# Amazon Expansion, Google-Wiz Deal, and AI Commerce Shifts

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-03-12

## Transcript

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An app from Amazon that lets customers shop from other retailers' sites?
It's true.
I'm Emron Jake and your daily crunch for Thursday, featuring three big tech headlines and a little bit of startup business news.
Starts right now.
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it's expanding access to its healthcare AI assistant to its website and app.
Now the assistant called Health AI was previously only available on the app for one medical, the healthcare company Amazon acquired for $3.9 billion all the way back in the Halcyon days of 2023.
Health AI can answer questions, explain health records, manage prescription renewals, book appointments, and a whole bunch more.
Now, according to Amazon, users don't need to be prime subscribers or one medical members to use the assistant.
Of course, as we're getting used to with all things AI, there are risks associated with sharing your health information with AI.
And researchers are warning against doing so, cautioning that companies are pulling user conversations for training.
Amazon, for its part, said in its announcement that it trains health AI models on abstracted patterns without directly identifying information.
For example, if multiple patients ask about medication interactions, Amazon says it might use these patterns while keeping patient names private to improve how health AI responds to similar questions.
TikTok's partnered with good old standby Apple Music to allow subscribers of the streaming service to play full songs without leaving its social network.
The company announced this on Wednesday.
Now, Apple Music subscribers who discover a song they like on their TikTok for you page or sound detail page can just tap the new play full song button to open up an Apple Music player to listen to, you guessed it, the full track.
TikTok, which, unless you've been living under a rock, you know is known for driving music trends and viral songs, said the new feature is designed to make it easier to go from the moment of discovery to deeper listening.
It's worth noting that TikTok doesn't allow users to play full songs from other streaming services, including Spotify.
The new feature is built using Apple's Music Kit, which means full-length song playback takes place on Apple Music, so streams are paid within the streaming service.
TikTok and Apple Music are also introducing listening party, a new feature that lets fans listen to songs from their favorite artists in real time.
Fans can interact with each other and with the artists during the session, which TikTok says will allow for a more social way to experience music.
The new features are launching worldwide over the coming weeks.
The announcement comes as TikTok's popularity has influenced the music industry and how people discovered new music.
Now, TikTok once did try to capitalize on this by launching a streaming service before eventually shutting it down.
It has since focused on driving music fans to its app for discovery.
Amazon is expanding access to a program called Shop Direct that lets U.S.
customers discover and buy products not sold in its own online store.
The retail giant on Wednesday said it'll now support third-party product feeds, which merchants are gonna use to provide information about their inventory pricing and catalog to other partners.
With this information, Amazon can direct shoppers to a merchant's website via its search results or its AI shopping assistant, Rufus, and even let customers use AI to make a purchase.
The company's added support for third-party product feeds from Feedonomics, Salsify, and SedCommerce, which provide Amazon access to merchants' inventory and product information in real time.
More feed providers will be supported in time, and an Amazon merchant portal with a merchant direct feed is said to be coming soon.
In February 2025, Amazon began beta testing a new shopping feature that would link to a retailer's website when its own search results didn't include the product the customer was seeking.
Customers would see the product information on Amazon, but could click through to the retailer site to learn more, check pricing, and view delivery options.
Customers would be notified that they were leaving Amazon's website so they wouldn't be confused into thinking they were buying from the company itself.
The program was being offered to a range of brands and wasn't limited to partners using Buy with Prime, a way to offer checkout using a customer-saved payment information on Amazon.
Now, while the move to be included on Amazon could certainly boost a brand's exposure and potential sales, it could also give Amazon insights into which brands, products, and price points are most appealing to customers.
Either way, Shop Direct is live for US customers on Amazon.com in the Amazon Mobile app and in Amazon's Rufus AI assistant.
Now over to Dennis with the latest in startup business news all in about one minute.
Thank you, Imran.
And let's begin with Los Angeles based EV startup Harbinger, because they have revealed their second vehicle, a smaller, medium-duty work truck called the HC Series Cab.
The new truck will be available as an all-electric vehicle or as a hybrid.
The latter has up to 500 miles of range.
Founded in 2022, Harbinger has been moving quickly over the past year, raising a 100 million dollar Series B in January 25 and a 160 million dollar Series C round in November.
The company has attracted customers like FedEx and RV builder Thor Industries.
And Google has officially acquired Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion in cash, a full year after the companies announced the deal.
This marks Google's biggest acquisition in its history.
Wiz provides a security platform that protects major cloud environments by preventing and responding to cybersecurity threats.
While the company will join Google Cloud, it will maintain its brand and commitment to securing customers across all cloud environments your daily crunch.
The deal comes after Wiz cross stories were reported by Sarah Perez.
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