Author: TechBrunch

Young geothermal energy wells are like budding geniuses, each with the potential to surpass the others. However, just like humans, most people decline with age. In California, for example, the production of geothermal power plants decreased by 15% between 2001 and 2018, due in part to the deterioration of existing wells. “The history of geothermal has been the idea of ​​degradation,” says Josh Prueher, CEO of geothermal startup XGS Energy. “This is happening all over the world.” Many geothermal power plants inject water underground, passing through cracks in the rock and absorbing the heat generated deep underground. Once brought to…

Pinecone, a vector database startup founded by Ed Liberty, former head of Amazon's AI Lab, has been at the forefront of helping companies extend large-scale language models (LLMs) with their own data. I did. But just recently, the company completely redesigned its product and launched Pinecone Serverless, which frees customers from having to think about managing and scaling their deployments. Today, Pinecone Serverless is released from beta and generally available. Liberty notes that the company's early customers are now moving from experimenting with generative AI to wanting to launch their own AI products. The company observed companies grappling with the…

Adobe announced Tuesday that it has added Generative Remove functionality to Lightroom. gen AI capabilities built on Firefly allow you to seamlessly edit objects from your photos. This feature will be available in early access on Tuesday. Adobe says this feature works well no matter how complex the object's background. According to the company, “Generative Remove can help you edit even the most complex backgrounds and environments, including removing stains on a patterned shirt, wrinkles on a tablecloth in a food photo, or unwanted reflections in water. ” Photoshop developers announced their foray into generative AI in March 2023. “Firefly…

All cars are affected by reduced mercury, but electric cars are more sensitive than most because their heaters draw more power and batteries charge more slowly as the liquid electrolyte inside thickens. affected. Drivers in Chicago learned this the hard way last January after many Tesla cars failed to charge during deep freezes. One startup, South 8 Technologies, says it can make charging more reliable in cold climates by filling batteries with a pressurized liquefied gas electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyte, and in the process, it hopes to cut the cost of lithium-ion batteries by 30%. For automakers, the…

Scale AI, which provides data labeling services to companies looking to train machine learning models, has raised $1 billion in Series F funding from a number of prominent institutional and corporate investors, including Amazon and Meta. The funding is a combination of primary and secondary funding and is the latest in a series of large venture capital investments in AI. Amazon recently completed a $4 billion investment in OpenAI rival Anthropic, and companies like Mistral AI and Perplexity are also in the process of raising billions more at high valuations. Prior to this round, Scale AI had raised about $600…

Hosting fraud on your platform is bad for your business. So on Tuesday, a group of major technology companies including Match Group, Meta, Coinbase and others joined together to launch a new coalition to combat online fraud across dating apps, social media and cryptocurrencies. . A new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to counter the tools used by scammers and better educate the public against financial fraud. Romance scams have been costing users millions of dollars even before series like “The Tinder Swindler.” According to the Federal Trade Commission, as of 2019, this type of…

That's all. European Union lawmakers have given final approval to create the bloc's flagship risk-based regulation on artificial intelligence. In a press release confirming the approval of the EU AI Law, the Council of the European Union said the law was “groundbreaking” and “as the first of its kind in the world, it can set global standards for AI regulation.” The European Parliament had already approved the bill in March. Council approval means the bill will be published in the EU's Official Journal within a few days and come into force across the EU 20 days later. The new rules…

Zen Educate, an online marketplace that connects schools and teachers, has raised $37 million in Series B funding. The pay increases come as the teacher shortage crisis deepens on both sides, with a recent report from the ADP Institute finding that the global pandemic has disrupted existing demand due to “stagnant wages and stressful working conditions.” It points out that this has exacerbated the supply imbalance. Founded in London in 2017, Zen Educate replaces traditional third-party recruitment agencies that use analog workflows and often charge exorbitant fees. Zen Educate digitizes everything through its self-service platform, removing expensive middlemen from the…

OpenAI removes one of the voices used in ChatGPT. The company announced on Monday that users said it resembled Scarlett Johansson, and that Johansson herself had hired a legal commission to investigate Sky's voice and obtain exact details on how it was developed. issued a statement. Sky is currently suspended after OpenAI used it last week to demo its new GPT-4o model. “We believe that AI voices should not intentionally imitate a famous person's distinctive voice. Skye's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson, but rather another professional actress's voice, based on her own natural speaking voice. used and…

While many climate change investors are focused on innovative deep technology solutions, Patrick Sheehan of ETF Partners has other ideas. “I don't really have anything against carbon capture and storage, other than the fact that it's probably been too long since commercialized,” he told TechCrunch. Instead, Sheehan and his colleagues are diving into more software-centric companies that promise to continue to be game-changing. “Some people say it's the police's fault,” Sheehan said. “The more I look, the more I disagree with that idea. We need to find companies that can rapidly scale to have an impact within the lifespan of…