March 12, 2025

Gemini Robotics uses Google’s top language model to make robots more useful

Google DeepMind has released a new model, Gemini Robotics, that combines its best large language model with robotics. Plugging in the LLM seems to give robots the ability to be more dexterous, work from natural-language commands, and generalize across tasks. All three are things that robots have struggled to do until now. The team hopes…

The sibling founders of Stax Payments are back with a new fintech and a $20M seed raise

March 11, 2025

Worth, a company focused on helping fintechs, banks, and enterprises underwrite small and medium-sized businesses more easily, has raised $20 million in a seed funding round, the startup tells TechCrunch exclusively. It’s a large seed round, especially these days when capital is harder to come by. But the founders’ history may have something to do […]

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FTC says Americans lost $12.5B to scams last year — social media, AI and crypto didn’t help

March 11, 2025

You’re not the only one getting voicemails about your car’s extended warranty. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), about 2.6 million people submitted reports on falling victim to fraud in 2024, totaling $12.5 billion in losses. That’s a big jump from $2.5 billion lost in 2023, when the FTC received roughly the same […]

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TikTok now lets parents see their teen’s follower/following list, block access during certain hours

March 11, 2025

TikTok announced on Tuesday that it’s rolling out new features to protect teens on its app. The social network is giving parents the ability to block their teen from using TikTok during certain hours and see their teen’s following and followers lists through new Family Pairing features. TikTok is also going to encourage young users […]

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EU AI Act: Latest draft Code for AI model makers tiptoes towards gentler guidance for Big AI

March 11, 2025

Ahead of a May deadline to lock in guidance for providers of general purpose AI (GPAI) models on complying with provisions of the EU AI Act that apply to Big AI, a third draft of the Code of Practice was published on Tuesday. The Code has been in formulation since last year, and this draft […]

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Learn what VCs want to see from founders at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

March 11, 2025

It’s no secret that AI has eaten the lion’s share of funding over the past couple of years, with investments into the sector surging 62% to $110 billion in 2024 alone, while startup funding overall declined 12%.  Startups may think that just adding “AI” to their company’s name might help them secure that funding. But […]

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Waabi says its virtual robotrucks are realistic enough to prove the real ones are safe

March 11, 2025
Canadian robotruck startup Waabi says its super-realistic virtual simulation is now accurate enough to prove the safety of its driverless big rigs without having to run them for miles on real roads.  The company uses a digital twin of its real-world robotrucks, loaded up with real sensor data, and measures how the twin’s performance compares…