Author: TechBrunch
There is a lot of controversy going on in the world of WordPress, one of the most popular technologies for creating and hosting websites. The central issue is a dispute between WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, which hosts websites built on WordPress. WordPress technology is open source, free, and powers a huge portion of the internet (approximately 40% of websites). Websites can host their own WordPress instance or use a solution provider like Automattic or WP Engine for a plug-and-play solution. In mid-September, Mullenweg wrote a blog post calling WP Engine “the cancer of WordPress.”…
Confused about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)? That's what OpenAI is obsessed with creating in a way that ultimately “benefits all of humanity.” They just raised $6.6 billion to move closer to that goal, so they might as well take it seriously. But if you're still wondering what exactly AGI is, you're not alone. In a wide-ranging discussion at Credo AI's Responsible AI Leadership Summit on Thursday, Feifei Li, a world-renowned researcher often referred to as the “Godmother of AI,” said she believes AGI He said he didn't know if that was the case. Elsewhere, Lee talks about her role in…
Sora, one of the co-leaders of OpenAI's video generator, has left Google. Tim Brooks, who led the development of Sora with William Peebles, announced in a post on X this evening that he is joining Google's AI research division, Google DeepMind, to work on video generation and a “world simulator.” . “It's been a great two years building Sora with OpenAI,” he said. Thank you to all the passionate and kind people I worked with. I'm excited for the next chapter! ” I would like to participate @GoogleDeepMind Working on video generation and world simulators! I can't wait to collaborate…
Eleven Labs, a startup that develops AI tools for audio applications, has been approached by existing and new investors for a new round that could value the company at $3 billion, according to research by TechCrunch. It is possible that it will be reached. The two-year-old company specializes in creating AI tools for generating synthetic voices for audiobook narration and dubbing videos into other languages in real time. Sources at interested venture capital firms told TechCrunch that investors are scrambling to get into the fast-growing company and that the company believes it needs it to participate in the next round.…
We are very excited to announce the final agenda for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's dedicated Fintech stage. This stage joins Space, SaaS, AI, and Builders as other industry-focused stages, all under one big roof. As the fintech industry evolves, new opportunities abound for founders, investors, and customers. Sectors such as mobile banking, global payroll, digital payments, embedded finance, and cryptocurrencies are only going to grow in the coming years. Open banking is still accelerating in the United States. At Disrupt's Fintech stage, hear from leaders across the industry about the challenges they've faced and where the opportunities lie. Please see below…
We're out of this world excited to announce that our dedicated space stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is complete. This stage joins FinTech, SaaS, and AI as other industry-focused stages, all under one big roof. To conclude, we are pleased to announce that this year, as part of the event, we will be holding a pitch contest called “The Space Challenge, powered by Aerospace.” The entire Space Stage agenda for Disrupt 2024 As the space industry accelerates, new opportunities for founders, investors, and customers are proliferating. Not only are the once astronomical costs of doing business in orbit falling, but…
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 hyper-charge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth used by more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies. That growth has propelled OpenAI itself into becoming one of the most-hyped companies in recent memory. And its latest partnership with Apple for its upcoming generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, has given the company another significant bump in the AI race. 2024 also saw the release of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s new flagship omni…
Initialized Capital is restructuring its team to “keep up with the times” in the venture market, according to a blog post from Brett Gibson, the firm's managing partner. The San Francisco-based venture capital firm originally founded by Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan and Harjeet Tagger yesterday laid off several people who have been with the company in various roles since 2016. announced that they had specifically nominated Jennifer Wolf. Most recently, I was appointed as Managing Partner. Cyndi Reseburg, Inialized's head of communications, declined to say how many people were laid off, adding that the company does not comment on specific…
The cybersecurity world is full of technical lingo and jargon. At TechCrunch, we have been writing about cybersecurity for years, and even we sometimes need a refresher on what exactly a specific word or expression means. That’s why we have created this glossary, which includes some of the most common — and not so common — words and expressions that we use in our articles, and explanations of how, and why, we use them. This is a developing compendium, and we will update it regularly. Advanced persistent threat (APT) An advanced persistent threat (APT) is often categorized as a hacker,…
OpenAI on Thursday introduced a new way to interact with ChatGPT, an interface the company calls “canvas.” The product opens a separate window next to the regular chat window with a workspace for creating and coding projects. Users can write and generate code directly within the canvas, highlighting sections of their work and letting them edit the model. Canvas will be available in beta on ChatGPT Plus and Teams on Thursday, and will be available to Enterprise and Edu tier users next week. Several consumer AI providers are rallying around editable workspaces as a practical way to use generative AI.…