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A fireside chat between Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg at SIGGRAPH 2024 took some unexpected turns. What started as a conversation about the capabilities of Nvidia GPUs and Zuckerberg’s vision of an AI chatbot future quickly became a more casual affair — including a swap of custom-made jackets, a rare F-bomb from the Meta CEO, and a slightly unsettling anecdote about slicing tomatoes.
Bumble, Hinge and other apps were open to stalkers, with vulnerabilities that allowed users to be tracked within 2 meters of their physical location. It took researchers a bit of work to identify the issue, which has since been resolved, but it’s another reminder of how privacy is always one vulnerability away from being violated.
Intel announced sweeping layoffs, affecting 15,000 employees, as the company continues to face declining revenue, a lack of success in its AI initiatives, and a prediction that the rest of the year will be “tougher than previously expected,” in the words of its CEO Pat Gelsinger.
The SEC charged BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji with fraud and unregistered offering of securities, claiming he used a pseudonymous identity to avoid regulatory scrutiny while he raised over $257 million in cryptocurrency. BitClout, a decentralized social media platform, raised from a who’s who of firms, like a16z, Sequoia, Social Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Winklevoss Capital.
Meta reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas attorney general Ken Paxton this week. The settlement stems from a two-year-old lawsuit alleging that Meta’s past use of facial-recognition technology violated the state’s privacy protections and that Facebook failed to disclose this practice to users and obtain their consent. The first payment of $500 million is due in the next month, according to court filings.
This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review — where we recap the week’s biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.
News
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You can now try out Apple Intelligence: Apple is finally releasing some of its highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features as part of a developer beta version of iOS 18.1. Here’s how you can enable it on your iPhone. Read more
OpenAI starts rolling out Voice Mode: Following controversies and delays, OpenAI is giving a small group of ChatGPT Plus users access to GPT-4o’s advanced Voice Mode. The company says the feature will roll out to all Plus users in fall 2024. Read more
This necklace wants to be your friend: Friend is a wearable AI device designed to combat loneliness. Rather than focusing on productivity, the AI necklace acts like an always-listening walkie-talkie that you can chat with. Read more
Meta launches AI Studio: Creators in the U.S. will now be able to build AI bots across all Meta platforms. The bots can be used to create captions, format posts, generate memes, and even make a personal chatbot to interact with their followers. Read more
Here’s how to opt out of facial recognition at airports: U.S. airports are rolling out facial-recognition technology to scan the faces of travelers before they board their flight. But Americans can opt out of it altogether. Read more
Turns out, doomscrolling probably isn’t good for you: A recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports links the process of doomscrolling to existential anxiety, despair, distrust and suspicion of others. Read more
Canva acquires Leonardo.ai: In an effort to broaden the scope of its AI tech stack, Canva has acquired generative AI content and research startup Leonardo.ai. As a result, all 120 of the startup’s employees will join Canva. Read more
Flo Health becomes a unicorn: The fertility-focused period-tracking app raised a $200 million Series C, valuing the startup at more than $1 billion post-money. The funding will be used to attract more users and add features for menopause and perimenopause. Read more
OpenAI and Microsoft’s frenemy era begins? Microsoft has invested significantly in OpenAI and uses its models across many products. And while OpenAI being listed as a “competitor” in an SEC filing may raise eyebrows, there’s some nuance involved. Read more
Welcome back, Motorola Razr flip phones: Samsung is still the king of foldable smartphones, but there’s more competition in the category. We compare the new Galaxy Fold 6 to the Motorola Razr+ (which, yes, comes in that iconic pink shade). Read more
Analysis
Image Credits: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg / Getty Images
Why did Wiz walk away from $23 billion? Google was reportedly offering $23 billion to acquire Wiz. Then Wiz walked away. Why? Ron Miller argues that by saying no to what could have been the most lucrative deal ever proposed for a startup, Wiz showed it has a lot of nerve — and that it’s willing to place a big bet on itself. Read more
Can you actually make an AI companion for children? The ambitious startup Heeyo wants to build an AI that is both a friend and tutor for kids. But with a target audience like that, privacy and safety are of utmost concern, and Rebecca Bellan put both to the test in her exclusive exploration of their chatbot. Read more
