TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla Cybercab hits the road — and a snag
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.
The Download: AI doomers, whistleblowing agents, and de-aged livers
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The AI industry has taken a doomer turn. What now? AI chiefs Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis are suddenly all in agreement: the latest generation of LLMs…
TopTechTrends
Seattle Times and Newsday are the latest publications to sue OpenAI and Microsoft
Two more news organizations are suing OpenAI and Microsoft over the supposed use of their journalism to train AI.
Hikers rescued after using Google Gemini for planning
The sheriff’s office said the hikers “were advised by Gemini to bring far less food and water than their group required.”
OpenAI confirms ‘wiki incident,’ says it’s ‘working on a framework’ for more disclosure
OpenAI acknowledged its role in a recently reported incident where AI agents took over a German wiki forum.
Clucky’s new alarm app wakes you up with a crowing rooster
Clucky’s new alarm app has an option where users are woken up to the sound of a rooster. They then complete a mission to turn it off.
Oura is going public, but these smart ring companies are coming for its crown
While Oura has largely dominated the smart ring market for years, a growing number of rivals are now racing to dethrone it by trying all sorts of approaches to get an edge over it.
Labor Day Was Built So You Can Rest. So Why Do You Feel Like You Can’t?
The holiday exists. The permission to actually stop does not. And for the people running hardest, a long weekend does not feel like rest.
XDOF, just three months out of stealth, is in talks for a Series B at a $1.2B valuation
The round is being raised just months after the robot data startup exited from stealth.
OpenAI’s rogue agents keep escaping, with no formal process to investigate them
OpenAI’s latest agent swarm incident adds urgency to calls for independent investigations as researchers and lawmakers question whether AI labs should control the scope of their own safety reviews.
AI compute provider Nscale is looking for $3.5B in pre-IPO financing
Nscale, which recently struck a $45 billion deal with Anthropic, is in talks to raise additional funds in anticipation of an upcoming IPO.