Welcome to Startups Weekly: Apple’s Leap into the Blended World

Fizzling VR, Shifting Focus to AR

It seems like the fizzle has gone out of the VR conversation altogether, as every manufacturer and conversation is refocusing its attention on AR. That wasn’t particularly new, but Apple’s flagship headset is a huge leap away from virtual reality, embracing the blended world more fully.

Apple didn’t actually add much to the conversation so far — the headset hasn’t started shipping yet, after all — but you’d be a particularly spicy mixed blend of not-in-touch-with-reality spices to bet against the Cupertino giant these days. This represents a profound opportunity for startups.

Will we find the humanity in AI?

There’s an old joke: Bob says to his friend, peering into the infinite abyss of space: “Do you think there’s any intelligent life out there?” Anna replies: “Why would there be — there’s barely any down here.” Funny, yes, but the punchline keeps rattling around in my mind as the AI train continues to hurtle along the track. See, I don’t think artificial intelligence is inherently evil or good, but it has to be trained on something, and the best we’ve got is a lot of human knowledge. Humans may not be inherently evil, but my goodness, we aren’t particularly kind either.

This week, Devin notes that, in the midst of a writers’ strike, it was insensitive timing at best when Fable Studios showed off an AI-generated, fake episode of “South Park.”

Apple (you know, that giant company based in Cupertino. They make earbuds and stuff) was also in the news for AI for a bit. Relevant to startups, it removed an AI-powered content generator impersonating Meta’s Threads app. Less relevant to startups, but I imagine it’ll make a startup or two twitch nervously, the company is reportedly testing a ChatGPT-like AI chatbot. Maybe Siri will finally grow some smarts — because right now, she’s pretty astonishingly under par in the “smarts” department. I may rant about that a bit more in my column next week.

I’m not a Shein fan, honestly (essentially single-use clothing is so profoundly bad for the environment), but now there’s another reason to have an issue with the clothing manufacturer: Designers are pissed about Shein ripping off their work using AI and are suing the company.

You doodle it, Stability makes it good

You doodle it, Stability makes it good: You may have seen the “draw some circles, now draw the rest of the owl” meme that has been floating around the internet forever. This week, Stability AI took that meme to a whole new level with its Stable Doodle, a sketch-to-image tool.

Bonjour, Bard

Bonjour, Bard: Google’s Bard chatbot finally launches in the EU and supports more than 40 languages. As you might expect, though, the EU is keeping a close eye on it, as privacy advocates are keeping watch.

Fare thee well, Joanne

Fare thee well, Joanne: Roboticist Joanne Pransky died recently and has left a lasting impact on the industry, bringing a uniquely human element to conversations about robotics and automation. A much needed addition to the conversation, if you ask me.

Off the chain . . .

… or maybe the chain fell off. Fashion-forward bike company VanMoof met its demise this week, and we were left wondering how the popular e-bike pioneer could be pedaling toward bankruptcy last week, even as the market boomed. The company steered off the cliff this week with an official declaration of bankruptcy in The Netherlands.

Big trends in startup land

Startup layoffs have been in our headlines most of the year. Our Equity podcast mused that the tech startups might just be in the pruning phase at the moment.

Fundraising has gone up and down a bit over the past year, but one thing that has been the overarching theme is whether startups are able to get into profitability — or have a clear path to getting there, at least. That led Alex to analyze on TC+ whether software startups are actually good businesses.

Speaking of good businesses — it’s pretty universally understood that “Shark Tank” is entertainment and that there’s a round of due diligence that happens after the cameras stop rolling. But Manish reports that “Shark Tank India” investors fall short on pledges, which is grumpificating (yes, that’s definitely a word) some participants of the show.

TechCrunch+ spoke to a founder who decided to replace himself as CEO. It was a wonderfully frank and vulnerable conversation. You should read it. Although I’m biased — I wrote the piece — it’s a story that’s rarely told about startups, and yet it’s remarkably common.

Farewell VR, welcome AR, and can AI become more human, please?