Techcrunch blog!: Apple restricts employee use of AI tools to protect its trade secrets

Friday, May 19, 2023

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Take a bite out of Apple, get ready to be stunned by this accelerator and know that restaurant tech is still hot as I deliver your Daily Crunch for Friday. — Christine

There was quite a bit of Apple news today, so let's start there. The top story was that Apple released iOS 16.5 with the sports fan in mind. And the company unveiled it's multiview feature for Apple TV. Meanwhile, we're still trying to figure out all of this generative AI stuff. Apparently, Apple is, too, and it's also on the lookout for people to help with that. Read more.

B2B e-commerce startups enjoyed a nice run over the past few years, though recently, not so much. Read how Africa-based Sabi was able to buck this trend and come out with a quite healthy valuation.

As promised from the intro, Newchip made some big claims about its accelerator program. Employees and customers now say Newchip didn't deliver. Find out what happened.

Meanwhile, Restaurant365 will be serving up an expanded menu of software for restaurants following a new round of funding. You'll want to check out the valuation that came with it.

Image Credits: Carol Yepes / Getty Images

This week, neuroscientist, founder and author Gary Marcus testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and IBM's chief privacy trust officer Christina Montgomery. Read what happened.

Disney is reportedly fulfilling its promise of giving ESPN its own streaming service. Read more.

NASA has tapped a SpaceX competitor to build a second human landing system on the moon. Learn who it is and what the company will be doing.

Google prevailed in a U.K. court this week after a class-action style privacy lawsuit alleging health data misuse related to Google DeepMind. Get the scoop.

If LEGOs are your thing, check out these Boston Dynamics promo LEGO kits.

Oh, and if you have your eye on the Nuwa Pen, you might want to check out this review first.

Here are a few others you don't want to miss:

India okays 3-month trial of Krafton’s PUBG-inspired BGMI, a year after second ban

Big sauce wants your condiment data

Bird stock dips 11% on news of reverse stock split

Cruise, Waymo near approval to charge for 24/7 robotaxis in San Francisco

Image Credits: Jack Gruber / USA TODAY

The new rules of venture debt are already being written

Initially, venture debt was a way for new companies to acquire essential hardware before they had enough revenue to write checks for desks, chairs and copying machines.

Today, early-stage startups use it to gain liquidity, borrowing against their next funding round or future earnings, but after the failures of First Republic and Silicon Valley Bank, Rebecca Szkutak interviewed several investors who all “agreed that it would get more expensive in the future.”

Three more from the team:

From seed to Series A in 7 months: Why and how Odyssey Energy Solutions moved quickly.

Despite messy IPOs, there's good reason to be optimistic about insurtech startups.

What you should know about internal developer portals

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

The new rules of venture debt are already being written image

Image Credits: Getty Images

Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31.