Author: TechBrunch

OpenAI seems to be in the holiday spirit. The series of ChatGPT rollouts, dubbed “12 Days of OpenAI,” will be live-streamed weekdays at 10 a.m. Pacific time through December 23. So far, we've seen the launch of ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI's $200/month subscription plan. A version of the “Inference” o1 model, the long-awaited public release of the text-to-video generator Sora, Canvas in Apple Intelligence, the deployment of ChatGPT, and real-time video capabilities in ChatGPT. We don't know what other announcements or product launches are planned, but we could learn more about potential efforts towards AI agents, among other surprises. Below, we'll…

Liquid AI, the AI ​​startup co-founded by robotics celebrity Daniela Russ, has raised $250 million in Series A led by AMD. The round values ​​Liquid AI at more than $2 billion, according to Bloomberg. Liquid AI aims to build general-purpose AI systems that leverage a relatively new type of AI model called liquid neural networks. Liquid neural networks are made up of “neurons” that are controlled by equations that predict the behavior of individual neurons over time. The “liquid” bit in the term “liquid neural network” refers to the flexibility of the architecture. Inspired by the “brain” of roundworms, this…

In October, Google began testing NotebookLM, a viral AI note-taking and research app for businesses. The company is now introducing NotebookLM to enterprises with work-focused security and privacy features. NotebookLM for enterprises (called NotebookLM Plus by Google) provides the same experience as the consumer version, but with additional access and data management controls. Employees can upload data and files to create things like notebooks and podcast-like audio summaries (called audio summaries), and then search and share these projects with organization members. Additional benefits include audio summaries like podcasts, notebooks, and 5x more data sources per notebook. Ability to customize the…

OpenAI blamed the longest outage in its history on a failure of its “new telemetry service.” On Wednesday, ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot platform, was announced. That video generator, Sora. and its developer API experienced a massive disruption starting around 3:00 PM Pacific Time. OpenAI immediately recognized the problem and began working on a fix. However, it will take approximately three hours for the company to restore all services. In a post-mortem published late Thursday, OpenAI wrote that the outage was not caused by a security incident or recent product launch, but rather by a telemetry service it introduced on Wednesday…

When Koko Xs considered pursuing a career as a VC after graduating from college last year, he observed several trends that suggested he should do something else. He found that closing deals was difficult and taking a long time to generate returns, given that most VC funds typically take 10 years to mature. Still, he ended up becoming a VC. And now, at the young age of 21, Xs is backed by backers including Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Kevin Hertz, Josh Wolf, Lux Capital, and the Fund of Funds Nomad. , has already secured $17.5 million in committed capital for…

The path from scientist to founder is well-trodden, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Because of these pitfalls, several programs have emerged over the past decade to smooth the path for tech founders. Now, two prominent programs, Activate and The Engine Accelerator, have decided that they can offer even greater benefits to founders by teaming up. “The closer we get, the more work we can do together, the more input we can provide into each other’s programs, and ultimately increase throughput from these archetype founders to entrepreneurs.” ” said Emily Knight, CEO of The Engine. Accelerator told TechCrunch. The two…

Just before the holidays, WhatsApp announced new video calling features, including the ability to select participants for group video calls, improved resolution, and a revamped calling tab on the desktop. This is another step by Meta in making WhatsApp a viable option for both personal and work calls instead of using Google Meet or Zoom. If you're in a group chat, the messaging app allows you to call the entire group. However, there may be times when you don't want or need to call everyone in the group and disturb them. The company is currently rolling out the option to…

Syndicate One debuts as a Belgian investment company, raising €6.5 million in funding to support Belgian founders and startups. Although the amount is small, the important point is that it is the first Belgian fund to receive support from all four federal regions of the country. The country is so divided that there are even periodic periods where there is no real government. Founded in 2022, the fund is backed by over 100 entrepreneurs and startup operators and has since been backed by Techwolf, Aikido Security, Sirona Technologies, Donna, Cosmic Aerospace, Vendorvue, SAPI, Powernaut, Kennek, and more. invests in early-stage…

Disinformation is on the rise, making businesses just as susceptible to it as individuals, especially given the explosion in AI. Refute is a London-based startup that detects and responds to disinformation on behalf of these commercial organizations. It has now raised £2.3 million ($2.9 million) in a pre-seed round led by British investors Playfair and Episode 1. There are many factors that facilitate disinformation attacks, including geopolitical instability and the use of generative AI to create misleading content. More sophisticated campaigns, often created by state-sponsored or commercial competitors, focus on companies, their supply chains, and even top executives. This can…

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday launched an investigation into Character.AI and 14 other technology platforms over children's privacy and safety concerns. The investigation will assess whether Character.AI and other platforms popular with young people, such as Reddit, Instagram, and Discord, comply with Texas child privacy and safety laws. Research by Paxton, who often takes a tough stance on technology companies, found that these platforms are subject to two Texas laws: the Parental Empowerment to Protect Children Online Act (SCOPE Act) and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act. (DPSA) compliance will be investigated. These laws require platforms to…