Author: GT

Tesla spent $400,000 advertising on Elon Musk’s social media platform X in 2024, according to a new regulatory filing. But the automaker appears to be on track to spend just a fraction of that in 2025 as sales have struggled. In the first two months of 2025, Tesla spent $10,000 on X ads, putting it on track to spend only $60,000 annually unless it radically increases its advertising for the remainder of the year. During the same time period last year, it had already spent $200,000 on X, Tesla disclosed. Tesla’s spending slowed considerably after those first two months, paying…

Online gaming platform Roblox is launching a TikTok-like short-form video feed for sharing gameplay moments, the company unveiled on Friday at the Roblox Developers Conference. The company also announced increased earnings for creators, new AI tools to boost creation, and other advancements in performance. The new short-form video experience, called “Roblox Moments,” is launching in beta for users 13 and older. It allows users to capture clips of their gameplay, then edit and share those clips in a scrollable feed. Users can trim their clip to up to 30 seconds, add music, and write a description before sharing it. Plus,…

It’s been a tumultuous year for the U.S. semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry plays a sizable role in the “AI race” that the U.S. seems determined to win, which is why this context is worth paying attention to: from Intel’s appointment of Lip-Bu Tan to CEO — who wasted no time getting to work trying to revitalize the legacy company — to Joe Biden proposing sweeping new AI chip export rules on his way out of office that never came to fruition. Here’s a look at what’s happened so far in 2025. August Nvidia reports record quarter August 27: The…

For the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch, Disrupt 2025 (taking place October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco) gets real about one of the most pressing founder questions: compensation and equity. On the Builders Stage, a panel of experts who’ve lived it, scaled it, and solved it will tackle the tough questions every startup faces as they grow. Register here to save up to $668! Who’s joining the Builders Stage Meet the panelists Randi Jakubowitz — Head of Operations & Talent at 645 Ventures. From early HR leadership at Seamless through its Grubhub merger and IPO, Randi knows how to…

Shares of advertising technology company AppLovin and stock trading app Robinhood Markets each jumped about 7% in extended trading on Friday after S&P Global said the two will join the S&P 500 index.The changes will go into effect before the beginning of trading on Sept. 22, S&P Global announced in a statement. AppLovin will replace MarketAxess Holdings, while Robinhood will take the place of Caesars Entertainment.In March, short-seller Fuzzy Panda Research advised the committee for the large-cap U.S. index to keep AppLovin from becoming a constituent. AppLovin shares dropped 15% in December, when the committee picked Workday to join the…

Common Sense Media, a kids-safety-focused nonprofit offering ratings and reviews of media and technology, released its risk assessment of Google’s Gemini AI products on Friday. While the organization found that Google’s AI clearly told kids it was a computer, not a friend — something that’s associated with helping drive delusional thinking and psychosis in emotionally vulnerable individuals — it did suggest that there was room for improvement across several other fronts. Notably, Common Sense said that Gemini’s “Under 13” and “Teen Experience” tiers both appeared to be the adult versions of Gemini under the hood, with only some additional safety…

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings met with and sent an open letter to OpenAI to express their concerns over the safety of ChatGPT, particularly for children and teens.  The warning comes a week after Bonta and 44 other attorneys general sent a letter to 12 of the top AI companies, following reports of sexually inappropriate interactions between AI chatbots and children.  “Since the issuance of that letter, we learned of the heartbreaking death by suicide of one young Californian after he had prolonged interactions with an OpenAI chatbot, as well as a similarly disturbing…

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot.The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement.The company has agreed to pay authors or publishers about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement.“As best as we can tell, it’s…

Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit with a group of authors, who claimed the artificial intelligence startup had illegally accessed their books.The company will pay roughly $3,000 per book plus interest, and agreed to destroy the datasets containing the allegedly pirated material, according to a filing on Friday.The lawsuit against Anthropic has been closely watched by AI startups and media companies that have been trying to determine what copyright infringement means in the AI era. If Anthropic’s settlement is approved, it will be the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history,…

Dot, an AI companion app that aimed to be a friend and confidante, is shutting down, the company announced on Friday. On a message published on its website, the startup behind Dot, New Computer, said that the product will remain operational until October 5, giving users time to download their data. Launched in 2024 by co-founders Sam Whitmore and former Apple designer Jason Yuan, Dot waded into what’s now become a more controversial area for AI chatbots. The app they created was described as an AI “friend and companion,” which would become more personalized to you and your interests over…