known for, that startup Prequel is applying to software development. Read More

🇮🇳 Google has named Preeti Lobana as the head of its India business. And it's about time — the position has been open since Sanjay Gupta was promoted to APAC president in July. Lobana is taking over as Google pushes its AI products into India amid intense competition. Read More

🙃 I bet an AI could do a CEO's job better: Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski loves talking about how AI can already do all the jobs that humans can, and even said recently that his company has stopped hiring. Except, it is still hiring, and Klarna has the same number of employees today as it did in 2021. Read More

🚀 Space sovereignty: The EU has signed an $11 billion deal to launch 300 satellites into low- and medium-Earth orbits by 2030. Its goal? To rival Elon Musk-owned Starlink and boost the bloc's digital sovereignty by providing secure communications to governments. Read More

🤦 This is why you can't trust influencers: Whenever people say they get their news from influencers, I will direct them to this article about Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour paying influencers to promote memes about the FBI's raid on the home of his archrival, the CEO of Polymarket. Read More

⛽ The AI gold rush: Exxon is getting into the AI data center mix. The Big Oil giant plans to build a power plant specifically for data centers, a first for the company that usually powers plants for its own operations. This one will be run on natural gas and generate over 1.5 gigawatts. Read More

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Around the web

🤕 Profits over people: The New York Times reports that a Senate investigation led by Senator Bernie Sanders found that Amazon has documented the link between its strict production quotas and elevated rates of injury among warehouse employees – something that the company has denied for years. Read More

🤑 VC consolidation: A PitchBook study found that nine VC firms alone collected half of all the money raised by venture funds in the U.S. 2024, and 30 firms raised 75% of all capital. Andreessen Horowitz took the cake with $7.2 billion, and General Catalyst and Thrive also came in hot. Read More

🫣 Lessons from Romania: Tech Policy Press writes that TikTok's role in Romania's elections should serve as a wake up call to the rest of the world before we find ourselves living in a Big Tech-enabled authoritarian dystopia. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Rebecca Bellan

🚘 I reviewed the Lucid Air Pure, which, at $69,900, is the cheapest trim on the Air series. It's no less luxurious for that somewhat attainable price tag, though. This car made me understand why people like driving nice cars, but there is some room for improvement in the tech department that Lucid seems poised to deliver on. Read More