Techin' Geek

Lucid Motors has launched a concept for a robotaxi named the “Lucid Lunar,” unveiled during an investor day event on Thursday in New York City.

This vehicle accommodates two passengers and lacks a steering wheel or pedals, built on the foundational platform that Lucid Motors is developing for its forthcoming “mid-size” electric vehicle series, according to the company.

Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff mentioned that Lucid is already “working on” the Lunar and plans to unveil it following the rollout of its mid-size models; however, the company later informed TechCrunch that active development on the dedicated robotaxi has not commenced yet.

On Thursday, Lucid Motors also indicated that it is close to finalizing an agreement with Uber to partner on a robotaxi derived from one of the mid-size vehicles in development. The company is currently collaborating with autonomous vehicle producer Nuro to create an autonomous version of the Gravity SUV, expected to be operational on Uber’s network by year-end in the San Francisco region. Both Nuro and Lucid did not confirm whether this new vehicle would employ Nuro’s technologies.

These revelations were made towards the conclusion of Lucid’s investor day, highlighting the company’s growing emphasis on establishing a business around autonomy that could supplement its electric vehicle sales. During the presentation, Lucid Motors showcased a bar graph illustrating its anticipation of robotaxi partnership revenue significantly surpassing the income derived from licensing its electric vehicle technology, although the Y-axis lacked labeling.

Lucid is seeking to generate revenue from its partial autonomy initiatives as well. The company disclosed plans to introduce monthly subscription offerings for its DreamDrive Pro, which will scale with enhanced capabilities starting in the first half of 2027. Vehicle owners can subscribe for $69 per month for the basic driver assistance level, or up to $199 monthly for self-driving capability that doesn’t necessitate driver intervention at any time. (It is important to note that Lucid Motors has yet to develop this advanced capability, nor has any other automaker.)

The firm presented a slide on Thursday stating that autonomy subscriptions “represent the most significant software monetization opportunity.” This approach resembles Tesla’s long-standing practice with its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software and aligns with what Rivian revealed at its own “Autonomy & AI Day” in late December.

Similar to Rivian, Lucid Motors is also developing its own in-cabin AI assistant. The aim is to create an assistant capable of performing basic tasks like adjusting the air conditioning or addressing intricate inquiries such as discovering “something to do that’s somewhat unique, perhaps off the beaten path, and has a maritime or nautical flair.” It is uncertain how effectively this functions at present; Lucid Motors’ effort to demonstrate the assistant live during the event was unsuccessful, with the company opting to display a pre-recorded video instead.

The remainder of Lucid’s event primarily focused on the company’s initiatives to lower manufacturing costs for its vehicles and enhance the efficiency of its electric drivetrain. These factors will be essential to making the mid-sized vehicles competitively priced (expected to start around $50,000) when the first model is expected to enter the market by year’s end. The company announced one vehicle would be named the Lucid Cosmos, and the second was identified as the Lucid Earth. The name of the third vehicle was not revealed on Thursday.

The robotics firm Sunday has secured a new funding round, reaching a valuation that qualifies it as a unicorn, which implies it is valued at over $1 billion, as announced on Thursday.

Sunday has reported that it has successfully raised $165 million with a valuation of $1.15 billion in a Series B funding round spearheaded by Coatue Management. Other backers participating in this round include Tiger Global, Benchmark, and Bain Capital Ventures.

The company emerged from stealth mode late the previous year and has already accumulated a waitlist of 1,000 individuals, according to Bloomberg.

Founded by Tony Zhao and Cheng Chi, Sunday aims to develop a household humanoid robot named Memo that can assist with chores such as laundry and clearing tables.

For decades, experts have attempted to create a robot of this kind — reminiscent of Rosie from “The Jetsons” — but have faced challenges repeatedly, primarily due to insufficient training data for teaching robots to consistently handle objects of varying weights, textures, and fragility (such as towels compared to wineglasses). As advancements in AI technology continue, a fresh wave of robotic innovations is entering the market, aiming to resurrect the humanoid assistant.

The robotics firm Sunday has completed a funding round that has elevated the company to unicorn status, indicating a valuation of over $1 billion, as stated on Thursday.

According to Sunday, it has secured $165 million at a $1.15 billion valuation in a Series B round overseen by Coatue Management. Additional participants in this round include Tiger Global, Benchmark, and Bain Capital Ventures.

Having emerged from stealth at the end of last year, the company reportedly has 1,000 individuals on its waitlist, as per Bloomberg.

Founded by Tony Zhao and Cheng Chi, Sunday aims to create a domestic humanoid named Memo that assists with chores such as laundry and table clearing.

For decades, experts have aspired to create a robot resembling this — akin to Rosie from “The Jetsons” — but have faced repeated challenges, primarily due to the deficiency of training data necessary for teaching robots to adeptly handle objects with varying weights, textures, and fragility (consider: towels against wine glasses). As advancements in AI technology persist, a wave of new robotic innovations is entering the marketplace, striving to resurrect the concept of the humanoid assistant.

Webflow, which provides a software platform for creating and hosting websites, is acquiring the AI-driven content generation platform Vidoso to enhance its array of marketing services.

Launched in 2024, Vidoso employs large language models to assist organizations in producing marketing materials such as images, presentations, video snippets, blog entries, and social media posts. For example, the platform can convert a keynote speech or a panel discussion into brief video segments or blog articles.

The team of four from Vidoso is becoming part of Webflow on a full-time basis. Webflow has not revealed the financial terms of the acquisition. Vidoso has secured a total of $3.7 million from Aspenwood Ventures, Emergent Ventures, and Tau Ventures, according to PitchBook data.

“This acquisition is a small team; just four individuals. But the technology and its contributions to Webflow pave a new course […] traditionally, people have viewed us solely as a website creator or CMS. We are stepping into a more agentic marketing platform, and this marks a significant advancement in that journey,” stated Webflow CEO Linda Tong to TechCrunch.

Tong believes AI resources are enabling companies to quickly develop assets and advertisements, yet different departments often operate independently, which negatively impacts the final product. She envisions that with this new acquisition, Webflow can assist businesses in integrating functions such as branding, demand generation, product marketing, and content.

“Frontier models are based on the generalities of the internet, not the nuances of your brand. The initial phase of AI provided marketing teams with potent-but-unregulated AI capable of producing generic content, but unaware of brand systems, rules, templates, and approval workflows that maintain coherence in enterprise marketing. Vidoso was designed to bridge that divide, ensuring AI-generated content is consistent, regulated, and production-ready within the systems marketing teams already utilize,” remarked Vidoso’s CEO Sharad Verma in a statement.

Webflow, which has amassed over $330 million in funding thus far, has been concentrating on expanding its marketing suite for several years. In 2024, the firm acquired personalization startup Intellimize, and earlier in the year, introduced a Google Ads integration for enhanced performance monitoring.

Nonetheless, the company will face considerable competition from a surge of startups aiming to automate marketing tasks with AI, in addition to a plethora of marketing tools integrated into products by Big Tech firms.

Tong is confident that despite this competition, Webflow’s solutions for content creation, campaign administration, and performance monitoring will draw more users to its platform.

“If you’re merely producing numerous assets and deploying them, you now must gather insights, analyze them yourself, and reintegrate them into the learning system. Thus, it’s not genuinely self-learning. You are disrupting a critical element of the content’s success lifecycle. In contrast, with Webflow, you obtain the entire cycle,” she explained.

Bumble, the creator of a dating app, is embarking on a journey into generative AI. During Wednesday’s fourth-quarter financial report, Bumble unveiled a novel AI assistant named “Bee,” aimed at functioning as a personal matchmaker that understands users’ “values, relationship ambitions, communication styles, lifestyles, and dating goals” through private conversations. It subsequently utilizes this information to assist users in finding more suitable matches.

At present, Bee is undergoing a pilot program and is being evaluated internally, as shared by Bumble’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd with investors, but it is set to be launched in beta shortly.

With Bee, the company envisions the ability to gather significantly more data about Bumble users, as it uncovers more about each person’s narrative and true desires. This could set Bumble’s app apart from competitors like Tinder, which has also recently been revamped amid a decline in engagement from Gen Z users.

Bumble states that users will interact with Bee in a manner similar to other AI chatbots, through typing and engaging in a more conversational tone.

Initially, Bee will serve as the foundation for a new dating feature called “Dates,” which employs AI to suggest potential matches; however, Bumble has plans for Bee to branch out into additional functionalities in the future, such as providing date ideas or soliciting anonymous critiques from previous matches.

Within “Dates,” Bee will begin by gathering information about the user through a private onboarding chat. It will then pair two individuals who share similar intentions, values, and relationship aspirations. Both users will receive a notification in the app detailing why they are a good match.

This addition is part of a larger technology and AI-driven revamp of the dating app, which has thus far positioned itself as more attuned to women’s requirements. The company was a pioneer in introducing features like “women message first,” banning body shaming, and implementing tools that obscured unwanted explicit images, among other innovations.

Now, the company aims to utilize AI to regain user growth in a dating landscape that observes younger demographics, particularly Gen Z, becoming disillusioned with the swiping mechanism.

In fact, Herd indicated that Bumble would trial the removal of the well-established swipe feature in selected markets to assess user feedback. Rather than emphasizing swipes as a binary “yes” or “no,” Bumble is pursuing alternative features, including new “chapter-based” profiles that allow members to connect over different aspects of a user’s life narrative. This will provide Bumble with additional data to enhance its AI systems and algorithms.

“We will be introducing more adaptable ways for individuals to show interest in your narrative, rather than simply your profile, and this is going to foster more vibrant engagement, ignite better conversations, and ultimately improve KPIs overall — such as engagement and the likelihood of initiating better discussions,” Wolfe Herd stated. “You will also notice a more intentional approach to facilitating offline interactions rather than remaining in what are commonly referred to as dead-end chat zones.”

The company is also exploring different methods to better accommodate Gen Z, a group that frequently favors group social interactions over one-on-one meetings to get to know others.

Bumble has been focusing on incorporating AI into its platform for years, implementing adjustments like AI-powered photo selection and feedback tools, as well as enhancing safety features. Wolfe Herd informed investors that Bumble’s backend infrastructure has been revamped to integrate AI more thoroughly into the app.

The company reported earnings that exceeded expectations in Q4, with revenue reaching $224.2 million and average revenue per paying user climbing by 7.9% to $22.20. The stock surged about 40% following this news.

Bumble, the dating app developer, is diving into generative AI technology. In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Bumble unveiled a new AI assistant named “Bee,” aimed at becoming a personalized matchmaker that discovers users’ “values, relationship goals, communication style, lifestyle, and dating intentions” through private messaging. This information is then utilized to find the user more suitable matches.

As of now, Bee is in the pilot stage and is being tested internally, Bumble’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd informed investors, with plans to launch a beta version soon.

Through Bee, the company aims to gather significantly more data about Bumble users, as it gains insight into each user’s unique narrative and desires. This could set Bumble’s platform apart from competitors like Tinder, which recently underwent significant changes as interest wanes among Gen Z users.

Bumble states that users will engage with Bee similarly to other AI chatbots, using both typing and natural conversation.

Initially, Bee will be utilized to facilitate a new dating feature called “Dates,” which employs AI to suggest potential matches. However, in the future, Bumble plans for Bee to expand into other functionalities, such as providing date ideas or gathering anonymous feedback from previous matches.

Within “Dates,” Bee will start by gathering information about the user through a private onboarding dialogue. It will then match two individuals with aligned intentions, values, and relationship objectives. Both users will receive a notification within the app, outlining why they are a compatible pair.

This enhancement is part of a larger technological and AI-centric upgrade to the dating app, which has historically promoted itself as prioritizing women’s needs. The company has introduced features such as “women message first,” bans on body shaming, and tools to obscure unsolicited explicit photos, among others.

Now, Bumble seeks to leverage AI to stimulate user growth, particularly in a dating landscape where younger individuals, especially Gen Z, are becoming disenchanted with the swiping method.

Indeed, Herd mentioned that Bumble would try out removing the historically popular swipe feature in certain markets to gauge user reactions. Instead of treating swipes as a binary response of “yes” or “no,” Bumble aims to utilize alternative features, such as new “chapter-based” profiles, allowing users to connect over different aspects of their life story. This approach will provide Bumble with more data to enhance its AI systems and algorithms.

“We will be implementing more interactive ways for individuals to show interest in your narrative, beyond just your profile, which is going to foster more dynamic engagement, inspire better discussions, and ultimately enhance KPIs across the spectrum — such as engagement levels and the likelihood of stimulating richer conversations,” Wolfe Herd stated. “You will also see us adopt a far more intentional strategy to facilitate offline interactions rather than confining people to what many describe as dead-end chat spaces.”

The company is also exploring additional methods to cater to Gen Z, a demographic that frequently favors group interactions over solitary dates to familiarize themselves with others.

Bumble has been striving to incorporate AI into its app for several years, introducing changes like AI photo selection and feedback tools, as well as innovations in safety features. Wolfe Herd informed investors that Bumble’s back-end infrastructure has been revamped to integrate AI seamlessly into the app.

The company reported earnings that exceeded expectations in Q4, with revenue reaching $224.2 million, and an average revenue per paying user increasing by 7.9% to $22.20. The stock surged nearly 40% following this announcement.

On Wednesday, a worldwide coalition of law enforcement agencies dismantled a botnet comprising tens of thousands of compromised home and small business routers.

The initiative focused on SocksEscort, which provided paid proxy services and was based on a botnet of compromised routers utilised to perpetrate a range of crimes, including unlawfully accessing victims’ banking and cryptocurrency accounts, as well as submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance applications, according to an announcement released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday. The DOJ reported that the offenses enabled by SocksEscort incurred millions of dollars in losses for Americans.  

According to Europol’s statement regarding the operation, the SocksEscort botnet reportedly breached over 369,000 routers and Internet of Things devices across 163 nations, and the infected routers “have been disconnected from the service.” The law enforcement agency indicated that SocksEscort facilitated ransomware, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

“Users of the illicit service purchased licenses to exploit these compromised devices, concealing their original IP addresses to partake in various criminal actions,” Europol stated. “Once infected with the malware, owners of the modems remained unaware that their IP addresses were being exploited for illegitimate purposes.”

The official website of SocksEscort was supplanted by a message announcing the seizure as part of the law enforcement operation. 

The botnet consisted of approximately 280,000 routers since last January and was driven by malware named AVRecon, as per cybersecurity firm Black Lotus Labs, which monitored SocksEscort and collaborated with authorities in the takedown effort.

“This botnet represented a considerable threat, as it was exclusively marketed to criminals,” the company remarked in its post regarding the takedown. “Significantly, more than half of its victims were situated in the United States or the United Kingdom, allowing perpetrators to execute highly targeted operations.”

In 2023, Black Lotus Labs referred to SocksEscort as “one of the largest botnets targeting small-office/home-office (SOHO) routers observed in recent years.” 

At that time, cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs noted that SocksEscort emerged in 2009 as a Russian-language service offering access to thousands of compromised computers.

Last week, Grammarly unveiled a contentious feature that employs AI to mimic editorial feedback, creating the illusion that users are receiving critiques from figures like novelist Stephen King, the late scientist Carl Sagan, or tech journalist Kara Swisher. However, Grammarly did not obtain consent from the numerous experts featured in this function, referred to as “Expert Review,” to utilize their names.

Julia Angwin, one of the affected writers and a journalist, has initiated a class action lawsuit against Superhuman, the company that owns Grammarly, claiming that the organization infringed on the privacy and publicity rights of her and the other writers it represented. This class action allows other writers to join Angwin in her legal action.

“After decades of perfecting my craft as a writer and editor, I am disheartened to learn that a tech firm is profiting off a fraudulent version of my hard-earned knowledge,” Angwin expressed in a statement.

The irony of this situation is palpable — Angwin has dedicated her career to investigating how tech companies affect privacy. Other critics of such technology, including prominent AI ethicist Timnit Gebru, were also featured in Grammarly’s “Expert Review.”

The “Expert Review” feature, offered exclusively to subscribers at $144 annually, unfortunately falls short of its promise to provide meaningful feedback.

Casey Newton, the creator and editor of the tech newsletter Platformer and another individual impersonated by Grammarly, input one of his articles into the system and received feedback from Grammarly’s representation of tech journalist Kara Swisher. The feedback generated by Grammarly’s imitation of Swisher was so indistinct that it raises the question of why the company would bother using these writers’ personas at all.

This is what Grammarly’s representation of Kara Swisher suggested to him: “Could you briefly compare how daily AI users versus AI skeptics articulate risk, creating a through-line readers can follow?”

Newton conveyed the message from the AI’s rendition of Kara Swisher to the actual, living Kara Swisher.

“You greedy information and identity thieves better prepare for me to unleash my full McConaughey on you,” Swisher texted Newton (in reference to Grammarly). “Also, you suck.”

Grammarly has since taken down the “Expert Review” feature, as reported in a LinkedIn post by Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra. While Mehrotra issued an apology, he continued to advocate for the concept behind the feature.

“Envision your professor refining your essay, your sales manager reworking a customer pitch, an insightful critic questioning your arguments, or a prominent expert enhancing your proposal,” he articulated. “For experts, this is an opportunity to forge that same pervasive connection with users, similar to what Grammarly has established.”

Tesla has officially become a licensed utility in the United Kingdom, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The automotive and energy firm recently obtained a license from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, enabling it to provide electricity directly to residential and commercial users.

The company has been involved in electricity markets for some time. Its initial energy products, the Powerwall and Powerpack, debuted in 2015; however, it was only a year later, following its merger with SolarCity, that Tesla began to rapidly expand this division. In 2022, Tesla Electric was launched in Texas, permitting it to sell electricity directly to customers. Powerwall users can sell electricity from their batteries to engage in the company’s virtual power plant.

The new sector, branded Tesla Energy Ventures, will go head-to-head with current utilities in the U.K., such as EDF, E.ON, and Octopus Energy. The rivalry with Octopus is expected to be particularly captivating. Since its inception in 2015, Octopus has risen to be the largest utility in the country by prioritizing innovative software, renewable energy solutions, and imaginative marketing. Does that sound familiar? 

When Max Brodeur-Urbas co-established Gumloop in the middle of 2023, his aim was to assist non-technical staff in automating monotonous tasks using AI. At that point, the notion of AI agents was predominantly experimental and susceptible to inaccuracies.

As AI technology has advanced, Gumloop’s offerings have likewise evolved.

The company asserts that it now enables teams at organizations such as Shopify, Ramp, Gusto, Samsara, Instacart, and Opendoor to deploy dependable AI agents capable of autonomously managing intricate, multistep tasks, all without requiring any engineers.

Employees can share the agents they create with their teammates, fostering a compounding effect that speeds up internal automation. “They become hooked, they begin creating additional agents, and before long, the entire company is AI native,” Brodeur-Urbas shared with TechCrunch.

As businesses rush to embrace AI, Benchmark general partner Everett Randle believes that the secret to success lies in empowering every employee with AI capabilities, and Gumloop’s user-friendly agent builder exemplifies the type of tool that will unlock that potential.

That’s why Randle, who joined Benchmark last October from Kleiner Perkins, opted to spearhead a $50 million Series B funding for Gumloop. The agreement, which marks Randle’s first at his new firm, involved participation from Nexus VP, First Round Capital, Y Combinator, BoxGroup, The Cannon Project, and Shopify.

Although Gumloop was not actively looking for new funding, the startup determined that this was the year to “accelerate growth.” For Brodeur-Urbas, collaborating with Benchmark—the firm behind notable successes like eBay, Uber, and Dropbox—was an obvious choice.

While Brodeur-Urbas initially intended to “create a 10-person, billion-dollar company,” the increasing demand from corporate clients has driven him to establish a dedicated sales team and expand his engineering staff, he mentioned.

Gumloop is certainly not the sole contender striving to transform every knowledge worker into an AI agent-builder. The startup encounters tough competition from established automation platforms like Zapier and n8n, alongside specialized agent builders such as Dust. Even foundational AI labs are joining the competition. For example, Anthropic’s Claude Cowork enables users to develop autonomous agents without needing to write any code.

However, Randle is confident that Gumloop surpasses all its competitors. During his research, he found that at least one of the company’s customers had adopted Gumloop in a somewhat organic manner.

When Randle inquired with a CTO about how they selected Gumloop, the answer was revealing. The company had provided employees unrestricted access to Gumloop along with two other competitors. Six months later, the outcome was evident: Staff were engaging with Gumloop on a daily or weekly basis, while the competing platforms remained unused, Randle informed TechCrunch.

The reason Gumloop achieved such traction, according to Randle, is due to its low learning curve. “You can dive in and start creating agents and workflow automations right away,” he stated.

While numerous AI startups fear that foundational models will replicate their functionalities and make them redundant, Randle firmly believes that Gumloop’s model-agnostic strategy is exactly what will continue to draw in clients.

As models keep evolving, one may outperform another for specific tasks. Therefore, Gumloop offers the flexibility to select the model that is most appropriate for the job at any moment.

Another reason model independence is appealing, according to Randle, is cost. “Many enterprises possess OpenAI, Gemini, and Anthropic credits. They wish to utilize all of them,” he remarked.

His enthusiasm for the company ultimately hinges on the vast size of the opportunity.

“Enterprise automation is a tremendous pot of gold,” Randle stated. “I believe it’s the largest category in enterprise AI.”