Author: TechBrunch

Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows and the PCs that run it. In a keynote ahead of this week's annual Build developer conference, the company announced a new lineup of Windows machines it calls Copilot+ PCs, as well as leveraging AI such as Recall to help users find apps, files, and other content they've viewed. announced the generation function. In the past. Copilot, Microsoft's brand of generative AI, will soon be more deeply integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are also coming. We've compiled all the major announcements here. Copilot+…

Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows and the PCs that run it. In a keynote ahead of this week's annual Build developer conference, the company announced a new lineup of Windows machines it calls Copilot+ PCs, as well as leveraging AI such as Recall to help users find apps, files, and other content they've viewed. announced the generation function. In the past. Copilot, Microsoft's brand of generative AI, will soon be more deeply integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are also coming. We've compiled all the major announcements here. Copilot+…

When I attended Automate in Chicago a few weeks ago, several people thanked me for TechCrunch's semi-regular robotics jobs report. I always learn from receiving direct feedback. While it's true that the industry has experienced ups and downs in recent years, both in terms of funding and employment, there has never been a more exciting time for robotics. Whether in established categories like manufacturing and fulfillment or emerging areas like humanoids and home robots, things are moving faster than ever before. But what surprises me most when compiling these lists is not just the fact that there are more openings…

Contour Venture Partners, a longtime New York-based seed investor, is making progress with its latest flagship fund. The company closed on Contour Venture Partners Fund V with $42 million raised from 64 backers, according to a May 17 SEC filing. The company is targeting $90 million for its fifth flagship fund and began raising money in May last year, according to filings. Say. The company previously raised $20 million of this as part of a separate parallel fund, according to a December filing. Contour Venture Partners declined to comment. The past few years have been tough for venture funds looking…

Meta's oversight board has now expanded its scope to include the company's newest platform, Instagram Threads. Designed as an independent appellate board that hears cases and makes precedent-setting content moderation decisions, the commission has previously investigated Facebook's banning of Donald Trump, COVID-19 misinformation, She has made decisions on lawsuits such as the removal of breast cancer photos. The board has now begun hearing a lawsuit brought out by Meta's Twitter/X competitor, Threads. This is a key differentiator between Threads and rivals like X. On X, Elon Musk and other users rely heavily on crowdsourced fact-checking through community notes, supplementing otherwise…

SeekOut, an eight-year-old recruitment startup that uses AI to find candidates, cut about 30% of its workforce on Thursday, TechCrunch learned. In a letter to employees, SeekOut CEO Anoop Gupta and CTO Aravind Bala said, “These days, we spend about $2 for every $1 we make, and in the last year… There was a large amount of cash burn.” “Unfortunately, to put our company on a sustainable trajectory, we will need to significantly reduce our workforce.” According to the letter, the company has made the decision to refocus and prioritize a small number of initiatives that have the greatest impact…

Britain's self-proclaimed “world-leading” regulation of self-driving cars has become official after the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) Act received royal assent. This is the final rubber stamp that any law must pass before becoming law. The government has said fully autonomous cars could be on UK roads within two years. “While this does not take away people's ability to choose to drive themselves, our landmark legislation means self-driving cars could be on UK roads as early as 2026. , will provide a substantial boost to both safety and our nation's economy,” the Secretary of Transportation said. Mark Harper said in his statement:…

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm. What started as a tool to hyper-charge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth used by more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies for more wide-ranging needs. And that growth has propelled OpenAI itself into becoming one of the most-hyped companies in recent memory, even if CEO and co-founder Sam Altman’s firing and swift return raised concerns about its direction and opened the door for competitors. What does that mean for OpenAI, ChatGPT and its other ambitions? The fallout is still settling,…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has illegally accused Solo Funds, a fintech company that enables peer-to-peer lending, of using “digital dark patterns” to deceive borrowers and advertise to consumers that it is fee-free. The company is suing the company for charging fees. “The CFPB is suing SoLo for using digital tricks to hide interest rates and fees on online loans,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a May 17 press release announcing the lawsuit. “SoLo has had repeated run-ins with state regulators, and we are trying to stop their bogus tipping system.” The CFPB also alleges that the company misrepresented…

Hard technology startups generate a lot of buzz, but there's a growing group of companies building digital tools that are squarely focused on making hard technology development faster, more efficient, and much closer to software development. increasing. California-based Rollup is the latest startup to emerge as part of this ensemble. Although the company is coming out of stealth on Monday, it has actually been around for three years. But despite raising a total of $5.6 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Teal Capital, the team has remained very under the radar. The startup has developed a software platform that…