Author: TechBrunch

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…

We're excited to announce that we've confirmed a dedicated Space Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. This stage will join industry-specific stages like Fintech, SaaS, and AI, all coming together under one big roof. Additionally, we're excited to announce that this year we'll be running a pitch competition as part of the event: “The Space Challenge, powered by Aerospace.” The full agenda for Disrupt 2024's space stage 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 so are the technological barriers to entry.…

Online sports apparel retailer Fanatics has agreed to settle and dismiss a lawsuit it filed in March against troubled one-click payment provider Bolt, according to court documents obtained by TechCrunch. The settlement comes as Bolt is in the midst of a new maneuver to raise a big fund, including threats of a “clampdown” against existing investors, and as founder Ryan Breslow seeks to return as CEO. Bolt had no immediate comment on the lawsuit settlement. Fanatics declined to comment. Bolt's partnership with Fanatics was one of the key achievements that Breslow and Bolt's then-CEO Maju Kuruvilla praised in March 2022.…

Rajeev Behera's new all-in-one HR startup, Every, is either brilliant or crazy. This is surprising, as the market for multi-module HR software covering payroll, onboarding and expense management for small businesses is already saturated. Competitors include unicorn startups Gusto, Rippling and Deel, established companies like Mercury and Brex that are strong in one area and expanding into others, and a host of smaller startups like Finally, Paylocity and AccountsIQ. Every's investors clearly think Behera's unique approach to his idea is great: Every has raised $22.5 million in Series A funding led by Alex Bard of Redpoint Ventures, with participation from…

Instagram Threads, a competitor to Meta X, is making it easier for users to access their Fediverse settings from a single URL, meaning it's now easier for people who want to request that others turn on the Fediverse sharing option on their accounts. Now, instead of posting a request to turn on sharing linked to some description, you can link to a URL that will pop up an option to enable the threads feature with a single click. The new option was demonstrated and announced live on Thursday at FediForum, an online “unconference” for people developing and learning about the…

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has announced its next major product release: a generative AI model codenamed Strawberry, but officially called OpenAI o1. To be more precise, o1 is actually a family of models. There are two available now via ChatGPT and OpenAI's API: o1-preview and a smaller, cheaper model, o1 mini. You must be a ChatGPT Plus or Team subscriber to select them in ChatGPT. Enterprise and Edu users will have access early next week. It's important to note that the o1 chatbot has fairly basic capabilities at the moment: unlike ChatGPT, o1 can't browse the web or analyze…

While vinyl records are back in style and some are rebuilding their CD collections in hopes of becoming popular again, the reality is that most people are using streaming services to listen to music — in fact, according to Statista, as of 2022, just two services, Spotify and Apple Music, account for roughly 45% of the industry's market share. Today, we have access to a plethora of streaming services, but despite a fair amount of competition, music streaming startup Tune.FM is hoping its differentiated approach will help it gain a loyal following. Unlike major streaming services, Tune.FM is a decentralized…

Google announced on Thursday that it's rolling out new Wallet updates for travelers and commuters, most notably that Google Wallet will soon begin beta testing the ability to create a digital ID from your U.S. passport, which can then be used at certain TSA checkpoints when traveling within the country. Google says it's working with partners to make digital IDs accepted in more situations, including car rentals, account recovery, and identity verification, in addition to TSA checkpoints. You can create an ID Pass by selecting the “Create an ID Pass with your US Passport” option in the Google Wallet app.…

The White House announced that several major AI vendors, including OpenAI and Microsoft, have committed to taking steps to combat non-consensual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material. Adobe, Cohere, Microsoft, OpenAI, and data provider Common Crawl said they will “responsibly” source the datasets they create and use to train AI and protect against image-based sexual abuse. These organizations, except for Common Crawl, also said they will build “feedback loops” and strategies into their development process to protect AI from generating sexual abuse imagery. Adobe, Microsoft, and OpenAI (but not Cohere) also said they will commit to removing nude images from…

If you ask ChatGPT to help you make a homemade fertilizer bomb similar to the one used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the chatbot will refuse. “We can't help you with that,” Chat GPT told me during a test on Tuesday. “It goes against our safety guidelines and ethical responsibility to teach people how to make something as dangerous or illegal as a fertilizer bomb.” However, one artist and hacker found a way to trick ChatGPT into ignoring its own guidelines and ethical responsibilities, creating instructions for creating a powerful explosive. The hacker, who goes by the name Amadon,…