May 2, 2025

The Download: foreign disinformation intel, and gene-edited pork

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. A senior State Department official demanded records of communications with journalists, European officials, and Trump critics A previously unreported document distributed by senior US State Department official Darren Beattie reveals a sweeping effort…

TechCrunch StrictlyVC in Athens in May will feature a special guest: the Greece Prime Minister

April 25, 2025
We’re thrilled to announce that Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be joining us at our upcoming StrictlyVC event in Athens, co-hosted with Endeavor, on Thursday night, May 8, at the stunning Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. For those who might not be familiar with his background, Mitsotakis brings a fascinating blend of experiences to […]

Bezos-backed Slate Auto debuts analog EV pickup truck that is decidedly anti-Tesla

April 25, 2025
A new American electric vehicle startup called Slate Auto has made its debut, and it’s about as anti-Tesla as it gets. It’s affordable, deeply customizable, and very analog. It has manual windows and it doesn’t come with a main infotainment screen. Heck, it isn’t even painted. It can also transform from a two-seater pickup to […]

Faraday Future founder named co-CEO three years after being sidelined by internal probe

April 25, 2025
Troubled electric vehicle startup Faraday Future’s board of directors has appointed founder Jia Yueting as the company’s co-CEO, three years after he was sidelined following an internal probe into allegations of fraud — a probe that led to a investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission that remains ongoing. Jia will serve alongside current CEO […]

Wait, how did a decentralized service like Bluesky go down?

April 25, 2025
Apparently, decentralized social networks can go down, too. On Thursday evening, the decentralized social network Bluesky experienced a significant outage, leaving users unable to load the app on both the web and mobile devices for roughly an hour. According to a message on Bluesky’s status page, the company was aware of the outage, which it […]

Anthropic CEO wants to open the black box of AI models by 2027

April 24, 2025
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay Thursday highlighting how little researchers understand about the inner workings of the world’s leading AI models. To address that, Amodei set an ambitious goal for Anthropic to reliably detect most AI model problems by 2027. Amodei acknowledges the challenge ahead. In “The Urgency of Interpretability,” the CEO says Anthropic has […]

How do you define cheating in the age of AI?

April 24, 2025
This AI startup raised $5.3M to help people “cheat on everything.” But in the age of AI, how do you define cheating? Columbia University recently suspended student Roy Lee for building a tool to help people cheat on engineering interviews. He’s been making waves on X after posting a long thread detailing the saga and how […]

OpenAI rolls out a ‘lightweight’ version of its ChatGPT deep research tool

April 24, 2025
OpenAI is bringing a new “lightweight” version of its ChatGPT deep research tool, which scours the web to compile research reports on a topic, to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users, the company announced Thursday. The new lightweight deep research, which will also come to free ChatGPT users starting today, is powered by a version […]

Intel reverses course, opts not to spin out Intel Capital

April 24, 2025
Semiconductor giant Intel won’t spin out its venture arm, Intel Capital, after all. During Intel’s Q1 earnings call Thursday, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company has reversed its decision to spin out its 34-year-old venture arm. Instead, Intel Capital will remain internal and continue to invest with Intel’s interests in mind. “We have made […]

Intel mandates four days in the office

April 24, 2025
Intel says that it’ll require employees to work from the office four days a week, a shift from the company’s old policy. CEO Lip-Bu Tan made the announcement during Intel’s Q1 2025 earnings call on Thursday. Previously, Intel allowed staff to work from home two days a week, but Tan said that adherence to the […]