Monday, July 22, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! The last three days have our heads spinning, what with the fallout of the CrowdStrike outage, Biden's decision to drop out of the presidential race, and Harris's bid for the POTUS seat. We're taking a look at all of that in this newsletter, as well as: Yandex's return from Nasdaq limbo; Black founders' reaction to a16z supporting Trump; WazirX suspending trading; and Nvidia's China ambitions. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: NOAH BERGER/AFP / Getty Images

1. What Kamala Harris has said about tech: Many venture capitalists weren't going to vote for Joe Biden because of the policies he espoused, but now that he's out of the presidential race, what do they think about Harris? Well, the new nominee has a long history with tech and San Francisco, as well as the support of big names like John Doerr, Ron Conway and Reed Hoffman. She's also called for oversight of big tech companies to ensure consumer privacy, and believes in regulating AI so companies don't prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their customers. Read More

2. The CIA's "thoughtful approach" to AI: Lakshmi Raman, director of AI at the CIA, told TechCrunch that there needs to be a balance between embracing new technology and deploying it responsibly. Let's not forget that the agency has a secret, undisclosed data repository with information on U.S. citizens, ripe for genAI tinkering. Read More

3. From the ashes of Yandex arises Nebius: Yandex was once referred to as the "Google of Russia," but the Russia-Ukraine war turned out to be very bad for business, so Yandex's Dutch entity has severed all ties with Mother Russia. The "new" company has adopted the name of one of its few remaining assets, an AI cloud platform called Nebuis AI, and is operating as a corporation-startup hybrid. Its goal? To be a leader in the European AI compute space. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Brad Barket / Stringer / Getty Images

✊ Black founders feel betrayed by a16z: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz's declarations of support for Trump seem to have left Black startup founders feeling betrayed. Horowitz's support of and donations to Trump are apparently particularly painful to such founders, because he's always been seen as an advocate for the Black community. "It appears personal interest and profit supersedes people," one Nigerian-American founder told TechCrunch. Read More

🔮 WazirX suspends all trading: Days about losing nearly half its reserves, about $230 million, in a security breach, the Indian cryptocurrency exchange has "temporarily" suspended all trading. The move raises concerns that WazirX won't be able to fully reimburse customers – which is fair, particularly if panic sets in and results in a run on the exchange. We saw how well that worked out for SVB. Read More

🔋 Tracking the EV battery construction boom: Biden's Inflation Reduction Act created billions in incentives for companies producing clean energy. As of today, automakers and battery makers have invested, or promised to invest, $112 billion to build domestic battery cell and module manufacturing facilities. We've been tracking the investment for the last year, so check out where it all stands two years after the IRA. Read More

🇺🇲 A look at Biden's term through the lens of tech: Now that Biden has stepped down, it's worth taking a look back at his policies and how they've affected the tech sector during his reign. He signed the IRA, providing billions in funding to clean energy companies. He also signed the CHIPS Act to revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and appointed an FTC chair who has gained a reputation for challenging big tech companies over antitrust issues. Read More

🔐 Hackers take advantage of CrowdStrike confusion: The CrowdStrike outage wasn't linked to any malicious activity, but that didn't stop bad actors from taking advantage of the chaos. CISA warned individuals to "avoid clicking on phishing emails or suspicious links," and to be vigilant about criminals trying to trick victims into handing over passwords and other sensitive codes. Read More

Around the web

🇨🇳 Nvidia doesn't want to stop selling to China: The U.S. doesn't want the Chinese military getting chips that could allow breakthroughs in supercomputing, but Nvidia isn't keen to let that market go. Reuters reports that the company is working on a version of its new AI chips for the Chinese market that are compatible with current U.S. export controls. Read More

🇯🇵 Japan is becoming a hotspot for genAI, but not because it's got any homegrown AI giants. The Financial Times reports that tech companies are increasingly drawn to the Land of the Rising Sun for its copyright laws, which critics say allow widespread use of copyrighted images and other materials to train AI models without requiring permission. Prepare to see the market get absolutely flooded with AI-generated anime catgirls. Read More

🌡️ Using AI to reduce waste heat: About 70% of energy generated worldwide ends up getting wasted, so if scientists could better predict how heat moves through semiconductors and insulators, they might be able to design more efficient power generation systems. A team of MIT researchers might have cracked that tough nut by using AI to rethink the problem from the ground up. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch

🎮 Taking PC gaming outside: Asus's new portable console, the ROG Ally X, is a Windows-based device that can basically run most PC games. But is the interface too clunky to make it worth the $800? That's your call, but here's a review to help you decide. Read More