Hard tech startups generate a lot of buzz, but there’s a growing cohort of companies building digital tools squarely focused on making hard tech development faster, more efficient, and — well, a whole lot more like software development. California-based Rollup is the latest startup to come out as part of this ensemble. While the company … Read more
Jolla has taken the official wraps off the first version of its personal server-based AI assistant in the making. The reborn startup is building a privacy-focused AI device — aka the Jolla Mind2, which TechCrunch exclusively revealed at MWC back in February. At a livestreamed launch event Monday, it also kicked off preorders, with the … Read more
OpenAI’s Superalignment team, responsible for developing ways to govern and steer “superintelligent” AI systems, was promised 20% of the company’s compute resources, according to a person from that team. But requests for a fraction of that compute were often denied, blocking the team from doing their work. That issue, among others, pushed several team members … Read more
A new crop of early-stage startups — along with some recent VC investments — illustrates a niche emerging in the autonomous vehicle technology sector. Unlike the companies bringing robotaxis to city streets, these startups are taking their tech off-road. Two recent entrants — Seattle-based Overland AI and New Brunswick-based Potential — are poised to get … Read more
IndieBio’s Bay Area incubator is about to debut its 15th cohort of biotech startups; here are a few we took special notice of, making some major, bordering on ludicrous, claims that could pay off in a big way. Biotech has been creeping out in recent years to touch adjacent industries, as companies find how much … Read more
OpenAI’s Superalignment team, responsible for developing ways to govern and steer “superintelligent” AI systems was promised 20% of the company’s compute resources, according to a person from that team. But requests for a fraction of that compute were often denied, blocking the team from doing their work. That issue, among others, pushed several team members … Read more
On the heels of ongoing issues around how big tech is appropriating data from individuals and businesses in the training of AI services, a storm is brewing among Slack users upset over how the Salesforce-owned chat platform is charging ahead with its AI vision. The company, like many others, is tapping its own user data … Read more
A few years ago, you couldn’t go to a fintech meetup without ending up in a conversation about embedded finance. In 2020, we even wrote that embedded finance might represent fintech’s future. The distribution strategy lets fintech companies integrate their services into other products and services, which in turn gives users access to new features … Read more
The prospects for troubled banking-as-a-service startup Synapse have gone from bad to worse this week after the United States Trustee filed an emergency motion on Wednesday. The trustee is asking to convert the company’s debt reorganization Chapter 11 bankruptcy Synapse into a liquidation Chapter 7, according to court documents. The trustee wrote that the need … Read more
OpenAI and Reddit have reached a deal to allow OpenAI to train its generative AI models on Reddit’s data. In a blog post on OpenAI’s press relations site, OpenAI said that, through a newly formed partnership with Reddit, it’ll gain access to “real-time, structured and unique content” — e.g. posts and replies — from Reddit, … Read more