Author: TechBrunch

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Google is rolling out several new AI-powered features across Search, Maps and Gemini, designed to help people plan their summer vacation. New features are coming to help users turn to tools like Openai's ChatGpt to help them plan their trips. A Google Search AI overview, which displays a snapshot of information at the top of the results page, now helps users get ideas for travelling in a particular region or country. Starting this week, users can search for things like “Create a Costa Rica Itinerary with a Nature Focus.” From there you can view photos and reviews and see the…

NHS vendor Advanced will pay a small £3 million ($3.8 million) fine for failing to implement basic security measures before being hit by a ransomware attack in 2022, UK data protection regulator confirmed. It was half of the fines the intelligence officer's office initially sought in August 2024, and Data Watchdog said it would raise more than £6 million due to security failures. The ICO said Wednesday it had proceeded to “break data protection laws” by not fully deploying multifactor authentication prior to the violation. It said that hackers can break in with stolen qualifications and steal the personal information…

Silicon Valley used to take a backseat to Washington, D.C. But now, the people disrupting technology have taken the wheel at the highest echelons of government. And that’s thanks, in large part, to the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE. Much reporting on DOGE has focused on its staffers’ ties to Musk, the billionaire bestie of President Donald Trump. However, there’s another major nexus: the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors who have joined its clarion call of slashing government spending. TechCrunch has compiled a comprehensive list of the founders and VCs who have worked with DOGE, identified through a combination of personal…

Frustration about poverty in rural China. News report on corrupt Communists. Crying for help about corrupt cops who shake up entrepreneurs. These are just a few of the 133,000 examples fed into a sophisticated, large-scale language model designed to automatically flag content considered sensitive by the Chinese government. The leaked database seen by TechCrunch reveals that China has developed an AI system that surpasses the already formidable censorship machines. The system appears to be primarily intended to censor Chinese citizens online, but can be used for other purposes, such as improving the already extensive censorship of Chinese AI models. The…

Bradley Tusk, co-founder and managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners, told TechCrunch in an episode of today's episode that he knows the VC is dead. And that has been for the past four years. “Maybe there are VCs who have never heard of liquidity over the past few years, but they haven't returned $1 in capital to LPS in four years,” Tusk says. The VC has spent a rough few years thanks to crashing the startup valuation from the 2021 highs, and hampering IPO and M&A transactions. Many investors were holding their breath as President Donald Trump rejuvenated the VC…

Venture capital has “dead effectively for the past four years,” according to Bradley Tusk, co-founder and managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners. A self-proclaimed “fixer,” Tusk recently decided not to raise a fourth fund. Instead, he decided to go back to his roots and start a company with a service company aimed at helping early-stage startups navigate technology policy and regulations. Today, fair, Rebecca Veran sits with Tusk and explores his pivot from traditional VC to fair service. Listen to the entire episode and hear the following: Limitations and lack of fluidity in current VC models. How Trump's tariffs and…

The horribly realistic surge in deepfakes is one of the more harmful by-products of the rise of AI, and victims of these deepfake-based frauds already cost millions of dollars. The startup, which has built a set of tools aimed at governments and businesses, has helped to detect and stop deepfakes and spoofing in audio, video and still images, led by impressive customers and investors on Wednesday. Co-founded by Hany Farid, one of the pioneers of Deepfake Media's detection, GetReal has raised $17.5 million in stake and funds for use in R&D, employment and business development. In addition to the funding,…

Sez Us, a social app founded by Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, is trying to build a platform without anger bait. Rage-Bait refers to posts intended to stop controversy. This could be a deliberately controversial political take, or a fully manufactured scenario designed to farm farming (for example, the satirical creator has earned 1.5 million views on Tiktok, who claims to file for divorce after her husband booed Taylor Swift). Most existing social networking apps incentivize Rage-Bait such as Instagram, X, Tiktok, YouTube, and more. These platforms have programs for creators. These programs pay based on the number of views you…

YouTube changes the way YouTube shorts views are counted, allowing creators to have a deeper understanding of how short form content works. The Shorts view counts how many times a creator's Short Start is played or replayed. In the past, views were counted after being considered short in a certain number of seconds. This change results in a higher progression in view counts. YouTube says it's making a change because it heard the creator wants to understand how often their shorts are actually seen. The idea is to help creators better showcase the full reach, inform content strategies and make…