TechCrunch Top 3

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📝 Treaty time: While the future of AI regulation in the U.S. remains up in the air, today the U.S. signed an AI safety treaty brought forth by the Council of Europe that is meant to protect human rights and people's data. Read more

🏆 AI benchmark: Chatbot Arena has become a popular benchmarking tool for AI models. But is it really the best gauge? Kyle Wiggers does a deep dive into Chatbot Arena, the nonprofit that runs it, and why it could be good for the industry to find another benchmark. Read more

🗣️ Save face: YouTube today announced a slate of AI detection tools that are meant to spot when a creator's voice, face and likeness have been copied and used in other videos. The company also announced an expansion of its Content ID system. Read more

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: U.S. Department of Justice

💻 Hacking accusations: Today the U.S. Department of Justice accused five members of Russia's military intelligence agency of hacking several Ukrainian government agencies. Prosecutors think these individuals were behind the 2022 WhisperGate cyberattack. Read more

🫱 Mini drones: DJI is back with a new mini drone. At Berlin's IFA event this week, the company announced the Neo, a drone small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The Neo will launch with a limited release and is currently available for preorder. Read more

💼 AI recruiter: ZipRecruiter is beefing up its AI offerings with ZipIntro, an AI service that automatically schedules intro calls between recruiters and candidates that its AI algorithm thinks would be a good fit for the job. Read more

⛏️ More copper: Endolith is a climate tech startup that is looking to help miners extract 10% more copper using microbes. The company was spun out from Cemvita last year and has since raised $5.13 million on its own. Read more

📸 Ask AI: Today, Google started rolling out its "Ask Photos" feature to select users. This allows people to prompt Google's Gemini AI to find specific photos for them. Read more

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Money, money, money

Image Credits: Brittany Ennix

🚚 Funding for freight: There are many companies looking to help other companies manage their supply chain, but they aren't designed for SMBs. Portex is building a supply chain solution for the smaller players in the market, and it just raised $6.25 million. Read more

🔋 Clean manufacturing: Calyxia is looking to make manufacturing a cleaner process with its sustainable alternatives to microcapsules and microparticles. The company just raised $35 million and is on track to reach net profitability in 2026. Read more

🧾 Sales tax: Zamp is building software that automatically calculates and files sales tax for companies. The startup has more than 200 customers and just raised a $10 million Series A. Read more

Around the web

🌎 Musk's online world: As the owner of both Starlink and X, Elon Musk plays a big role in how people connect and digest the internet. The Atlantic looks into just how much influence Musk really has. Read more

🧠 Reinventing yourself: Marc Benioff frequently talks about "shoshin," the Japanese word for "beginner's mind." He sat down with Fortune for a lengthy interview about how he's sticking to that mindset with the rise of generative AI. Read more