Author: TechBrunch

AI pioneer Yann LeCun doesn't think artificial intelligence is actually becoming intelligent. LeCun (professor at New York University, senior research fellow at Meta, and recipient of the prestigious AM Turning Award) has been outspoken about his skepticism, for example, before worrying about controlling superintelligent AI, saying, must do the following,” he tweeted. This is the beginning of tips for designing systems that are smarter than your cat. ” He elaborated on his opinion in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, responding to a question about AI becoming smart enough to pose a threat to humanity: ” LeCun argued that…

The dispute between WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and hosting provider WP Engine continues, with Mullenweg announcing that WordPress is “forking” plugins developed by WP Engine. Specifically, Advanced Custom Fields, a plugin that helps WordPress users customize their editing experience, is leaving WP Engine and being updated as a new plugin called Secure Custom Fields. Mullenweg wrote that this step was necessary “to eliminate commercial upsells and resolve security issues.” The Advanced Custom Fields team explained to X that plugins “currently under development” were “unilaterally and forcibly taken away from their authors without their consent,” adding, Nothing like this had ever…

NPR and Kentucky Public Radio report that court documents show TikTok executives are aware the app could pose a risk to teens. Earlier this week, 14 U.S. attorneys general filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing it of harming the mental health of children. Much of the content in these lawsuits was redacted, but reporters were able to read some of it by copying and pasting. According to the Kentucky lawsuit, the company's own research shows that “compulsive use can lead to mental health problems, including loss of analytical skills, memory formation, situational thinking, depth of conversation, empathy, and increased anxiety.…

Last January, German biotech company BioNTech acquired African AI startup Instadeep for more than $550 million, with the deal completed in July of the same year. InstaDeep's exit from Africa is currently the largest, and it has only been operating for just over a year under the umbrella of a German pharmaceutical company. Now is a good time to look back at the company's performance since the acquisition. Instadeep uses advanced machine learning techniques to bring AI to enterprise applications. Its products range from GPU-accelerated insights to self-learning decision-making systems. Prior to last year's acquisition, the Tunis-born, Paris, London-headquartered enterprise…

Despite Japan's startup sector being one of the largest in the world, it lags behind other regions such as the US, China and UK in terms of the number of unicorns and the scale of venture capital investment. For years, an aging population, general economic deflation, and the tendency for salaried employees to work for traditional large corporations have made startup life unattractive to many. Background: According to a recent IMF report citing data from CB Insights, as of October 2023, there were approximately 661 unicorns in the US, 172 in China and 52 in the UK. did. There were…

The European Union has long had a reputation for strong privacy laws. But a legislative plan to combat child abuse, formally introduced by the bloc in May 2022, threatens to reduce the privacy and security of hundreds of millions of local messaging app users. The European Commission, the EU's legislative body that drafted the proposal, has framed it as a plan to combat child abusers' misuse of mainstream technology tools and protect children's rights online. Child abusers claim they are increasingly using messaging apps to distribute child sexual abuse material. (CSAM) and even new victims. The approach adopted by the…

For the past few years, the Delivering the Future event has showcased the latest technology that powers Amazon operations. The company's 2023 event in Seattle featured updates on its pharmacy products and drone delivery. This year in Nashville, Amazon discussed AI updates to the shopping experience and how the company is using computer vision to further reduce package delivery times. While the company didn't showcase any new robotic systems during the two-day event, it did provide important insight into how it integrates with existing products. Immediately after the event, TechCrunch spoke with Tye Brady, principal engineer at Amazon Robotics. This…

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wants you to know that he's not an AI “ruiner.” At least, that's what I read in “Mic Drop,” a roughly 15,000-word essay that Amodei published on his blog late Friday. (I asked Anthropic's Claude chatbot if I agreed, but unfortunately the post exceeded the length limit of the free plan.) Broadly speaking, Amodei paints a picture of a world where all AI risks are mitigated and the technology enables prosperity, social uplift, and enrichment never before possible. He insists this is not about minimizing the downsides of AI. Mr. Amodei initially targeted AI companies that…

How do machine learning models work? And do they really “think” or “reason” the way we understand them? It's a philosophical question as well as a practical one, but a new paper circulating Friday suggests the answer is a pretty clear “no,” at least for now. A group of AI research scientists at Apple published a paper for public commentary on Thursday called “Understanding the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Large-Scale Language Models.” Although the deeper concepts of symbolic learning and pattern reproduction are a bit in the weeds, the basic concepts of their work are quite easy to understand.…

For some, AI fatigue is real — but clearly venture investors haven’t grown tired of the category. AI deals continued to dominate venture funding during the third quarter. AI companies raised $18.9 billion in Q3, according to Crunchbase data. That figure represents 28% of all venture funding. The third quarter also saw the close of the largest venture deal of all time: OpenAI raised a behemoth $6.6 billion round. OpenAI’s deal was one of six AI funding rounds over $1 billion in 2024. Here are the U.S.-based AI companies that raised $100 million or more so far in 2024: October…