Author: GT

OpenAI is asking Meta to produce evidence related to any coordinated plans with Elon Musk and xAI to acquire or invest in the ChatGPT-maker. The request was made public in a brief filed Thursday in Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI. Lawyers representing OpenAI said they subpoenaed Meta in June for documents related to its potential involvement in Musk’s unsolicited $97 billion bid to take over the startup in February. It’s unclear from the filing whether such documents exist. OpenAI ultimately rejected Musk’s bid. OpenAI’s lawyers said they discovered that Musk communicated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg concerning xAI’s bid…

OpenAI has announced plans to open its first office in India, just days after launching a ChatGPT plan tailored for Indian users, as it looks to tap into the country’s rapidly growing AI market. On Friday, the company said it would set up a local team in India and open a corporate office in the capital, New Delhi, in the coming months. The move builds on OpenAI’s recent hiring efforts in the region. In April 2024, the company appointed former Truecaller and Meta executive Pragya Misra as its public policy and partnerships lead in India. OpenAI also brought on former…

Waymo has been granted a permit to test its autonomous vehicles in New York City, the first such approval granted by the city. The company told TechCrunch it plans to start testing “immediately.” The company is allowed to deploy up to eight of its Jaguar I-Pace SUVs in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn through late September. Waymo’s vehicles must have a trained safety operator in the driver’s seat, with at least one hand on the wheel at all times. The company cannot pick up passengers (since it would need a license from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission) and it has…

A former software developer has been sentenced to four years in prison for sabotaging his former employer’s network after leaving the company. Davis Lu, 55, was convicted of installing a “kill switch” on the network of his former employer by planting malicious code designed to crash its servers in the event that he was fired. The kill switch was activated when the company terminated Lu’s employment and deactivated his credentials, causing the kill switch, “IsDLEnabledinAD” — referring to whether Lu’s account was still active in the company’s Active Directory. The incident locked out thousands of employees from accessing the company’s…

In an effort to cut down on abuse and fake engagement, Elon Musk’s X is removing access to two key features of its developer API for those on the free plan. Now, free users will no longer be able to use the API to like posts on behalf of a user, nor follow other users. The company says these changes will help protect X’s platform from “spam, bots, and manipulative activities” that degrade the user experience. Developers on paid plans like the Basic, Pro, or Enterprise tiers will be unaffected. These plans also include access to more capabilities, higher rate…

Google announced Friday that it’s enhancing the editing experience for Drive videos with a new shortcut button for Vids, the tech giant’s AI-powered video-creation tool.  The new feature allows Workspace users to initiate a video edit using Vids directly from the Google Drive interface. Now, while previewing a video in Drive, users will see an “Open” button in the top right corner that opens the video in the Vids app. Vids will automatically launch the video file, allowing further edits such as trimming the clip or incorporating music and text.  Image Credits:Google This new shortcut, which is activated by default,…

Thousands of semitrucks that cut across the U.S. highway system each day are harboring a secret: They’re only about half full. That inefficiency represents a multibillion-dollar opportunity. And one that a few companies like Uber Freight and Flock Freight are already chasing as part of broader business models that match truck drivers with companies selling goods.  San Francisco-based startup Oway is seeking out a narrower business model that more closely resembles Uber for freight, especially on the most inefficient long-haul routes. But it’s a model that the startup believes can scale big enough to make an impact on the country’s…

Labubu, the ugly-cute plush toy from Chinese company Pop Mart, is turning into a massive business — and it’s on track to make $1 billion this year, exceeding the sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels. And while Labubus are physical objects, not digital ones, they epitomize the invasion of an over-the-top online aesthetic into the offline world, described in a recent New Yorker essay as “IRL brain rot.” On Friday’s episode of the Equity podcast, your hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha try to understand why Labubu has become so popular and what it says about the collapsing…

Sustainability-focused fintech Aspiration was flying high a few years ago, attracting famous investors including Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr. Now, its co-founder will plead guilty to helping perpetuate a $248 million fraud scheme, according to U.S. attorneys. Joseph Sanberg, who was arrested in March, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, felony counts that could land him in prison for up to 20 years each. “This so-called ‘anti-poverty’ activist has admitted to being nothing more than a self-serving fraudster, by seeking to enrich himself by defrauding lenders and investors out of hundreds of…

Beijing may have thrown a wrench into Nvidia’s plans on making a comeback in China’s AI market. Nvidia has instructed its component suppliers to stop production related to its H20 AI chip, according to The Information. The production halt comes after Beijing reportedly warned Chinese companies against using these chips because of potential security issues and fears of backdoors that would give the U.S. access to sensitive data. China’s government is urging companies to use domestic chips instead, The Information reported. This comes a month after companies including Nvidia were given the green light to start selling its AI chips…