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OpenAI pushed generative AI into the public consciousness. Now, it could be developing a very different kind of AI device. According to a WSJ report, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees Wednesday that the company’s next major product won’t be a wearable. Instead, it will be a compact, screenless device, fully aware of its user’s surroundings. Small enough to sit on a desk or fit in a pocket, Altman described it as both a “third core device” alongside a MacBook Pro and iPhone, and an “AI companion” integrated into daily life. The preview followed OpenAI’s announcement that it will acquire io, a startup founded just last year by former Apple designer Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion equity deal. Ive will take on a key creative and design role at OpenAI. Altman reportedly told employees the acquisition could eventually add $1 trillion in market value to the company as it creates a new category of devices unlike the handhelds, wearables, or glasses that other outfits have rolled out. Altman also reportedly emphasized to staff that secrecy will be critical to prevent competitors from copying the product before launch. A recording of his remarks leaked to the Journal raises questions about how much he can trust his own team and how much more he’ll be willing to disclose.

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From a struggling family tea estate to an innovative climate venture, Alt Carbon has raised $12 million in a seed round as it plans to scale its carbon dioxide removal work in the South Asian nation. The climate-tech startup, which locks away carbon for thousands of years through enhanced rock weathering on farmlands, attracted investment led by Lachy Groom, the co-founder of the robotics AI company Physical Intelligence. The journey began May 2020 with a bittersweet homecoming. Siblings Shrey and Sparsh Agarwal drove 16 hours from the eastern state of Kolkata to Darjeeling — a city known for tea farming in the leafy foothills of the Himalayas — expecting to bid farewell to their family’s tea estate, Salem Hill, which was facing bankruptcy. Instead, that farewell visit planted the seeds for Alt Carbon, which they officially launched in late 2023. Initially, they explored carbon markets as a way to revive their family business and support other tea estates in the region by generating supplementary income. But during their exploration, they discovered enhanced rock weathering as an approach that could transform Darjeeling’s legacy from being at risk of climate change impact to a frontier of climate action. “Within carbon markets, our realization was that a lot of the projects in India, which are more avoidance-based, are of very low quality, and they produce junk credits,” Sparsh said in an exclusive interview. Last year, Alt Carbon started its pilot around the Agarwals’ family tea estate on about 500 acres of land, which they later scaled up in North Bengal, expanding their scope from tea farms to those of rice and bamboo. The startup aims to expand to 500,000 hectares of land. By 2030, the startup aims to remove 5 million tons of carbon from the region, Sparsh told TechCrunch. Alt Carbon co-founders Shrey Agarwal (Left) and Sparsh Agarwal (Right)Image Credits:Alt Carbon Alt Carbon deploys enhanced rock weathering using waste basalt rock dust from mines and quarries in the volcanic igneous province of Rajmahal Traps, located in Eastern India. The rock dust, a waste product from the construction industry, is spread on farm fields where it reacts naturally with rainwater to remove carbon dioxide and add micronutrients to the soil to improve its fertility and health and enhance crop yields. When rainwater containing carbon dioxide interacts with basalt dust, it forms stable bicarbonate ions. These are stored in the soil and eventually flow through rivers to the ocean, where they settle as calcium carbonate, locking away carbon for over 10,000 years. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW For transporting the specialized dust from source locations to farm fields, the startup relies on rails and diesel trucks and pays for one-way fares as these sources are part of the tea industry’s freight transportation system. The startup also avoids emissions from dedicated rock processing by relying on the waste basalt from existing mining and crushing operations. Instead of using the basalt dust alone, the startup has developed a proprietary combination of basalt with other organic ingredients, which it calls Hari Maati (green soil in Hindi), to convince farmers to spread it on their farmlands. Alt Carbon estimates its carbon credits at $270 per metric ton, which Sparsh said is significantly cheaper than direct air capture credits that, he believes, cost roughly $800 a ton. However, he expects the startup to reduce costs within 36 to 48 months. The startup relies on three layers of measurements to understand how much rock is getting weathered and how much carbon is being removed, Shrey told TechCrunch. It begins with measurements to track weathering progress and then moves to measuring water within the soil, groundwater sampling, and river monitoring. The third layer uses proprietary reactive transport models that help track ions transported from the soil to water bodies. The startup also uses machine learning-driven modeling to get carbon removal numbers. Alt Carbon says its models adhere closely to methodologies set by carbon removal registries, including Isometric and Puro.earth. They have also received approvals from intergovernmental organizations, including SBTi, ICVCM, and CORSIA. The startup has its labs in Darjeeling and Bengaluru and employs 8 to 10 PhDs, with an overall headcount of 25 employees. It aims to scale these labs and expand its work by doing more soil sample analysis and even setting up a hardware studio for better, high-quality data collection on the ground, using remote sensing. The startup also plans to deploy sensors on the ground to get more insights at a lower cost and in a faster time. All this will come through that seed round led by Groom. Last year, the startup secured a $500,000 pre-purchase by Frontier, and a $1 billion advanced market commitment led by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey. It also recently signed a strategic partnership with a buyer coalition, NextGen, started by South Pole and Mitsubishi Corporation, to scale its enhanced rock weathering. The group also included BCG Group, Swiss RE, LGT, and UBS among its members. Last month, the startup signed an offtake agreement with Japan’s shipping company, MOL Group, to purchase 10,000 tons of carbon removal credits. Alt Carbon will deliver its first carbon credits in less than a month through Isometric, Sparsh said.

