Author: GT

Guest author: Or Hillel, Green LampAI systems aren’t experimental anymore, they’re embedded in everyday decisions that affect millions. Yet as these models stretch into important spaces like real-time supply chain routing, medical diagnostics, and financial markets, something as simple as a stealthy data shift or an undetected anomaly can flip confident automation into costly breakdown or public embarrassment.This isn’t just a problem for data scientists or machine learning engineers. Today, product managers, compliance officers, and business leaders are realising that AI’s value doesn’t just hinge on building a high-performing model, but on deeply understanding how, why, and when these models…

The Indian government’s tax authority has fixed a security flaw in its income tax filing portal that was exposing sensitive taxpayers’ data, TechCrunch has exclusively learned and confirmed with authorities. The flaw, discovered in September by a pair of security researchers Akshay CS and “Viral,” allowed anyone who was logged into the income tax department’s e-Filing portal to access up-to-date personal and financial data of other people. The exposed data included full names, home addresses, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and bank account details of people who pay taxes on their income in India. The data also exposed…

The third-party app store known as AltStore, one of the first companies to offer an alternative app marketplace in the European Union, is preparing to connect its platform with the open social web known as the fediverse. The move would connect users on other open social apps, like Mastodon or Meta’s Threads, with updates from their favorite apps in a new way. In addition, the startup is announcing its first funding round from outside investors, with a $6 million Series A from Pace Capital. The deal gives the venture firm a 15% equity stake in AltStore and will allow the…

California has passed a new law aimed at quieting blaring advertisements on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video, requiring commercial volumes to match the audio levels of the content being streamed. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law on Monday. Starting July 1, 2026, streaming services won’t be allowed to “transmit the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the advertisements accompany,” according to the bill’s text. “We heard Californians loud and clear, and what’s clear is that they don’t want commercials at a volume any louder than the level at which they were previously enjoying a…

The scourge of modern concrete is, perhaps surprisingly, rust.  Most concrete structures are laced with steel rebar to add strength, but if the metal corrodes, it can cause the concrete to fail prematurely. Bridges, which are exposed to water and salt, are some of the most vulnerable. About one third of bridges in the United States need to be repaired or replaced, which could cost nearly $400 billion over the next decade. There are plenty of ways engineers cope with rust, from coating the rebar with epoxy to pouring extra concrete to buy some time before seeping water reaches the…

After using the iPhone Air for the past 10 days, I can confirm what everyone’s been wondering: Yes, it really is that light and thin. But what’s more interesting is whether Apple’s thinnest phone ever, at just 5.64 millimeters, is worth the trade-offs it demands. I have used the iPhone 15 Pro Max as a primary phone for over 18 months now, and my secondary phones are often flagship Android phones, so I know what a substantial smartphone feels like. Meanwhile, the iPhone Air is so light that when I first picked up the iPhone 17 Pro Max after using…

Äio (pronounced EYE-oh) is the Estonian god of dreams. It seems a sweetly appropriate namesake for a rising startup, called ÄIO, from that tiny Baltic country that has developed a process to turn agricultural waste like sawdust into fats for the food and cosmetic industries.  This process could be a way to reduce the world’s dependency on palm oil, which has become a staple for food and cosmetics for its emulsifying and preservative properties. Unfortunately, because of that plant’s need for hot humid climates, this massive industry has also notoriously destroyed rain forests and other sensitive ecosystems to make way for farms. ÄIO was co-founded by biotechnology scientists Nemailla Bonturi and…

Tech behemoth IBM is teaming up with AI research lab Anthropic to bring AI into its software. Armonk, New York-based IBM announced it will be adding Anthropic’s Claude large language model family into some of its software products on Tuesday. The first product to tap Claude will be IBM’s integrated development environment, which is already available to a select group of customers.   IBM also announced it created a guide in partnership with Anthropic on how enterprises can build, deploy, and maintain enterprise-grade AI agents.   Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TechCrunch reached out to IBM for more information on the future of the partnership. Anthropic has been making a big push…

Hackers working for the North Korean government have stolen more than $2 billion in crypto so far this year, according to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic.  On Tuesday, Elliptic published a blog post with this new estimate, which the company says is the “largest annual total on record, with three months still to go,” and is based on more than 30 hacks this year.  The previous record was in 2022, when North Korea stole $1.35 billion. The regime’s total amount of stolen crypto since 2017 is at least $6 billion, according to Elliptic, which said that figure may still be an…

Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is in India this week, with plans to set up an office in Bengaluru and explore a partnership with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, TechCrunch has learned. The move signals the AI startup’s push to deepen its presence in its second-largest market after the U.S. Amodei is expected to visit Mumbai to meet Ambani and other senior executives at Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company and the parent of the nation’s top telecom operator, Reliance Jio, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Anthropic has been in discussions with Reliance for some time over a…