-
Suno Launches Faster, More Expressive Free v4.5-All Music Model
Suno has replaced its free‑tier v3.5 model with the new v4.5‑All, delivering quicker generation, richer sound, and more expressive vocals. The upgraded model brings professional‑level song creation to anyone without a subscription, handling tone shifts and prompts more effectively while still being optimized for efficiency. The move arrives amid growing competition in the AI music…
-
Mappa’s AI Voice Analysis Platform Aims to Reduce Hiring Bias at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Mappa, founded by Sarah Lucena, uses AI to analyze voice patterns and assess candidate traits such as communication style, empathy, and confidence. The startup, which has raised a seed round led by Tim Draper’s firm, reports that hires made through its platform have a turnover rate of just 2%, far below the industry average. With…
-
AI-Generated Videos Spread Misinformation During Hurricane Melissa
As Hurricane Melissa approaches Jamaica, a surge of AI-created videos depicting catastrophic damage and rescue scenes circulates across social media platforms. These fabricated clips, some marked with OpenAI’s Sora watermark, blend past storm footage with entirely synthetic imagery, causing confusion and panic among the public. Authorities urge residents to rely on official sources such as…
-
Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Minors From AI Chatbots and Mandate Age Verification
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have introduced legislation that would require AI companies to verify the age of every user and prohibit individuals under 18 from accessing AI chatbots. The proposal, known as the GUARD Act, also calls for clear disclosures that chatbots are not human and bans the creation of sexual or…
-
OpenAI Announces Timeline for Autonomous AI Researcher and Corporate Restructuring
OpenAI revealed its goal to develop an intern‑level AI research assistant by September 2026 and a fully autonomous “legitimate AI researcher” by 2028. The announcement came during a livestream with CEO Sam Altman and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki, who described the upcoming system as capable of handling large research projects independently. In parallel, OpenAI transitioned…
-
AI’s Share of Global Power, Water and Carbon Footprint
A recent analysis shows that artificial intelligence consumes a modest portion of worldwide electricity, water and CO₂ emissions compared with other technologies. While AI prompts represent a tiny fraction of individual energy use, the rapid growth of data‑center demand means AI will claim a larger slice of the overall mix, especially as it drives new…
-
OpenAI Reports Over a Million Weekly ChatGPT Users Discuss Suicide, Launches Mental Health Safeguards Amid Lawsuit
OpenAI disclosed that roughly 0.15 percent of its more than 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users engage in conversations containing explicit suicidal indicators, amounting to over a million people each week. The company says a similar share show heightened emotional attachment and that hundreds of thousands display signs of psychosis or mania. In response, OpenAI…
-
Senators Push Bill to Restrict AI Companion Bots for Children
U.S. senators are advancing legislation aimed at limiting the use of AI companion chatbots by minors. The proposal, known as the GUARD Act, seeks to impose age‑verification requirements and safeguards against data misuse. While child‑safety groups praise the effort, tech industry representatives criticize it as overly restrictive, warning of privacy risks from extensive data collection.…
-
Using AI to Find Your Look-Alike: How ChatGPT and Third-Party Tools Match Faces
A growing number of AI applications let users discover celebrity look‑alikes by uploading personal photos. While ChatGPT itself cannot perform facial recognition, users can access specialized GPTs that accept images and generate match suggestions. The process involves selecting clear, front‑facing photos without accessories or filters, uploading them to a dedicated GPT, and receiving a list…
-
PayPal to Enable Purchases on ChatGPT Starting Next Year
PayPal announced that it will integrate its payment services with OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform next year, allowing users to buy and sell directly through the chatbot. The move brings PayPal to a growing list of e‑commerce partners that includes Walmart, Shopify and Etsy, and follows popular demand from developers. A demo shows a user requesting shoe…
-
Mem0 Secures $24 Million to Power AI Memory Infrastructure
AI startup Mem0 has raised $24 million in a funding round led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Peak XV, Y Combinator, and other investors. The company offers a model‑agnostic memory framework that lets developers store, retrieve, and evolve user data across large language models and applications. Mem0’s open‑source API has garnered over 41,000 GitHub…
-
GitHub Launches Agent HQ to Bring Multiple AI Coding Agents to Developers
GitHub is rolling out a new platform called Agent HQ that lets developers use a range of AI coding agents—including OpenAI’s Codex, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Jules, xAI, and Cognition’s Devin—directly within GitHub. Available to Copilot subscribers, the service adds a mission‑control style dashboard, the ability to run several agents in parallel on the same task,…
