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By Rebecca Bellan

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! The tea is hot this morning as OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever exits the company after trying to oust CEO Sam Altman last year. We’ve also got notes on Reddit adding new features to AMAs, fresh funding for underserved financial products and climate-friendly food initiatives, some news from Google I/O, and lots more. To work! — Rebecca

Image Credits: JACK GUEZ/AFP / Getty Images

1. OpenAI bids its chief scientist goodbye: Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s longtime chief scientist and one of its co-founders, has left the company. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO announced the move in a heartwarming X post, which can be seen as a real power move given that Sutskever tried to oust Altman from the company late last year. Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s director of research, is replacing Sutskever. Read More

2. AWS signs up for EU’s data protection policies: Amazon Web Services has confirmed a few more details on its European “sovereign cloud,” which enables greater data residency across the region and stricter data controls. The cloud will be set up in the German city of Brandenburg and will go live by the end of 2025. On top of that, AWS said it will invest around $8.5 billion in the facility over the next 16 years. Read More

3. Calling all developers: Google announced a lot of news at its I/O 2024 developer conference yesterday, but here’s one piece that stood out for its sheer utility: Project IDX is an AI-centric browser-based development environment that aims to make it easier to develop apps. It integrates with tools like Google Maps, Lighthouse and GitHub, and even gives you AI-powered coding assistance. Read More

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Reddit leans harder on AMAs: Reddit has launched five new tools that aim to make its Ask Me Anything program easier to use for celebs, public figures, and your everyday redditor. There’s now a dedicated AMA tab on the post composer, as well as new features like the ability to add guest collaborators, a scheduling function and more. Read More

Threads starts running fact-checks: Meta’s Threads is starting its own fact-checking program after piggybacking on Instagram and Facebook’s networks since its launch. Threads fact-checkers can rate and mark false content on the platform, IG head Adam Mosseri said, but he didn’t share many other details. It’s just in time for the 2024 presidential election, so put on your skeptic glasses whenever you read anything on social media anyway. Read More

Go Digit, Go! Indian insurance startup Go Digit has raised $141 million as part of its IPO, with Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and more serving as anchor investors. The startup, which sells auto, health, travel and accidental insurance, hopes to raise about $313 million from its IPO at a valuation of $3 billion. India’s looking set to get a slew of hot IPOs this year, so Go Digit’s debut will be worth watching. Read More

Accio(n) financial inclusion! It’s hard to get loans and the like from big banks when you’re a low-income farmer in the middle of nowhere. Nonprofit group Accion wants to change that, and it has raised a $152.5 million Digital Transformation Fund to help financial providers across Asia, Latin America and Africa design responsible digital solutions and better serve the underserved. Read More

Watching what you eat is also good for the planet: Or at least that’s what PeakBridge seems to believe. The firm has closed a new $187 million fund which it will invest in agriculture and food tech startups doing cool things with food to slow down climate change. The firm is investing in companies like animal-free dairy startup Standing Ovation, and Win-Win, which makes lab-grown cacao. Read More

Lydia wants to be a bank, too, guys: French payments app Lydia grew fast in its early days because it was easy to use: You could send money to other people — like Venmo — and that was that. But then it added everything from stock and crypto trading to small loans and savings accounts, and grew bloated. Now, it wants to simplify what it offers, and is therefore splitting into two apps – Lydia for users who want to only send and receive money, and Sumeria for people looking for a mobile-first bank account. That’s one way to solve that problem. Read More

From Mars, with love: Intuitive Machines wants to reshape the Mars Sample Return mission architecture with its own tech that’s been developed for lunar material returns. And NASA apparently needs the help. The space agency said its own architecture for the $11 billion, 15-year mission has become too expensive and complex. Read More

U.S. throws money at AI, but doesn’t want to regulate it: A bipartisan group of senators are calling for $32 billion in annual funding to propel the U.S.’ leadership in the technology, but are conveniently offering few details on how to address AI’s risks, reports The New York Times. Yes, ignoring problems has always worked as a solution. Read More

Musk gets pulled back into court: A federal court has ordered Elon Musk to testify again in the SEC’s investigation into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, reports Reuters. The SEC sued Musk last year to compel him to testify after he refused to be interviewed for the investigation. Musk said the SEC was harassing him. Will he show up this time? Read More

AI wants to cosplay Shawn from Psych: Humanity Protocol has raised $30 million at a $1 billion valuation to expand its blockchain-based identity system that recognizes people by scanning their palms, according to Bloomberg. Kingsway Capital led the hefty seed round, signaling the need for a way to verify identity in the age of deepfakes. Read More

Image Credits: Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass: Feel like spending a bunch of money on a trippy mixed-reality display? Looking Glass has got you covered. The startup makes screens that make things look 3D, but just one 16-inch display will set you back by $4,000. The screens are pretty cool, though, and are apparently more convenient for working with 3D content than wearing VR headsets. Read More

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