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Volkswagen has pushed Amazon out of the top spot to become Rivian’s largest shareholder, new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show. VW Group’s increasing equity stake in Rivian, which has grown from 8.6% to 15.9% in less than two years, is tied to a joint venture with the EV startup. The Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture — officially formed in November 2024 — is focused on the development of electrical architecture and software. And that stake will continue to grow, as long as Rivian continues to meet its end of the deal. VW has committed…
Lucid Motors said Tuesday that it’s no longer sure how many EVs it will build or sell this year, as it navigates a transition to a new CEO and a company-wide cost-cutting push. The company said in February that it planned to build between 25,000 and 27,000 vehicles this year. That’s far from the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that Lucid Motors estimated it would build and sell this year when it went public back in 2021. But it would have represented a significant bump from last year’s figure of around 18,000. The change to Lucid’s guidance was announced during…
Companies working on batteries, semiconductors, and medical devices generate vast amounts of data — and much of it ends up scattered across spreadsheets and legacy systems, making it hard to use to improve products or understand failures. San Francisco-based startup Altara, which just secured $7 million in seed funding, says it has built an AI layer designed to bridge these data gaps and bring fragmented technical information into a single platform. The round was led by Greylock, with participation from Neo, BoxGroup, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Jeff Dean. Altara was founded in 2025 by Eva Tuecke (pictured right), who previously…
By OpenAI COO’s own admission last February, “we have not yet really seen AI penetrate enterprise business processes.” But for enterprise software giant SAP, whose stock has dropped significantly in 2026 in part from the “SaaSpocalypse,” the issue is still front and center. On Monday, the European heavyweight announced its intention to acquire German AI startup Prior Labs for an undisclosed amount. Pending regulatory approval, SAP plans to invest €1 billion (approximately $1.16 billion) into the business over the next four years to grow it into an AI lab focused on structured data — the tables and databases where enterprise…
Nuro has been granted a permit to begin driverless testing of Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with its autonomous tech on California public roads — vehicles that will eventually be used in Uber’s premium robotaxi service. But the Silicon Valley-based startup, backed by Nvidia and Uber, says it isn’t quite ready to begin. The California Department of Motor Vehicles, the agency that regulates the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles in the state, confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday that it modified Nuro’s driverless AV permit to include Lucid Gravity vehicles. Nuro has held a driverless permit for six years, but it…
In August 2017, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever gathered at Elon Musk’s self-described “haunted mansion,” a 47-acre, $23 million estate in Hillsborough, south of San Francisco, to discuss the future of OpenAI. Actor Amber Heard, Musk’s then-girlfriend, had served the group whiskey and then dashed off with a friend, Brockman, OpenAI’s cofounder and president, testified in federal court during the trial for Musk v. Altman on Tuesday.Ahead of the meeting, Musk gifted Brockman and Sutskever, OpenAI’s cofounder and former chief scientist, new Tesla Model 3 cars. “It felt like he was buttering us up,” Brockman said on the stand. “He…
With a $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance looming, it’s not your typical upfront for Warner Bros. Discovery. Or is it?Ahead of the company’s upfront event for advertisers on May 13, WBD’s ad sales leaders, Ryan Gould and Bobby Voltaggio, recently outlined their priorities to ADWEEK, which were threefold: proving that the cultural relevance of WBD content drives outcomes; understanding clients and working from a consultative approach amid upfront negotiations; and guiding ad sales through the Paramount merger, which is expected to close in Q3.“It’s using and leveraging our relationships as well as our track record to be able to…
As Bumble gets ready for a big overhaul meant to win back Gen Z users (who are pretty over dating apps right now), its latest earnings still reports that paying users are declining. In the first quarter of 2026, total paying users fell 21.1% to 3.2 million, down from 4 million a year ago. This has been the story for a few quarters now. However, during the call to investors this afternoon, Bumble has framed this as a deliberate shift toward higher-quality, more intentional users. So while total revenue dropped 14.1% to $212.4 million (though it did beat expectations), and…
