Los Angeles-based electric truck startup Harbinger has raised $160 million in a Series C funding round, co-led by FedEx, to scale up production of its commercial vehicle program. FedEx has ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electric truck chassis, expected to be ready by the end of this year.

Founded in 2022 by former employees of Canoo and QuantumScape, Harbinger focuses on building medium-duty, commercial truck chassis. This focus helped the company raise a $100 million Series B in January and start production this year. FedEx is Harbinger’s most recognizable customer, with THOR Industries also co-leading the Series C round.

Harbinger has sold over 200 chassis this year and recently expanded into the Canadian market. The company aims to lead the mass adoption of electric trucks in the medium-duty sector, addressing the demand for innovation and sustainable business practices.

Microsoft is adopting OpenAI's custom chip designs to enhance its own semiconductor development, following a partnership agreement that grants Microsoft intellectual property rights to OpenAI's chip designs.

CEO Satya Nadella explained that Microsoft plans to extend OpenAI's innovations for its own purposes, with access to OpenAI's system-level advancements.

The collaboration allows Microsoft to leverage OpenAI's expertise in AI chip development, a field proving difficult and expensive, while securing access to AI models through 2032, excluding OpenAI's consumer hardware endeavors.

Cash App has introduced several new features as part of its fall update:

• An AI chatbot, Moneybot, that provides financial insights and answers questions about spending patterns, income, and savings.
• A new benefits program, Cash App Green, offering rewards like higher borrowing limits, free overdraft coverage, and APY on savings balances to users who spend $500+ monthly or receive deposits of at least $300.
• The ability to discover places that accept Bitcoin and make Bitcoin payments using USD, facilitated by the Lightning Network.

Moneybot aims to turn financial data into actionable insights for users. Cash App Green will make up to 8 million accounts eligible for benefits. The update also includes expansion of Cash App Borrow and access to Afterpay services within the app.

Mirova, a climate-focused investment firm, has invested $30.5 million in Indian climate tech startup Varaha to expand its regenerative farming program, benefiting smallholder farmers in northern India. This investment, Mirova's first carbon investment in India, involves cash in exchange for a share of carbon credits generated over time. Varaha, founded in 2022, focuses on regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and biochar projects, utilizing a network of local partners and real-time monitoring software. The investment will support Varaha’s Kheti project, which encourages low-emission practices among farmers in Haryana and Punjab. Varaha also promotes direct seeding of rice and incorporating crop residue into the soil, reducing the need for burning stubble. The credits generated will be verified using Verra’s VM0042 methodology, with proceeds directed to farmers. Additionally, Varaha has partnered with Google for a biochar carbon removal deal and has raised $12.7 million in venture funding.

diVine, a new app backed by Jack Dorsey, is launching to revive the spirit of Vine's six-second looping videos. The app provides access to over 100,000 archived Vine videos restored from a backup created before Vine's shutdown.

Users can create profiles and upload their own Vine videos, with suspected generative AI content flagged. The project is financed by Dorsey's nonprofit, "and Other Stuff," focused on funding open-source social media tools.

Evan Henshaw-Plath reconstructed the Vine content from large binary files saved by the Archive Team after Twitter shut down Vine in 2016. The app contains a good percentage of the most popular videos from about 60,000 creators.

Vine creators retain copyright and can request DMCA takedowns or verify their accounts to post new videos or upload missing content. DiVine uses technology from the Guardian Project to verify that new video uploads are human-made.

Built on the Nostr decentralized protocol, diVine allows developers to create their own apps and run their own hosts and media servers. DiVine is available on iOS and Android.

A German court has ruled that OpenAI's ChatGPT violated copyright laws by training on licensed musical works without permission.

The lawsuit was filed by GEMA, a German music rights collective, and OpenAI has been ordered to pay undisclosed damages.

GEMA hailed the ruling as a landmark victory for copyright protection, while OpenAI expressed disagreement and is considering its next steps. This case highlights the growing legal challenges surrounding AI and copyright.

A German court has ruled that OpenAI's ChatGPT infringed on copyright laws by training its language models on licensed musical works without permission.

The lawsuit was filed by GEMA, the German music rights society, leading to an order for OpenAI to pay undisclosed damages.

GEMA hailed the ruling as a landmark decision for AI copyright in Europe, emphasizing the protection of authors' rights. OpenAI expressed disagreement and is considering its options.

This ruling adds to the growing legal challenges OpenAI faces from creatives and media groups over similar copyright concerns.