Author: TechBrunch

Over the past few months, tech executives like Elon Musk have been touting the performance of their AI models in one particular benchmark: the chatbot arena. Chatbot Arena, run by a non-profit organization called LMSYS, has become a big focus for the industry: posts about model leaderboard updates are viewed and reshared hundreds of times on Reddit and X, and the official LMSYS X account has over 54,000 followers. The organization's website has seen millions of visitors in the last year alone. Still, the question remains as to whether Chatbot Arena can tell us how “good” these models actually are.…

Google announced on Thursday that it is expanding its generative AI-powered virtual try-on tool to include dresses, allowing users to virtually try on thousands of dresses from hundreds of brands, including Boden, Marge, Sandro, Simkhai and Staud. The company says that dresses are one of the most searched apparel categories in its tool, but as Google explained in a blog post today, dresses are more detailed and complex than other clothing items, making them difficult to use with current virality technology. To provide more context, Google Shopping last year released a tool that uses proprietary diffusion technology to create high-quality,…

Six years ago, many e-commerce and SaaS companies were able to avoid paying sales tax to states where they had customers but no brick-and-mortar stores. But as online shopping has grown, states have found themselves losing tax revenue. The era of free riding for online retailers came to an end in 2018 when the state of South Dakota sued Wayfair over sales tax collection. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with South Dakota. Currently, online stores and SaaS companies must collect sales tax from customers wherever necessary, but this is no easy task as tax laws vary widely by city, county,…

We’re rapidly approaching TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, taking place October 28-30 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Today, we’re excited 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. Narrowing it down to 200 was a tough process, but we're incredibly pleased with the results. Through this vetting process, we were reminded once again of how much creativity, innovation, and talent there is in the startup community that never ceases to amaze and inspire us. After reading the Startup Battlefield 200 list, we…

YouTube will limit teens' exposure to videos that promote or idealize certain fitness levels or physical appearances, the company said Thursday, a safeguard that was first rolled out in the United States last year and is now being rolled out to teens around the world. The announcement comes as YouTube has faced criticism over the past few years for exposing teens to content that could harm them and encourage eating disorders. The types of content that YouTube will limit exposure to include videos that compare physical attributes or idealize a particular fitness level, body type or weight. YouTube will also…

YouTube on Thursday announced a new set of AI detection tools to help prevent artists, actors, musicians, athletes and other creators from having their likenesses, including their faces and voices, copied and used in other videos. One key component of the new detection technology is an expansion of YouTube's existing Content ID system, which currently identifies copyrighted material. That system will be expanded to include new synthetic singing voice identification technology to identify AI content that imitates someone's singing voice. The company said other detection technologies will also be developed to identify when someone's face has been imitated with AI.…

While details are still emerging on how exactly AI regulation will be implemented and ensured, today a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, signed a treaty on AI safety developed by the Council of Europe (COE), an international standards and human rights body. The Council of Europe's Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law (its full title) is described by the Council of Europe as “the first legally binding international treaty aimed at ensuring that the use of AI systems is fully compatible with human rights,…

French cleantech startup Calyxia is on the brink of profitability: The company just raised a $35 million Series B round that will enable it to further scale up industrial production of its sustainable alternative to microparticles and microcapsules, putting it on track to achieve net profitability by 2026. But co-founder and CEO Jamie Walters says the B Corp is just getting started. The “first” problem Calixia is tackling is staggering in its global scope: Microplastics are contaminating everything around the world, from soils, rivers and beaches to the Arctic's ice caps, and they're even making their way into our bodies…

Recruiting platform ZipRecruiter is releasing a new tool called ZipIntro, which allows employers to schedule introductory calls with potential candidates at a specified time. The tool also helps recruiters suggest potential candidates using AI. Employers can enter information about the job and select a date and time for an introductory call. ZipIntro then uses AI to match potential candidates and send out call invitations. The tool takes into account the type of employment, education, skills, qualifications, interests and work the user is looking for when making a match. Image credit: ZipRecruiter Employers can review responses from candidates, further screen candidates,…

Brittany Enix's interest in supply chains began as a child. Her grandfather worked in a glass manufacturing plant for Ford, she says, where he taught her the intricacies of making something. When Enix moved to Silicon Valley to work for Uber and then Flexport, her interest in the industry grew, and she came up with ways to make supply chains more efficient for small businesses. “Most of us don't think about the supply chain on a day-to-day basis, but the supply chain shapes everything from what we can buy, where we can buy it, where we live, how much we…