There is a good case for more CMOs becoming CEOs.And yet, relatively few make that leap. Some do not even keep full ownership of growth. The rise of the chief growth officer is often a polite corporate way of saying: “We still need growth, but we are not entirely sure marketing can lead it.”Part of the issue is marketing’s complicated relationship with ROI. Marketers ask for investment, and are expected to show it created value. When they do this in commercially credible terms, they become more strategic. When they struggle, marketing starts to look expensive and slightly evasive. The growth agenda then quietly…
In a blog post that lays out a vision for crypto’s future, ranging from a “new financial system” to warnings about “opaque” AI, a16z crypto announced a new $2.2 billion fund. This is the VC firm’s fifth fund and brings the total raised to date to $9.8 billion, it says. In addition, the fund also promoted its CTO, Eddy Lazzarin, to general partner, bringing the GP investing team to four people. Lazzarin joins Chris Dixon, Ali Yahya, and Guy Wuollet. The fund has backed standout companies like Coinbase, Kalshi, and Solana Foundation. The timing of this news is a bit…
Abortion provider Carafem’s phones were ringing nonstop over the weekend after a US federal appeals court reinstated a nationwide requirement that the drug mifepristone, one of two pills used for a medication abortion, must be obtained in person. The decision, handed down on Friday, left patients unsure if they could gain access to their treatment through telehealth. “People are afraid, and they’re angry,” says Carafem’s chief operations officer, Melissa Grant. “I had people contact us saying, This can’t be true. Do you still have the medication available? Can’t you just give it to me? They were bargaining.”With the restriction in…
OpenAI Opens ChatGPT Ads to Self-Service Platform As part of the announcement, advertisers can now buy ads on a cost-per-click basis. The future of brands gets decided here. Join the industry’s top marketers at Brandweek for the ideas, insights, and connections shaping what’s next. Get your ticket. OpenAI is making it easier for advertisers to buy ads in ChatGPT with a self-service ads platform, new partners, measurement tools, and bidding options.The AI giant’s self-service ads manager is now available in beta to U.S. advertisers, according to a blog post on OpenAI’s website. Brands can also buy…
When iOS 27 is released later this year, iPhone users will reportedly have a lot of choice when it comes to which AI models they want to use on-device. A new report from Bloomberg says that Apple plans to give users their pick of a number of third-party large language models that will be capable of powering various functions within the iPhone’s operating system. The new feature, dubbed “Extensions” internally, will allow users to “access generative AI capabilities from installed apps on demand, through Apple Intelligence features such as Siri, Writing Tools, Image Playground and more,” reads a message reportedly shown…
Last Crumb’s cookies are expensive. But they’re so damn delicious. I love the luxe gift-box packaging and cheeky branding (for example, a 24-pack is called a DiCaprio), but I love the cookies even more. There are 12 flavors in the Core Collection, with additional flavors coming around as limited-edition offerings. They can be microwaved or heated in the oven before eating, and the individually wrapped, sealed cookies can be kept on the counter for two weeks or in the freezer for two months.I tried Last Crumb cookies in Everything but the Candles (a birthday cake flavor bursting with rich vanilla…
No longer a product feature, artificial intelligence is becoming the operating system of everyday life. As smart devices grow more connected and consumer expectations evolve, the brands that will lead are the ones that can translate technology into genuine human benefit. That shift demands a new kind of marketing leadership: one that is rooted in data, driven by curiosity, and fluent in both product strategy and consumer storytelling. In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Allison Stransky, chief marketing officer at Samsung Electronics America, joins Matt Britton live from CES 2026 to explore how Samsung is building that future and…
Every time you use AI, you are, in some small way, depending on a 42-year-old, 44,000-person Dutch company that spends €4.5 billion each year to advance its technology. ASML, headquartered in the Netherlands, makes the machines that make the chips that make AI possible. More specifically, it makes the only machines in the world capable of printing the microscopic patterns on silicon wafers that define the most advanced semiconductors — a process called extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV. The machines are roughly the size of a school bus, take months to assemble, involve hundreds of suppliers, and cost anywhere from…