The Trump administration is negotiating a deal that would see Oracle take over TikTok alongside new U.S. investors, according to a report in NPR. Lawmakers passed a bill last year forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell TikTok or see it banned in the U.S. The app briefly went dark before the law took [β¦]
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2024 was a busy year for lawmakers (and lobbyists) concerned about AI β most notably in California, where Gavin Newsom signed 18 new AI laws while also vetoing high-profile AI legislation. And 2025 could see just as much activity, especially on the state level, according to Mark Weatherford. Weatherford has, in his words, seen the [β¦]
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Welcome back to Week in Review. This week weβre diving into OpenAIβs newly released AI agent, called Operator. We also look at where TikTok stands after being resuscitated, whether itβs time to go back to Tumblr, and more! Letβs get into it. OpenAI launched a research preview of Operator, a general-purpose AI agent that can [β¦]
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Legendary musician Paul McCartney is warning against proposed changes to UK copyright law that would allow tech companies to freely train their models on online content unless the copyright holders actively opt out. In excerpts of an interview with the BBC, McCartney said the government needs to do more to protect musicians and other artists. [β¦]
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Bankers are reportedly gearing up to offload debt used to fund Elon Muskβs social network, for which he paid $44 million in 2022 including $13 billion in financing. Morgan Stanley is leading the charge, hoping to sell senior debt at between 90 and 95 cents on the dollar, reports the WSJ.Β As notes the outlet, [β¦]
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Sam Altman-backed Retro Biosciences is raising $1 billion to develop drugs that extend human lifespan by 10 years, the FT reports.
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The number of individuals confirmed to be affected by the data breach is almost double the company's previous estimate.
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Character AI, a platform that lets users engage in roleplay with AI chatbots, has filed a motion to dismiss a case brought against it by the parent of a teen who committed suicide after allegedly becoming hooked on the companyβs technology. In October, Megan Garcia filed a lawsuit against Character AI in the U.S. District [β¦]
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Companies spent significantly more lobbying AI issues at the U.S. federal level last year compared to 2023 amid regulatory uncertainty. According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, 648 companies spent on AI lobbying in 2024 versus 458 in 2023, representing a 141% year-over-year increase. Companies like Microsoft supported legislation such as the CREATE AI Act, which [β¦]
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Companies that want to build AI voice into their products are rushing to work with ElevenLabs, the startup that develops synthetic voice technology like voice cloning and dubbing tools. Now ElevenLabs is turning up the volume on its business with a huge Series C raise, just a year after a sizable Series B. The New [β¦]
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X has started expanding its dedicated vertical video feed to users outside the U.S., TechCrunch has exclusively learned and confirmed with the company.
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Waymo lobbyists had a busy 2024. A recent review of lobbyist disclosure data by the San Francisco Examiner revealed Waymo paid lobbyists to meet with San Francisco government officials 348 times last year, more than double the 137 times it reported in 2023. The pop in lobbyist activity is in sync with Waymoβs expansion in [β¦]
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The developer behind Pixelfed, Loops, and Sup, open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, respectively, is now raising funds on Kickstarter to fuel the appsβ further development. The trio is part of the growing open social web, also known as the fediverse, powered by the same ActivityPub protocol used by X alternative Mastodon. The [β¦]
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Solar farms can be completed far faster than nuclear reactors and natural gas power plants.
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Apple released new figures Friday, highlighting user adoption of iOS 18. Released in public form back in September 2024, the mobile operating system is now installed on 68% of compatible devices. That number jumps to 78% on iPhones released in the last four years. As for the remaining iPhones out there, 19% are running iOS [β¦]
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Welcome to Startups Weekly β your weekly recap of everything you canβt miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week was supposed to be a short one in the U.S., as it started with a holiday. But Inauguration Day kept some founders busy, and the [β¦]
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The European Union will give tech and social media companies a βstress testβ to see how they handle misinformation ahead of Germanyβs election next month. European Commission officials have invited tech companies, including X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, Google, Microsoft, and LinkedIn, to a meeting on January 31, according to multiple news outlets. During this meeting, [β¦]
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To outside observers, AI researchers are in an enviable position. Theyβre sought after by tech giants. Theyβre taking home eye-popping salaries. And theyβre in the hottest industry of the moment. But all this comes with intense pressure. More than half a dozen researchers TechCrunch spoke with, some of whom requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, [β¦]
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The list of informal, weird AI benchmarks keeps growing. Over the past few days, some in the AI community on X have become obsessed with a test of how different AI models, particularly so-called reasoning models, handle prompts like this: βWrite a Python script for a bouncing yellow ball within a shape. Make the shape [β¦]
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In the days leading up to the TikTok ban in the U.S. on Sunday, U.S. users flooded the Chinese app RedNote, which offered a similar experience to their favorite short-form video app. The app, which is listed in the U.S. App Store under its Chinese name Xiaohongshu, quickly became the No. 1 free app in [β¦]
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