Author: TechBrunch
For centuries, people have chewed willow bark to relieve pain, but it wasn't until the 1800s that scientists from the chemical company Bayer isolated the active ingredient and eventually patented an improved version of it as aspirin. Aspirin is just one example of a medicine derived from natural sources. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that about 40% of modern medicines are derived from treatments used by our ancestors. Despite this incredible success in harnessing nature's bounty, scientists estimate that only a small number of natural compounds have been discovered that could be developed into powerful medicines. One reason…
Former National Security Agency director and retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone is joining the board of directors of AI company OpenAI, the company announced Thursday afternoon. He will also serve on the board's “Security and Safety” subcommittee. This high-profile addition is likely intended to satisfy critics who believe OpenAI is moving faster than is wise for its customers, and perhaps humanity, offering models and services without properly assessing or locking down risks. Nakasone has decades of experience with the Army, Cyber Command and the NSA, so regardless of how you feel about the practices and decision-making of those organizations, he…
App developers will have new ways to get their apps noticed and promoted, Apple told developers this week at WWDC 2024. The update, scheduled for September to coincide with the release of iOS 18, will allow developers to notify Apple's editorial team of new content or features in their apps before release for consideration for featuring in the App Store. Currently, the App Store editorial team writes articles about apps and their developers, organizes high-interest apps into collections, and highlights them in different sections of the App Store. But there has been no formal process for notifying App Store editors…
StepStone announced last week that it had raised its largest fund ever dedicated to venture secondaries, a raise that not only speaks to StepStone's venture secondaries expertise, but also to how its LPs think about the current venture market. The fund, StepStone VC Secondaries Fund VI, has raised $3.3 billion, a significant improvement from the fund's predecessor, which closed at a then-record $2.6 billion in 2022. According to StepStone, Fund VI was oversubscribed, raising from both existing and new LPs. Secondary funds like StepStone buy both existing investor shares in individual startups, called direct secondaries, and LP shares in venture…
Spotify on Thursday announced it is expanding further into advertising by launching its first in-house creative agency, Creative Lab, to help brands create custom marketing campaigns, and the company said it will also begin testing generative AI ads. The launch of Creative Lab signals Spotify's increased efforts to attract advertisers to its platform, which could be an attractive offering for marketers because it can reach Spotify's 615 million listeners. Additionally, Spotify is working on a new AI tool for advertisers, “Quick Audio,” that will allow brands to create scripts and narrations using generative AI. A company spokesperson said the tool…
It’s WWDC 2024 keynote time! Each year Apple kicks off its Worldwide Developers Conference with a few hours of just straight announcements, like the long-awaited Apple Intelligence and a makeover for smart AI assistant, Siri. We expected much of them to revolve around the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions (and here), and Apple didn’t disappoint. We also bring you news about Vision Pro and lots of feature refreshes. Here’s how to watch the archive of WWDC 2024. Developers should expect hardware and software updates, per the usual, and some other items we initially thought would be unveiled. Brian Heater also went…
Tesla shareholders are suing CEO Elon Musk and members of the company's board of directors over Musk's decision to found a competing AI company, xAI, and divert talent and resources from Tesla to the new startup. The lawsuit is one of the most direct challenges to Musk's decision to found xAI, and comes on the heels of his threat to develop the AI outside Tesla unless he is given more voting power in the company. The lawsuit also was filed just hours before Tesla is scheduled to hold its annual shareholder meeting, where shareholders are likely to vote to reapprove…
While Apple is embracing AI in iOS 18, it's also working to improve users' ability to get answers in a more traditional way: Spotlight search. Accessed by swiping down the center of the home screen, Spotlight search already helps iPhone users find information on their device and on the web. On the web, it replaces Google search. In iOS 18, Apple is using natural language, or “semantic,” queries to help users find content within apps. Spotlight can already search content within developers' apps, but it only returns results if the search terms match exactly. The semantic search feature added this…
Among the young AI startups being relentlessly pursued by venture capitalists these days, GPTZero is already profitable, generating millions of dollars in revenue, a year and a half after its founding. Founded by high school friends Edward Tian, 24, and Alex Cui, 26, GPTZero offers detection tools that help identify whether content is generated by AI. The founders opted for a $10 million “preemptive” Series A led by Footwork co-founder Nikhil Basu Trivedi, the team told TechCrunch exclusively. (“Preemptive” is VC slang for investors landing a deal before founders try to raise money.) That's quite a success for Basu Trivedi.…
Apple announced several new features and updates onstage during its WWDC 2024 keynote, including updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and VisionOS, as well as the introduction of Apple Intelligence. As we use developer betas and explore the sessions at the event, we're starting to see more features emerge that weren't announced on stage. Keep in mind that only certain devices will be compatible with iOS 18, which will be released later in the fall. Here's a non-exhaustive list of those features: Messages app update Apple didn't mention Rich Messaging Service (RCS) support on stage, but it did briefly tease the…