Author: TechBrunch
When you watch a Carter Pro robot move through the aisles of the demo warehouse at Robust AI's San Carlos, Calif., headquarters, you immediately notice two things. The first is a standardized, modular, prefabricated shelving unit. Wire frames are familiar to anyone who has spent time in a warehouse, and that's certainly by design. The second is not the visible elements of the wheeled robot itself, but how humans in the space interact with their automated colleagues. As Carter patrols the halls, a burly employee picks it up and moves it. It sounds like a small difference, but in a…
Quantization, one of the most widely used techniques to make AI models more efficient, has limits, and the industry may be rapidly approaching its limits. In the context of AI, quantization refers to reducing the number of bits (the smallest unit a computer can process) needed to represent information. Consider this analogy. If someone asks you the time, you'll probably say “noon” instead of “1200, 1 second, 4 milliseconds.” That is quantization. Both answers are correct, but one answer is slightly more accurate. How much precision you actually need depends on your situation. An AI model consists of several components…
When Bryn Putnam sold her last company, Miller, to Lululemon for $500 million at the beginning of the pandemic, it appeared in this editor's eyes that she sold her smart fitness company too soon. In fact, it turns out the timing was perfect. The at-home fitness boom crashed almost as suddenly as it peaked during the first year of lockdown. Meanwhile, after a year as Lululemon's general manager, Mr. Putnam had new business insights and a fresh idea for a new company that would become a huge success and then go public in 2025. Venture firm Lerer Hippeau has already…
This week on Strictly VC Download, Connie Loizos joins serial entrepreneur Marc Lore live on stage to discuss his latest venture, Wonder, a vertically integrated dining and delivery platform. From the origins of food trucks to innovative electric kitchens to the recent $650 million acquisition of Grubhub, Lore has been involved in food innovation, including creating AI-driven health solutions and “super apps” for meal planning. Share your creative vision for the future of tech. food delivery. In this episode, the two discuss: A vision of AI-driven technology that will change the way people think about food and plan their meals.…
ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, valued itself at $300 billion in a recent stock buyback offer, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. The numbers may look familiar, as WSJ previously reported on a proposed buyback of ByteDance in September 2022 at a valuation of $300 billion. But a year later, the company's valuation has reportedly fallen 26% to $223 billion. TikTok's prospects in the US may be improving after Donald Trump was elected to a second term as US president. President Joe Biden signed a bill in April that would ban TikTok from the…
US mobile phone giant T-Mobile has been hacked in recent months as part of a broader cyber attack on phone and internet companies in the US and abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal. T-Mobile said in a statement: “We are closely monitoring this industry-wide attack, and at this time T-Mobile's systems and data are not materially impacted and there is no evidence of any impact to customer information.” . A statement shared with TechCrunch. The Wall Street Journal first reported the T-Mobile breach, citing people familiar with the campaign targeting the telecom giant. A T-Mobile spokesperson, who declined to…
US mobile phone giant T-Mobile said it had been hacked as part of a broader “industry-wide attack” on phone and internet companies in the US and abroad in recent months. T-Mobile said in a statement: “We are closely monitoring this industry-wide attack, and at this time T-Mobile's systems and data are not materially impacted and there is no evidence of any impact to customer information.” . The statement was shared with the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the T-Mobile breach, citing people familiar with the campaign targeting the telecom giant. A T-Mobile spokesperson did not immediately comment when…
The U.S. government has made significant progress over the past four years in the ongoing fight against what President Joe Biden has described as the “scourge of ransomware.” At the beginning of his term, Biden and his administration quickly declared ransomware a national security threat and gave new powers to the military and intelligence agencies. Since then, the United States has successfully disrupted ransomware infrastructure, recovered millions of dollars in ransom money, and brought prosecutions and sanctions against some of the most notorious ransomware operators. Despite the recent onslaught of government crackdowns, the number of cyberattacks targeting U.S. organizations continues…
The European Union's risk-based rulebook for artificial intelligence, also known as EU AI law, has been years in the making. However, we expect to hear more about this regulation in the coming months (and years) as important compliance deadlines begin. In the meantime, read on for an overview of this law and its purpose. So what is the EU trying to achieve? Turn the clock back to April 2021. At the time, the European Commission published its original proposal, which lawmakers were trying to frame as legislation that would strengthen the bloc's ability to innovate in AI by fostering public…
On Thursday, O2, the UK's largest mobile network operator, introduced a chatbot designed to frustrate phone scammers. The service, called dAIsy, imitates an elderly woman who spends her time chatting about things like knitting and her cat Fluffy, allowing scammers to steal her (fake) bank account. The aim is to keep you endlessly involved in your attempts to obtain information. A press release about O2's “AI Granny” says it has “various It is stated that it combines “an AI model”. answer. The AI was partially trained by Jim Browning, an expert on “scammers” who has a large following on YouTube.…