Now, the Metaverse begins!
Meta’s big bet on virtual reality ended last week, with the company reportedly laying off about 1,500 employees in its Reality Lab division (about 10% of the division’s staff) and closing several VR game studios, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s a huge reversal for a company that staked its entire identity on that […]
Rogue agents and shadow AI: Why VCs are betting big on AI security
What happens if an AI agent decides the best way to complete a task is to blackmail you? That’s not a hypothesis. Barmak Meftah, a partner at cybersecurity VC firm Ballistic Ventures, said something like this recently happened to an employee at a company working with an AI agent. The employee tried to suppress what […]
BioticsAI, winner of Disrupt’s Battlefield competition in 2023, receives FDA approval for its AI-powered fetal ultrasound product
BioticsAI, winner of TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield 2023, announced Monday that it has received FDA clearance for its AI software that helps detect fetal abnormalities from ultrasound images. The product was conceived by founder and CEO Robbie Bustami, who grew up in a family of obstetricians, including his mother, aunt, and uncle. He spent a lot […]
Sequoia invests in Anthropic, breaking taboo on VCs backing rivals: FT
According to the Financial Times, Sequoia Capital is participating in a major funding round for Anthropic, the AI startup behind Claude. This is a move that is sure to garner attention in Silicon Valley. why? That’s because venture capital firms have historically avoided supporting competitors in the same field, preferring to bet on a single […]
How YC-backed Bucket Robotics survived its first CES
The weather in Las Vegas didn’t look very good. The plan was for each YC-backed Bucket Robotics employee to take a piece of the booth in their luggage to the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. But CEO and founder Matt Puchalski didn’t want to risk one (or all) of his company’s flights being delayed. So he […]
Moxie Marlinspike offers a privacy-friendly alternative to ChatGPT
If you’re even remotely concerned about your privacy, the rise of AI personal assistants may seem alarming. It is difficult to use personal information held by a model’s parent company without sharing it. OpenAI is already testing ads, so it’s easy to imagine the same data collection that fuels Facebook and Google creeping into chatbot […]
Why Silicon Valley is seriously talking about exiting California (not 5%)
For those who have been watching the exodus of billionaires from California with some confusion, here’s what’s really causing concern: It’s not the 5% rate. As the New York Post highlighted on Friday, the proposed wealth tax would be taxed on shares that founders have voting rights in, rather than on shares they actually own. […]
Who will inherit the star? Space ethicists talk about what we’re not talking about
At a technology conference in Italy in October, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos predicted that millions of people will be living in space “within the next few decades,” but said that “mostly” because they want to do it, and because robots are more cost-effective than humans when it comes to doing the actual […]
Trump administration’s legal setbacks are good news for offshore wind and the power grid
The Trump administration suffered a series of legal setbacks this week after a judge allowed construction to resume on several offshore wind farms under construction on the East Coast. In December, the Interior Ministry ordered the suspension of five projects with a total capacity of 6 gigawatts, citing national security concerns. The judicial order will […]
Ocean builds first ocean robot to collect data on Category 5 hurricanes
Anahita Lavelac had aspirations of becoming an aerospace engineer, but her career took a different turn when a challenge in autonomous robotics inspired her to start Ocean, a company that builds fleets of robots to collect ocean data. In 2021, Lavelac, a well-known sailor, decided to build a robot and compete in the MicroTransat Challenge, […]