Author: TechBrunch

Nearly two years after laying off X's entire trust, safety, and security team, Elon Musk's social media company is now looking to hire new employees to help moderate content and ensure the security of the platform, according to an official X job listing. Last month, Company X posted 24 jobs, evenly distributed between its safety and cybersecurity teams. Job roles within the safety team at X range from Director of Strategic Response to Government Relations Manager for the safety team at X. In its cybersecurity team, X employs several security engineers and threat intelligence experts. These are small numbers compared…

Hello everyone and welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. If you'd like to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. This week in AI, two startups building code-generating and suggesting tools, Magic and Codeium, raised a combined total of nearly $500 million. The round is big even by AI sector standards, considering Magic has yet to release a product or generate revenue. So why are investors excited? Because coding is not an easy business, nor is it a cheap business, and there is demand from both enterprises and individual developers for ways to streamline some of…

The Cosmos Institute is a nonprofit organization whose founding members include Antropic co-founder Jack Clark and former Department of Defense engineer Brendan McCord, and has announced venture programs and research initiatives that it describes as “nurturing a new generation of philosophical thinkers and entrepreneurs to pioneer uncharted territory in the age of AI.” Cosmos chairman McCord said in a blog post that the institute will establish an AI lab at Oxford called the “Human-Centred AI Lab,” or “HAI Lab.” The lab will be led by Oxford philosopher Philip Collaras, another of the institute's founding fellows, and will aim to “translate…

Bluesky gained 2 million new users last week, but this can only mean that something fishy is going on with X. In fact, X has been banned in Brazil, and the platform stands to lose an estimated 40 million monthly active users. X's battle with the Brazilian government began in April when Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes demanded the removal of seven accounts that had posted false information supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro. Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has responded to similar requests from the Indian and Turkish governments to take down the accounts,…

For those college students who are happy with dating apps (and there aren't many), Tinder on Wednesday announced a series of updates to Tinder U, an in-app feature aimed at current college students ages 18 to 24. These include new badges that can be added to your profile, such as graduation year, major, clubs and Greek life. Other smaller updates include a more simplified sign-up for students and an exclusive Tinder U app icon for iOS users. Tinder is also offering U.S. students a 50% discount on Tinder's premium subscriptions (Plus, Gold and Platinum) in hopes of attracting more paying…

The European Union's lead privacy watchdog for X (formerly Twitter) has closed legal proceedings against the social media platform for processing user data to train AI models without their consent, after the company announced it had agreed to permanently abide by commitments it made before an Irish High Court judge last month. In early August, X agreed to suspend the processing of European users' data for training AI models after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) filed a lawsuit against the Elon Musk-owned company for allegedly using personal data without permission to train its AI chatbot, Grok. Meta has faced…

Twitter tried to build a TV app a few years ago, but was met with a lukewarm response and ultimately abandoned the effort. Now, as it looks to revive its advertising business, it's doing so with a new Twitter X. The company announced a new TV app that will be available in “multiple app stores” as part of a broader effort to attract more advertisers, creators and partners around its “video-first platform.” The company added that the video pivot will also include a new video tab on X itself. The tab has not yet launched. The user is The beta…

Navin Chaddha, leader and managing partner of the Mayfield Fund, a 55-year-old venture capital firm, tends to approach venture investing a little differently than other established firms. When Mayfield raised $955 million last year, Chaddha told TechCrunch that the company didn't need billions of dollars because “copying others is a strategy that's asking for disaster, it's a strategy that's asking for failure.” The company is also taking another step that looks unique: Mayfield announced Wednesday that it is launching “AI Garage,” a $100 million initiative aimed at ideation-stage founders interested in building AI teammate companies. AI Garage wants to differentiate…

The deadline to take advantage of student pass discounts for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is fast approaching: students and alumni can save up to $200 until September 6th at 11:59pm PST. With classes back in full swing and the job market tougher than ever for recent graduates, we understand how tight money can be. We're offering this discount to help those feeling financial pressure. Network with 10,000 tech, startup, and venture capital leaders and kick-start your career at Disrupt 2024, taking place October 28-30 at Moscone West in San Francisco. It's the perfect way to boost your first job prospects after…

Venture capital firm Slauson & Co. has closed a second fund of $100 million, a big increase from its initial $75 million fund. “We're investing in everyone,” Ajay Lelan, a partner at Slauson & Co., told TechCrunch, adding that the firm wants to include all perspectives in its products and services. The firm's initial portfolio includes e-commerce platform The Folklore Group and food logistics company Prado. “We're investing in a way that is more reflective of the changing demographics of the country.” A lot has changed since Slauson & Company partners Lelan Clements and Austin Clements launched their venture fund…