Waymo’s latest robotaxis are made in China, built to make money, and are now accepting passengers.
Waymo has begun offering access to its newest robotaxis to select passengers in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Robotaxis are minivan-like fully electric vehicles designed to reduce costs and address the use and abuse of hundreds of thousands of passengers. Waymo announced Thursday that it will eventually expand access to its fleet of modified […]
US senator warns advertising industry is ‘national security threat’, says military targeted by location data
The U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged that adversaries are using commercial location data to target and monitor military personnel serving in the battlefield. This is the latest demonstration of how information collected from phones and computers can be misused to track and target individuals. In a letter shared with TechCrunch by Sen. Ron Wyden, […]
How long is Anthropic’s contract with SpaceX? Opinions vary.
Earlier this month, xAI signed a massive computing deal with Anthropic, pledging billions of dollars each month for exclusive use of the company’s Colossus cluster. This was a coup for both companies, delivering much-needed revenue to xAI and helping Anthropic catch up in the never-ending computing race. But this morning on X, Elon Musk downplayed […]
Sesame, a conversational AI startup led by Oculus founders, releases iOS app
Sesame, the AI startup co-founded by the founders of Oculus and officials from the VR company they sold to Meta, on Thursday released a public preview of a conversational AI agent it has been developing for more than a year. With its new iOS app, Sesame is rethinking the traditional AI chatbot experience popularized by […]
A sneak peek at the new Siri app reveals Apple’s plans to tackle ChatGPT and more
Just ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Bloomberg published leaked images of what Apple’s planned AI upgrades will look like on the iPhone (including a new Siri app meant to rival ChatGPT and other AI chatbots) and how Siri’s new features will be incorporated throughout the operating system. These images were created […]
RSI is the new AGI, but it’s just as difficult to identify
The word “recursion” is the latest buzzword in the AI world. Two separate startups have taken over the name, and many more are starting to mention recursive self-improvement (RSI) in their roadmaps. Like AGI before it, RSI has become a three-letter synonym for AI’s catastrophic takeoff. Even though there is still some disagreement about what […]
Oura launches Ring 5 with thinner, lighter design starting at $399
Oura on Thursday announced the fifth generation of its popular smart ring, starting at $399. The Ring 5, which Oura describes as the world’s smallest smart ring, arrives just a year and a half after the company launched the Ring 4 and seven months after the launch of the Ring 4 Ceramic. Ring 5 is […]
Piano Lessons for Life with Scoob are $150 — No Schedules, No Excuses
TL;DR: Skoove Premium Piano Lessons are available for $149.99 (regularly $299.99) and include over 400 lessons with AI-powered feedback. $149.99 $299.99 Save $150 It can be difficult to find time to take piano lessons each week. Between work, school, and other attention-seeking demands, even the most motivated learners can struggle to stick to a schedule. […]
Google engineer who made $1.2 million from Polymarket charged with insider trading
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo on insider trading charges, accusing the company’s employees of making $1.2 million in trades on Polymarket based on confidential business information. Spagnuolo, who used the name “AlphaRaccoon” at Polymarket, has worked at Google for more than 12 years, according to information on LinkedIn. […]
Why Google’s AI can’t spell Google (or anything else)
How many P’s does Google have? According to Google, there are two. According to Google’s AI Overview, “The word ‘poop’ has exactly one ‘r’ in it,” and the word ‘journalism’ has two ‘d’s, but is spelled ‘journadism.’ Google identified at least one P in the U.S. president’s last name, spelled trpum. You don’t need to […]