OpenAI rolls out search

Top News

• OpenAI launches search: TWiST500 member company OpenAI has taken its nascent search product out of early access, making it available to paid subscribers with free access coming in a few weeks. Notably, OpenAI stressed that it “collaborated extensively with the news industry and carefully listened to feedback from our global publisher partners” in building the service. In TWiST’s early testing, results felt strong. Give it a try, it’s worth a spin.

• Skydio faces Chinese ban: In a public letter, drone startup Skydio told its customers that after selling its hardware to the National Fire Agency of Taiwan, China sanctioned its operations. That means the company will face a battery shortage for some months, leading it to reduce the number of batteries it places in each drone. However, the startup already had its manufacturing based in the United States and was diversifying its supplier network. Still, the company said that its plight is a “clarifying moment for the drone industry,” erasing any doubt that “the Chinese government will use supply chains as a weapon to advance their interests over ours.”

• Anthropic goes desktop: OpenAI is not the only TWiST500 AI model startup making new today. After a widely covered launch of its ‘computer use’ API, Anthropic released Mac and Windows apps for its Claude family of models. Given that Anthropic is working on getting computers to do tasks for users with AI at the helm, the move doesn’t surprise, but it’s still welcome to see even more competitive surface area in AI.

TWiST500

On the TWiST500 docket today we have two items. First, Skydio is going on the list. It fits into our AI and robotics themes neatly, and any company that manages to get an authoritarian regime to block its business is doing something — likely several things — right. Also I was not aware that Skydio’s drone tech was so widely sold that Taiwan government agencies were customers.

The other bit of TWiST500 news today is that Kraken is cutting 15% of its staff. The Times writes that that works out to around 400 out of 2,600 staffers.

Is the company in trouble? Probably not. With “north of $1 billion in net revenue” in its own words, Kraken is IPO-scale. It remains a good TWiST500 member.

But with Coinbase reporting earnings that missed expectations due to more moderate trading revenues, perhaps Kraken also has an eye on cost control. In a public note, the company said that it was shedding staff after it “fell into the trap of building organizational layers,” necessitating a reset. The goal at the company now, its now co-CEOs announced, is to “make sure [its] top contributors are focused on building rather than managing.”

If Kraken can pull that off, hats off to it. It seems that every company over 100 people becomes a minefield of personal fiefdoms and managing up. — Alex

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LAUNCH Cloud Kitchens Incubator

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