Elon Musk skipped a hearing in Philly about his super PAC’s payouts to voters

A Philadelphia judge ordered X CEO Elon Musk to appear in a hearing Thursday morning over his super PAC’s plan to award $1 million a day to voters in key battleground states. But Musk skipped his courthouse appointment after the same judge granted a request to t…Read More

TechCrunch Space: Disrupt 2024 wrap-up

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is a wrap, and I’m more than thrilled by the amazing space industry programming we had on offer this year. We covered everything from building a dual-use business to orbital re-entry, we caught up with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck, and heard…Read More

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hints at an ‘agentic’ Alexa

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy today hinted at an improved, “agentic” version of the company’s Alexa assistant — one that could take actions on a user’s behalf. “I think that the next generation of these assistants and generative AI applications will be better at not just answering questions and summa…Read More

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says lack of compute capacity is delaying the company’s products

In a Reddit AMA, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that a lack of compute capacity is one major factor preventing the company from shipping products as often as it’d like. “All of these models have gotten quite complex,” he wrote in response to a question about w…Read More

How to court — and retain — Gen Z workers

It’s the topic on everyone’s mind: Are Gen Z workers actually different?  TechCrunch sought to find out at this year’s Disrupt 2024. We sat down with SignalFire’s Heather Doshay, Comprehensive.io’s Roger Lee, and Lauren Illovsky from Capital G to chat about how to hire and retain talent. One topic that ca…Read More

Space CEOs talk about the challenges and opportunities of selling defense tech

Space executives took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday to talk about the challenges and opportunities of building out dual-use technology, or tech that has both a defense and a commercial use case.  The dual-use strategy can be tricky for young startups to…Read More

NFL quarterback turned-founder Colin Kaepernick on the challenges facing disrupters

Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to talk about the challenges that people who want to disrupt something are facing — both inside and outside of the tech world. “One of the…Read More

NFL quarterback turned-founder Colin Kaepernick on the challenges facing disrupters

Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to talk about the challenges that people who want to disrupt something are facing — both inside and outside of the tech world. “One of the…Read More

NFL quarterback turned-founder Colin Kaepernick on the challenges facing disrupters

Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to talk about the challenges that people who want to disrupt something are facing — both inside and outside of the tech world. “One of the…Read More

NFL quarterback turned-founder Colin Kaepernick on the challenges facing disrupters

Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to talk about the challenges that people who want to disrupt something are facing — both inside and outside of the tech world. “One of the…Read More

Rivian’s chief software officer says in-car buttons are ‘an anomaly’

The trend of big touchscreens in cars has left many yearning for the not-so-distant days when most user interactions happened with physical buttons. But Rivian’s chief software officer Wassym Bensaid believes using buttons in a car is an “anomaly.” “It’s a bug. It’s not a featu…Read More

Clashing approaches to combat AI’s ‘perpetual bulls**t machine’

The AI stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 got off to a fiery but constructive start on a panel about combating disinformation. But in a spirited exchange of views tempered by expressions of respect and agreement, all three panelists had harsh words for social media and generative AI. N…Read More

Betaworks focuses on AI applications in its latest Camp

For its most recent Camp, VC and accelerator Betaworks was on the lookout for startups building native applications made possible by AI. The program was first announced in May. To explain this focus, managing partner John Borthwick wrote at the time that while things like AI chatbots and…Read More

Dropbox is laying off 20% of its staff

Dropbox is letting go 20% of its workforce as the cloud company undergoes what CEO Drew Houston calls a “transitional period.” In a letter to staff, Houston said that the reduction in headcount would impact 528 people. The goal, he added, was to make cuts in areas where Dropbox has “over-invested” while…Read More

Once-dominant Swiggy seeks $11.3B value at IPO, less than half Zomato’s worth

Swiggy, one of India’s largest food delivery and quick commerce startups, is seeking a valuation of up to $11.3 billion in its initial public offering, marking a 57% discount to rival Zomato’s market cap. The lossmaking Bengaluru-based company has set an IPO price b…Read More