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Elon Musk has persuaded Tesla shareholders to approve a $56 billion compensation package that would make him the highest-paid CEO in history if he can avoid a Delaware judge’s disapproval. Where better to stage this circus than Texas, home of everything giant, including egos? Shareholders at Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory applauded as the vote results were announced. Meanwhile, Musk has steered his company beyond a clown with a chainsaw and is facing two new lawsuits (getting sued once a week is what wimps do). Oh, forget the fancy ESG initiatives; they were dismissed faster than you can say “corporate responsibility.” Who needs sustainability when Elon is dancing on stage with 0.7 times Twitter’s worth of cash in his suitcase?
This week’s most interesting startup stories
Henrik Fisker’s knack for designing cars seems to be matched by his talent for driving companies into bankruptcy. Despite aiming to be the Apple of EVs (Magna takes on Foxconn), his highly-touted Ocean SUV sank faster than the Titanic due to a plethora of software glitches, recalls and defective product lawsuits. Now filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, Fisker has gone from dreams of revolutionizing the automotive industry to simply trying to avoid saddled with $500 million in debt. This is the second time Fisker has driven a company of his name into bankruptcy. Can he make it to the third? Stay tuned.
- Ah, that was expected: Have you ever felt like your subscription service was conspiring against you? In fact, Adobe was accused by the Department of Justice of making it easier to escape from Alcatraz Island than to cancel your subscription.
- you Intention Watch the adYouTube is at it again, folks, and this time they’re taking the anti-ad blocker crusade to new heights with server-side ad insertion, greeting users with those pesky ads before the video even loads on their device. Oh, and we’ve covered this story in our TechCrunch Minute series, so if you prefer watching to reading, be sure to check it out.
- Going round and roundLoop, the insurance startup with the lofty mission of disrupting biased pricing models, appears to have hit a major funding wall: After 20 months of trying (and failing) to raise capital, co-founder John Henry was given the unenviable task of announcing layoffs on Instagram.
Trending this week: Focus on AI
Apple has finally entered the AI ​​icon circus, joining companies like Google and OpenAI desperately trying to represent AI in a meaningful logo. Spoiler alert: they’re just as clueless as the rest of them. Apple’s new “intelligence” visual is basically a psychedelic circle, but wait, is that a distorted infinity symbol? Actually, it’s the new Siri. Or maybe it’s when the edges of your phone light up like an alien spaceship has landed. The real lesson here? No one knows what AI should look like, but let’s call it innovation with some friendly pastel colors.
Meanwhile, AI genius Ilya Sutskever decided last month that OpenAI just wasn’t exciting enough for him, and along with a few other ex-OpenAI buddies, he’s started his own party called Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI). After his dramatic departure from OpenAI (presumably to avoid a Skynet takeover), Sutskever is now focused on making sure that super-smart AI doesn’t become our masters anytime soon. SSI’s mission? To balance amazing AI advances with safety measures to make sure we don’t end up starring in our own “Black Mirror” episode.
Most interesting fundraising this week
Meet the dynamic duo who avoided the quarter-life crisis and quickly became millionaires. GPTZero founders Edward Tian and Alex Cui are proof that a high school friendship can lead to a multi-million dollar venture. In just a year and a half, they turned their AI detection startup into a money-making machine that eclipses your favorite viral app. With $10 million fresh in funding from eager VCs who can’t wait for official funding, the duo is building an internet that tells you whether your essay was written by you or your high-speechless cousin Cheech on ChatGPT.
More TechCrunch articles you shouldn’t miss…
Every week we want to share with you a story that doesn’t fit into the categories above. We’d be sorry if you missed it, so here are some great stories chosen at random.
- So what happened to Fisker?Fisker once again proves that a small engine just doesn’t cut it. Despite outsourcing production to auto giant Magna and aiming for a quick launch, the EV startup was ignoring one glaring problem: It wasn’t ready to become an actual car company.
- Tough times for Apple developersGet ready to toast your favorite third-party apps: iOS 18 is almost here, and it’s bringing with it some disruptive elements. Apple’s infamous habit of “Sherlocking” — stealing ideas from third-party developers and incorporating them into the OS — could boost app revenue by nearly $400 million.
- VitaminusCare/of, the personalized vitamin subscription service, is officially going out of business. The company announced that it would end all subscriptions by June 17. In 2020, it received $46 million in funding from investors, and Bayer also acquired a huge stake worth $225 million, but it was unable to continue operations.
- That’s not how privacy works: EU lawmakers, displaying their cybersecurity ignorance, are once again attempting the legislative equivalent of juggling sabre-toothed tigers blindfolded. Signal president and common sense person Meredith Whittaker blasted the EU’s latest plan to scan private messages for CSAM as a surefire way to neglect web security.