Lidar company Luminar reached a deal with Yorkville Advisors Global and another unnamed investor that could bring another $200 million into its coffers through the sale of convertible preferred stock over an 18-month period. The agreement, which was announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday, follows an abrupt change in leadership and layoffs. Earlier this month, Luminar’s board replaced founder Austin Russell as CEO and board chair. Luminar’s board appointed Paul Ricci to the role. Ricci is the former chairman and CEO of Nuance. The company also launched another round of layoffs — its third since spring 2024. Under the terms, Luminar will issue $35 million in convertible preferred stock to the investors. Luminar may issue additional tranches in amounts of up $35 million no more than every 60 days at a purchase price equal to 96% of the stated value of the convertible preferred stock. However, Luminar isn’t under any obligation to issue additional stock. “Today’s transaction provides us with additional financial flexibility and further strengthens our balance sheet,” Luminar CFO Tom Fennimore said in a statement “We’ve made substantial progress in extending our liquidity runway with our restructuring efforts, and the additional capital available to us under this facility provides us with another tool to realize our long-term value.” The company said proceeds from the initial $35 million issuance are expected to be used for general corporate purposes and debt retirement. Yorkville has offered these lifelines to other struggling publicly traded companies, a list that includes failed Lordstown Motors, Faraday Future, and the now bankrupt Canoo. Luminar was founded by Russell in 2012 when he was just a teenager. Luminar, and Russell, became Silicon Valley darlings when the lidar startup broke cover in April 2017 after operating for years in secrecy and at the height of the autonomous vehicle technology hype cycle. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In 2021, Luminar merged with special purpose acquisition company Gores Metropoulos Inc., with a post-deal market valuation of $3.4 billion. Today, Luminar has a market cap of $179 million. Luminar raised $250 million prior to the SPAC announcement. Luminar has had some wins, but also restructured several times. Luminar cut about 30% of its workforce in 2024 via two rounds of layoffs. Some of those layoffs spilled into the first quarter of 2025. A total of 212 employees were laid off. In a regulatory filing earlier this month, the company said it began additional layoffs May 15. These new layoffs are expected to cost $4 million to $5 million in cash charges. These costs are expected to be incurred in the second and third quarters of this year.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski is leaning all the way into the idea that his buy-now-pay-later, IPO-bound startup Klarna is an AI company. When Klarna delivered updated quarterly earnings on Monday, it was his AI avatar (pictured above) that presented the highlights, according to the company’s YouTube video. Other than AI Siemiatkowski’s admission, it wasn’t obvious that this was AI. There were only a few subtle signs: AI Siemiatkowski didn’t blink as much as most humans do. The voice sync was good, but not perfect. The AI was also wearing a brown jacket that looked a lot like the one from a widely circulated corporate photo of his human self (though the shirt was different). Klarna, which is getting ready to debut as a public company, was using the updated financials to tout AI as a driving factor for hitting 100 million users. It credited its use of AI for a fourth consecutive profitable quarter, explaining that it “streamlined its workforce by ~40%,” the company said in its blog post, driving up revenue per employee to nearly $1 million. Human Siemiatkowski specified to CNBC that “the company has shrunk from about 5,000 to now almost 3,000 employees.” He’s not the first CEO to poke fun at the idea of an AI replacing a CEO. AI sales agent startup Artisan, known for its viral “stop hiring humans” ad campaign, posted an April Fool’s video of its CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack being fired and replaced with an AI CEO. But maybe the idea of AIs replacing CEOs isn’t a total joke. While it’s certainly true that some CEOs — especially at startups — do get their hands dirty coding features or cold calling prospects, a CEO’s main jobs are to set strategy, make decisions, and take responsibility for those decisions. Who better than an AI built on a SATA reasoning model to digest large swatches of company data, study gobs of successful business strategy, and use that to make decisions? In fact, research published in Harvard Business Review last year found that an AI could, mostly, outperform human CEOs, based on a model using GPT-4o. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW However, the AI CEO also quickly got fired by the study’s virtual board. This is because it did poorly responding to “black swan events, such as market collapses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers found. Still, as AI advocates like to point out, these are early days. Future AI CEOs may learn to excel at that, too. Klarna did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Spotify says its ability to direct its customers to external payment links in its iOS app has already had a positive impact on sales. In a newly filed amicus brief in support of Epic Games in its ongoing legal battle with Apple over external payments on the App Store, Spotify claims its internal data indicates that its recent update supporting web payments has resulted in “a significant increase in iOS users upgrading to a Premium subscription.” Shortly after the U.S. District Court in Northern California ruled in favor of Fortnite maker Epic Games on the matter of external payments, Apple was forced to finally allow U.S. app developers to direct their customers to other ways to pay from within their iOS apps without having to pay Apple’s commission. Now, iOS app developers in the U.S. can choose to tell their customers about web billing options and whether there’s a discount for paying directly. Spotify was one of the first to update its iOS app to take advantage of the new policy. The updated version explains to customers what subscriptions cost, points them to its website to purchase, and allows users to purchase audiobooks directly. The results have been largely positive, Spotify wrote in the new filing. “The 2025 Order has created substantial benefits for developers and — more importantly — consumers,” the filing states. “Spotify’s internal data show that its iOS app updates have already resulted in a significant increase in iOS users upgrading to a Premium subscription. Apple’s compliance has also enabled new product innovations that would not have been possible without the Injunction.” Spotify said that its revised “Premium Destination Page” in its iOS app tells free users how to upgrade to a paid subscription by offering information about prices and a link to a checkout page. Since adding the link and pricing information, Spotify says it’s seen the immediate impact of the changes. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In the two weeks the new page has been live, Spotify says the rate of conversions from the free to Premium tier has remained “relatively constant” on Android, where Spotify has already been able to offer basic pricing information. Meanwhile, the conversion rate among iOS users has increased substantially, the company says. “This strongly suggests that the increase is due to Apple finally complying with the Injunction thanks to the 2025 Order,” Spotify wrote. Plus, the company adds that it’s beginning to see the effects on audiobook purchases just three days after the new product options were launched. Spotify declined to share specific numbers related to the increases when reached for comment. Its brief joins those from Microsoft and others in support of Epic Games, as Apple tries to fight the injunction that upended its U.S. App Store business. Apple doesn’t want to comply with the court’s decision, which it’s in the process of appealing, until all legal matters are fully settled. It also tried to keep Epic Games’ Fortnite out of the App Store for the same reason, but the judge pressured Apple to allow the game back in the App Store or return to court to explain why Apple was in non-compliance with the ruling. On Tuesday, Fortnite went live on the U.S. App Store after a five-year hiatus. The case between Apple and Epic now continues in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Apple filed an Emergency Motion so it could revert to its old policy while its appeal was underway. However, the court decided not to grant the motion, saying the panel of judges would follow the default briefing schedule and then rule on the motion in “due course.”

Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to fellow Senators on Wednesday, revealing that three major U.S. cellphone carriers did not have provisions to notify lawmakers about government surveillance requests, despite a contractual requirement to do so. In the letter, Wyden, a Democrat and longstanding member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that an investigation by his staff found that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were not notifying Senators of legal requests — including from the White House — to surveil their phones. The companies “have indicated that they are all now providing such notice,” according to the letter. Politico was first to report Wyden’s letter. Wyden’s letter comes in the wake of a report last year by the Inspector General, which revealed that the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 secretly obtained logs of calls and text messages of 43 congressional staffers and two serving House lawmakers, imposing gag orders on the phone companies that received the requests. The secret surveillance requests were first revealed in 2021 to have targeted Adam Schiff, who was at the time the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate’s independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers,” wrote Wyden in his letter. “If law enforcement officials, whether at the federal, state, or even local level, can secretly obtain Senators’ location data or call histories, our ability to perform our constitutional duties is severely threatened.” AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers told TechCrunch in a statement that, “we are complying with our obligations to the Senate Sergeant at Arms,” and that the phone company has “received no legal demands regarding Senate offices under the current contract, which began last June.” When asked whether AT&T received legal demands before the new contract, Byers did not respond. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Wyden said in the letter that one unnamed carrier “confirmed that it turned over Senate data to law enforcement without notifying the Senate.” When reached by TechCrunch, Wyden’s spokesperson Keith Chu said the reason was that, “we don’t want to discourage companies from responding to Sen. Wyden’s questions.” Verizon and T-Mobile did not respond to a request for comment. The letter also mentioned carriers Google Fi, US Mobile, and cellular startup Cape, which all have policies to notify “all customers about government demands whenever they are allowed to do so.” US Mobile and Cape adopted the policy after outreach from Wyden’s office. Chu told TechCrunch that the Senate “doesn’t have contracts with the smaller carriers.” Ahmed Khattak, a spokesperson for US Mobile, confirmed to TechCrunch that the company “did not have a formal customer notification policy regarding surveillance requests prior to Senator Wyden’s inquiry.” “Our current policy is to notify customers of subpoenas or legal demands for information whenever we are legally permitted to do so and when the request is not subject to a court order, statutory gag provision, or other legal restriction on disclosure,” said Khattak. “To the best of our knowledge, US Mobile has not received any surveillance requests targeting the phones of Senators or their staff.” Google and Cape did not respond to a request for comment. As Wyden’s letter notes, after Congress enacted protections in 2020 for Senate data held by third party companies, the Senate Sergeant at Arms updated its contracts to require phone carriers to send notifications of surveillance requests. Wyden said that his staff discovered that “these crucial notifications were not happening.” None of these protections apply to phones that are not officially issued to the Senate, such as campaign or personal phones of Senators and their staffers. In the letter, Wyden encouraged his Senate colleagues to switch to carriers that now provide notifications.

Spotify is launching a new hub dedicated to keeping users informed about soon-to-be-released albums, the company announced on Wednesday. The hub, called “Upcoming Releases,” will feature personalized recommendations based on a user’s listening history. Users will be able to access it through the Search tab on mobile in the “Browse all” section. The hub will also feature the top 10 global Countdowns, which are the most anticipated upcoming releases based on the number of pre-saves. The hub will allow users to pre-save upcoming releases and view Countdown Pages, which showcase the track list of future albums and released singles. These pages also feature merch and clips from artists. Once users pre-save upcoming releases, they will receive a push notification from Spotify on the day of the release. Plus, Spotify will automatically add the music to their library. Image Credits:Spotify The new hub will enhance music discovery on the platform by giving users recommendations for future albums that align with their interests. It also makes it easier for listeners to stay on top of future releases that they’re looking forward to by allowing them to quickly pre-save them. For artists, the new hub could allow for more exposure for their upcoming releases. The hub could also enhance the discovery of their Countdown Pages, and therefore, merch and tour information. Spotify also announced that it’s rolling out Countdown Charts on its Spotify and Spotify for Artists social channels on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X. These charts will showcase the top 10 Countdowns on Spotify with the most total pre-saves globally. The charts will be updated every Wednesday, the company says. The announcement comes as Spotify has been updating its app with additional functionality over the past few weeks. Earlier this month, the music streaming service redesigned its app to give users more control over their listening experience and recommendations. The redesign includes new features to help users manage their Queue, current listening experience, playlist creation, and more. In addition, thanks to a U.S. judge ordering Apple to stop charging commissions on purchases through iPhone apps, Spotify has this month rolled out the ability for users to purchase individual audiobooks directly within the app, along with the option to access pricing information and external payment links. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW

Famed Apple product designer Jony Ive will now lead creative and design work at OpenAI, the result on an usual deal announced on Wednesday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive have been working on an AI device that will move consumers beyond screens for roughly two years, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Thrilled to be partnering with Jony, imo the greatest designer in the world,” said Altman in a post on X Wednesday. “Excited to try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers.” thrilled to be partnering with jony, imo the greatest designer in the world. excited to try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers. pic.twitter.com/IPZBNrz1jQ — Sam Altman (@sama) May 21, 2025 OpenAI is taking an all-equity stake in io, a joint venture between Sam Altman and Ive. The deal values the venture at $6.5 billion; OpenAI previously had a 23% stake, according to the Journal. Io has a staff of around 55 engineers, scientists, researchers, physicists, and product development specialists, per The Wall Street Journal. They will become part of OpenAI. Meanwhile, Ive will retain control of his design firm, LoveFrom, which will continue to operate independently. OpenAI and Ive’s collaboration puts one of the iPhone’s lead designers at the forefront of the newest technology wave, generative AI. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, OpenAI has amped up its consumer business significantly. Earlier this month, the company appointed former Meta executive and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to lead its consumer applications. Should OpenAI release a consumer hardware device, Ive could help the startup directly compete with Apple. Io, under OpenAI, will develop AI-powered consumer devices and other projects. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ive will have an expansive role, giving input into future versions of ChatGPT and more. The Information first reported on OpenAI’s discussions to acquire io in March. At the time, the two companies had discussed building a device that would bring a version of the technology from the movie “Her” to life. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW

There is a new accounting software in town, coming in with a fresh $17.2 million raise and a desire to shake things up. The company, Filed, hopes to automate the grunt work. “The tax industry is facing a genuine crisis,” Leroy Kerry, Filed’s co-founder CEO, told TechCrunch. Many CPAs are approaching retirement while a dwindling number of students are entering the field, he said, citing much-quoted research from a 2021 report on the topic from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. “Firms simply don’t have enough people to process returns efficiently. Meanwhile, professionals are drowning in paperwork, spending nearly half their time on low-value tasks that could be automated,” he says. So he teamed up with Atul Ramachandran, now the company’s CTO, to launch Filed, which uses AI to complete the lifecycle of a tax return. “It reads documents, uses reasoning to apply each firm’s specific approach to tax strategy, and then enters that data into their existing software systems,” Kerry said. He said that when the AI notices a scenario that requires human input, it flags it for review, “keeping humans in control while eliminating the tedious work.” There are others in this space, including tax preparation and accounting assistant software, Black Ore and Basis, respectively. Kerry says his product is different from others because the AI was created specifically for tax workflow, and it directly plugs into software systems rather than forcing clients to overhaul existing tech. The venture firm Northzone led Filed’s $17.2 million round, with Day One Ventures and Neo also participating in the round. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW It seems life has come full circle for Kerry, who didn’t often see people like him running tech companies. He grew up in South London, raised by a single mom in low-income housing. “Being a CEO wasn’t something I saw possible,” he said. Still, he knew he wanted to become a businessman, “whatever that meant at the time.” He started working at a call center while finishing up school and university. He didn’t have the grades during primary school, he said, but he did have grit. He studied architecture in college, graduated on a Friday, and was back on the sales floor by Monday. “Within a year, I was managing a team and working with startups as clients,” he said. “One of those startups became a unicorn, and I ended up joining them.” That was his foray into the world of venture and startups. He’s since worked as a chief of staff at high-growth companies, working for businesses both in the U.K. and Sweden. “Those years taught me how to build through chaos and stay relentlessly focused on the customer.” His ambition led him to the U.S. to launch his own company. Kerry said he and his team went straight to the source, sitting in small tax offices in Colorado and Arizona, observing how teams still relied on paper and fax machines. Filed will use its fresh capital to expand its team and hire more tax engineers. “Our long-term vision extends beyond return preparation to become the foundational AI infrastructure for the entire tax industry – transforming everything from client collaboration to document management and audit preparation,” Kerry said. “The industry has been waiting for its AI moment, and we’re just getting started,” he said.

Meta is launching a new program to incentivize startups to adopt its Llama AI models. The program, Llama for Startups, provides companies “direct support” from Meta’s Llama team, as well as funding in certain cases. Any U.S.-based firm that is incorporated, has raised less than $10 million in funding, has at least one developer on staff, and is building generative AI applications is eligible to apply by the May 30 deadline. “Members may receive up to $6,000 per month for up to six months to help them offset the costs of building and enhancing their generative AI solutions,” Meta wrote in a blog post. “Our experts will work closely with them to get started and explore advanced use cases of Llama that could benefit their startups.” The launch of the Llama startup program comes as Meta tries to cement its lead in the fiercely competitive open model space. While the tech giant’s Llama models have racked up more than a billion downloads to date, rivals such as DeepSeek, Google, and Alibaba’s Qwen threaten to upend Meta’s efforts to establish a far-reaching model ecosystem. Not helping matters, Llama has suffered several setbacks over the past few months. The Wall Street Journal last week reported Meta has delayed the rollout of a flagship AI model, Llama 4 Behemoth, over concerns the model underperforms on key benchmarks. In April, Meta had to fend off allegations that it cheated on a popular crowdsourced AI benchmark, LM Arena. The company used a version of its Llama 4 Maverick model “optimized for conversationality” to achieve a high score on LM Arena, but released a different version of Maverick publicly. Meta has huge ambitions for Llama — and its broader generative AI portfolio. Last year, the company made a prediction its generative AI products would rake in $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue in 2025, and between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion by 2035. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Meta has revenue-sharing agreements with some companies that host its Llama models. The company recently launched an API for customizing Llama releases. And Meta AI, the company’s AI assistant powered by Llama, may eventually show ads and offer a subscription with additional features, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s Q1 earnings call. These products have proven costly to build. In 2024, Meta’s “GenAI” budget was more than $900 million, and this year, it could exceed $1 billion. That’s not including the infrastructure needed to run and train the models. Meta previously said it plans to spend $60 billion to $80 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, primarily on new data centers.

There is a new accounting software in town, coming in with a fresh $17.2 million raise and a desire to shake things up. The company, Field, hopes to automate the grunt work. “The tax industry is facing a genuine crisis,” Leroy Kerry, Field’s co-founder CEO, told TechCrunch. Many CPAs are approaching retirement while a dwindling number of students are entering the field, he said, citing much-quoted research from a 2021 report on the topic from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. “Firms simply don’t have enough people to process returns efficiently. Meanwhile, professionals are drowning in paperwork, spending nearly half their time on low-value tasks that could be automated,” he says. So he teamed up with Atul Ramachandran, now the company’s CTO, to launch Field, which uses AI to complete the lifecycle of a tax return. “It reads documents, uses reasoning to apply each firm’s specific approach to tax strategy, and then enters that data into their existing software systems,” Kerry said. He said that when the AI notices a scenario that requires human input, it flags it for review, “keeping humans in control while eliminating the tedious work.” There are others in this space, including tax preparation and accounting assistant software, Black Ore and Basis, respectively. Kerry says his product is different from others because the AI was created specifically for tax workflow, and it directly plugs into software systems rather than forcing clients to overhaul existing tech. The venture firm Northzone led Field’s $17.2 million round, with Day One Ventures and Neo also participating in the round. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW It seems life has come full circle for Kerry, who didn’t often see people like him running tech companies. He grew up in South London, raised by a single mom in low-income housing. “Being a CEO wasn’t something I saw possible,” he said. Still, he knew he wanted to become a businessman, “whatever that meant at the time.” He started working at a call center while finishing up school and university. He didn’t have the grades during primary school, he said, but he did have grit. He studied architecture in college, graduated on a Friday, and was back on the sales floor by Monday. “Within a year, I was managing a team and working with startups as clients,” he said. “One of those startups became a unicorn, and I ended up joining them.” That was his foray into the world of venture and startups. He’s since worked as a chief of staff at high-growth companies, working for businesses both in the U.K. and Sweden. “Those years taught me how to build through chaos and stay relentlessly focused on the customer.” His ambition led him to the U.S. to launch his own company. Kerry said he and his team went straight to the source, sitting in small tax offices in Colorado and Arizona, observing how teams still relied on paper and fax machines. Field will use its fresh capital to expand its team and hire more tax engineers. “Our long-term vision extends beyond return preparation to become the foundational AI infrastructure for the entire tax industry – transforming everything from client collaboration to document management and audit preparation,” Kerry said. “The industry has been waiting for its AI moment, and we’re just getting started,” he said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior said Tuesday it’s beginning the process of selling deep sea mining leases after a request from startup Impossible Metals. The agency said the process would “evaluate a potential mineral lease sale in the waters offshore American Samoa.” The administrative procedure requires a publication in the federal register and the solicitation of public feedback before considering any sales. Given the tone of the Secretary of the Interior’s statement on the matter, the lease sale might be a foregone conclusion. “Critical minerals are fundamental to strengthening our nation’s resilience and safeguarding our national interests,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. “By providing opportunities to responsibly access deep-sea mineral resources, we are supporting both American economic growth and national security.” Impossible Metals, a deep-sea mining startup, submitted a formal request for the leases in April. The company has developed an underwater autonomous vehicle that’s lowered by crane to the ocean floor, where it uses robotic claws to grab polymetallic nodules rich in minerals. Impossible Metals claims that its UAV is less disruptive to the fragile deep-water ecosystem than its competitors, many of which use vacuums to hoover up the nodules. Polymetallic nodules form over the course of millions of years, accumulating minerals that are dissolved in seawater, including manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, and copper. As the world electrifies, demand for such critical minerals has skyrocketed. China’s dominance over key mineral markets like cobalt have also sent companies and governments searching for alternative sources. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW The lumps of metal have caught the eye of prospectors because they contain incredibly high concentrations of minerals, far higher than terrestrial mines typically recover. Ecologists and oceanographers have warned that mining operations in regions rich with polymetallic nodules risk disrupting fragile ecosystems. Life down deep grows slowly, and any disruption there would take decades to bounce back. One recent study found that microbial communities would need 50 years to recover from mining operations. Sponges and other creatures growing on the floor could be directly harmed by the mining robots, and those that are passed over would still have to cope with sediment plumes polluting the normally clear water. What’s more, the nodules themselves produce oxygen, suggesting they may help researchers find life on other planets.

