A16z-backed super PAC targets Alex Boaz, sponsor of New York’s AI safety bill — says he will introduce the bill
A pro-AI super PAC backed by Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI President Greg Brockman has chosen New York State Representative Alex Boaz and his congressional bid as its first target. The PAC, named “Leading the Future,” was launched in August with more than $100 million to support policymakers with a light-touch (or no-touch) approach to AI […]
Meta releases new tool to prevent Reel creators’ work from being stolen
Facebook creators have new tools to protect their work from plagiarism by others. On Monday, Meta introduced Facebook content protection. This is a mobile tool designed to detect when a creator’s original Reel posted on Facebook is being used without permission. If creators are alerted that others are using their Reels, they can also block […]
Luminar battles with biggest customer as bankruptcy looms
Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has terminated its five-year contract with Luminar. This is the latest escalation in an increasingly ugly battle between LIDAR sensor companies and their biggest customers. The battle is occurring at a moment of survival for Luminar. The company recently defaulted on several loans. Luminar is working to reach a resolution with […]
Google rolls out AI ‘flight ticket’ tool globally, adds new travel features to search
Google is rolling out new AI-powered features for booking and planning travel in search, the company announced on Monday. The tech giant is expanding the availability of its AI-powered “Flight Deals” tool, adding the ability for users to organize their travel plans with the AI-mode “Canvas” tool, and bringing agent booking capabilities to more people. […]
PowerLattice attracts investment from former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger for power-saving chiplets
If you pay attention to what major technology companies are saying about the demand for AI, you’ll notice a common thread: a lack of computing power. This means that the large language models that power today’s AI products require more data centers for training and inference, and therefore more power. Against this backdrop, energy efficiency […]
Luminal raises $5.3 million to build a better GPU code framework
Three years ago, Luminal co-founder Joe Fioti was working on chip design at Intel. He was working on making the best chip possible, but the more important bottleneck was in the software. “You can make the best hardware on the planet, but if it’s difficult for developers to use, they won’t use it,” he told […]
Sakena AI raises $135 million in Series B at $2.65 billion valuation to continue building AI models for Japan
As US giants like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic race to develop large-scale language models to power their AI products, startups like Sakana AI, Mistral AI, DeepSeek, and AI21 Labs are carving out their own niches with specialized models designed for specific regions, industries, or unique capabilities. In pursuit of that goal, Tokyo-based Sakana AI has […]
Danish startup Flatpay joins club of European fintech unicorns and starts tracking
FlatPay, which makes card payments easier for small and medium-sized businesses, has joined the ranks of Europe’s fintech unicorns, or startups valued at more than $1 billion, a milestone that sparked the region’s biggest corporate exit. These include competitors like Dutch payment processing giant Adyen, which is still far superior in scale. But Flatpay’s new […]
‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ is expanding fast, and that should worry everyone
When Nigel Morris tells you he’s worried about the economy, you listen. As industry observers know, Morris co-founded Capital One and pioneered lending to subprime borrowers, building an empire on understanding exactly how much financial stress the average American can handle. Now, as an early investor in Klarna and other buy-now-pay-later companies like Aplazo in […]
Amazon Satellite Network changes brand name, withdraws affordable price tag
Amazon’s up-and-coming satellite internet program is no longer called Project Kuiper. Today he is known simply as “Leo”. The name change comes as the company appears to be shifting its focus from “unserved or underserved” communities to securing larger commercial contracts. The satellite network has been under construction since 2019, and the name Project Kuiper […]