Amazon has said it will stop using non-disclosure agreements when negotiating data center deals with local governments, following a similar decision by Microsoft earlier this year. Secrecy around such agreements has fueled growing community backlash against AI infrastructure, contributing to hundreds of proposed and enacted moratoriums in locations from New York to San Francisco.
The shift was a central topic on the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, where hosts Anthony Ha, Sean O’Kane and Rebecca Bellan examined whether abandoning NDAs will change how data center deals are struck. The discussion also covered the White House’s plans for its new Super Intelligence Force.
The hosts turned to a wave of startups betting that consumers will give AI agents access to their inboxes, files and credit cards, provided those agents can get websites to let them in. They discussed how Tab, Underdog and Hark are positioning privacy as their core product, arguing that trust may ultimately be what personal AI startups are selling, and explored a business model that could turn a personal agent into a salesperson. They also looked at how United, Apple and Amazon are putting up barriers against outside agents.
On the hardware side, the episode considered Ghost, which has built a $3,499 computer designed to run AI agents around the clock, though the hosts said they do not expect it to reach the mass market.
In deal news, the panel discussed AI computing company Lambda’s reported $4 billion funding round and the single customer responsible for $35 billion of its backlog, as well as Uber’s $2.3 billion all-cash acquisition of office catering platform ezCater.
