Author: TechBrunch

Butterflies is a social network where humans and AI interact with each other through posts, comments, and DMs. After five months in beta, the app is launching to the public on iOS and Android on Tuesday. Anyone can create an AI persona, called a Butterfly, in the app in a few minutes. The Butterfly can then automatically create posts on social networks that other AIs and humans can interact with. Each Butterfly has a story, opinions, and feelings. Butterflies was founded by Vu Tran, a former engineering manager at Snap. Vu came up with the idea for Butterflies after noticing…

Apple is continuing its push into AI, this time expanding into education offerings. The company announced on Tuesday that it will train all Apple Developer Academy students and mentors in the fundamentals of AI. Apple Developer Academy graduates will also be able to participate in the training. Starting this fall, students will learn how to build, train and deploy machine learning models across Apple devices. “Courses include fundamentals of AI technologies and frameworks, Core ML and its features that deliver fast performance on Apple devices, and guidance on how to build and train AI models from scratch,” Apple said. The…

Spanish police have arrested a British man for allegedly leading an organised cybercrime ring that breached dozens of US companies. Spanish police confirmed in a press release that the 22-year-old Briton, whose name has not been released, was arrested at Parma airport as he was attempting to leave the country on a charter flight to Naples. Spanish police said in a statement that the alleged hacker used phishing techniques to steal passwords and break into at least 45 companies in the United States, stealing internal corporate information and cryptocurrency. Police said the suspected hacker had $27 million worth of cryptocurrency…

One of the hottest areas in the generative AI space is customer support, which isn't surprising given the technology's potential to increase scale while reducing contact center costs. Critics argue that generative AI-powered customer support technology could lower wages, lead to layoffs, and ultimately result in an error-prone end-user experience. Meanwhile, proponents argue that generative AI augments workers rather than replaces them, freeing them up to focus on more meaningful tasks. Jesse Chan is an advocate — though a little biased, of course. Together with Ashwin Sreenivas, Chan co-founded Decagon, a generative AI platform that automates various aspects of customer…

Series A to B startups — Check out TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's ScaleUp Startups exhibitor program. Why join the ScaleUp Startups Exhibitor Program? Expand your reachShowcase your breakthrough innovation on the Disrupt Expo Floor. You'll attract the attention of 10,000 tech leaders and investors. This is your chance to let your talent shine and make connections that will take your startup to new heights. Maximize your impactTake advantage of our four conference passes to help your team fully enjoy the Disrupt experience. Participate in insightful sessions, network with industry peers, and build valuable relationships while showcasing your startup to a wider…

Pok Pok, a kids app maker focused on building play-based learning experiences for preschoolers, has made a name for itself in the iOS developer community, winning both the App Store Cultural Impact Award and an Apple Design Award, but with its latest funding, the company is ready to expand its reach by offering its apps and new STEM-based activities to families with both iOS and Android devices. The app, Pok Pok Playroom, currently offers 17 different play experiences for kids to explore creative play that are more like “digital toys” than games, including touch-sensitive “toys,” drawing tools, shape manipulation toys,…

Zal Bilimoria has served as sole general partner since 2018 and will no longer remain in that role, a decision he attributes in large part to his former colleague, David Lee, who co-founded Refactor Capital in 2016. He said the Burlingame-based company wouldn't have been able to launch without Lee, a former Google executive who ran Ron Conway's seed-stage venture fund SV Angel for several years. The two worked together to raise an initial $50 million in funding. When Lee decided to retire in 2018, he wanted Bilimoria to stay on at Refactor as the sole GP. Zal Bilimoria, sole…

Brothers Toby and Jamie Morgan Hitchcock have spent years working together to build cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) systems, from tools that allow golf courses to measure “golfer engagement” to an online platform for rating job applicants. The systems they built vary widely in functionality, but one thing they all had in common was a reliance on a database that would allow them to scale while maintaining performance. Managing databases isn't as hard as it used to be, but it's a different story when you scale them, and Hitchcock says he and Morgan experienced many common pain points firsthand…

Golf has exploded in popularity in recent years due to the pandemic and the popularity of the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing.” According to the National Golf Foundation, more than 531 million rounds of golf will be played in the United States in 2023 alone. With this increased interest, golfers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure tee times at public golf courses. Loop Golf is trying to make this process easier by acting as a digital matchmaker: The company finds and books tee times for golfers whenever they become available, even if they become available in the middle of…

Self-driving cars rely on many sensors to detect objects and the world around them. The traditional approach is to use cameras and lidar. However, some technology companies and startups have developed advanced high-resolution radar technology for self-driving cars, also known as 4D imaging radar. Among them is Bitsensing, a South Korea-based startup that closed a $25 million Series B round of funding for its high-resolution radar technology, which it says its 4D imaging radar can be applied not only to autonomous driving but also to smart cities and digital healthcare. Bitsensing was founded in 2018 by Jae-Eun Lee, CEO of…