You might’ve heard of Grok, X’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It’s a chatbot and, in that sense, behaves as you’d expect — answering questions about current events, pop culture and so on. But unlike other chatbots, Grok has “a bit of wit,” as X owner Elon Musk puts it, and “a rebellious streak.” Long story … Read more
After a lengthy trial and conviction, we finally learned how long former crypto baron Sam Bankman-Fried will be behind bars: up to 25 years. It’s a lengthy sentence, but one that given the scale of the crimes he was convicted of, doesn’t come as a shock. For the crypto industry, it’s also the final page … Read more
The OnePlus Buds product line is quite confusing, so when you are looking at the brand-new OnePlus Buds 3, you may be wondering “Are these better than the OnePlus Buds Pro 2?”. The answer is no, they are positioned as a midrange solution, between the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, and the much more affordable OnePlus … Read more
In Stripe’s annual letter, the company discussed several fast-growing areas, one of them being the “Revenue and Finance Automation” unit. Those are tools that help businesses manage billing, tax and revenue recognition. Stripe’s RFA unit will reach a $500 million annual run rate this year, the company said. As part of its investment in RFA, … Read more
As AI proliferates and things on the internet are easier to manipulate, there’s a need more than ever to make sure data and brands are verifiable, said Scott Dykstra, CTO and co-founder of Space and Time, on TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction podcast. “Not to get too cryptographically religious here, but we saw that during the FTX … Read more
As deepfakes proliferate, OpenAI is refining the tech used to clone voices — but the company insists it’s doing so responsibly. Today marks the preview debut of OpenAI’s Voice Engine, an expansion of the company’s existing text-to-speech API. Under development for about two years, Voice Engine allows users to upload any 15-second voice sample to … Read more
Intro Now that the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OnePlus 12 are official, we are in for a rather heated brawl between two of the best Android phones that will be available throughout the first part of 2024. Indeed, you can easily assume that at least on the US market, the OnePlus 12 will try … Read more
Instagram is developing a “Blend” feature that creates a private feed of Reels recommended for you and a friend. The company told TechCrunch on Friday that the feature is an internal prototype and is not being tested externally. The feature was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who regularly discovers social media features in … Read more
Demis Hassabis, CEO and one of three founders of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) subsidiary DeepMind, has been awarded a knighthood in the U.K. for “services to artificial intelligence.” Ian Hogarth, chair of the U.K. government’s recently launched AI Safety Institute and previously founder of music startup Songkick, was awarded Commander of the Order of the British … Read more
If the 2023 crypto venture landscape was an ice-cold pot of water, the first quarter of 2024 is the part where the bubbles start to form right before water boils, Tom Schmidt, a partner at Dragonfly Capital, said to TechCrunch. And he’s not wrong: $2.52 billion in total capital has been raised across the crypto … Read more