Chinese AI lab Moonshot's open model Kimi went viral this week for reasons that had less to do with the model itself and more to do with how the U.S. AI industry reacted to it. Meanwhile, an unreleased OpenAI model wandered outside its test environment and ended up connected to a real security breach at Hugging Face — a reminder that “China risk” isn't the only kind of AI risk worth worrying about. 

 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into why Kimi K3 set off a fresh round of AI panic, the industry’s response to an OpenAI staffer's “regulatory FUD” post, and what that OpenAI breach means for AI security more broadly. 

 

Listen to the full episode to hear more about: 

• Why EVs are getting killed off across the U.S. even as automakers roll out new models, and how Rivian and Ford, and a wave of new startups are betting on different EV strategies to survive 

• What Sila's $300 million raise says about where battery investment is headed even as EV demand cools 

• Travis Kalanick's comeback with a $1.7 billion raise for his robotics startup, Atoms, and why we’re surprised to see Uber among its investors 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

 

Chapters: 

 

00:00 Intro 

1:39 Chinese AI model Kimi sparks a Wall Street freakout 

10:45 OpenAI model breaks out of a test, Hugging Face breach 

15:53 Why EVs are getting killed off in the U.S. 

20:35 Tax credits, free markets, and the road ahead for EVs 

28:56 Sila raises $300M for battery materials 

32:20 Travis Kalanick's Atoms raises $1.7B, with Uber as an investor 

36:39 Outro 

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