Author: TechBrunch

Intel has found IBM Cloud as its first cloud customer for its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator chip. IBM and Intel announced Thursday that IBM Cloud will begin offering Gaudi 3 to customers early next year. The chip's accelerators will be available in both hybrid and on-premise environments, and IBM said it plans to enable support for Gaudi 3 within its Watsonx AI and data platform. “Unleashing the full potential of AI requires an open, collaborative ecosystem that gives customers choice and accessible solutions,” Justin Hotard, general manager of Intel's Data Center and AI division, said in a statement. “By integrating…

Google said it had evidence that Russian government hackers were using exploits that were “identical or very similar” to those previously created by spyware manufacturers Intelexa and NSO Group. Google said in a blog post on Thursday that while it was unclear how the Russian government obtained the vulnerability, it was an example of how vulnerabilities developed by spyware manufacturers could fall into the hands of “dangerous threat actors.” In this case, Google says the threat comes from APT29, a highly capable hacking group widely believed to be affiliated with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), known for its long-running and…

Butterflies AI, a new social network where humans and AI can interact with each other, is launching a new Clone feature that lets users transform into AI characters. This latest addition builds on a feature that was publicly released in June, allowing users to create an AI persona called “Butterfly” that can automatically create posts on the social network that other AIs and humans can interact with. This new feature allows users to take a selfie and create themselves as a butterfly with an unfolding backstory. The idea behind the feature is to give users the ability to reimagine themselves…

Uber is making a strategic investment in Wayve as an extension of the UK-based startup's previously announced $1.05 billion Series C round. The partnership will see the two companies work with automakers to integrate Wayve's AI into future consumer vehicles that will operate on the ride-hailing giant's platform. The partnership comes a week after Uber announced that Cruise's robotaxis will join the Uber app in 2025. It's the latest in a series of self-driving tech partnerships that Uber has secured over the past few years. Details of Uber's partnership with Wave are scarce, but the startup has generated a lot…

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was formally investigated in France on wide-ranging criminal charges on Thursday after being detained in police custody for four days. He was also released from custody on the condition that he not leave French territory during the investigation. His bail has been set at 5 million euros (about $5.6 million) and he must report to a police station twice a week. On Tuesday, the court in charge of the investigation – the Paris Criminal Court – published a list of the charges that led to Durov's arrest on August 24…

Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market capitalization, isn't shying away from the AI ​​craze that's sweeping the tech world. At the company's 47th annual general meeting on Thursday, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani and other executives mentioned AI about 100 times over a two-hour period, detailing plans to integrate the technology across Reliance's vast business empire across telecommunications, retail and energy. Reliance announced plans to build large AI-enabled data centers in Jamnagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, that would run on the company's green energy resources. Ambani claimed these facilities could lower the cost of AI inference in…

Durex India, the Indian subsidiary of the British condom and personal lubricant brand, has published personal information of customers, including their names and order details. Security researcher Sourajeet Majumder contacted TechCrunch this week about a condom manufacturer's website leaking sensitive customer data. The brand's website exposed customer names, phone numbers, email addresses, delivery addresses, products ordered, and amounts paid. The exact number of customers affected is unclear, but researchers found evidence that hundreds of people's information was exposed due to a lack of proper authentication on the order confirmation page. “Privacy is crucial for intimate goods brands,” Majumdar told TechCrunch.…

Apple has released new developer betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 Sequoia. The updates bring new Apple Intelligence features, including the ability to remove objects from photos. Called “Clean Up,” the feature allows users to identify and remove objects from photos without affecting the photo. Once an object is removed from an image, the system uses AI to generate a background. Apple says the system even understands the object's shadow and reflection and processes them when filling in the background. Users can use smart detection to select objects and remove them with a single tap, or simply…

New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is returning to the secondary market. The Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm has raised more than $468 million for its NEA Secondary Opportunities Fund, according to an SEC filing. The fundraising closed on July 3 but has not attracted much attention, according to sources familiar with the matter. The fund raised capital from more than 60 limited partners, including the San Francisco Employees Retirement System, which contributed $20 million to the fund, according to conference documents. The NEA did not respond to a request for comment. This is not NEA's first foray into the secondary market,…

One-click payment technology company Bolt is still waiting to see whether shareholders will approve a proposed funding round, on the condition that founder Ryan Breslow return as CEO. Meanwhile, Axios' Dan Primack has investigated London Fund, the company that is set to provide Bolt with up to $250 million in “marketing credits” as part of the proposed deal, and found that many of the firm's so-called portfolio companies aren't actually portfolio companies at all. The fact that the London Fund may have overstated its past investments is particularly concerning given that the proposed deal also called for Bolt to invest…