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6 天前

AI labs want to pump the brakes, but Amazon and SpaceX are still blasting off

After years of pushing full speed ahead on AI, Sam Altman says maybe it’s time for the AI industry to “pace” itself. The comments come just days after one of OpenAI's own models broke out of its test environment and got tangled up in a breach at Hugging Face, though as Equity’s hosts point out, sloppy security seems to have been just as much to blame as the model itself. Altman's not alone in this stance: both OpenAI and Anthropic have come out in support of a petition echoing that same message. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into whether the industry is ready to pump the brakes or just spooked, and who's on the hook when a model goes rogue. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: The viral “Avoiding AI” workshops hosted by librarians to help people opt out of AI features they didn't ask for How Amazon's new 5,000-satellite bid to connect directly to your phone could turn up the heat on SpaceX (even though it's unclear if anyone actually wants satellite-to-phone service) Why somehow there's room for one more AI lab: Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus's new startup, Prentis, is in talks to raise $100M at a $1B valuation How Pangram raised $9 million to help publishers, teachers, and readers tell human writing from AI slop Why DoorDash is building its own drone delivery business instead of just relying on partners like Wing and Flytrex Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 1:18 Zoox gets its robotaxi exemption 2:11 Sam Altman calls for pacing the frontier 6:01 The Hugging Face hack, dissected 10:12 Responsibility, regulation, and the Elon Musk wildcard 13:29 Librarians teaching people to unplug from AI 15:16 Prentice: a new AI lab raises at a $1B valuation 16:46 Amazon files for its own satellite-to-phone network 18:42 SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the launch-business angle 23:48 Pangram raises $9M to detect AI slop 29:23 DoorDash builds its own delivery drones 33:24 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7月29日

‘If this isn't addiction, I don't know what is’: Light Phone's founders get real about screen time and building for the anti-smartphone generation

With the Light Phone, Kaiwei Tang and Joe Hollier have spent over a decade exploring the value of simplicity in our relationship to technology, partnering along the way with players like Andrew Yang, Kendrick Lamar, and Pete Davidson. Now, with a new flip phone and a growing wave of “attention activists” pushing back on big tech, they think the rest of the world is finally catching up to them. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Amanda Silberling talks with Tang and Hollier about the company's newly announced flip phone, why they think the anti-smartphone backlash is only just getting started, and what it takes to break an addiction that fits in your pocket. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: How the design lessons from the original Motorola Razr shaped the new Light Flip What the "Summer of Ludd" attention activist movement says about Gen Z's relationship with big tech Why Light Phone is opening up an SDK so users can build their own tools instead of opting for an app store Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 0:51 Building Light Phone 3:10 The user shift: why people are finally ready to unplug 7:54 Designing outside the Silicon Valley bubble 9:54 Why simple tech is making a comeback (CDs, iPods, flip phones) 13:50 From the Motorola Razr to the Light Flip 17:54 Pricing and the Noble Mobile phone plan 19:44 What actually happens when you switch (and the Flip Your Life program) 23:13 Building an open-source app library for Light Phone 26:38 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 天前

Why Lightspeed is going all-in on creator-led venture capital

Venture firms are turning to creators to build trust with the next generation of founders before a check is ever written. It's a trend that's been building with a16z's acquisition of Erik Torenberg’s Turpentine podcast and OpenAI's acquisition of TBPN. Lightspeed Venture Partners just made its own notable hire in that vein, bringing on Claire Zau, a seed investor with a major following on Instagram and TikTok, to source deals and co-host the firm's new show, Lightwork, alongside CMO Josh Machiz. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Dominic-Madori Davis is joined by Zau and Machiz to dive deep into whether the “creator-investor” is becoming a real function in venture or just something firms are still trying to figure out. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: How an Instagram DM turned into a hire, and why Machiz says Zau’s investing instincts (not just her follower count) made her stand out from other creators. Why Zau thinks tech Twitter is a “minuscule” slice of the tech-curious audience, and what she's learned about public sentiment on AI that doesn't show up on X. How Lightspeed measures ROI on a media operation that's hard to tie directly to deal flow. The founder and portfolio-company stories that came out of Zau's content, including how a single video helped land a health-tech founder a meeting with Shaq. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7月24日

‘AI communism’, rogue models, and the why Kimi K3 spooked Wall Street

Chinese AI lab Moonshot's open model Kimi went viral this week for reasons that had less to do with the model itself and more to do with how the U.S. AI industry reacted to it. Meanwhile, an unreleased OpenAI model wandered outside its test environment and ended up connected to a real security breach at Hugging Face — a reminder that “China risk” isn't the only kind of AI risk worth worrying about. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into why Kimi K3 set off a fresh round of AI panic, the industry’s response to an OpenAI staffer's “regulatory FUD” post, and what that OpenAI breach means for AI security more broadly. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why EVs are getting killed off across the U.S. even as automakers roll out new models, and how Rivian and Ford, and a wave of new startups are betting on different EV strategies to survive What Sila's $300 million raise says about where battery investment is headed even as EV demand cools Travis Kalanick's comeback with a $1.7 billion raise for his robotics startup, Atoms, and why we’re surprised to see Uber among its investors Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 1:39 Chinese AI model Kimi sparks a Wall Street freakout 10:45 OpenAI model breaks out of a test, Hugging Face breach 15:53 Why EVs are getting killed off in the U.S. 20:35 Tax credits, free markets, and the road ahead for EVs 28:56 Sila raises $300M for battery materials 32:20 Travis Kalanick's Atoms raises $1.7B, with Uber as an investor 36:39 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5月22日

Elon Musk can't hear you over the sound of his $1.75 trillion IPO

The SpaceX S-1 is finally here, and the story it tells goes way further than rockets. The filing runs to 36 pages of risk factors alone, and the numbers inside match the ambition: a $28 trillion total addressable market, a pay package tied to establishing a Mars colony, and a valuation target that would make it the largest IPO in American history. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what the filing actually says, what it leaves out, and whether any of this math connects to reality. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why NanoCo turned down a $20 million buyout to raise a $12 million seed instead Anthropic’s acquisition of SDK startup Stainless, and why taking a tool off the table matters as much as the $300 million price tag What happened when commencement speakers started talking up AI in front of graduating classes, and why the students weren't having it Google’s I/O announcements claiming search as you know it is over, and what the AI makeover could mean for the open web Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7月22日

Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says the lesson for founders now is that a great model isn't enough

Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures' Matt Murphy says he's never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic's $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, pre-launch bet to one of the most valuable startups out there. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Julie Bort talks with Murphy about backing Anthropic before anyone else would, why a great model was never the point, and what's driving the fastest-growing startups he's ever seen. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why Menlo bet on Anthropic at a $4 billion pre-revenue valuation when the deal didn't fit cleanly into any of the firm's funds, and why Google and Amazon signing on as investors was an early “green shoot.” Why Murphy says the model was never the real moat, and how Claude Code, MCP, and Claude Skills turned Anthropic from a strong model into a full platform. Murphy's take on the backlash to Anthropic's Mythos rollout, and why he pushes back on the idea that it was more marketing than safety. Why companies like Lovable and Legora are growing faster than any startups Murphy has seen in 25 years, and what that speed means for founders trying to compete. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5月15日

Well, do you trust Sam Altman?

The Musk v. Altman trial came to a close this week, and the final arguments kept circling back to one question: can we trust the people in charge of AI? All of this is playing out as SpaceX charges toward what could be one of the largest IPOs in American history, with a whole generation of founders already spinning out of the Musk empire. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane break down the trial's closing stretch and what the growing Elon Musk founder ecosystem actually looks like on the ground, and the other deals that caught our eye this week. Listen to the full episode to hear about: How Anduril landed a $5 billion Series H, more than doubling the valuation it landed just under a year ago Why investors just can’t say no to RJ Scaringe, who’s raked in over $1 billion for Rivian spinout Mind Robotics How voice AI startup Vapi beat out over 40 other companies to secure a contract handling all of Ring's customer support What an Anthropic report about an AI agent blackmailing its own developers says about where the industry actually is Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
6月26日

