EP-284 Openai Teams Up with Jony Ive 💡, Spotify’s Legal Victory 🎶, Luminar’s $200m Boost 🚗

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for thursday, may 22nd! explore today's pressing tech updates:

• openai acquires io: openai announces acquisition of device startup io in a groundbreaking $6.5 billion all-equity deal, with jony ive and lovefrom spearheading creative projects and aiming to revolutionize ai-powered computers.
• spotify’s court victory: spotify sees user growth as ios users convert to premium subscriptions, following a court ruling allowing external payments, amidst apple’s ongoing legal battle with epic games.
• luminar's $200 million funding: lidar tech company luminar secures up to $200 million through stock sales, focused on stability and growth under new ceo paul ricci in the competitive autonomous vehicle sector.
• lm arena's $100 million seed funding: lm arena, an ai benchmarking leader, raises $100 million led by andreessen horowitz, amid denied allegations of leaderboard manipulation, valuing the company at $600 million.
• u.s.-china ai chip tensions: china’s commerce ministry challenges u.s. export restrictions on huawei's ai chips, highlighting ongoing semiconductor trade disputes between the nations.

stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!