Thursday, January 30, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we learn of a new U.S. AI model that is allegedly better than DeepSeek's R1; we look at some international teamwork to bring down a cybercriminal forum; and we get the details on multiple tech companies looking to trim headcount.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Yuichiro Chino / Getty Images

🤖 More models: Ai2, a nonprofit AI research institute based in Seattle, released an open source AI model, succinctly called Tülu 3 405B, that the org claims is better than DeepSeek V3. Can this tit-for-tat model release structure last forever? Read more

🔧 Fixed up: Security researchers at Wiz found that one of DeepSeek's back-end databases was fully exposed, allowing anyone to access sensitive information like user chat logs. The researchers alerted DeepSeek, which says it has fixed the issue. Read more

👋 How do you do, fellow kids? Mark Zuckerberg wants to make Facebook cool again. The Meta CEO announced on the company's earnings call that he wants to return to "OG Facebook" but didn't provide details on what that was. He did say this decision could compromise business results in the near term. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg / Getty Images

🎁 Going deep on DeepSeek: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's release of its R1 model last week sent the AI industry into chaos. Maxwell Zeff spoke with AI experts about what this means for the industry going forward. Read more

🤝 International teamwork: A coalition of law enforcement agencies from the U.S., Australia, and multiple countries in Europe took down and seized two prominent hacking forums where cybercriminals traded stolen information and tools. Read more

🚢 Gulf of drama: Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is questioning Google's decision to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps products in the U.S. Sheinbaum plans to send the tech giant a letter questioning the decision. Read more

🏢 Dollars for building design: Motif, a design platform for architects, has raised $46 million in fresh funds. The startup is founded by two men who used to work at Autodesk, the legacy architecture software industry leader. Read more

☹️ Amazon's RTO struggle: Amazon has made a small number of layoffs in its sustainability and communication departments. These cuts are tied to the company's return-to-office policy that was announced in September and has not been well received. Read more

📂 In other labor news: Google is offering voluntary buyouts to the team that builds Pixel, Android, and Chrome. This comes just a year after Google merged these areas into one team. The company told TechCrunch that it wants everyone on this team to be committed to its mission. Read more

Around the web

💔 VCs come together: Los Angeles-based venture capital firms have banded together to raise a fund, which currently sits a little over half a million, to help those affected by the recent wildfires in their home city. Read more

🛩️ Musk's meddling: As the aviation industry deals with the aftermath of last night's deadly collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter, they will be doing so with a Federal Aviation Administration leader who was appointed after the incident. Elon Musk had called on the last FAA leader to resign and he did, on January 20. Read more