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…

Lavender lands $13.2M for its AI-powered email marketing engine

February 2, 2023

Years ago, Will Allred and William Ballance were developing a tech platform, Sorter, to apply personality and communication psychology to marketing campaigns. Just as Sorter was heading to market, the pandemic hit — and marketing budgets froze. With a week of funding left, Allred and Ballance pivoted, repackaging their tech to work in Gmail in […]

Lavender lands $13.2M for its AI-powered email marketing engine by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are making a mixed reality platform

February 2, 2023

Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are joining hands to make a mixed-reality platform. Executives from the companies, namely Samsung’s TM Roh, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, and Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer came on stage at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event to make this announcement. These companies only announced the partnership — they had no future device or hardware product […]

Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are making a mixed reality platform by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Busting three myths about materials and renewable energy

February 2, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. No piece of media shaped me more than the mid-2000s TV show MythBusters.  In the show, a band of special-effects pros tested out myths from TV shows or popular knowledge, like: Can a…

Freightify Secures $12 Million In Series A Funding Round

February 2, 2023
The company will use the funding to strengthen product offerings and add new functionalities, expand the sales presence globally, build channel partnerships, strengthen marketing to drive growth and increase its brand awareness globally

How CRISPR could help save crops from devastation caused by pests

February 2, 2023
Central California grape-grower Steve McIntyre was familiar with Pierce’s Disease. But that did not prepare him for what he saw when he visited his brother’s Southern California citrus and avocado farm in 1998. The disease, which causes vines to wither and grapes to deflate like old balloons, had long existed in California. But the infection…

EU lawmakers launch tips hotline to catch Big Tech’s ‘shady’ lobbying

February 2, 2023

‘Astroturfing’ and other non-transparent lobbying tactics used to target digital policymakers in the European Union in recent years — including during a blitz of spending aimed at influencing major new pan-EU rules like the Digital Services Act (DSA) — have inspired a group of MEPs and NGOs to fight back by launching a hotline for […]

EU lawmakers launch tips hotline to catch Big Tech’s ‘shady’ lobbying by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch