Friday, June 21, 2024

Welcome back to TechCrunch PM. This afternoon, we dive into Cruise’s settlement, which could allow it to operate again in California. We also look at new details from the Change Healthcare cyberattack and OpenAI’s latest acquisition. Let’s get started.

TechCrunch Top 3

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Cruise could get a fresh start in California: Cruise has agreed to pay a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about an accident involving one of its robotaxis last year. The settlement not only allows Cruise to avoid litigation, but it also puts the self-driving subsidiary in a position to restart operations in the state. Read more

Change Healthcare notifies cyberattack victims: Change Healthcare has confirmed that a February ransomware attack on its systems resulted in the theft of medical records affecting a “substantial proportion of people in America.” The company has begun the process of notifying affected individuals. Read more

U.S. sanctions Kaspersky execs: The U.S. government announced sanctions against 12 executives and senior leaders of the Russia-based cybersecurity giant Kaspersky in an effort to protect internet users against malicious cyber threats. The move comes after the government banned the sale of Kaspersky’s software in the country. Read more

A MESSAGE FROM AWS

Applications now open for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto / Getty Images

Made with AI (except when it isn’t): Meta has begun labeling photos created with AI tools on its social networks, but some photographers are raising concerns that their non-AI images have been wrongly tagged with the label. Read more

Spotify’s new Basic plan: Spotify has a new “Basic” streaming plan in the U.S. that looks a lot like the old one. At $10.99 per month, it includes all of the benefits of Premium but without the monthly audiobook listening time. Read more

An AI outfit generator straight out of “Clueless”: AI-powered fashion app Style DNA wants to give you a personalized style profile from a single selfie. The app can determine your seasonal color and recommend outfits based on your body type — as well as what’s already in your wardrobe. Read more

OpenAI acquires Rockset: OpenAI has acquired a company that builds tools to drive real-time search and data analytics. Rockset employees will join OpenAI, and its existing customers will be gradually transitioned off the platform. Read more

Google pauses real-money game expansion: Google has halted its experiment that aimed to allow real-money games on the Play Store, citing the challenges that come with approving such apps in certain regions. Read more

Squarespace sells Tock: Squarespace is selling its restaurant reservation service to American Express in a deal worth $400 million — exactly what Squarespace paid for the service three years ago. Read more

TechCrunch Minute

Image Credits: Getty Images / MirageC

Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 is its best model yet — at least on paper: OpenAI rival Anthropic released its newest generative AI model this week, Claude 3.5 Sonnet. While Sonnet is an improvement over Anthropic’s last release, it’s not quite groundbreaking. Could the AI industry be cooling its jets at last? Hit play and let’s chat!

Around the web

Apple to withhold Apple Intelligence in the EU: Apple announced it will block the release of Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing from users in the EU due to “regulatory uncertainties.” The company cited alleged security risks with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the regulation that aims to rein in Big Tech and make the digital economy more fair. Read more

The Internet Archive gears up for another round in its court fight: The Internet Archive is fighting a 2023 ruling that it committed copyright infringement by scanning and distributing books online. In a new blog post, the organization says that 500,000 books have been deleted from its lending library following the court’s determination and is urging users to sign an open letter before oral arguments for its appeal begin on June 28. Read more