Welcome back to Week in Review. This week we’re looking at DeepSeek’s major boost in the U.S.; Elon Musk admitting he was wrong about FSD; teens losing trust in Big Tech; and more! Let’s do it.
DeepSeek went viral this week after its AI models led Wall Street analysts and technologists to question whether the U.S. can maintain its lead in the AI race — and whether the demand for AI chips will sustain. DeepSeek even claims that its R1 “reasoning” model performs as well as OpenAI’s o1 model on key benchmarks. There’s a lot of moving parts surrounding DeepSeek, so we’ve put together everything you need to know right here.
Perplexity has been sued in federal court for allegedly violating another company’s trademark. Attorneys representing a company called Perplexity Solved Solutions accuse Perplexity of infringing on its trademark rights by using the brand “Perplexity.” The Texas company alleges that AI startup Perplexity began infringing on its trademark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered search engine.
Google is issuing a “voluntary exit program” for Android, Chrome, and Pixel employees this week, according to an internal memo sent by Google SVP Rick Osterloh. The voluntary severance program arrives less than a year after Google merged the separate teams into a single “Platform and Devices” division, overseen by Osterloh.
This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review, where we recap the week’s biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.
News
Waymo goes Hollywood: Waymo’s driverless robotaxis are heading to the Los Angeles freeway system. The company will begin testing on Interstates 10, 110, 405, and 90 without a human safety operator behind the wheel. Read more
Facebook returns to the past: Mark Zuckerberg teased a “return to OG Facebook” as part of his key goals for 2025 in Meta’s Q4 earnings call. While the company didn’t say what changes were in store, it’s clear that Meta needs younger Facebook users in order to sustain itself for the next generation. Read more
A non-Amazon way to buy e-books: Bookshop.org now has its own e-book platform — making it easier for readers to avoid padding Jeff Bezos’ pockets. The new capabilities allow readers to buy e-books and support their favorite independent bookstore (shoutout to my new local bookstore, Restoried). Read more
Perplexity submits another bid for TikTok: Perplexity AI submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok in a deal that would give the U.S. government up to 50% ownership of the new entity. Perplexity previously proposed creating a new company by combining it with TikTok U.S. and equity investors. Read more
Elon Musk admits he was wrong: After years of promising that Tesla vehicles had the hardware needed to support a self-driving car, Elon Musk admitted that many do not. Musk revealed that some Tesla cars will need an upgrade before they can support the unsupervised self-driving software the automaker is still developing. Read more
Meta AI wants to get personal: Meta is rolling out improvements to Meta AI, its cross-platform chatbot. The bot can now use your Instagram and Facebook data to “remember” details from conversations — like if you love to travel or you’re vegan — to better tailor future responses to you. Read more
Axing Cruise could save GM $1 billion a year: General Motors expects to save up to $1 billion annually by ending its Cruise robotaxi development program, CEO and chair Mary Barra said during the company’s earnings call. The automaker said in December that it would no longer fund its self-driving subsidiary. Read more
Google Maps renames the Gulf of Mexico: Google will rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Denali mountain in Google Maps to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that changed the names of several American landmarks. Read more
How to turn off Apple Intelligence: iOS 18.3 automatically opts users into Apple Intelligence, at least for newer devices. But not everyone wants generative AI features enabled by default on their devices, so here’s an easy way to switch it off. Read more
Analysis
Teens don’t trust Big Tech: American teens have lost their faith in Big Tech, according to a new report from Common Sense Media. The organization surveyed over 1,000 teens on whether companies like Google, Apple, Meta, TikTok, and Microsoft cared about their well-being and safety, made ethical decisions, protected their private data, and more. In all cases, a majority of teens reported low levels of trust in these tech companies — and nearly half of teens said they had little or no trust that the companies would make responsible decisions about how they use AI. Read more
