Ashton Kutcher, Effie Epstein, and Guy Oseary are coming to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Last year, Sound Ventures, the 9-year-old, Beverly Hills, California-based venture firm led by general partners Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Effie Epstein, announced a new $265 million AI fund that was betting big on large language model companies, including…Read More

OpenAI secured more billions, but there’s still capital left for other startups

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week once again brought us AI funding news, as well as some warnings: Some categories and stages are showi…Read More

Detroit startup Grounded has a Lego-like way of designing EV vans for small businesses

When Also Capital managing partner Mike Annunziata walks around New York City these days, he sees lots of vans — and opportunity. It’s something he admits he never noticed until he met former SpaceX engineer Sam Shapiro, who is the founder of a new…Read More

The Browser Company launches Arc Search on Android

The Browser Company, the startup behind the alternative web browser Arc, announced on Thursday it’s launching its Arc Search browser on Android in open beta in a move to become a cross-platform app. Arc, already had apps in the Apple ecosystem until last year, then launched a Windows client in…Read More

Waymo’s next robotaxi will be the Hyundai IONIQ 5

Waymo has struck a deal with Hyundai to bring the IONIQ 5 EV to its robotaxi network, adding another autonomous vehicle option as it scales up its business. The autonomous vehicle company announced Friday that it expects to start on-road testing a Waymo-equipped IONIQ 5 by late 2025, with the AV b…Read More

Even the ‘godmother of AI’ has no idea what AGI is

Are you confused about artificial general intelligence, or AGI? It’s that thing OpenAI is obsessed with ultimately creating in a way that “benefits all of humanity.” You may want to take them seriously since they just raised $6.6 billion to get closer to that goal. But if you’re still won…Read More

A co-lead on Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, has left for Google

One of the co-leads on OpenAI’s video generator, Sora, has left for Google. Tim Brooks, who was heading development on Sora with William Peebles, announced in a post on X that he’ll be joining Google DeepMind, Google’s AI research division, to work on video generation technologies a…Read More

Judge blocks California’s new AI law in case over Kamala Harris deepfake

A federal judge blocked one of California’s new AI laws on Wednesday, less than two weeks after it was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Shortly after signing AB 2839, Newsom suggested it could be used to force Elon Musk to take down an AI deepfake of Vice President Kam…Read More

Venture firm CRV returns $275 million citing overvaluation of mature startups

CRV, a more than 50-year-old venture firm, is returning to investors $275 million from its $500 million Select fund, which backs later-stage rounds of existing portfolio companies, the New York Times reported. The firm is one of the first Silicon Valley outfits to…Read More

Here is what’s illegal under California’s 18 (and counting) new AI laws

In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom considered 38 AI-related bills, including the highly contentious SB 1047, which the state’s legislature sent to his desk for final approval. He vetoed SB 1047 on Sunday, marking the end of the road for California’s con…Read More

YouTube blocks videos from Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, others in dispute with SESAC

A number of YouTube videos featuring music from artists such as Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and R.E.M. have been unplayable in the United States since Saturday. For example, if you try to play Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” (whether it’s the classic…Read More