Author: TechBrunch
With the advent of generative AI, AI applications are transforming and reshaping industries and changing the way people work, and software development is no exception. Autify, a San Francisco and Tokyo-based startup, has built an autonomous AI agent for software quality assurance to help software engineers complete their code faster, streamline their workflow, and increase their productivity—in other words, they've built an AI QA engineer for software engineers. The startup announced on Monday that it closed a $13 million Series B round and launched a beta version of Zenes, an AI agent for software quality assurance customized for customers in…
TikTok announced on Monday that it will generate AI avatars of creators and actors for branded content and ads on the platform. The company is also launching an “AI dubbing” tool to help creators and brands expand the reach of their ads and branded content. The new “Custom Avatars” are designed to represent creators and brand spokespeople. According to TikTok, creators can create multilingual avatars with their own likeness to expand their global reach and brand collaborations. Brands can create avatars for their spokespeople or partnered creators to localize their global campaigns. There are also new “stock avatars,” which are…
A controversial European Union legislative proposal to scan citizens' private messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a risk to the future of web security, warned Meredith Whittaker, head of the non-profit foundation that runs the end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging app Signal, in a public blog post on Monday. “Implementing such proposals in the context of end-to-end encrypted communications would be impossible without fundamentally undermining encryption and creating dangerous vulnerabilities in core infrastructure with global implications far beyond Europe,” she wrote. The European Commission tabled its initial proposal for mass scanning of private messaging apps to combat the spread…
Perplexity, an AI search engine with Google-rivaling ambitions that announced a strategic partnership with SoftBank in April, is now using the deal to expand its user base and data touchpoints in SoftBank's domestic market. Starting June 19, SoftBank and its two mobile operators, Y!mobile (SoftBank's mobile phone operator) and LINEMO (SoftBank's low-cost mobile network operator), will offer a free one-year subscription to Perplexity's premium tier, Perplexity Pro. The move underscores Perplexity's international ambitions and focus on generating revenue from paying customers, but also the motivations of companies such as mobile operators. It may not have the in-house team or the…
When Manny Griffith worked with a personal injury lawyer after his wife's car accident, he was surprised at how little information or communication he received from the lawyer regarding the claim. The couple sometimes didn't hear from their lawyer for months and found the entire process very opaque. Griffiths dug deeper and found he wasn't alone in this issue. His research found that nearly half, 44%, of negative Google reviews for law firms that work with individuals rather than other businesses relate to consumer frustration due to poor communication. But even though consumers feel they can't get in touch with…
Proton, the Swiss company behind ProtonMail and other privacy-focused apps, is following in the footsteps of Signal and Mozilla in moving to a new non-profit foundation model. The newly established Proton Foundation will serve as the majority shareholder in the existing legal entity, Proton AG, which will continue to operate as a for-profit company with the support of the foundation. This is intended to make the organization self-sustaining, without relying on donations, grants or commercial partnerships with companies, according to CEO Andy Yen. Indeed, while companies like Signal rely on the backing of billionaires like WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, and…
Tinybird isn't so small anymore. First covered by TechCrunch three years ago, the enterprise data startup has grown rapidly and recently raised $30 million in a Series B funding round. One source said the company is now valued at $240 million. Originally from Madrid but now also based in New York, Tinybird approaches complex data product development with a very simple perspective: essentially helping companies take advantage of the vast amounts of data they have and repurpose that information in their own products in near real time. Tinybird first ingests data in real time from event streaming platforms such as…
Indian budget hotel chain startup Oyo has closed a new round of funding of about $100 million to $125 million that would bring the company's valuation to $2.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. That's a steep drop considering the Gurgaon-based startup was valued at $10 billion in 2019. The startup, which has struggled to raise capital from institutional investors, has been aggressively pitching to high-net-worth individuals in recent months. “We truly feel the asset is extremely valuable now; it is profitable and at a 70% discount to previous valuation. We expect to list within the next…
Initially, John Passmore was excited about ChatGPT. The serial founder has been in the field of artificial intelligence since at least 2008. He remembers a time when experts declared that it would be decades before something like ChatGPT would arrive in the world. Time passed, and that day has now come. But there is a catch. ChatGPT, one of the world's most powerful artificial intelligence tools, struggles with cultural nuances. This is especially troubling for Black people like Passmore. In fact, this oversight has angered many Black people who felt they weren't adequately represented in the algorithm that is touted…
Well done, startup founders! Tomorrow is your last chance to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. It's your last chance to stand on stage at Disrupt and pitch to a huge audience full of the world's top investors, hundreds of media outlets, and many other influential movers and shakers. Bottom line, this great opportunity is almost over, so apply by tomorrow, June 17th at 11:59pm PDT. Recap: Startup Battlefield 200 Benefits at TC Disrupt 2024 For the early stage founders sitting in the back who may have missed my last note on the perks and benefits…