OpenAI slams Musk in response to lawsuit

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today we have new OpenAI drama, a major startup exit, new regulations that could bolster climate tech, several venture and founder interviews, and more. To work!

– Alex

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OpenAI fires back at Musk: In response to a lawsuit filed by Tesla’s Elon Musk alleging that OpenAI had broken its early promises by becoming a more profit-focused entity, the AI startup has said that Musk didn’t actually contribute as much as he’s implying. Musk only provided $45 million in funding, OpenAI said, which is far less than how much the mogul had originally committed. OpenAI added that when it became clear that a for-profit entity would be needed to raise the capital needed to pursue its mission, Musk tried to be its CEO, and things fell apart from there.
Accenture buys Udacity: Consulting services giant Accenture is buying edtech startup Udacity for an undisclosed amount. Udacity raised hundreds of millions of dollars while private and independent, and racked up a $1 billion valuation back in 2015. This deal is expected to have landed closer to the $100 million mark. Accenture is planning to build a new learning service around Udacity with an eye towards AI training.
SEC to vote on climate-impact disclosure rules: If the Securities and Exchange Commission votes to adopt a climate disclosure rule (which would require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions), a grip of startups could ride high. A large number of startups focus on “carbon measurement, tracking, reporting and verification,” Tim De Chant reports, meaning that a lot of venture capital is resting on the SEC’s upcoming vote.

Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

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Underscore’s Lily Lyman presenting at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024: The well-known venture capitalist will talk about how founders should foster investor relationships. As with all talks at Early Stage, attendees can ask questions directly, so bring your notebook!

TikTok says it boosted creator payouts by 250% in the past 6 months: Back in 2023, TikTok shook up how it paid creators, bolstering payouts for longer-form videos. Now the short-form video service says the amount paid to creators has risen by 250% in the last six months. That’s good, but TikTok remains embroiled in suits over music rights, so the datapoint is only one of many that we should consider when we tot up its bill of health.

Waymo brings driverless rides to Austin; Providence in tears: Self-driving company Waymo’s cars in Austin are going safety-operator free, meaning that they are one step closer to opening to the public. This is a good step. Self-driving is taking longer to become a reality than many expected, but progress is being ground up by some players. Now all we need is a more aggressive roll-out schedule in a new market: one with small, twisty streets, terrible drivers, and snow. Say, Providence, Rhode Island?

Amazon’s Rufus chatbot is fine: Earlier this year, Amazon unveiled Rufus, an AI chatbot that lives inside the Amazon Shopping app. We got access, tested it, and found it to be fine. Our testing included a battery of standard shopping searches, and then some wilder and hairier questions. I wonder how many users are really turning to Rufus today, and if it’s more a neat toy or a tool that is having a real impact on how Amazon customers use its e-commerce service?

Apple loosens its new EU rules for app makers: To comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple said it would allow developers to opt out of its payment tech, but it intended to charge them a modestly reduced fee if they do so. Complaints followed that move, predictably. Now, Apple is making some small changes to its plans, including no longer requiring a letter of credit, for example. But the core fee structure that incensed many developers? So far, no change there. (Elsewhere, Apple has dropped a new API for its fintech services.)

Speaking of the EU app marketplace: Spotify has an update coming for its iOS app that includes pricing and feature information about the audio company’s different plans in the EU, and includes a link for users to buy subscription plans from Spotify’s website. The DMA’s impact, therefore, is about to show up in the market.

On the record with Advocate’s Emilie Poteat: The Found crew recently sat down with New York–based Advocate, digging into why founder Emilie Poteat started the company and how AI fits into its efforts. It’s a great chat, so hit play and enjoy!

A massive run of startup news: Fintech upstart Harness Wealth raised a $17 million Series A to better help startup workers and founders handle their finances, and also to expand into tax planning. BRKZ has shot out of stealth with $8 million for its B2B marketplace for construction materials. Fluent raised $7.5 million to bring new AI technologies to business data, taking on the large BI market.

After Agility Robotics stole the show at ProMat with its bipedal robot, TechCrunch spoke with its CEO about automation, Amazon, and delivery. The conversation about the state of robotics is illuminating, especially in the wake of Figure’s massive $675 million round last week.

In closing, a few final Big Tech updates: Microsoft is ending support for Android Apps in Windows 11 (I always meant to try this out, but never did, which is perhaps part of the problem), and Roku is blocking users until they agree to its new terms and conditions.

Image Credits: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty Images

Before you go

Fake cream coming in 2025: I am a big consumer of stuff made from oat milk. They are a pretty OK alternative to real milk, if not great. What would be great would be cream that didn’t turn my insides into a dairy-powered inferno. Enter Cultivated Biosciences, a Swiss biotechnology food startup that is working on a plant-based cream. I shall test it when it launches next year and will let you know if it is tasty and my digestive system welcomes it.