Author: TechBrunch
The future of work is being redefined, and TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is the place to explore it. The recruiting landscape is changing as companies look to tap into talent from around the world, and there is a new wave of global HR startups that are enabling this change. But questions remain. Can these new solutions replace local subsidiaries or simply fill a gap? In the era of borderless employment, understanding the dynamics of remote work, compliance, and talent management is important for founders and investors alike. Corinne Beksha, COO, Check. Marcelo Lebre, President and Co-Founder of Remote. Josh Reeves, CEO…
Kirsten Kolosek, Devin Caldway, and Margaux McCall veto Governor Newsom's SB 1047, a controversial AI bill aimed at stopping real-world disasters caused by AI systems before they occur. We're kicking things off with a kick-start, unraveling another busy week in tech. However, this may not be the last of this bill, as its authors plan to return next year with an improved version of SB 1047. What else happened this week? Kirsten gave us a look at the sky with Joby Aviation's $500 million investment from Toyota. Toyota seems to believe its flying taxi dream is worth betting on, but…
Some Gmail users on iOS can now chat about their inbox with Google's Gemini chatbot directly within the app, the company announced this week. The feature, called Gmail Q&A, was first rolled out to Android users in August. Google One AI Premium subscribers or Google Workspace accounts with Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, and Education Premium add-ons are now available on iOS. This feature can help you answer specific email questions, such as “How much did your company spend on its last marketing event?” You can ask Gemini to show you unread messages from a specific sender or summarize emails about…
The Browser Company, the startup behind alternative web browser Arc, announced Thursday that it is launching its Arc Search browser on Android in open beta with the aim of making it a cross-platform app. Arc already had an app in the Apple ecosystem as recently as last year, but released a Windows client in April ahead of its release on Android. The company announced that it tested Arc Search for Android with 18,000 users for nearly four weeks in a closed beta program, ahead of today's general release. Earlier this year, the company released Arc Search for the iPhone, which…
No one knows yet what generative video models are good for, but that doesn't stop companies like Runway, OpenAI, and Meta from pouring millions of dollars into their development. The latest version of Meta is called Movie Gen, and as the name suggests, it turns text prompts into relatively realistic videos with audio. But thankfully there is no audio yet. And wisely, they don't release this to the public. Movie Gen is actually a collection of basic models (or “casts” as they call them), the largest of which is the text-to-video bit. Meta claims to outperform the likes of Runway's…
On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB-2013, a bill that requires companies developing generative AI systems to publicly outline the data used to train their systems. The summary should cover, among other things, who owns the data, how the data was sourced or licensed, and whether any copyright information or personal information is included. Few AI companies say whether they will comply. TechCrunch reached out to major companies in the AI space, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and startups Stability AI, Midjourney, Udio, Suno, Runway, and Luma Labs. Less than half responded, and one vendor (Microsoft) specifically…
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.…