Author: TechBrunch
Exosonic, a startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and UAV technology, is ending its five-year run. In an update posted on its website, Exosonic said it was unable to find the traction needed to continue its business. “The founders and team still believe in the need and desire for quiet supersonic flight and supersonic drones for the U.S. Department of Defense, but without further customer support for either concept, the company will “We will not be able to sustain the funding needed to make the progress we need to make,” the update said. Say. Exosonic was founded in 2019 by…
The Beatles have two Grammy nominations this year, but no, we didn't just accidentally time-warp to the 1960s. The Beatles' song “Now and Then,” released last year and refined using AI, is up for record of the year and best rock performance. So the Fab Four will be up against artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Chapel Lawn, and Beyoncé, setting the tone for a pretty bizarre Grammys moment. It's been 50 years since the band broke up, but last year Paul McCartney decided to use AI to create the Beatles' last record. McCartney isn't using the technology to resurrect his late…
These days, it seems like every company wants to offer, or already does, an AI product or service. This is a very good time for startups building AI products in this space, but it is not without its challenges. The technology is still in its infancy, and while many companies are interested in trying generative AI solutions, adoption has been slow. . There are many reasons for this, but the biggest one seems to be the fear of hallucinations caused by AI. “I can't use it. [AI] If you lie, it will impact the production environments of large enterprises,” said…
After a career as an incident investigator at risk management firms such as Kroll and FTI Consulting, Aaron Narva worked with large international banking clients at compliance software maker Exiger. He was responsible for monitoring the client's compliance after it made headlines a decade ago in a money laundering scandal. “During my time at Exigar, we acquired several software businesses, including an AI software tool that helps extract risk from unstructured public documents. We've built a tool to help identify risks,” Narva told TechCrunch. That work gave him the idea for Conflixis. Hospitals and other large healthcare organizations face similar…
The FBI says hackers have compromised government and law enforcement email addresses to submit “urgent” data requests and obtained personal user information, including emails and phone numbers, from U.S.-based technology companies. warns. The FBI's public notice filed this week is a rare acknowledgment by the federal government of the threat posed by fraudulent emergency data requests. This is a legal process designed to help law enforcement and federal authorities obtain information from businesses in response to an imminent threat affecting someone's life or property. Abuse of emergency data requests is not new and has been widely reported in recent years.…
President-elect Donald Trump has made a number of “Day 1” promises, including repealing President Biden's AI policies. While it's unclear exactly whether President Trump will take action on his first day in office in January, it's clear that reform of technology regulation is on the horizon. Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, and Margaux MacColl take a deep dive into what Trump's victory means for the future of AI policy and innovation. AI always makes a cameo appearance on Equity, and this week there was a lot of startup and venture news to watch for Equity…
The idea of someday becoming a venture capitalist was always in the back of TJ Taylor's mind. After all, he had an extensive technical background. He co-founded Stock Apps and worked in the communities of dating app Raya and photo-sharing app Dispo. After retiring from Dispo at the end of 2022, he found himself in a new situation. “It was the first time I didn't know what was going to happen next,” he told TechCrunch. He wandered a bit and started a startup consultancy, where he said he loved working with early-stage teams. “Some people in my network straight up…
There is a huge opportunity for generative AI in the world of translation, and a startup called Panjaya is taking the concept to the next level. It is a hyper-realistic generative AI-based video dubbing tool that recreates the original voice of a person speaking a new language. , the video and speaker's physical movements are automatically modified to naturally match the new audio pattern. The startup, which has been operating in secrecy for the past three years, announced the first version of its product, BodyTalk, along with its first external funding of $9.5 million. Panjaya is the brainchild of two…
Jack Dorsey's Block will wind down its investment in TIDAL, the music streaming platform formerly owned by Jay-Z, according to a shareholder letter Thursday. Block will also shut down TBD, a Bitcoin-focused business unit that previously sought to build a decentralized internet called Web5. These reductions will free the company to invest in Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency wallets. “We plan to reduce our investment in TIDAL and reduce TBD,” Block said in the letter. “This gives us the scope to invest in Bitcoin mining initiatives with strong product market fit and a healthy demand pipeline, as well as Bitkey, our…
The CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency company WonderFi was kidnapped on Wednesday and held for ransom, according to CBC. Dean Skurka was reportedly hit by a car in downtown Toronto during rush hour, but was released unharmed after electronically transferring $1 million (possibly Canadian dollars) to his captors. That's what it means. WonderFi CEO is the latest crypto celebrity to fall victim to a violent robbery. A security firm told CBC this is the 171st incident of physical violence to steal cryptocurrencies. Skurka's company reported third-quarter earnings the day before the incident, and had generated C$41 million in revenue over the…