Friday, February 28, 2025

Sergey Brin says RTO is key to Google winning the AGI race

Google co-founder Sergey Brin sent a memo to employees this week urging them to return to the office “at least every weekday” in order to help the company win the AGI race, The New York Times reports. Brin told employees that working 60 hours a week is a “sweet spot” for productivity. While Brin’s memo […]

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SymbyAI raises $2.1M seed to make science research easier

SymbyAI, a SaaS platform that uses AI to streamline scientific research, announced a $2.1 million seed round with participation from Drive Capital and CharacterVC, among others.  Launched just last year by Aisha Livaudais and Michael House, the platform provides organized workspaces for researchers to access papers, code, data, and experiences within one place. It helps […]

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Mozilla responds to backlash over new terms, saying it’s not using people’s data for AI

Mozilla has responded to user backlash over the Firefox web browser’s new Terms of Use, which critics have called out for using overly broad language that appears to give the browser maker the rights to whatever data you input or upload. The company says the new terms aren’t a change in how Mozilla uses data, […]

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Tesla applies for ride-hail permit in California — but there’s a catch

Tesla applied for a permit with the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a transportation service in the state — a required first step if the automaker wants to eventually operate a robotaxi service there. Tesla’s application for a transportation charter-party carrier permit was first reported by Bloomberg. TechCrunch has independently confirmed with the CPUC […]

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Last week to apply to speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

AI Leaders, ready to make an impact?  Do you have game-changing insights that could shape the future of AI? Share your vision with 1,200 AI founders, investors, and industry pioneers at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at Zellerbach Hall in UC Berkeley. Take the stage, lead the conversation, and drive the next wave of […]

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Apply to Speak at TechCrunch All Stage 2025

Founders, VCs and startup experts, now’s your chance! Have crucial scaling insights to offer? Share them with 1,200+ founders, investors, and entrepreneurs at TechCrunch All Stage 2025 presented by Fidelity, on July 15 in Boston, and share your expertise! We’re assembling the best minds from the startup and VC communities to lead exciting sessions, interactive […]

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Thursday, February 27, 2025

OpenAI’s Sora is now available in the EU, UK

OpenAI is finally making its video generation model, Sora, available to users in the European Union, the U.K., Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. The company said on Friday that ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers in these regions will be able to create videos using the model. The AI startup first unveiled Sora in February 2024, […]

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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia takes wraps off his first assignment for DOGE

Almost two weeks after The New York Times reported that Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia had joined Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” Gebbia clarified his role on Thursday, announcing on X that as a starting point, he’ll be leveraging his design expertise as part of a broader effort to overhaul the government’s notoriously slow, paper-heavy […]

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2025 TechCrunch Events Calendar

For two decades, TechCrunch has provided a front row view to the future of technology, shaping conversations that matter and spotlighting the next big things before they break — both on the page and in person at our world-renowned events.  This year, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re launching our most ambitious events calendar […]

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SEC says meme coins are not securities

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance on Thursday saying it does not view most meme coins, which are crypto tokens that originated from memes, as securities under United States federal law. As a result, the SEC says it does not believe people who purchase or hold meme coins are protected by federal securities law, […]

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Meta is reportedly planning a standalone AI chatbot app

Meta reportedly plans to release a standalone app for its AI assistant, Meta AI, in a bid to better compete with AI-powered chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. According to CNBC, Meta could launch a standalone Meta AI app as soon as the company’s next fiscal quarter (April-June). Meta AI is currently only available […]

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Snowflake grows startup accelerator with $200M in new capital

Snowflake plans to expand its startup accelerator with $200 million in additional commitments, the tech giant that specializes in cloud-based data storage said Thursday. The new injection of capital follows a string of activity by Snowflake over the past several months that illustrates that company’s growth ambitions. The Snowflake Startup Accelerator, formerly known as the […]

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Meta’s new AR glasses for research can measure heart rate

Meta has unveiled the next generation of its Project Aria augmented reality glasses for research: Aria Gen 2. Aria Gen 2, which arrives roughly five years after the first-generation Aria device, adds new capabilities to the platform, including an upgraded sensor suite and Meta’s custom silicon. Aria Gen 2 has a PPG sensor for measuring […]

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Archipelo comes out of stealth with $12M funding to secure human and AI-driven code

When it comes to AI software, you can build something clever, but that’s not always the same as building something that is secure. With so much software now getting written by AI, having a window into its security can be a challenge. That’s the premise of Archipelo, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup that is today […]

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Meta fixes error that exposed Instagram users to graphic and violent content

Meta has fixed an error that caused some users to see a flood of graphic and violent videos in their Instagram Reels feed. The fix comes after some users saw horrific and violent content despite having Instagram’s “Sensitive Content Control” enabled. “We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their […]

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ResilienceVC bucks trend, unveils $56M fund to back fintechs working on financial inclusion

ResilienceVC, a new seed-stage fintech venture capital firm based out of Washington, D.C., is announcing its $56 million debut fund, the firm shared exclusively with TechCrunch. Founded by Tahira Dosani and Vikas Raj in 2023, ResilienceVC’s mission is a straightforward one: to back fintech companies dedicated to helping Americans find financial stability. It’s writing checks […]

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2025 TechCrunch Events Calendar

For two decades, TechCrunch has provided a front row view to the future of technology, shaping conversations that matter and spotlighting the next big things before they break — both on the page and in person at our world-renowned events.  This year, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re launching our most ambitious events calendar […]

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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Apple iPhone 16e review: An A18 chip and Apple Intelligence for $599

Apple delivered its latest budget handset, the $599 iPhone 16e, without pomp. There was no big event in person, nor was there one online. No journalists scrambled through hoards of colleagues to snap photos of the phone. Instead, CEO Tim Cook tweeted out that new hardware was on the way, days before Apple announced the […]

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Lonestar and Phison’s data center infrastructure is headed to the moon

Data storage and resilience company Lonestar and semiconductor and storage company Phison launched a data center infrastructure on a SpaceX rocket on Wednesday that’s headed to the moon. The companies are sending Phison’s Pascari storage — solid state drives (SSDs) built for data centers — packed with Lonestar’s clients’ data on a SpaceX Falcon 9 […]

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Europe’s Relay pulls in $35M Series A after applying Asia’s model to delivery

Being somewhat later than Europe in adopting the idea of parcel delivery, much of Asia built its delivery infrastructure around e-commerce, effectively ‘Uberising’ how deliveries worked down to the last mile. Think DoorDash but for parcels, not food. This is what the founders of Europe’s Relay realized and decided to bring to the region — […]

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Commercetools, a pioneer in ‘headless commerce’, lays off dozens of staff

Commercetools — a “headless commerce” platform that provides APIs to companies building online storefronts — saw a major boost in its business just a few years ago, raising money at whopping $1.9 billion valuation as the world went shopping online in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and businesses rushed to improve their e-commerce operations. […]

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Shop Circle raises $60M to encircle ecommerce with an app suite

The boom in ecommerce post-pandemic meant shops moved online. However, some merchants ended up with dozens of separate app providers to accommodate everything from supply chains, inventory, and marketing. The founders of Shop Circle realized this and either built or bought many such apps. The company has now raised $60 million in a Series B […]

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Trump signs executive order to expand DOGE’s spending review powers

In a newly issued executive order (EO), the Trump Administration has instructed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-advised initiative to reduce federal spending, to create a “centralized technological system” in every agency to record contract and grant awards. As part of the ramp-up of these systems, agency employees who approved individual contract […]

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With Alexa+, Amazon makes an intriguing play in the consumer agent space

Amazon shared an impressive vision of an “agentic” future on Wednesday — one in which the company’s improved Alexa, Alexa+, handles countless mundane tasks, from booking restaurants to finding appliance repairmen. If Amazon can deliver, it could be the first out to the gate with a comprehensive, consumer-focused agent tool. The company hopes to marry […]

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a16z hires former Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry as advisor

Former North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry announced Wednesday that he landed a job with VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. He will be a Senior Advisor. His post on X said little about what the job entails, except to be advocating for startups (which a16z likes to call “little tech”) with policymakers. A16z did not immediately respond […]

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Maternity clinic Millie nabs $12M Series A from an all-star, all female class of VCs

Millie, a California-based maternity clinic, founded by Anu Sharma, announced the raise of a $12 million Series A by investors including RH Capital, TMV, and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures.  Sharma was inspired to launch the company after the birth of her daughter in 2019. She faced pregnancy complications and, as the child of a […]

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Amazon’s new Alexa+ brings AI-powered ‘Explore’ and ‘Stories’ features for kids

As part of the reveal of Amazon’s new AI-powered Alexa+ assistant, the tech giant announced that it’s launching two new features designed for kids called “Explore with Alexa” and “Stories with Alexa.” The features, which leverage Alexa’s new AI capabilities, will be available to Amazon Kids+ subscribers. The company demonstrated the new features at a […]

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Alexa+ can do your grocery shopping, too

Amazon is not giving up on making its Alexa a virtual shopping assistant, On Wednesday, the company announced that Alexa+, its revamped Alexa experience, will be able to help consumers grocery shop from home using more natural conversations and requests. The feature will work with Amazon Fresh or any other grocery partner working with Amazon, […]

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Amazon says that Alexa+ is ‘model agnostic’

Amazon says that the new and improved Alexa unveiled on Wednesday, Alexa+, is powered by a “model agnostic” system that’s always using the “best” AI model for any given task. Onstage at a press event in NYC, Amazon VP Daniel Rausch said that Alexa+ draws on Bedrock, Amazon’s cloud platform designed to let organizations experiment […]

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YouTube surpasses 1B monthly podcast viewers

YouTube continues to assert its dominance in the podcasting space, presenting significant competition to both Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In an announcement on Wednesday, the company revealed YouTube has surpassed 1 billion monthly active podcast viewers.  This milestone highlights YouTube’s popularity in the podcast industry and emphasizes consumer preference for video-first formats. Last year, YouTube […]

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Tuesday, February 25, 2025

ElevenLabs now lets authors create and publish audiobooks on its own platform

Voice AI company ElevenLabs is now letting authors publish AI-generated audiobooks on its own Reader app, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed. The announcement comes days after the company partnered with Spotify for AI-narrated audiobooks. ElevenLabs, which raised a $180 million mega-round last month, started inviting authors to try out their publishing program through […]

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German startup wins accolade for its fusion reactor design

Proxima Fusion, a two-year-old, German nuclear fusion startup, has published plans for a working fusion power plant in a peer-reviewed journal, in what is being touted as a step-change in the race to generate limitless energy. Today’s nuclear fission reactors create radioactive waste, whereas nuclear fusion releases vast amounts of energy, with zero carbon emissions and […]

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Claude: Everything you need to know about Anthropic’s AI

Anthropic, one of the world’s largest AI vendors, has a powerful family of generative AI models called Claude. These models can perform a range of tasks, from captioning images and writing emails to solving math and coding challenges. With Anthropic’s model ecosystem growing so quickly, it can be tough to keep track of which Claude […]

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Anthropic’s latest flagship AI might not have been incredibly costly to train

Anthropic’s newest flagship AI model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, cost “a few tens of millions of dollars” to train using less than 10^26 FLOPs of computing power. That’s according to Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, who in an X post on Monday relayed a clarification he’d received from Anthropic’s PR. “I was contacted by Anthropic who told me […]

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Perplexity launches $50M seed and pre-seed VC fund

Perplexity, the developer of an AI-powered search engine, is raising a $50 million seed and pre-seed investment fund, CNBC reported. Although the majority of the capital is coming from limited partners, Perplexity is using some of the capital it raised for the company’s growth to anchor the fund.  Perplexity has reportedly raised $500 million at […]

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Anthropic’s Claude AI is playing Pokémon on Twitch — slowly

On Tuesday afternoon, Anthropic launched Claude Plays Pokémon on Twitch, a live stream of Anthropic’s newest AI model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, playing a game of Pokémon Red. It’s become a fascinating experiment of sorts, showcasing the capabilities of today’s AI tech and people’s reactions to them. AI researchers have used all sorts of video games, […]

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FAA tests Starlink terminals as Musk claims Verizon tech is ‘not working’

The Federal Aviation Administration has started testing the use of SpaceX Starlink satellite internet terminals in the national airspace system, nearly two years after Verizon was awarded a $2 billion contract to perform similar work. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk claimed on his social media platform X that the Verizon system “is not working […]

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IBM’s $6.4B HashiCorp acquisition cleared by UK

The U.K.’s antitrust authority has given the go-ahead to IBM’s planned multibillion acquisition of infrastructure software company HashiCorp. In a brief case update published today, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had “cleared the anticipated acquisition by IBM of HashiCorp,” and it would publish the full rationale for its decision in due course. […]

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Monday, February 24, 2025

Fyre Festival 2 is coming, and it already sounds bananas (and not in a good way)

Billy McFarland is back, with Fyre Festival 2. Scheduled to take place in Isla Mujeres, Mexico from May 30 to June 2, tickets went on sale Monday, ranging from $1,400 to a truly brazen $1.1 million — even though no artists have been confirmed, and McFarland himself isn’t sure if he can legally leave the […]

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Automattic-owned Beeper is releasing redesigned desktop and iOS apps

WordPress.com owner Automattic last year acquired the multi-service messaging app Beeper for $125 million and said it would merge it with Texts.com, an earlier acquisition in the same category. Now, Beeper is releasing the first set of redesigned apps for iOS and desktop in beta after the merger. In a blog post, Beeper said that […]

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1,000 artists release ‘silent’ album to protest UK copyright sell-out to AI

The U.K. government wants to move full steam ahead on big plans to use and build AI across the country, but not everyone is marching to the beat of its drum. On Monday, a group of 1,000 musicians released a “silent album”, in protest of planned changes to copyright law — changes the artists say […]

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Anthropic reportedly ups its next funding round to $3.5B

Anthropic’s next funding round is reportedly growing larger. Anthropic, which makes the AI chatbot Claude, is finalizing a $3.5 billion fundraising round that values the company at $61.5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Anthropic initially set out to raise $2 billion, but investors have now agreed to a larger tranche, per the WSJ. […]

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Web Summit attendees aren’t buying Scale AI CEO’s push for America ‘to win the AI war’

In a bold move last month, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post, telling President Trump that “America must win the AI war.” The statement sparked mixed reactions, as seen during Wang’s appearance Sunday during the opening night of Web Summit Qatar. When Wang’s interviewer Axios’s Felix Salmon […]

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UK’s internet watchdog toughens approach to deepfake porn

Ofcom, the U.K.’s internet safety regulator, has published another new draft guidance as it continues to implement the Online Safety Act (OSA) — the latest set of recommendations aim to support in-scope firms to meet legal obligations to protect women and girls from online threats like harassment and bullying, misogyny, and intimate image abuse. The […]

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Chegg sues Google over AI search summaries

Edtech company Chegg has sued Google claiming that the tech giant’s AI summaries of search results have hurt Chegg’s traffic and revenue. In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Chegg accuses Google of unfair competition — specifically reciprocal dealing, monopoly maintenance, and unjust enrichment. Google, Chegg claims, forces […]

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Even Elon Musk forgets that X isn’t Twitter sometimes

Do you sometimes refer to X by its old name, Twitter? That’s okay. Even Elon Musk, the man who changed Twitter’s name to X, still occasionally refers to the social media platform he runs as Twitter. “Twitter added far more features with fewer people,” said Musk in a post on X Monday. The owner of […]

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Perplexity teases a web browser called Comet

AI-powered search engine Perplexity says it’s building its own web browser. In a post on X on Monday, the company launched a signup list for the browser, which isn’t yet available. It’s unclear when it might be — or what the browser look like, even. But we do have a name: Comet. “Just like Perplexity […]

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Three years on, Europe looks to Ukraine for the future of defense tech

Today marks three years since Russia’s illegal, unprovoked, and brutal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have heroically fought the war with grit and determination, but they have also, against the odds, innovated on and off the battlefield.  In addition to establishing a defense tech initiative called BRAVE1, the country has also hosted tech conferences like […]

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As Meta gets rid of fact-checkers, misinformation is going viral

Meta is phasing out its third-party fact-checking programs in the U.S. while it reintroduces a bonus program for creators, which pays them for viral content. The timing of these changes at Meta could intensify the prevalence of misinformation, according to ProPublica. In the past, content creators could not monetize posts that fact-checkers deemed false; but […]

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The startup battle begins now: TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 applications are open

Pre-Series A founders, this is your moment! If you’re ready to showcase your game-changing innovations on a global stage, the battlefield awaits. Applications for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 — the premier startup pitch competition — are officially OPEN. This is your shot to shine! Step onto the global stage and showcase your groundbreaking startup to […]

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Key Cambridge, UK VC launches $126M fund to stem later stage flight

It’s often said that the UK and Europe lack the huge level of growth funding for later-stage startups that the US has for its own, and this is correct. According to the European Investment Fund, there are at least seven times more large-size VC funds in the US than in Europe. So the appearance of a […]

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Sunday, February 23, 2025

The lesson of Larry Ellison’s misadventures in farming

Larry Ellison’s leap into farming with his company, Sensei Farms, serves up a classic reminder: being a genius in one arena doesn’t mean success in another. As the WSJ reports, the Oracle co-founder set out to reinvent agriculture on Hawaii’s Lāna‘i Island, which he scooped up for $300 million back in 2012. Eight years and […]

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Google’s new AI video model Veo 2 will cost 50 cents per second

Google has quietly revealed the pricing of Veo 2, the video-generating AI model that it unveiled in December. According to the company’s pricing page, using Veo 2 will cost 50 cents per second of video, which adds up to $30 per minute or $1,800 per hour. Google DeepMind researcher Jon Barron contrasted this pricing with […]

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Palantir CEO’s new book says Silicon Valley has ‘lost its way’

Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander Karp opens his new book with a provocative declaration: “Silicon Valley has lost its way.” Over the past decade or so, as the data analytics company rose to prominence with its work for U.S. military and intelligence, Karp has largely stayed out of the limelight. Last year, in a rare […]

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This mental health chatbot aims to fill the counseling gap at understaffed schools

As school districts struggle to support the mental health of their students, a startup called Sonar Mental Health has built a “wellbeing companion” called Sonny to help. As described in the Wall Street Journal, Sonny is a chatbot that relies on a combination of human staff and AI. When students text their questions to Sonny, […]

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Grok 3 appears to have briefly censored unflattering mentions of Trump and Musk

When billionaire Elon Musk introduced Grok 3, his AI company xAI’s latest flagship model, in a live stream last Monday, he described it as a “maximally truth-seeking AI.” Yet it appears that Grok 3 was briefly censoring unflattering facts about President Donald Trump — and Musk himself. Over the weekend, users on social media reported […]

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Saturday, February 22, 2025

Did xAI lie about Grok 3’s benchmarks?

Debates over AI benchmarks — and how they’re reported by AI labs — are spilling out into public view. This week, an OpenAI employee accused Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, of publishing misleading benchmark results for its latest AI model, Grok 3. One of the co-founders of xAI, Igor Babushkin, insisted that the company was […]

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US AI Safety Institute could face big cuts

The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staffers, according to multiple reports — cuts that further threaten a fledgling AI safety organization. Axios reported this week that the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Chips for America, both part of NIST, would be “gutted” by layoffs targeting probationary employees […]

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How I Podcast: Summer Album / Winter Album’s Jody Avirgan

The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut […]

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The pain of discontinued items, and the thrill of finding them online

We’ve all been there. A favorite item is suddenly unavailable for purchase. Couldn’t the manufacturer have given you advance warning? Whether owing to low sales, changing habits, production costs, or even because something is a little wrong with your favorite product (shh), discontinued items are part of life. In a weekend piece, the New York […]

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The fallout from HP’s Humane acquisition 

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week we’re looking at the internal chaos surrounding HP’s $116 million acquisition of AI Pin maker Humane; Mira Murati’s new AI venture coming out of stealth; Duolingo killing its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck; and more! Let’s get into it. Humane’s AI pin is dead. The hardware […]

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Trump administration reportedly shutting down federal EV chargers nationwide

The General Services Administration, the agency that manages buildings owned by the federal government, is planning to shut down its entire network of electric vehicle chargers, according to a report in The Verge. The GSA reportedly operates a network of hundreds of EV chargers with a total of 8,000 plugs that can be used to […]

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Friday, February 21, 2025

Meta, X approved ads containing violent anti-Muslim, antisemitic hate speech ahead of German election, study finds

Social media giants Meta and X (formerly Twitter) approved ads targeting users in Germany with violent anti-Muslim and anti-Jew hate speech in the run-up to the country’s federal elections, according to new research from Eko, a corporate responsibility non-profit campaign group. The group’s researchers tested whether the two platforms ad review systems would approve or […]

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Court filings show Meta staffers discussed using copyrighted content for AI training

For years, Meta employees have internally discussed using copyrighted works obtained through legally questionable means to train the company’s AI models, according to court documents unsealed on Thursday. The documents were submitted by plaintiffs in the case Kadrey v. Meta, one of many AI copyright disputes slowly winding through the U.S. court system. The defendant, […]

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Brian Armstrong says Coinbase spent $50M fighting SEC lawsuit – and beat it

Coinbase on Friday said the SEC has agreed to drop the lawsuit against the company with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.  The move, which is still subject to the approval of the SEC’s Commissioners, is yet another signal that the Trump administration plans to be more friendly to crypto than the SEC was […]

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Five of the most important fintech VCs investing heavily in the sector

Global investing in fintech startups is starting to see an uptick. Just this week, KPMG issued its Pulse of Fintech report for the second half of 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2024, investment climbed to $25.9 billion from $18 billion in the third quarter, according to KPMG. Granted, this is not the enthusiasm of […]

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Report: AI coding assistants aren’t a panacea

As they gain in popularity, AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot may appear to be boosting productivity. But in reality, they could be causing overall code quality to decline. That’s the top-line finding from a new report released by software engineering platform GitClear, which analyzed 211 million code lines from 2020 to 2024. According […]

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Apply to Speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI before the deadline

AI Innovators, seize your moment! Have insights that could inspire 1,200 AI founders, investors, and enthusiasts eager to advance the future of AI? Take center stage, influence the AI conversation, and exchange ideas at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. We’re gathering top AI visionaries from the startup world to […]

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DeepSeek to open-source parts of online services code

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek plans to open-source portions of its online services’ code as part of an “open source week” event next week. DeepSeek will open-source five code repositories that have been “documented, deployed and battle-tested in production,” the company said in a post on X on Thursday. Code repositories are storage locations for software […]

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Thursday, February 20, 2025

Rivian inches closer to profitability but warns ‘changes to government policies’ could hurt

Rivian’s cost-cutting measures have gotten it a lot closer to profitability, but the company is warning that 2025 could still be a challenging year — especially because of the whorl of uncertainty caused by the new Trump administration. The company announced Thursday its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial results, and along with it, shared plans […]

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Rivian will launch hands-off highway driver assist ‘in a few weeks’

Rivian said Thursday it plans to launch a hands-off version of its driver assistance system for highway driving “in a few weeks,” and said an “eyes-off” version in 2026. The hands-off system will let Rivian compete with companies like Ford and General Motors, which have both launched similar systems in the past few years. (Ford […]

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Figure’s humanoid robot takes voice orders to help around the house

Figure founder and CEO Brett Adcock Thursday revealed a new machine learning model for humanoid robots. The news, which arrives two weeks after Adcock announced the Bay Area robotics firm’s decision to step away from an OpenAI collaboration, is centered around Helix, a “generalist” Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model. VLAs are a new phenomenon for robotics, leveraging […]

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Instagram’s new ad format lets creators get paid for testimonials in comments

Instagram is introducing a new way for creators to work with brands to make money by recommending products. On Thursday, Meta introduced an addition to its Partnership Ads called Testimonials, which allows creators to get paid via written endorsements, shared as comments on the brand’s social media posts and advertisements. The new ad format is […]

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Twitch caps streamers’ storage at 100 hours of highlights and uploads

Twitch on Wednesday announced it will begin limiting streamers to 100 hours of highlights and uploads, and will delete content if a channel exceeds the limit. The company said it’s introducing the change because highlights haven’t been effective in driving discovery or engagement, and because storage is costly. The storage cap goes into effect on […]

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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Spore.Bio raises $23M to apply machine learning to microbiology testing

Recalls in the food and beverage industry due to contamination incidents can have catastrophic effects. Not only do companies have to pay fines and damages, but the impacts on the brand’s reputation can be long-lasting. That’s why Spore.Bio, a Paris-based deeptech startup, is trying to reinvent microbiology testing to avoid the next PR crisis in […]

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AI-coding startup Codeium in talks to raise at an almost $3B valuation, sources say

Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round of funding at a $2.85 billion valuation, including fresh capital, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.  The round is being led by returning investor Kleiner Perkins, the people said. The new round comes just six months after Silicon Valley-based Codeium announced that […]

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‘For You’ feeds are not for creators, Patreon says

Patreon has continued on its crusade against algorithmic feeds with its latest State of Create report, a look at trends in the creator economy based on internal data, and it’s an effort creators can get behind. In its survey of 1,000 creators and 2,000 fans, the membership platform reported that 53% of creators think it […]

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Study of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds Far Right political bias ahead of federal elections

Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial Far Right political bias in Germany ahead of a federal election that takes place Sunday, according to new research carried out by Global Witness. The non-government organization (NGO) undertook an analysis of social media content displayed to new users via […]

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After raising $1 billion, fintech Varo closes another $29 million, replaces founder CEO

Fintech Varo has been hoping to raise a $55 million Series G round but has, so far, closed on $29 million to date, according to a recent SEC filing. Varo declined to comment on this new round but the fintech has raised just over $1 billion in funding since its 2015 inception, according to PitchBook.  […]

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Sanas taps AI to change call center workers’ accents in real time

The demand for voice and speech recognition technologies is massive — and growing. An analysis by market research firm Markets and Markets found that the sector could be worth over $28.1 billion by 2027. There’s no shortage of vendors providing voice and speech recognition solutions, but some newer upstarts have managed to carve out niches. […]

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Mistral’s Le Chat tops 1M downloads in just 14 days

A couple of weeks after the initial release of Mistral’s AI assistant, Le Chat, the company told Le Parisien that it has reached one million downloads. In particular, Le Chat quickly reached the top spot for free downloads on the iOS App Store in the company’s home country, France. “Go and download Le Chat, which […]

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Apple’s  $599 iPhone 16e adds AI, ditches the fingerprint scanner

As anticipated, Apple revealed the long-awaited iPhone SE refresh Tuesday. The fourth generation device arrives three years after the last major update to the budget-minded smartphone. This one arrives with a twist, however. The SE branding has been dropped to keep the device more inline with the company’s flagships. The new iPhone 6e starts at […]

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Bumble sunsets acquired apps, Fruitz and Official, to cut costs

Bumble is discontinuing its two acquired apps, the dating and relationship apps Fruitz and Official. The move was shared during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. As explained by CEO Lidiane Jones during the call, the choice to discontinue Fruitz, a French dating app, and Official, an app designed to help couples strengthen their relationships, allows […]

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Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Humane’s AI Pin is dead

Humane announced on Tuesday that it has been acquired by HP. The hardware startup is immediately discontinuing sales of its $699 AI Pins. Humane told customers who had already purchased an AI Pin that their devices will stop functioning before the end of the month, at 12 PM PST on February 28, 2025, according to […]

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OpenAI may give board special voting rights to ward off takeover attempts

To fend off future hostile takeover attempts, OpenAI is considering giving its non-profit board special voting rights, according to a new report in the Financial Times. The rights would allow the board to overrule major investors in the company, preserving some of its powers after OpenAI completes its transition to a for-profit. OpenAI was founded […]

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X challenges German court order granting data access to election researchers

Earlier this month, a Berlin court ordered Elon Musk-owned X to provide immediate access to public platform data to two civil society organizations seeking to study systemic risk around the country’s upcoming election. In a post on X, the social media company said Tuesday it is challenging the order, claiming the summary proceeding “egregiously undermines […]

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Monday, February 17, 2025

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, releases its latest flagship model, Grok 3

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, released its latest flagship AI model, Grok 3, late Monday night, along with new capabilities in the Grok app for iOS and the web. Grok, xAI’s answer to models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini, can analyze images and respond to questions, and powers a number of features on Musk’s social network, X. […]

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Thousands protest Elon Musk’s DOGE in NYC on Presidents’ Day

More than 10,000 protesters gathered in New York City on Presidents’ Day to speak out against the current Trump administration and the actions in particular of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  It was one of several protests that took place Monday in major cities across the country and came during the same long […]

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Nextdoor’s Nirav Tolia thinks he can turn things around with AI; he has a lot riding on it

Social media is often about scale, but Nextdoor bet long ago on something different: that it could grow a big business off smaller, local communities. For years, the plan worked. The 15-year-old company has long been a dominant platform for neighborhood-based conversations, connecting users for everything from lost pet alerts to local business recommendations. Then […]

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The New York Times has greenlit AI tools for product and edit staff

The New York Times is now allowing its product and editorial teams to use AI tools, which might one day write social copy, SEO headlines, and code, reports Semafor.  The news came to staff via an email, in which the publication announced the debut of its new internal AI summary tool called Echo. The New […]

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Trump fires hundreds of air traffic support staff as SpaceX visits FAA command center

The Trump Administration has begun firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, reports CNN. The firings, which began late Friday night, come as Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been tapped to help create a new air traffic control system. It’s not yet clear how many workers were fired, but the […]

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What the US’ first major AI copyright ruling might mean for IP law

Copyright claims against AI companies just got a potential boost. A U.S. federal judge last week handed down a summary judgment in a case brought by tech conglomerate Thomson Reuters against legal tech firm Ross Intelligence. The judge found that Ross’ use of Reuters’ content to train its AI legal research platform infringed on Reuters’ […]

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X is blocking links to Signal, a secure messaging platform used by federal workers

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is blocking links to Signal.me, a URL shortener used by the private messaging app Signal that allows users to send out a link that’s used to contact them directly through the service. The blocks, which impact direct messages, public posts, and profile pages, were first spotted by the blog Disruptionist.  […]

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Sunday, February 16, 2025

Can sim drivers make the shift to F1? Max Verstappen thinks so

Motorsports have long been a pay-to-play arena, with young drivers spending thousands of dollars just to get started in karting. Four-time Formula One champion Max Verstappen knows this all too well, but he also sees a way to change it through sim racing, a virtual form of car racing that closely replicates real-world racing. It’s […]

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These researchers used NPR Sunday Puzzle questions to benchmark AI ‘reasoning’ models

Every Sunday, NPR host Will Shortz, The New York Times’ crossword puzzle guru, gets to quiz thousands of listeners in a long-running segment called the Sunday Puzzle. While written to be solvable without too much foreknowledge, the brainteasers are usually challenging even for skilled contestants. That’s why some experts think they’re a promising way to […]

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Researchers are training AI to interpret animal emotions

Artificial intelligence could eventually help us understand when animals are in pain or showing other emotions — at least according to researchers recently profiled in Science. For example, there’s the Intellipig system being developed by scientists at the University of the West of England Bristol and Scotland’s Rural College, which examines photos of pigs’ faces […]

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Broadcom, TSMC reportedly exploring deals that would split up Intel

Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are separately exploring deals to take over parts of Intel, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Broadcom is reportedly considering an acquisition of Intel’s chip-design and marketing business, and would want a partner for the company’s manufacturing business, while TSMC is reportedly looking at controlling […]

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YouTube TV reaches new deal to keep Paramount content

After warnings that Paramount content was about to disappear from Google’s pay TV service YouTube TV, the companies announced late Saturday that the’d reached a deal that averting any disruption to channel availability. Those announcements didn’t include many specifics about the agreement, but a statement from a Paramount spokesperson said it includes “an expanded streaming […]

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OpenAI tries to ‘uncensor’ ChatGPT

OpenAI is changing how it trains AI models to explicitly embrace “intellectual freedom … no matter how challenging or controversial a topic may be,” the company says in a new policy. As a result, ChatGPT will eventually be able to answer more questions, offer more perspectives, and reduce the number of topics the AI chatbot […]

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Saturday, February 15, 2025

Death of OpenAI whistleblower deemed suicide in new autopsy report

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26; on Friday, the city’s medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, countering suspicions by his family that had fueled widespread speculation online. Balaji made headlines in October when he accused OpenAI of illegally using copyrighted material to train […]

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North Carolina Amazon workers vote against unionizing

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Garner, North Carolina voted against unionizing in election results announced today. According to Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), the worker group seeking to form the union, 3,276 ballots were cast in the election, with 25.3% of votes in favor of unionizing and 74.7% against. The results […]

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Apple Intelligence could arrive on Vision Pro in April

Apple is planning to add Apple Intelligence to its Vision Pro headset in an update that could come as early as April, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Just a couple weeks after Apple Intelligence was first announced in June 2024, Gurman reported that Apple was looking to bring its suite of AI tools to the […]

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xAI’s “Colossus” supercomputer raises health questions in Memphis

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI plans to continue using 15 gas turbines to power its “Colossus” supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, according to an operating permit with the Shelby County Health Department for non-stop turbine use from June 2025 to June 2030. Why does it matter? The Commercial Appeal, a news outlet that obtained the documents, […]

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OpenAI teases a ‘simplified’ GPT-5 model

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week we’re looking at OpenAI canceling the release of o3; TikTok returning to U.S. app stores nearly a month after it was removed; more complications in Elon Musk’s bid to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion; and more! Let’s do it. OpenAI effectively canceled the release of o3, which […]

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Marc Andreessen dreams of making a16z a lasting company, beyond partnerships

Many venture industry observers have wondered whether Andreessen Horowitz, a firm that manages $45 billion, has its sights on eventually becoming a publicly traded company. Co-founder Marc Andreessen said he isn’t “chomping at the bit to take the firm public,” on this week’s Invest Like the Best podcast. But he discussed his goal of building […]

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What is an encryption backdoor?

Talk of backdoors in encrypted services is once again doing the rounds after reports emerged that the U.K. government is seeking to force Apple to open up iCloud’s end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) device backup offering. Officials were said to be leaning on Apple to create a “backdoor” in the service that would allow state actors to […]

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Friday, February 14, 2025

Uber sues DoorDash, alleging anti-competitive tactics

Ride-share giant Uber filed a lawsuit Friday against DoorDash, accusing the delivery outfit of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. Uber alleges in the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of California, that its chief rival bullied restaurants into only working with DoorDash. Uber claims that DoorDash, which holds the largest share of […]

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Court filings show Meta paused efforts to license books for AI training

New court filings in an AI copyright case against Meta add credence to earlier reports that the company “paused” discussions with book publishers on licensing deals to supply some of its generative AI models with training data. The filings are related to the case Kadrey v. Meta Platforms — one of many such cases winding through […]

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AI Alexa and AI Siri face bugs and delays

Amazon and Apple are struggling to put generative AI technology in their digital assistants – Alexa and Siri, respectively – according to a pair of reports that came out on Friday. Amazon hoped to release its new Alexa during an event in New York on February 26. Now Amazon plans to delay the release of […]

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SailPoint’s dull debut did little to loosen the stuck IPO window, expert says

SailPoint’s IPO on Thursday was a disappointment for anyone hoping it would indicate that tech IPOs are hot again. The first day’s trading ended below the $23 initial price. The stock fared a tad better Friday, closing at over $24. But that’s nothing close to the big bang companies and VCs hope for. For instance, […]

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DeepSeek: Everything you need to know about the AI chatbot app

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). DeepSeek’s AI models, which were trained using compute-efficient techniques, have led Wall Street analysts — and technologists — to question whether the U.S. can maintain its […]

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Mastodon is working to add the controversial ‘quote posts’ feature

Mastodon, the decentralized alternative to X, is going to adopt a controversial feature from the platform formerly known as Twitter: quote posts. The company on Friday shared the progress it’s making on the implementation of the feature, which has divided users over its potential to be used for online abuse and bullying. Critics have long […]

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A job ad for Y Combinator startup Firecrawl seeks to hire an AI agent for $15K a year

Last week, an ad from the Y Combinator job board for a tiny startup called Firecrawl went viral on X.  That’s because the ad wasn’t for a human. “Please apply only if you are an AI agent, or if you created an AI that can fill this job,” the job posting read.  The seven-person startup […]

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Instagram tests a ‘dislike’ button for comments

After users noticed a new button on Instagram to downvote or dislike comments, the company confirmed that it is testing a way for users to signal that they either didn’t like the comment or don’t think it’s relevant. The feature will appear across both Feed posts and Reels. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a […]

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Call for speakers: TechCrunch All Stage 2025

Founders, VCs, and startup experts — this is your moment! Got scaling insights? Now’s your chance to share them with 1,200 founders, investors, and entrepreneurs at TechCrunch All Stage 2025 presented by Fidelity, on July 17 in Boston! We’re gathering leading experts from the startup and VC communities to host engaging sessions, interactive roundtables, and […]

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Apply to speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

AI innovators, this is your moment! Have insights to share with 1,200 AI founders, investors, and enthusiasts eager to push the boundaries of innovation?  Take the stage, shape the AI conversation, and exchange ideas at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall!  We’re bringing together top AI minds from the startup […]

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Thursday, February 13, 2025

TikTok is back on the App Store and the Play Store in the U.S.

After more than 25 days, Apple and Google restored TikTok in the U.S Thrusday evening. Both companies removed the app from the App Store and the Play Store on January 18 in response to a national security law. Other ByteDance apps such as video editor CapCut and social app Lemon8 were also restored on these […]

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Hotstar and JioCinema merge into JioHotstar as Reliance tightens grip on streaming in India

Hotstar and JioCinema, two widely used video streaming apps in India, have merged into JioHotstar. JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Star India, said Friday it had integrated JioCinema’s vast library of content into a revamped version of Disney’s Hotstar platform. The merged app will feature movies and TV shows from Disney, Warner […]

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Turo scraps plans for an IPO

Turo on Thursday withdrew its plans for an IPO, ending a three-year wait to bring the online car-sharing network to the public marketplace, according to a regulatory filing. Turo, which was founded in 2010, allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles through the startup’s website or app. The company — sometimes described as […]

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UK drops ‘safety’ from its AI body, now called AI Security Institute, inks MOU with Anthropic

The U.K. government wants to make a hard pivot into boosting its economy and industry with AI, and as part of that, it’s pivoting an institution that it founded a little over a year ago for a very different purpose. Today the Department of Science, Industry and Technology announced that it would be renaming the […]

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Alibaba confirms Apple deal bringing AI features to iPhones in China

Alibaba on Thursday confirmed recent reports of a partnership with Apple that’s set to bring AI features to iPhones sold in China. The deal is an important one for Apple, as iPhone sales have dropped precipitously in the world’s largest smartphone market. The handset experienced an 11% year-over-year drop in China, according to Apple’s most […]

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Honda’s $60B merger with Nissan falls apart

The $60 billion mega-merger between Honda and Nissan has been called off, in part because of Nissan’s “pride and insufficient alarm about its predicament,” writes Reuters, citing half a dozen sources. The report hints at bad blood on both sides, saying the development also ties to Honda abruptly revising the terms of the merger and […]

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Coinbase eyes re-entry to India

Coinbase is working on its re-entry to India more than a year after it officially ceased operations in the world’s most populous nation. The American crypto exchange is engaging with various Indian authorities, including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an Indian government agency that scrutinizes financial transactions, according to two sources familiar with the matter […]

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Getaround abruptly shuts down US car-sharing operations

Getaround, a company that helps vehicle owners rent out their cars, trucks and SUVs to other peers, is shutting down its U.S. operations one year after cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring. Its HyreCar business, which it acquired in 2023 for $9.45 million, is also closing. The company said […]

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US pharma giant Merck backs healthcare marketplace HD in Southeast Asia

Big Tech and pharmaceutical companies are accelerating the implementation of artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry. Just last month, AWS and General Catalyst announced their partnership to speed up the development and deployment of healthcare AI tools. GE Healthcare teamed up with AWS to build generative AI for medical use in 2024.   Now, a […]

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Ulu Ventures sticks to its diversity strategy, raises $208M

While large corporations like Google and Meta curbing their DEI programs, Ulu Ventures, which just raised a fourth $208 million fund, doesn’t plan to change its strategy of investing in diverse founders, the firm told the Wall Street Journal. Co-founded by Miriam Riviera, a Latina and former vice president and deputy general counsel at Google, […]

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Elon Musk’s X will pay Trump $10M to settle lawsuit over 2021 ban

