Author: GT

Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday that the company will cut about 600 jobs from its superintelligence lab, according to a report from Axios. Meta declined to comment, but told TechCrunch that Axios’ reporting is accurate. As Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other companies race to build the most powerful AI systems, Meta had a busy summer on the hiring front. The company poached more than 50 researchers from its competitors by offering multimillion-dollar pay packages, though OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that “none of [OpenAI’s] best people” took the offers. “By…

Clippy, the animated paper clip that annoyed Microsoft Office users nearly three decades ago, might have just been ahead of its time. Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico (pronounced MEE’koh) on Thursday, a blob-shaped cartoon face that will embody the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant and marks the latest attempt by tech companies to imbue their AI chatbots with more of a personality.Copilot’s cute new emoji-like exterior comes as AI developers face a crossroads in how they present their increasingly capable chatbots to consumers without causing harm or backlash. Some have opted for faceless symbols, others are…

For chief data and information officers, especially in tightly regulated sectors, data governance has been a major cause preventing enterprise adoption of AI models. The issue of data sovereignty – which concerns where company data is handled and kept – has held many back, forcing them to use complex private cloud solutions. Others have simply given up.OpenAI’s recent announcement to offer UK data residency shows that big AI model providers are changing their setups to match the strict data protection and rules that enterprise and public sector clients require. This directly deals with the top governance concern in the market…

Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro, speaks at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 1, 2023.Walid Berrazeg | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesSuper Micro Computer shares fell 6% on Thursday after the company released weak preliminary results for its fiscal first quarter of 2026.The server maker said it expects to report $5 billion in revenue for the quarter, down from the $6 billion to $7 billion guidance that the company had previously issued. Super Micro said “design win upgrades” pushed some expected first-quarter revenue to the second quarter.”We see customer demand accelerating, and we are gaining…

Ever wonder if you’re talking to a real person online or just another bot? As bots increasingly outnumber humans online, leading to an explosion of deepfakes and AI-driven fraud, one company has a solution straight out of sci-fi: scanning your iris to verify your identity.  Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan spoke with Adrian Ludwig, Chief Security Officer and Chief Architect at Tools for Humanity, the company behind World’s eye-scanning Orbs appearing around the globe. Bellan and Ludwig discuss building privacy-first identity verification, the open-source approach to biometric tech, and why proving humanity matters now more than ever.  Listen…

General Motors will add a conversational AI assistant powered by Google Gemini to its cars, trucks, and SUVs starting next year, the U.S. automaker said Wednesday during an event in New York City.  The Google Gemini rollout is one of several tech-centric announcements made at the automaker’s GM Forward event, and it will be one of the first to get into consumers’ hands. Others, including an overhaul of its electrical architecture and computing platform and an automated driving feature that allows drivers to keep their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road, aren’t coming to GM brands until…

Dating app giant Tinder announced on Wednesday that it’s expanding its facial-verification feature to more users in the U.S.  The facial-verification feature, known as Face Check, requires new users to verify their identity by submitting a short video selfie. This initiative aims to reduce impersonation on the platform and ensure that people are not connected to bots or fake accounts. Face Check creates a 3D video scan of the user’s face to verify its similarity with their profile pictures. Members who successfully complete the verification process earn a badge on their profiles, indicating to others that they have been verified.…

Some Instagram users are feeling cheated out of a new feature, as the photo and video sharing app on Wednesday announced the launch of custom icons — but only for its teen users. Teens can now choose from a set of custom icons that turn the traditional Instagram logo into new variations that can be used as the app’s icon on their phone’s home screen. The option is accessed by tapping the Instagram logo at the top of the home feed after opening the app. Currently, the custom icons include six renditions of the Instagram logo styled as neon, clear…

Reports are circulating this week that Meta is cutting approximately 600 positions from its AI division, a move that seems paradoxical given the company’s aggressive recruitment campaign over recent months. The contradiction raises important questions about Meta’s AI strategy and what it signals for the broader tech industry.For those following Meta AI job cuts, the timing is striking. Just months after the company went on a highly publicised hiring spree – offering compensation packages reportedly reaching up to hundreds of millions of dollars to lure top researchers from OpenAI, Google, and other competitors – Meta is now scaling back parts…

Alibaba announced plans to release a pair of smart glasses powered by its AI models. The Quark AI Glasses are Alibaba’s first foray into the smart glasses product category.AlibabaAlibaba on Thursday announced pricing for its upcoming artificial intelligence glasses and launched a new chatbot powered by its latest AI models.The Chinese technology giant said the Quark AI Glasses will go on pre-sale on Oct. 24 on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall. The pre-sale price will start at 4,699 Chinese yuan ($659.4) but after applying various discounts, will cost 3,999 yuan.Alibaba will begin shipping the product from December.The Hangzhou-headquartered firm also unveiled…