Author: TechBrunch
Hello everyone, welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. If you'd like to have this sent to your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. This week was something of a swan song for the Biden administration. On Monday, the White House announced sweeping new restrictions on exports of AI chips, which were loudly criticized by tech giants including Nvidia. (NVIDIA's business would be severely affected if the restrictions go into effect as proposed.) And on Tuesday, the administration issued an executive order opening up federal land to AI data centers. But the obvious question is: Will this move have a lasting…
There's even more good news for those looking to leave Meta's social app ecosystem in favor of more open alternatives. An independent developer is building a photo sharing app for Bluesky called Flashes. The soon-to-be-released app leverages the AT protocol, the same technology that powers Bluesky, and is built using code from the developer's previous Bluesky client, Skeets. If Flashes launches, it could capitalize on growing consumer demand for alternatives to Big Tech's social media monopoly. This trend has led to the adoption of open source decentralized apps such as Mastodon and Bluesky, including the recently released Pixelfed mobile app…
Google said it is working with the Associated Press to build a “feed of real-time information” into Gemini to make the Gemini chatbot app more of a one-stop shop. Jafar Zaidi, Google's vice president of global news partnerships, said the goal is to “further increase the usefulness of results” in the Gemini experience. “When developing new AI services and products,[s]”We identify certain types of information and data that help us improve our products and services for people around the world,” Zaidi wrote in a blog post. “this [new feed] It is especially useful for users looking for up-to-date information. ”…
“Social media should be built on protocols, not platforms,” Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko said in an interview on TechCrunch's Equity podcast. “And people should be able to freely choose and move between different platforms.” Rochko is here arguing for a more decentralized approach to social media, one that gives users more control over their data and digital lives, including the kind of content they want to put up with. I am doing it. Recently, he spoke out about changes to Meta's controversial content moderation policy, including adjustments to the type of content Meta allows on its platform in the name…
Google announced Wednesday that Workspace customers can now take advantage of all AI features in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet at no additional charge. However, this plan incurs a price increase of $2 per user per month. This change simplifies access to Workplace AI tools such as email summaries, automatic note-taking, and chat with Gemini bots. Previously, customers who wanted full AI capabilities had to pay an additional $20 per user per month for the Gemini for Workplace plan on top of the $12 for the Workspace Business Standard plan. The standard plan currently costs $14 per user per month.…
Colossal Biosciences, a company known for its mission to bring back the woolly mammoth and two other extinct species, is owned by TWG Global, the investment firm of Guggenheim Partners co-founders Mark and John Walter. raised a $200 million Series C at a valuation of $10.2 billion. Billionaire Thomas Tull. The funding comes two years after the company closed its previous round at a reported valuation of $1.5 billion. Why are investors pouring so much capital into a company that isn't yet profitable and whose flagship project – reviving extinct mammoths and Tasmanian tigers – is expected to be completed…
Some of the latest statistics show that employers are inundated with job applications. In the UK alone, employers running postgraduate training schemes will receive an average of 140 applications for each role in 2024, a 59% increase on 2023, according to the Student Employers Association. And despite some trepidation among a minority of recruiters, many companies are turning to AI to help, especially given that Gen Z now outnumbers Millennials in the population. We're looking at platforms. No doubt this contributed to the news. Maki, which has a conversational skills assessment-based AI agent for job interviews and candidate filtering, has…
Global fashion brands are struggling with billions of dollars worth of unsold inventory. In most cases, these brands avoid reselling in core markets such as the UK and US to prevent market cannibalization. Meanwhile, emerging markets such as Africa rely heavily on imported second-hand clothing, of which 30-40% is deemed unusable upon arrival, leading to environmental degradation from discarded textiles. This situation highlights a contradiction. Excess inventory of new and unsold goods in developed markets coexists with ecological damage caused by imports of used goods in emerging markets. But this dynamic also creates unique arbitrage opportunities for startups in the…
OpenAI has begun testing a feature that allows new users of ChatGPT to sign up with just a phone number, without requiring an email. The feature, discovered by software engineer Tibor Blaho, is in beta in the US and India and allows users to sign up for an account on ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot platform, by entering their number. can be created. There are some limitations. Users who create an account using their own number cannot upgrade to OpenAI's paid plans, such as ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro, unless they verify their account via email. Multi-factor authentication is also not…
The U.S. school district that fell victim to the recent cyberattack on education technology giant Power Schools told TechCrunch that the hackers accessed “all” historical student and teacher data stored in its student information systems. PowerSchool, which uses school records software to support more than 50 million students across the United States, suffered a breach in December when its customer support portal was compromised with stolen credentials, leaving students and We now have access to a large amount of personal data belonging to teachers. in K-12 schools. It has not yet been publicly identified that this attack was the work…