Author: TechBrunch
Kevin Ryan has had a long and storied career as a leading figure in New York City's technology. He is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, an investment firm that has invested in a variety of startups, and is a serial founder who has participated in the early stages of companies such as Business Insider, Zola, Gilt, Pearl Health, and Transcend Therapeutics. there is. As president and CEO in the 1990s and early 2000s, he helped found the ad tech company DoubleClick, which was later acquired by Google for $3.1 billion in 2007, transforming the online advertising industry. He then…
Many screenwriters are turning to modern tools instead of traditional PDFs to create pilots for movies and TV shows. SoCreate, the latest entrant into the screenwriting software space, is challenging established players like Final Draft and Celtx with a fresh approach to storytelling. And most importantly, it involves generated AI images. SoCreate offers many of the same features that most screenwriting software offers, including templates to easily create industry-standard screenplays in the correct format. But SoCreate founder and CEO Justin Cuto believes the popular platform is still lacking, especially when it comes to visual and creative tools. “When I decided…
Last month, UCLA professor Terrence Tao, considered “the world's greatest living mathematician,” used ChapGPT's o1 inference model to correctly answer complex analytical questions using “many hints.” He compared himself to a graduate student who is “mediocre, but not completely incompetent.'' I challenge you. AI may never beat human teachers, he now tells The Atlantic. “There is one important difference [today] The relationship between graduate students and AI is that graduate students learn. If you tell the AI that an approach isn't working, it may apologize and temporarily correct course, but in some cases it may revert back to what it…
Last year, Sound Ventures, a nine-year-old Beverly Hills, Calif.-based venture led by general partners Ashton Kutcher, Guy O'Seary and Effie Epstein, launched a new Announced $65 million AI fund. Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face. In fact, the plan was to invest in just six companies. It was a gamble that could pay off big, albeit with risks to the team's future vision. A small number and large number of companies will be the biggest winners in the AI space due to the necessary technical talent and the capital needed to cover computing costs. Sound has since raised even…
Welcome to Startups Weekly — a weekly roundup of must-sees from the world of startups. Want it delivered to your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week also brought AI funding news and some warnings. Some categories and stages are showing signs of overheating. Luckily, I also found some cool startups, literally. This week's most interesting startup stories Image credit: Whatnot Believe it or not, OpenAI is still at the top of the list here as it is still a startup. There were other interesting stories this week. BillionAI: OpenAI raises $6.6 billion at a $157 billion post-money valuation,…
Software as a Service (SaaS) is an evolving industry. We speak to some of the brightest minds and leaders in the industry, including executives from early- and late-stage SaaS companies, leaders from the infrastructure companies driving the industry, and the venture capitalists who fund them. Join us on the SaaS stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 to explore and have fun! TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 SaaS Stage Agenda From Salesforce to Sierra: Brett Taylor's innovation journey Brett Taylor (Sierra) and We're joined by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who recently co-founded Sierra, a startup building customer experience AI agents, and talks about…
Amazon continues to scale back efforts on its cashierless checkout technology, Just Walk Out. The e-commerce giant closed three Go convenience stores in New York last week, leaving only 17 stores remaining nationwide, the Information confirmed Friday. (Amazon says it recently opened a store in Washington.) These convenience stores use AI systems to track what customers pick up, without having to formally check out at a cashier. We make products available for purchase. Starting in 2023, Amazon will cut the number of Go Stores it operates by almost half. Amazon removed Just Walk Out technology from its grocery stores earlier…
With TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 right around the corner, we’re thrilled to introduce the companies hosting Side Events that will extend the buzz and excitement to the thousands of attendees and Silicon Valley locals alike. Whether it’s a fun happy hour, insightful panels, or energizing morning runs, Disrupt Week — happening from October 26 to November 1 — offers an exciting array of Side Events organized by a diverse group of participating companies. Side Event guidelines and disclaimers Registering/RSVPing to a Side Event does not grant you access/ticket/badge to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, taking place October 28-30. Each event is organized and…
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, which will be held at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28th to 30th, is fast approaching. Today, we are pleased to announce the 200 startups selected to participate in this year's Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) cohort. TechCrunch's editorial staff read, vetted, and discussed thousands of applications. It was difficult to narrow down the group to 200 companies, but we are very excited about the results. Going through the vetting process was another reminder of how much creativity, innovation, and talent exists in the startup community. It surprises and inspires us. After reading the Startup…
Meta announced Friday its Movie Gen model, which uses AI to turn prompts into realistic videos with audio. Movie Gen won't arrive on Instagram or other meta apps until next year, but founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a video showing how it works. In the Instagram post, the latest gym enthusiast can be seen using a leg press machine, but the background changes as Zac works out. He trains in a neon futuristic gym. And he's wearing gladiator armor (this guy is always thinking about the Roman Empire). Then, after a few repetitions of the flaming solid gold machine,…