Meta's 'open' AI, data centers' hidden costs, and a $250M deal gone very wrong

Meta released Glimmer this week, an open-weight AI model anyone can download and run on their own hardware — a contrast to Muse Spark, the company’s more powerful model that stays locked behind its own APIs. The release landed alongside a letter from Mark Zuckerberg arguing AI should be “for everyone” rather than controlled by a handful of labs, but as Equity’s hosts point out, the vision comes with some asterisks. 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan take a look at Glimmer, Zuckerberg’s 6,500-word manifesto, and more of the week’s headlines, from the true cost of the AI industry’s energy needs to a $250M acquisition gone very wrong. 

Listen to the full episode to hear more about: 

• Who’s on the market for a $300 cocktail robot? 

• Why Anthropic is adding watermarks to its generated text, and users are not happy. 

• The potential cost Amazon’s planned data center in Texas and the startups racing to fix the grid, including Form Energy’s $750M raise for 100-hour batteries, Reservoir’s $8M bet on smarter water heaters, and Discovered Materials’ hunt for cooler chips. 

• Why Joby Aviation’s $500M acquisition of a defense contractor reminds Kirsten of its Blade deal last year — and what the 2028 LA Olympics have to do with it. 

• How a $250M deal between video-clipping startup VideoVerse and sports publisher Minute Media collapsed amidst allegedly forged documents, multiple lawsuits, and a CEO nobody can reach. 

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

00:00 Intro 

1:20 Would you buy a $300 cocktail robot? 

3:08 Meta's Glimmer and the “AI for everyone” pitch 

8:03 Anthropic starts watermarking its writing, and users have thoughts 

14:34 Amazon's data center and its natural gas problem 

16:37 The startups racing to keep the grid from melting down: Form Energy, Reservoir, and Discovered Materials 

23:28 Joby Aviation buys into defense with Resonant Sciences 

28:24 The $250M VideoVerse-Minute Media deal, a missing CEO, and a mess of lawsuits 

32:37 Outro 

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