Tech
‘Uber for guns’ app Protector lets you hire armed body guards like you would an Uber — but does anyone need this?
In a TikTok video with over 3 million views, a woman in a fluffy, maximalist coat sits in the back seat of a luxury SUV, parked in the middle of a New York City street. Atop the 6-second video, a line of text reads, “our bodyguards got us matcha.” The camera zooms in on two intimidating men in full suits with red ties, each carrying an iced matcha latte as they walk back to the car.
In a similar video, a young woman films a sleek Chevrolet Suburban as it pulls up in front of her house. A man in a suit opens the door for her before she’s whisked away, surrounded in the car by other stoic, professionally dressed men. They wheel her carry-on-sized luggage as she enters the airport, safely escorting her to her flight as she brags in the on-video text: “pov you ordered security to take you to the airport.”
These posts were timed strategically with the launch of a new app called Protector, which debuted last week in Los Angeles and New York City, allowing ordinary people to order a Secret Service-like security detail. But the videos weren’t organic.
“We posted 14 pieces of content for [Protector] which resulted in 15 million views and over 30,000 downloads,” the women from the matcha video, Fuzz and Fuzz, wrote in a TikTok, disclosing that they were hired to make these videos.
The other creator, Camille Hovsepian, was not organically promoting the app, either, a Protector spokesperson told TechCrunch. The creator’s boyfriend, serial entrepreneur and growth hacker Nikita Bier, is an advisor to Protector.
In Bier’s playbook, which earned his own apps acquisitions by Discord and Facebook, rage bait is part of the fun.
“Once you make 8 figures, you shouldn’t waste the rest of your life trying to get incrementally higher—like doing a b2b saas startup,” Bier wrote in a recent post on X. “Instead, you should be thinking of ways to piss off millions of people on the internet each day by launching controversial app concepts, for pure love of the game.”
Though Bier’s growth strategy is artificial, it has proven successful in generating buzz. He recently advised an AI-powered health app to change its name from Most Days to Death Clock, then told the app to add a survey that predicts exactly how and when users will die. Sure enough, the app shot to No. 6 on the health charts in the iOS app store and got a shout out on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Me telling you to rename your app: $24,000/mo,” Bier wrote on X. “Your app in a joke on Colbert: Priceless.”
But for Protector, which Bier describes as “Uber with guns,” the idea is more tenuous than adding a gimmicky AI feature to a health app.
Protector’s guards are active duty or recently retired law enforcement, who each has government-issued permits to carry firearms and work as guards. Hiring a security detail on Protector will cost users at least $1,000 for a minimum of five hours, plus a $129 annual membership fee.
According to estimates from Appfigures, an app intelligence firm, Protector has been downloaded by U.S.-based iOS users about 97,000 times in the first week after its February 17 launch. About a third of those downloads came on launch day, as it climbed to No. 3 on the App Store’s Travel charts. This initial curiosity around the app has slowed down though; as of February 27, it sits at No. 70 on the Travel chart.
Though people are downloading the app — perhaps out of sheer curiosity — these installs don’t guarantee that people will actually pay to use it.
Protector’s target customer is unclear, since it’s difficult to imagine what kind of person would be on board with paying over $1,000 for such an ostentatious, unnecessary service. Perhaps as another tactic to boost engagement, Protector has made appeals to a highly specific audience: business executives who are concerned about their safety after the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (who would likely have access to corporate security anyway).
“If a Protector was present [when Thompson was killed], crisis could have been averted,” the company claims in a video on X. The security guard in the video then runs through three possible scenarios where he claims he could have deterred the assailant from committing murder.
With such a minimal potential customer base, it’s not clear how Protector will be able to sustain itself.
But for now, the app has backing from angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan. The former a16z general partner is known for losing a public bet that the Bitcoin price would reach $1 million, and he has a special interest in backing “startup societies” and “network states” like Prospéra, Honduras. Last year, he furthered this goal by renting an island near Singapore to host a 90-day “Network School,” which he described as “a technocapitalist college town” for “everyone who doesn’t feel part of the establishment” and believes that “Bitcoin succeeds the Federal Reserve.”
While “Uber with guns” is less extreme than adopting islands to be part of a larger, Bitcoin-based revolution, apps like “Protector” could have a more direct effect on average people.
Protector isn’t the first company to pursue this concept. BlackWolf, an app that also offers armed rideshare drivers, operates in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas; Appfigures estimates that BlackWolf has been downloaded about 256,000 times since launch in 2023.
