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Bezos-backed startup designed an EV that can change like a ‘Transformer’
Jeff Bezos-backed Slate Auto has planted multiple concept versions of its EV on the streets of California. It’s a marketing tactic that teases the secretive startup’s strategy to sell a “Transformer”-like vehicle, people familiar with the company’s internal discussions told TechCrunch. This unconventional real-world tease comes days before Slate’s April 24 launch event at Long Beach Airport, according to an invite viewed by TechCrunch. The Michigan-based startup, founded in 2022, has operated in relative secrecy until TechCrunchpublished a report revealing Bezos’ financial involvement, as well as its plan to price its EV at around $25,000 while encouraging buyers to customize the vehicle to their liking. That base model is referred to as the “Blank Slate” version, according to atrademark applicationand another person familiar with the company’s plans. Slate has also filed for atrademarkfor the phrase: “We Built It. You Make It.” The Autopian’s David Tracytraveledto Venice, California over the weekend where Slate parked a concept version of the truck made to look like a two-door SUV used by a fake business. Similarly, Reddit users posted pictures over the weekend ofyet anotherversion of the truckmade to look like a hatchback that almost resembles Rivian’sforthcoming R3. The vehicle Tracy saw up close this past weekend looks just like the two-door pickup truck spotted by a Reddit userearlier this monthin Long Beach, but with a hard cover over the bed that gives it more of an SUV shape. The vehicle is covered in a wrap for a fake business called “Rockabye Rides,” which includes a URL that leads to a website that iscounting downto Slate’s event later this week. That makes three different silhouettes we’ve seen of Slate’s truck so far — and that adaptability is something the company has privately touted as it locked down well over $100 million in funding, TechCrunch has learned. Slate’s leadership focused heavily on the “Transformer” metaphor as it wooed investors to fill out its Series B funding round last year, according to a person familiar with the pitches. The company carefully choreographed the meetings around the idea, according to another person familiar with how they went. This involved showing prospective investors a generic version of the truck, and then leading them to another room while a team quickly customized the vehicle. Then the prospective investors would be brought back to the first room only to find the truck looking completely different. Those efforts appear to have been convincing. Guggenheim Partners CEO (and controlling owner of the LA Dodgers) Mark Walter seemingly invested in the round and joined Slate’s board, TechCrunch hasreported. A spokesperson for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment. These new photos give a pretty clear view of the exterior of Slate’s truck, and the potential level of customization. The interior remains a mystery, and there is no public knowledge about the vehicle’s specs. The company has briefed a number of automotive journalists ahead of Thursday’s event, and Tracy wrote that he’s “under a strict NDA” on any of the specifics. Even still, Tracy wrote that the Slate truck “is unlike any new vehicle I’ve ever seen not just in my decade as a car journalist, but in my entire lifetime.”
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Trump EPA targets two-man geoengineering startup for ‘polluting the air’
Humans have found it hard to quit fossil fuels, which is why some argue that we’ll soon need to start geoengineering — that is, modifying the atmosphere to prevent catastrophic warming of the planet. The practice is controversial. Some argue it’s the only solution given that we’ve waited too long to reduce carbon emissions. Others say we shouldn’t be running two uncontrolled experiments on the Earth’s climate (the first being the global burning of fossil fuels). That hasn’t stopped people from trying. And one approach championed byMake Sunsetshas drawn the attention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The startup is basically two guys from Silicon Valley who have been releasing weather balloons filled with hydrogen gas and sulfur dioxide particles. When the balloon floats somewhere past 66,000 feet in altitude, it bursts and releases the sulfur dioxide particles, which scatter and reflect sunlight, cooling the Earth a tiny bit. The company sells “cooling credits” based on how much estimated warming each balloon release negates. Make Sunsets has raised $750,000, according to PitchBook, and the startup says its investors include Boost VC, Draper Associates, and Pioneer Fund. Neither founder is a scientist, but the science behind sulfur dioxide and solar reflectivity is sound. Humansaccidentally provedthe importance of sulfur dioxide in global albedo — the average reflectivity of the Earth’s surface — when they slashed the sulfur content of marine shipping fuels in 2020; one prominent climate scientist hasargued in favorof the practice. Still, given the complexity of the global climate, it’s not clear what other effects the practice might have. It might seed rainstorms in one region while depriving other areas of rain. Several scientists haveurged caution. Plus, if sulfur dioxide particles drift closer to ground, they could aggravate people’s asthma and cause other respiratory problems. Here, the EPA takes issue with Make Sunsets’ approach to geoengineering. Sulfur dioxide is regulated as an air pollutant. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said this week that the agency isinvestigating the company. Make Sunsets argues its actions are legal. In anFAQon its website, the company says, “Yes, our method to cool Earth falls under the Weather Modification Act of 1976 and report yearly to NOAA of our deployments as required.” The law is fuzzy here, though. When it was written, the Weather Modification Act was likely intended to cover the practice of cloud seeding, in which particles like silver iodide are shot into clouds to induce rain or snowfall. Most weather modification today is done by entities likeski resortsandirrigation districts in the West. It’snot clearhow the law applies to climate modification. Still, while the EPA might be justified in its investigation, it isn’t exactly consistent with Zeldin’s approach to pollution. The agency’sefforts to boost coalare likely to generate far more sulfur dioxide pollution than Make Sunsets will release with its balloons. A Make Sunsets balloon released onNovember 15, 2024, released 1,715 grams of sulfur dioxide. In 2023, U.S. power plants released650,000 tonsinto the atmosphere, themajorityof which came from coal. That’s approximately the same amount as 343,900,000 of the startup’s balloons.
OpenAI pursued Cursor maker before entering into talks to buy Windsurf for $3B
When news broke that OpenAI was in talks to acquire AI coding companyWindsurf for $3 billion, one of the first questions on the mind of anyone following the space was likely: “Why not buy Cursor creator Anysphere instead?” After all, OpenAI Startup Fund has been an investor in Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, since the quickly growing coding assistant’sseed roundin late 2023. (Anysphere is often referred to by its product name, Cursor.) It turns out that OpenAI indeed approached Anysphere in 2024 and again earlier this year about a potential acquisition, according to areport from CNBC. The talks failed. Instead, Anysphere has been in talks to raise capital at about$10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported last month. OpenAI’s desire to move on to acquisition discussions with another coding assistant maker signals how important capturing a slice of the code generation market has become for the ChatGPT maker. Windsurf is generating about $40 million in annualized recurring revenue (ARR),TechCrunch reportedin February. Meanwhile, Anysphere’s Cursor reportedly makes about $200 million on an ARR basis. While OpenAI’s Codex CLI “agent,” which the companyreleased Wednesday, can also write and edit code, its attempt to buy Windsurf suggests the company doesn’t want to wait for CLI to gain traction with customers.
AI benchmarking platform Chatbot Arena forms a new company
Chatbot Arena, the crowdsourced benchmarking project major AI labs rely on to test and market their AI models, is forming a company called Arena Intelligence Inc.,reports Bloomberg. In ablog post published Thursday, Chatbot Arena said that the company will “give [it] the resources to improve [its platform] significantly over what it is today.” The team also pledged to continue to provide neutral testing grounds for AI not influenced by outside interests. Founded in 2023, Chatbot Arena has become something of an AI industry obsession. Primarily run by UC Berkeley-affiliated researchers, Chatbot Arena has partnered with companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to make flagship models available for its community to evaluate. Chatbot Arena was previously funded through a combination of grants and donations, including from Google’s Kaggle data science platform,AndreessenHorowitz, andTogether AI. The organization’s fledgling company hasn’t disclosed any potential new backers yet — nor has it decided on a business model.