Author: TechBrunch
Apple on Monday confirmed the general availability of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Most notable about this point update is that it includes the first batch of Apple Intelligence features that the company announced at WWDC in June. However, only some Apple devices have the ability to run new generative AI products. This includes the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, iPads with the A17 Pro chip (including the new iPad Mini) or M1 or later, or Macs with M1 or later. After you download the update, Apple will ask you if you…
We can't keep this secret any longer! It's time to announce this year's Startup Battlefield Top 20 finalists who will compete in a winner-take-all pitch competition on the Disrupt stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. TechCrunch editorial staff carefully selected 200 startups to make up the Startup Battlefield 200 from thousands of applicants. This year, TechCrunch had the most applications from around the world and across many industries. Out of 200 companies, 20 finalists will be selected to compete on the Disrupt Stage for the non-stock grand prize of $100,000 and the coveted Disrupt Cup. Less than 1% of applicants to…
A coalition of international law enforcement agencies has announced that it has disrupted the operations of two prolific information thieves who stole sensitive data from millions of people. The Dutch National Police, which led the destruction of the so-called “Operation Magnus”, reports that it has gained “full access” to servers used by Redline and Meta information thieves. Infostealer is a type of malware that is specifically designed to extract sensitive information from infected systems, such as passwords, credit card data, search history, and the contents of cryptocurrency wallets. Redline is considered to be one of the most prolific information stealing…
A British man who used AI to transform ordinary photos of children into images of sexual abuse has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in what some are calling a landmark case. Ta. Hugh Nelson, 27, from Bolton, used the Daz 3D app to create 3D 'characters' from innocent photographs of children. In some cases, the images were commissioned by people who had provided photographs of the children they had come into contact with, the Guardian reported. Nelson made around £5,000 (approximately $6,494) in 18 months by selling commissioned child sexual abuse images on online forums. He was arrested…
World models (also known as world simulators) are being touted by some as the next big thing in AI. AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raises $230 million to build “large-scale world models,” and DeepMind invests in Sora, one of the creators of OpenAI's video generator. I hired him to develop the “World Simulator.” But what exactly are these? World models are inspired by the mental models of the world that humans naturally develop. Our brains take abstract representations from our senses and shape them into more concrete understandings of the world around us, creating what we call “models” long…
Welcome to Day 1 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! We're excited to welcome you to the start of this amazing event. Get ready for an action-packed 3-day immersive technology experience. Learn from industry leaders on stage and in hands-on sessions, network with fellow innovators, meet startups shaping the future of technology, and enjoy a reception. Want to attend but don't have a ticket? There's still time! Register here to get in on the action. Now, let me introduce today's content. stage session We're preparing an impressive lineup of the industry's top leaders to take to the stage. See the full schedule…
Months after acquiring equity management company Easop, Remote, the HR platform for managing geographically dispersed teams, is further focusing on managing equity compensation with a new product, Remote Equity. Remote already makes it easier for companies to collaborate with talent around the world. Companies can hire employees anywhere and treat them like local employees without establishing a local subsidiary. But stock option plans remain a hurdle for startups with distributed teams. Providing equity for foreign employees is a difficult proposition as tax withholding and other local regulations need to be considered. Remote Equity essentially solves this problem by allowing companies…
With so many startups now offering AI bots that can do everything from listening to and transcribing meetings to taking notes and surfacing insights, companies in this space are looking to add additional feature sets. They need to differentiate themselves by offering integration and integration. One such company, Read AI, is trying to do just that by integrating its AI bot with email, Slack, and enterprise tools like Hubspot, Jira, and Confluence. And to accelerate product development, the company announced Monday that it has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Smash Capital. Notably, this new…
We finally have an “official” definition of open source AI. The Open Source Initiative (OSI), the long-standing organization dedicated to defining and “governing” all things open source, today released version 1.0 of the Open Source AI Definition (OSAID). OSAID is the result of several years of collaboration between academia and industry, and aims to provide a standard by which anyone can determine whether AI is open source. Like this reporter, you may be wondering why consensus is important in defining open source AI. OSI Vice President Stefano Maffri said a big motivation is to get policy makers and AI developers…
xAI, owned by Elon Musk, has added image understanding capabilities to its Grok AI model. This will allow paid users of the X social platform to upload an image and ask the AI chatbot questions about it. One of the xAI employees and official Grok handle posted about this update on X. https://twitter.com/grok/status/1850808322074509434 In another post, Musk said Grok can also explain the meaning of jokes through new image understanding capabilities. He added that this feature is in its early stages and will be improved along the way. In August, Musk's AI company released a chatbot modeled after Grok-2 for…