Like Protector, BlackWolf has leaned on extravagant social media marketing and fear mongering, capitalizing on news of driverless Waymo cars being vandalized. BlackWolf founder Kerry KingBrown urges viewers to use his service instead of taking a Waymo, as though other, more reasonable alternatives like Uber and Lyft do not exist.
These tactics recall Citizen, the community-sourced crime reporting app that offers a $20 per month service where users can connect with a security agent in an emergency.
If these new apps can learn anything from Citizen, it’s that the incentives of public safety and startup growth don’t mix. This was especially clear in an egregious incident when Citizen founder and CEO Andrew Frame promoted the app’s livestream feature by broadcasting a seven-hour manhunt for a suspected arsonist, offering $30,000 for information leading to the man’s arrest. But after blasting notifications to all Los Angeles users to join the pursuit, it turned out that they had the wrong guy — the Los Angeles police arrested an innocent suspect.
Though Citizen is still operating — and Frame remains CEO — its mistakes loom large as Protector prepares its next announcement. Protector isn’t just working on “Uber for guns.” It plans to launch an app called “Patrol,” where users can crowdfund security guards to surveil their neighborhoods. The more money users donate, the higher the level of security they can unlock, including robots and drones to monitor the area.
It’s a controversial business move in a time when Americans’ trust in law enforcement has wavered in the wake of high-profile police killings.
“We’re not mall cops,” a security guard said in a promotional video for Patrol. “We’re real cops.”
Tech
Volkswagen’s cheapest EV ever is the first to use Rivian software
Volkswagen’s ultra-cheap EV called the ID EVERY1 — a small four-door hatchback revealed Wednesday — will be the first to roll out with software and architecture from Rivian, according to a source familiar with the new model.
The EV is expected to go into production in 2027 with a starting price of 20,000 euros ($21,500). A second EV called the ID.2all, which will be priced in the 25,000 euro price category, will be available in 2026. Both vehicles are part of the automaker’s new of category electric urban front-wheel drive cars that are being developing under the so-called “Brand Group Core” that makes up the volume brands in the VW Group. And both vehicles are for the European market.
The EVERY1 will be the first to ship with Rivian’s vehicle architecture and software as part of a $5.8 billion joint venture struck last year between the German automaker and U.S. EV maker. The ID.2all is based on the E3 1.1 architecture and software developed by VW’s software unit Cariad.
VW didn’t name Rivian in its reveal Wednesday, although there were numerous nods to next-generation software. Kai Grünitz, member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management responsible for Technical Development, noted it would be the first model in the entire VW Group to use a “fundamentally new, particularly powerful software architecture.”
“This means the future entry-level Volkswagen can be equipped with new functions throughout its entire life cycle,” he said. “Even after purchase of a new car, the small Volkswagen can still be individually adapted to customer needs.”
Sources who didn’t want to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed to TechCrunch that Rivian’s software will be in the ID EVERY1 EV. TechCrunch has reached out to Rivian and VW and will update the article if the companies respond.
The new joint venture provides Rivian with a needed influx of cash and the opportunity to diversify its business. Meanwhile, VW Group gains a next-generation electrical architecture and software for EVs that will help it better compete. Both companies have said that the joint venture, called Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies, will reduce development costs and help scale new technologies more quickly.
The joint venture is a 50-50 partnership with co-CEOs. Rivian’s head of software, Wassym Bensaid, and Volkswagen Group’s chief technical engineer, Carsten Helbing, will lead the joint venture. The team will be based initially in Palo Alto, California. Three other sites are in development in North America and Europe, the companies have previously said.
“The ID. EVERY1 represents the last piece of the puzzle on our way to the widest model selection in the volume segment,” Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand and Head of the Brand Group Core, said in a statement. “We will then offer every customer the right car with the right drive system–including affordable all-electric entry-level mobility. Our goal is to be the world’s technologically leading high-volume manufacturer by 2030. And as a brand for everyone–just as you would expect from Volkswagen.”
The Volkswagen ID EVERY1 is just a concept for now — and with only a few details attached to the unveiling. The concept vehicle reaches a top speed of 130 km/h (80 miles per hour) and is powered by a newly developed electric drive motor with 70 kW, according to Volkswagen. The German automaker said the range on the EVERY1 will be at least 250 kilometers (150 miles). The vehicle is small but larger than VW’s former UP! vehicle. The company said it will have enough space for four people and a luggage compartment volume of 305 liters.
