Welcome back to Week in Review! I’m Karyne Levy, TechCrunch’s deputy managing editor, and I’ll be writing this newsletter from here on out. Thrilled to be here! This week we’re checking out everything at SXSW; Waymo’s expansion into Silicon Valley; Intel’s new CEO; TikTok’s new suitor; and why DeepSeek isn’t taking VC money. Let’s get…
Category: SXSW
Global IT News, Global Security News, SXSW, techcrunch mobility, Transportation, Uber, Waymo
Testing the Uber-Waymo robotaxi, Rivian goes hands-free, and Travis Kalanick has AV FOMO
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! For regular readers of TechCrunch Mobility, you may be wondering, “Why did this newsletter land in my inbox on Friday?” Folks, we’re moving days in an effort…
Global IT News, Global Security News, SXSW, techcrunch mobility, Transportation, Uber, Waymo
TechCrunch Mobility: Testing the Uber-Waymo robotaxi, Rivian goes hands-free, and Travis Kalanick has AV FOMO
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! For regular readers of TechCrunch Mobility, you may be wondering, “Why did this newsletter land in my inbox on Friday?” Folks, we’re moving days in an effort…
Exclusive, Global IT News, Global Security News, gps, SXSW, TC, tern ai, Transportation
Tern AI’s low-cost GPS alternative actually works
We’ve all experienced that moment of frustration when the GPS glitches and you miss an exit on the highway. The team at Tern AI, which is building a low-cost GPS alternative, says that’s because the current technology is limited by its reliance on satellite positioning. Tern AI says it has figured out how to locate…
Biotech & Health, bryan johnson, dont die, Global IT News, Global Security News, SXSW, SXSW 2025
Anti-aging zealot Bryan Johnson wants to start ‘foodome sequencing’
In the same way that genome sequencing determines the genetic makeup of an organism, Bryan Johnson — the investor and founder behind the Don’t Die movement – wants to start “foodome” sequencing. “We’re going to sequence the U.S. ‘foodome,’ which means test 20% of foods that constitute 80% of the American diet based on stuff…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, Social, SXSW
Bluesky quickly sold out of the T-shirt its CEO wore to troll Mark Zuckerberg
When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took the SXSW stage this week, she managed to make fun of Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning Meta at all. Her black T-shirt was emblazoned with black text stretching across the chest and sleeves, similar to the style of a T-shirt that the billionaire founder wore at an event last year.…
Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Rumman Chowdhury, SXSW, X
Ex-Twitter AI ethics lead Rumman Chowdhury is worried about Musk’s impact on the federal government
Rumman Chowdhury, a data scientist, nonprofit founder, and former director of Twitter’s machine ethics team, had strong words for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during an SXSW panel on Thursday. “When your funding is frozen and you don’t know if you’re gonna be fired, and there’s this, like, absolutely unhinged person…
AI, Global Security News, IBM, SXSW, SXSW 2025
IBM’s CEO doesn’t think AI will replace programmers anytime soon
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says that, despite the Trump Administration’s attacks on globalism, global trade isn’t dead. In fact, he thinks that the U.S.’s key to growth will be embracing an international exchange of goods. “So, I actually am a firm believer — I think it goes all the way back to the economists who…
AI, entrepreneurship, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Cuban, Startups, SXSW
Mark Cuban says AI is ‘never the answer,’ it’s a ‘tool’
Speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin, tech investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban shared his thoughts on how AI technology can help small businesses outperform their competition. In short, he told the crowd that AI was not the answer, in and of itself; it’s meant to serve as an aid that can help entrepreneurs by…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, Social, SXSW
Bluesky is weighing a proposal that gives users consent over how their data is used for AI
Speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin on Monday, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber says the social network has been working on a framework for user consent over how they want their data to be used for generative AI. The public nature of Bluesky’s social network has already allowed others to train their AI systems on…
Global IT News, Global Security News, open source, Open Web, project liberty, Social, Solid, Startups, SXSW
Open web initiatives Project Liberty and Solid could be teaming up
Two initiatives to create a more open web, where users are in control of their own digital identities and data, may be coming together. At SXSW 2025, entrepreneur Frank McCourt, whose Project Liberty is developing open internet infrastructure (and is throwing its hat in the ring as a potential buyer for TikTok), announced that his…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Social, SXSW
At SXSW, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber pokes fun at Mark Zuckerberg with Latin phrase T-shirt
When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber walked on stage at SXSW 2025 for her keynote discussion, she wore a large black T-shirt with her hair pulled back into a bun. At first glance, it might appear as though she’s following the same playbook that so many women in tech leadership have played before: downplaying her femininity…
Biotech & Health, colossal, Global IT News, Global Security News, Startups, SXSW, SXSW 2025, TC
Colossal CEO Ben Lamm says humanity has a ‘moral obligation’ to pursue de-extinction tech
The CEO of Colossal, a startup that aims to use genetic editing techniques to bring back extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, assured audiences at SXSW that the company has no plans to create a real-life Jurassic Park — lest there was any doubt. “Modern conservation isn’t working […] and we’re gonna need a ‘de-extinction’…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, quantum computing, Startups, SXSW, Transportation, Venture
SXSW 2025: What we’re paying attention to
TechCrunch will be on the ground at SXSW 2025 — the annual tech, music, comedy, and film conference that kicked off Friday in Austin — in search of the zeitgeist of this AI-centric era. Yup, we’re one sentence in and AI has already made its entrance. And why not? A quick scan of the massive…
AI, AI agents, Global IT News, Global Security News, Meredith Whittaker, signal, SXSW
Signal President Meredith Whittaker calls out agentic AI as having ‘profound’ security and privacy issues
Signal President Meredith Whittaker warned Friday that agentic AI could come with a risk to user privacy. Speaking on stage at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, the advocate for secure communications, referred to the use of AI agents as “putting your brain in a jar,” and cautioned that this new paradigm of computing —…
AI, ai companions, Global IT News, Global Security News, Social, social skills, society, SXSW
Social health expert warns of leaning too heavily on AI for social connections
With the rise of AI companions who serve as online friends or romantic interests, experts are questioning how the technology affects our real-world social connections and relationships. According to Kasley Killam, author of the social health-focused book “The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and…
AI, ai companions, Global IT News, Global Security News, Social, social skills, society, SXSW
Health expert warns of leaning too heavily on AI for social connections
With the rise of AI companions who serve as online friends or romantic interests, experts are questioning how the technology affects our real-world social connections and relationships. According to Kasley Killam, author of the social health-focused book “The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and…