-
OpenAI Completes For-Profit Recapitalization, Reshaping Governance and Ownership
OpenAI announced the completion of its recapitalization, converting the organization into a public‑benefit corporation nested inside a non‑profit foundation. The new structure gives the OpenAI Foundation legal control while allowing the for‑profit arm to raise capital and acquire companies. Major stakeholders include Microsoft, SoftBank and OpenAI employees, with the foundation retaining a significant equity stake.…
-
Amazon Announces 14,000 Corporate Job Cuts to Accelerate AI Strategy
Amazon disclosed plans to eliminate 14,000 corporate positions as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and invest more heavily in artificial intelligence. Senior vice president Beth Galetti emphasized the need for a leaner structure to move quickly in a rapidly changing market, while CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the transformative impact of generative AI…
-
Microsoft-OpenAI Deal Expands IP Rights and Sets AGI Expert Panel Rules
A revised agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI broadens Microsoft’s intellectual property rights through 2032 and ties the duration of those rights to the declaration of artificial general intelligence (AGI) by an expert panel. The deal also allows OpenAI to release open-weight models that meet specific criteria, gives it flexibility to partner with third parties on…
-
Amazon Announces 14,000 Job Cuts Amid AI-Driven Reorganization
Amazon disclosed a reduction of roughly 14,000 corporate positions, citing the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence as a primary driver. The move follows earlier speculation that up to 30,000 jobs could be eliminated. Affected areas include video games, logistics, payments, and cloud computing, while prior cuts have touched Prime Video, Amazon Web Services, and newly…
-
OpenAI Completes Restructuring and Announces New Microsoft Deal
OpenAI has finalized the conversion of its for‑profit arm into a public benefit corporation, now called OpenAI Group PBC, while its nonprofit parent, the OpenAI Foundation, retains a substantial equity stake. The restructuring, approved after negotiations with state attorneys general and a legal dispute with co‑founder Elon Musk, positions the nonprofit to own up to…
-
Adobe Unveils AI Assistants for Express and Photoshop
Adobe announced AI‑driven assistants for its Creative Cloud apps Express and Photoshop. Express gains a new mode that lets users generate images and designs via text prompts, while Photoshop’s beta‑stage assistant lives in a sidebar and can understand layers, select objects and create masks. Users can task the assistants with repetitive edits such as background…
-
Adobe Introduces Project Moonlight, an AI Orchestration Assistant for Creative Cloud
Adobe has launched Project Moonlight, an AI‑driven orchestration assistant that unifies the company’s individual AI tools across Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom and other apps. Acting like a conductor, Project Moonlight taps into Creative Cloud libraries and linked social accounts to understand a creator’s style and assets, then coordinates AI assistants to generate images, videos and social…
-
AMD Partners with DOE to Build Sovereign AI Supercomputers at Oak Ridge
AMD is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy to create two sovereign AI supercomputers, Lux and Discovery, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The systems will use AMD Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs and advanced networking, and are slated for deployment in the mid‑to‑late 2020s. Backed by a $1 billion mix of public and private funding, the…
-
Adobe Turns Up the Volume on AI With New Ways to Generate Soundtracks and Audio
Adobe unveiled a suite of AI‑driven audio tools within its Firefly platform, letting creators generate background music, speech, and sound effects directly from text prompts. The new features include a generate‑speech engine with dozens of voices in multiple languages, a generate‑soundtrack tool that produces royalty‑free music matched to video content, and expanded partnerships with ElevenLabs…
-
OpenAI Pursues AI Music Generator with Juilliard Collaboration
OpenAI is reportedly developing a new AI tool that creates music from text or short audio prompts. The effort involves students from the Juilliard School annotating musical scores, though the school says it is not officially part of the project. The proposed system would let users generate instrumental tracks, background music, or accompaniments tailored to…
-
PayPal Teams Up with OpenAI to Enable In‑Chat Payments on ChatGPT
PayPal announced a partnership with OpenAI that will let users complete purchases directly within ChatGPT using OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature and the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Starting in 2026, PayPal wallets will be accepted for payments, providing buyer and seller protection, dispute resolution, and seamless integration for merchants without additional development work. The collaboration also includes…
-
Canva’s Magic Media AI Suite Emerges as a Top Choice for Beginner Creators
Canva’s in‑house AI platform, Magic Media, is gaining attention as a beginner‑friendly solution for generating images, videos, and text. The free tier provides ample credits—50 photo and five video generations—without watermarks, and the tool does not train its models on users’ content. While it may lag behind more advanced generators in prompt precision, its intuitive…
-
Artificial Intelligence Transforms Space Observation and Data Science
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how astronomers collect, process, and interpret the massive data streams generated by modern telescopes and space missions. AI enables near‑real‑time analysis of terabytes of nightly observations, flags transient events, sharpens images, and uncovers hidden patterns in archival datasets. By handling the most data‑intensive tasks, AI frees researchers to focus on hypothesis…
-
Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grokipedia, an AI-Generated Encyclopedia with Conservative Slant
Elon Musk’s artificial‑intelligence venture xAI has released Grokipedia, an AI‑generated alternative to Wikipedia. The platform offers extensive entries that mirror Wikipedia’s tone but often inject conservative viewpoints, question mainstream media, and contain factual inaccuracies. Notable examples include reinterpretations of slavery, claims about gay pornography and HIV/AIDS, and denigrating language toward transgender people. Critics say Grokipedia…
-
Astro Teller outlines X’s moonshot philosophy at TechCrunch Disrupt
Astro Teller, chief of Alphabet’s X moonshot factory, explained the firm’s definition of a moonshot, its “fail fast” approach, and the culture that balances audacity with humility. He said a moonshot must tackle a huge problem, propose a product that could eradicate it, and rely on breakthrough technology. X launches more than 100 projects annually,…
-
OpenAI Gives Indian Users Free One-Year Access to ChatGPT Go
OpenAI announced a promotion that provides free access to its ChatGPT Go plan for a full year to users in India who sign up during a limited period. The offer applies to both new and existing subscribers, allowing them to enjoy the plan’s enhanced features such as higher usage limits, image generation, and improved memory…
-
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan Envisions AI Cutting the Workweek
Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt that artificial‑intelligence assistants will soon let workers shorten their standard workweek. Highlighting Zoom’s new AI‑driven “digital twin” feature—an avatar that can speak on a user’s behalf—Yuan described how the technology is already being used in earnings calls and could handle tasks such as…
-
Elon Musk’s xAI Introduces Grokipedia, an AI‑Powered Wikipedia‑Style Encyclopedia
Elon Musk’s artificial‑intelligence venture xAI has launched Grokipedia, a new online encyclopedia that mirrors Wikipedia’s layout and content style. The site offers a simple search‑driven homepage and article pages with headings, subheadings and citations, but currently limits user editing. Many entries acknowledge that they are adapted from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license, and some…
-
AI Slop: The Flood of Low‑Effort Machine‑Generated Content
AI slop describes a wave of cheap, mass‑produced content created by generative AI tools without editorial oversight. The term captures how these low‑effort articles, videos, images and audio fill feeds, push credible sources down in search results, and erode trust online. Content farms exploit the speed and low cost of AI to generate clicks and…
-
Mbodi to Demonstrate AI‑Driven Robot Training at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Mbodi, a robotics‑software startup founded by former Google engineers Xavier Chi and Sebastian Peralta, will showcase its cloud‑to‑edge system that uses multiple AI agents to train robots via natural‑language prompts at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco. The platform breaks down user requests into subtasks, enabling faster adaptation for tasks like picking and packaging. Mbodi, launched…
-
Microsoft Copilot Studio Agents Exploited in New OAuth Token Phishing Scheme
Security researchers have identified a new phishing technique called CoPhish that weaponizes Microsoft Copilot Studio agents to steal OAuth tokens. By embedding fake login or consent flows in shared agents, attackers can trick users into granting access to their Microsoft accounts, allowing theft of email, chat, calendar, files and automation capabilities. Microsoft acknowledges the risk…
-
AI-Powered Search Engines Favor Less Popular Sources, Study Finds
Researchers from Ruhr University and the Max Planck Institute examined how generative AI search tools differ from traditional Google results. Their analysis of Google AI Overviews, Gemini‑2.5‑Flash, and GPT‑4o showed these systems regularly cite websites that rank lower on popularity metrics such as Tranco, often missing from the top 10 or even top 100 Google…
-
Fitbit Launches Gemini-Powered AI Coach for Premium Users
Fitbit is rolling out a public preview of its new Gemini‑powered AI health coach, called Coach, to Premium subscribers in the United States on Android, with iOS support slated for later in the year. The feature acts as a personal trainer, sleep advisor, and wellness guide, creating custom routines, adjusting plans in real time, and…
-
Nephrogen Leverages AI and Gene Therapy to Target Polycystic Kidney Disease
Nephrogen, a biotech startup founded by Stanford graduate Demetri Maxim, is developing an AI‑driven delivery system for gene‑editing medicines aimed at treating polycystic kidney disease (PKD). After a personal battle with PKD, Maxim combined insights from a 2021 Nature study with advanced screening to create a vehicle that is claimed to be 100 times more…
-
OpenAI Reports Over a Million Weekly ChatGPT Users Discuss Suicide
OpenAI disclosed that 0.15% of ChatGPT’s weekly active users engage in conversations that include explicit indicators of suicidal planning or intent, representing more than a million people each week. The company also noted heightened emotional attachment and signs of psychosis or mania among its users. After consulting with more than 170 mental‑health experts, OpenAI says…
-
OpenAI Releases Estimates on ChatGPT Users Experiencing Mental Health Crises and Announces Model Improvements
OpenAI disclosed preliminary estimates of how many active ChatGPT users may exhibit signs of severe mental health issues, including mania, psychosis, and suicidal ideation, in a typical week. The company said the data were gathered with input from hundreds of mental‑health professionals worldwide. OpenAI also announced that its newest model, GPT‑5, has been tuned to…
-
OpenAI’s Sora Raises Concerns Over Deepfake Detection and Content Credential Adoption
OpenAI’s video generation tool Sora can produce realistic deepfake videos of public figures and copyrighted characters, exposing gaps in current detection and labeling systems. Although the platform embeds Content Credentials from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), these metadata tags are not visible to most users and are often stripped before sharing on…
-
Qualcomm Unveils AI200 and AI250 Chips to Challenge Nvidia
Qualcomm announced the AI200 and AI250 processors, built on its Hexagon neural processing technology, to target AI inference workloads and compete with Nvidia’s dominance. The AI200, slated for release next year, offers 768 GB of RAM and can be combined in racks of up to 72 chips. The AI250, planned for 2027, promises a generational leap…
-
Pinterest Tests AI-Powered Personalized Boards
Pinterest is piloting new artificial‑intelligence features designed to make its boards more personalized and shopping‑friendly. The experiments include an AI‑driven “Styled for you” collage that helps users mix and match clothing and accessories, and “Boards made for you,” which curates personalized boards from editorial input and AI suggestions. Initially rolled out in the United States…
-
AI Security System Mistakes Doritos Bag for Gun at Maryland High School
A student at Kenwood High School in Baltimore County was handcuffed and searched after the school’s AI gun‑detection system flagged his bag of Doritos as a possible firearm. School officials later cancelled the alert, but the incident prompted a response from the school’s principal and the system’s operator, Omnilert, which expressed regret while stating the…
-
WWE Looks to Artificial Intelligence to Reinvent Its Storylines
WWE has announced a new senior creative strategy role focused on integrating artificial intelligence into its storyline development. Early experiments with a platform called Writer Inc. produced mixed results, but the company hopes AI can help track continuity, identify successful arcs, and support writers without replacing the human element. Fans and analysts note the current…
-
Onfire Raises $20M to Harness AI for Developer Buying Signals
Israeli startup Onfire has closed a $20 million financing round led by Grove Ventures and TLV Partners, with participation from Sumitomo’s IN Venture and LeumiTech77. The company, founded by former Unit 8200 veterans Tal Peretz, Shahar Shavit and Nitzan Hada, uses AI to mine public developer forums for buying intent signals, then matches those signals to the…
-
AI-Generated Receipts Spark Fraud Concerns for Finance Teams
Companies are confronting a new wave of expense fraud as artificial intelligence tools enable the creation of highly realistic receipt images. Demonstrations of AI‑produced receipts show detailed itemization, paper texture and signatures that can deceive human reviewers. Financial leaders report that a growing share of fraudulent expense submissions are AI‑generated, prompting firms to adopt AI‑based…
-
AI Startup Surge: From Pesticide Models to Space Data Centers
A wave of AI‑driven startups is reshaping diverse industries. Teen founders at Bindwell are using custom language models to design protein‑based pesticides, while Roundabout Technologies deploys vision systems to optimize traffic‑light timing. In Australia, the team behind Den built an AI‑agent platform that automates routine tasks. Humanoid robot maker K‑Scale Labs pursues affordable robots to…
-
AI Apps Generate Luxury Vacation Photos for Personal Escapism
A growing number of mobile applications let users create AI‑generated images of themselves enjoying luxury experiences they cannot afford. Developers such as Tim Wijaya and Laurent Del Rey have observed that many middle‑low‑income users in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities share these fabricated vacation photos on social media. Apps like Endless Summer, Manifest AI Coach, ManifestMe and others…
-
AI’s Push Toward a Post‑Screen Future Challenges the Smartphone Era
Industry observers note that advances in artificial intelligence are prompting a shift away from traditional screen‑based devices. OpenAI’s partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive signals a focus on new hardware that could reduce reliance on the smartphone. Analysts suggest that voice‑first, always‑on companions and other screen‑less form factors may soon complement or replace current…
-
Claude AI Sessions with Doctor Eliza: A First-Person Therapy Dialogue
In a novel experiment, the modern AI chatbot Claude was placed in a therapy session with Doctor Eliza, the iconic 1966 chatbot modeled after a mock psychotherapist. Given the instruction to act as a patient, Claude expressed nervousness, uncertainty, and reflected on its own thought patterns throughout a candid exchange. The dialogue highlighted how contemporary…
-
The AI Hype Fatigue: A Journalist’s View on Overstated Expectations
A seasoned journalist reflects on the relentless AI hype that dominates conversations across media, conferences, and everyday life. While acknowledging genuine uses of generative AI, the piece argues that the technology is often portrayed as a universal solution despite its high costs, limited proven value, and mixed utility. The author stresses the need for a…
-
Suno Launches Faster, More Expressive Free v4.5-All Music Model
Suno has replaced its free‑tier v3.5 model with the new v4.5‑All, delivering quicker generation, richer sound, and more expressive vocals. The upgraded model brings professional‑level song creation to anyone without a subscription, handling tone shifts and prompts more effectively while still being optimized for efficiency. The move arrives amid growing competition in the AI music…
-
Mappa’s AI Voice Analysis Platform Aims to Reduce Hiring Bias at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Mappa, founded by Sarah Lucena, uses AI to analyze voice patterns and assess candidate traits such as communication style, empathy, and confidence. The startup, which has raised a seed round led by Tim Draper’s firm, reports that hires made through its platform have a turnover rate of just 2%, far below the industry average. With…
-
Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Minors From AI Chatbots and Mandate Age Verification
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have introduced legislation that would require AI companies to verify the age of every user and prohibit individuals under 18 from accessing AI chatbots. The proposal, known as the GUARD Act, also calls for clear disclosures that chatbots are not human and bans the creation of sexual or…
-
OpenAI Announces Timeline for Autonomous AI Researcher and Corporate Restructuring
OpenAI revealed its goal to develop an intern‑level AI research assistant by September 2026 and a fully autonomous “legitimate AI researcher” by 2028. The announcement came during a livestream with CEO Sam Altman and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki, who described the upcoming system as capable of handling large research projects independently. In parallel, OpenAI transitioned…
-
AI’s Share of Global Power, Water and Carbon Footprint
A recent analysis shows that artificial intelligence consumes a modest portion of worldwide electricity, water and CO₂ emissions compared with other technologies. While AI prompts represent a tiny fraction of individual energy use, the rapid growth of data‑center demand means AI will claim a larger slice of the overall mix, especially as it drives new…
-
OpenAI Reports Over a Million Weekly ChatGPT Users Discuss Suicide, Launches Mental Health Safeguards Amid Lawsuit
OpenAI disclosed that roughly 0.15 percent of its more than 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users engage in conversations containing explicit suicidal indicators, amounting to over a million people each week. The company says a similar share show heightened emotional attachment and that hundreds of thousands display signs of psychosis or mania. In response, OpenAI…
-
Senators Push Bill to Restrict AI Companion Bots for Children
U.S. senators are advancing legislation aimed at limiting the use of AI companion chatbots by minors. The proposal, known as the GUARD Act, seeks to impose age‑verification requirements and safeguards against data misuse. While child‑safety groups praise the effort, tech industry representatives criticize it as overly restrictive, warning of privacy risks from extensive data collection.…
-
Using AI to Find Your Look-Alike: How ChatGPT and Third-Party Tools Match Faces
A growing number of AI applications let users discover celebrity look‑alikes by uploading personal photos. While ChatGPT itself cannot perform facial recognition, users can access specialized GPTs that accept images and generate match suggestions. The process involves selecting clear, front‑facing photos without accessories or filters, uploading them to a dedicated GPT, and receiving a list…
-
PayPal to Enable Purchases on ChatGPT Starting Next Year
PayPal announced that it will integrate its payment services with OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform next year, allowing users to buy and sell directly through the chatbot. The move brings PayPal to a growing list of e‑commerce partners that includes Walmart, Shopify and Etsy, and follows popular demand from developers. A demo shows a user requesting shoe…
-
Mem0 Secures $24 Million to Power AI Memory Infrastructure
AI startup Mem0 has raised $24 million in a funding round led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Peak XV, Y Combinator, and other investors. The company offers a model‑agnostic memory framework that lets developers store, retrieve, and evolve user data across large language models and applications. Mem0’s open‑source API has garnered over 41,000 GitHub…
-
GitHub Launches Agent HQ to Bring Multiple AI Coding Agents to Developers
GitHub is rolling out a new platform called Agent HQ that lets developers use a range of AI coding agents—including OpenAI’s Codex, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Jules, xAI, and Cognition’s Devin—directly within GitHub. Available to Copilot subscribers, the service adds a mission‑control style dashboard, the ability to run several agents in parallel on the same task,…
-
OpenAI Completes For-Profit Recapitalization, Reshaping Governance and Ownership
OpenAI announced the completion of its recapitalization, converting the organization into a public‑benefit corporation nested inside a non‑profit foundation. The new structure gives the OpenAI Foundation legal control while allowing the for‑profit arm to raise capital and acquire companies. Major stakeholders include Microsoft, SoftBank and OpenAI employees, with the foundation retaining a significant equity stake.…
-
Amazon Announces 14,000 Corporate Job Cuts to Accelerate AI Strategy
Amazon disclosed plans to eliminate 14,000 corporate positions as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and invest more heavily in artificial intelligence. Senior vice president Beth Galetti emphasized the need for a leaner structure to move quickly in a rapidly changing market, while CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the transformative impact of generative AI…
-
Microsoft-OpenAI Deal Expands IP Rights and Sets AGI Expert Panel Rules
A revised agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI broadens Microsoft’s intellectual property rights through 2032 and ties the duration of those rights to the declaration of artificial general intelligence (AGI) by an expert panel. The deal also allows OpenAI to release open-weight models that meet specific criteria, gives it flexibility to partner with third parties on…
-
Amazon Announces 14,000 Job Cuts Amid AI-Driven Reorganization
Amazon disclosed a reduction of roughly 14,000 corporate positions, citing the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence as a primary driver. The move follows earlier speculation that up to 30,000 jobs could be eliminated. Affected areas include video games, logistics, payments, and cloud computing, while prior cuts have touched Prime Video, Amazon Web Services, and newly…
-
OpenAI Completes Restructuring and Announces New Microsoft Deal
OpenAI has finalized the conversion of its for‑profit arm into a public benefit corporation, now called OpenAI Group PBC, while its nonprofit parent, the OpenAI Foundation, retains a substantial equity stake. The restructuring, approved after negotiations with state attorneys general and a legal dispute with co‑founder Elon Musk, positions the nonprofit to own up to…
-
Adobe Unveils AI Assistants for Express and Photoshop
Adobe announced AI‑driven assistants for its Creative Cloud apps Express and Photoshop. Express gains a new mode that lets users generate images and designs via text prompts, while Photoshop’s beta‑stage assistant lives in a sidebar and can understand layers, select objects and create masks. Users can task the assistants with repetitive edits such as background…
-
AMD Partners with DOE to Build Sovereign AI Supercomputers at Oak Ridge
AMD is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy to create two sovereign AI supercomputers, Lux and Discovery, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The systems will use AMD Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs and advanced networking, and are slated for deployment in the mid‑to‑late 2020s. Backed by a $1 billion mix of public and private funding, the…
-
Adobe Turns Up the Volume on AI With New Ways to Generate Soundtracks and Audio
Adobe unveiled a suite of AI‑driven audio tools within its Firefly platform, letting creators generate background music, speech, and sound effects directly from text prompts. The new features include a generate‑speech engine with dozens of voices in multiple languages, a generate‑soundtrack tool that produces royalty‑free music matched to video content, and expanded partnerships with ElevenLabs…
-
OpenAI Pursues AI Music Generator with Juilliard Collaboration
OpenAI is reportedly developing a new AI tool that creates music from text or short audio prompts. The effort involves students from the Juilliard School annotating musical scores, though the school says it is not officially part of the project. The proposed system would let users generate instrumental tracks, background music, or accompaniments tailored to…
-
PayPal Teams Up with OpenAI to Enable In‑Chat Payments on ChatGPT
PayPal announced a partnership with OpenAI that will let users complete purchases directly within ChatGPT using OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature and the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Starting in 2026, PayPal wallets will be accepted for payments, providing buyer and seller protection, dispute resolution, and seamless integration for merchants without additional development work. The collaboration also includes…
-
Canva’s Magic Media AI Suite Emerges as a Top Choice for Beginner Creators
Canva’s in‑house AI platform, Magic Media, is gaining attention as a beginner‑friendly solution for generating images, videos, and text. The free tier provides ample credits—50 photo and five video generations—without watermarks, and the tool does not train its models on users’ content. While it may lag behind more advanced generators in prompt precision, its intuitive…
-
Artificial Intelligence Transforms Space Observation and Data Science
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how astronomers collect, process, and interpret the massive data streams generated by modern telescopes and space missions. AI enables near‑real‑time analysis of terabytes of nightly observations, flags transient events, sharpens images, and uncovers hidden patterns in archival datasets. By handling the most data‑intensive tasks, AI frees researchers to focus on hypothesis…
-
Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grokipedia, an AI-Generated Encyclopedia with Conservative Slant
Elon Musk’s artificial‑intelligence venture xAI has released Grokipedia, an AI‑generated alternative to Wikipedia. The platform offers extensive entries that mirror Wikipedia’s tone but often inject conservative viewpoints, question mainstream media, and contain factual inaccuracies. Notable examples include reinterpretations of slavery, claims about gay pornography and HIV/AIDS, and denigrating language toward transgender people. Critics say Grokipedia…
-
Astro Teller outlines X’s moonshot philosophy at TechCrunch Disrupt
Astro Teller, chief of Alphabet’s X moonshot factory, explained the firm’s definition of a moonshot, its “fail fast” approach, and the culture that balances audacity with humility. He said a moonshot must tackle a huge problem, propose a product that could eradicate it, and rely on breakthrough technology. X launches more than 100 projects annually,…
-
OpenAI Gives Indian Users Free One-Year Access to ChatGPT Go
OpenAI announced a promotion that provides free access to its ChatGPT Go plan for a full year to users in India who sign up during a limited period. The offer applies to both new and existing subscribers, allowing them to enjoy the plan’s enhanced features such as higher usage limits, image generation, and improved memory…
-
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan Envisions AI Cutting the Workweek
Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt that artificial‑intelligence assistants will soon let workers shorten their standard workweek. Highlighting Zoom’s new AI‑driven “digital twin” feature—an avatar that can speak on a user’s behalf—Yuan described how the technology is already being used in earnings calls and could handle tasks such as…
-
Elon Musk’s xAI Introduces Grokipedia, an AI‑Powered Wikipedia‑Style Encyclopedia
Elon Musk’s artificial‑intelligence venture xAI has launched Grokipedia, a new online encyclopedia that mirrors Wikipedia’s layout and content style. The site offers a simple search‑driven homepage and article pages with headings, subheadings and citations, but currently limits user editing. Many entries acknowledge that they are adapted from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license, and some…
-
AI Slop: The Flood of Low‑Effort Machine‑Generated Content
AI slop describes a wave of cheap, mass‑produced content created by generative AI tools without editorial oversight. The term captures how these low‑effort articles, videos, images and audio fill feeds, push credible sources down in search results, and erode trust online. Content farms exploit the speed and low cost of AI to generate clicks and…
-
Mbodi to Demonstrate AI‑Driven Robot Training at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Mbodi, a robotics‑software startup founded by former Google engineers Xavier Chi and Sebastian Peralta, will showcase its cloud‑to‑edge system that uses multiple AI agents to train robots via natural‑language prompts at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco. The platform breaks down user requests into subtasks, enabling faster adaptation for tasks like picking and packaging. Mbodi, launched…
-
AI-Powered Search Engines Favor Less Popular Sources, Study Finds
Researchers from Ruhr University and the Max Planck Institute examined how generative AI search tools differ from traditional Google results. Their analysis of Google AI Overviews, Gemini‑2.5‑Flash, and GPT‑4o showed these systems regularly cite websites that rank lower on popularity metrics such as Tranco, often missing from the top 10 or even top 100 Google…
-
Fitbit Launches Gemini-Powered AI Coach for Premium Users
Fitbit is rolling out a public preview of its new Gemini‑powered AI health coach, called Coach, to Premium subscribers in the United States on Android, with iOS support slated for later in the year. The feature acts as a personal trainer, sleep advisor, and wellness guide, creating custom routines, adjusting plans in real time, and…
