TechCrunch AI
18 Jul 2026
Databricks has reached a $188 billion valuation as investors reward its transition into an AI-focused company. The firm has also published research highlighting potential cost savings from using open-weight AI models for coding workloads.
CleanTechnica
18 Jul 2026
Tesla has continued its South American expansion by entering Uruguay and reducing vehicle prices in Chile. The move follows recent competitive pricing in Colombia that undercut rivals with lower-cost Model 3 and Model Y offerings.
TechCrunch AI
17 Jul 2026
A $400 million loan secured by chip assets signals a shift from GPU-focused financing to inference accelerators. TechCrunch AI reports this deal could mark the next wave of AI infrastructure financing tied to specialized chips.
OpenAI News
17 Jul 2026
Sarah Friar, OpenAI CFO, outlines a practical AI scorecard designed to quantify ROI by tracking useful work, cost per successful task, dependability, and return on compute. The framework is presented as a tool for finance and product teams to evaluate AI investments more systematically.
TechCrunch AI
16 Jul 2026
Alexandre LeBrun, CEO of AMI Labs, says he avoids calling his company's world-model work ‘AGI’ or ‘superintelligence’ and prefers more specific, engineering-focused terms. He argues the labels are misleading and distract from concrete research and safety practices described in public statements.
TechCrunch AI
16 Jul 2026
TechCrunch reports Microsoft is coaching its sales team to present Microsoft’s own AI models as more efficient and cost-effective than rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. The guidance appears aimed at winning enterprise customers by emphasizing operational and pricing advantages.
IEEE Spectrum
16 Jul 2026
The author argues that deliberate career risks—changing jobs, working with stronger engineers, and betting on emerging trends—can compound into long-term stability by building highly marketable skills. Practical examples include switching into software in later life, joining startups to accelerate learning, and early adoption of technologies like RAG and voice AI.
TechCrunch AI
16 Jul 2026
Livestream shopping platform Whatnot has acquired AI startup Shaped, which builds real-time recommendation and search systems. The acquisition is intended to enhance Whatnot’s personalization and discovery as it adds new product categories, TechCrunch reports.
