The Hottest New Chatbot Isn’t Actually AI. Even Its Founder Didn’t Think It Would Be ‘So Addictive.’
A teen’s fake chatbot site has 25 million visitors and hints at the next backlash against an internet stuffed with AI slop.
Uber wants to turn its millions of drivers into a sensor grid for self-driving companies
Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer, revealed the plan in an interview at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco on Thursday night, describing it as a natural extension of a nascent program the company announced in late January called AV Labs.
Canva’s AI assistant can now call various tools to make designs for you
The latest version of Canva’s AI assistant lets users create editable designs with text prompts.
Fashion retailer Express left customers’ personal data and order details exposed to the internet
Retail giant Express was publicly spilling customer information to the open web. The bug is now fixed after TechCrunch alerted Express, but the company would not say if it plans to notify customers.
This simulation startup wants to be the Cursor for physical AI
Antioch raised a $8.5 million seed round to create simulation tools for a new generation of robot builders.
The Download: cyberscammers’ banking bypasses, and carbon removal troubles
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. Cyberscammers are bypassing banks’ security with illicit tools sold on Telegram Inside a money-laundering center in Cambodia, an employee opens a banking app on his phone. It asks for a photo linked to the…
Why having “humans in the loop” in an AI war is an illusion
The availability of artificial intelligence for use in warfare is at the center of a legal battle between Anthropic and the Pentagon. This debate has become urgent, with AI playing a bigger role than ever before in the current conflict with Iran. AI is no longer just helping humans analyze intelligence. It is now an…
The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?
When the covid-19 pandemic started, Jennifer Phillips thought about the songs of the sparrows. They were easier to hear, because the world had suddenly become quieter. Car traffic plummeted as people sheltered at home and shifted to remote work. Air travel collapsed. Cities—normally filled with the honking, screeching, engine-gunning riot of transportation—became as silent as…
The quest to measure our relationship with nature
As a movement, environmentalism has been pretty misanthropic. Understandably so—we humans have done some destructive things to the ecosystems around us. In the 21st century, though, mainstream conservation is learning that humans can be a force for good. Foresters are turning to Indigenous burning practices to prevent wildfires. Biologists are realizing that flower-dotted meadows were…
Is carbon removal in trouble?
Last week, news outlets reported that Microsoft was pausing carbon removal purchases. It was something of a bombshell. The thing is, Microsoft is the carbon removal market. The company has single-handedly purchased something like 80% of all contracted carbon removal. If you’re looking for someone to pay you to suck carbon dioxide out of the…
DeepL, known for text translation, now wants to translate your voice
DeepL says its tech could be used for real-time translation with meeting tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams