Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we find out that OpenAI may be a victim of its own success; we dig into the longevity trend that has overtaken Silicon Valley; and we learn of some notable tech shutdowns.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg / Getty Images

😩 This is going to ruin the tour: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the recent popularity of the company's new image-generating tool could cause unspecified product delays. I mean, hey, if you're going to have product delays because your product is too popular, then that's not a bad spot to be in.

🪑 AI musical chairs: Joelle Pineau, the head of AI research at Meta, announced today that she plans to leave the company in May. Meta is planning to spend $65 billion on AI infrastructure this year. The company said it doesn't have an immediate replacement for her.

🛍️ An AI acquisition: Semiconductor giant Qualcomm announced that it acquired the generative AI division of VinAI, an AI research company based out of Hanoi. VinAI was founded by former DeepMind research scientist Hung Bui. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg / Getty Images

🧟 Who gets to live forever? Today's episode of the StrictlyVC Download podcast features a chat with Peter Diamandis, the founder of XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University, about longevity and who should have access to these life-elongating practices.

☹️ Rest in peace: NaNoWriMo, the online writing community turned nonprofit, will be shutting down after 25 years. The org runs an annual challenge for people to write a rough draft of a novel in the month of November, but it has come under criticism for its view that using AI is OK in creative writing.

🔒 Speaking of shutdowns: Money transfer app Zelle is shutting down its stand-alone app. But Zelle users can still access the service through their bank. It should be noted that only 2% of Zelle transactions happened through its app.

🫶 Job matchmaker: Ponte Labor is a startup that uses WhatsApp to connect Hispanic immigrants to jobs. The platform helps vet and match these workers with potential gigs, and it just raised a $3 million seed round.

🧐 A hack? Someone has been using fake accounts to reach out to members of the cybersecurity community, asking them to join a group that hacks Chinese websites for a lofty $100,000 a month. Researchers can't figure out why this is happening.

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Around the web

🃏 The stupidest silliest day: Have you fallen for any April Fool's Day gags yet? I'm sure gullible has actually been written on the ceiling at least once, if that makes you feel better. The Verge has a roundup of all the pranks from tech companies and beyond.

🤔 Controversial data: Police used "tower dump" cell tower data to track down an individual suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails at Teslas in Las Vegas last month. The practice has long been controversial, and a Mississippi judge just ruled it unconstitutional a few weeks ago.