February 22, 2025

US AI Safety Institute could face big cuts

The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staffers, according to multiple reports — cuts that further threaten a fledgling AI safety organization. Axios reported this week that the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Chips for America, both part of NIST, would be “gutted” by layoffs targeting probationary employees […]

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

September 2023

Building ethical thinking into technology

September 12, 2023
In his essay introducing this year’s class of Innovators Under 35, Andrew Ng argues that AI is a general-purpose technology, much like electricity, that will be built into everything else. Indeed, it’s true, and it’s already happening.  AI is rapidly becoming a tool that powers all sorts of other tools, a technological underpinning for a…

She was a semi-pro Go player but learned that biology is even harder

September 12, 2023
Julia Joung is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2023 Innovators Under 35.  When an AI beat one of the world’s best Go players in 2017, Julia Joung felt relief. She’d spent her childhood in Taiwan mastering the ancient game and once aspired to become a professional player, representing her country. “I felt like part of…

AuthMind raises seed funding for its identity SecOps platform

September 12, 2023
AuthMind, a Maryland-based startup that aims to help businesses protect themselves from identity-related cyberattacks, today announced that it has raised an $8.5 million seed round led by Ballistic Ventures, with strategic participation from IBM Ventures. The company was co-founded by CEO Shlomi Yanai and CTO Ankur Panchbudhe. Both previously founded (and sold) a number of […]

Mighty Buildings raises $52M to build 3D-printed prefab homes

September 12, 2023
Mighty Buildings, a startup building tech for prefabricated, ostensibly environmentally-friendly homes, today announced that it raised $52 million in a funding round co-led by Waed Ventures and Bold Capital with participation by Khosla Ventures. The new tranche, which sources familiar with the matter say values the startup at between $300 million and $350 million, brings […]

This startup plans to power a tugboat with ammonia later this year

September 12, 2023
Young Suk Jo is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2023 Innovators Under 35.  Transportation is one of the world’s most polluting industries, accounting for roughly 15% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Electric vehicles will make a dent in those emissions in the coming decades, but batteries can’t hold enough energy to power vehicles used in other…

Andrew Ng: How to be an innovator

September 12, 2023
This essay is part of MIT Technology Review’s 2023 Innovators Under 35 package. Meet this year’s honorees. Innovation is a powerful engine for uplifting society and fueling economic growth. Antibiotics, electric lights, refrigerators, airplanes, smartphones—we have these things because innovators created something that didn’t exist before. MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list celebrates individuals who have…

Robots that learn as they fail could unlock a new era of AI

September 12, 2023
Lerrel Pinto is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2023 Innovators Under 35.  Asked to explain his work, Lerrel Pinto, 31, likes to shoot back another question: When did you last see a cool robot in your home? The answer typically depends on whether the person asking owns a robot vacuum cleaner: yesterday or never. Pinto’s…

How software that tracks covid variants could protect us against future outbreaks

September 12, 2023
Yatish Turakhia is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2023 Innovators Under 35.  When covid-19 started spreading in early 2020, scientists quickly realized that tracking how the virus was mutating would be essential for public health as new strains emerged that put people at greater risk. Yatish Turakhia, then a postdoc at UC Santa Cruz’s Genomics…

There’s never been a more important time in AI policy

September 12, 2023
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Before we get started I wanted to flag two great talks this week.  ⚖️ On Tuesday, September 12, at 12 p.m. US Eastern time, we will be hosting a subscriber-only roundtable conversation about…