June 16, 2025

How AI can help make cities work better for residents

In recent decades, cities have become increasingly adept at amassing all sorts of data. But that data can have limited impact when government officials are unable to communicate, let alone analyze or put to use, all the information they have access to. This dynamic has always bothered Sarah Williams, a professor of urban planning and…

Why climate researchers are taking the temperature of mountain snow

May 14, 2025
On a crisp morning in early April, Dan McEvoy and Bjoern Bingham cut clean lines down a wide run at the Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, then ducked under a rope line cordoning off a patch of untouched snow.  They side-stepped up a small incline, poled past a row of Jeffrey pines, then…

Attend TechCrunch Sessions: AI with this new, limited-time discount

May 13, 2025
We’re excited to announce a big surprise for the AI community — TechCrunch Sessions: AI is getting a limited-time discount to broaden the number of people who can attend and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry. For just $292, you can get a general admission ticket — plus a 50% discount […]

Google tests replacing ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ with ‘AI Mode’

May 13, 2025
Google is testing a redesign of its Search homepage in which “AI Mode,” the experimental AI-powered search feature the company rolled out earlier in May, replaces its longstanding “I’m Feeling Lucky” button under the Search bar. A company spokesperson confirmed to The Verge, which was the first to report the change, that the feature began […]

$25B-valued Chime files for an IPO, reveals $33M deal with Dallas Mavericks

May 13, 2025
At long last, digital consumer bank Chime has moved forward with its IPO by filing its S-1 paperwork Tuesday. Chime had reportedly filed confidential S-1 paperwork back in December. S-1 filings typically reveal all kinds of information, covering financial, legal, and other risk factors. But Chime’s S-1 documents still have a lot of blank spaces. […]

xAI’s promised safety report is MIA

May 13, 2025
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has missed a self-imposed deadline to publish a finalized AI safety framework, as noted by watchdog group The Midas Project. xAI isn’t exactly known for its strong commitments to AI safety as it’s commonly understood. A recent report found that the company’s AI chatbot, Grok, would undress photos of women when […]

New York-focused VC Work-Bench has raised a fresh $160M

May 13, 2025
Work-Bench, whose portfolio includes unicorns Spring Health and Socure, just raised a $160 million Fund IV to quadruple down on backing companies in New York City. The firm announced the raise in a blog post on Monday, saying the latest fund will support seed-stage founders building enterprise software. Checks will range from $2 million to […]

NFT phenom CryptoPunks was just sold to a nonprofit

May 13, 2025
Yuga Labs, known as the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club and other notable NFTs, sold its iconic CryptoPunks to the nonprofit NODE Foundation, which focuses on preserving digital art. The deal details are undisclosed, and a representative declined to comment. Back in April, NODE announced it received a $25 million grant to “build the […]

Anthropic, Google score win by nabbing OpenAI-backed Harvey as a user

May 13, 2025
Popular legal AI tool Harvey will now be using leading foundation models from Anthropic and Google, moving beyond strictly using OpenAI’s, Harvey announced in a blog post on Tuesday. This is noteworthy because Harvey is one of the OpenAI Startup Fund’s most successful early-backed portfolio companies. The OpenAI Startup Fund is an OpenAI-associated fund to […]