February 11, 2025

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

We often take the internet for granted. It’s an ocean of information at our fingertips—and it simply works. But this system relies on swarms of “crawlers”—bots that roam the web, visit millions of websites every day, and report what they see. This is how Google powers its search engines, how Amazon sets competitive prices, and…

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As US and UK refuse to sign the Paris AI Action Summit statement, other countries commit to developing ‘open, inclusive, ethical’ AI

February 11, 2025

The Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris was supposed to culminate with a joint declaration on artificial intelligence signed by dozens of world leaders. While the statement isn’t as ambitious as the Bletchley and Seoul declarations, both the U.S. and the U.K. have refused to sign it. It proves once again that it is difficult […]

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Australian health tech startup Harrison.ai scores $112M Series C

February 11, 2025

Medical imaging is crucial for the timely identification of serious diseases like cancer. However, manual interpretation of scans is a time-intensive process. Healthcare professionals increasingly use AI-powered tools for diagnostic purposes, as such technologies can be very effective in detecting and categorizing diseases. A Sydney, Australia-headquartered startup, Harrison.ai, has built AI-enabled medical diagnostic software and […]

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In Paris, JD Vance skewers EU AI rules, lauds US tech supremacy

February 11, 2025

At the AI Action Summit in Paris this week, the U.S. declined to sign the statement summarizing the resolutions. But it did make an appearance: Vice President J.D. Vance gave a speech to the audience of dignitaries, tech leaders and regulators. Amid a conference heavy on equitable AI development — specifically, beyond the outsized influence […]

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Google back Toonsutra to grow its webtoons platform in India

February 11, 2025

It’s no news that India is a huge market for entertainment businesses, but what often doesn’t get mentioned is that its people love to see content in their own languages. According to a recent survey by non-profit Internet and Mobile Association of India, more than 870 million Indians sought out videos, music and other content […]

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AI investments surged 62% to $110 billion in 2024 while startup funding overall declined 12%, says Dealroom

February 11, 2025

Venture capitalists are gobbling up term sheets for startups peddling artificial intelligence, even as they remain picky when it comes to funding the wider spectrum of technology.  According to new figures from analytics firm Dealroom, AI startups raised $110 billion in funding last year, up 62% on the year before. At the same time, privately-backed […]

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Ghanaian fintech Affinity bags $8M to scale digital banking in a mobile money-driven market

February 11, 2025

Africa’s top digital banking platforms typically come from high-growth, populous markets like Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt. But Affinity Africa, an upstart from Ghana, wants to join the conversation. The startup has raised $8 million in seed funding to expand its financial products further across the country, where mobile money is the dominant financial tool. […]

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Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex.

February 11, 2025
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. No tech leader before has played the role in a new presidential administration that Elon Musk is playing now. Under his leadership, DOGE has entered offices in a half-dozen agencies and counting,…

The dream of offshore rocket launches is finally blasting off

February 11, 2025
Want to send something to space? Get in line. The demand for rides off Earth is skyrocketing, pushing even the busiest spaceports, like Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, to their operational limits. Orbital launches worldwide have more than doubled over the past four years, from about 100 to 250 annually. That number is projected to spiral…

Instagram is introducing teen accounts with new safety features in India

February 11, 2025

Instagram said Tuesday that the platform is introducing its teen accounts feature, which has extra protective measures for safety for users in India, one of its biggest markets with over 350 million users. The company introduced Teen Accounts last year in The U.S., U.K, Canada, and Australia. Meta migrated accounts of Instagram users who are […]

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