Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! Today we've got the latest update on the WordPress drama, which involves an internal blog post from earlier this year; we also learn that the White House may look to limit chip exports, and we dive into some AI customer service startups. Buckle up!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: TechCrunch

🍿 More drama: I don't know about y'all, but I've been really enjoying watching the drama over at Automattic. The latest in the saga involves an internal blog post from earlier this year that hints this saga has been brewing for a long time. Read more

⚙️ Chip cap: The White House has privately discussed capping the number of Nvidia and AMD AI chips that could be exported to certain countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on the grounds of national security. Read more

🤝 Amplitude makes an acquisition: Data analytics software company Amplitude acquired user engagement startup Command AI. While Command AI's CEO, James Evans, said they weren't planning on exiting this way, they got excited about working with Amplitude. Read more

A Message from Filance.AI

Filance.AI announces Credit Karma competitor

Bankuish, the credit bureau of the future of work, has launched Filance.AI: an app that empowers gig workers, creators, and freelancers to earn more from their apps, improve their credit scores, and access the best loan, credit card, and insurance offers from major U.S. banks; leveraging live app income data to drive 1099 financial inclusion.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

📰 The New York Times has had enough: The New York Times sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI startup Perplexity about using the NYT's content in its AI summaries without a license. The NYT is not the only media company getting fed up with Perplexity. Read more

📲 Pixel Party: Google is beginning to roll out Android 15 to its Pixel devices. The new software comes with a host of new features for Pixel users. Ivan Mehta gives us the lowdown on what's new. Read more

💸 No, not yet: Elon Musk has been saying for years that he wants X's revenue stream to come less from advertisers on the platform and more from paying premium subscribers. The latest numbers are in and progress on that goal is still minimal. Read more

💾 A software so good: In September, the U.S. banned Russian antivirus software provider Kaspersky over potential security issues. While the software was forcibly uninstalled from Americans' computers, some people are working around the ban to still use it. Read more

📳 AI agents: The co-founders of Credit Karma are launching a new company, OutRival, that will help companies build their own customer service agents. OutRival joins an incredibly crowded market. Read more

💰 Speaking of AI customer service: Neuron7, an AI customer service startup, just raised a $44 million Series B round. The company thinks it differentiates itself from the crowded AI customer service market by targeting complex service and repair operations. Read more

Around the web

🧓 Throwback: The Verge is calling out 2004 as a big year for tech. The publication will be diving into all the cool tech that was released 20 years ago and how it created the foundation for trends we see today. Read more

🎥 AI is on the case: Global Intelligence is a company that works with law enforcement and claims to use AI and open source public information to help locate individuals. Wired took a look and found it isn't living up to its claims. Read more