Author: Jason

Meta says that it is rolling out improvements to Meta AI, its cross-platform chatbot, including the ability to have the bot “remember” details from conversations. In a post on Meta’s official blog, the company said that, in chats with Meta AI on Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp for iOS and Android in the U.S. and Canada, users… Read more

The clock is ticking for one of our Super Early Bird sales! You have just 5 days left to lock in your 2 for 1 Passes at the lowest rates of the year for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. Save up to $1,400 on two of the same individual ticket type. This limited-time offer ends this Friday,… Read more

Replacing inexpensive fossil fuels is a tall hurdle, but Lydian thinks it has cracked the problem. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Read more

If you’ve been following the AI industry, Mistral should be a familiar name by now. The French AI startup with a $6 billion valuation is arguably the biggest AI company working on foundation models in Europe. Alan, on the other hand, isn’t as well known. The health insurance unicorn has been quietly growing to become… Read more

Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has emerged as a potential challenger to U.S. AI leaders, demonstrating breakthrough models that claim to offer performance comparable to leading chatbots at a fraction of the cost. The company’s mobile app, released in early January, has also topped iPhone charts across major markets including the U.S., UK, and China. Founded… Read more

A hacker claims to be selling the data of 18.8 million TalkTalk customers, but the telecoms giant says this figure is ‘significantly overstated’ © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Read more

Perplexity AI has submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok, in an arrangement that would give the U.S. government up to 50 percent ownership of the new entity. The Associated Press first reported on the new proposal. A source with knowledge of the bid confirmed to TechCrunch that the AP’s reporting is accurate. The… Read more

Since Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model R1 at the beginning of this week, many in the tech industry have been making grand pronouncements about what the company achieved, and what it means for the state of AI. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, for example, posted that DeepSeek is “one… Read more

In Reid Hoffman’s new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future, the LinkedIn co-founder makes the case that AI can extend human agency — giving us more knowledge, better jobs, and improved lives — rather than reducing it. That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring the technology’s potential downsides. In fact, Hoffman (who… Read more

More startups shut down in 2024 than the year prior and a high volume of startup failures will continue, data from multiple sources. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Read more