Welcome back to TechCrunch's week in review. TechCrunch's newsletter summarizing the biggest news of the week. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.
OpenAI announced this week that it is removing Sky, one of the voices it uses in its new GPT-4o model. That's because users found it eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson's AI character in “Her.” The actress released a statement saying she had hired legal counsel to inquire about how her voice was developed. The company claimed the voice was not Johansson's, but the actress said OpenAI had previously approached her about using her voice for her models.
The U.S. Department of Justice and 30 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, alleging monopolistic practices. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference that Live Nation was “suffocating our competitors.” The lawsuit comes after lawmakers scrutinized entertainment giants' control of the industry, sparked by Taylor Swift fans' frustrating attempts to buy tickets to her Eras tour in late 2022.
There were big changes at Techstars this week as well. CEO Maëlle Gavet announced that she will leave the company at the end of the month and will be replaced by co-founder and board chairman David Cohen. Gavet's leadership style was a source of controversy during his tenure. A TechCrunch investigation found accusations of an “autocratic and punitive” culture that led to significant labor disengagement.
News
Slack can train AI based on your messages. Slack is leveraging its own user data to train some of its new AI services. If you do not want your data to be part of the training set, you must email Slack to opt out. Learn more
Humane may be looking for a buyer. After the poor launch of Humane's $700 Ai Pin, Bloomberg reported that the company may explore a sale, with a price tag set at between $750 million and $1 billion. Learn more
Microsoft Build explores AI-first hardware. At its annual developer conference, Microsoft launched Copilot+ PC and announced new AI features for Windows, including the upcoming “Recall” feature. Learn more
Spotify tests Spanish-speaking AI DJ Spotify is developing an alternative version of its Spanish-speaking AI DJ feature. Tech veteran and reverse engineer Chris Messina discovered references to “DJ Livi” in the app's code. Learn more
Free laundry tips?: Two UC Santa Cruz students have discovered a security flaw that could prevent anyone from having to pay for laundry provided on more than a million internet-connected washing machines. Learn more
Biden's meme overlords: President Joe Biden's re-election campaign continues to look into hiring meme managers to attract young voters. Learn more
ChatGPT app's revenue has skyrocketed. OpenAI's GPT-4o launch drove the largest ever revenue surge in mobile, even though the model is available for free on the web. The app has earned $4.2 million on the App Store and Google Play since its launch. Learn more
FCC takes on AI-generated political ads. The FCC has proposed a requirement that AI-generated content be disclosed in political ads. The offer applies to “cable operators, satellite TV and radio providers,” but not streamers or YouTube. Learn more
Secrets to getting into Y Combinator: Y Combinator approves less than 1% of the applications it receives. In a conversation with General Catalyst's Teresa Carlson, CEO Garry Tan revealed his “secret sauce” for getting into a startup accelerator. Learn more
Adobe and iOS emulators: Adobe threatened legal action against retro gaming emulator Delta because it believed the app's logo was too similar to its own. Delta's icon was intended to be a stylized Greek letter Delta, but the logo was updated to avoid the issue. Learn more
analyze
Meta’s AI committee lacks diversity. Meta announced a new AI advisory board, made up entirely of white men. Unfortunately, it's not that surprising. Dominic-Madori Davis, Amanda Silberling, and Kyle Wiggers explore how women and people of color have played a critical role in the AI revolution, despite continuing to be overlooked. Learn more
Following OpenAI's resignation: OpenAI's Superalignment team was formed to develop ways to manage and steer “superintelligent” AI systems. The company blocked the team from doing its work and limited its resources, forcing several team members to resign, including co-leader Jan Leike. Learn more
