Surprise: Z.ai is the AI lab behind the mysterious Ox Alpha model
Z.ai confirms it is behind Ox Alpha, the mysterious open AI model topping benchmarks and leaderboards, and its weights are set to be released soon.
The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives
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. Kids are outsmarting social media bans. That’s not a problem we need to solve. —Michal Luria, Aliya Bhatia, and Danah Boyd Social media bans are stacking up. In July, France joined…
This Mom Made $500 Just by Texting Her Friends Shopping Links — Here’s How to Turn Your Group Chat Into a Paycheck
Affiliate marketing used to be for influencers. Now regular people are cashing in just by sharing links with friends and family.
Amazon’s New Robotaxi Looks Like a Toaster and Has No Steering Wheel. Riders Say It Feels ‘Like Science Fiction.’
Zoox just started charging for rides in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Riders face each other in a box-like carriage.
How to Get AI Chatbots to Recommend Your Business Over Competitors
Want your business to pop up in AI queries? And be suggested to your ideal customers? Here’s a specific plan.
Meta settles for $18 billion in lawsuit brought by 29 states over social media harms to children
The lawsuit alleged that Meta knowingly designed platforms like Instagram and Facebook to addict children, despite knowing about the harms the platforms could pose to young users.
Robot brain builders are pushing out of their GPT-2 era
Robot bodies are waiting for their AI brains to catch up.
Bluesky now lets you upload 10-minute long videos
Bluesky’s new 10-minute video support includes faster upload speeds, too.
QueryStory wants you to believe what AI is telling you
The startup came out of stealth with $6 million in seed funding and a plan to use LLMs and cybersecurity know-how to make AI queries coherent.
Arga is building a better way to train enterprise AI agents
Arga has raised $10 million in a seed funding round that was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Box Group, Emergence, Gradient and SV Angel.
The Download: the Kids issue arrives, and Bill Gates reveals his AI fears
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. Introducing: the Kids issue If the desire to limit kids’ use of technology was once a subcurrent, it has become a raging flood. Countries around the world are banning children from…