Hello folks, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter that recaps the major events in the tech industry over the past week (or so). Microsoft’s Ignite conference, where the tech giant showcased its vision of a “copilot”-powered future, flooded channels midweek. But there were a lot of notes besides that.
In this edition of WiR, we take a look at the unexpected firing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the bizarre — and perhaps overly ambitious — Ai Pin, the shuttering of popular video chat service Omegle, Airbnb’s acquisition of the secret company of one of Siri’s founders, and Amazon launching a discounted health plan . We’re also covering the use of watermelon emojis as a symbol of political unity on social media, testing of an electric air taxi in New York City, the ongoing Epic-Google antitrust case and the mounting problems of self-driving car company Cruise.
There’s a lot to get to – so let’s get to it. But first, a reminder to sign up here to receive WiR in your inbox every Saturday if you haven’t already.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been fired: In a surprising turn of events, Sam Altman has been fired from OpenAI, the AI startup behind ChatGPT, DALL-E 3, GPT-4, and other highly capable generative AI systems. in mail On the official OpenAI blog, the company wrote that Altman’s departure followed a “deliberative board review process” that concluded that Altman “was not always forthright in his communications” with other board members, “which hindered his ability to exercise his responsibilities.” Mira Murati, CTO of OpenAI, will serve as interim CEO.
Ai Pin personally: Brian checked out the Ai Pin, a strange new product from the well-funded, Apple-backed startup Humane. He writes that the matchbook-sized device, which features a laser system to project user interface elements onto surfaces and a microphone and speaker array to respond to voice commands, feels “very early days” — and that the price ($699) and mandatory subscription ($24 per month) don’t help. He adds that it is clear that a lot of care has been put into the product.
Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra headphones got their name: In other hardware news, Brian tested Bose’s new QuietComfort Ultra headphones, which start at $429. In his credit, Bose has created some of the most comfortable, best-sounding headphones on the market — along with best-in-class noise cancellation. This is high praise for Bluetooth headphones.
Omegle is turned off: Omegle, the popular online chat service that allowed people to connect and talk to strangers (which was all the rage in the writer’s high school days), has shut down after more than 14 years. Founder and CEO Leif K. Brooks cited increasing misuse of the platform, including people committing “unspeakable heinous crimes.” But subsequent wired a report It notes that Omegle was forced to shut down due to a lawsuit filed by a sexual assault survivor.
Airbnb buys Siri co-founder’s company: This week, Airbnb acquired a secretive AI startup called GamePlanner.AI for roughly $200 million, CNBC reported. GamePlanner was co-founded by Adam Chayer, who is best known for helping launch the startup Siri, which was acquired by Apple and whose technology became the basis for Apple’s AI-powered Siri assistant. In announcing the acquisition, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky hinted that the 12-person startup combines expertise in AI and design in order to craft AI-driven experiences — sort of like AI-focused consulting.
Amazon launches a new health plan: Amazon this week announced a One Medical membership benefit for Prime members, giving them access to healthcare services for $9 a month or $99 a year. (Recall that Amazon acquired One Medical, a primary care technology provider, in February for about $3.9 billion.) Plus the benefit of in-person visits to locations across the United States
Watermelon symbol, protest symbol: Morgan writes about the complex history of watermelon symbols in online Palestinian protests. The watermelon motif as a political statement became popular after the revolution The second intifada in the early 2000s, but images of watermelon are particularly prevalent this year as Israeli officials impose a ban on the Palestinian flag — and amid global calls for a ceasefire in the wake of Israel’s response to a Hamas attack.
Air taxis hovering over New York City: Joby Aviation and Volocopter gave the public a vivid glimpse of what the future of aviation might look like last weekend, as the two companies conducted short test flights of their electric planes in New York City. The test flights were carried out during a press conference last Sunday, during which New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city would electrify two of the three heliports in Manhattan.
Epic and Google compete: Although Match settled its antitrust case with Google over Play Store fees for up to $300 million, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, proceeded to take its case to trial this week, Sarah said. The game maker argues that Google’s commissions on in-app purchases are anticompetitive and that Google has exercised its market power to compete unfairly by negotiating special deals with developers and manufacturers that operate their own app stores.
Cruise takes a turn: Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car subsidiary, this week began laying off workers after temporarily halting all of its self-driving operations. It comes after it lost key commercial permits that allowed it to operate a robotaxi service in San Francisco and stopped production of its original purpose-built self-driving car. Cruise also suspended its employee stock program as GM takes a more active role in shaping the company’s safety culture, bringing in one of its executives to head Cruise’s legal, policy, communications and finance teams.
Uber fights unfair deactivations: Uber has introduced a feature geared toward addressing the problem of unfair holdups that ride-hailing and delivery drivers often face. Starting Monday across the US, the company began rolling out technology that identifies riders or Uber Eats customers who consistently give bad ratings or reviews with the goal of getting a refund.
My voice
Need a podcast to kill the hours, perhaps while preparing for Thanksgiving? (This writer must be baking — maybe Obi babka, inspired by his loving Filipino partner.) Well, you’re in luck. TechCrunch has you covered — there’s plenty to add to your playlist from the TC library.
This week on justicethe crew talked about the antitrust case surrounding Google Search currently underway and what it could mean for startups.
is found It featured two talks centered around sustainability in fashion from TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. In the first conversation, three guests – Jim Agioca of Colorifix, Beth Esponnette of unspun, and Julie Willoughby of Circ – spoke with Harry about recent trends. In the second clip, Morgan interviews Jemima Bunbury of Blend, a curated fashion app that is changing the way people shop online.
And more Chain reaction, Stani Kulichov, founder of Avara, talked about the Aave protocol, the stablecoin centered on the Avara GHO platform and its social network protocol Lens.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and polls – which you know about if you’re already a subscriber. If not, consider subscribing. Here are some highlights from this week:
Compliance, money maker: Thoma Bravo has acquired German software company EQS Group for about €400 million ($435.1 million) in a deal that represents a whopping 53% premium to its pre-announcement value. Alex explores what this could mean for quite a few startups operating in the regtech market.
What it means to be human in the world of artificial intelligence: Hajj reflects on the meaning of art — and why we’re bothered that robots are making it now — in light of the pushback against generative AI, especially art-generating AI like DALL-E 3 and OpenAI’s Midjourney.
Sorting time has ended: While the fundraising market still looks bleak for startups, continuing to sort through is not sustainable for their investors, Rebecca said. VC firms are spending all their attention and capital on helping their existing portfolio companies navigate the tougher fundraising market — but the money isn’t ready to support that strategy.