A skeptic’s guide to humanoid-robot videos

August 27, 2024

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get it in your inbox first, sign up here. We are living in “humanoid summer” right now, if you didn’t know. Or at least it feels that way to Ken Goldberg, a roboticist extraordinaire who leads research in the field at the University of…

TechCrunch Space: The Starliner saga comes to a close — for now

August 26, 2024

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. NASA leadership have made their decision: Starliner will be coming back to Earth — empty. More on that below. Want to reach out with a tip? Email Aria at aria.techcrunch@gmail.com or send a message on Signal at 512-937-3988. You also can send a note to the whole TechCrunch […]

Polaris Dawn will push the limits of SpaceX’s human spaceflight program – here’s how to watch it launch live

August 26, 2024

After a nearly three-year interlude, Jared Isaacman is returning to space. The billionaire entrepreneur first went to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission, which made history for having a crew composed entirely of private citizens, not professional astronauts. But with this next mission, Polaris Dawn, he and mission partner SpaceX have set their sights […]

OpenAI supports California bill requiring watermarks on AI content

August 26, 2024

OpenAI threw its support behind a California bill requiring tech companies to label AI-generated content, according to a letter from OpenAI’s chief strategy officer viewed by Reuters. The bill is headed for a final vote in August. AB 3211 requires watermarks in the metadata of AI-generated photos, videos, and audio clips. Lots of AI companies […]

Apple will replace CFO Luca Maestri next year

August 26, 2024

Apple announced today that Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri will step away from his executive role, effective January 1. Kevan Parekh, Apple’s current VP of Financial Planning, will be promoted to CFO after 11 years at Apple. Maestri has been CFO at Apple since 2014, and he’s now transitioning to a different role in the […]

Anthropic publishes the ‘system prompts’ that make Claude tick

August 26, 2024

Generative AI models aren’t actually human-like. They have no intelligence or personality — they’re simply statistical systems predicting the likeliest next words in a sentence. But like interns at a tyrannical workplace, they do follow instructions without complaint — including initial “system prompts” that prime the models with their basic qualities, and what they should […]

4 Steps Entrepreneurs Can Take to Ensure AI Is Being Used Ethically Within Their Companies