Author: TechBrunch
The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether. By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses…
Hey everyone, welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. This week in the AI industry, OpenAI lost another co-founder. John Schulman, who played a key role in developing OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot platform ChatGPT, has left the company for rival Anthropic. Announcing the news at X, Schulman said the decision was born out of a desire to deepen his focus on AI alignment (the science of ensuring AI behaves as intended) and take on more hands-on tech work. But I can't help but think that Schulman's departure, which comes at the same time that OpenAI Chairman Greg Brockman is taking an extended…
Digital transformation — the process of transforming outdated apps and processes with cloud technologies and digital workflows — can be a risky endeavor: In 2023, Harvard Business Review reported that 89% of large enterprises have undertaken digital and AI transformation but have only realized 31% of expected revenue gains and 25% of anticipated cost savings from their efforts. Rob Mee, former CEO of Pivotal, says years of working with companies dealing with old infrastructure inspired him to tackle the challenge of digital transformation. In 2022, Mee founded Mechanical Orchard, a startup that uses “AI-enhanced” tools and cloud instances to build…
We all have ideas, but communicating them effectively and engaging people is not easy. So how can we most effectively achieve this in an age of information overload and diminishing attention spans? If you're an engineer, Pramod Sharma or Jerome Scholler, you're using Napkin, a new “visual AI” platform they built together that emerged from stealth today with $10 million in funding from Accel and CRV. Napkin was born out of Sharma and Scholler's frustration with the endless documents and presentation decks that have become commonplace in the corporate world. Prior to starting Napkin, Sharma, a former Googler, founded educational…
Will AI make us more productive at work? Executives are optimistic, but employees aren't so convinced. That's according to new research from freelance marketplace Upwork, which surveyed 2,500 C-level executives, full-time employees, and freelancers across the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, asking them about their views on AI in the workplace. Apparently, 96% of executives said they expect AI to improve their company’s productivity, and 39% said their companies have already mandated the use of AI tools. In contrast, 77% of workers say AI has made them less productive and created more work for them, and 47% say they don't…
A group of researchers say they have discovered a series of security flaws in various 5G basebands (essentially the processors that phones use to connect to mobile networks) that could allow hackers to secretly hack and spy on victims. The Penn State researchers presented their findings, along with an academic paper, on Wednesday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Using a custom-made analysis tool called 5GBaseChecker, the researchers found vulnerabilities in basebands made by Samsung, MediaTek and Qualcomm that are used in phones made by Google, OPPO, OnePlus, Motorola and Samsung. The researchers are Kai Tu, Yilu…
While many startups try to solve internal problems for businesses, New York City-based startup Bandana has a different goal: It wants to help low-wage workers find better jobs with higher wages and better benefits, closer to home, while cutting down on commute time. Today the company announced an $8.5 million investment, bringing its total funding to $12.3 million. When I spoke to CEO and co-founder Timothy Makalinao when the startup announced its seed funding last year, he described his company as follows: “Essentially what we're trying to do is create a platform that will empower working class Americans by making…
On today's Equity Podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo speaks with Flourish Ventures co-founders Tilman Urbeck, Emmalyn Shaw, and Arjuna Costa about a variety of topics, including the evolution of their investment thesis over the past five years and the trends they're most excited about. We also hear their thoughts on M&A deals in fintech, AI, founder wellness, and more. The three founded Flourish Ventures in 2019, which currently has $850 million under management and raised a $350 million fund in October 2023. Flourish invests globally, backing fintech startups in the U.S., Africa, Asia and Latin America. Notable investments include digital bank…
Amazon-owned audiobook company Audible said Wednesday it is testing an AI-powered search feature to help users narrow down their audiobook searches. Starting today, select customers in the U.S. will be able to interact with Maven, Audible's new personal recommendation expert, which surfaces title suggestions based on a user's specific requests. Users can enter a query using natural language, and Maven will respond with customized recommendations drawn from Audible's catalog of nearly one million titles. For example, “I'm looking for uplifting fiction novels with female protagonists.” Maven is available on the web, iOS and Android devices, and about half of Audible's…
In a sign of big tech companies' readiness and willingness to throw money at database technology, Neon, a startup developing an open-source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres, announced Wednesday that Microsoft's venture arm M12 has made a $25 million strategic investment in the company. Neon co-founder and CEO Nikita Shamgunov said the funding will be earmarked for research and development to fuel Neon's expansion into Microsoft Azure and the development of new database capabilities to support both existing and new customers. “We're not looking to raise funds. This is not a new round,” Shamgunov told TechCrunch. “We've raised over $100…