Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that the two AI leaders, Sam Altman and Mustafa Suleyman do not care for each other. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Category: AI
AI, ChatGPT, DDoS, Exploits, Global Security News, openai, Research, Technology, Threats
‘Severe’ bug in ChatGPT’s API could be used to DDoS websites
A vulnerability in ChatGPT’s API can generate DDoS attacks against targeted websites, but the security researcher who discovered it says the flaw has since been addressed by OpenAI. In a security advisory posted to the developer platform GitHub, German security researcher Benjamin Flesch detailed the bug, which occurs when the API is processing HTTP POST…
AI, Gadgets, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Hardware, Samsung, samsung galaxy s25, samsung unpacked
Samsung Unpacked: Samsung’s Galaxy S25 will support Content Credentials to identify AI-generated images
Another tidbit just dropped following Wednesday’s Samsung Unpacked event. This one comes courtesy of Adobe, which notes that the new Galaxy S25 line will be the first handsets to support the Content Credentials standard, aimed at labeling AI-generated content as such. The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) group — of which Samsung is…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, Microsoft, openai, this week in AI, this week in ai newsletter
This Week in AI: OpenAI gains an invaluable infrastructure advantage
Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. OpenAI is making gains at the expense of its chief rivals. On Tuesday, the company announced the Stargate Project, a new joint venture involving Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, Oracle, and others to build AI infrastructure for OpenAI in…
AI, Climate, data centers, Enterprise, fission, Global IT News, Global Security News, nuclear power, South Carolina, Westinghouse
Zombie nuclear reactors could be revived thanks to AI data center demand
Hoping to capitalize on the data center power boom, state-owned utility Santee Cooper is looking for partners to finish construction on two incomplete reactors. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, Gadgets, Global IT News, Global Security News, Hardware, samasung galaxy s25, Samsung, samsung unpacked
Samsung Galaxy S25 line compared
Samsung revealed three new additions to its Galaxy smartphone line at Samsung Unpacked 2025 on Wednesday. The news didn’t bring too many surprises, as the line maintains its usual tiered system with the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra. The news finds the hardware in line with the rest of the mobile industry…
AI, gemini, Global IT News, Global Security News, google gemini, Hardware, Samsung, samsung galaxy s25, samsung unpacked
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 arrives with a better Google Gemini
At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday, the company unveiled the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra. Google marked the occasion with a slew of Android updates, including key updates to its AI assistant, Gemini. Starting today, users can access an improved Gemini, which integrates into apps and services across a device. In…
AI, Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, Hardware, samsung unpacked
Google makes Circle to Search more helpful
At Samsung Unpacked 2025 on Wednesday, Google announced that it’s updating Circle to Search to make it easier for users to find information and get things done. The feature, which launched last year, allows people to search from anywhere on their phone by using gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping. Now Google is expanding…
AI, Gadgets, gemini, Global IT News, Global Security News, Hardware, Samsung, samsung galaxy s25, samsung unpacked
Samsung’s AI-focused Galaxy S25 Ultra ships February 7 for $1,300
Samsung on Wednesday announced the latest additions to its Galaxy S flagship smartphone line at the company’s annual Samsung Unpacked 2025. As suspected, the defining characteristic of the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra is the company’s continued focus on mobile AI — a fact that hardly distinguishes the consumer electronics giant from the rest…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Samsung, smartthings
Samsung’s SmartThings to introduce AI features that simplify your daily routines
On Wednesday, Samsung unveiled how SmartThings, its smart home platform, will introduce AI features that allow users to simplify their everyday life through ambient sensing technology and generative AI. At Samsung Unpacked 2025, the company said the upcoming “Home AI” features will gather insights from a user’s everyday life to create personalized experiences. Samsung shared…
AI, Elon Musk, fight, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai, sam altman, Social, social media, xAI
Elon Musk and Sam Altman take to social media to fight over Stargate
Billionaire Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are fighting on X about Stargate, the enormous infrastructure project to build data centers for OpenAI across the U.S. Stargate, announced Tuesday during a press conference at the White House, would funnel as much as $500 billion from investors including SoftBank and Middle East AI fund MGX…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Space, Startups, TC, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 tickets now on sale: Lowest rates ever
We’re kicking things off earlier than ever! TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 tickets are officially on sale. Don’t miss your chance to snag them at the lowest rates of the year! Immerse yourself in the epicenter of tech innovation at Disrupt 2025! From October 27–29, Moscone West in San Francisco transforms into the global hub for technology…
AI, Anthropic, Funding, Fundraising, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, In Brief, report, startup
Anthropic reportedly secures an additional $1B from Google
