Rivian is informing investors that it could experience a more favorable sales year than originally anticipated, despite the numerous challenges facing electric vehicles in the U.S. currently.

Rivian had initially projected it would deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles this year, but the company now estimates it will supply between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles, according to a statement made on Thursday.

This slight yet potentially significant increase for the company follows a year in which it only delivered 42,247 electric vehicles. The revised outlook arrives as EV sales growth has slowed in the U.S., influenced partly by Congress eliminating the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, and the Trump administration repealing environmental regulations that supported the production and acquisition of electric vehicles.

The updated forecast may indicate that the company’s optimistic expectations for its brand new mass-market EV, the R2 SUV, are warranted.

Rivian did not provide a specific rationale for this newfound optimism, only mentioning that it exceeded its own forecasts in the second quarter due to “strong growth quarter-over-quarter in EDV and R1, along with the commencement of R2 deliveries.” (EDV refers to Rivian’s electric commercial van.)

On Thursday, Rivian announced that it manufactured 12,613 vehicles last quarter and delivered 12,194, having only anticipated shipments between 9,000 and 11,000.

Rivian is optimistic about the new R2 SUV, which it began selling last month, starting at approximately $58,000. The company has expanded its factory in Normal, Illinois, to manufacture them and is in the process of constructing an entirely new production facility in Georgia to produce hundreds of thousands of R2s annually.

While Rivian has not explicitly stated how many R2s it expects to sell this year, Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough has suggested a range of 20,000 to 25,000 units. It remains uncertain whether that figure has increased along with the new forecast or if the company anticipates the surplus deliveries will emanate from its commercial vans and higher-priced R1 trucks and SUVs.

Regardless, increased deliveries this year would benefit Rivian’s financial situation, as the company continues to recover from a multibillion-dollar deficit. It had previously indicated that it might finally achieve regular profitability in 2027, but it has recently postponed that goal to focus on the development of autonomous software, primarily because it has secured a deal to provide self-driving R2 SUVs to Uber.

Ben Guez has “an abundance of potential international partners in [his] DMs,” owing to an automated setup he implemented using OpenClaw, Claude code, and Instagram test reels.

“I think it’s wild, the possibilities are incredibly high right now,” Guez, a content creator and entrepreneur, shared with TechCrunch. “I’m not certain if everyone will view it positively, but it’s definitely effective.”

How is Guez attracting so many women? Initially, he employs the open-source AI agent OpenClaw to monitor World Cup match outcomes. After each match, OpenClaw prompts Claude to generate and upload a nearly identical Instagram “trial reel” using the same format. In the clip, Guez gazes forlornly out of a train window, accompanied by the caption: “I can’t believe {COUNTRY} was defeated… If any {COUNTRY} girls need someone to talk to… my DMs are open.”

Guez has repeated the same post, except for the country name, more than a dozen times. However, this is not apparent when viewing his profile, as trial reels do not appear on a creator’s public page. Since the start of this automation, Guez has accumulated over one million views and received 200 DMs in just a few days. This number is even more significant considering Guez specifies in his profile that he will only respond to DMs sent via Canary, his AI language learning application, which necessitates these women to download his app.

You’ve got to admire him: Guez is truly taking “work smarter, not harder” to a new level. But once these women discover he doesn’t genuinely care about Tunisian soccer, won’t they feel deceived?

“They’re not feeling upset, they’re actually impressed, like, ‘Oh, you’re thinking outside the box, you’re a genius,’” Guez remarked. “I believe as long as you’re open about what you’re doing, it’s completely fine.”

TechCrunch couldn’t independently verify these women’s actual reactions, so we must accept Guez’s perspective. However, it’s clear that Guez isn’t the sole individual getting inventive with the popular AI assistant. While Guez’s techniques might be a bit more audacious, others view OpenClaw as a means to simplify the process of arranging dates.

Jeff Weisbein, founder of a tech PR agency, utilizes OpenClaw to assist him in determining locations for dates throughout various neighborhoods in South Florida.

“I’m meeting women in different areas of South Florida, so I’m not familiar with all the restaurants or activities,” Weisbein told TechCrunch. “I have my bot do all the research and compile a document with links explaining why each location is suitable for whatever kind of date it is.”

When I update him about Guez’s OpenClaw strategy, he bursts into laughter.

“I guess I’m not utilizing OpenClaw to its full potential,” he mentioned. “But certainly in terms of using OpenClaw to assist with tasks I would otherwise manage myself.”

Similar to Guez, Weisbein doesn’t conceal his use of AI tools for date planning (though it did backfire when one woman remarked, “I dislike AI agents”). In a sense, asking OpenClaw for happy hour suggestions in Fort Lauderdale isn’t much different from googling the trendiest local bars, but he would draw the line at employing AI to mediate his actual conversations with women.

“I’ve seen individuals create bots and ways to swipe using OpenClaw, and I wouldn’t do that. They claim it’s a numbers game, but if that’s what it takes… that seems like a rather unfortunate approach,” he stated. “I feel like you shouldn’t delegate your communication when you’re involved with someone to AI.”

People appear reluctant to allow AI to interfere once there’s a real connection, but a tech worker named Cailey shared that once she’s made up her mind to end a flirtation, she doesn’t mind utilizing Claude to initiate the breakup.

“I began using Claude and created an automation that formulates ‘I no longer wish to see you’ messages based on specific terms I’d enter about the date. It would then send them automatically at random intervals to alleviate the anxiety of deciding when to send,” she explained to TechCrunch. “It worked surprisingly well, until I mentioned it to someone I was dating, who I subsequently had to send an automated message to, and he questioned whether he was conversing with Claude or Cailey.”

What’s more challenging: being ghosted, or being broken up with by an AI?

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OpenClaw disrupted the tech landscape with its capabilities when it gained popularity this past spring, yet security advocates consistently cautioned users about the risks associated with allowing an AI assistant unilateral control over all your accounts.

For Lazer Cohen, the co-founder of the security-centric OpenClaw alternative NanoClaw, there are significant privacy concerns regarding outsourcing personal connections to AI, despite his company promoting date planning as a possible application on X.

“Whenever you’re granting an agent access to personal details and accounts, human-in-the-loop approval is essential,” Cohen stated to TechCrunch. “We’ve all encountered tales of OpenClaw generating dating profiles for individuals without their awareness or consent, or OpenClaw dating coaches revealing to other groups that they’re also being utilized as a dating coach.”

However, NanoClaw has integrated into Cohen’s romantic life, though he employs it in a manner that’s considerably more wholesome than mass-producing reels that prompt heartbroken soccer fans to message him.

“My wife and I personally utilize our NanoClaw assistant, Rosie, to organize the activities of our five children,” he expressed. “But ‘claws’ are widely employed to assist couples in reaching the child-rearing stage.”