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, […]
Musk seeks up to $134 billion in OpenAI lawsuit despite $700 billion fortune
Elon Musk is seeking a staggering $79 billion to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming the AI companies defrauded him by abandoning their nonprofit mission, Bloomberg first reported. That figure comes from expert witness C. Paul Wazan, a financial economist who, according to his bio, has been deposed nearly 100 times in […]
AI cloud startup Runpod hits $120 million in ARR — it started with a post on Reddit
Runpod, an AI app hosting platform launched four years ago, has reached an annual revenue run rate of $120 million, founders Zhen Lu and Pardeep Singh told TechCrunch. Their startup journey is a wild example that if you build well and your timing is lucky, they will come. This story includes our journey to over […]
California issues cease-and-desist order to Musk’s xAI over sexual deepfakes
Earlier this week, the California Attorney General’s Office announced that it was investigating xAI over reports that its chatbot Grok was being used to create non-consensual sexual images of women and minors. On Friday, the government sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company, demanding that it immediately stop producing CSAM, which contains non-consensual intimate images […]
TikTok quietly launches microdrama app called ‘PineDrama’
TikTok has quietly released a new standalone short drama app called PineDrama in the US and Brazil. This app provides access to microdramas. Microdramas are essentially bite-sized television shows that are available as a series of one-minute episodes. Think TikTok. But every video you see is a short episode of a fictional story. PineDrama is […]
Supreme Court hacker posts stolen government data on Instagram
According to court documents, a hacker posted personal data of several hacking victims on his Instagram account @ihackthegovernment. Last week, Nicholas Moore, 24, of Springfield, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court’s electronic filing system. At the time, the specific nature of the hacking crime to which Moore had admitted was […]