Author: TechBrunch
If your startup has even a passing connection to dealing with data pipelines, you're probably wondering how to take advantage of the current situation. Enterprises are looking for ways to get the most out of their data to power their generative AI products, and they need robust data services to do so. Founded in 2020, Airbyte started with a focus on building a low-code/no-code open-source data integration platform. Since then, Airbyte has raised $181.2 million in total, including a massive $150 million Series B round that came at a somewhat unconventional time in late 2021. Four years later, the company…
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) has stepped out of the critic role and into the builder mindset. This week, he released a wallpaper app for iOS and Android called Panels. The app features a curated selection of high-quality digital wallpapers from artists, but of course, there's a catch: To get access to the high-resolution wallpapers without ads, users have to shell out about $50 a year, or $12 a month. With nearly 20 million subscribers on YouTube, Brownlee is a major influence in technology reviews. Brownlee is so influential that he has been accused of causing the collapse of high-profile…
AI is notoriously bad at lying, but Microsoft has announced that there's a way to fix that. Naturally, some will be skeptical, but there's reason to be skeptical. Microsoft today rolled out Correction, a service that automatically corrects AI-generated text that is factually incorrect. Correction first flags text that may be in error (for example, a summary of a company's quarterly earnings call that may be misquoted), and then compares that text against sources of truth (such as a transcript) to verify the facts. Correction, available as part of Microsoft's Azure AI Content Safety API, can be used with any…
Kian Katanforush had one of the best mentors in the AI world: renowned researcher Andrew Ng, who also served as Katanforush's advisor at Stanford University's graduate school. The two launched Stanford's deep learning program, and Ng is now chairman of Katanforush's startup, Workera. Ng was a key mentor in Katanforush's career, and now, as CEO of Workera, he's trying to figure out what makes a good mentor and automate it through his new AI agent, Sage. “I trust Andrew because I understand his background and his expertise, but how many people like Andrew are there in the world? There aren't…
TikTok has been building out its search products over the past few years to compete with Google, and now it's furthering its search ambitions by allowing advertisers to target its search results pages. On Tuesday, TikTok announced the launch of “TikTok Search Ad Campaigns,” a new keyword-based search solution that will allow brands to appear in search results. Ads already appear on TikTok's search result pages, but brands will now have full control over how their content appears on those pages. Given TikTok's influence on users' shopping behavior, it makes sense for the company to offer brands a way to…
Spotify first released its AI playlist tool to premium subscribers in the UK and Australia, before expanding its availability to the US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Currently in beta on Android and iOS devices, the feature allows users to create personalized playlists based on written prompts. For example, users can type in “A romantic playlist to listen to for date night at home” and receive a customized selection of songs to fit that mood. You can further refine your playlists by adding prompts, and Spotify also offers prompt suggestions. The company encourages you to combine genres, moods, artists, and…
Snap has entered into an expanded partnership with Google Cloud to power generative AI experiences within Snapchat's My AI chatbot, which will leverage the multimodal capabilities of Google's Gemini AI to understand different types of information, including text, voice, images and video. Gemini joins the Google Lens-like features Snapchat announced last week at the company's annual Snap Partner Summit. For example, users can ask Snap's My AI to translate a photo of a foreign road sign or ask a chatbot to choose the healthiest option on a menu. Snap first launched My AI in February 2023. At launch, the chatbot…
US-based money transfer giant MoneyGram has blamed an unspecified “cybersecurity issue” for a multi-day ongoing outage affecting the company and its users. “We have identified a cybersecurity issue affecting some of our accounts,” MoneyGram said in a post on X on Monday. [sic] The company previously said the issue was caused by a “network outage.” “Upon detection, we immediately began an investigation and took protective steps to address the issue, including proactively taking offline systems affecting network connectivity,” MoneyGram's latest update said. “We are working with leading external cybersecurity experts and coordinating with law enforcement.” MoneyGram is the world's second…
Mortgage fintech company Mesa emerged from stealth on Tuesday with $9.2 million in seed funding and a novel idea for homeowners: The company offers cash back and rewards on all home-related expenses, including the mortgage itself. Mesa offers original or refinance mortgages that include 1% cash back on the loan in the form of a credit card. Additionally, Mesa offers a rewards credit card for homeowners that allows homeowners to earn points on mortgage payments and homeowner-related services such as homeowner association fees, utilities, repairs, home insurance and everyday purchases such as gas and groceries. This is a standard unsecured…
As the number of cyberattacks increases, the enterprise sector is increasingly interested in technologies that automate responses to breaches. According to a 2023 survey by analytics firm Devo, 80% of security leaders expect to increase investments in security automation technologies this year, with most citing the technology's potential to help mitigate cyberthreats. Forecasts suggest that the security automation market could reach $26.6 billion by 2032. One vendor that has had great success is Torq, which applies AI to abstract repetitive and tedious security-related tasks. Torq CEO Ofer Smadari told TechCrunch that the company has generated more than $24 million in…