Author: TechBrunch

Since announcing a massive $20 million seed round last year, Unlikely AI founder William Tunstall Pedor has kept a tight rein on the up-and-coming UK-based model maker's efforts. But TechCrunch exclusively revealed that the company is taking a “neurosymbolic” approach to AI. Additionally, Unlikely AI has announced two senior executive hires, including former Unlikely AI CTO Tom Mason. Neurosymbolic AI, as the name suggests, is a type of artificial intelligence that brings together both modern neural network approaches used in large-scale language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s GPT, and older symbolic AI architectures, addressing the weaknesses of each. Tunstall-Pedoe first…

Last year, Coinbase launched its own Layer 2 blockchain, Base, an ambitious project that has the potential to revolutionize not only Coinbase, but the entire cryptocurrency industry. That's why we're excited to invite Jesse Pollak to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. He's the Head of Protocol at Coinbase, and more importantly, he's also the founder of Base. When Coinbase entered Y Combinator's startup acceleration program, it wanted to be the easiest and most secure way to buy, sell, send, and receive Bitcoin. And over the past 12 years, the company has experienced incredible growth, along with the cryptocurrency industry, to become one…

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…

As Humane struggles to find a foothold in the nascent world of AI hardware, two of its top employees have left the company to form their own startup, which in some ways mirrors Humane's founding story: Founders Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri left Apple after years of work to start their own company. Former Humane Inc. head of strategic partnerships Brooke Hartley Moy and head of product engineering Ken Cocienda have wisely distanced themselves from the dangerous world of hardware with Infactory, a sort of fact-checking search engine. The project is still in its early stages, but the founders spoke…

This is the first time that the Federal Trade Commission has banned an app from being offered to users under the age of 18. The commission announced on Tuesday that it will ban anonymous social app NGL from advertising or offering its apps to minors. NGL will pay $5 million to settle the lawsuit. Launched in 2021, NGL has rocketed to the top of app stores based on the premise that users can post a link to their social accounts so their friends can click on it and submit questions anonymously. The FTC and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office…

More than five years after its debut on Android, Google Maps has brought a speedometer and speed limit to iOS and CarPlay, in an effort to help iPhone users avoid speeding tickets while driving. TechCrunch has exclusively learned that Google has begun rolling out speedometers and speed limits globally to iPhone users. When you launch navigation in Google Maps, your vehicle's speed will be displayed in miles or kilometers, depending on your region. Earlier last week, TechCrunch spotted the new speed prevention feature appearing on Google Maps in India, and Google confirmed to us on Tuesday that the rollout will…

Language-learning app Duolingo has made its second design acquisition following its IPO in 2021. The company announced Tuesday that it has completed a deal to acquire Detroit-based animation and motion design studio Hobbes. The studio has been working with Duolingo for over a year to develop several features, including the new product “Duolingo Music” and other animation design systems, product architecture, etc. With the deal closing, Hobbes' 12 designers, motion animators, creative strategists, creative directors and producers will join Duolingo full-time, forming the company's first dedicated motion design team. The team will remain in Detroit and will be based across…

Running a small business means doing more with less. AI agents can help, but building custom agents for specific workflows remains difficult, even with today's low-code/no-code tools. The idea behind Enso, which emerged from stealth on Tuesday by announcing a $6 million seed round of funding, is to give small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) access to a variety of pre-programmed AI agents that can handle repetitive tasks. Founded by Mickey Haslavsky, co-founder of API development platform RapidAPI, Enso offers industry-specific agents that promise to help with everything from managing search engine optimization efforts to engaging with Instagram followers, tracking competitors,…

A new iOS app called Wayther streamlines road trip planning by providing real-time road conditions and weather forecasts along your route. Created by indie developer Axel Le Pennec, Wayther provides weather forecasts along your route for up to 10 days in advance. Le Pennec, who has been developing iOS apps since 2013, told TechCrunch that he got the idea for Weather after adding a weather forecast feature to Skipper, a digital boat logbook app. “In addition to the ability to record boat trips with Skipper, we also wanted to add new features that would allow users to plan future trips…

Spotify launched a new interactive feature, “Podcast Comments,” on Tuesday, expanding the ways podcast listeners can engage with hosts. The addition allows listeners to leave comments on episode pages that support the commenting feature, making them feel more like part of a community. Additionally, creators will now be able to “like” and reply to listener comments, and still have control over which comments appear on their page. The feature puts Spotify in more direct competition with YouTube as a place for creators to interact with listeners, and follows the company's foray into video podcasts, which it will begin testing in…