Author: TechBrunch
House staging is an important part of the real estate industry, and real estate agents have traditionally physically staged homes before listing them, which is an expensive and time-consuming process. A startup called Virtual Staging AI is enabling real estate agents to virtually stage homes using generative AI. Virtual Staging AI, part of Harvard Innovation Labs, currently has 4,500 monthly paid subscribers and aims to transform the real estate and staging industry. The startup has reached $1 million in ARR over the past 10 months and is generating over 500,000 renders each month. Michael Bonacina, the company's co-founder and CEO,…
Welcome to Startups Weekly — Every week, we bring you must-sees from the world of startups. sign up here Delivered to your inbox every Friday. Rivian launched with the promise of revolutionizing the way we think about trucks and SUVs, but now it's slowing down a bit. In a move that screams, “Whoa, we might have gotten a little ahead of ourselves,” the company announced it would lay off 10% of its workforce. Why do you ask? Well, the EV market is looking a little tougher than expected, with pricing pressures building like the suspense of a sordid thriller. Rivian…
People are more likely to do something if you ask kindly. It's a fact that most of us are familiar with. But do generative AI models behave the same way? Up to a certain point. With chatbots like ChatGPT, you may get better results by phrasing your request in a certain way rather than in a more neutral tone. One Reddit user claimed that he gave ChatGPT a $100,000 bounty that made him “try harder” and “work better.” Other she Redditors said they noticed a difference in the quality of responses when they expressed politeness to the chatbot. It's not…
To paraphrase a famous saying: Hardware is hard. First-generation products of new startups are notorious for being like that, no matter how much money and excitement they muster. With all this in mind, few will be surprised that Humane's upcoming Ai Pin has been pushed back a bit from his March date to “mid-April.” new video From Sam Shaffer, head of media for a Bay Area startup. In a Sorkin-style walk and talk, he explained that the first units are scheduled to “start leaving the factory at the end of March.” If Humane meets that deadline, “priority access” customers will…
Browser company Arc, a browser focused on a clean web experience, has introduced a new feature to its mobile app Arc Search that uses AI to summarize web pages. This feature includes a clever “pinch” gesture that displays a well-formatted summary with key points. This feature is gaining traction because it presents new dynamics for interacting with AI, but there are also concerns that it could impact traffic to news publishers like us. We've also seen other efforts by big tech companies to consider AI-powered summarization, such as Artifact, the now-shuttered app from Instagram's co-founders, and the web page summarization…
Reddit's long-awaited IPO is approaching, and it's expected to be the biggest social media IPO since Pinterest. However, in the company's S-1 filing, Reddit fails to adequately address the complex issues arising from changes to its developer platform and API pricing. The changes led to site-wide protests, community blackouts, site stability issues, and a drop in traffic late last year. Moderators and Reddit users alike protested that the company is forcing popular third-party apps out of business by increasing API fees. Nor does it address the potential fallout from these protests, that Reddit itself could someday face competition from a…
To give female academics and others focused on AI their well-deserved and overdue spotlight time, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews highlighting notable women who have contributed to the AI revolution. Start. As the AI boom continues, we'll be publishing several articles throughout the year highlighting key research that may go unrecognized. Click here for a detailed profile. Mutare Nkonde is the founding CEO of AI For the People (AFP), a nonprofit organization that aims to increase the number of Black voices in the technology industry. Prior to this, she helped introduce the No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act,…
Entrepreneurs, act fast! Your chance to score a hot deal is fast approaching. TechCrunch Disrupt will be back in San Francisco from October 28th until the 30th. His 2-for-1 ticket offer ends at midnight tonight. What's coming up at TechCrunch Disrupt? Get ready for three exciting days packed with the latest startup breakthroughs, trends, and products tailored to every stage of your entrepreneurial journey. Delve into sessions titled “Innovation for Every Step,” covering important topics such as scaling your team, mastering sales, and valuable networking opportunities. At Disrupt 2024, we expect top speakers to share their insights on entrepreneurship. With…
over the weekendsomeone posted a cache of files and documents that appeared to be stolen from Chinese government hacking contractor I-Soon. The leak gave cybersecurity researchers and hostile governments an unprecedented opportunity to peer behind the scenes at a Chinese government hacking operation facilitated by private contractors. Similar to the hack-and-leak operation that targeted Italian spyware maker Hacking Team in 2015, the I-Soon leak includes company documents and internal communications, and reveals that I-Soon has been linked to India, Kazakhstan, India, and Kazakhstan. , indicating that it is suspected of being involved in hacking of Indian companies and government agencies.…
Google has announced that Google Pay will be shutting down in the US in June as the majority of standalone apps have been replaced by Google Wallet. The company says the move is aimed at simplifying its payment app. After this standalone app ends in the US, it will only be available in Singapore and India. This change may seem sudden, but as Google pushes Google Wallet as the go-to app for payment functionality, it's consolidating and simplifying payment apps to reduce service disruption for users. It makes sense to do so. Users can still access the app's most popular…