The Latest
AI
Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman says he loves Sam Altman, believes he’s sincere about AI safety
4 hours ago
Microsoft’s AI CEO has a cozy relationship with the man who used to be his rival, he said on Tuesday.
Biotech & Health
10 of the most exciting digital health startups of 2024, according to VCs
4 hours ago
In the post-COVID world, VCs say it’s not as easy to get excited about investing in digital health. Deal activity in healthcare IT was relatively flat in Q1 2024 at…
Featured Article
Welcome to the fediverse: Your guide to Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, and more
Once upon a time, in a galaxy not so far away (this one, in fact), a few internet rebels decided that they were tired of the corporate overlords controlling their online lives. Thus, the fediverse was born — an attempt to wrest control of microblogging services, such as Twitter and…
5 hours ago
Giving robots a human-like exterior has been the standard for years — centuries even. But giving them actual, living skin that can be manipulated into horrifying, slimy expressions? That’s new.…
In May, when OpenAI first demoed an eerily realistic, nearly real-time “advanced voice mode” for its AI-powered chatbot platform ChatGPT, the company said that the feature would roll out to…
GM’s Cruise has appointed Marc Whitten — a video game veteran who was a founding engineer at Xbox and Xbox Live — as CEO. The Cruise CEO position has been…
You can now more easily use ChatGPT on your Mac computer. OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot is available to all macOS users, the company announced on Tuesday. The app was first…
Volkswagen Group said Tuesday it will invest $1 billion into EV startup Rivian as part of a broad software development deal that could expand to as much as $5 billion.…
Startups
Fearless Fund’s founder has resigned, and it’s a sad reflection on the VC world for Black women
8 hours ago
Fearless Fund’s co-founder and COO Ayana Parsons has announced that she was stepping down. The firm is being sued by a politically conservative group.
Reddit says the update shouldn’t affect the majority of users or good faith actors, like researchers and organizations, such as the Internet Archive.
Where we’ll be next
Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
Unfortunately for Udio and Suno, the RIAA has a few thousand smoking guns in the lawsuit: songs it owns that are clearly being regurgitated by the music models.
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at a Brex exec’s jump to join venture firm a16z, Klarna selling off its payments unit and some mega-raises. To get a roundup…
Instagram’s Twitter/X rival Threads is furthering its expansion into the fediverse — the interconnected social network that includes apps like Mastodon, PeerTube and others running the ActivityPub protocol. On Tuesday,…
As browsers continue to add AI features into their products, Mozilla is looking to give users some choice in the matter. The company announced on Tuesday that it’s launching an…
Smart ring makers Oura and Circular on Tuesday announced a settlement in an ongoing patent suit. The agreed-upon terms find the French company entering into a multi-year agreement with Oura,…
X still has a verified bot problem. Also, grass is green. We knew it would be a bad idea to let anyone pay for a…
Apps
Inspired by Gen Z, Pinterest users can now turn boards into videos for sharing on Instagram and TikTok
12 hours ago
The new addition was inspired by the video-sharing activity that was already taking place on apps like TikTok.
It’s unclear where Stability goes from here.
Government & Policy
Internet goes dark in Kenya in the wake of major protests over finance bill
12 hours ago
London-based internet rights monitoring group NetBlocks has reported a major internet disruption in Kenya following a wave of demonstrations across the country, as police violently cracked down on citizens taking…
Transportation
Waymo dumps its waitlist and opens up its San Francisco robotaxi service to everyone
13 hours ago
Waymo no longer has a waitlist for its San Francisco robotaxi service, removing the final obstacle for customers keen to use the self-driving technology. Waymo said Tuesday that anyone can…
