The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition

The AI boom is proving to be a windfall for construction workers building the massive data centers that power it all. According to The Wall Street Journal, workers moving into data-center construction are seeing pay jumps of 25 to 30 percent compared to their previous jobs . Alos, new planned data centers promise to consume even more energy than expected. Meanwhile, a grid monitor is blaming such growth for high electricity prices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Black Friday, Amazon sessions that resulted in a sale were up 100% in the U.S. when the AI chatbot Rufus was used. They only increased by 20% when Rufus wasn't used. Also, James Cameron's movies are often at the cutting edge of visual effects technology, but that doesn't make him a fan of generative AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Though LLMs might not use explicitly biased language, they may infer your demographic data and display implicit biases, researchers say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The commercial robotaxi service launched last year. Now, the human safety operator is gone. Also, an easy-to-exploit vulnerability in a jury system made by Tyler Technologies exposed the personally identifiable data of jurors, including names, home addresses, emails, and phone numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company announced last month that it would no longer allow minors to use its chat features. Also, startup founders building AI shopping tools think general-purpose models are too broad to deliver truly personalized shopping experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Altman and Ive tease a simple AI device aimed at calm, distraction-free computing, launching within two years. Also, DOGE members are reportedly worried that they could face prosecution for some of their activities conducted while under the leadership of Elon Musk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Roblox CEO Dave Baszuki joined the Hard Fork podcast to discuss the gaming platform's new age verification feature — but he seemed to get frustrated at the number of questions focused on child safety. -A new feature seemingly revealed many right-wing “America First” accounts are actually based outside the United States. But the data seems questionable. -Major insurers including AIG, Great American, and WR Berkley are asking U.S. regulators for permission to exclude AI-related liabilities from corporate policies. One underwriter describes the AI models' outputs to the FT as "too much of a black box." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reuters reports that the executive order has been put on hold. If signed, the order would probably face significant opposition, including from Republicans who previously criticized the proposed moratorium on state regulation. Waymo continues to expand its reach, with the robotaxi company posting Friday that it's now “officially authorized to drive fully autonomously across more of the Golden State.” Waymo already operates in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles, as well as outside of California, in Atlanta, Austin, and Phoenix. Bloomberg reports that both Meta and Microsoft are asking for federal approval to trade power (Apple has already received this approval). According to Meta, this will allow it to make long-term commitments to buy electricity from new plants, while mitigating the risk by having the ability to resell some of that power on wholesale power markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike denied it had been hacked following claims from a hacker group, which leaked screenshots from inside CrowdStrike's network. -X's new feature will show where users are based, how they're connected to X, and how many times they've changed their username. -Two Trump-appointed FCC officials voted to undo the telecom industry's cybersecurity rules. One Democratic commissioner dissented, saying the decision leaves the United States "less safe" at a time when threats are increasing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

According to Grok, Elon Musk can out slug the MLB's greatest power hitters... except Ohtani. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google is upgrading its image generation model with new editing chops, higher resolutions, more accurate text rendering, and the ability to search the web. Also, the fire that broke out at the Oswego, NY Is the second major fire -- and the third overall -- in the last few months at the Novelis plant, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Written by: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai The story of the Ghost in the Shell's main villain the Puppet Master hinted at a future where governments use hackers for espionage, at a time when most of the world had never connected to the internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has resigned from OpenAI's board days after Congress released an extensive cache of emails with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which included details of intimate affairs. OpenAI is pushing deeper into retail, with Target set to debut a new ChatGPT-powered app for shoppers in coming weeks. The news follows OpenAI's move last month to start adding dedicated retail apps to ChatGPT, including Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow. It also comes as OpenAI races to rake in AI-driven commerce via new products like “Instant Checkout” that let users make purchases within conversations with retailers like Etsy and Shopify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Constellation Energy will use the loan to refurbish a reactor it idled in 2019. Microsoft has agreed to buy the power once the facility reopens in 2028. Also, Hugging Face co-founder and CEO Clem Delangue says all the attention is on LLMs, but smaller, specialized models will make sense in many use cases going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zap's Fuze-3 device has been firing pulses of plasma at the company's headquarters in Seattle, and the results of those experiments will ultimately inform the design of the company's future demonstration plants. The Fuze-3 device was able to compress a soup of charged particles to more than two hundred thirty two thousand PSI and heat it to more than 21 million degrees Fahrenheit. Also, Stack Overflow wants to remake its classic problem-solving forum into a tool for translating human expertise into an AI-accessible format. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One year ago, e-commerce giant Amazon kicked off its new online car sales business with Hyundai. Now, Ford is joining in with a certified used car twist. Also, Facebook's new content protection tool extends to Instagram too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Nigel Morris watches his BNPL investments from the other side of the table, he seems to understand the warning signs better than most. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company has been quietly changing how it talks about who its internet customers will be before it announced a big name change last week. Also, a federal jury in California ruled Friday that Apple must pay medical device maker Masimo $634 million for infringing a patent on blood oxygen monitoring technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The group chat is available to Free, Plus, and Team users on both mobile and web platforms. OpenAI says the pilot is designed to explore how people use group conversations in ChatGPT. Also, in a video announcing the release of beehiiv, Tyler Denk, the co-founder and CEO of beehive, said that what makes newsletter platforms powerful is ownership. “Owning your audience, distribution, brand, and even your revenue potential. In the age of AI and algorithms. Ownership isn't just nice to have, it's essential.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chad: the Brainrot IDE is an actual product that pairs vibe coding with brainrot activities like gambling, Tinder and games. Also, orders of the Besties Tequila were supposed to be fulfilled by end of summer but were delayed again and again due to the bottle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jack Dorsey backs diVine, a Vine reboot that includes Vine's video archive of 6-second, looping videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

These palm-sized robots use ultrasound signals to navigate harsh conditions in search and rescue missions. Also, the autocomplete will help users create more effective prompts for AI apps, resulting in fewer back-and-forths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. is far ahead of Europe in the race for large AI models, at least in funding. But the picture is different for the application layer, global VC firm Accel highlighted in its 2025 Globalscape report. Also, Australia's intelligence chief warned that Chinese hackers are trying to break into its networks, sometimes successfully, to "pre-position" for sabotage ahead of an anticipated invasion of Taiwan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robyn wants to position it self as an empathetic chatbot and not as a companion or a therapy app. Also, Yann LeCun, a chief AI scientist at Meta, is planning to leave the company to build his own startup, which will focus on continuing his work on world models. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The platform has attracted an eclectic user base. More than half of Fortune 500 companies are using Lovable to "supercharge creativity," according to Osika, who insisted retention remains strong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Government surveillance vendors want us to believe their spyware products are only used in limited and targeted operations against terrorists and serious criminals. That claim is increasingly difficult to justify, given the broad range of victims — journalists, activists, and now political consultants — that have come forward. AI isn't all or nothing, and even good bets can turn sour if you aren't careful about how you make them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After Tesla shareholders approved a new compensation package that could be worth $1 trillion, CEO Elon Musk appears to be celebrating with a normal weekend on his social media platform X. Also, if you watched all the way to the end of the new Apple TV show “Pluribus,” you may have noticed an unusual disclaimer in the credits: “This show was made by humans.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A recent letter from OpenAI reveals more details about how the company is hoping the federal government can support the company's ambitious plans for data center construction. Also, a rough week for tech stocks might signal a loss of investor confidence in artificial intelligence. And while Apple's iPhone already supports texting, calling emergency services, and contacting roadside assistance via satellite connectivity, the company may have many more satellite-powered features in the works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A newly identified Android spyware targeted Galaxy devices for close to a year, including users in the Middle East, researchers exclusively tell TechCrunch. In addition, the congressional research office confirmed a breach, but did not comment on the cause. A security researcher suggested the hack may have originated because CBO failed to patch a firewall for more than a year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The proposal received more than 75% approval. Musk can earn the $1 trillion in shares over the next 10 years if Tesla hits a number of milestones. Plus Musk said he expects Tesla to be able to put all the Cybercabs it builds on the road, and thanked Waymo for 'paving the path.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning Peloton users to stop using the affected bikes immediately. Also, Snap said today that it has signed a deal with AI-powered search engine Perplexity to power a new chatbot. As part of the deal, Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million in cash and equity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australia now has so much solar power that the government will require utilities to sell customers free electricity for three hours per day. Apple is turning to Google's technology to help revamp Siri and power a slate of upcoming features for the voice assistant. Blue Origin's first New Glenn launch in January mostly went well, and now the long-delayed second mission is finally ready for takeoff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers at Microsoft have developed a new simulation environment for testing AI agents, revealing surprising weaknesses in the current state-of-the-art. Also, Penn experienced a data breach on Friday as hackers sent messages boasting of the hack to the university community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Information reports that Anthropic expects to generate as much as $70 billion in revenue and $17 billion in cash flow in 2028. The growth projections are fueled by rapid adoption of Anthropic's business products, a person with knowledge of the company's financials said. And despite its imprecision, the fourth "Master Plan" is a centerpiece of Tesla's case for giving CEO Elon Musk $1 trillion in company shares. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta said that Facebook Dating has 1.77 million daily active users in the US between ages 18-29. Also, core parts of the ClickUp release were possible because of its acquisition of Qatalog. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite the emphasis on detachment from ideas, X employees do have significant skin in the game when projects spin out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta's AI spending is starting to make Wall Street nervous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still taking swipes at each other on Musk's social media platform X. Also, a majority of consumers say they're worried about data centers driving up electricity costs. Is the industry prepared for a possible backlash? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Semiconductor giant Nvidia is looking to invest at least five hundred million dollars and up to one billion dollars in Poolside which builds AI models for software development. That's according to reporting from Bloomberg, which cited sources. This investment would be part of a two billion dollar funding round Poolside is raising at a twelve billion dollar valuation. Lidar-maker Luminar is warning shareholders that it will run out of cash in early twenty twenty six and has announced a 25 percent cut to its workforce to help staunch the bleeding, its second layoff of the year, according to a Friday regulatory filing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“The dead internet theory is real,” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told Digg founder Kevin Rose, referring to the idea that much of the internet isn't human — it's mostly bots. The two entrepreneurs have since teamed up to re-envision how to build a social community in this world where, very soon, it will be hard to tell bot from human. Also, Canva is launching new features like Forms, email design, and makes Affinity free for all users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Design platform Figma said today that it has acquired AI-powered image and video generation company Weavy. The startup will join Figma under a new brand called Figma Weave. Also, Threads continues to ship new features at a rapid pace. Shortly after the launch of communities and disappearing “ghost posts,” the social networking app on Thursday introduced new tools that will give users more control over their conversations on the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Uplift, every subscription will contribute to neighborhood-level network expansion, while local hosts that are known as "AirNode operators" will earn a portion of network revenue by providing community coverage. Also, while San Francisco's mayor Daniel Lurie is opening his arms to autonomous vehicles, other cities are more resistant. Boston, for instance, has considered a ban on autonomous vehicles in the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices