Google has released a trio of new, “open” generative AI models that it’s calling “safer,” “smaller” and “more transparent” than most — a bold claim, to be sure. They’re additions to Google’s Gemma 2 family of generative models, which debuted back in May. The new models, Gemma 2 2B, ShieldGemma and Gemma Scope, are designed
Month: July 2024
Startups are attracting serious funding to provide fun, alcohol-free drink options at the bar and in other social contexts. Earlier this year, canned water company Liquid Death announced that it has raised $67 million in new funding at a $1.4 billion valuation. And Athletic Brewing Company, which describes itself as America’s largest non-alcoholic brewery, said
AI lobbying at the U.S. federal level is intensifying in the midst of a continued generative AI boom and an election year that could influence future AI regulation. New data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit group that tracks and publishes metrics on campaign financing and lobbying, shows that the number of groups lobbying the federal government
Threads has made it easier for people to explore trending topics on the platform. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said Tuesday that users in the U.S. can now see a label that highlights related trending topics above posts. You can tap on that label to see more posts related to that topic, and the new window
It’s incredibly easy to dump carbon into the atmosphere and accelerate climate change. It’s a lot harder to take it out. Startups are experimenting with massive industrial systems to draw the pollutant out of the air, with facilities costing hundreds of millions of dollars to construct. That has some other founders thinking, why not use
It’s not uncommon for developers working at companies of a certain size to have trouble keeping track of all the software dev-related tasks and bugs that need to be addressed. According to a 2024 survey by Dynatrace, 88% of tech leaders say that the complexity of their tech stacks increased in the past year, and
Users will be able to get the first taste of Apple Intelligence as Apple has started to make some of the features of its AI suite available with the iOS 18.1 developer beta released Monday. The company launched Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. However, the first set of developer beta
Online dating can be challenging in itself, but it’s especially difficult for gamers, many of whom describe themselves as neurodivergent or introverted. Date Like Goblins — an online dating platform that takes its name from “Goblin Mode,” a term that means to unapologetically be your authentic self — aims to approach dating in a more
Sybill, a startup that has built an AI assistant specifically for sales representatives, said on Wednesday it has raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Greycroft. The market for sales AI assistants has grown quite crowded as companies have leveraged generative AI and large language models to help salespeople automate grunt work
Farms produce a lot of data. From machines to irrigation systems, farms generate a lot of information that could be helpful to both them and the companies that serve them. Traditionally this data has been siloed across different formats making it hard to read and build off of. Leaf is trying to change that. New
Intelmatix, a deep tech B2B startup that’s targeting businesses in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region wanting help to tap into the power of AI for decision-making, has closed a $20 million Series A funding round — one of the largest such rounds for a regional company of this type. The startup, which
The software supply chain faces threats from all sides. A 2024 report by the Ponemon Institute found that over half of organizations have experienced a software supply chain attack, with 54% having experienced one within the past year. Supply chain attacks typically target services from third-party vendors or open source software that make up a
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has passed in the Senate after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pushed the internet bill to a vote. Proposed in 2022, KOSA requires that online platforms take reasonable steps to protect users from harm, and could become the most significant children’s online safety legislation to take effect since COPPA.
Airtable today announced that it has acquired Dopt, a startup focused on helping other startups build product onboarding experiences for new users. Earlier this year, Dopt introduced a number of features that helped users add AI-based assistance tools to their respective services — those are the main reason Airtable is now acquiring the company. The
AI hardware is all the rage in startup land — though receptions have thus far been mixed. Two notable examples, Rabbit and Humane, released devices to disappointing results. a16z-backed Limitless and Exor-backed Bee AI, meanwhile, are working on their own screenless AI wearables. Avi Schiffmann, a Harvard dropout who built a Webby Award-winning website that
Google had good news and bad news last week. The good news was that the cloud division — including Google Workplace software as a service and Google Cloud infrastructure services — generated $10 billion for the quarter for the first time. That had to take the sting out of losing out on its second potential
The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji with fraud and unregistered offering of securities, claiming he used a pseudonymous identity to avoid regulatory scrutiny while he raised over $257 million in cryptocurrency. BitClout, a decentralized social media platform, raised from a who’s-who of
OpenAI began rolling out ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode on Tuesday, giving users their first access to GPT-4o’s hyper-realistic audio responses. The alpha version will be available to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users today, and OpenAI says the feature will gradually roll out to all Plus users in the fall of 2024. When OpenAI
We say something “goes viral” because we tend to think of rumors and disinformation spreading the way that an infection spreads. But these days it may be more accurate to say something “goes nuclear,” according to a new paper that models disinfo as a form of fission reaction. As common wisdom had it even before
Ever since a government experiment proved in 2022 that fusion isn’t as far fetched as it once seemed, physicists, engineers, and investors have been growing increasingly bullish on the technology’s ability to deliver on its long held — if frequently delayed — promise of providing nearly limitless amounts of emission-free power. The latest exhibit of
Qualcomm Tuesday announced the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2. The entry-level chip aims to make 5G accessible to 2.8 billion smartphone users in price-sensitive markets, including India and Latin America. Manufacturers lately have struggled to attract feature phone buyers in India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, primarily due to a lack of 5G models in the
Femtech, or tech that leverages innovations in AI, smartphones and connected wearables to give women more insights into reproductive and menstrual health, continues to gain momentum with users, and investors are following. London-based Flo Health, a fertility-focused period-tracking app, on Tuesday said it has raised a $200 million Series C from General Atlantic. The funding
Perplexity AI will soon start sharing advertising revenue with news publishers when its chatbot surfaces their content in response to a user query, a move that appears designed to assuage critics that have accused the startup of plagiarism and unethical web scraping. Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s head of business, told TechCrunch that the company was actually
The European Union has kicked off a consultation on rules that will apply to providers of general purpose AI models (GPAIs) — such as Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI — under the bloc’s AI Act, its risk-based framework for regulating applications of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers want the Code of Practice to help ensure “trustworthy” GPAIs
A fireside chat on Monday between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the SIGGRAPH 2024 conference in Colorado took a few unexpected turns. It started innocently enough, with Huang waxing positive about the capabilities of Nvidia GPUs and Zuckerberg speaking about his vision of an AI chatbot future. But by the
Shared micromobility giant Lime is piloting two new vehicles designed to appeal to women and older folks who might appreciate a lower step-through frame, smaller wheels and an upgrade from pedal-assist. Lime has experimented with several new form factors over the years in a bid to capture customers and adapt to changing tastes and trends.
The promise of AI and large language models (LLMs) is the ability to understand increasingly wider amounts of context and make sense of that information easily, so it makes sense that we’re seeing a bunch of companies trying to make wearable hardware so that people can use AI in their day-to-day lives. The latest entrant
Apple has published a technical paper detailing the models that it developed to power Apple Intelligence, the range of generative AI features headed to iOS, macOS and iPadOS over the next few months. In the paper, Apple pushes back against accusations that it took an ethically questionable approach to training some of its models, reiterating
Government websites aren’t known for cutting-edge tech. GovWell co-founder and CTO Ben Cohen discovered this while trying to help his dad, a contractor, apply for building permits. Cohen worked as a full stack engineer at Uber during the day and faxed documents for building permits at night. The difference in tech was stark. Years later,
Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. Today’s episode is packed with M&A talk, how one YouTuber succeeded at the creator economy, why Twitch is still losing money and an autonomous vehicle company that is making a comeback. First up, senior reporter Rebecca Bellan took a look
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 10
- Next Page »