July 28, 2025

Chinese universities want students to use more AI, not less

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…

Telegram spruces up its channels with new discovery and customization features

December 1, 2023

Telegram announced new features related to channels including better discovery of similar channels, emoji customization for reactions, and stats for stories to compete better with WhatsApp. The Meta-owned platform rolled out its broadcast channels feature globally in September. When a user joins a new Telegram channel, the app will now suggest similar channels they can […]

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A high school’s deepfake porn scandal is pushing US lawmakers into action

December 1, 2023
On October 20, Francesca Mani was called to the counselor’s office at her New Jersey high school. A 14-year-old sophomore and a competitive fencer, Francesca wasn’t one for getting in trouble. That day, a rumor had been circulating the halls: over the summer, boys in the school had used artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit…

The first CRISPR cure might kickstart the next big patent battle

December 1, 2023
That’s a real nice CRISPR cure you have there. It would be a pity if anything happened to it.  Okay. Drop the tough-guy accent and toss the black fedora aside. But I do believe that similar conversations could be occurring now that a historic gene-editing cure is coming to market, as soon as this year.…

Benchmark, the storied venture firm, sees “traps” in today’s AI funding frenzy: “Don’t be Microsoft”

December 1, 2023

Yesterday in Helsinki, this editor interviewed four of the six general partners at Benchmark, the nearly 30-year-old, Silicon Valley firm that’s known for some notable bets (Uber, Dropbox), paying each general partner exactly the same way, and for continuing to raise similar-size funds over its many years rather than balloon in size.  We were speaking […]

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Smartphone sales to rebound on AI gains, Morgan Stanley says

December 1, 2023

Smartphone sales will mount a comeback starting in 2024, defying growing warnings of a prolonged slump across the mobile sector, according to separate projections by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reviewed by TechCrunch. Morgan Stanley’s report predicts global smartphone shipments will rebound by nearly 4% in 2024 and by 4.4% in 2025, shrugging off comparisons […]

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Anduril unveils Roadrunner, “a fighter jet weapon that lands like a Falcon 9”

December 1, 2023

Leading defense tech startup Anduril has developed a new product designed to take-on the proliferation of low-cost, high-powered aerial threats. The product is called Roadrunner, a modular, twin-jet powered autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicle that’s designed for low costs. Anduril has also developed a variant called Roadrunner-Munition, or Roadrunner-M, a “high-explosive interceptor,” […]

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How the Tesla Cyberbeast compares to other high-priced electric pickups

December 1, 2023

After keeping some key specs close to its proverbial chest, Tesla is finally sharing more details about the final production versions of the Cybertruck electric pickup. Tesla published battery, speed and other stats during its delivery event on Thursday, during which the automaker went out of the way to compare the Cybertruck to some of […]

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Defense startup Epirus CEO leaving to take new job at a public company

November 30, 2023

Defense startup Epirus, Inc. is getting new leadership. Staff were told at an all-hands meeting this morning that CEO Ken Bedingfield was leaving, TechCrunch learned. The news was later confirmed by a company spokesperson, who told TechCrunch that Bedingfield accepted a role at an unnamed public company. He will be replaced by COO Andy Lowery, […]

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Tesla’s cheapest Cybertruck won’t drop until 2025

November 30, 2023

Bad news: If you had your heart set on a sub-$40,000 Cybertruck, it ain’t coming next year, if ever. Though Tesla plans to ramp up production of its electric pickup in 2024, the company clarified today after its splashy delivery event that the cheapest Cybertruck variant will be available in 2025. Tesla first announced a […]

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