Gen AI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7B downloads in first half of 2025

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  July 30, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 Gen AI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7B downloads in first half of 2025: People are downloading and spending money on Gen AI apps more than ever. Read More YouTube loosens profanity rules for monetized videos: YouTube is tweaking its profanity-related rules to allow creators to monetize videos with swearing in them, provided the profanity is contained to the first seven seconds of the video. Read More Google says it will sign EU's AI code of practice: Google confirmed it will sign the European Union's general purpose AI code of practice. Meta has already said it will not sign the voluntary framework. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events Join 10,000 tech & VC leaders at Disrupt 2025 in Oct 250+ top tech voices. 200 sessions. 10,000+ attendees. 3 days straight — October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Don't miss valuable takeaways across 6 industry stages, breakouts, roundtables, and unmatched networking. All at the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt. Register now to save up to $675 on your ticket. Register Now Morning Must-Reads OpenAI launches Study Mode in ChatGPT: OpenAI's Study Mode aims to help students develop their own critical thinking skills, rather than just giving answers. Read More Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth messaging app Bitchat now on App Store: Jack Dorsey's Bitchat is now available on the App Store, but security researchers have questioned the app's privacy claims. Read More Google's NotebookLM rolls out Video Overviews: With this new capability, NotebookLM is taking a more visual approach to helping users understand different topics and ideas. Read More Elon Musk's Boring Company to build Tesla tunnels under Nashville: Construction could start fast — but that speed has endangered Boring Company workers in the past. Read More Anthropic reportedly nears $170B valuation with potential $5B round: The new round is being led by Iconiq Capital, with the possibility of a co-lead investor joining. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events Showcase your brand to 10,000+ tech leaders Get your brand in front of 10,000+ tech and VC leaders over three action-packed days at Disrupt 2025 this October. Boost your visibility, spark meaningful connections, and position your company at the forefront of innovation. Don't wait. Secure your exhibit space before your competitor beats you to it. Book Now Last but Not Least Nvidia AI chip challenger Groq said to be nearing new fundraising at $6B valuation : AI chip startup Groq is in talks to raise a fresh $600 million at a near $6 billion valuation, sources tell Bloomberg, although the deal isn't yet final and terms could change.  Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

OpenAI launches Study Mode in ChatGPT

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  July 29, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 OpenAI launches Study Mode in ChatGPT: OpenAI's Study Mode aims to help students develop their own critical thinking skills, rather than just giving answers. Read More YouTube rolls out age-estimation tech to identify US teens and apply additional protections: YouTube is introducing age-detection technology to identify teens on the platform in the U.S. and apply protections. Read More Elon Musk's Boring Company to build Tesla tunnels under Nashville: Construction could start fast — but that speed has endangered Boring Company workers in the past. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events Showcase your brand to 10,000+ tech leaders Get your brand in front of 10,000+ tech and VC leaders over three action-packed days at Disrupt 2025 this October. Boost your visibility, spark meaningful connections, and position your company at the forefront of innovation. Don't wait. Secure your exhibit space before your competitor beats you to it. Book Now Afternoon Must-Reads Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth messaging app Bitchat now on App Store: Jack Dorsey's Bitchat is now available on the App Store, but security researchers have questioned the app's privacy claims. Read More Anthropic reportedly nears $170B valuation with potential $5B round: The new round is being led by Iconiq Capital, with the possibility of a co-lead investor joining. Read More AI data analyst startup Julius nabs $10M seed round: Julius is designed to act like a data scientist by analyzing and visualizing extensive datasets and then performing predictive modeling from natural language prompts. Read More Microsoft in talks to maintain access to OpenAI's tech beyond AGI milestone : Microsoft is reportedly in advanced talks with OpenAI for a new agreement that would give it ongoing access to the startup's technology even if OpenAI achieves what it defines as AGI, or advanced general intelligence. If the deal goes through, it would clear a key hurdle in OpenAI's transition toward becoming a fully commercial enterprise. Read More Adobe adds new AI-powered image-editing features to Photoshop: Adobe is rolling out a feature that lets you place an object in a scene, remove its background, and have Photoshop use Firefly models to adjust color, lighting, shadows, and visual tones to fit the object in the scene. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events Join 10,000 tech & VC leaders at Disrupt 2025 in Oct 250+ top tech voices. 200 sessions. 10,000+ attendees. 3 days straight — October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Don't miss valuable takeaways across 6 industry stages, breakouts, roundtables, and unmatched networking. All at the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt. Register now to save up to $675 on your ticket. Register Now Last but Not Least Google's NotebookLM rolls out Video Overviews: With this new capability, NotebookLM is taking a more visual approach to helping users understand different topics and ideas. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107