Also: A $50 AI reasoning model
Thursday, February 6, 2025 | | | Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have a breakdown of the impact of DOGE on sensitive government data, a $50 AI reasoning model that Big AI isn't happy about, and OpenAI bringing data residency to Europe. We've also got funds for dietician startups, a solution to the horrible EV charging experience, how Bench burned through its cash, cultivated meat for doggie treats, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca | | | Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images | What national security? The U.S.' biggest ever government data breach happening right now, and it's coming from inside the house. People working for Elon Musk, a non-elected official, have gained unprecedented access to a swath of federal agencies. Now, a small group of mostly young, private-sector employees associated with Musk can view, and even control, the most sensitive data on millions of Americans. Read More Keep your billions: AI researchers at Stanford and the University of Washington were able to train an AI reasoning model for under $50 worth of cloud compute credits. The big AI labs aren't happy, because, as TC's Max Zeff writes, "Where's the moat if someone can closely replicate a multi-million dollar model with relative pocket change?" Read More OpenAI has launched 'data residency' in Europe to allow its customers to choose to process and store data on the continent. The goal is to help European organizations meet local data sovereignty requirements while still using OpenAI's products. Read More | | | Image Credits: Wand_Prapan / Getty Images | 🥕 Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels: Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs are booming, and while insurance covers these weight loss meds, doctors often require patients to see a nutritionist. Enter Berry Street and Fay, two dietician startups that have both snagged $50 million. Read More 🔋 Presto Chargo! Two Uber alumni have come up with Presto, a startup that helps piece together fragmented EV charging infrastructure to tell fleet drivers which chargers they should use and tell charging companies where they should send maintenance crews to. Read More 🗣️ Lyft quietly incorporated Anthropic's Claude into its customer care AI assistant in late 2024, and the ride-sharing company says it's already seeing a huge reduction in its average customer service resolution time. But can Claude actually improve Lyft's customer service experience? Can any chatbot? Read More 😣 Those who can't do go bankrupt: Bench once offered cloud accounting software for small businesses, yet its recent bankruptcy filings show that balancing its own books wasn't the startup's strong suit. By the time it collapsed, Bench had burned through $135 million. Read More 🤖 Solving embodied AI at scale: Boston Dynamics is teaming up with the Robotics & AI Institute to bring improved reinforcement learning to its electric Atlas humanoid robot. The tie-up focuses on transferring simulation-based learning to real-world settings and improving how Atlas interacts with physical environments. Read More | | | 😵💫 Feeling a little overwhelmed: DeepSeek said it would restrict access to its API service due to issues with server capacity, reports Bloomberg. No wonder: The Chinese AI startup says its services have been overwhelmed with demand since January. Read More 😡 Combating outrage fatigue: It doesn't take more than five minutes on social media to feel outraged, which is actually by design and helps spread misinformation. But isn't it exhausting? Scientific American has a Q&A to help you understand 'outrage fatigue' and how to avoid it. Read More 🌲 Sequoia's evergreen fund has grown to $19.6 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing an SEC filing. It's a sign that the biggest firms continue to grow even as the broader venture space faces a funding slowdown. Read More | | | 🐶 Doggie treat: The first lab-grown meat treats have gone on sale at a U.K. pet food retailer, an investor in Meatly, a startup making doggie snacks out of cultivated chicken meat. Dog treats are just the first step for the company before it expands to the human palate. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
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