Technology

OpenAI is launching Study Mode, a version of ChatGPT for college students that it promises will act less like a lookup tool and more like a friendly, always-available tutor. It’s part of a wider push by the company to get AI more embedded into classrooms when the new academic year starts in September. A demonstration…

YouTube is introducing age detection technology to identify teens on the platform in the U.S. and apply prtections.

Microsoft is reportedly in advanced talks with OpenAI for a new agreement that would give it ongoing access to the startup’s technology even if OpenAI achieves what it defines as AGI, or advanced general intelligence. If the deal goes through, it would clear a key hurdle in OpenAI’s transition toward becoming a fully commercial enterprise.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. This startup wants to use the Earth as a massive battery Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground.…

A number of the executive orders and announcements coming from the White House since Donald Trump returned to office have painted an ambitious vision for America’s AI future—crushing competition with China, abolishing “woke” AI models that suppress conservative speech, jump-starting power-hungry AI data centers. But the details have been sparse.  The White House’s AI Action…

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, the AI Stage comes alive with the voices shaping the future of technology, creativity, and security. Top VCs reveal what it takes to win funding in a rapidly evolving landscape, as they place bets on the next wave of AI founders. Hear groundbreaking insights from leaders at visionary startups like Apptronik, […]

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Chinese universities want students to use more AI, not less Just two years ago, students in China were told to avoid using AI for their assignments. At the time, to get around a…

Just two years ago, Lorraine He, now a 24-year-old law student,  was told to avoid using AI for her assignments. At the time, to get around a national block on ChatGPT, students had to buy a mirror-site version from a secondhand marketplace. Its use was common, but it was at best tolerated and more often…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How nonprofits and academia are stepping up to salvage US climate programs Nonprofits are trying to preserve a US effort to modernize greenhouse-gas measurements, amid growing fears that the Trump administration’s dismantling of…

It has been a grim few months for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) community. There had been some excitement when, a couple of years ago, a gene therapy for the disorder was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the first time. That drug, Elevidys, has now been implicated in the deaths of…