Tech
The hottest AI models, what they do, and how to use them
AI models are being cranked out at a dizzying pace, by everyone from Big Tech companies like Google to startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. Keeping track of the latest ones can be overwhelming.
Adding to the confusion is that AI models are often promoted based on industry benchmarks. But these technical metrics often reveal little about how real people and companies actually use them.
To cut through the noise, TechCrunch has compiled an overview of the most advanced AI models released since 2024, with details on how to use them and what they’re best for. We’ll keep this list updated with the latest launches, too.
There are literally over a million AI models out there: Hugging Face, for example, hosts over 1.4 million. So this list might miss some models that perform better, in one way or another.
AI models released in 2025
Cohere’s Aya Vision
Cohere released a multimodal model called Aya Vision that it claims is best in class at doing things like captioning images and answering questions about photos. It also excels in languages other than English, unlike other models, Cohere claims. It is available for free on WhatsApp.
OpenAI’s GPT 4.5 ‘Orion’
OpenAI calls Orion their largest model to date, touting its strong “world knowledge” and “emotional intelligence.” However, it underperforms on certain benchmarks compared to newer reasoning models. Orion is available to subscribers of OpenAI’s $200 a month plan.
Claude Sonnet 3.7
Anthropic says this is the industry’s first ‘hybrid’ reasoning model, because it can both fire off quick answers and really think things through when needed. It also gives users control over how long the model can think for, per Anthropic. Sonnet 3.7 is available to all Claude users, but heavier users will need a $20 a month Pro plan.
xAI’s Grok 3
Grok 3 is the latest flagship model from Elon Musk-founded startup xAI. It’s claimed to outperform other leading models on math, science, and coding. The model requires X Premium (which is $50 a month.) After one study found Grok 2 leaned left, Musk pledged to shift Grok more “politically neutral” but it’s not yet clear if that’s been achieved.
OpenAI o3-mini
This is OpenAI’s latest reasoning model and is optimized for STEM-related tasks like coding, math, and science. It’s not OpenAI’s most powerful model but because it’s smaller, the company says it’s significantly lower cost. It is available for free but requires a subscription for heavy users.
OpenAI Deep Research
OpenAI’s Deep Research is designed for doing in-depth research on a topic with clear citations. This service is only available with ChatGPT’s $200 per month Pro subscription. OpenAI recommends it for everything from science to shopping research, but beware that hallucinations remain a problem for AI.
Mistral Le Chat
Mistral has launched app versions of Le Chat, a multimodal AI personal assistant. Mistral claims Le Chat responds faster than any other chatbot. It also has a paid version with up-to-date journalism from the AFP. Tests from Le Monde found Le Chat’s performance impressive, although it made more errors than ChatGPT.
OpenAI Operator
OpenAI’s Operator is meant to be a personal intern that can do things independently, like help you buy groceries. It requires a $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription. AI agents hold a lot of promise, but they’re still experimental: a Washington Post reviewer says Operator decided on its own to order a dozen eggs for $31, paid with the reviewer’s credit card.
Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental
Google Gemini’s much-awaited flagship model says it excels at coding and understanding general knowledge. It also has a super-long context window of 2 million tokens, helping users who need to quickly process massive chunks of text. The service requires (at minimum) a Google One AI Premium subscription of $19.99 a month.
AI models released in 2024
DeepSeek R1
This Chinese AI model took Silicon Valley by storm. DeepSeek’s R1 performs well on coding and math, while its open source nature means anyone can run it locally. Plus, it’s free. However, R1 integrates Chinese government censorship and faces rising bans for potentially sending user data back to China.
Gemini Deep Research
Deep Research summarizes Google’s search results in a simple and well-cited document. The service is helpful for students and anyone else who needs a quick research summary. However, its quality isn’t nearly as good as an actual peer-reviewed paper. Deep Research requires a $19.99 Google One AI Premium subscription.
Meta Llama 3.3 70B
This is the newest and most advanced version of Meta’s open source Llama AI models. Meta has touted this version as its cheapest and most efficient yet, especially for math, general knowledge, and instruction following. It is free and open source.
OpenAI Sora
Sora is a model that creates realistic videos based on text. While it can generate entire scenes rather than just clips, OpenAI admits that it often generates “unrealistic physics.” It’s currently only available on paid versions of ChatGPT, starting with Plus, which is $20 a month.