Anthropic has reportedly raised around $1 billion from Google as the AI company looks to deliver a number of major product updates this year. First reported by the Financial Times, Google’s fresh investment brings the tech giant’s total stake in Anthropic to around $3 billion. Google poured $2 billion into Anthropic late last year. Anthropic,…
AI, Apps, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Global Security News, Mobile, sensor tower, state of mobile
AI apps saw over $1 billion in consumer spending in 2024
Demand for generative AI help drive consumer spending on apps to $150 billion globally in 2024, up 13% from the prior year. According to an annual “State of Mobile” report from app intelligence provider Sensor Tower (which acquired Data.ai, the original report’s author, last March), AI apps saw a surge of interest over the past…
AI, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Meta
Databricks closes $15.3B financing at $62B valuation, Meta joins as ‘strategic investor’
Data analytics platform Databricks has confirmed that it has closed a previously announced $10 billion in Series J equity financing at a $62 billion valuation. The San Francisco-based company also added a further $5.25 billion in debt financing, funded by JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, among other “leading financial institutions and alternative…
AI, AI agents, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, postman, TC
Postman launches an AI agent builder on top of its API platform
Since it was founded in 2014, India-based Postman has made a name for itself as one of the most popular platforms for building and using APIs, with 500,000 organizations now using the service. Like with so many other SaaS services, though, its valuation today is reportedly down from its $5.6 billion high in 2021. But…
AI, Enterprise, Enterprise AI, Exclusive, Global IT News, Global Security News, Startups, VC, venture capital
Sales knowledge automation platform 1up gets a third of its customer leads from memes
When George Avetisov was the founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup HYPR, he spent a lot of time in the trenches with the company’s sales team. He quickly realized that regardless of how good his sales team was, they were consistently pulling in other departments to answer customer questions or fill out technical questionnaires. “They…
AI, Enterprise, Enterprise Search, Funding, Global IT News, Global Security News, Venture
Doti gives enterprises a flexible AI-powered search experience to unlock their data silos
As enterprises look at how they can best leverage AI to increase their employees’ productivity, search is an obvious use case. In most companies, after all, data lives in multiple disconnected silos and the combination of large language models, retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and enterprise-grade integration services now makes it easier than ever to not…
AI, Biotech & Health, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, Lindus Health
Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’
A four-year-old London startup backed by Peter Thiel has raised a $55 million Series B round as it sets about “fixing the broken clinical trial industry.” The announcement comes as artificial intelligence is shaping up to revolutionize drug discovery and development, in turn spurring demand for a streamlined clinical trial process to help get new…
AI, Enterprise, expense management, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, procurement, software spend, spend optimization, Vertice
Vertice raises $50M for its AI-powered SaaS spend platform
London startup Vertice has made a name for itself over the years in the very crowded world of expense management with a focus on applying AI to optimize a single area where businesses, collectively, are currently sinking hundreds of billions of dollars in IT budgets that are exceeding $5 trillion annually: software and cloud spend.…
AI, Cloud, data center, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Infrastructure, Microsoft, openai
Microsoft is no longer OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider
Microsoft was once the exclusive provider of data center infrastructure for OpenAI to train and run its AI models. No longer. As part of Stargate, OpenAI’s massive new AI infrastructure deal with SoftBank, Oracle, and others, Microsoft says it has signed a new agreement with OpenAI that gives it “right of first refusal” on new…
AI, data center, data centers, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government, openai, oracle, Softbank, texas
OpenAI teams up with SoftBank and Oracle on $500B data center project
OpenAI says that it will team up with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and with Oracle, along with others, to build multiple data centers for AI in the U.S. The joint venture, called The Stargate Project, will begin with a large data center project in Texas and eventually expand to other states. The companies expect to commit $100…
AI, Asia Pacific, china, Global Security News, Government, Scale AI, White House
Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang has published an open letter lobbying Trump to invest in AI
Scale AI’s CEO Alexandr Wang has five recommendations for President Trump to keep the US ahead of China on AI. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Perplexity
Perplexity launches Sonar, an API for AI search
Perplexity on Tuesday launched an API service called Sonar, allowing enterprises and developers to build the startup’s generative AI search tools into their own applications. “While most generative AI features today have answers informed only by training data, this limits their capabilities,” Perplexity wrote in a blog post. “To optimize for factuality and authority, APIs…
AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, deepfake, Global Security News, Podcast, The AI Fix
The AI Fix #34: Fake Brad Pitt and why AI means we will lose our jobs
In episode 34 of The AI Fix, our hosts watch in horror as a vacuum cleaner sprouts a robotic arm and legs, a rivet embedded in the side of your head claims it will be able to read your mind and chat up French girls, a robot dog runs much quicker than you ever will,…
