Dropbox lays off 20% of employees

Also: Ashton Kutcher is investing in Fei Fei Li's World Labs

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Wednesday, October 30, 2024 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got details on the layoffs at Dropbox, Ashton Kutcher's thoughts on AI, and Tony Fadell's opinion of Silicon Valley. We've also got notes on OpenAI's bid to build its own chips, a new "Shazam for clothes" app, a novel way to produce antibodies, a massive phishing campaign targeting government officials, and more. Also: Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt was full of great talks from investors and impressive pitches from startups like Salva Health, ForceField and Gecko. Check out the agenda for Day 3 here. Let's dive in! — Rebecca TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: TechCrunch 1. Dropbox is letting go 20% of its staff as it realizes it might have over-hired in certain areas and needs to design a "flatter, more efficient" team structure. The CEO says he takes "full responsibility." Read More 2. Everyone gets a gold star: Ashton Kutcher, actor, co-founder of Sound Ventures, and Kelso from "That 70s Show", thinks every company will be an AI company eventually. But he doesn't think there will be a winner in the space. That said, his firm is backing Fei-Fei Li's World Labs. Read More 3. Tony Fadell throws hands: We love a spicy interview, and Tony Fadell delivered at TC Disrupt. The iPod creator talked about the "mission-driven assholes" building deeptech, entitlement in Silicon Valley, why LLMs are "know-it-alls," and even took a shot at Sam Altman. Read More   A Message from Golub Capital How software companies can preserve valuation in a "down round" environment Golub Growth provides an array of flexible debt and equity solutions to fuel software companies' growth and M&A plans - without impairing their current valuation. Explore our growth capital solutions for SaaS companies. Learn More   Morning Must-Reads Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch 🐿️ Chip shop open for business: OpenAI is reportedly working with TSMC and Broadcom to build its first in-house AI chip, slated for 2026. The AI company is also apparently going to use AMD chips alongside Nvidia's for training its AI. Read More 👗 Fit check: Aesthetic has launched what it says is "Shazam for clothes," and never have I been so excited for an app. Pinterest has a similar feature for sourcing apparel and other items, but it never quite finds the exact brand. I'm curious how well Aesthetic's app works. Read More ⏸️ Hold up: Google says it's not planning to ship AI agents from its Project Astra effort until next year. These agents will purportedly be able to understand and answer questions about things — like apps that can recognize the world around them and answer questions. Read More 🥊 Fighting the good fight: Deepfakes aren't going away, but it's heartening to know there are people fighting the good fight. ForceField, one of the companies competing on TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield stage, is building a set of APIs designed to authenticate content. Read More 🪲 Cage the antibodies: Biotech startup Archon has come out of stealth with $20 million in seed funding and a new way to use AI to design novel biomolecules. The startup's goal? To supercharge antibody treatments by caging them to multiply their effects. Read More   A Message from TechCrunch Last chance to soak in the ultimate tech experience at Disrupt 2024! It's the final day of Disrupt 2024 at Moscone West! You still have the chance to gain insights from tech giants, explore startups from around the world, and witness the final fast-paced pitches from global startups and in Startup Battlefield 200. Don't miss enhanced networking opportunities and exclusive after-hour events. Immerse yourself in the ultimate tech event of the year before it ends! Register Now   Around the Web 📧 Don't get phished: Bloomberg has the details of a Microsoft report about Russian hackers targeting U.S. government officials and defense workers in a new email phishing campaign. Thousands of people in over 100 organizations have been targeted since last week. Read More 🔫 We live in a society: Meta appears to have given up on managing misinformation and potentially harmful content on its platform, according to Wired. The company is not only allowing anti-government militia groups to use Facebook to recruit, but the site is auto-generating pages. Read More 💥 AI goes nuclear: And I'm not talking about energy. The U.S. Air Force General said the government is developing AI tools to help leaders respond to "time-sensitive scenarios," 404 Media reports. The general said that AI brings "unique deterrence effects" to the table. Read More Before You Go Image Credits: Kimberly White / Getty Images 🏆 And the finalists are… The judges at TC Disrupt have come up with the five finalists for Startup Battlefield. The startups competing follow in the footsteps of a set of Startup Battlefield alumni (including Dropbox, Discord, and Mint) who have collectively raised over $29 billion. Read More Featured jobs from Crunchboard Senior Data Warehouse SQL Developer, Washington Dept. of Natural Resources (Olympia, WA) Pharmacy Epic Application Analyst, OFFSITE (Toppenish, WA) Chief Technology Officer, Mary McDowell Friends School (Brooklyn, NY) Senior Software Engineer, Dyna Robotics (San Francisco, CA) IT Technology Analyst, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy

GM says: No steering wheel, no problem

Plus: LinkedIn launches an AI recruiting tool

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Tuesday, October 29, 2024 Welcome to TC PM! Today we're excited to learn that GM still plans to release an autonomous car without a steering wheel or pedals; we dive into LinkedIn's new AI recruiting tool; and we check out a new venture fund co-founded by Olivia Wilde. TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: TechCrunch 🛞 Runnin' down a dream: GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company "definitely" still plans to release an autonomous car without a steering wheel or pedals at some point, despite recently canceling the Origin earlier this year. Read more 🤖 AI you open to new opportunities? LinkedIn has released Hiring Assistant, a new AI-powered recruiting tool that helps companies with hiring tasks like job descriptions, reaching out to potential candidates, and more. Read more 🤩 Wilde venture capital: Olivia Wilde quietly co-founded a venture fund last year called Proximity Ventures with Neil Sirni, formerly of Roc Nation's Arrive. The fund will make early- and growth-stage investments in both consumer and enterprise. Read more Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch 🙅 You can't do that: U.S. prosecutors have charged Russian national Maxim Rudometov over allegedly being involved with the development and distribution of Redline, a password-stealing malware software. Read more 💰 Big budget: The European Union released its budget for investing in deep tech research and backing startups in areas like AI and low-carbon tech. The EU plans to spend €1.4 billion, €200 million more than last year. Read more 🖥️ Mac mini: Apple announced a new Mac mini today, which shrinks a desktop down to about the size of an Apple TV. Brian Heater has the details on the new tech, which starts shipping on November 8. Read more 👀 Two models, twice the fun: GitHub will now allow developers to be multi-model. Developers will be able to switch between different AI models when they use Copilot Chat. GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke says the era of a single model is over. Read more 🛍️ Shopping spree: Amazon is expanding the reach of its AI-enabled shopping assistant, Rufus, to more countries in Europe and the Americas. The tool helps with product search, recommendations, and comparisons. Read more 👟 Sustainable shoes: HILOS uses 3D printing to make sustainable shoes. The company's strategy is meant to help resolve overproduction, because it can just print exactly the inventory it needs when it needs it. Read more   A Message from TechCrunch Two down, one to go! Don't miss the last day of Disrupt 2024! Day 2 of Disrupt 2024 is in the books! More than 10,000 attendees filled Moscone West, engaging with innovative startups, witnessing pitches on the Pitch Showcase Stage and Startup Battlefield, and soaking up insights from industry experts. It's your last chance to join—don't miss the final day at this year's tech mecca! Register Now   Around the web 🚫 Indonesia says no to Apple: Indonesia bans the sale of Apple's iPhone 16 in the country because the company failed to fulfill the country's requirement for 40% local content in headsets and tablets. Read more 🛒 Amazon overpromised: Amazon launched Amazon Karigar in 2017 as a way to help Indian artisans sell their wares online to reach a larger audience. Artisans are saying that the program did not live up to expectations. Read more Featured jobs from Crunchboard Senior Data Warehouse SQL Developer, Washington Dept. of Natural Resources (Olympia, WA) Pharmacy Epic Application Analyst, OFFSITE (Toppenish, WA) Chief Technology Officer, Mary McDowell Friends School (Brooklyn, NY) Senior Software Engineer, Dyna Robotics (San Francisco, CA) IT Technology Analyst, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy