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This week, our hosts discuss why OpenAI and Elon Musk’s legal feud is heating up once again—and happening alongside SpaceX’s IPO filing. They also dive into how a Department of Justice lawyer misled a judge about how they’re handling voter data, and why the Artemis II’s launch captured all of our imaginations.Articles mentioned in this episode:You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at [email protected].How to ListenYou can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free…
NASA’s Artemis II crew of four astronauts from the United States and Canada are set to return to Earth on Friday after their historic trip to the far side of the moon. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen have spent 10 days aboard the Orion spacecraft. They are expected to begin re-entry at 7:33 p.m. ET with a splashdown of 8:07 p.m. NASA has a live feed for when the crew lands in the Pacific Ocean later today. The Orion spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California. The Artemis II mission…
Specialists did not classify it as a catastrophic failure, but it was a clear sign that something was wrong and could put lives at risk. In response, NASA halted the program’s progress. Artemis II did not go forward until Orion went through a shield redesign, new materials testing, and a complete recalibration of the thermal models. The dream of returning to the moon was delayed for nearly two years.Space history is replete with moments when a problem during reentry forced entire missions to be halted or reconsidered. The case of Soyuz 1 in 1967 is one of the most remembered.…
New roles: More than two years after her return to CNN, Alex MacCallum is taking on additional duties as she was named the news network’s chief operating officer. In a memo to staffers obtained by TVNewser, CNN CEO Mark Thompson said MacCallum’s promotion comes as she has “already achieved an impressive set of critical accomplishments in record time.”MacCallum was previously CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, tasked with spearheading CNN’s suite of digital products, which includes the launch of its All Access subscription product, the CNN Express FAST channel, and the network’s upcoming weather service.In her new…
“Yeah folks, it’s gonna be harder in the future to ensure OpenClaw still works with Anthropic models,” OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger posted on X early Friday morning, along with a photo of a message from Anthropic saying his account had been suspended over “suspicious” activity. The ban didn’t last long. A few hours later, after the post went viral, Steinberger said his account had been reinstated. Among hundreds of comments — many of them in conspiracy theory land, given that Steinberger is now employed by Anthropic rival OpenAI — was one by an Anthropic engineer. The engineer told the famed…
Words have no meaning when Black Friday falls in April and lasts two weeks. Originally coined to denote the pandemonium and chaos when holiday shopping met football games after Thanksgiving, Black Friday has come to blankly mean “discounts whenever.”And so when The Home Depot says they’ve got a “Spring Black Friday” sale going, what they seem to be trying to say is that springtime might as well be Christmas for the DIY and backyard set. It’s when you buy stuff. Except probably for yourself.Anyway, most of this sale is not a barn-burner. But Home Depot loves a BOGO tool sale…
Ascend Elements said on Friday it has started Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., a heavy blow to investors who had sunk nearly $900 million into the company. Linh Austin, Ascend’s CEO, announced the decision in a post on LinkedIn late Thursday night. He said the company faced “insurmountable” financial challenges. Ascend’s filing comes amid a softening market for electric vehicles in the U.S. and was likely compounded by the Trump administration’s decision to cancel a $316 million grant intended for a Kentucky facility that was under construction. At the time, $204 million was disbursed, but Ascend had to…
For a limited time, you can grab the Motorola Razr Ultra with 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage for just $700, a $600 discount from its usual price. It’s our favorite folding smartphone, with excellent performance, full-day battery life, and all the trappings you’d expect from a phone that doesn’t also fold in half.Photograph: Julian ChokkattuPhotograph: Julian ChokkattuPhotograph: Julian ChokkattuMotorolaRazr Ultra (2025)While they may look similar to previous generations of Motorola Razr, there are quite a few under-the-hood improvements for the 2025 model. The Ultra model has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, paired with 16 GB…
