July 8, 2025

Why the US and Europe could lose the race for fusion energy

Fusion energy holds the potential to shift a geopolitical landscape that is currently configured around fossil fuels. Harnessing fusion will deliver the energy resilience, security, and abundance needed for all modern industrial and service sectors. But these benefits will be controlled by the nation that leads in both developing the complex supply chains required and…

Technology

Apple revises its DMA rules after pressure, but keeps the Core Technology Fee intact

March 5, 2024

No, Apple’s new and controversial “Core Technology Fee” isn’t going away for EU app developers who opt into the iPhone maker’s new business terms designed to comply with the region’s Digital Markets Act. However, Apple is today announcing a handful of smaller concessions driven by feedback from its app developer community, it says. Notably, the […]

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I used generative AI to turn my story into a comic—and you can too

March 5, 2024
Thirteen years ago, as an assignment for a journalism class, I wrote a stupid short story about a man who eats luxury cat food. This morning, I sat and watched as a generative AI platform called Lore Machine brought my weird words to life. I fed my story into a text box and got this…

Ema, a ‘Universal AI employee’, emerges from stealth with $25M

March 5, 2024

Generative AI well and truly has a grip on public technology discourse these days. A new startup called Ema out of San Francisco thinks it’s a lot more than just a passing fancy. It’s emerging from stealth today, with a product of the same name, that it believes will open a new chapter in how […]

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

The Download: rise of the robots, and what organoids can teach us

March 5, 2024
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. The robots are coming. And that’s a good thing. —This is an excerpt from a new book, The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots, by MIT CSAIL director Daniela Rus …

 Nobody knows how AI works

March 5, 2024
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I’ve been experimenting with using AI assistants in my day-to-day work. The biggest obstacle to their being useful is they often get things blatantly wrong. In one case, I used an…

The robots are coming. And that’s a good thing.

March 5, 2024
In this excerpt from the new book, The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots, CSAIL Director Daniela Rus explores how robots can extend the reach of human capabilities. Years ago, I befriended the biologist Roger Payne at a meeting of MacArthur Foundation fellows. Roger, who died in 2023, was best known for…

Roundtables: The AI Economy

March 4, 2024
Recorded on August 10, 2023 The AI Economy Speakers: Mat Honan, Editor in chief and David Rotman, Editor at large There’s no doubt that generative AI will impact the economy—but how, exactly, remains an open question. Despite fears that these AI tools will upend workers and exacerbate wealth inequality, early evidence suggests the technology could…

Roundtables: How should we regulate AI?

March 4, 2024
Recorded on September 12, 2023 How should we regulate AI? Speakers: Melissa Heikkilä, Senior reporter for AI and Charlotte Jee, News editor There’s little doubt that artificial intelligence will be subject to more regulation in the years ahead. Major tech companies have requested it, and multiple countries and regions are now moving forward with plans…

Roundtables: How does AI work?

March 4, 2024
Recorded on October 11, 2023 How does AI work? Speakers: Mary Beth Griggs, Science editor and Will Douglas Heaven, Sr Editor for AI Everyone’s talking about large language models and image generators built on artificial intelligence. Many people have tested out tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E 2 and been amazed at the results, or disturbed…