TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Anthropic

1. What makes Claude tick: Anthropic has published system prompts for its latest models, providing a detailed glimpse into how the company has tuned its LLMs to give them some character. Its AI bot Claude apparently "enjoys hearing what humans think on an issue and engaging in discussion on a wide variety of topics." Read More

2. More details on Durov's arrest: French authorities have explained what Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been charged with in an attempt to put to rest any conspiracy theories about his arrest being a political decision. On the list are allegations of "being complicit in storing and distributing CSAM content, facilitating drug trafficking, and facilitating organized fraud and other illegal transactions". Read More

3. Billionaires really like space: U.S. entrepreneur and billionaire Jared Isaacman is going back to space. His mission, Polaris Dawn, aims to fly farther than any mission that's used SpaceX's Dragon capsule to date. The crew will also attempt the first-ever commercial space walk. Here's hoping space is friendlier to billionaires than the ocean has been. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: redalpine

🧑‍🔬 Funding the "continuum of software and science": Swiss VC firm Redalpine has closed an oversubscribed $200 million fund to back European early-stage companies with a focus on deep tech. That's one trend we're starting to see more of on the continent. Read More

🔍 Watermarking AI-generated content: This is apparently a California bill that OpenAI can get behind. Sam Altman's company, as well as Adobe and Microsoft, are supporting a law that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content. Read More

💻 Meanwhile, Musk supports the AI bill Altman hates: Elon Musk has come out in support of the contentious California SB 1047 bill that would require makers of very large AI models to create and document safeguards to prevent those models from causing serious harm. It's particularly surprising, since Musk's own AI model, Grok, appears to have no safeguards around deepfakes. Read More

☁️ Optimizing cloud spend: NOps believes it can help companies optimize their cloud products and services expenses, especially if they're using AWS. That approach appears to be working: The startup just closed a $30 million Series A. Read More

🤘 3D printing goes metal: 3D metal printing has been difficult to nail down for years, but Markforged says it's finally ready to offer those capabilities with its FX10 machine. The industrial additive manufacturing machine can print with metal filaments, and even do stainless steel. Will we soon be able to download a car? Read More

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Around the web

♾️ Zuckerberg is hedging his political bets: The Meta CEO said he regrets letting the Biden administration "pressure" Facebook to censor coronavirus-related content in 2021, and that he would reject future efforts, reports The Wall Street Journal. He also said Meta would stay out of elections and not donate money towards helping people vote. Read More

🧑‍⚖️ No more bullying journalism outlets: A federal judge has ordered Missouri's AG to halt an investigation into Media Matters for America, a nonprofit journalism watchdog that Elon Musk went after when it detailed how X placed ads next to pro-Nazi posts, reports Ars Technica. Read More

🍀 No lucky charms for Google: Dublin has refused Google permission to build a data center outside the city because it fails to meet Ireland's sustainability requirements, reports Bloomberg. The plan was to build a 72,400-square-meter data storage facility, but a Dublin city council said Google didn't detail how it would impact local power supply. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Steve Jennings / Getty Images

🍼 And you thought Nick Cannon had a lot of kids: We're not quite done talking about Pavel Durov, the man who has apparently sired 100 biological children. Before you think Durov is some kind of Romeo, he's not. He just donated his sperm… many times. Read More