AI, Anthropic, Apps, Claude, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, In Brief, World Economic Forum
Anthropic plans to release a ‘two-way’ voice mode for Claude
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says that the company plans to release a “two-way” voice mode for its chatbot, Claude, as well as a memory feature that lets Claude remember more about users and past conversations. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Amodei also revealed that Anthropic expects to…
AI, chatbot, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, government services, openai
UK plans ‘digital wallet’ for driver’s licenses and other ID, plus a chatbot powered by OpenAI
Alongside its big public push for AI investments, the U.K. government is also playing a virtual card to catapult itself into the 21st century. Today it announced plans to launch a secure digital wallet to manage government-issued credentials, alongside a chatbot — built in collaboration with OpenAI — to interact with the main GOV.UK portal.…
AI, Asia Pacific, generative ai, Global Security News, In Brief, IPO, mistral, startup, Startups, Venture, World Economic Forum
Mistral AI plans IPO
French AI lab, Mistral, is working toward an initial public offering, co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Mistral is “not for sale,” Mensch said, adding that the company plans to open an office in Singapore to focus on the Asia-Pacific region and…
AI, Donald Trump, former president joe biden, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government, Government & Policy, In Brief, Policy
President Trump repeals Biden’s AI executive order
During his first day in office, President Donald Trump revoked a 2023 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden that sought to reduce the potential risks AI poses to consumers, workers, and national security. Biden’s executive order directed the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to author guidance that helps companies…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Peter Kyle, public health, social services
UK to unveil ‘Humphrey’ assistant for civil servants with other AI plans to cut bureaucracy
A week after the U.K. government announced a sweeping plan to make big investments into AI, it’s laying out more details around how this will take shape in the public sector. On the agenda: AI assistants to speed up public services; data sharing deals across siloed departments; and a new set of AI tools —…
agents, AI, Apps, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Leak, openai, operator, rumor
OpenAI’s agent tool may be nearing release
OpenAI may be close to releasing an AI tool that can take control of your PC and perform actions on your behalf. Tibor Blaho, a software engineer with a reputation for accurately leaking upcoming AI products, claims to have uncovered evidence of OpenAI’s long-rumored Operator tool. Publications including Bloomberg have previously reported on Operator, which…
AI, chatbot, friend, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, shipment, startup, Startups
Friend delays shipments of its ‘AI companion’ pendant
Friend, a startup creating a $99, AI-powered necklace designed to be treated as a digital companion, has delayed its first batch of shipments until Q3. Friend had planned to ship devices to pre-order customers in Q1. But according to co-founder and CEO Avi Schiffman, that’s no longer feasible. “As much as I would liked to…
AI, deepseek, deepseek-r1, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, high flyer, Open AI, r1, TC
DeepSeek claims its reasoning model beats OpenAI’s o1 on certain benchmarks
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has released an open version of DeepSeek-R1, its so-called reasoning model, that it claims performs as well as OpenAI’s o1 on certain AI benchmarks. R1 is available from the AI dev platform Hugging Face under an MIT license, meaning it can be used commercially without restrictions. According to DeepSeek, R1 beats…
AI, AI agents, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, VC, Venture, venture capital
Here are the types of AI companies enterprise VCs want to back in 2025
The AI startup market is sprawling, from companies looking to develop new chips, to those using AI to build robots, to others looking to use AI to create niche solutions for industry-specific workflows. There are a lot of potential areas for venture capitalists to invest in, but there are clearly a few subsectors they are…
AI, epoch ai, frontiermath, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, o3, openai
AI benchmarking organization criticized for waiting to disclose funding from OpenAI
An organization developing math benchmarks for AI didn’t disclose that it had received funding from OpenAI until relatively recently, drawing allegations of impropriety from some in the AI community. Epoch AI, a nonprofit primarily funded by Open Philanthropy, a research and grantmaking foundation, revealed on December 20 that OpenAI had supported the creation of FrontierMath.…
AI, ai safety, Anthropic, defense tech, Global Security News, Government & Policy, military, North America, openai, pentagon, TC
The Pentagon says AI is speeding up its ‘kill chain’
Leading AI developers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, are threading a delicate needle to sell software to the United States military: make the Pentagon more efficient, without letting their AI kill people. Today, their tools are not being used as weapons, but AI is giving the Department of Defense a “significant advantage” in identifying, tracking,…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, hallucinations, LLMs, Research, TC
AI isn’t very good at history, new paper finds
Top LLMs performed poorly on a high-level history test, a new paper has found. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Enterprise, FTC, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, Government & Policy, Microsoft, openai
