Sunday, February 9, 2025

Autodesk CTO says ‘inclusive participation’ will lead to a better AI future

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Image Credits: Aelitta / Getty Images

As part of TechCrunch's interview series with accomplished women in AI, Kyle Wiggers spoke to Autodesk CTO Raji Arasu about her decades-long career and the current prospects for the industry.

Arasu said that she favors "close collaboration" between government and industry to create "well-informed" AI policies, adding that it's crucial for diverse groups to be involved in those discussions.

"Unlike past revolutions, there is now a clear recognition that inclusive participation — especially by women — is essential for achieving fairer, more innovative outcomes in AI and other emerging technologies," she said.

Keep reading to see what else TechCrunch is covering this weekend.

Weekend news and opinion

Image Credits: Apple

Does the "spirit" of open source matter more than the license? Paul Sawers examines comments from open source experts and evangelists about whether officially recognized open source licenses fully capture the spirit of the movement. To many, it seems true open source means more than just the ability to modify code. Read more

How to use Apple's new Invites app: Apple released a new event planning app this week — think of it as Apple's version of Partiful. Aisha Malik explains how to use it. For starters, you'll need an iCloud+ subscription. Read more

Check out these open Instagram alternatives: Sarah Perez highlights photo-sharing apps like Pixelfed, Flashes, and Pinksky, all built on open protocols. While none of them are currently a threat to Instagram's dominance, they could become compelling alternatives. Read more

What else we're reading 📗

Bloomberg examines recent struggles at Warner Bros. Discovery's video game division, where division head David Haddad was recently announced to be stepping down. Beyond the failure of big-budget games like Kill the Suicide Squad, the organization has reportedly struggled with decision-making, and even CEO David Zaslav told investors that it's "substantially underperforming its potential." Read more

Also, The New York Times ranked every Super Bowl commercial it could find, including ads from DoorDash, Google, and Squarespace. And here are some startups that will be running ads during the big game today.