Welcome to Startups Weekly \u2014 Haje<\/a>\u2018s weekly recap of everything you can\u2019t miss from the world of startups. Sign up <\/span><\/i>here<\/span><\/i><\/a> to get it in your inbox every Friday.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Elon Musk<\/a> just convinced Tesla<\/a> shareholders to approve his $56 billion pay package, making him the highest-paid CEO in history<\/a> \u2014 assuming he can dodge a Delaware judge\u2019s disapproval. And where better to stage this circus than Texas, home of big everything, including egos? Shareholders erupted in applause at Tesla\u2019s Texas gigafactory when the vote results were announced. Meanwhile, Musk juggles more companies than a clown with chainsaws and faces two new lawsuits (being sued just once per week is for wimps). Oh, and forget about any fancy ESG initiatives; those got shot down faster than you can say \u201ccorporate responsibility.\u201d Who needs sustainability when you\u2019ve got Elon dancing onstage with 0.7 Twitter\u2019s worth of cash<\/a> in a suitcase?<\/p>\n It seems Henrik Fisker\u2019s<\/a> knack for designing cars is only matched by his talent for driving companies into bankruptcy. Despite aiming to be the Apple of EVs<\/a> (with Magna playing Foxconn), the much-touted Ocean SUV sank faster than the Titanic with software glitches, recalls, and lemon lawsuits galore. Now filing for Chapter 11 in Delaware, Fisker has gone from dreams of revolutionizing the auto industry to just trying not to get stuck with a $500 million bill. This marks Fisker\u2019s second go of bankrupting an eponymous company<\/a>. Can he make it to three? Stay tuned.<\/p>\n Apple has finally thrown its hat into the AI icon circus, joining the likes of Google and OpenAI in a desperate bid to depict AI with a logo that makes any sense at all. Spoiler alert: They\u2019re as clueless as everyone else<\/a>. Apple\u2019s new visual for \u201cIntelligence\u201d is essentially a psychedelic circle \u2014 wait, no \u2014 a lopsided infinity symbol? Actually, it\u2019s New Siri. Or maybe it\u2019s when your phone edges glow like an alien spaceship landing. The real takeaway here? No one knows what AI should look like, but let\u2019s slap on some friendly pastel colors and call it innovation.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever, the AI brainiac who last month decided OpenAI wasn\u2019t exciting enough anymore<\/a>, has started his own shindig called Safe Superintelligence Inc.<\/a> (SSI) with a couple of other ex-OpenAI pals. After a dramatic exit from OpenAI (presumably over how to avoid Skynet taking over), Sutskever is doubling down on making sure super-smart AI doesn\u2019t become our overlord anytime soon. SSI\u2019s mission? To balance mind-blowing AI advancements with safety measures so we don\u2019t end up starring in our very own \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d episode.<\/p>\n Meet the dynamic duo who seem to have skipped their quarter-life crisis and went straight to swimming in cash. Edward Tian and Alex Cui, founders of GPTZero, are living proof that high school friendships can lead to multimillion-dollar ventures. In just a year and a half, they\u2019ve turned their AI detection startup into a moneymaking machine that\u2019s outpacing your favorite viral app. With $10 million freshly bagged from eager VCs<\/a> who couldn\u2019t wait for an official raise, these guys are on track to create an internet where we can still tell if your essay was written by you or ChatGPT\u2019s stoned-beyond-words cousin named Cheech.<\/p>\n Every week, there\u2019s always a few stories I want to share with you that somehow don\u2019t fit into the categories above. It\u2019d be a shame if you missed \u2019em, so here\u2019s a random grab bag of goodies for ya:<\/p>\nMost interesting startup stories from the week<\/h2>\n
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Trend of the week: All eyes on AI<\/h2>\n
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Most interesting fundraises this week<\/h2>\n
![\"Tender](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Tender_Food_Plant-Based_Shredded_Pork_Skillet.jpg?w=680\")
Other unmissable TechCrunch stories\u00a0\u2026<\/h2>\n
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