TechCrunch is partnering with SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, Asia’s largest global innovation conference, taking place April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight. And we’re not just showing up to cover it — our very own Startup Battlefield program manager, Isabelle Johannessen, will be on the ground as a judge for the SusHi Tech Challenge, the conference’s flagship global pitch competition. For the winner, the stakes couldn’t be higher: The SusHi Tech Challenge Grand Prix recipient will be automatically entered into the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield Top 200 — making them eligible to pitch on one of the most coveted stages in…
Anthropic said this week that the debut of its new Claude Mythos Preview model marks a critical juncture in the evolution of cybersecurity, representing an unprecedented existential threat to existing software defense strategies. So, is it more AI hype—or a true turning point?According to Anthropic, Mythos Preview crosses a threshold of capabilities to discover vulnerabilities in virtually any and every operating system, browser, or other software product and autonomously develop working exploits for hacking. With this in mind, the company is only releasing the new model to a few dozen organizations for now—including Microsoft, Apple, Google, and the Linux Foundation—as…
On Friday, the YouTube creator Jesse “Jesser” Riedel announced the formation of JesserCo., a new parent company that will unite his growing portfolio of businesses under a single structure. The 27-year-old Jesser will remain founder, while Zach Miller, who previously served as president of Bucketsquad, Jesser’s apparel brand, has been elevated to president of JesserCo.The reorganization brings together two main operating businesses: Jesser Media, the newly named home for his content operation, and Bucketsquad, the basketball lifestyle and apparel brand. But it also creates the corporate architecture for the launch of new sub-brands within the JesserCo. portfolio.Jesser Media reaches more than…
After months of conversations with ChatGPT, a 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur became convinced he’d discovered a cure for sleep apnea and that powerful people were coming after him, according to a new lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco County. He then allegedly used the tool to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend. Now the ex-girlfriend is suing OpenAI, alleging the company’s technology enabled the acceleration of her harassment, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. She claims OpenAI ignored three separate warnings that the user posed a threat to others, including an internal flag classifying his account activity as involving mass-casualty…
San Francisco police arrested an individual early on Friday morning for allegedly attacking the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and making threats outside of the company’s headquarters, a spokesperson confirmed to WIRED. OpenAI’s corporate security team sent a note to employees about the incident on Friday.“At approximately 3:45am PT, an unidentified individual approached Sam’s residence and threw an incendiary device toward the property. The device landed nearby and extinguished. There were no injuries and only minimal damage was reported,” the message to staff reads.“Shortly afterward, an individual matching the suspect’s description was contacted by security outside MB1,” the message…
Stagwell has appointed Nicole Souza, former chief marketing officer for Publicis Groupe’s creative division, as its new chief growth officer for North America in a push to expand its work with large-scale clients. Souza joins after a year in which Stagwell grew new business by 25%, adding major brands including Starbucks, PepsiCo, and Target to its roster. In its Q4 2025 results, CEO Mark Penn said he expected a major year in 2026, predicting 10% revenue growth and the strongest net new business in the company’s history in Q1. With this confident outlook, Stagwell said that Souza is just the first of…
YouTube is raising subscription prices for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music in the U.S., the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Friday. The YouTube Premium individual plan is increasing from $13.99 to $15.99 per month, while the family plan is increasing from $22.99 to $26.99 per month. YouTube Premium Lite, which offers ad-free viewing for most content excluding songs and music videos, is going from $7.99 per month to $8.99 per month. The YouTube Music individual plan is going from $10.99 per month to $11.99 per month. The family plan is increasing from $16.99 per month to $18.99 per month. The…
The company isn’t exactly breaking new ground. The idea of a chatbot standing in for a human is fairly common. As is the idea of cashing in on it. For instance, Manhattan psychologist Becky Kennedy has built a parenting advice business that features a chatbot named Gigi trained on her acumen and knowledge. Kennedy’s company pulled in $34 million last year. So if you are an expert, Onix might sound pretty good—imagine a bot with your persona making money for you by interacting with thousands of clients with no effort on your part. As an Onix white paper puts it,…