# techcrunch-ai

‘Tokenmaxxing’ is making developers less productive than they think

There's a lot more code — but it's a lot more expensive and requires a lot more rewriting.

Sources: Cursor in talks to raise $2B+ at $50B valuation as enterprise growth surges

Returning backers a16z and Thrive are expected to lead the round.

Kevin Weil and Bill Peebles exit OpenAI as company continues to shed ‘side quests’

Kevin Weil and Bill Peebles are leaving OpenAI as the company shuts down Sora and folds its science team, signaling a sharp pivot away from consumer moonshots toward enterprise AI.

Sam Altman’s project World looks to scale its human verification empire. First stop: Tinder.

World, which has raised eyebrows (but also a lot of interest) with its Orb-centered anonymous verification project, is looking to expand its influence via a bevy of new partnerships.

This startup is betting tokenmaxxing will create the next compute giant

Parasail raised $32 million in a Series A, signaling a fractured future of models and compute.

Gitar, a startup that uses agents to secure code, emerges from stealth with $9 million

The company uses AI to review code that, more often than not these days, has also been generated by AI.

Adobe’s new Firefly AI assistant can use Creative Cloud apps to complete tasks

Adobe says the assistant can work across apps like Firefly, Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom, Express, Illustrator and its other apps to do tasks for you.

Reid Hoffman weighs in on the ‘tokenmaxxing’ debate

Reid Hoffman says tracking AI token use can gauge adoption, but cautions it should be paired with context and not treated as a direct productivity metric.

After sale of its shoe business, Allbirds pivots to AI

Allbirds is ditching wool sneakers for AI servers, rebranding as NewBird AI after locking in a $50M convertible financing facility.

India’s vibe-coding startup Emergent enters OpenClaw-like AI agent space

Emergent's Wingman lets users manage and automate tasks through chat on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.

The musician-turned-biotech-founder waiting to fundraise

When Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc got COVID despite being vaccinated and boosted, he tried to fund research for a better solution. What he quickly found out? You can’t just write a check in biotech. Regulators require a commercialization plan, and philanthropy doesn’t move science t

Google rolls out a native Gemini app for Mac

You can share anything on their screen with Gemini to get help with what they're looking at in the moment, including local files.

Can AI judge journalism? A Thiel-backed startup says yes, even if it risks chilling whistleblowers

Objection, a Thiel-backed startup, aims to use AI to judge journalism, letting users pay to challenge stories. Critics warn it could chill whistleblowers and reshape how media accountability works.

AI learning app Gizmo levels up with 13M users and a $22M investment

Gizmo, an AI-powered learning platform, has attracted more than 13 million users and just secured $22 million in Series A funding.

LinkedIn data shows AI isn’t to blame for hiring decline… yet

LinkedIn says hiring is down 20% since 2022, but blames higher interest rates — not AI — for the slowdown.

Hightouch reaches $100M ARR fueled by marketing tools powered by AI

The startup says it grew its ARR by $70 million in just 20 months after launching an AI agent platform for marketers.

OpenAI updates its Agents SDK to help enterprises build safer, more capable agents

OpenAI has expanded the capabilities of its agent-building toolkit, as agentic AI continues to grow in popularity.

· 4 days ago· TechCrunch AI

How vibe-coding app Anything is rebuilding after getting booted from the App Store twice

Anything is planning to launch a desktop companion app to aid mobile app development after its App Store removal.

· 4 days ago· TechCrunch AI

Google brings its Gemini Personal Intelligence feature to India

The feature lets users connect Google accounts like Gmail and Photos to get personalized answers.

· 4 days ago· TechCrunch AI

In just a couple weeks, StrictlyVC San Francisco brings leaders from TDK Ventures, Replit, and more together

The first StrictlyVC of the year will be coming to San Francisco before you know it. There are still a few tickets available to join us and our stacked speaker lineup April 30, so register today!