Friday, April 25, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking at Slate Auto's analog EV; how Bluesky went down; and Perplexity's plan to track users everywhere. We've also got notes about: Anthropic's aim to decode the AI black box; the White House's national AI policy; Adam Neumann's latest mongo funding round, and much more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images

1. Absolutely not: Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas thinks users of the company's browser will be totally fine with their activity being tracked even outside the app so that the AI company can serve them even more personalized ads. Because the one thing everyone on the internet needs is even more advertising. Read More

2. The working man's truck: Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto has debuted an EV pickup that's affordable, customizable, and very analog – replete with manual windows and no infotainment screens. Read More

3. Not truly decentralized yet: Bluesky went down for about an hour last night, which caught many by surprise since it's supposed to be a decentralized social network. But decentralized services are only truly so if they're run off independent servers, and the vast majority of Bluesky users don't run their own instances. Read More

A Message from TechCrunch Events

Ready, set, scale! Join 1,200+ founders & VCs on July 15

Get in the room with the best in AI! TC Sessions: AI in Berkeley, CA, brings together 1,200+ leaders, VCs, and innovators for deep insights from experts like Logan Kilpatrick (Google DeepMind), Jared Kaplan (Anthropic), Jae Lee (Twelve Labs), and more. Don't miss a full day of immersive main stage talks, roundtables, and elite networking. Register now and save $210 before rates rise! Want to boost your brand? Exhibit!

Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg / Getty Images

🗃️ Demystifying the AI black box: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wants his company to be able to truly understand how AI models work and detect problems by 2027. "These systems will be absolutely central to the economy, technology, and national security […] I consider it unacceptable for humanity to be totally ignorant of how they work," he said. Read More

🫨 Whiplash: Semiconductor giant Intel has decided not to spin out its venture arm, Intel Capital, a move the company announced in January. Intel said the investment unit will remain internal and continue to invest with its interests in mind. Read More

🗣️ Lights, comments, action! The White House's in-progress national AI policy, AKA the AI Action Plan, has received more than 10,000 public comments that touch on everything from the environmental harms of data centers to copyright issues. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Read More

🍿 Troubled EV startup Faraday Future has welcomed back its founder, Jia Yueting, to serve as co-CEO. Jia was sidelined after an internal probe and SEC investigation into allegations of fraud. He's now serving alongside Matthias Aydt, a long-time employee who was once placed on probation for offering to bribe a board member. Read More

📹 Let's make you look presentable: Evernote founder Phil Libin's strangely named video startup, mmhmm, has a new video toolkit for online meetings called Airtime. It includes a virtual camera that helps you look more polished on video calls, and a presentation tool that lets you and your colleagues appear on screen as you present slides. Read More

✂️ Reality comes at you fast: Meta has cut the headcount of its Reality Labs division, specifically within Oculus Studios. It's not clear how many people lost their jobs, but they include those who worked on Quest products like VR exercise app Supernatural. Read More

A Message from TechCrunch

3 ways to get your brand in front of TC All Stage founders

Build brand recognition and capture lead data with a 10' x 10' or 6' x 3' Expo space, build your own Breakout session for 100-150 attendees or lead a small-group Roundtable discussion.

Contact TechCrunch Now

Around the Web

🤝 AI + crypto: Crypto VC investor Paradigm has bet $50 million on Nous Research, reports Fortune. Nous is enjoying a token valuation of $1 billion, and it aims to create a method for training open-source AI models that would let people contribute their own idle computing power. Read More

🇧🇷 AI isn't a panacea to all problems: Brazil has introduced AI tools to review welfare benefits in a bid to reduce bureaucracy, but the tools are misfiring on complex cases, leading to automatic denials for many of the country's most vulnerable populations, reports Rest of World. Read More

💯 Holla, we want a prenup: Starting a company together is like entering into a marriage — you hope it'll work out, but things can get messy. The hosts of the Great Chat podcast talked to Rachel Profitt, CEO of Cooley, about how to avoid some of the biggest mistakes people make when founding a startup or venture fund together. Read More

Before You Go

🏠 Failing upwards: Adam Neumann, founder of WeWork, has managed to raise over $100 million in capital for his proptech startup Flow in a round that values the company at $2.5 billion. Is this a case of a founder learning from his failures, or Silicon Valley's penchant for favoring charisma over accountability? Read More