Elon Musk’s X has agreed to pay President Donald Trump $10 million to settle a lawsuit from the days when the company was still called Twitter and owned by Jack Dorsey, the Wall Street Journal reported citing unnamed sources. The lawsuit took issue with Twitter’s decision to ban Trump after January 6, when Trump’s supporters […]

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Founded by DeepMind alumnus, Latent Labs launches with $50M to make biology programmable

A new startup founded by a former Google DeepMind scientist is exiting stealth with $50 million in funding. Latent Labs is building AI foundation models to “make biology programmable,” and it plans to partner with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to generate and optimize proteins. It’s impossible to understand what DeepMind and its ilk are doing […]

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Reddit hints at expanded AI-powered search

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that, over this year, Reddit plans to launch an upgraded search experience that’ll help users navigate the social network, but also answer “subjective, hard, [and] interesting questions.” The company plans to achieve this by integrating Reddit Answers, its feature that allows visitors to ask questions and receive curated summaries of […]

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VC industry reacts to Trump nominating a16z’s Brian Quintez for regulatory role

Brian Quintenz, who leads policy for Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto team, announced on Wednesday that he’s being tapped to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to his X post. And many in the VC industry appear to be thrilled about it. The CFTC regulates the trading of commodity futures, options, and swaps, otherwise known […]

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Las Vegas just got a Netflix restaurant

You can now dine out on dishes inspired by Netflix movies and shows at Las Vegas’s newest restaurant. Netflix Bites is open as of this week in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casio, where it will operate for a year. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner options like a Bridgerton-inspired tea service, Stranger Wings, […]

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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns of ‘race’ to understand AI as it becomes more powerful

Right after the end of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Anthropic’s co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei called the event a “missed opportunity.” He added that “greater focus and urgency is needed on several topics given the pace at which the technology is progressing” in the statement released on Tuesday. The AI company held a […]

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Trump picks Apple exec to lead transportation safety agency

President Donald Trump has chosen Jonathan Morrison, an Apple executive, to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, per a Senate filing. The nomination will be reviewed and voted on by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before being sent for a full Senate vote.  If he’s sworn in, Morrison will oversee an […]

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Suger helps companies list and scale up on cloud marketplaces

When cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and AWS launched cloud software marketplaces a decade ago, it opened up a new sales channel for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies to get in front of potential enterprise customers. These marketplaces effectively enabled SaaS companies to bypass the traditional, lengthy sales cycles. But rarely is the seller-side experience a walk […]

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Shopify took down Kanye’s swastika T-shirt shop, but another antisemitic storefront still operates

Shopify took down Kanye West’s online store after the musician sold T-shirts with the swastika symbol. West, who also goes by Ye, advertised his online store in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, directing viewers to his website, where the only item listed was the swastika T-shirt. Though Shopify removed a policy banning sellers from […]

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Founders Fund is about to close another $3B fund

Founders Fund is on track to conclude fundraising of its third growth fund at the end of March, according to people close to the firm. The Peter Thiel-founded outfit is raising $3 billion, a source told TechCrunch and  Axios also reported. The fund, which is intended primarily for additional investments in its successful late-stage portfolio […]

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ChatGPT may not be as power-hungry as once assumed

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot platform, may not be as power-hungry as once assumed. But its appetite largely depends on how ChatGPT is being used, and the AI models that are answering the queries, according to a new study. A recent analysis by Epoch AI, a nonprofit AI research institute, attempted to calculate how much energy a […]

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Apple Maps plans to show ‘Gulf of America,’ following Google

Apple Maps will soon rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, following similar changes made by Google this week, in order to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order that officially changed the name. U.S.-based Apple users may see the “Gulf of America” as soon as Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, and […]

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Built on Bluesky, Pinksky brings its Instagram-like app to Android

Bluesky users on Android now have access to a new app that works more like Instagram than X. On Tuesday, an app called Pinksky launched an Android version of its photo-centric social networking experience built on top of Bluesky. The app is now one of many attempting to court former Instagram users by offering a […]

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BuzzFeed is taking on Instagram, TikTok, X with a new social platform designed to spread ‘joy’ 

BuzzFeed, the media site known for its celebrity news and quizzes, announced on Tuesday that it’s developing its own social media platform, in a move to counter the current negativity on the internet. Semafor first reported BuzzFeed’s plan for the platform this past week. Details on the new platform are not yet public. However, the […]

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BYD to offer Tesla-like driver assist, even on its cheapest models 

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD unveiled “God’s Eye,” an advanced driver assistance system that will be install on its entire model lineup, including its $9,600 Seagull hatchback.  BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said at a live streamed event Monday that “we’re entering an era where autonomous driving is for everyone,” according to The Financial Times.  God’s […]

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Pinkfish helps enterprises build AI agents through natural language processing

As the chief product officer for AI customer service startup TalkDesk, Charayna “CK” Kannan said that enterprises often say they want to automate different workflows but that it’s really hard to implement AI. Enterprises are dealing with clunky, legacy software, that often doesn’t have APIs, creating a daunting task their IT departments weren’t prioritizing. “Every […]

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Monday, February 10, 2025

Google changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Maps

Google Maps officially updated the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Monday. Among many other executive orders, President Donald Trump decreed on the day of his inauguration that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of America. This executive order also reverses an Obama-era move to rename […]

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Zeta valued at $2B in new funding

Zeta, a provider of banking software to banks and fintech startups, has raised $50 million from a strategic investor at a $2 billion valuation. The new investment from American healthcare company Optum marks a 70% increase in the Bengaluru-based startup’s valuation from the $1.15 billion price tag (pre-money) it earned in 2021, when it raised […]

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Plaid working with Goldman Sachs on raising $300M to $400M in tender offer

Plaid, a company that connects bank accounts to financial applications, is working with Goldman Sachs on a deal to allow early-stage investors and employees to sell existing shares, which will raise between $300 million and $400 million, Bloomberg reported citing sources. The tender offer, as such deals are called, will likely value the company lower […]

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