Friday, December 6, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! Today we have the details on Meta's new Llama AI model; we learn the latest in the U.S.' quest to ban TikTok; and we put a number on how much Elon Musk might have spent on Donald Trump's re-election campaign. Have a great weekend!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Larysa Amosova via Getty

🦙 More models: Meta today announced a new AI model in the Llama family called Llama 3.3 70B. This text-only model is meant to have the same capabilities as Meta's larger Llama model, Llama 3.1 405B, but at a lower cost. Someone please help them name these things. Read more

⏰ TikTok is on the clock: A federal appeals court unanimously voted today to uphold President Biden's law that requires ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban by January 19. TikTok said it will bring the case to the Supreme Court. Read more

👀 Musk's meddling: While it was clear Elon Musk was putting a ton of time and energy toward Donald Trump's re-election campaign this year, what wasn't clear was how much he spent on the effort. New campaign financial data gives us an idea. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto / Getty Images

🎉 It's an AI party: Planning large events is hard. Can AI help? A startup called Nowadays thinks so. It's helping customers plan large events using multiple AI models and its own coding, and it just raised $2 million. Read more

🎁 Another wrapped: Google Photos is the latest company to offer a year-in-review feature. I just looked at mine, and included in the first five "highlights" was a picture of dog slobber on my jacket and a selfie of me getting my hair done. Such fond memories! Read more

🏀 Basketball backers: Another former NBA player has thrown a hat into the proverbial VC ring. Metta Sandiford-Artest, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, and a handful of other NBA teams, is looking to raise $100 million for a debut fund. Read more

🔎 Surveillance state: Toka, an Israeli startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, specializes in hacking into security cameras and IoT devices. The company is looking to hire a "Client Director U.S." to focus on new growth within the U.S. government. Great! Read more

🎙️ AI froth continues: On this week's Equity, the gang looks at a recent seed round for /dev/agents, which valued the company at $500 million despite not having a product. They also talked about VC turnover, ServiceTitan's IPO, and more. Listen here

Around the web

🤝 Couple up and conquer: Canadian AI giant Cohere is partnering with CoreWeave to build a new data center in Canada with help from the Canadian government. The data center will be big enough for both Cohere and outside players to use. Read more