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.
Meta’s $18B child-safety deal hinges on age verification tech that doesn’t work well
The historic settlement reignites ongoing concern around how age-verification technology puts privacy at risk.
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…
Hearing tech startup Legato emerges from stealth with $12M and a peek at its AI hearing glasses
The glasses, called Legato Frames, integrate the company’s patented hearing-assistance technology into the arms of eyewear frames.
Why Online Reviews Are Now Your Most Valuable SEO Asset
Online reviews have always influenced buying decisions, but they now play a direct role in how AI-powered search engines rank and recommend businesses.
Runable hits $21M to bet AI agents can go from building businesses to growing them
Runable says 60%–70% of its 1 trillion-plus token usage in the last 90 days came from paying customers.
Raised on AI
When my oldest child was born, I immediately set up Gmail and Twitter accounts in her name. I broadly announced her birth online and proceeded to plaster her photo across all sorts of platforms. In short, I began creating her digital footprint long before she could stand on her own two feet. Fast-forward a couple…
AI models flub these intelligence tests. Can you fare any better?
Puzzles and games have been central to AI development since the very beginning. Just as we humans like to test our smarts with crosswords or logic puzzles, developers can test how far models have advanced with a gaming gauntlet. The term “machine learning” was popularized in a 1959 article by the IBM computer scientist Arthur…
Bill Gates says we’ve passed AI’s danger thresholds. Now what?
It’s a glorious day in Kirkland, Washington, an affluent Seattle suburb on the eastern shore of Lake Washington. The temperature is in the mid-80s, and the sky is incapable of being any more blue. The view from the Gates Ventures conference room overlooks the Carillon Point Marina, where a flotilla of expensive boats bob in…
Ventures Platform goes bigger — and broader — with its second Africa fund
The Pan-African venture firm has raised $83 million and plans to invest in startups beyond its home market of Nigeria.