# Microsoft AI Agents, IBM Settlement, and EV Trucking

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-04-14

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
In this year, we're gonna 10,000 electroface for Amazon Lieferungen in Guns Europa eingeset.
For Lieferungen wie Fußbell for Younger Kicker.
Basierend of the planted farze on our Lifa partner in the EU and Gross Breton this end of 2006 and 20.
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Microsoft's working on yet another open claw-like agent.
I'm Imran Shake, and this is your TillyCrunch special.
IBM entered into a 17 million dollar settlement agreement on Friday with the US Department of Justice over allegations that it engaged in quote illegal DEI practices, unquote, by taking into account quote race, color, national origin, or sex, unquote, in its hiring and promotions.
The DOJ also alleged that IBM used funds from its government contract for DEI programs and then sought reimbursement.
IBM denied any wrongdoing, and the settlement isn't an admission of liability, nor a concession that the DOJ's claims were without merit.
IBM is pleased to have resolved this matter.
Our workforce strategy is driven by a single principal, having the right people with the right skills that our clients depend on.
An IBM spokesperson told TechCrunch, What the heck is all this about?
Well, you see, earlier last year, the now former Attorney General, Pam Bondi, instructed the DOJ to, quote, investigate, eliminate, and penalize, unquote, any DEI programs deemed illegal in private sector companies like IBM that receive federal funds, which IBM does as a government contractor.
Well, shortly thereafter, the DOJ announced the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which involves filing claims against recipients of federal funds who, quote, knowingly violate civil rights laws, unquote.
The IBM settlement marks the first time the government has secured a resolution under the initiative.
Booking.com confirmed on Monday that hackers may have accessed customers' personal data, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and booking details.
The Global Travel and Hotel Reservation Giant notified customers this past week of the breach, according to several online posts.
The user who posted the notification on Reddit told TechCrunch that they received a phishing message via WhatsApp two weeks ago that included booking details and personal information.
Well, that suggests hackers are leveraging the stolen information to target booking.com customers.
Booking.com spokesperson Courtney Camp told TechCrunch that the company noticed some suspicious activity involving unauthorized third parties being able to access some of our guests' booking information.
Upon discovering the activity, we took action to contain the issue.
We have updated the PIN number for these reservations and informed our guests.
The company told the Guardian that financial information was not accessed.
In 2024, TechCrunch reported that hackers had infected several hotels computers with consumer grade spyware or stalkerware.
According to the company's website, 6.8 billion customers have booked hotel rooms and homes since 2010.
Well, well, well, Microsoft's testing ways to integrate OpenClaw-like features into its existing Microsoft 365 co-pilot tool.
You see, the new features, which the company confirmed to the information, would be geared toward enterprise customers with better security controls than the famously risky open source OpenClaw agent.
OpenClaw is a tool that runs locally on a user's computer and can create agents to perform tasks on behalf of the person.
If Microsoft does come up with its own version of a claw, meaning an agent that runs locally, the effort would join a number of other agentic tools the company has announced in the past few months.
In March, for instance, Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork, which is designed to take actions in Microsoft 365 apps, not just provide search results or chat in a separate work pane.
Co-work is powered by its own work IQ technology, an intelligence layer that tries to personalize co-work for the user across Microsoft 365 apps.
Microsoft's also tapped Anthropics Claw to power co-work after it partnered with the AI Lab late last year.
Microsoft added Claude as an option available for co-work.
While OpenClaw can work with multiple models, Claude remains the model of choice for many users of the open source project.
However, co-work doesn't run on the local hardware, it runs in the cloud.
The company is expected to show off this new claw, or an upgraded version of one of its existing claw-like tools at its Microsoft Build Conference in June, The Verge reports.
Now to the latest in startup business news, all in about one minute with our friend producer Dennis.
Imron, thank you.
And Jeff Bezos backed electric vehicle startup, Slate Auto has raised another $650 million as the company prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.
The new round means Slate Auto has raised roughly 1.4 billion dollars to date.
Founded in 2022, Slate Auto is taking a different approach than pretty much any other automaker.
The company is targeting the extreme low end of the market with a bare bones electric truck that is expected to start in the mid-20,000 dollar range.
Customers will be able to customize the truck in various ways for more money, including adding an SUV conversion kit for around $5,000.
And that'll do it for me.
Imron, back to you.
And folks, that's your Daily Crunch.
Today's stories were reported by Julie Bort, Dominic, Midori Davis, Lorenzo, Franchesci, Biggieri, and more awesome TechCrunch journalists.
We'll see you here tomorrow.
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And until then, find us at TechCrunch.com.
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