Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got some more X-related drama, what to look for at AWS' re:Invest 2024 event, and the unexpected upside of all the new IPOs. We've also got a win for SpaceX, a true open-source AI model, Roblox taking a stand, Figure's humanoid robot, and a darkly funny depiction of the future.

We'll be off the rest of the week for Thanksgiving, and I wish you all a happy day of carb-fueled side dishes, family arguments, and laying on the couch watching football. On to the news! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: ALLISON ROBBERT/POOL/AFP / Getty Images

1. New world order: Elon Musk is defending conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the guy who claimed the grieving parents of the Sandy Hook shooting victims were paid actors. Musk has filed an objection to block the Onion from acquiring the X account of InfoWars, Jones' conspiracy theory website that the satirical paper won in a bid. Read More

2. What to expect from AWS re:Invest 2024: All signs point to AWS' conference in Las Vegas this Sunday being an eventful one. CEO Matt Garman told TechCrunch last month that it wouldn't be "just an AI conference," promising "innovations across the stack." Read More

3. Enter the dirty term sheet: ServiceTitan filed documents last week for its IPO, which revealed a potential harbinger not of the IPO market reopening at last, but rather the prevalence of "dirty term sheets" at startups that raised a lot of money during the zero interest rate policy era of 2021. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Getty Images

⭐ Starlight, starbright: The FCC has granted SpaceX permission to offer a direct-to-phone version of Starlink with T-Mobile as its provider. It'll take some time to get the infrastructure set up, but it looks like "no signal" will soon be a thing of the past. Read More

👑 Trump might create an AI czar for the White House who would be charged with helping coordinate federal regulation and governmental use of AI, Axios reports. They reportedly won't require Senate confirmation, allowing them to work on the administration's goals faster. Read More

✂️ Cut out the middleman: Roblox is offering users who buy Robux on its website and via gift cards 25% more than they would if they purchased the in-game currency from an app store instead. It's a route that other app and game publishers have taken to avoid paying Apple and Google a cut for in-app purchases. Read More

👪 There's a new AI model family in town: Meet OLMo2, the second family of models to come from nonprofit AI research organization Ai2. OLMo2 is a true open source AI that competes with Meta's Llama and "reduces a growing concentration of power, creating more equitable access," per Ai2 engineer Dirk Groeneveld. Read More

👓 Who knew that a direct-to-consumer eyewear company could be a venture-backed business? The founders of Eyewa, apparently. The Dubai and Riyadh-based startup just closed a $100 million Series C. The two relied on their background in scaling food delivery to achieve unprecedented levels of growth. Read More

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Around the web

👽 Imagine Black Mirror, but funny: That's what these influencers succeeded in doing with an Instagram skit that describes a world in which Elon Musk can transfer his consciousness into multiple bodies ("but this one's kind of hot"), influencers are sent to Mars to "bridge the gap between humans and aliens," and baristas can't serve you your "water buffalo milk latte with a pump of the Lexapro anti-radiation syrup." Watch Now

✍️ It begins: Over 54% of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn are likely AI-generated. While I usually cringe at the idea of relying on AI to write, LinkedIn might be the ideal laboratory for it. As Wired writes, "It's the place where people strive to be the most anodyne versions of themselves, pleasant and inoffensive. Artificiality, in other words, is what everyone is expecting." Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Figure

🤖 Check out Figure's humanoid robot, Figure 02, as it performs tasks autonomously at HQ for a BMW use case. There aren't any remote operators, as far as we can tell. Watch Now