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Elon Musk convinced Tesla shareholders to approve his $56 billion pay package, making him the highest-paid CEO in history — assuming he can avoid being rejected by a Delaware judge. And what better place to hold this circus than Texas, home of everything big, including vanity? Shareholders burst into applause at Tesla’s giant factory in Texas when the voting results were announced. Meanwhile, Musk manipulates more companies than a clown with a chainsaw and faces two new lawsuits (a lawsuit is filed only once a week for the benefit of the weak). Oh, and forget any cool ESG initiatives; Those were dropped faster than you can say “corporate responsibility.” Who needs sustainability when you have Elon dancing on stage with 0.7 Twitter’s worth of money in a suitcase?
The most interesting startup stories of the week
It seems that Henrik Fisker’s talent for designing cars is matched only by his talent for driving companies into bankruptcy. Although it aims to be the Apple of EVs (with Magna playing Foxconn), the much-hyped Ocean SUV has sunk faster than the Titanic due to software glitches, recalls, and lawsuits galore. Now Fisker is filing for Chapter 11 in Delaware, and has gone from dreams of revolutionizing the auto industry to simply trying not to get stuck in a $500 million bill. This marks Fisker’s second move to bankrupt a company bearing his name. Can he reach all three? Stay tuned.
- Yes, I saw that coming: Have you ever felt like your subscription services are conspiring against you? Well, Adobe has just been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice for allegedly facilitating an escape from Alcatraz rather than canceling one of its subscriptions.
- You will View our ads: YouTube is at it again, people. This time, they’re pushing their anti-ad-blocking campaign to new heights by injecting ads server-side, making sure you’re bombarded with those annoying ads even before the video reaches your device. Oh, and I summarized this story in the TechCrunch Minute series, if you’re more of an observer than a reader.
- They go around in circles: Loop, the insurance startup with the noble mission of overthrowing biased pricing models, appears to have hit a massive fundraising wall. After 20 months of trying (and failing) to make some money, co-founder John Henry had the unenviable task of announcing layoffs via Instagram.
Trend of the week: All eyes on artificial intelligence
Apple has finally thrown its hat into the circus of AI icons, joining the likes of Google and OpenAI in a desperate attempt to portray AI with a logo that makes any sense at all. Spoiler alert: They’re as ignorant as everyone else. Apple’s new visual for “intelligence” is basically a psychedelic circle and — wait, no — an lopsided infinity symbol? In fact, it’s the new Siri. Or maybe it’s when the edges of your phone glow like a spacecraft landing. The real takeaway here? No one knows what AI should look like, but let’s add some nice pastel colors and call it innovation.
Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever, the AI expert who decided last month that OpenAI was no longer sexy enough, has started his own dance party called Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) with two former OpenAI friends. After a dramatic exit from OpenAI (presumably over how to avoid Skynet taking over), Sutskever is doubling down on its efforts to make sure super-intelligent AI doesn’t become our overlord anytime soon. SSI mission? Balancing the amazing advances in AI with safety measures so we don’t end up appearing in our own “Black Mirror” episode.
![AI updates to Siri will be unveiled during WWDC 2024](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/WWDC-2024-Apple-Siri-AI-Update2.jpg?w=680)
Most interesting fundraiser this week
Meet the dynamic duo who seem to have gotten past their quarter-life crisis and headed straight for a cash swim. Edward Tian and Alex Cui, founders of GPTZero, are living proof that high school friendships can lead to multi-million dollar projects. In just a year and a half, they’ve turned their AI detection startup into a money-making machine that outperforms your favorite viral app. With a newly minted $10 million from eager venture capitalists who couldn’t wait for an official raise, these guys are on track to create an Internet where we can still tell if your article was written by you or by your ChatGPT cousin who Indescribable and called Cheech.
![Soft food, plant-based meat, alternative protein](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Tender_Food_Plant-Based_Shredded_Pork_Skillet.jpg?w=680)
Other unmissable TechCrunch stories…
Each week, there are always a few stories I want to share with you that somehow don’t fall into the above categories. It would be a shame to miss out on these, so here’s a random bag of goodies for you:
- So what happened with Fisker?: Once again, Fisker proves that it’s the small engine that can’t. Despite outsourcing its manufacturing to auto giant Magna and aiming for a quick launch, the electric car startup ignored one glaring problem: it wasn’t ready to become an actual car company.
- Hard times to be an Apple developer: Get ready to give one to your favorite third-party apps because iOS 18 is on the way, and it’s bringing the wrecking ball. Apple’s notorious habit of “sherlocking” — also known as pulling ideas from third-party developers and incorporating them into its own operating system — could amount to nearly $400 million in app revenue.
- Vita is deficient: Well, it looks like personal vitamin subscription company Care/of has officially gone out of business. The company announced that all subscriptions will expire by June 17. Despite a $46 million backing from investors and Bayer’s massive $225 million acquisition in 2020, it hasn’t been able to keep the lights on.
- This is not how privacy works: In a dazzling display of cybersecurity ignorance, EU lawmakers are once again trying to achieve the legislative equivalent of blindfolded saber-toothed tigers. Meredith Whittaker, Signal’s president and common sense mogul, slammed the EU’s recent plan to scan private messages for CSAM as a surefire way to bring down web security.