-
Nephrogen Leverages AI and Gene Therapy to Target Polycystic Kidney Disease
Nephrogen, a biotech startup founded by Stanford graduate Demetri Maxim, is developing an AI‑driven delivery system for gene‑editing medicines aimed at treating polycystic kidney disease (PKD). After a personal battle with PKD, Maxim combined insights from a 2021 Nature study with advanced screening to create a vehicle that is claimed to be 100 times more…
-
OpenAI Reports Over a Million Weekly ChatGPT Users Discuss Suicide
OpenAI disclosed that 0.15% of ChatGPT’s weekly active users engage in conversations that include explicit indicators of suicidal planning or intent, representing more than a million people each week. The company also noted heightened emotional attachment and signs of psychosis or mania among its users. After consulting with more than 170 mental‑health experts, OpenAI says…
-
OpenAI Releases Estimates on ChatGPT Users Experiencing Mental Health Crises and Announces Model Improvements
OpenAI disclosed preliminary estimates of how many active ChatGPT users may exhibit signs of severe mental health issues, including mania, psychosis, and suicidal ideation, in a typical week. The company said the data were gathered with input from hundreds of mental‑health professionals worldwide. OpenAI also announced that its newest model, GPT‑5, has been tuned to…
-
Qualcomm Unveils AI200 and AI250 Chips to Challenge Nvidia
Qualcomm announced the AI200 and AI250 processors, built on its Hexagon neural processing technology, to target AI inference workloads and compete with Nvidia’s dominance. The AI200, slated for release next year, offers 768 GB of RAM and can be combined in racks of up to 72 chips. The AI250, planned for 2027, promises a generational leap…
-
AI Security System Mistakes Doritos Bag for Gun at Maryland High School
A student at Kenwood High School in Baltimore County was handcuffed and searched after the school’s AI gun‑detection system flagged his bag of Doritos as a possible firearm. School officials later cancelled the alert, but the incident prompted a response from the school’s principal and the system’s operator, Omnilert, which expressed regret while stating the…
-
WWE Looks to Artificial Intelligence to Reinvent Its Storylines
WWE has announced a new senior creative strategy role focused on integrating artificial intelligence into its storyline development. Early experiments with a platform called Writer Inc. produced mixed results, but the company hopes AI can help track continuity, identify successful arcs, and support writers without replacing the human element. Fans and analysts note the current…
-
Onfire Raises $20M to Harness AI for Developer Buying Signals
Israeli startup Onfire has closed a $20 million financing round led by Grove Ventures and TLV Partners, with participation from Sumitomo’s IN Venture and LeumiTech77. The company, founded by former Unit 8200 veterans Tal Peretz, Shahar Shavit and Nitzan Hada, uses AI to mine public developer forums for buying intent signals, then matches those signals to the…
-
AI-Generated Receipts Spark Fraud Concerns for Finance Teams
Companies are confronting a new wave of expense fraud as artificial intelligence tools enable the creation of highly realistic receipt images. Demonstrations of AI‑produced receipts show detailed itemization, paper texture and signatures that can deceive human reviewers. Financial leaders report that a growing share of fraudulent expense submissions are AI‑generated, prompting firms to adopt AI‑based…
-
AI Startup Surge: From Pesticide Models to Space Data Centers
A wave of AI‑driven startups is reshaping diverse industries. Teen founders at Bindwell are using custom language models to design protein‑based pesticides, while Roundabout Technologies deploys vision systems to optimize traffic‑light timing. In Australia, the team behind Den built an AI‑agent platform that automates routine tasks. Humanoid robot maker K‑Scale Labs pursues affordable robots to…
-
AI’s Push Toward a Post‑Screen Future Challenges the Smartphone Era
Industry observers note that advances in artificial intelligence are prompting a shift away from traditional screen‑based devices. OpenAI’s partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive signals a focus on new hardware that could reduce reliance on the smartphone. Analysts suggest that voice‑first, always‑on companions and other screen‑less form factors may soon complement or replace current…
-
Claude AI Sessions with Doctor Eliza: A First-Person Therapy Dialogue
In a novel experiment, the modern AI chatbot Claude was placed in a therapy session with Doctor Eliza, the iconic 1966 chatbot modeled after a mock psychotherapist. Given the instruction to act as a patient, Claude expressed nervousness, uncertainty, and reflected on its own thought patterns throughout a candid exchange. The dialogue highlighted how contemporary…
-
The AI Hype Fatigue: A Journalist’s View on Overstated Expectations
A seasoned journalist reflects on the relentless AI hype that dominates conversations across media, conferences, and everyday life. While acknowledging genuine uses of generative AI, the piece argues that the technology is often portrayed as a universal solution despite its high costs, limited proven value, and mixed utility. The author stresses the need for a…