NYT inks AI deal with Amazon

Plus: How tall are you?

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Thursday, May 29, 2025 Welcome to TC PM! Today we have the details on an AI licensing deal between the New York Times and Amazon; we learn of a new problem brewing for Tesla; and we dig into Hugging Face's two new humanoid robots.  TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: mbbirdy / Getty Images 🤝 If you can't beat 'em: Nearly two years after suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, The New York Times is licensing its content to train AI. The legacy newspaper inked a deal with Amazon to license its materials to train the tech giant's AI models.  🤔 Well, well, well: It turns out working closely with the government does not mean it will work well for your business interests. As Elon Musk departs DOGE, Tesla is using Musk's X platform to lobby Senate Republicans against ending energy tax credits that would affect Tesla Energy. 📆 Branding is my passion: Apple is considering changing how it names its operating systems. The company is reportedly switching to name its systems by the year they were released, as opposed to just numerical order, which, if true, seems like a much easier way to approach it.    A Message from SAP Balance hyper-growth with efficiency Join this free webinar on June 10 to discover how one fast growing company leveraged a business systems platform to maintain success while harmonizing revenue growth and operational efficiency. Register Now   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Hugging Face (screenshot) 🤗 Hugging humanoids: Hugging Face unveiled two new humanoid robots today — one full-size humanoid, HopeJR, and one desktop robot, Reachy Mini. These robots were developed with Pollen Robotics, which Hugging Face acquired in April.  🍀 Luckey's lucky day: Meta and Palmer Luckey's Anduril are teaming up to build extended reality (XR) devices for the U.S. military. These devices will be based off of tech from Meta's AR/VR research center using Meta's Llama AI model and tapping into Anduril's Lattice software. 🧠 DeepSeek distilled: Chinese AI lab DeepSeek released a "distilled" version of its new R1 "reasoning" model, DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B, which can run on just one GPU. It's performing comparably to other models of the same size.  🐷 The fun is over for Funnull: The U.S. government imposed sanctions on Funnull, a company that's accused of providing cybercriminals with the infrastructure they need to run "pig butchering" crypto scams. The company is linked to scams that cost Americans $200 million in losses.  ⛏️ Bootstrapping to success: Cybersecurity company Thinkst has reached $20 million in ARR with fewer than 50 employees and without raising a dime in venture capital. The company still has 60% of its first-year customers using its products after more than a decade in business. Impressive stuff!   A Message from HSBC Innovation Banking HSBC helps evolectric transition vehicles to 100% electric Evolectric makes it easy for owners to give their fleets a new lease on life. Discover how HSBC helps connect them to the right investors, resulting in an extended runway and growth plans for both domestic and international markets. Watch Now   Around the web ✍️ Lame layoffs: Business Insider laid off 21% of its workforce today citing "traffic sensitivity." The company also said that it's leaning into AI after the cuts. I'm sure Business Insider will reverse traffic declines with well-hallucinated AI content slop. 🪴 Will space save my plants? While folks like Elon Musk tout a future of humans living on Mars, the concept of humans actually living in space is pretty far off. Aurelia Institute is a space design firm building products for that future. It's now teaming up with Heatherwick Studio to design space gardens.  Before you go Image Credits: TechCrunch 👑 A sad day for short kings: Dating app Tinder is testing a new feature that lets paying users add their height preferences to their profiles. This won't function as a "hard filter" but rather just indicate a preference. It's tough to be a short king right now.   Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Software Engineer, Revive Health (Boston, MA) IT Finance Assistant, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) Technical Business Systems Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Partnerships Manager, Clearscope (Remote) Sr. IT Security Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. TechCrunch Media LLC. 9720 Wilshire Boulevard, 6th floor, Beverly Hills, CA Privacy Policy