FTC says partnerships like Microsoft-OpenAI raise antitrust concerns
The Federal Trade Commission said in a staff report issued Friday that there are potential competitive issues in partnerships between big tech companies and generative AI developers — specifically, Microsoft’s backing of OpenAI and Amazon and Alphabet/Google’s partnerships with Anthropic. “The FTC’s report sheds light on how partnerships by big tech firms can create lock-in,…
AI, Amazon, Global IT News, Global Security News, In Brief, Prime Air, Transportation
Amazon suspends US drone deliveries following crash at testing facility
Amazon has paused testing of its delivery drones following a crash involving two of its models, according to Bloomberg. It’s the latest setback for Amazon’s beleaguered Prime Air program, which aims to deliver around 500 million packages a year to customers by the end of the decade. Bloomberg reports two Amazon drones crashed in rainy…
acquisition, AI, Apps, Enterprise, Fundraising, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Perplexity, read.cv, Social, social network, Startups
Perplexity acquires Read.cv, a social media platform for professionals
Read.cv, a social media platform for professionals that competed with LinkedIn, has been acquired by AI-powered search engine Perplexity. As part of the deal, Read.cv will begin to wind down operations Friday. Users will be able to export their data, including their profiles, posts, and messages, until May 16. “We’ve long admired Perplexity and believe…
AI, Apps, ChatGPT, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Open AI
ChatGPT’s newest feature lets users assign it traits like ‘chatty’ and ‘Gen Z’
Update: OpenAI officially announced this feature one week after some users reported the arrival, and then disappearance, of the new options. It’s possible they went live prematurely. OpenAI is introducing a new way for users to customize their interactions with ChatGPT, the company’s AI-powered chatbot. On Friday, OpenAI announced it is rolling out a new…
AI, ai models, Biotech & Health, ChatGPT, Global IT News, Global Security News, human longevity, In Brief, openai, TC
OpenAI is trying to extend human life, with help from a longevity startup
OpenAI says it trained a new AI model called GPT-4b micro with Retro Biosciences, a longevity science startup trying to extend the human lifespan by 10 years, according to the MIT Technology Review. Retro, which is backed by Sam Altman, has been working with OpenAI for roughly a year on this research, according to the…
AI, Enterprise, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, Index Ventures, Nexos.ai, Nord Security, nordvpn, Tomas Okmanas
Nord Security founders launch Nexos.ai to help enterprises take AI projects from pilot to production
A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security is setting out to help enterprises put their AI projects into production, with an initial focus on bringing greater visibility, security and adaptability to large language models (LLMs). Nexos.ai, as the startup is called, is the handiwork of Tomas Okmanas (pictured above)…
AI, Cloud Security, Cybersecurity, Featured, Fortinet, Global Security News, News, Security Awareness, Security Boulevard (Original), Social - Facebook, Social - LinkedIn, Social - X, Spotlight, Threats & Breaches
Security Concerns Complicate Multi-Cloud Adoption Strategies
While cloud adoption continues to drive digital transformation, the shift to the cloud introduces critical security challenges that organizations must address. The post Security Concerns Complicate Multi-Cloud Adoption Strategies appeared first on Security Boulevard.
AI, deepfake, Global Security News, Guest blog, Romance baiting, Scam
No, Brad Pitt isn’t in love with you
No, Brad Pitt isn’t in love with you. A French woman was duped into believing a hospitalised Brad Pitt had fallen in love with her. The scammers even faked a “breaking news” report announcing the revelation of Brad’s new love… Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.
AI, Anthropic, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai, PitchBook Data, VC Investments, Venture, Waymo, xAI
Despite VCs investing $75B in Q4 , it’s still hard for startups to raise money, data proves
After two years of relatively muted investment activity, it seems that VCs are starting to pour capital into startups at pandemic-era levels once again. But a closer look shows that they aren’t really. In the fourth quarter of last year, investors funneled $74.6 billion into US startups, a substantial increase from the average of $42…
AI, Apple, Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, notification summaries
Apple pauses AI notification summaries for news after generating false alerts
Apple is pausing AI notification summaries for news and entertainment apps after facing backlash for generating inaccurate news alerts. In addition, the company is introducing changes to notification summaries as a whole to allow for greater transparency. With the latest round of developer previews for iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3, Apple is disabling…
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bennie Thompson, Biden administration, CISA, cloud computing, critical infrastructure, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Donald Trump, Emerging Tech, encryption, fraud, Global Security News, Government, House Homeland Security Committee, Joe Biden, Mark Green, National Cyber Director, National Risk Management Center, National Security Council, National Security Council (NSC), Office of the National Cyber Director, operational technology, phishing, quantum computing, supply chain, supply chain security, Trump, Trump Administration
Biden cyber executive order gets mostly plaudits, but its fate is uncertain
A sweeping executive order on cybersecurity released Thursday won largely positive reviews, with the main question being its timing — and what will come of it with the executive branch set to be handed over from president to president. Chris Inglis, the former national cyber director for Joe Biden who has served under both Democrats…
