Wednesday, February 19, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got details of the final nail in the coffin for Nikola, DOGE's solution for making the government "less dumb," and the end of Humane's AI Pin. We've also got notes on an app to help new parents, the problem with switching to Tesla's charging network, fresh funds for biotech startups, Duolingo's Cybertruck stunt and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Nikola

1. Another SPAC bites the dust: Electric truck maker Nikola is finally putting itself out of its misery. The company has filed for bankruptcy protection after it was unable to secure a buyer or raise more funds to continue operations. Read More

2. What could go wrong? A senior SpaceX employee (and DOGE staffer) has created an AI chatbot powered by Elon Musk's xAI to help "assist government personnel in identifying waste and improving efficiency." It's not clear if the chatbot was trained on any data on bureaucratic processes, or if it just suggests deletions of "unnecessary parts or processes" based on a combo of business principles and LLM hallucinations. Read More

3. Top tier community management: Humane's sold off most of its assets to HP for $116 million, and it's going to cease sales of its $499 AI Pins. What's more, anyone who shelled out half-a-grand on the AI Pin will see their devices being bricked by the end of February. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Riley

🐣 Minimizing the baby blues: Trying to track events for babies and get answers to parenting questions is a challenge, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the deluge of information on the internet. Riley is an app that lets you track things like sleep and diaper changes, as well as ask an AI chatbot for help. This is why we need more women in STEM. Read More

🪫 Swing and miss: Hyundai was one of several automakers to build its next-gen vehicles using Tesla's NACS charging standard. But the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 doesn't play nice with Tesla's chargers, an example that not all good ideas translate well in the real world. Read More

🔧 Factory fix: Augury develops AI-based hardware to identify when machines on factory floors need repairs and diagnose what's wrong with them. To continue building its "malfunction dictionary," which allows the startup to measure vibrations, sounds, temperature and more, Augury has raised $75 million at a $1 billion+ valuation. Read More

🔬 Handing it to the private sector: The Trump admin's decision to impose limits on certain types grants given out by the National Institutes of Health has sparked a new biotech pre-seed venture fund from Chris Gibson, CEO of Recursion, and David Bearss, a biotech entrepreneur. Read More

🔐 Hacked again: U.S. cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks has warned of another attack. Hackers are exploiting yet another vulnerability in its firewall software to break into unpatched customer networks. Read More

Around the web

🤑 ROI: Elon Musk's X is in talks to raise money at a $44 billion valuation, reports Bloomberg. For those with short attention spans, that's how much Musk bought Twitter for, and it's well above the last analyst valuation estimates. But as Tesla's stock has risen due to Musk's closeness with Trump, so too might X's valuation. Read more

🎣 Stay safe: Signal is urging users to protect themselves from phishing scams. The company issued a new update to the app following a Google threat intelligence report that revealed how multiple hacker groups that serve Russian interests are targeting Ukrainian soldiers on the platform, according to Wired. Read More

🧬 Fast-forwarding science: Google has built an AI lab assistant to help scientists accelerate biomedical research, reports The Financial Times. Early tests found the tool could generate scientific hypotheses that showed promising results. Read More

Before you go

🦉 Death by Cybertruck: Duolingo's mascot has been "killed" by a Tesla Cybertruck. The daring marketing stunt by the language learning app is giving "people a way to channel their anger at Elon Musk's empire at a critical time," writes TC's Amanda Siberling. And it's apparently working out well for Duolingo. Read More