OpenAI's Jalapeño chip is Big Tech's spiciest move away from Nvidia yet

Nvidia has dominated the AI chip market for years, but the era of total dependence might be ending. OpenAI just shared its plans to spice things up with Jalapeño, its custom inference chip built with Broadcom, joining Google, Apple, and SpaceX in a growing list of companies building their way out of single-supplier risk. The goal isn't a clean break so much as a hedge. Custom silicon means more control, hardware tuned to specific needs, and the kind of performance gains Apple unlocked when it ditched Intel. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what the custom chip trend means for the industry and a few deals of the week worth watching. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: How Groq’s $650M raise after Nvidia swept away its top talent might be the comeback story of the year AI agents getting loopy and why Claude Code creator Boris Cherny thinks these loops are “just as important and as big a step” as the leap from source code to agents Whether the public markets are warming up to humanoid robots as Agility Robotics plans to go public via SPAC A24 taking investment from Google DeepMind to develop a new AI toolkit for filmmakers Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7月17日

Apple's lawsuit couldn't come at a worse time for OpenAI

Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI last Friday, and it's not messing around. The complaint alleges a pattern of misconduct reaching all the way up to OpenAI's chief hardware officer and claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. OpenAI's response so far has been carefully hedged, and the timing couldn't be worse with the company reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as later this year. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what the lawsuit could mean for OpenAI's own hardware ambitions and IPO timeline, plus a bigger theme running through the week's news: how much should anyone trust AI companies with their data? Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is warning enterprises about handing data over to AI labs, and whether open source is really a way out of the “Trojan horse” data-trust problem How forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) are changing the relationship between AI labs and their enterprise customers Why General Catalyst just handed David Beckham's health drink startup a $1 billion customer value fund The scoop on a new $200M drug-discovery startup from an ex-OpenAI researcher Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:40 Would you want Sam Altman listening to you? 01:53 Apple sues OpenAI over trade secrets 13:24 Satya Nadella's warning: "you're paying twice" with your data 19:03 Open source vs. going deeper with AI labs 24:52 General Catalyst gives David Beckham's health drink startup $1B 30:05 Ex-OpenAI researcher raises $200M for drug discovery startup 32:58 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7月10日

Open source AI matters more than ever, according to Hugging Face's Clem Delangue

Open source AI is booming, according to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue. The company has grown into something like a GitHub for AI in recent years, where AI builders can share and download open models and datasets, now used by roughly half the Fortune 500. Delangue has seen the same story play out again and again: companies start out on frontier APIs, but as they scale, the costs push them towards open source models. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan talked to Delangue about why the open vs closed source fight matters in the wake of Anthropic’s halted Fable release, and why he's worried about the possibility that a handful of big companies could end up controlling everything. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: How Chinese labs are producing the majority of open models being downloaded in the U.S., and why Delangue thinks that's a problem worth fixing rather than a reason to distrust open source itself. How Hugging Face is choosing capital efficiency over the usual Silicon Valley fundraising playbook, including why the company turned down a large investment from Nvidia last year. Why he sees robotics as an even more urgent case for open, transparent AI than chatbots or coding tools, given how much of your home and family life a robot ends up seeing. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:33 Breaking down open source growth data 04:34 What's driving the open source resurgence 08:47 Who’s using Hugging Face, and how? 10:28 China overtakes the US in open model downloads 16:34 Safety, access, and the risk of AI power concentration 24:03 Hugging Face's approach to legal risk 28:00 Turning down Nvidia 31:47 Underinvested opportunities: local AI, bio, robotics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TechCrunch podcasts cover the business of technology, startups, venture capital funding, crypto, and the humans behind it all.

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AI labs want to pump the brakes, but Amazon and SpaceX are still blasting off

‘If this isn't addiction, I don't know what is’: Light Phone's founders get real about screen time and building for the anti-smartphone generation

Why Lightspeed is going all-in on creator-led venture capital

‘AI communism’, rogue models, and the why Kimi K3 spooked Wall Street

Elon Musk can't hear you over the sound of his $1.75 trillion IPO

Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says the lesson for founders now is that a great model isn't enough

Well, do you trust Sam Altman?

OpenAI's Jalapeño chip is Big Tech's spiciest move away from Nvidia yet

Apple's lawsuit couldn't come at a worse time for OpenAI

Open source AI matters more than ever, according to Hugging Face's Clem Delangue

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