AI, AI agents, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Marc Benioff, nvidia, Salesforce
Nvidia releases more tools and guardrails to nudge enterprises to adopt AI agents
Nvidia is releasing three new NIM microservices, or small independent services that are part of larger applications, to help enterprises bring additional control and safety measures to their AI agents. One of these new NIM services targets content safety and works to prevent an AI agent from generating harmful or biased outputs. Another works to…
AI, Biden administration, budget, Cloud, cloud computing, Cloud Security, Congress, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Global Security News, Government, House Appropriations Committee, House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes, Joe Biden, Obama administration, office of management and budget, OMB, Policy, regulation, Senate Appropriations Committee, Shelley Moore Capito, Technology Modernization Fund, Trump, Trump Administration
Bipartisan cloud study recommends speeding federal adoption, or remain vulnerable on cyber
Slow adoption of cloud technologies poses a cybersecurity hazard for federal agencies, which will require an overhaul of contracting, regulatory and budgeting procedures to fix, a bipartisan think tank report that will be released Thursday concludes. Led by veterans of both the first Trump administration and Biden administration as well as lawmakers from both parties,…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, mistral, Mistral AI
Mistral signs deal with AFP to offer up-to-date answers in Le Chat
Just a day after Google inked a deal with The Associated Press, Mistral is also announcing a content deal with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) to improve the accuracy of answers in Le Chat, Mistral’s chatbot product. This is the first deal of this kind for the Paris-based artificial intelligence company. And it indicates that Mistral…
AI, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Llama, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, TC
In AI copyright case, Zuckerberg turns to YouTube for his defense
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to have used YouTube and its battle to take down pirated content to defend his own company’s use of a data set containing copyrighted e-books to train AI models, newly released snippets of his deposition reveals. The deposition, which was part of a complaint submitted to the court by plaintiffs’…
AI, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, minimax, open, Open AI, startup, Startups
Chinese AI company MiniMax releases new models it claims are competitive with the industry’s best
Chinese firms continue to release AI models that rival the capabilities of systems developed by OpenAI and other U.S.-based AI companies. This week, MiniMax, an Alibaba- and Tencent-backed startup that has raised around $850 million in venture capital and is valued at more than $2.5 billion, debuted three new models: MiniMax-Text-01, MiniMax-VL-01, and T2A-01-HD. MiniMax-Text-01…
AI, data breach, Data loss, Elon Musk, Firefox, Global Security News, Google Chrome, Operating Systems, Podcast, privacy, Smashing Security, surveillance, video game
Smashing Security podcast #400: Hacker games, AI travel surveillance, and 25 years of IoT
The video game Path of Exile 2 suffers a security breach, we explore the issues of using predictive algorithms in travel surveillance systems, and the very worst IoT devices are put on show in Las Vegas. Oh, and has Elon Musk accidentally revealed he cheats at video games? All this and much more is discussed…
AI, Apps, ChatGPT, education, gen z, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai, Teens
More teens report using ChatGPT for schoolwork, despite the tech’s faults
Younger Gen Zers are embracing OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, for schoolwork, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. But it’s not clear that they’re fully aware of the tech’s pitfalls. In a follow-up to its 2023 poll on ChatGPT usage among young people, Pew asked ~1,400 U.S.-based teens ages 13 to 17…
AI, Climate, data centers, Engie, Enterprise, Facebook, Global IT News, Global Security News, Meta, renewable energy, Solar Power
Meta adds 200 megawatts of solar to its 12 gigawatt renewable portfolio
The news comes as tech companies ramp up their AI ambitions, adding data centers at a breakneck pace and boosting demand for power. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, bytedance, Exclusive, Global IT News, Global Security News
TikTok owner ByteDance powered an e-reader’s unhinged AI assistant
The AI embedded in a popular e-reader was spouting Chinese propaganda. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Global IT News, Global Security News, media, Media & Entertainment, openai, partnerships
OpenAI is bankrolling Axios’ expansion into four new markets
OpenAI is getting into the local news game. Newsletter-based media organization Axios announced a partnership with OpenAI on Wednesday. As part of this three-year deal, the AI giant will fund Axios’ expansion of its local newsletters into four new cities: Pittsburgh; Kansas City, Missouri; Boulder, Colorado; and Huntsville, Alabama. While OpenAI has inked content-sharing and…
AGI, AI, Francois Chollet, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, mike knoop, ndea, program synthesis, Startups
AI researcher François Chollet founds a new AI lab focused on AGI
François Chollet, an influential AI researcher, is launching a new startup that aims to build frontier AI systems with novel designs. The startup, Ndea, will consist of an AI research and science lab. It’s looking to “develop and operationalize” AGI. AGI, which stands for “artificial general intelligence,” typically refers to AI that can perform any…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, newsletter, this week in AI, this week in ai newsletter
This Week in AI: Will Biden’s AI actions survive the Trump era?
Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. This week was something of a swan song for the Biden administration. On Monday, the White House announced sweeping new restrictions on exporting AI chips — restrictions that tech giants, including Nvidia, loudly criticized. (Nvidia’s business…
AI, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Global Security News, Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), North America
CISA’s AI cyber collaboration playbook aims to spur information-sharing
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is making one last push before the change in administration for increased information sharing between the public and private sectors, releasing an artificial intelligence-focused playbook Tuesday that aims to foster “a unified approach” to handling AI-related cyber threats. The agency’s AI Cybersecurity Collaboration Playbook was developed with the FBI,…
AI, Apps, chatbot, gemini, generative ai, Global Security News, Google, News, publisher, the associated press
Google inks deal with The Associated Press to bring more real-time info to Gemini
In a bid to make its Gemini chatbot app more of one-stop shop, Google says it’s working with The Associated Press to build “a feed of real-time information” in Gemini. Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s VP of global news partnerships, said that the goal is to “further enhance the usefulness of results” in the Gemini experience. “As…
AI, Enterprise, gemini, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, gmail, Google Docs, Google Workspace
Google raises the price of Workspace plans, includes its AI features for free
Google announced on Wednesday that all AI features in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet are now available to Workspace customers at no extra charge, though the plan will see a $2 per month increase per user. This change simplifies access to Workplace AI tools, including email summaries, automated note-taking, chatting with the Gemini bot, and…
AI, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, recruiting
As Gen Z job applicants balloon, companies are turning to AI agent recruiters
According to some of the latest statistics, employers are swamped by job applications. In the UK alone, employers running graduate training schemes received an average of 140 applications for each job in 2024, 59 per cent more than in 2023, according to the Institute of Student Employers. And despite some trepidations amongst a few recruiters,…
AI, Apps, chatbot, ChatGPT, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai, Phone Number
OpenAI tests letting users sign up for ChatGPT with only a phone number
OpenAI has begun testing a feature that lets new ChatGPT users sign up with only a phone number — no email required. As spotted by software engineer Tibor Blaho, the feature, which is available in beta in the U.S. and India, lets users create an account for ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, by providing their…
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Rockfish, Startups, synthetic data, VC, venture capital
Rockfish is helping enterprises leverage synthetic data
For years, Vyas Sekar would call up Muckai Girish, an old friend from undergrad, to talk through potential startup ideas and get Girish’s opinion. The two usually talked through an idea and ended the conversation at that. When Sekar called Girish with an idea involving synthetic data in early 2022, the conversation didn’t just end…
agents, AI, Copilot, Enterprise, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, microsoft 365 copilot
Microsoft’s newest Copilot plan for business is pay-as-you-go
Microsoft is launching a pay-as-you-go plan for corporate customers that bundles together several, but not all, of the company’s existing AI-powered productivity features for Microsoft 365. The new plan, Copilot Chat — not to be confused with Microsoft’s Copilot Business Chat or GitHub Copilot Chat — is underpinned by OpenAI’s GPT-4o AI model and lets…
AI, Enterprise, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, Synthesia
Synthesia snaps up $180M at a $2.1B valuation for its B2B AI video platform
As the world continues to work through how to handle the explosion of deepfake content online, it seems that not all AI-created videos are stirring controversy. Synthesia, a London startup building products around highly realistic AI avatar technology, says it’s a big hit with enterprises, with some 60,000 of them — 1 million users —…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, MetAI, Nvidia Inception, Startups, taiwan
Nvidia backs MetAI, a Taiwanese startup that creates AI-powered digital twins
Nvidia has been doubling down on the opportunity to build robotics and other industrial AI applications, with the launch of its Omniverse platform, and most recently Mega, an Omniverse Blueprint framework to create digital twins to operate these applications. It’s also investing in digital twin startups to get the effort off the ground. Taiwan’s MetAI…
AI, ChatGPT, evergreens, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai
ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership…
AI, ChatGPT, Global IT News, Global Security News, GPT4, Llama, Meta, TC
Meta execs obsessed over beating OpenAI’s GPT-4 internally, court filings reveal
Executives and researchers leading Meta’s AI efforts obsessed over beating OpenAI’s GPT-4 model while developing Llama 3, according to internal messages unsealed by a court on Tuesday in one of the company’s ongoing AI copyright cases, Kadrey v. Meta. “Honestly… Our goal needs to be GPT-4,” said Meta’s VP of Generative AI, Ahmad Al-Dahle, in…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, notebooklm, Podcasts
Google’s NotebookLM had to teach its AI podcast hosts not to act annoyed at humans
NotebookLM’s viral AI podcast hosts sounded annoyed at human callers and required “friendliness tuning,” Google says. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, Global Security News, openai
OpenAI appoints BlackRock exec to its board
OpenAI has appointed an executive at investment firm BlackRock to its board of directors. Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, a senior managing director at BlackRock and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure investing platform, has joined OpenAI’s board, OpenAI announced on Tuesday. In a statement, OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor said that Ogunlesi has “an exceptional…
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Biden administration, data centers, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Trump Administration
Biden administration opens up federal land to AI data centers
With less than a week left in office, President Joe Biden is not done leaving his mark on the AI industry. President Biden issued an executive order on Tuesday that will allow private sector AI companies to lease federal sites owned by the Department of Defense and Department of Energy in order to build AI…
AI, Apps, ChatGPT, Global IT News, Global Security News, openai, TC
ChatGPT now lets you schedule reminders and recurring tasks
