Author: GT

It’s rare to see a solo founder building a widely adopted developer infrastructure tool. Even more so if the founder happens to be from Africa. Bereket Engida, a self-taught programmer from Ethiopia, is quietly building what some developers say is the best authentication tool they’ve ever used. Engida’s startup, Better Auth, offers an open source framework that promises to simplify how developers manage user authentication, and it’s caught the attention of some big name investors. It recently raised about $5 million in seed funding from Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia), Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One.  But…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation introduced Wednesday in Congress would block Chinese artificial intelligence systems from federal agencies as a bipartisan group of lawmakers pledged to ensure that the United States would prevail against China in the global competition over AI.“We are in a new Cold War, and AI is the strategic technology at the center,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, as he opened a hearing on the matter. “The future balance of power may very well be determined by who leads in AI.”About five months ago, a Chinese technology startup…

For the first time ever, TechCrunch Disrupt is launching the Going Public Stage — a brand-new destination for founders navigating the mid and late stages of company building. This content is essential for any founder, but especially those scaling fast, preparing for exit, or reimagining what comes next. Because whether you’re at the seed stage or Series E, the most successful founders are always thinking 10 steps ahead. You’ll hear from some of the biggest names in tech and venture — including Julie Wainwright (The RealReal), David George (Andreessen Horowitz), and Nirav Tolia (Nextdoor) — as they share hard-won lessons…

LONDON (AP) — Getty Images dropped copyright infringement allegations from its lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI as closing arguments began Wednesday in the landmark case at Britain’s High Court. Seattle-based Getty’s decision to abandon the copyright claim removes a key part of its lawsuit against Stability AI, which owns a popular AI image-making tool called Stable Diffusion. The two have been facing off in a widely watched court case that could have implications for the creative and technology industries. Tech companies have been training their AI systems on vast troves of writings or images available online, citing “fair…

As AI companies rave about how their products are revolutionizing productivity, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants the tech industry to put its money where its automated mouth is. In a recent interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Sanders argued that the time saved with AI tools should be given back to workers to spend with their families. “Technology is gonna work to improve us, not just the people who own the technology and the CEOs of large corporations,” Sanders said. “You are a worker, your productivity is increasing because we give you AI, right? Instead of throwing you out on the…

Intel is shuttering its automotive architecture business and laying off most of its staff as part of a broader restructuring at the chipmaker. The news was first reported by The Oregonian/Oregon Live, which cited an internal memo that was shared with employees Tuesday morning. Intel confirmed to TechCrunch that plans to wind down the auto business were communicated internally on Tuesday. “As we have said previously, we are refocusing on our core client and data center portfolio to strengthen our product offerings and meet the needs of our customers,” according to a company statement provided by spokesperson Cory Pforzheimer. “As…

If you want to know how big an upgrade the “M3GAN” sequel has on the original, look no further than the very first scene. “M3GAN” was mostly set in a Seattle house, but “M3GAN 2.0” starts at the Turkish-Iranian border — with a murderous rampage in a secret military installation and the presence of Saudi intelligence, with U.S. Defense Department officials covertly watching.Two hours later, it’s not clear if this is really an upgrade.Most of the same team that gave us the refreshing horror-comedy original two years ago have not only gone super-big, but also changed the franchise’s genre, turning…

Salesforce Agentforce 3 aims to tackle what many businesses have been struggling with: actually seeing what their AI agents are up to.Since its debut back in October 2024, Agentforce has been racking up some wins across a variety of sectors. Engine managed to slash customer case handling times by 15 percent, while 1-800Accountant handed off 70 percent of administrative chat queries to AI during the madness of tax season.But what’s interesting about this upgrade isn’t just the numbers, it’s how Salesforce is addressing the elephant in the room that nobody likes to talk about: businesses are deploying AI agents at…

The cybersecurity landscape across Africa has reached a critical juncture, with cybercrime now accounting for more than 30 percent of all reported crimes in Western and Eastern Africa, according to INTERPOL’s newly released 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report. This alarming statistic represents a dramatic shift in the continent’s threat landscape, where two-thirds of African member countries now report that cyber-related offenses constitute a medium-to-high share of all criminal activities. The emergence of sophisticated cyber threats has transformed the digital security paradigm across the continent, with online scams, ransomware attacks, business email compromise schemes, and digital sextortion campaigns leading the charge.…

Federal judge William Alsup ruled that it was legal for Anthropic to train its AI models on published books without the authors’ permission. This marks the first time that the courts have given credence to AI companies’ claim that fair use doctrine can absolve AI companies from fault when they use copyrighted materials to train large language models (LLMs). This decision comes as a blow to authors, artists, and publishers who have brought dozens of lawsuits against companies like OpenAI, Meta, Midjourney, Google, and more. While the ruling is not a guarantee that other judges will follow Judge Alsup’s lead,…