What is plagiarism? At TechCrunch Disrupt, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas was asked how the company defined “plagiarism.” Srinivas wouldn’t say directly, but he was adamant that Perplexity “always cites its sources” and doesn’t claim ownership of any content. Read more
OpenAI could be building its first AI chip: OpenAI is working with TSMC and Broadcom to build an in-house AI chip for running AI models, which could arrive as soon as 2026, Reuters reports. Read more
Turn your design into a reality: Arcade AI is a new type of marketplace that allows customers to input their ideas into a generator that then produces a variety of design options to be brought to life as tangible pieces of jewelry. Read more
From Disney Channel to CEO: Former Disney star Bridgit Mendler joined TechCrunch Disrupt to discuss how she founded Northwood Space and why the space startup is committed to solving “unsexy problems.” Read more
AI comes for recruiters: LinkedIn is taking the wraps off its latest AI effort: Hiring Assistant. The product is designed to take on a wide array of recruitment tasks, from ingesting scrappy notes to turn into job descriptions, to sourcing candidates and engaging with them. Read more
Matt Mullenweg makes his case: The WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO said at TechCrunch Disrupt that he’s not worried that the recent legal drama between his company and WP Engine may lead to a fork of the open source WordPress software. In fact, he said he'd welcome it. Read more
Olivia Wilde, VC: Actor and director Olivia Wilde quietly launched venture firm Proximity Ventures late last year, according to Bloomberg. The firm has already inked four investments, including biotech company Pendulum Therapeutics. Read more
Slice makes its mark in India: Fintech Slice merged with North East Small Finance Bank, marking a rare instance of a startup successfully entering India’s tightly regulated banking sector. The merger transforms Slice into a banking entity following months of regulatory scrutiny. Read more
An easier way to code: Announced at GitHub’s annual conference in San Francisco, Spark is an experiment launching out of its GitHub Next labs that allows you to quickly build a small web app using nothing but natural language. Read more
Turn text into a podcast: Meta released an “open” implementation of the viral generate-a-podcast feature in Google’s NotebookLM. Called NotebookLlama, the project can generate back-and-forth, podcast-style digests of text files uploaded to it. Read more
Zoox calls Tesla’s bluff: Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson is doubtful that Tesla will launch a robotaxi ride-hailing service next year. The “fundamental issue is they don’t have technology that works,” he said at TechCrunch Disrupt. Read more
And the winner is … : The winner of the Startup Battlefield 200 competition at TechCrunch Disrupt is Salva Health. The company’s Julieta device is a portable, AI-powered breast cancer detection device that eliminates barriers to early screening, ensuring access even in remote areas. Read more