Paying users of OpenAI’s ChatGPT can now ask the AI assistant to schedule reminders or recurring requests. The new beta feature, called tasks, will start rolling out to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users around the globe this week. With tasks, users can set simple reminders with ChatGPT such as, “Remind me when my passport…
AI, AI chips, alibaba, Apple, data centers, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Synopsys, ualink, Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium
Apple joins consortium to help develop next-gen AI data center tech
Apple has joined a consortium creating next-gen technology to link together chips in AI data centers. The consortium, the Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium, is developing a standard called UALink, which connects the AI accelerator chips found within a growing number of server farms. As of Tuesday, Apple is a member of the consortium’s board, along…
accounting, AI, Fundraising, gen z, Global IT News, Global Security News, Open Ledger, Startups, Venture
A 24-year-old who exited his first company to Coinbase raises $3M for his next venture
At 24 years old, Pryce Yebesi already has one exit: selling his crypto invoicing company Utopia Labs to Coinbase for an undisclosed amount. Some founders don’t just have one company in them. On Monday, Yebesi announced the launch of his new company, Open Ledger, which embeds automated accounting software into products that enterprises and small…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, openai, Policy, policy document, Politics
OpenAI quietly revises policy doc to remove reference to ‘politically unbiased’ AI
OpenAI has quietly removed language endorsing “politically unbiased” AI from one of its recently published policy documents. In the original draft of its “economic blueprint” for the AI industry in the U.S., OpenAI said that AI models “should aim to be politically unbiased by default.” A new draft, made available Monday, deletes that phrasing. When…
AI, AI Cybersecurity, Blog, Global Security News, MixMode Platform, Predictive AI, Security Bloggers Network
Six Friends Every Security Team Needs
Around the year 1900, an author (Rudyard Kipling) wrote a poem called “The Elephant’s Child.” In it, he writes: “I keep six honest serving men They taught me all I knew Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.” Little did Kipling know that these six friends would someday…
AI, chips, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, quantum computing, Seeqc, Startups
With $30 million in new funding, SEEQC thinks chips are key to building useful quantum computing
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may have said that “very useful quantum computers” are probably still 20 years away, but his company is also hedging its bets beyond classical chips with investments and partnerships in that very space. Now one of the companies that Nvidia partners with in quantum development is announcing funding. SEEQC, a quantum…
AI, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Global Security News, Grok, Podcast, robot, The AI Fix
The AI Fix #33: AI’s deliberate deceptions, and Elon’s “unhinged” mode
In episode 33 of The AI Fix, our hosts watch a robot fall over, ChatGPT demonstrates that it can’t draw a watch face but it can fire a gun, a man without a traffic cone gets trapped in his Waymo taxi, Graham discovers what social robots are, and both hosts watch horrified as somebody rips…
AI, Global IT News, Global Security News, multilingual, o1, openai, reasoning, reasoning models, thinking, tokens
OpenAI’s AI reasoning model ‘thinks’ in Chinese sometimes and no one really knows why
Shortly after OpenAI released o1, its first “reasoning” AI model, people began noting a curious phenomenon. The model would sometimes begin “thinking” in Chinese, Persian, or some other language — even when asked a question in English. Given a problem to sort out — e.g. “How many R’s are in the word ‘strawberry?’” — o1…
AI, Enterprise, enterprises, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, Startups, venture capital
Thoras helps companies reach reliability without overspending on cloud costs
For years, twin sisters Nilo Rahmani and Jen Rahmani swapped stories — and commiserated — over the pain points they were facing in their respective engineering jobs. Nilo told TechCrunch that a frequent topic of conversation was about frustrations over the reliability platforms they were using at work. When they noticed the reliability landscape starting…
AI, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News
AWS pledges to spend $5B in Mexico, launches new Mexico server region
In an announcement Tuesday, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division, said it plans to invest $5 billion in Mexico over the next 15 years as a part of a “long-term commitment” in the region. A portion of that investment is a new server region in Mexico launching today, AWS Mexico, that will allow…
AI, antitrust, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, Government & Policy, regulation, Search
UK’s CMA slaps Google Search and its 90%+ market share with an antitrust investigation
The Competition and Markets Authority — the U.K.’s antitrust watchdog — is wasting no time in lodging its first official investigation of 2025 under its new rules that came into effect this month. It’s looking into the market dominance of Google in Search, including the new work it’s doing in AI search as well as…
AI, Biotech & Health, Global IT News, Global Security News
Bioptimus raises $41M to develop a ‘GPT for biology’
A fledgling French AI startup has raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology. Just as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm for a super-smart generative AI tool capable of natural language conversation in text form, Bioptimus is taking that concept but training its model specifically for downstream biological applications…
AI, Enterprise, Global Security News, In Brief, Microsoft, reorg, team
Microsoft forms new internal dev-focused AI org
Microsoft has created a new engineering org aimed at accelerating AI infrastructure and software development within the company. According to Bloomberg, Jay Parikh, previously VP and global head of engineering at Meta, will lead the new division. He’ll report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and oversee groups including the company’s AI platform and developer teams.…
AI, Global Security News, Government, Government & Policy, lobbying, openai, Policy
OpenAI presents its preferred version of AI regulation in a new ‘blueprint’
OpenAI on Monday published what it’s calling an “economic blueprint” for AI: a living document that lays out policies the company thinks it can build on with the U.S. government and its allies. The blueprint, which includes a forward from Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s VP of global affairs, asserts that the U.S. must act to attract…
AI, Global Security News
Biden administration unveils export controls on AI models, chips
The post Biden administration unveils export controls on AI models, chips appeared first on CyberScoop.
