Friday, January 31, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! I'm Dominic-Madori Davis, filling in for Becca. Today we're looking at the latest Perplexity lawsuit, an investor who will offer pizza to build Lego, and a new off-broadway play about the time Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI. Let's dive in.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

🛑 WhatsApp prevents possible hacking scheme: The hacking campaign sought to target 90 people, including journalists. The company said that Paragon, an Israeli spyware maker, is possibly linked to the attacks. Read more

😬 Perplexity in the hot seat: A company called Perplexity Solved Solutions is suing the AI giant for trademark infringement based on the use of the name Perplexity. The AI maker is already being sued by Dow Jones for copyright infringement. Read more

🎭 Hey, "Doomers": A new play based on Sam Altman's ousting from OpenAI opened in New York this week, with plans to open in San Francisco next. We went to the premiere and got the scoop on how the play came together. Read more

A Message from Dataiku

Insights from 400 AI leaders on GenAI — Dataiku and Databricks

GenAI is no longer a future prospect — it's reshaping business strategies. "AI, Today" — the joint report from Dataiku and Databricks, based on a survey of 400 senior AI professionals — reveals critical insights on GenAI adoption, ROI, and emerging use cases. Check out the full report to see how you can stay ahead in the GenAI revolution.

Learn More

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

🔎 Microsoft looks inward: The company will create a new AI unit to help assess the implications of the AI the company wants to build. The AI unit will be housed in its AI division, which includes Copilot, Bind, and Edge. Read more

🚨 Hot new startup alert: Graze lets people build feeds on Bluesky, offering tools that help manage Bluesky feeds. Soon it will let creators monetize their efforts — which means Graze may have a viable business model before Bluesky itself does. Read more

🚀 OpenAI launched a new "reasoning" model: The company is pitching the new model, called o3-mini, as both "powerful" and "affordable." Read more

👷 NDA to play: If you have some free time this weekend and you live near Palo Alto, investor Nat Friedman has an offer for you. He posted on X that he's looking for volunteers to help build a 5,000-piece Lego set. He will provide pizza, but there's a catch: You will have to sign an NDA. Read more

⚡️ Fueling the frenzy: Meta has signed a deal with Zelestra, a renewable energy developer, weeks after signing another solar deal. It shows that Zuck is serious about his company's AI strategy, which will depend much on data centers. Read more

🔋 Ouch: Apple settled a class action lawsuit for $20 million over its Apple Watch batteries reportedly swelling. The tech giant denies any wrongdoing. Read more

🪙 Stablecoins find their way: "The rise of stablecoins — now a $205 billion market — is driven by real-world utility, not speculation, particularly in emerging markets where the most compelling use cases unfold," writes TechCrunch's Tage Kene-Okafor. Read more

Around the web

🇺🇸 Hello, Mr. President: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is finally meeting President Donald Trump, according to the Financial Times. The news comes after Huang missed the inauguration and DeekSeek took almost $600 billion from Nvidia's market cap. Read more

📕 Book tour: BIll Gates has been making the media rounds to promote his new book. He sat down with The New York Times to talk about his past, present, and future. Read more

Before you go

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

💻 Be prepared: Cyberattacks seem to be happening more frequently. We put together a brief history of mass attacks so you can stay up-to-date on the latest security developments on the web. Read more