Normal view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.
Today — 4 March 2025TechCrunch News

Key ex-OpenAI researcher subpoenaed in AI copyright case

4 March 2025 at 18:14

Alec Radford, a researcher who helped develop many of OpenAI’s key AI technologies, has been subpoenaed in a copyright case against the AI startup, according to a court filing Tuesday. The filing, submitted by an attorney for the plaintiffs to the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, indicated that Radford was served […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Judge rejects Musk’s attempt to block OpenAI’s for-profit transition

4 March 2025 at 17:53

A federal judge in Northern California denied Elon Musk’s motion for an injunction that would have halted OpenAI’s planned transition into a for-profit company, Bloomberg reported. Musk failed to provide enough evidence necessary for an injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled Tuesday. However, Rogers said the court is prepared to hold an […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Aspiration co-founder and board member defrauded investors of $145M, prosecutors say

4 March 2025 at 15:40

The fintech startup has been under federal scrutiny for years for questionable financial and carbon accounting practices.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon reportedly forms a new agentic AI group

4 March 2025 at 14:07

Amazon has formed a new group within AWS dedicated to creating AI agents, systems that help people automate parts of their lives, Reuters reported on Tuesday. In an email to staff seen by Reuters, AWS CEO Matt Garman said agentic AI has the potential to be “the next multi-billion business for AWS.” A longtime AWS […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

X updates Communities with new filters, sorting options, and a way to see your own posts

4 March 2025 at 14:04

X is bringing more attention to Communities, a feature that allows X users to connect and engage in discussions around a given topic, similar to how it’s done on Reddit. Today, tabs to access popular Communities are pinned to the top of the app’s homepage alongside your For You feed and other Lists. Now, you’ll […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

African VC LoftyInc Capital launches third fund for seed and Series A, reaches $43M first close

4 March 2025 at 14:00

One of Africa’s most active investors, known for early bets on unicorns like Flutterwave, Andela, and Wave, has secured fresh capital to invest in startups across the continent. This comes as funding deals and volumes in Africa saw only a slight dip last year, according to a report by VC firm Partech. LoftyInc Capital, which […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Andy Dunn’s new app Pie uses AI to help you make friends

4 March 2025 at 13:11

“We’re a long way from pants,” Andy Dunn, founder of online fashion retailer Bonobos, told TechCrunch. Now, the former CEO is taking on a completely different challenge: He wants to help people make friends. Dunn’s newest venture, Pie, is a social app focused on bringing people together in real life. With an $11.5 million Series […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Foundation Capital, an early backer of Solana and Cerebras, raises $600M fund

4 March 2025 at 12:30

Foundation Capital has come a long way since it was forced to scale down its fund size from $750 million in 2008 to $282 million (its sixth main fund) in 2013. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old firm announced that it raised a $600 million eleventh flagship fund, which is 20% larger than the predecessor $500 million […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Klarna CEO doubts that other companies will replace Salesforce with AI

4 March 2025 at 11:30

The founder and CEO of IPO-bound fintech Klarna took to X to once again explain why his company ditched Salesforce’s flagship CRM product about a year ago in favor of its own homegrown AI system.  But this time, Sebastian Siemiatkowski emphasized that he doesn’t think others will — or should — follow his lead. “I […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Amazon is reportedly developing its own AI ‘reasoning’ model

4 March 2025 at 11:27

Amazon reportedly wants to get in on the AI “reasoning” model game. According to Business Insider, Amazon is developing an AI model that incorporates advanced “reasoning” capabilities, similar to models like OpenAI’s o3-mini and Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s R1. The model may launch as soon as June under Amazon’s Nova brand, which the company introduced […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google still limits how Gemini answers political questions

4 March 2025 at 11:25

While several of Google’s rivals, including OpenAI, have tweaked their AI chatbots to discuss politically sensitive subjects in recent months, Google appears to be embracing a more conservative approach. When asked to answer certain political questions, Google’s AI-powered chatbot, Gemini, often says it “can’t help with responses on elections and political figures right now,” TechCrunch’s […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Hackers launder most of Bybit’s stolen crypto worth $1.4B

Experts note that this is just the first step for the alleged North Korean hackers to profit from the historic heist.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor lays out the bull case for AI agents

4 March 2025 at 10:06

We still didn’t get a straight-up definition of exactly what an AI agent is during Bret Taylor’s Mobile World Congress fireside chat in Barcelona on Tuesday. The Sierra founder and OpenAI board chair preferred to sidestep CNN moderator Anna Stewart’s question asking how “agentic AI” is “any different to a GenAI chatbot” by suggesting everyone […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google’s March Pixel Drop adds AI-powered scam detection and live location sharing with friends

4 March 2025 at 09:00

Google on Tuesday announced new software updates for the Pixel phones as part of its “Pixel Drop” program for March. Pixel Watches and all Android devices are also receiving some new features with this release. The most notable parts of the update include using AI to detect scams in messages and calls, better categorization in […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg talks succession — ‘I don’t want to pass it to a committee’

4 March 2025 at 08:38

Calls for WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg to step down from his leadership role have increased in recent months amid his controversial fight and legal battle with hosting company WP Engine. Mullenweg not only intends to stay, he’s also thinking about how he plans to manage succession planning. He doesn’t want to pass […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Cohere claims its new Aya Vision AI model is best-in-class

4 March 2025 at 08:33

Cohere For AI, AI startup Cohere’s nonprofit research lab, this week released a multimodal “open” AI model, Aya Vision, the lab claimed is best-in-class. Aya Vision can perform tasks like writing image captions, answering questions about photos, translating text, and generating summaries in 23 major languages. Cohere, which is also making Aya Vision available for […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Didi reportedly seeking funds for self-driving unit at $5B valuation

4 March 2025 at 08:17

Chinese ride-hail firm Didi is on the hunt for fresh funds for its autonomous vehicle technology unit that could value it at $5 billion, according to Bloomberg News. Investor interest in self-driving cars is high in China on the backs of IPOs from WeRide and Pony AI, which have a market capitalization of $4.7 billion […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

On a quest to revive the woolly mammoth, Colossal Biosciences has created a woolly mouse

4 March 2025 at 06:53

Colossal Biosciences, known for its outlandish goal to resurrect the woolly mammoth by 2028, is claiming steady progress. Its evidence: genetically engineering mice to have mammoth-like fur. To engineer the woolly mouse, the company’s scientists found mouse versions of mammoth genes and then used CRISPR to edit mice embryos, Dr. Beth Shapiro, chief science officer […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

OpenAI launches $50M grant program to help fund academic research

4 March 2025 at 06:30

OpenAI on Monday said it is supporting a new consortium called NextGenAI that would focus on supporting AI-assisted research at top universities. NextGenAI, whose 15 founding academic partners include Harvard, the University of Oxford and MIT, will be funded with $50 million in research grants, compute funding, and API access from OpenAI, the company said. […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

❌
❌