OpenAI is reportedly adjusting its compensation strategy in response to a recent talent exodus to Meta. Following the recruitment of several senior researchers from OpenAI by Meta, Mark Chen, OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer, expressed his concern in a Slack memo, stating that it felt like a breach of trust, akin to having something stolen from […]
OpenAI has removed a widely-discussed video that highlighted the relationship between its CEO, Sam Altman, and renowned Apple designer, Jony Ive. This video also touched upon OpenAI’s proposed $6.5 billion acquisition of Ive and his device startup, io. Following a court order related to a trademark dispute involving the name "io," all related promotional material […]
Last year marked a significant milestone for the AI industry in the U.S. and globally. In 2024, 49 startups successfully raised funding rounds of $100 million or more, with three companies securing multiple “mega-rounds” and seven companies raising rounds exceeding $1 billion. As we delve into 2025, the trend appears to continue robustly. The first […]
Andrei Serban, a former product lead at Rippling, identified a major inefficiency in IT support during his tenure there. After joining Rippling through its acquisition of his coding security startup, Fuzzbuzz, in 2023, he became acutely aware of the manual tasks burdening help desk teams, such as password resets and access requests. To address this, […]
We are excited to announce the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, set to take place from October 27 to 29 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Following an intensive review process, we have narrowed down a remarkable group of 20 finalists, comprising 10 for breakout sessions and another 10 for roundtables. Now, we invite you to […]
There are only 48 hours left to secure your tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, where you can save up to $900 and enjoy 90% off on a second ticket. After May 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT, the Early Bird pricing will end, eliminating this unique opportunity to join 10,000 of the tech industry’s most innovative […]
Manus AI, a rapidly rising player in the AI agent startup scene, has recently secured $75 million at a valuation of approximately $500 million in a funding round led by Benchmark. However, reports indicate that the U.S. Treasury Department is now scrutinizing this investment to ensure compliance with 2023 regulations that restrict investments in Chinese […]
Fastino, a startup based in Palo Alto, is innovating in the AI space by adopting a different approach to model architecture. Unlike major tech firms that typically develop enormous AI models requiring costly GPU clusters, Fastino has focused on creating small, task-specific models. These compact models are optimized for efficiency, allowing them to be trained […]
Every so often, a startup emerges in Silicon Valley with a mission so outrageous that it blurs the line between genuine innovation and satire. The latest example is Mechanize, founded by renowned AI researcher Tamay Besiroglu. Following its recent announcement, the startup and Besiroglu faced significant backlash on social media platforms like X. Mechanize’s stated […]
Safe Superintelligence (SSI), an AI startup spearheaded by Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, has recently secured an additional $2 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to $32 billion. This funding round, led by Greenoaks, comes on the heels of SSI’s previous funding success of $1 billion and follows earlier reports indicating that the startup was […]