AI's tween years, who's taking over climate tech, and the latest for Fearless Fund

What could be more frightening than Friday the 13th? How about a realization that AI is in its awkward tween stage? At least, it was for the TC Equity pod crew, which this week included hosts Devin Coldewey and Kirsten Korosec along with TC reporters Tim de Chant and Dominic Madori Davis.

AI is often a topic over here at Equity Pod; and this week was no different. It seems to be everywhere — and nowhere — all at once. Take Apple, for instance. As Coldewey noted on the show Apple has punted on AI. The tech giant is touting its AI capabilities, but for now, it’s all promise for the future and not quite a fully mature product. (get the tween reference yet?)

As Kirsten and Devin discussed, it’s not all bad in AI land. Take the startup Someone Somewhere, a Mexico City-based startup that applies handcrafts on clothing and accessories and works with rural artisans in seven of Mexico’s poorest states to create “quality, on-trend products.”  The startup used AI — specifically, Stable Diffusion’s text to images model — to show companies how some of their most iconic items might look if they were made with artisans from different regions. Let’s just say, the company got a lot of attention for the effort. 

See AI can be used for good? 

There were plenty of other non-AI deals and discussions to be had on Equity, including an eye-popping pivot from the venture-based autonomous vehicle delivery startup Nuro as well as Oura’s recent acquisition of metabolic health startup Veri. 

For the second half of the show, De Chant joined to provide his insight and expertise on an interesting trend around climate tech startups — hint it’s about hardware. Davis helped close out Equity with an important update on Fearless Fund and discussion of what the trickle down effect might be following a legal settlement and the shutdown of its contested Strivers Grant Program. 

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.