TechCrunch Top 3

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💸 More money for AI: Synthetic voice company ElevenLabs has raised a fresh $250 million in funds, TechCrunch was first to report. This new round was led by ICONIQ Growth and values the company between $3 billion and $3.3 billion. Read more

🤖 Human or AI? Sam Altman's web3 project, World, wants to create tools to link online AI agents with people's online personas in a quest to verify that an agent is working on someone's behalf. This makes sense but also paints an eerie picture of the future of the web. Read more

🤨 Was Elon Musk right? Earlier this week, when Musk threw jabs at the Trump administration's Stargate AI infrastructure project, saying it didn't have the funds, multiple orgs involved were quick to clap back that it wasn't true. But Musk may have been on to something after all. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

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🎙️ A new administration: On today's episode of Equity, the hosts dig into the Trump administration's more-accessible approach to startups. They also got into some fun deals of the week, Stargate, and the latest on TikTok. Listen here

🗣️ Are we all still learning Mandarin? Chinese short-form video app RedNote exploded in popularity as the TikTok ban loomed last week. Now that TikTok's ban has been paused, people are abandoning the app in droves. Read more

☹️ The fun's over: Meta's Threads announced that it will be testing ads on the platform in both Japan and the U.S. When Threads was launched in 2023, Mark Zuckerberg said it would initially be focused on user retention, but its move into ads is not surprising. Read more

🏎️ Is AI moving too fast? A post-ChatGPT world has put AI researchers in high demand, allowing them to land eye-popping salaries. But the story isn't all positive: These researchers are saying this breakneck speed is isolating and takes a toll on their mental health. Read more

💰💰💰 Speaking of AI's hyperspeed: Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta plans to significantly up its capital expenditures this year to keep up in the AI race. Meta expects to spend $60 billion to $80 billion this year mainly on data centers and growing the AI development team. Read more

Around the web

💰 Musk and money: Morgan Stanley plans to unload $3 billion worth of debt from the sale of X next week. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that there's interest in buying some of that debt, as investors think the company's financials are on an upward swing. But Elon Musk didn't mince words in an email to X's staff in January, where he said that the platform's user growth was stagnant and that it was barely breaking even financially. Read more

🛟 Bring in the professional: Apple hasn't had the strongest AI showing compared to its tech giant peers. Now the company is tasking Kim Vorrath, an Apple veteran known for fixing problemed products, with the job. Read more