Welcome back to week in review! Elon musk says that xai boght x in an all-stock deal; A16Z-Backed 11x Faked Some Customers; The lumon terminal pro pops up on apple’s website; And Much More. Let’s Dig in!
Xai Buys x: X owner elon musk announced on x on Friday that Xai Acquired X in An all-Stock TransactionThis combination values xai at $ 80 billion and x at $ 33 billion. “Today, we official take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk Said.
Fudging the numbers: More than 20 sources- Including Investors and Current and Former Employees- Told Techcrunch that A16z- and Benchmark-Backed 11x have experienced financed financial strugglesLargely of Its Own Making. “They absolutely massaged the numbers internal with it came to growth and churn,” a former employee said.
Block layoffs: A leaked message by block ceo jack dorsey reviewed by techcrunch reviewed that the company – which opens cash app and square – was laying off 931 people, or 8% of the company, as part of an “Org restructuring.” Dorsey’s email denies that the layoffs are for financial reasons or to replace works with ai.
This is techcrunch’s week in review, where we recap the week’s biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your Inbox Every Saturday? Sign up here,
News
“What, me do fraud?” The white house confirmed to techcrunch on Friday that President Trump Pardoned Trevor MiltonThe Founder of Bankrupt Hydrogen Trucking Startup Nikola Who was convicated of fraud. The pardon comes just a few weeks after nikola filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Speaking of leaks: A leaked database seen by techcrunch shows that China has developed an AI System That Supercharges Its Alredy Formidable Censorship MachineExtended far beyond traditional taboos like the tiananmen square massacre.
Skunkworks spins out: Rivian’s Skunkworks Project was spun out of the company With a new name and $ 105 million in Funding from eclipse ventures. The Startup, Called also, will exist as a stand-alone company from Rivian.
Get your computers ready: Apple announced that Worldwide developers conference 2025 will begin June 9Reports have indicated that apple has prepared dramatic software overhauls for the iPhone, iPad, and mac. We also expect ios 19, which, according to bloomberg, will be “The biggest revamp since iOS 7.”
Dna debacle: DNA Testing Company 23andme filed for bankruptcy This week. The company’s co-founder and ceo, anne wojcicki, separely said she is Lending to become an independent fidder for the company. Your data might not be safeSo Here are some ways to delete it,
An act of congress: Kat Abughazaleh, The 26-Year-old who wasMon the people laid off from media matters after elon musk sued the company, Announced this week that she’s running for Congress“I’mm Trying to be really transparent about how to run for office, because I feel like it’s kind of this black hole that seems a lot more difference than it should be,” SH TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD TOLD THEMS
A SLICE OF “Severance”: I haven’t watched any seasons of “Severance,” and Based on Seemingly Everyone in the World, I’M Absolutely Missing Out. My Colleague Sarah Is Among Those People, And She Spotted A Lumon Terminal Pro (The machine they use in the show) on Apple’s website,
Backdoor to china: Spacex, a defense contractor for the pentagon, reportedly Allowed Chinese Investors to Buy SharesAs long as the funds are routed through the cayman islands or other offshore hubs.
The switch 2 is coming! And at nintendo direct, the company announced that it’s work on Virtual game cards that allows to take their downloaded games With them to use on other devices.
Analysis
Chatgpt’s new image generator launched this week, and with it came a flood of images based on art by studio ghibli being posted online. While the Debate Over Whether this is Horforming (Studio Ghibli Co-Founder Hayao Miyazaki Once Said That “Ai is an insult to life itself”) Copyrights are still a concern When it comes to ai-generated anything. Although copying the art style isn’t Necessarily unlawful, Openai Training its models on Studio Ghibli’s Ghibli’s Art Operates in a Legal “Gray Area.”
“I think this raises the same question that we’ve been asking outslves for a couple years now,” Evan Brown, An Intellectual Property Lawyer, TOLD TECHCRUNCH. “What are the copyright infringement implications of going out, crawling the web, and copying into these databases?”