June 19, 2025

It’s pretty easy to get DeepSeek to talk dirty

AI companions like Replika are designed to engage in intimate exchanges, but people use general-purpose chatbots for sex talk too, despite their stricter content moderation policies. Now new research shows that not all chatbots are equally willing to talk dirty: DeepSeek is the easiest to convince. But other AI chatbots can be enticed too, if…

Tesla battles with union organizers, Zoox hits the road and Zeekr scores more capital

February 20, 2023

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive the full edition of the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.  Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point […]

Tesla battles with union organizers, Zoox hits the road and Zeekr scores more capital by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

How Citizen is trying to remake itself by recruiting elderly Asians

February 20, 2023
This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network. When it’s dark outside and Josephine Zhao has to walk even a few blocks home in San Francisco, she will sometimes call in an extra set of eyes—literally.  After opening the Citizen app on her phone, Zhao connects with one of the…

How AI can actually be helpful in disaster response

February 20, 2023
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. We often hear big (and unrealistic) promises about the potential of AI to solve the world’s ills, and I was skeptical when I first learned that AI…

Finding forgotten Indigenous landscapes with electromagnetic technology

February 20, 2023
ONE Jarrod Burks opened the rear cargo door of his van and pointed to an array of strange equipment tangled inside. White PVC tubes were locked together, forming an expandable, fence-like grid, with large, rugged wheels attached beneath. Beside it all, on a layer of soft blankets, were a tablet computer, many yards of cables,…

Japan’s central bank to pilot digital currency starting in April

February 20, 2023

Japan is joining a growing list of countries exploring the possibility of adopting a digital currency, with country’s central bank, the Bank of Japan (BoJ), announcing that it would launch a pilot to test a “digital yen” in April.  The move comes more than two years after the BoJ made its first step in the […]

Japan’s central bank to pilot digital currency starting in April by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

WhatsApp for iOS gets picture-in-picture feature for video calls

February 20, 2023

WhatsApp is rolling out a picture-in-picture feature for its iOS app with its latest update. This allows users to access WhatsApp or other apps without shutting out the video feed on the call. The company rolled out this feature with the 23.3.77 version of its iOS app. Until now, if you switched to another app […]

WhatsApp for iOS gets picture-in-picture feature for video calls by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Quell’s gamified home fitness tech drums up $10M

February 20, 2023

Home fitness had a huge moment at the outset of the pandemic — and understandably so. People were stuck at home, gyms closed and suddenly workout options seemed to dramatically decrease. As with the teleconferencing revolution, plenty of startups were waiting in the wings to pounce on the sudden opportunity. As predicted, when the world […]

Quell’s gamified home fitness tech drums up $10M by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Chipper Cash executes second round of layoffs less than three months after axing 12.5% of staff

February 20, 2023

African cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash conducted a second round of layoffs last Friday just ten weeks after it cut approximately 12.5% of its workforce (affecting its engineering team the most). The company’s V.P. of revenue shared the news on LinkedIn, saying “all areas” across Chipper Cash’s markets were impacted this time. “Friday was a […]

Chipper Cash executes second round of layoffs less than three months after axing 12.5% of staff by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

Jumba, a Kenyan startup simplifying sourcing of construction supplies, raises $4.5M

February 20, 2023

Less than a year after launch, Kenyan B2B construction tech startup Jumba has secured clients in major regions of the East African country, a tell-tale of the growth it has experienced over the last 10 months. Jumba, which enables construction material retailers (regarded as hardware stores locally), found on almost every block, to restock, and […]

Jumba, a Kenyan startup simplifying sourcing of construction supplies, raises $4.5M by Annie Njanja originally published on TechCrunch