AI, AI chips, Global IT News, Global Security News, IPO 2025, Startups
The first AI chip startup to go public in 2025 will be Blaize
Blaize, an AI chip manufacturer founded by former Intel engineers, is set to IPO on the NASDAQ on January 14. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
a16z, AI, Exclusive, Fashion, Global IT News, Global Security News, greycroft, Startups
Raspberry AI raises $24M from a16z to accelerate fashion design
The world of fashion is moving at a faster pace each year. Most retailers introduce new styles each season, and fast-fashion companies like Shein, H&M and Zara update their collections continuously. To keep pace with the rapid demand for new styles, brands and manufacturers have been turning to tech to accelerate their design process. Raspberry…
accounting, AI, Fundraising, gen z, Global IT News, Global Security News, Startups, Venture
A 24-year-old who exited his first company to Coinbase, raises $3M for his next venture
At 24 years old, Pryce Yebesi already has one exit: selling his crypto invoicing company Utopia Labs to Coinbase for an undisclosed amount. Some founders don’t just have one company in them. On Monday, Yebesi announced the launch of his new company, OpenLedger, which embeds automated accounting software into products enterprises and small businesses already…
AI, chips, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Hardware, nvidia
Biden administration proposes sweeping new restrictions on exporting AI chips
With a week left in office, President Joe Biden introduced a new set of guidelines and restrictions for exporting U.S.-made AI chips. On Monday the administration announced its Interim Final Rule on AI diffusion. This ruling is meant to “provide clarity to allied and partner nations about how they can benefit from AI” and streamline…
acquisition, AI, Fintech, Fundraising, geospatial, Global IT News, Global Security News, insurance, Moody’s, Startups
Moody’s agrees to acquire Cape Analytics, which develops geospatial AI for insurance providers
Financial services firm Moody’s announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Cape Analytics, a geospatial AI startup, for an undisclosed sum. The deal, which is expected to close in Q1, subject to customary closing conditions, will give Moody’s access to Cape’s geospatial AI analytics technology for insurance underwriting. With the tech, Moody’s plans…
AI, Biotech & Health, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, Healthcare, machine learning, qventus
More money comes to AI healthcare: Qventus nabs $105M at a $400M+ valuation
Healthcare is proving to be one of the more lucrative industries when it comes to building AI solutions to speed up how work is carried out across clinical, research and administrative operations. Today comes one of the latest examples of how that is playing out in terms of venture funding. Qventus, a startup that builds…
AI, Europe, Global Security News
CoreWeave, a $19B AI compute provider, opens its first international data centers in the UK
Coreweave, the $19 billion cloud computing company that provides companies with AI compute resources, has formally opened its first two data centers in the U.K. — its first outside its domestic U.S. market. CoreWeave opened its European headquarters in London last May, shortly after hitting a $19 billion valuation off the back of a $1.1.…
AI, ai safety, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, matt clifford, starmer
UK throws its hat into the AI fire
In 2023, the U.K. made a big song and dance about the need to consider the harms of AI, giving itself a leading role in the wider conversation around AI safety. Now, it’s whistling a very different tune: today, the government announced a sweeping plan and a big bet on AI investments to develop what…
AI, Anthropic, ChatGPT, Claude, cyber security, cyber threat, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, data protection, Data Security, Digital Privacy, Episodes, gemini, generative ai, Global Security News, Information Security, infosec, Podcast, Podcasts, privacy, Privacy Policies, Safety in AI, Security, Security Bloggers Network, Tech Ethics, Tech Podcast, Technology, Weekly Edition
AI Privacy Policies: Unveiling the Secrets Behind ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude
Do you ever read the privacy policy of your favorite AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude? In this episode, Scott Wright and Tom Eston discuss the critical aspects of these policies, comparing how each AI engine handles your personal data. They explore the implications of data usage, security, and privacy in AI, with insights…
AI, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, open source, reasoning, Research, sky-t1
Researchers open source Sky-T1, a ‘reasoning’ AI model that can be trained for less than $450
So-called reasoning AI models are becoming easier — and cheaper — to develop. On Friday, NovaSky, a team of researchers based out of UC Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab, released Sky-T1-32B-Preview, a reasoning model that’s competitive with an earlier version of OpenAI’s o1 on a number of key benchmarks. Sky-T1 appears to be the first truly…
AI, evergreens, Fundraising, Global IT News, Global Security News, nvidia, Startups
Nvidia’s AI empire: A look at its top startup investments
Over the last two years, Nvidia has used its ballooning fortunes to invest in over 80 AI startups. Here are the giant semiconductor’s largest investments. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