Alibaba Qwen QwQ-32B-Preview
This model is one of the few to rival OpenAI’s o1 on certain industry benchmarks, excelling in math and coding. Ironically for a “reasoning model,” it has “room for improvement in common sense reasoning,” Alibaba says. It also incorporates Chinese government censorship, TechCrunch testing shows. It’s free and open source.
Anthropic’s Computer Use
Claude’s Computer Use is meant to take control of your computer to complete tasks like coding or booking a plane ticket, making it a predecessor of OpenAI’s Operator. Computer use, however, remains in beta. Pricing is via API: $0.80 per million tokens of input and $4 per million tokens of output.
x.AI’s Grok 2
Elon Musk’s AI company, x.AI, has launched an enhanced version of its flagship Grok 2 chatbot it claims is “three times faster.” Free users are limited to 10 questions every two hours on Grok, while subscribers to X’s Premium and Premium+ plans enjoy higher usage limits. x.AI also launched an image generator, Aurora, that produces highly photorealistic images, including some graphic or violent content.
OpenAI o1
OpenAI’s o1 family is meant to produce better answers by “thinking” through responses through a hidden reasoning feature. The model excels at coding, math, and safety, OpenAI claims, but has issues deceiving humans, too. Using o1 requires subscribing to ChatGPT Plus, which is $20 a month.
Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5
Claude Sonnet 3.5 is a model Anthropic claims as being best in class. It’s become known for its coding capabilities and is considered a tech insider’s chatbot of choice. The model can be accessed for free on Claude although heavy users will need a $20 monthly Pro subscription. While it can understand images, it can’t generate them.
OpenAI GPT 4o-mini
OpenAI has touted GPT 4o-mini as its most affordable and fastest model yet thanks to its small size. It’s meant to enable a broad range of tasks like powering customer service chatbots. The model is available on ChatGPT’s free tier. It’s better suited for high-volume simple tasks compared to more complex ones.
Cohere Command R+
Cohere’s Command R+ model excels at complex Retrieval-Augmented Generation (or RAG) applications for enterprises. That means it can find and cite specific pieces of information really well. (The inventor of RAG actually works at Cohere.) Still, RAG doesn’t fully solve AI’s hallucination problem.
Tech
Not all cancer patients need chemo. Ataraxis AI raised $20M to fix that.
Artificial intelligence is a big trend in cancer care, and it’s mostly focused detecting cancer at the earliest possible stage. That makes a lot of sense, given that cancer is less deadly the earlier it’s detected.
But fewer are asking another fundamental question: if someone does have cancer, is an aggressive treatment like chemotherapy necessary? That’s the problem Ataraxis AI is trying to solve.
The New York-based startup is focused on using AI to accurately predict not only if a patient has cancer, but also what their cancer outcome looks like in 5 to 10 years. If there’s only a small chance of the cancer coming back, chemo can be avoided altogether – saving a lot of money, while avoiding the treatment’s notorious side effects.
Ataraxis AI now plans to launch their first commercial test, for breast cancer, to U.S. oncologists in the coming months, its co-founder Jan Witowski tells TechCrunch. To bolster the launch and expand into other types of cancer, the startup has raised a $20.4 million Series A, it told TechCrunch exclusively.
The round was led by AIX Ventures with participation from Thiel Bio, Founders Fund, Floating Point, Bertelsmann, and existing investors Giant Ventures and Obvious Ventures. Ataraxis emerged from stealth last year with a $4 million seed round.
Ataraxis was co-founded by Witowski and Krzysztof Geras, an assistant professor at NYU’s medical school who focuses on AI.
Ataraxis’ tech is powered by an AI model that extracts information from high-resolution images of cancer cells. The model is trained on hundreds of millions of real images from thousands of patients, Witowski said. A recent study showed Ataraxis’ tech was 30% more accurate than the current standard of care for breast cancer, per Ataraxis.
Long term, Ataraxis has big ambitions. It wants its tests to impact at least half of new cancer cases by 2030. It also views itself as a frontier AI company that builds its own models, touting Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun as an AI advisor.
“I think at Ataraxis we are trying to build what is essentially an AI frontier lab, but for healthcare applications,” Witowski said. “Because so many of those problems require a very novel technology.”
The AI boom has led to a rush of fundraises for cancer care startups. Valar Labs raised $22 million to help patients figure out their treatment plan in May 2024, for example. There’s also a bevvy of AI-powered drug discovery firms in the cancer space, like Manas AI which raised $24.6 million in January 2025 and was co-founded by Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder.
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