May 7, 2025

Game, Sett, Funding: a startup building AI agents for game development emerges from stealth with $27M

Games drove the creation of GPU processors back in the 1990s, so it’s only fitting that artificial intelligence — the technology that GPUs are used to power nowadays — is making its way into nearly every aspect of video game design. In keeping with that trend, on Wednesday a startup called Sett — which is […]

Is Horse Racing the Next Big League? Meet the Founders Betting on It

May 2, 2025
The National Thoroughbred League, founded by Randall Lane and Bob Daugherty and supported by celebrities like Lamar Jackson and Julius Erving, hopes to modernize horse racing through team competition, media storytelling and fan engagement while prioritizing horse safety and growth.

The Download: foreign disinformation intel, and gene-edited pork

May 2, 2025
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. A senior State Department official demanded records of communications with journalists, European officials, and Trump critics A previously unreported document distributed by senior US State Department official Darren Beattie reveals a sweeping effort…

Airbnb is quietly rolling out an AI customer service bot in the US

May 2, 2025
Airbnb started rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot in the U.S. last month, CEO Brian Chesky said during the firm’s first-quarter conference call on Thursday. Chesky said 50% of Airbnb’s U.S. users are already using the AI bot for customer service, adding that the company plans to roll out the feature to all its […]

The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food

May 2, 2025
Most pigs in the US are confined to factory farms where they can be afflicted by a nasty respiratory virus that kills piglets. The illness is called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS. A few years ago, a British company called Genus set out to design pigs immune to this germ using CRISPR gene…

Amazon CEO says 100,000 users now have Alexa+

May 1, 2025
Amazon’s upgraded digital assistant powered by generative AI, Alexa+, has rolled out to over 100,000 users, CEO Andy Jassy said on the company’s earnings call Thursday. While that’s a far cry from the 600 million Alexa devices out there, the company is making some progress on the rollout of Alexa+, which was first unveiled in […]