TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

1. Senator claps back at OpenAI: OpenAI doesn't want to see California regulating AI, saying a new state bill would stifle innovation and push talent out of the state. Senator Scott Wiener disagreed, saying OpenAi's position "makes no sense" and its argument is a "tired" one. Read More

2. Welcome to the black, Medium: After 12 years, Medium finally had its first profitable month in August. The company used good engineering to save money while investing into new ways to improve its content mix. One thing it hasn't done yet? Invested in AI. Read More

3. Eyebrows flew to the sky across VC Land this week when Bolt gave its shareholders an ultimatum to essentially force a buyback. This came after the company bestowed itself with a new $14 billion valuation. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: D-ID

🗣️ Dubbing gets an AI boost: The days of watching dubbed videos where the actors' mouths don't match what they're saying will soon be past. D-ID has figured out how to not only translate videos into other languages, but also change the speaker's voice and lip movements to match the translated words. Read More

🚀 To productivity and beyond: Dropbox has added a new AI tool to its belt: The company acquired Reclaim.ai, an AI-powered scheduling platform, and its entire team. It's not the first time we'll see productivity companies buy and integrate their favorite tools, and it won't be the last. Read More

💼 Enterprise 💚 AI: Opkey's latest fundraising tells us just how much the enterprise has embraced AI. The startup closed a $47 million Series B to build its tool that helps organizations test finance, HR and other enterprise resource planning software. Read More

🍔 Does the world need more franchises? That's the question on my mind as I contemplate a new startup, Harmonyze, that is using AI to help franchisors keep track of all the contracts, legal compliance and other complicated documents involved in franchising a business. Read More

🚲 Peloton's new competition: Aviron, the maker of a connected exercise rowing machine, is pedaling into new territory with a pricey stationary bike at $2,400. And the startup thinks it has found the way to make a stationary bike + content subscription business work: Gamify it. Read More

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Around the web

👀 The money behind X: The Washington Post obtained a list of nearly 100 shareholders that invested in Elon Musk's X Holdings Corp. On the list are Sean "Diddy" Combs, a16z, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud, and Jack Dorsey. As tech journo Jacob Silverman wrote, "people have a right to know who owns a company with such a prominent role shaping public discourse." Read More

🙈 Facial recognition comes to stadiums: And people aren't happy about it. In fact, Wired reports that protesters handed out flyers outside of Citi Field, home of the Mets, to spread awareness about the mission creep of surveillance tech being used on sports fans. Read More

📵 VC is not interested in consumer electronics: But maybe that's okay. Crunchbase News reports that VC investment in consumer electronics startups has slumped in 2024. However, people are spending more on gadgets and gizmos, and getting better deals for it. Maybe this is a lesson that not everything needs to provide huge returns. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Leon Neal / Getty Images

🤖 ELI5 ChatGPT: The AI chatbot has taken the world by storm, and OpenAI continues to iterate on it at an eerily (and surely unsustainable) pace. Having trouble keeping up with all the new versions, features and drama behind the AI tool? We've got you covered. Read More