Author: GT

Codi, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup founded by Christelle Rohaut and Dave Schuman, is launching what it hails as the first AI-powered platform to fully automate office management.   Codi was founded in 2018, in a pre-pandemic world, with a mission to help companies find flexible office spaces. It was more of a marketplace, as TechCrunch previously reported, that matched companies to buildings that offered flexible office arrangements. Codi then assisted with the move-in processes. Rohaut, the company’s CEO, said she and her team back then used to manually manage office spaces and vendors for their clients, but the recent advancements in AI have allowed them to essentially…

Artificial intelligence has caused concern for its tremendous consumption of water and power. But scientists are also experimenting with ways that AI can help people and businesses use energy more efficiently and pollute less.Data centers needed to fuel AI accounted for about 1.5% of the world’s electricity consumption last year, and those facilities’ energy consumption is predicted to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. That increase could lead to burning more fossil fuels such as coal and gas, which release greenhouse gases that contribute to warming temperatures, sea level rise and extreme weather.But when AI’s…

Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari currently dominate the web browser market, with Chrome holding a significant share due to the tech giant’s ongoing innovations, particularly in integrating generative AI into its search functionalities.  However, users seeking alternatives will find a variety of browsers aiming to challenge these industry giants. To help navigate the competitive landscape of the browser wars, we’ve compiled an overview of some of the top alternative browsers available today. This includes browsers leveraging AI, open source browsers that promote customization and privacy, and “mindful browsers” — a new term that refers to browsers designed to enhance user…

CIOs want to fix IT problems faster without expanding headcount, and many see AI adoption as the solution for their operations.For ages, they’ve used things like automation and self-help portals to handle this, so their teams can solve issues quickly. Now, AI is getting involved, and lots of companies are trying to use it for their IT support. There’s been a ton of buzz, but leaders want proof that it actually works.SolarWinds looked into how these new tools are doing. The company analysed a bunch of info from over 2,000 IT systems and 60,000 pieces of data collected over a…

Google announced on Tuesday that Google Fi, its telecommunications service, is getting several new updates, including AI noise filters and RCS web messaging. The tech giant says calls will now use AI-enhanced audio to reduce background noise and improve voice clarity, even when speaking to someone on a landline or older device. The company says the update should allow for “more natural-sounding conversations.” While the feature will be turned on automatically, users will have the option to turn it off. AI-enhanced audio is rolling out next month. As for the RCS web messaging, Google is updating its “Messages for web”…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s state security service has unveiled an upgraded sea drone it says can now operate anywhere in the Black Sea, carry heavier weapons and use artificial intelligence for targeting.Ukraine has used the unmanned naval drones to target Russian shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea. The Security Service of Ukraine, known by its Ukrainian acronym SBU, has credited strikes by the unmanned vessel known as the “ Sea Baby” with forcing a strategic shift in Russia’s naval operations. The range of the Sea Baby was expanded from 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles),…

I’ve often joked that I would love to have a pet if only animals did not need to poop and eat smelly, wet mush from a can. I want a fuzzy pal to hang out with all day, but then I’ll hear that my friend spent $500 at the vet because their cat nibbled on a leaf, and the illusion breaks. It’s hard enough to take care of myself — do I really want to be responsible for a creature who might wake me up at 4 a.m. to pee? So when Casio offered me a review unit of its…

After earlier this year launching a marketplace that allows websites to charge AI bots for scraping their content, web infrastructure provider Cloudflare is pushing for increased regulation in the AI sector. The company’s chief executive, Matthew Prince, says he’s in London to speak with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), where he’s proposing stricter rules on how Google should be able to compete in the AI race, given its search dominance. The CMA earlier this month designated Google with a special status in the search and advertising markets because of its “substantial and entrenched” position. The move will allow…

Fal.ai, a startup that hosts image, video, and audio AI models for developers, has closed a new round valuing the company at over $4 billion, four people familiar with the deal said. The company raised approximately $250 million, two of the people said. Major investors in the round are Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia, according to our sources. Fal didn’t respond to a request for comment. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins declined to comment. The new round is coming less than three months after Fal announced a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation led by Meritech. At that time,…

Today, OpenAI launched its new Atlas web browser in a surprise livestream. The show started with CEO Sam Altman, speaking directly to the audience.   “We think AI represents a rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be,” Altman said. “In the same way that, for the previous way people used the internet, the URL bar and the search box were a great analogue, what we’re starting to see is that the chat experience and the web browser can be a quick analogue.”  It was an inspiring note, in the classic Steve Jobs mode. But even more important than Altman’s…