Author: TechBrunch

Content creators are busy people. Most spend 20+ hours a week creating new content for their corner of the web. That doesn't leave much time for audience engagement. But Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, believes AI can solve this problem. In an interview with internet personality Rowan Chan, Zuckerberg laid out his vision of a future in which creators have their own bots that capture their personality and “business goals.” He said creators could hand off some of their community outreach to these bots, freeing up their time for other, perhaps more important tasks. “I think we're going to see…

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says the streaming service is still in the “early stages” of bringing hi-fi support to its platform. During the company's earnings call on Tuesday, Ek detailed the upcoming Deluxe tier. Spotify announced in 2021 that it would be rolling out a new high-end subscription tier called Spotify HiFi. At the time, the company said that the tier would allow users to upgrade the sound quality to a “CD-quality lossless audio format.” Fast forward to mid-2024, and the company has yet to release this tier. “The plan here is to offer a better version of Spotify,” Ek…

When Joe Wolfell heard on the news that a U.S. Navy submarine had crashed into an underwater mountain, he was astonished at how little government and private organizations knew about the ocean floor. That impression stayed with him throughout his time in the Navy, and a few years later he founded a company dedicated to seafloor restoration. Wolfel, co-founder and CEO of Terradepth, a startup working to map the ocean floor while also building a platform to make that data more accessible and usable, said on a recent episode of TechCrunch's Found podcast that it's a big problem to solve,…

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether. By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses…

Ahead of the company's earnings release on Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will begin selling its humanoid robot, Optimus, in 2026. In fact, Optimus has already begun autonomously performing tasks such as handling batteries in one of Tesla's facilities, according to Tesla's earnings report. “Tesla will be building a small number of really useful humanoid robots for its own internal use next year, and then mass producing them for other companies, hopefully in 2026,” the executive said. Post to X. These dates are rough, but take them with a pinch of salt: A lot can happen…

Ahead of the company's earnings release on Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will begin selling its humanoid robot, Optimus, in 2026. In fact, Optimus has already begun autonomously performing tasks such as handling batteries in one of Tesla's facilities, according to Tesla's earnings report. “Tesla will be building a small number of really useful humanoid robots for its own internal use next year, and then mass producing them for other companies, hopefully in 2026,” the executive said. Post to X. These dates are rough, but take them with a pinch of salt: A lot can happen…

Harvey, a startup building an AI-powered “co-pilot” for lawyers, has raised $100 million in a Series C round led by Google's corporate ventures arm GV. The round also included participation from leading angel and venture capital firms, including OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil and SV Angel, bringing Harvey's total funding to $206 million and valuing the company at $1.5 billion. In a Tuesday post on Harvey's official blog, co-founders Winston Weinberg and Gabriel Pereira said most of the new funding will be used to grow Harvey's headcount and expand paid services to new geographies, as well as collect…

Digital banking startup Mercury has stopped providing services to customers in some countries, including Ukraine, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Mercury made headlines earlier this year when it came under federal scrutiny over its practice of allowing foreign companies to open accounts through one of its partners, Choice Bank. The FDIC was “concerned” that Choice “opened Mercury accounts in countries that posed legal risks,” the Information reported. The agency also reportedly accused Choice of opening thousands of accounts for overseas Mercury customers “using questionable methods to prove their U.S. domicile.” Mercury told TechCrunch in April that it was investing in…

Cyabra, a Tel Aviv-based startup that helps public and private organizations detect and counter misinformation campaigns by spotting fake accounts on social media, announced plans Tuesday to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Trailblazer Merger Corporation I and list on the Nasdaq. Founded in 2018, Cyabra's investors include OurCrowd, which led the company's $5.6 million Series A, as well as Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Harpoon Ventures, Alabaster, Accomplice, Red Shepherd Ventures, Summus Z, TAU Ventures and Capital Y Management. The deal values ​​Cyabra at $70 million, and the company expects the merger to close by the end of the…

The Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday that it is ordering eight companies that offer AI-powered “surveillance pricing” services to submit information about the potential impacts of these products on privacy, competition, and consumer protection. In its investigation, the FTC is seeking to dig deeper into how artificial intelligence and other technologies are being used to modify prices based on consumer behavior, location and other personal data — a tactic the FTC says allows companies to charge different customers different prices. The eight companies are Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. All of…