Author: TechBrunch
Disrupt 2024 is the premier event where tech careers are launched, connections are made and the future of tech talent is in focus. Disrupt Career Fair is your opportunity to showcase your company and attract the best candidates, with a diverse range of companies from tech giants to agile startups competing for top talent in fields such as AI, software, cybersecurity, design, sales/BD, research and more. Secure a one-day exhibit table at the Career Fair on the final day of the event, giving your company unparalleled access to Disrupt attendees. This package includes four team tickets (all three days) and…
A year ago, Arjun Pillai was in a comfortable and important role as chief data officer at B2B database company ZoomInfo, but the serial entrepreneur was getting restless. He's already launched and sold two startups, including Insent, which was acquired by ZoomInfo in 2021. “When you launch a startup, the heat is with you,” he told TechCrunch. Shortly after ChatGPT was released, he was ready to launch his third. After more than a decade of running startups and working in sales tech, he was convinced that generative AI could help make technical sales faster and more effective. “I couldn't wait.…
There are several shady industries for people who want to monitor or spy on their family members, with app makers selling software, also known as stalkerware, to jealous partners that can remotely access the victim's phone. However, despite how sensitive this data is, a growing number of businesses are losing huge amounts of it. Including Spytech's latest hack, at least 21 stalkerware companies have been hacked or have had their customers or victims' data leaked online since 2017, according to a TechCrunch tally. That's not a typo: At least 21 stalkerware companies have been hacked or suffered significant data leaks…
As the technology sector becomes increasingly decentralized, venture capital has become a more global industry: in 2022, more than 50% of venture capital deployed worldwide was invested in startups outside the United States, according to data from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This is in stark contrast to 20 years ago, when roughly 80% of global venture capital went to U.S. companies. Countries such as China, India, Israel and the UK have led this transformation, but smaller ecosystems in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa are also contributing. About 26% of the world's unicorns currently exist…
TechCrunch reports that a little-known Minnesota-based spyware company has been hacked, revealing that thousands of devices around the world were under covert remote surveillance by the company. A person with knowledge of the breach provided TechCrunch with a cache of files taken from Spytech's servers, including detailed device activity logs for phones, tablets and computers monitored by Spytech, with some files dating as recently as early June. TechCrunch confirmed the data was authentic by analyzing some of the leaked device activity logs relating to the company's CEO, who installed spyware on one of his devices. According to the data, Spytech's…
Don Barnett, CEO and co-founder of self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics, said he had an “aha moment” when his company began working with the Department of Defense. Kodiak's mission has always been to pursue long-haul autonomous trucking, but two years ago the startup won a $50 million contract from the Department of Defense to help the Army automate ground vehicles for high-risk missions. The contract gave Kodiak much-needed funding in a tight funding market, and it also gave the startup an opportunity to test its self-driving stack in unstructured off-road environments. This experience gave birth to the idea that going…
While speech recognition is becoming integrated into nearly every aspect of modern life, significant gaps remain: people who speak minority languages or have speech disorders such as strong accents or stuttering typically have difficulty using speech recognition tools that can control applications, transcribe or automate tasks. Tobi Olatunji, founder and CEO of clinical speech recognition startup Intron Health, wants to fill this gap. He claims that Intron is the largest clinical database in Africa, and its algorithms are trained on 3.5 million audio clips (16,000 hours) from more than 18,000 contributors (mostly medical professionals) representing 288 accents across 29 countries.…
Following an investigation into how Meta handles AI-generated explicit images, the company's semi-independent watchdog, the Oversight Board, is calling on the company to improve its policies regarding such images. The Oversight Board wants Meta to change the term it uses from “derogatory” to “non-consensual,” and to move its policy regarding such images from the “Bullying and Harassment” section to the “Sexual Exploitation Community Standards” section. Currently, Meta's policy on AI-generated explicit images is derived from its “offensive and sexual Photoshop” rule in its bullying and harassment section. The committee also asked Meta to replace the word “Photoshop” with a more…
Google Maps is rolling out new AI-powered features to help drivers easily navigate flyovers and narrow roads in India, the world's most populous country that has huge, obstructed roads and multiple flyovers to tackle traffic congestion. Google said on Thursday it has built an AI model specifically for Indian roads that uses satellite imagery and Street View data to estimate road widths, and also takes into account factors like road type, distance between buildings, trees, utility poles and drains to help lidar avoid narrow roads. Navigation Features Google Maps will show routes that avoid narrow roads when users select four-wheel…
The hackers claim to be selling data relating to thousands of current and former employees of the Piramal Group, an Indian conglomerate with businesses in pharmaceuticals, financial services and real estate. A listing on a popular cybercrime forum seen by TechCrunch last week showed an anonymous threat actor publishing some of the allegedly stolen Piramal data for an undisclosed amount. The data samples included names and email addresses. The allegedly stolen data could be of great value to cybercriminals, who could use it to launch cyber attacks targeting employees. According to the Piramal Group website, with offices in over 30…