Friday, December 6, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got notes on OpenAI's latest model, Uber having to ramp up checks on ride-hail drivers, and the IPO that wasn't. We've also got climate-friendly cocoa, fresh funds for sustainable technology, GitLab's new CEO, and a new Oura ring feature. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Mike Coppola / Getty Images

1. Why release it then? OpenAI has dropped the full version of o1, which supposedly gives smarter answers than GPT-4o by using more computing power to "think" over questions. But OpenAI's own red team researchers found that the model tries to deceive humans and "schemes" at higher rates than any other model out there. Cool, thanks. Read More

2. For the children: Uber has long fought against doing fingerprint background checks on its drivers, but the launch of Uber for Teens has changed things. A new ruling in California says Uber needs to get those background checks done if it wants to keep transporting unaccompanied minors. Read More

3. No-go IPO: U.K. neobank Zopa has raised about $86.8 million at a round that values the company at well over $1 billion. The fundraise came as a surprise to some who expected Zopa to follow Klarna into the IPO melee. But its CEO says going public is "not a priority." Read More

A Message from Silicon Valley Bank

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Image Credits: Planet A Foods

🍫 Securing our chocolatey future: The cocoa industry is a huge driver of deforestation and human rights abuses, but who can live without chocolate? Good news is you don't have to choose between ethics and deliciousness. Planet A Foods just raised $30 million to scale up production of ChoViva, a cocoa-free, low carbon chocolate alternative. Read More

💸 The PayPal Mafia enters the White House: David Sacks, former PayPal COO and one of the voices on the "All In" podcast, has been chosen to serve as Trump's "crypto and AI czar." Sacks has also co-founded Yammer and is a partner at VC fund Craft Ventures. Read More

🙏 GitLab gets a new CEO: Bill Staples has taken over the role of chief executive at GitLab from Sid Sijbrandij, who is battling cancer at the moment (feel better soon, Sid). Staples comes from a CEO position at New Relic and is a Microsoft alum. Read More

🚕 WeRide with Uber: Uber and Chinese AV tech company WeRide have officially launched a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, marking Uber's first AV offering abroad. It's a small-scale deployment, and human safety operators will be present initially. Read More

🌱 PIVVOOOTTT: Heartcore Capital initially planned to focus on consumer tech when it launched its $200 million fund in 2021. But the VC firm has now closed a $180 million fund that will help it pivot towards infrastructure, synthetic biology, and climate. The stuff that really matters. Read More

Around the web

🤳 TikTok going for one, two… Billionaire Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty and a critic of how tech companies use data, is making progress on his plan to bid for TikTok, Axios reports. McCourt's group doesn't intend to buy TikTok's algorithm because it wants to rewrite the architecture and promote a new way of thinking about the internet. Read More

🤖 We can, and we should: OpenAI is in talks to ditch a provision that shuts Microsoft out of its most advanced models when it achieves "artificial general intelligence" so it can continue to unlock billions of dollars in investment from the Big Tech company, reports the Financial Times. The clause was originally included to protect Microsoft from potentially misusing the tech for commercial purposes. Read More

🤧 Symptom radar: Oura is rolling out a feature that can alert you when you might be coming down with a respiratory illness, reports The Verge. Sounds perfect for flu season; not perfect if you have hypochondriac tendencies like I do. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Lucid Group

🚘 Lucid's first Gravity SUV has rolled off production lines. Now, it's time for the luxury EV startup to ramp up production and make its first deliveries. The Gravity is an important milestone for the company, which is making very pretty cars, but not at the rate it had originally planned to. Read More