Author: TechBrunch

The European Commission has closed its Digital Services Act (DSA) investigation into TikTok Lite's rewards feature, after accepting the social media giant's undertaking to permanently withdraw the feature from the EU. Launched in France and Spain earlier this year, TikTok Lite's “tasks and rewards” mechanism allows users to earn points for in-app activities such as watching videos and liking comments, which can then be redeemed for Amazon gift cards. TikTok Lite is a low-bandwidth alternative to the TikTok app that the company offers in some markets. According to the European Commission, TikTok also agreed not to try to circumvent its…

Groq, a startup developing chips that run generative AI models faster than traditional processors, said Monday it had raised $640 million in a new funding round led by BlackRock, with participation from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI and Samsung Catalyst Fund. The raise brings Groq's total funding to over $1 billion and values ​​the company at $2.8 billion. This is a major win for Groq, which was reportedly initially seeking to raise $300 million at a slightly lower valuation ($2.5 billion). This is more than double the valuation (about $1 billion) the company was valued at when it…

From golf to fishing to pickleball, outdoor sports and recreation have boomed during the pandemic. But unlike some trends the pandemic has caused (virtual meetings, Zoom happy hours), interest in outdoor activities has stuck around. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, participation in outdoor activities will reach a record high of 175.8 million by the end of 2023, accounting for 57% of all Americans age 6 and over. But the flood of interest also revealed a lack of innovation in many parts of the industry. From reservations by phone to cash payments to a gear market dominated by established brands,…

Despite growing demands for AI safety and accountability, current testing and benchmarking may not be enough, according to a new report. Generative AI models (models that can analyze and output text, images, music, videos, etc.) have come under intense scrutiny because they are prone to making mistakes and generally behaving unpredictably. Now, organizations ranging from public agencies to major tech companies are proposing new benchmarks to test the safety of these models. Late last year, startup Scale AI set up a lab to assess how well models comply with safety guidelines, and this month NIST and the UK AI Safety…

OpenAI has developed a tool that could potentially catch students cheating by asking ChatGPT to ghostwrite their assignments, but the company is debating whether to actually release it, according to The Wall Street Journal. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that the company is researching the text watermarking technique described in the WSJ article, but said the company is taking a “cautious approach” to releasing anything publicly because of “the complexities involved and the potential impact to the broader ecosystem outside of OpenAI.” “While the text watermarking methods we are developing show promise as a technology,…

Yelp might not be the first company that comes to mind when someone mentions artificial intelligence, but Chief Product Officer Craig Saldanha said AI is already transforming the Yelp experience. In fact, most of the company’s recent announcements center on AI, whether that’s adding new AI-powered summaries or launching an AI assistant to connect consumers with service providers. So I spoke to Saldanha (who joined Yelp after nearly a decade at Amazon) to learn more about Yelp’s AI strategy. We also discussed what advantages Yelp brings to the AI race, how Yelp can add AI without threatening the authenticity of…

When Mosa Meat served up a first-of-its-kind, lab-grown hamburger in 2013, it cost over $300,000. Eleven years later, around 200 startups worldwide remain hopeful that growing meat from cells, rather than slaughtering animals, will one day be a major portion of our food supply.  Despite their optimism, such success is not a given. In 2024, the industry has hit such rocky times that multiple startups have been forced to scale back or close shop.  The industry is talking about eventually producing about 30 million pounds of finished product annually. However, over 100 billion pounds of traditional meat is produced annually…

For years, Elon Musk has talked about Dojo — the AI supercomputer that will be the cornerstone of Tesla’s AI ambitions. It’s important enough to Musk that he recently said the company’s AI team is going to “double down” on Dojo as Tesla gears up to reveal its robotaxi in October.  But what exactly is Dojo? And why is it so critical to Tesla’s long-term strategy? In short: Dojo is Tesla’s custom-built supercomputer that’s designed to train its “Full Self-Driving” neural networks. Beefing up Dojo goes hand-in-hand with Tesla’s goal to reach full self-driving and bring a robotaxi to market.…

Peloton has had one of the most eventful five years in tech. The home fitness company experienced industry highs and lows in dizzying succession. This is the story of a buzzy startup that grew into a cult following among influencers and fitness enthusiasts. A global pandemic catapulted the brand to unknown heights, only to then see it plummet back to earth amid overinvestment, recalls, mass layoffs, and executive departures. As of mid-2024, Peloton is in decline but not bankrupt. The company avoided a major liquidity crisis with a major debt refinancing in late May, the same month it cut 15%…

Sri Lanka isn't known for its startup ecosystem, but one company has been something of an outlier in the South Asian island nation for the past two decades: WSO2, an open-source enterprise software provider with customers including Samsung, Axa, and AT&T, recently agreed to be acquired by private equity giant EQT, in a deal that TechCrunch reported at the time was valued at more than $600 million (we can now confirm that the valuation was, in fact, $600 million). The transaction, which is pending regulatory approval, will see EQT become the sole owner of WSO2 and acquire all outstanding shares,…