SXSW Week in Review: Highlights and Takeaways

Welcome to the Weekly Roundup!

I am Karyne Levy, TechCrunch’s deputy managing editor, and I will be authoring this newsletter going forward. I am very pleased to be taking on this role!

This week’s highlights include developments at SXSW, Waymo’s service expansion within Silicon Valley, the appointment of a new CEO at Intel, a potential new buyer for TikTok, and the reasons behind DeepSeek’s decision to forego venture capital funding. Let’s delve into the details!

Environmental Concerns: The FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA’s Inspector General, and the Treasury Department have requested Citibank to temporarily suspend the accounts of several nonprofit organizations and governmental bodies. While the account freezes occurred in February, previously undisclosed details have emerged through recent court documents.

SXSW Concludes: TechCrunch provided extensive coverage of SXSW in Austin this week, including test drives in Waymo vehicles, insights from Mark Cuban regarding AI (viewed as a tool rather than a universal solution), and an interpretation of the statement made by Bluesky’s CEO through her choice of attire (a commentary on Mark Zuckerberg).

Intel’s Leadership Transition: Intel has named Lip-Bu Tan as its next Chief Executive Officer. Tan, a tech investor originally from Malaysia, previously led Cadence Design Systems and intends to steer Intel toward becoming a more “engineering-focused company.” He faces significant challenges ahead.

This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review, a summary of the most important news stories. To receive this as a weekly newsletter, subscribe here.

News Updates

New Leadership at Rad Power Bikes: Rad Power Bikes has appointed a new CEO following the recent departure of its previous leader. Kathi Lentzsch, experienced in revitalizing underperforming businesses in both consumer and B2B sectors, will oversee the e-bike company’s shift from direct-to-consumer sales to a retail-focused strategy.

Government Backdoors: It was recently revealed that the U.K. government secretly mandated Apple to create a security bypass, granting authorities access to the cloud data of all Apple users. U.S. legislators are now requesting a public hearing from the head of the U.K.’s surveillance court regarding Apple’s potential legal challenge to this alleged demand.

Food Safety Initiative: Bryan Johnson, the investor and founder of the “Don’t Die” movement, is proposing a comprehensive “foodome” sequencing project. His aim is to analyze a wide range of food products, establishing a public database where individuals can contribute funds for toxin testing of specific items and brands.

Parking Fines for Waymo: Waymo’s fleet of 300 driverless vehicles in San Francisco accumulated $65,065 in parking fines last year, resulting from 589 parking violations.

Open-Source AI Voice Model: AI firm Sesame has released the foundational model powering Maya, its highly realistic voice assistant. This model is also open source, enabling commercial applications.

TikTok Acquisition Update: With the deadline for TikTok to secure a sale to a U.S. company approaching, Oracle has emerged as a potential new bidder. Sources indicate that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, currently favors Oracle over other interested parties.

Y Combinator Advocates for Tech Regulation: Y Combinator submitted a letter to the White House this week, urging support for Europe’s Digital Markets Act, designed to curb the dominance of Big Tech companies. The White House’s response remains to be seen.

Trump Family Investment: Reports indicate that the Trump family is exploring investment opportunities in Binance U.S. This development occurs after Binance’s U.S. division pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulations.

AI-Powered Efficiency: I am a proponent of AI, particularly when it enhances productivity. A new Gmail feature released this week allows users to directly add events to Google Calendar from within emails, a welcome convenience.

Garantex Co-Founder Arrested: The co-founder of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, was apprehended in India. The U.S. Department of Justice previously accused Aleksej Besciokov of authorizing transactions on Garantex linked to North Korean hackers and other cybercriminals.

Niantic Sells Gaming Division: Niantic, the creator of Pokémon GO, is selling its gaming division to Scopely for $3.5 billion. Niantic will now concentrate on developing real-world 3D maps through a new entity called Niantic Spatial.

DeepSeek’s Funding Strategy: Despite significant interest, Chinese AI company DeepSeek is currently declining venture capital funding. Charles Rollet explores the reasoning behind this decision.

OpenAI and CoreWeave Partnership: OpenAI has entered into a five-year agreement with CoreWeave, a GPU-focused cloud service provider, valued at $11.9 billion. This deal is noteworthy as CoreWeave’s largest customer was previously Microsoft.

Waymo Expansion in Silicon Valley: Waymo is extending its early rider program throughout Silicon Valley, now offering robotaxi services to residents of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, and sections of Sunnyvale. This expands upon the existing 55 square miles of coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Meta’s Fact-Checking Updates: Meta is implementing changes to its fact-checking process. Starting Tuesday, the company will launch its version of Community Notes for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users in the United States.

Lockdown Mode Mysteries: The functionality of Lockdown Mode, launched three years ago, remains largely unclear. The rationale behind certain actions is unexplained, and some notifications are confusing.

Analysis

AI and Creative Writing: OpenAI’s new AI for creative writing is impressive, but it resembles an overly ambitious student in a fiction workshop. While capable of generating clever metafiction, critics find its writing lacks genuine emotion and originality, prioritizing display over substance.