Welcome back to TechCrunch's Week in Review.
OpenAI and Google had two big events this week. OpenAI's Spring Update event saw the unveiling of its new model, the GPT-4o, which has voice and vision capabilities that can turn ChatGPT into a virtual assistant seemingly eager to be “his.” Hot on the tail of OpenAI, Google's I/O conference featured a flurry of announcements and integrations for its flagship model, the Gemini.
This week also saw some big shakeups in AWS and OpenAI. AWS CEO Adam Selpsky is stepping down and will be replaced by AWS sales chief Matt Garman. And OpenAI co-founder and longtime chief scientist Ilya Sutskever has left the company along with John Lake. Suitscure will be replaced by OpenAI's director of research, Jacob Pachuki.
There was also a significant change in the meta. TechCrunch exclusively reported that the company is shutting down its enterprise communications business, Workplace. It makes us wonder if Meta was really serious about his enterprise ambitions.
News
120+ AI mentions: How much AI is too much AI? For Google, none. They mentioned non-stop in their I/O keynote, and we have the tapes to prove it. Read more
Talk to me, ChatGPT: OpenAI's latest “omni” model GPT-4o can talk to you, change its tone to sarcastic, and even translate language in real time. It also looks suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson. Read more
Microsoft's Cobalt 100 chips: TechCrunch has learned that the company will offer custom Cobalt 100 chips as a public preview to consumers at its Build conference next week. And we discovered some other scopes too 👀 Read more
Sony Music cracks down on AI.: Sony Music Group has sent letters to more than 700 tech companies and music streaming services to warn them not to use their music to train AI without permission. Sony Music says it has “reason to believe” those companies “may have already made unauthorized use” of its content. Read more
SIM Swap Attacks: From mid-2023, an interception operation called STATE enabled hundreds of members to make thousands of automated phone calls to trick victims into entering one-time pass codes, which would give attackers access to their bank accounts. provides. Read more
Project IDX is now in open beta.: Announced at Google I/O, the company's next-generation, AI-centric browser-based development environment is now in open beta. Google says more than 100,000 developers have already tried the service. Read more
AI to save the birds: Wind is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S., but wind turbines can wreak havoc on bird populations. Spoor is a startup that uses AI to help wind farms mitigate this risk. Read more
Apple expands accessibility.: Apple is bringing new accessibility features to iPads and iPhones — including controlling your device with eye tracking, creating custom shortcuts using your voice, and experiencing music with a haptic engine Ability to Read more
Threads Deck?: Instagram Threads is testing pinned columns on the web, which could be a good alternative to TweetDeck. In 2023, X changed TweetDeck to X Pro and put it behind a paywall. Read more
Analysis
Did Meta give the enterprise a fair shot?: Meta pulled the plug on its enterprise product WorkDay on Tuesday, bringing down the curtain on the enterprise experience nine years after its launch. Ron Miller writes that it's fair to wonder if Metta was ever serious about it. Read more
Mark Zuckerberg, the style icon: Recent photos of the Meta CEO have gone viral as users noticed a sudden change in his personal style. Gone are the gray shirts and jeans, replaced by gold chains and graphic tees. Amanda Silberling explores whether her newly minted makeover is a carefully crafted rebrand. Read more
Tesla's supercharger is in limbo.: Despite being the undisputed king of EV fast charging — and despite being profitable — Tesla CEO Elon Musk axed the entire supercharger division. Tim de Chant investigates how the network came to be and what happened now that it is extinct. Read more