Monday, March 17, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got Nvidia's GTC conference, a damning memoir from an ex-Facebook employee, and Europe's call to reduce reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure. We've also got fresh AI models, the sad state of unicorns, new Discord developer tools, Intel's new strategy, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Jens Büttner/picture alliance / Getty Images

1. Not so free speech: Despite Mark Zuckerberg's stated commitment to free speech, Meta is coming down hard on a former employee who published a memoir of her time at Facebook. The arbitration doesn't actually dispute any claims in the book, only that the author, Sarah Wynn-Williams, might be violating her NDA. Read More

2. Silicon Empire: As we gear up for Nvidia's GTC this week, it's worth an overview of the company's AI empire. Nvidia has used its ballooning wealth to boost its investments into AI startups, and TC's Marina Temkin has a rundown of the chip giant's robust VC activity. Read More

3. The United States of Europe The European tech industry is calling for "radical action" from lawmakers to reduce reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure and security as geopolitical tensions rise. In a letter, they urged the bloc to switch its tech strategy to a quasi-war footing by supporting "sovereign digital infrastructure." Read More

A Message from TechCrunch

3 ways to get in front of TechCrunch All Stage founders

Are you a thought leader with knowledge that benefits startup founders? Do you want to present a topic, showcase new ideas or establish credibility and connection with the next generation of tech innovators? Become a TechCrunch All Stage sponsor and get in front of this eager and engaged audience.

Contact TechCrunch

Morning must-reads

Image Credits: picture alliance / Contributor / Getty Images

🖼️ Nothing really matters: Generative AI continues to provide new ways to steal creative works. See: Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model, which can generate and edit image content, creating images of copyrighted characters and removing watermarks from existing photos. Read More

🗣️ Speak up: Google is adding Chirp 3 – its speech-to-text and HD text-to-speech models – to its Vertex AI development platform starting next week. Chirp 3 promises use cases such as building voice assistants, creating audiobooks, developing support agents, and more. Read More

↘️ LP backlash: VC Aileen Lee says a broad investor exodus is hurting unicorns stuck in limbo after raising too much money. Lee said LPs' money got "thrown down the drain because the people in venture jobs didn't stick around long enough to see if the companies were successful." Read More

🖥️ Baidu and Ernie: Baidu has launched two new AI models – Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1. The former is the latest version of Baidu's foundational model, and the latter is its new reasoning model. Read More

🎮 F2P: Discord has launched its Discord Social SDK, a free toolkit that lets developers improve their in-game experiences by leveraging Discord's social infrastructure to reach gamers "where they are." Read More

Around the web

🫨 Shake it up: Intel's incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan is weighing up some serious changes to chip manufacturing methods and AI strategies, reports Reuters. And, you guessed it, staff cuts to cut out what Tan sees as a slow-moving and bloated middle management layer are coming. Read More

🥸 The spy who reported me to HR: HR tech startup Rippling has sued rival Deel, accusing it of hiring a mole in its Dublin office to comb through Rippling's trade secrets, per The New York Times. Rippling caught the spy through a "honeypot" trap. Someone, quick, get the popcorn! Read More

🫣 The whims of a billionaire: The Guardian takes a look at 18F, an office within the General Services Administration that is (was?) tasked with developing software solutions for government. 18F has become a target of Elon Musk, who randomly posted on X that it had been "deleted" after a rightwing activist falsely claimed it was a far-left cell. Read More

Before you go

👀 Eyes on Nvidia: GTC is Nvidia's biggest conference, and there are tons of announcements to sift through. We think CEO Jensen Huang's keynote Tuesday will hold the biggest news. Here's how to watch. Read More