Founder shares a diary of his time at DOGE

Also: Nvidia expects to lose billions due to Trump's China restrictions

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Thursday, May 29, 2025 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking inside a founder's diary of his time at DOGE; Nvidia lamenting regulatory hurdles; and a new early-stage VC fund. We've also got notes on Gamestop's bitcoin reserve; banking for creators; how AI can transform construction; a huge round for cybersecurity; the end of Musk's stint at DOGE; a new dating app, and more. Let's dive in! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Sean O'Kane / TechCrunch 1. DOGE Diaries: Founder Sahil Lavingia published a diary of his time on Elon Musk's DOGE workforce, where he lasted 55 days before being booted for talking to Fast Company. The diary has a lot of revelations, like Lavingia realizing that the government isn't as inefficient as he was told. Read More 2. With friends like these… Nvidia says it incurred a $4.5 billion charge in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year due to Trump-fueled licensing requirements impacting its ability to sell H20 AI chips to companies in China. During the call, CEO Jensen Huang lamented that "the $50 billion China market is effectively closed to us." Read More 3. Zeal-ous about tech: Zeal Capital Partners closed its second fund with $82 million to back early-stage startups in fintech, healthcare, and the future of work – a show of faith for the firm in a tough funding environment. LPs include Citi, Wells Fargo, and Spelman College. Read More   A Message from TechCrunch Events T–8 days: TC Sessions: AI + $600 ticket savings On June 5 in Berkeley, the future of AI takes center stage at TechCrunch Sessions: AI. Gain insights from experts at Google Cloud, Anthropic, Twelve Labs, Khosla Ventures, Amazon, Toyota, and more. Join founders, investors, and researchers for bold ideas, candid talks, and powerful networking. Save more by bringing a guest. Register Now   Morning Must-Reads Image Credits: Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images 🌝 r/blockchainbets: GameStop bought 4,710 bitcoin, worth over $500 million, putting it in the camp of companies like Tesla, Coinbase and Block that have done the same to grow their assets. Such bets might become more common with Trump backing the crypto industry. Read More 🤳 DITL: "Creators are real businesses, and banks don't understand them," feels the co-CEO of Karat Financial Eric Wei. To address this gap, Karat is launching a creator-focused business banking project, powered by digital bank Grasshopper. Read More 👷 Hard hat AI: Buildots wants to drag construction management out of the spreadsheet era. The Chicago startup just raised $45 million to grow its AI and computer vision platform, which helps track progress and predict delays using 360-degree cameras strapped to site managers' helmets. Read More 🔐 Cybersurge: Cybersecurity startup Horizon3.ai is on the hunt to raise $100 million at a $750 million valuation to boost its autonomous penetration testing tools. The company has already secured at least $73 million towards the total in a round led by NEA. Read More 😵‍💫 Streaming meets sim: Odyssey, a new startup from self-driving vets Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, has built an AI model that turns video into an interactive experience. Think real-time, explorable streams – like a video game – powered by a predictive "world model" that generates new frames every 40 millisecond. Read More 👋 So long, farewell: Elon Musk has confirmed that he's ending his stint at the U.S. government. Some are reading it as a slow thawing of his relationship with the Trump administration, which has cost Tesla in sales and reputation. Read More   A Message from Onshape ITAR/EAR Compliance with Onshape CAD & PDM Onshape Government enables real-time, compliant CAD collaboration for regulated industries. Hosted on AWS GovCloud, it meets ITAR and EAR requirements while giving teams powerful, cloud-native design and PDM tools—all in one place. Sign Up   Around the Web 🤨 Misplaced punishment: In NYC, e-bike riders are getting hit with criminal summons for running red lights. The Daily News argues that the city shouldn't punish gig workers who are effectively penalized for following all traffic laws, and instead look to the platforms like Uber, Grubhub, and Instacart that set unrealistic delivery time standards. Read More 🤑 Seize them! The Washington Post has published data from Chainalysis that provides some answers as to how much mystery crypto the Trump administration has seized for its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve – it's looking like it's upwards of $21 billion. Read More Before You Go 👨‍❤️‍👨 Those five little words: LoveJack is a new dating app that ditches resume-style bios for something snappier – five words, revealed before your face is. Founders Julia LeStage and Lisa Le say it's about bringing creativity and spontaneity back to dating apps. No swiping, just vibes. Read More Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Software Engineer, Revive Health (Boston, MA) IT Finance Assistant, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) Technical Business Systems Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Partnerships Manager, Clearscope (Remote) Sr. IT Security Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. Yahoo Inc.. 680 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA Privacy Policy