Runway releases a new video-generating model

Plus: Plex has a new mobile app

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Monday, March 31, 2025 Welcome to TC PM! Today we are looking into AI news, including more models and new AI agent subscriptions; we learn of multiple cybersecurity incidents; and we meet the woman who voices your Bluetooth speaker. Press play! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Industry Stages. M. Reinertson/The Photo Group 🎬 More models: AI startup Runway released a new video-generating model, Gen-4, to add to its suite of AI video tools. Kyle Wiggers notes that while there is a lot of competition in the video-generating space, Runway has differentiated itself by inking deals with Hollywood studios.  🤑 Pay up: Manus AI, the viral AI agent platform out of China, has launched two subscription plans that start at $39 a month. These subscriptions are priced by the number of credits offered and how many tasks the AI agents can run simultaneously.  📀 New features: Media software maker and streaming app Plex has launched an updated version of its mobile app. The updates include a new user experience, like a reorganized navigation that includes giving its Watchlist a dedicated spot.   A Message from Silicon Valley Bank Grow from Seed to Series A with SVB With 40+ years of industry experience, Silicon Valley Bank gives your seed funding the support it needs to bloom. Learn More   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images 🤨 Are you sure about that? ByteDance's extended Saturday deadline to divest from TikTok is quickly approaching. While anecdotally it seems unlikely that a deal will get done by then, Donald Trump said that a deal will in fact be done by the deadline. I'll believe it when I see it.  🤺 Uh-oh, the EVs are fighting: EV truck maker Harbinger has filed an objection regarding the sale of Canoo's assets to its CEO as part of the latter's bankruptcy proceedings. Harbinger is accusing Canoo of hiding certain assets in the sales process. Spicy! 😬 Oops! API testing firm APIsec confirmed that it secured an exposed internal database filled with customer data that had been connected to the internet with no password. Security research firm UpGuard spotted the exposed database back on March 5.  🕶️ Speaking of security incidents: Tech giant Oracle is coming under fire for how it has handled two recent security breaches. The two incidents in question involve Oracle Health and Oracle Cloud. In both incidents, it seems Oracle was purposefully opaque on what happened.  🍎 AI for Apple Vision Pro: Apple announced today that it is rolling out visionOS 2.4, which will bring Apple Intelligence-powered features to Apple Vision Pro. This update also includes new spatial experiences and the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone.    A Message from TechCrunch Events Final hours to save $320 on TC All Stage founder + investor passes TechCrunch All Stage is where founders and VCs scale smarter. Join us in Boston on July 15 for two stages packed with insights on early growth and post-Series A success. Breakouts, roundtables, and elite networking await. Speakers include Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Jahanvi Sardana (Index Ventures), and more. Save $320 — last chance before 11:59 p.m. PT tonight! Save Now   Around the web 📦 Getting into Gel: Have you ever wondered why so many items come with a pack of silica gel beads in them? Even if you haven't, you can learn why that is the case and what these beads are and do to begin with. This may not be a tech story, but it is fascinating.  🙋‍♀️ The Bluetooth lady: Meet Kristen DiMercurio, the woman whose voice is behind your Bluetooth speaker. DiMercurio talked to Wired about how she got into this type of voice-over work and how it is all drying up now thanks to AI.  Before you go Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images 🌝 Capacity chokehold: OpenAI's capacity struggles continue. This morning the company disabled video generation for new users of Sora, the company's suite of AI media tools. Sora users can still generate images, however. Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Head of Strategic Finance, GITAI USA (Torrance, CA) Senior Software Engineer, Source (Remote) Engineering & Support Senior Director, AAOS (Rosemont, IL) Research Systems Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) Machine Control Technician, Sinacola (Dallas, TX) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 680 Folsom Street,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy

Elon Musk’s xAI buys X and all its juicy data

Also: CoreView's origin story

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Monday, March 31, 2025 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're exploring the logic of the X and xAI deal; what sci-fi means; and the origin story of CoreWeave. We've also got notes on: fresh funds for AI agents and drug discovery; how one fintech is preparing for its IPO, the Tesla Takedown movement, SpaceX and Apple's satellite fight, and more. — Rebecca TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty Images 1. It finally happened: Elon Musk's xAI has acquired X in an all-stock deal that values the social media company at $33 billion. Is this deal meant to turn X into a data-gathering resource for the xAI, or simply to shed off some of the debt Musk & Co. incurred when they bought it? Read More 2. What is sci-fi? China Miéville, the author of novels like "Perdido Street Station" and "The Book of Elsewhere," says it's a mistake to read sci-fi as if it's actually about the future. "It's always about now. It's always a reflection," he told TechCrunch. Read More 3. Buzzwords: TC's Julie Bort sat down with CoreWeave's co-founder Brian Venturo in the wake of its public debut – the biggest U.S. tech IPO since 2021 – about how a closet of crypto-mining GPUs morphed into an AI training infrastructure play. Read More   A Message from Persona Verify more users without sacrificing security. Verify users during onboarding to fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, build trust, and protect your business and customers. Persona's low-code identity verification platform adapts to risk signals in real time — increasing friction for potential fraudsters while fast-tracking good users so you can maximize conversion and minimize risk. Get a Demo   Morning Must-Reads Image Credits: Chime 🏦 Deals, deals, deals: As Chime heads towards the public markets, the digital bank is revving up to attract customers. TC got the scoop that Chime is now offering customers who agree to have paychecks directly deposited into a Chime account an APY of 3.75%. Read More 🤑 Agent this, agent that: Seattle-based Temporal made a name for itself offering microservices, like helping platforms build integrations across apps. Now, with a fresh $146 million, Temporal will be one of the latest to support new areas like agentic AI. Read More 🙂 Everything's fine: Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says the startup is doing just fine financially after users took to Reddit to hypothesize about cost cuts worsening the user experience. He also confirmed that Perplexity isn't looking to IPO anytime before 2028. Read More 🔥 It's getting uglier: Tesla Takedown protests are still going strong three months after they began. But there's a risk that the feds will treat peaceful protests the same as people throwing Molotov cocktails and label it all "domestic terrorism." Read More 🪑 People moves: Jennifer Salke is stepping down as head of Amazon MGM Studios, a move that could indicate dissatisfaction with the company's streaming strategy over the past few years. I wonder if the disappointment that was "Rings of Power" has anything to do with it. Read More   A Message from TechCrunch Events Last 24 hours! Save $320 on TC All Stage founder + investor passes Founders & VCs, are you ready to scale? TechCrunch All Stage hits Boston on July 15 with two stages covering early growth & post-Series A strategies. Join Breakouts, Roundtables & top networking. Hear from leaders like Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures) & Jahanvi Sardana (Index Ventures). Save up to $320 — offer ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT! Save Now   Around the Web 🛰️ Apple v. SpaceX: A Wall Street Journal report details the clash between Apple and SpaceX as the iPhone maker tries to eliminate cellphone dead spots with satellite technology. Apple wants to expand its own satellite investments, but not if SpaceX has anything to say about it. Read More 💊 Drug discovery gets a boost: Isomorphic Labs, a division within Google using AI to accelerate drug design, has raised $600 million from outside investors. Jared Kushner-owned Thrive Capital led the round, reports The New York Times. Read More 🔮 Making money work for you: A Reuters analysis details how the Trump family took control of World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture, and grabbed the lion's share of half-a-billion dollars raised from selling governance tokens, which give holders the right to vote on changes to the project's underlying code. Read More Before You Go 🩺 Put me in, coach: Apple is developing a new version of its Health app that includes an AI coach that will be able to look at all your health data, including the food you eat, and suggest ways to improve. "You've been sitting for four hours and now you've had a donut. Tsk Tsk." Read More Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Head of Strategic Finance, GITAI USA (Torrance, CA) Senior Software Engineer, Source (Remote) Engineering & Support Senior Director, AAOS (Rosemont, IL) Research Systems Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) Machine Control Technician, Sinacola (Dallas, TX) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 680 Folsom Street,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy