Welcome again to Week in Review. This week we’re trying on the inner chaos surrounding HP’s $116 million acquisition of AI Pin maker Humane; Mira Murati’s new AI enterprise popping out of stealth; Duolingo killing its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck; and extra! Let’s get into it.
Humane’s AI pin is lifeless. The {hardware} startup introduced that the majority of its belongings have been acquired by HP for $116 million, lower than half of the $240 million it raised in VC funding. The startup will instantly discontinue gross sales of its $499 AI Pins, and after February 28, the wearable will now not hook up with Humane’s servers. After that, the units received’t be able to calling, messaging, AI queries/responses, or cloud entry. Customers who purchased an AI Pin within the final 90 days are eligible for a refund, however anybody who purchased a tool earlier than then will not be.
Hours after the HP acquisition was introduced, a number of Humane staff obtained job provides from HP with pay will increase between 30% and 70%, plus HP inventory and bonus plans, in line with inner paperwork seen by TechCrunch and two sources who requested anonymity. Meanwhile, different Humane staff — particularly those that labored nearer to the AI Pin units — had been notified they had been out of a job.
Apple’s long-awaited iPhone SE refresh has been revealed, three years after the final main replace to the budget-minded smartphone. The 16e is a part of an unique group of handsets able to operating Apple Intelligence because of the addition of an A18 processor. The iPhone 16e additionally ditched the Touch ID house button in favor of Face ID and swapped out the Lightning port in favor of USB-C. The iPhone 6e begins at $599 and can start delivery February 28.
This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review, the place we recap the week’s greatest information. Want this delivered as a e-newsletter to your inbox each Saturday? Sign up right here.
News
RIP, Duo: Duolingo “killed” its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck, and the advertising stunt goes surprisingly nicely. The firm launched a marketing campaign to avoid wasting Duo — and encourage customers to do extra classes — as the corporate says it’s “Duo or die.” Read extra
OpenAI “uncensors” ChatGPT: OpenAI now not desires ChatGPT to take an editorial stance, even when some customers discover it “morally flawed or offensive.” That means ChatGPT will now provide a number of views on controversial topics in an effort to be impartial. Read extra
Uber vs. DoorDash: Uber is suing DoorDash, accusing its supply rival of stifling competitors by intimidating restaurant house owners into unique offers. Uber alleges that DoorDash bullied eating places into solely working with them. Read extra
Mira Murati’s subsequent transfer: Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has come out of stealth. The startup, which incorporates OpenAI co-founder John Schulman and former OpenAI chief analysis officer Barret Zoph, will deal with constructing collaborative “multimodal” methods. Read extra
Introducing Grok 3: Elon Musk’s xAI launched its newest flagship AI mannequin, Grok 3, and unveiled new capabilities for the Grok iOS and internet apps. Musk claims that the brand new household of fashions is a “maximally truth-seeking AI” that’s generally “at odds with what’s politically appropriate.” Read extra
Hackers on Steam: Valve eliminated a online game from Steam that was primarily designed to unfold malware. Security researchers discovered that whoever planted it modified an current online game in an try to trick players into putting in an info-stealer known as Vidar. Read extra
Another DEI U-turn: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s charity will finish inner DEI packages and cease offering “social advocacy funding” for racial fairness and immigration reforms. The change comes simply weeks after the group assured workers it might proceed to assist DEI efforts. Read extra
Amazon shuts down its Android app retailer: Amazon will discontinue its app retailer for Android in August in an effort to place extra deal with the corporate’s personal units. The firm informed builders that they’ll now not have the ability to submit new apps to the shop. Read extra
Mark Zuckerberg’s rebrand didn’t repay: A research by the Pew Research Center discovered that Americans’ views of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are extra detrimental than optimistic. About 54% of U.S. adults say they’ve an unfavorable view of Musk whereas a whopping 67% really feel negatively towards Zuckerberg. Read extra
Noise-canceling headphones may damage your mind: A brand new BBC report considers whether or not noise-canceling tech is likely to be rewiring the brains of people that use it to tune out pesky background noise — and will result in the mind forgetting the right way to filter sounds itself. Read extra
Analysis
An exhaustive have a look at the DOGE universe: The dozens of people who work below, or advise, Elon Musk and DOGE are a real-life illustration of Musk’s weblike attain within the tech business. TechCrunch has unveiled the key gamers within the DOGE universe, from Musk’s internal circle to senior figures, employee bees, and aides — a few of whom are advising and recruiting for DOGE. We spotlight each the connections between them and the way they entered Musk’s orbit. Read extra
