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Bloomberg: Analysis: tech companies have pledged at least $1.4T in US spending since Trump was elected, although many of the plans aren't new and not all will be fulfilled  —  Business leaders have pledged at least $1.6 trillion in US spending since Trump was elected to a second term as president.

Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE: Crunchbase: global VC funding reached $113B in Q1 2025, up 54% YoY, buoyed by OpenAI's $40B deal; PitchBook says 77% of US deal value in Q1 2025 went to AI  —  New reports out today from Crunchbase Inc. and PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor reveal that global venture capital rebounded sharply …

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signs a law criminalizing the “deceptive and dangerous” creation and sharing of deepfakes, including fake AI nudes of minors  —  When Francesca Mani was 14 years old, boys at her New Jersey high school used nudify apps to target her and other girls.

Google Online Security Blog: Google announces Sec-Gemini v1, an experimental AI model for cybersecurity, claiming it outperforms others on the leading CTI-MCQ threat intelligence benchmark  —  Today, we're announcing Sec-Gemini v1, a new experimental AI model focused on advancing cybersecurity AI frontiers.

FinSMEs: Utah-based SchoolAI, an AI-powered teaching and learning platform used in 1M+ classrooms across 80+ countries, raised a $25M Series A led by Insight Partners  —  SchoolAI, a Lehi, UT-based provider of an AI platform for teaching and learning, raised $25M in Series A funding.

Anna Tong / Reuters: A US federal judge decides Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will go to a jury trial in spring 2026; Musk and OpenAI agreed to fast-track the trial last month  —  - Billionaire Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will go to a jury trial in spring 2026, the federal judge presiding over the case decided on Friday.

TechCrunch: SensorTower: users in India have spent $8M on ChatGPT subscriptions through IAP since 2023, not including web app purchases, versus ~$330M spent by US users  —  For years, U.S.-based tech companies have tapped into India's vast and increasing internet user base for growth.  OpenAI is no exception.

Sri Muppidi / The Information: Sources: enterprise AI search startup Glean is in talks to raise hundreds of millions, including money to buy employee shares, at an estimated ~$7B valuation  —  Glean, a developer of search chatbots for businesses, is in talks with investors to potentially raise hundreds of millions of dollars …

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch: Turbine, which allows LPs to borrow funds secured by their position in venture funds, emerges from stealth with a $13M Series A and an $8.75M seed  —  Since IPOs slowed to trickle a few years ago, limited partners who invest in venture capital funds have had one giant problem: a dearth of liquidity.

Taylor Soper / GeekWire: Ring founder Jamie Siminoff rejoins Amazon as a VP of product overseeing Ring and related businesses, replacing Elizabeth Hamren, who succeeded him in 2023  —  Jamie Siminoff has returned to Amazon as a vice president of product overseeing the company's home security camera arm and related businesses.

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: Amazon introduces a Kindle Recaps feature that uses GenAI and moderators to create short summaries of books in a series  —  Amazon is introducing a new “Recaps” feature for Kindle users to help them recall plot points and character arcs before picking up the latest book in a series.

Fareed Sahloul / Bloomberg: Sources: StubHub, Klarna, eToro, and adtech group MNTN have paused their IPO plans as President Trump's trade war upends the global economy  —  Billions of dollars worth of acquisitions and initial public offerings are on hold as Donald Trump's trade war upends the global economy …

Fortune: Analysts say Microsoft, whose shares fell the least among top tech companies, is shielded from the worst tariff impacts due to Azure and a broad enterprise base  —  As Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary Friday with a Seattle event spotlighting its latest AI developments …

Reuters: Sources: a TikTok deal, which was largely finalized by April 2, was put on hold after China indicated it would reject the deal over Trump's tariffs  —  A deal to spin off the U.S. assets of TikTok was put on hold after China indicated that it would not approve the deal following President …

Todd Spangler / Variety: The Nasdaq fell 5.8% on the second day following Trump's tariffs announcement, with Nvidia closing down 7.4%, Apple 7.3%, Netflix 6.7%, Meta 5%, and Amazon 4.2%  —  Amid steep losses, U.S. president says ‘my policies will never change’  —  Stocks dropped sharply for a second day …

Hideki Suzuki / Bloomberg: Sources: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is in talks with Fujitsu to help the bank's biggest customers make key decisions using AI-inferred demand predictions  —  Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is tapping Fujitsu Ltd.'s artificial intelligence models to bolster its advisory services …

Financial Times: Samsung has turned to Chinese customers like Baidu to prop up its ailing chip business; SemiAnalysis says Samsung is the “biggest supplier of HBM into China”  —  Deals with Chinese tech giant Baidu come as South Korean giant loses ground in US and navigates Washington's curbs

The Information: Sources: Google is in advanced talks to rent Nvidia Blackwell AI chips from CoreWeave, highlighting how major Nvidia customers are struggling to get chips  —  Google is in advanced talks to rent state-of-the-art Nvidia Blackwell chips for running artificial intelligence from CoreWeave …

Bloomberg: US announces a 34% “reciprocal” tariff hike on China, going into effect from April 9; economists: average US tariffs on Chinese products may get as high as 65%  —  The US has hit China with the biggest-ever tariff hike on almost all Chinese products, bringing total levies to at least 54% …

Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo: Key parts of the US Social Security site have crashed in the past week, as phone support is reduced; report: SSA's site was down four times in 10 days in March  —  Elon Musk's organization has been monkeying with America's retirement system, with no positive results so far.

Spencer Soper / Bloomberg: The White House says “de minimis” exemptions for packages under $800 from China and Hong Kong will end on May 2, affecting Temu, Shein, and other marketplaces  —  De minimis tariff exemptions, which currently allow packages worth as much as $800 from China and Hong Kong to enter the US duty free …

Tripp Mickle / New York Times: Apple shares drop 7%+ after hours after President Trump announced new tariffs, including 46% on Vietnam and 26% on India, where Apple has been moving production  —  The iPhone maker spent years trying to move production of some products out of China to avoid tariffs.  But now that may not matter.

Kif Leswing / CNBC: Tech stocks fall in late trading after President Trump announced new tariffs: Amazon drops as much as ~6%, Meta ~5%, Nvidia ~6%, Alphabet ~3%, and Microsoft ~3%  —  Apple slid more than 6% in late trading Wednesday and led a broader decline in tech stocks after President Donald Trump announced …

Bloomberg: Source: Scale AI generated ~$870M in 2024 revenue, with its annualized run rate reaching $1.5B by the end of 2024, and expects to generate $2B in 2025 revenue  —  Startup generated revenue of about $870 million last year.  —  Scale AI, a startup that helps companies develop artificial …