TechCrunch·14wAI layoffs or ‘AI-washing’?
Companies cited AI as the reason for over 50,000 layoffs in 2025, but a Forrester report suggests many are engaging in 'AI-washing' - blaming AI for cuts actually driven by financial pressures or pandemic over-hiring. Research indicates most companies announcing AI-related layoffs lack mature AI applications ready to replace those roles, using AI as an investor-friendly excuse rather than admitting business struggles.
TechCrunch·12wSpotify says its best developers haven’t written a line of code since December, thanks to AI
Spotify's co-CEO revealed that their top developers haven't manually written code since December, relying instead on AI tools. The company uses an internal system called "Honk" with Claude Code that enables engineers to deploy bug fixes and new features remotely via Slack—even during their commute. This AI-driven approach helped Spotify ship over 50 features in 2025 and accelerate product development significantly. The company also emphasized building unique music-related datasets that can't be commoditized by other LLMs.
TechCrunch·10wIndia disrupts access to popular developer platform Supabase with blocking order
India's government issued a blocking order on February 24 under Section 69A of the IT Act, disrupting access to Supabase — a popular open-source Firebase alternative — across major ISPs including JioFiber, Airtel, and ACT Fibernet. No reason was publicly given for the block. India is Supabase's fourth-largest market, accounting for ~9% of global traffic, with visits up 179% year-over-year. Developers in India reported inability to access the platform for both development and production use. Supabase suggested DNS changes or VPNs as workarounds but acknowledged these aren't practical for end users. The incident echoes India's 2014 temporary block of GitHub and raises broader concerns about the country's opaque website-blocking regime and its impact on the developer ecosystem.