Just a few weeks after the U.S. and China made significant steps to de-escalate the growing trade war between the two countries, tensions are flaring again — this time over semiconductors. China’s Commerce Ministry in Beijing released a statement on Wednesday that threatened legal action against anyone who enforces U.S. export restrictions on Huawei’s AI chips, according to reporting from Bloomberg. This statement is in response to a set of “guidelines” released by the Trump administration on May 13 — alongside the revocation of Joe Biden’s Artificial Intelligence Diffusion rule — that reminded companies that using Huawei’s Ascend AI chips “anywhere in the world” was a violation of U.S. export rules. Earlier this week, China said the Trump administration had undermined recent trade talks by issuing that guidance. The U.S. Commerce Department has since changed the wording of its original May 13 guidance to remove the “anywhere in the world” phrase, according to Bloomberg.

With TikTok still facing the possibility of a ban in the U.S., the popularity of short-form video content continues to grow. The latest company to enter this space is TED, the non-profit best known for its TED Talks featuring prominent figures like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the late Pope Francis. On Wednesday, the company announced its new short-form video feature, aptly named “TED Shorts.” The feature has gradually rolled out to users since the beginning of May. Available on both iOS and Android devices, TED Shorts can be found in the middle of the navigation bar. By tapping the button, users are taken to a swipeable vertical feed featuring short snippets of TED Talks and other original content. Users can like videos, leave comments, and share with friends. TED teamed up with Genuin, a no-code platform for generative video experiences, to power the TikTok-like feature. As Genuin explained to TechCrunch, TED’s new feed will be personalized with AI, curating a selection of videos based on factors like personal interests, trending subjects, and other signals to surface the most relevant content for each viewer. Image Credits:TED TED Shorts is one of the more notable additions to the app, which hasn’t seen a significant update in its 15-year history. Since its launch in 2010, the app has primarily served as a destination for users to access TED Talks and other content via their mobile devices, such as educational animations and 26 podcasts spanning various topics like business, climate, and health. The new feature offers a way for users to discover highlights of their favorite speakers before committing to a full-length video. This is also the first time users can engage with one another within the TED app, fostering a sense of community that may have been previously lacking. TED already has a substantial following on YouTube (26.1 million), TikTok (2.8 million), Instagram (8.1 million), and other social media channels, indicating a demand for short video content. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW The launch of TED Shorts comes at a crucial time as the app seeks to boost its growth. Head of Product Tricia Maia tells TechCrunch that the app had been deprioritized “for several years,” which impacted its monthly active users and annual growth metrics. According to Appfigures, the app was downloaded 1 million times in 2024, a 17% decline compared to 1.2 million installs in 2023. To date, the company boasts more than 30 million app downloads globally. Image Credits:TED TED joins a growing number of companies adopting short-form video content as platforms compete for users’ attention. Earlier this month, Netflix revealed that it’s experimenting with a short video feed for its mobile app. Meanwhile, TikTok faces a potential ban in mid-June, although President Trump plans to extend the deadline for a third time as deal negotiations continue. Should U.S. users lose access to TikTok, they might seek alternative platforms, and TED hopes they’ll turn to what it believes is higher-quality content compared to what’s found on other apps. “In an era of fragmented attention, people are actively seeking more thoughtful, less overwhelming ways to connect with new ideas, and with each other,” Maia said. “[TED Shorts] is our antidote to algorithm fatigue and doom-scrolling low-quality content.” The company plans to continue evolving TED Shorts over time to meet user needs while also exploring new ways to enhance community building. Maia added, “We’ll explore ways to add new community features, and expand community-driven features to other TED platforms, like our website… This could expand beyond video and mobile to a cross-platform community engagement experience where our audience won’t just watch videos, but can participate in truly personalized, topic-driven digital communities on a global scale.”

Google on Wednesday detailed its plans to bring ads to AI Mode, the company’s AI-powered experience in Google Search. Ads may appear “where relevant” below and “integrated into” AI Mode responses as part of a test, Google says. AI Mode lets Google Search users ask a question and get an AI-generated response, with the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and links to websites. “[For example,] in some cases, a website builder might be a good next step [in an AI Mode query], so we may show a helpful ad that can help [users] get started,” explains Google in a blog post provided to TechCrunch. “From there, [the user] can ask questions to explore possible business ideas, what type of content they should develop, and even learn about their target audience.” Ads being Google’s primary cash cow — the company notched $66.89 billion in ad revenue in Q1 2025 alone — it was inevitable that they’d eventually make their way into what many see as the future of Google Search. But that doesn’t mean users will be pleased. According to a recent poll by CivicScience, a consumer analytics platform, 36% of U.S. adults said they’d be less likely to purchase from a brand that uses AI in ads. Google says that advertisers already using its Performance Max, Shopping, and Search campaigns with “broad match” will be eligible to have their ads shown in AI Mode. Users in the U.S. will see ads, specifically Search and Shopping ads for now, in AI Mode across desktop and mobile. Several of Google’s rivals have experimented — or are considering experimenting — with ads in their AI products. AI-powered search engine Perplexity launched ads last November, and hasn’t ruled out collecting data outside its platform to sell more targeted advertising. Microsoft briefly piloted ads in its Copilot chatbot several years ago. OpenAI, too, has said that it may one day adopt an ad-supported model to supplement subscriptions. In related news Wednesday, Google said that it will expand ads in AI Overviews, its Google Search feature that automatically synthesizes and summarizes answers to queries. Search and Shopping ads will soon appear on desktop in the U.S. ahead of an expansion to “select countries” on mobile and desktop in English. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In AI Overviews, ads are inserted in AI-generated summaries “when relevant to both the query and the response provided,” Google says. They’re labeled as “Sponsored.” Google first brought ads to AI Overviews in the U.S. on mobile last October. Some publishers have argued that Google’s moves threaten their own ad revenue. According to an expert cited by The New York Post, AI-generated overviews could lead to more than $2 billion in publisher losses thanks to the resultant decline in ad views. Google has said that it takes publishers’ concerns into account in workshopping its AI search experiences and advertising products for those experiences.

Amazon is testing short-form AI-powered audio product summaries on select product pages, the company announced on Wednesday. The audio summaries are voiced by what Amazon calls “AI-powered shopping experts” that discuss key product features, customer reviews, and information from across the web. The new AI product summaries can be accessed by tapping the “Hear the highlights” button in the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon will test the feature on products that typically require consideration before purchase, the company says. The idea behind the feature is to help Amazon customers save time while shopping and get important information through a conversational, discussion-style format. “The feature makes product research fun and convenient—it’s like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make your shopping easier, even if you’re multitasking or on the go,” the company wrote in a blog post. Image Credits:Amazon The summaries are currently available on select products to some U.S. customers. Amazon plans to roll out the feature to more products and to additional U.S. customers in the coming months. The company explains that the feature uses large language models (LLMs) to generate scripts by pulling from customer reviews and information from the web, and then transforms this content into short-form audio clips. Amazon says the new feature joins its current suite of AI-powered shopping features, which includes Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant, and Interests, an AI feature that monitors new products that match your interests. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Amazon isn’t the only tech giant that’s leveraging short-form AI-powered audio to help users get informed in a quick, efficient way. Last year, Google’s NotebookLM rolled out Audio Overviews, a feature that gives users the ability to generate a podcast with AI virtual hosts based on documents they have shared with the AI research assistant, such as course readings or legal briefs.