Science fiction writers say goodbye to AI at Comic-Con
In recent months, some major players in science fiction and popular culture have taken stronger stances against generative AI. Separate decisions by San Diego Comic-Con and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) demonstrate the depth of opposition to AI in some creative communities — not only that, but music distribution platform Bandcamp also […]
TechCrunch Mobility: RIP, Tesla Autopilot, and NTSB investigate Waymo
Welcome to TechCrunch Mobility. A central hub for news and insight on the future of transportation. To receive this in your inbox, sign up for free here. Just click on TechCrunch Mobility. As I was about to send out this newsletter, I received a little breaking news. The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation […]
What is Bendable Spoon? Everything you need to know about Eventbrite’s acquirer
Bending Spoons, a 12-year-old tech conglomerate based in Milan, has quietly become one of the tech industry’s most prolific buyers, now owning companies such as Meetup and WeTransfer, among many others, but is largely unknown to the public. So what exactly is Bending Spoon? Despite its catchy name, the company attracts significantly less attention and […]
Google announces fix for Gmail issues with spam and misclassification
If your Gmail account didn’t seem to be working properly on Saturday, you’re not alone. However, Google says the issue has been resolved. According to Google Workspace’s official status dashboard, the issue began Saturday morning around 5 a.m. Pacific Time, with users experiencing both “misclassified emails in their inboxes and additional spam alerts.” For me, […]
Tech CEOs brag and argue about AI at Davos
At times this week at the World Economic Forum, Davos appeared to be turning into a powerhouse technology conference, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and more industry executives taking to the stage. Unsurprisingly, the biggest topic was AI, with CEOs laying out their […]
A new challenge for AI labs: Are you trying to make money?
We are at a unique time for AI companies to build their own foundational models. First, there are generations of industry veterans who made their names at large technology companies and are now independent. There are also legendary researchers with vast experience but vague commercial aspirations. It’s clear that at least some of these new […]
How PopWheels helped food carts eliminate generators for e-bike batteries
Food carts are a staple of New York City dining, serving up everything from dosas and doner kebabs to dogs and dim sum in short order. But no matter how appealing the aroma of the food on the cart, customers can be turned off by the smelly gas generators that keep the lights on. Cart […]
Legal AI giant Harvey acquires Hexas as competition intensifies in the legal tech field
Harvey, a fast-growing legal AI startup, has acquired Hexus as it continues to aggressively expand in the fiercely competitive legal tech market. Hexus is a two-year-old startup that develops tools to create product demos, videos, and guides. Hexus founder and CEO Sakshi Pratap, who previously held engineering roles at Walmart, Oracle and Google, told TechCrunch […]
TikTok users outraged by app’s ‘immigration status’ collection — What does this mean?
With TikTok’s ownership change, TikTok users in the U.S., who were informed of the change through an in-app message, are collectively upset by the company’s privacy policy update. The revised document details the terms and conditions for your use of the service, including certain location information that may be collected by the U.S. joint venture. […]
Who is behind Yann LeCun’s “world model” startup, AMI Labs?
Yann LeCun’s new venture, AMI Labs, has received intense attention since the AI scientist left Meta to form it. This week, the startup finally revealed what it’s building. And some important details are hidden in plain sight. On its newly launched website, the company revealed plans to develop “world models” to “build intelligent systems that […]