Author: GT

London-based AI lab Odyssey has launched a research preview of a model transforming video into interactive worlds. Initially focusing on world models for film and game production, the Odyssey team has stumbled onto potentially a completely new entertainment medium.The interactive video generated by Odyssey’s AI model responds to inputs in real-time. You can interact with it using your keyboard, phone, controller, or eventually even voice commands. The folks at Odyssey are billing it as an “early version of the Holodeck.”The underlying AI can generate realistic-looking video frames every 40 milliseconds. That means when you press a button or make a…

Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, is gaining a more prominent place in your inbox with the launch of email summary cards, which will appear at the top of your emails. The company announced Thursday that users no longer have to tap an option to summarize an email with AI. Instead, the AI will now automatically summarize the content when needed, without requiring user interaction. When Gemini launched in the side panel of Gmail last year, one of the features allowed users to summarize their long email threads, along with other tools like those to draft email messages or see suggested responses,…

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Republic Justice Minister Pavel Blažek resigned from his post over a bitcoin-related scandal on Friday.Blažek was under fire from the opposition after his ministry accepted a donation of bitcoins and sold them for about 1 billion Czech koruna (more than $45 million) earlier this year.Blažek said that he wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing, but didn’t want the four-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala to be harmed by the scandal. Fiala said that he appreciated his resignation and believed that Blažek acted with goodwill.Blažek was a close ally of Fiala in the government, and…

President Donald Trump will hold a rally Friday at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh, a week after signaling that he had cleared a controversial merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel.Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at 5 p.m. ET at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, according to the White House. Investors and union members will listen for answers from the president on what shape the deal he announced between U.S. Steel and Nippon will take.Trump described the deal as a “partnership” in a May 23 post on his social media platform Truth Social. The president said U.S.…

For years, people have been worried — both rightly and otherwise — that electric vehicles could strain the grid to the breaking point. But as they spread, and as EV technology advances, some think these rolling battery packs could become a lifeline for the United States’ aging electrical system. “In the future, the electric vehicle will be the center of the entire energy grid,” Peter Wilson, co-founder and CEO of Volteras, told TechCrunch. The potential is there: Last year, the U.S. installed 37.1 gigawatt-hours of grid-scale energy storage. The country could increase that amount by nearly 10 times if every EV…

Google returned to federal court Friday to fend off the U.S. Justice Department’s attempt to topple its internet empire at the same time it’s navigating a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence that could undercut its power.The legal and technological threats facing Google are among the key issues that will be dissected during the closing arguments of a legal proceeding that will determine the changes imposed upon the company in the wake of its dominant search engine being declared as an illegal monopoly by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last year.Brandishing evidence presented during a recent three-week stretch of hearings, Justice…

We’re on the final stretch! TechCrunch Sessions: AI kicks off in just seven days. Main stage and breakout sessions feature AI leaders from Google Cloud, Anthropic, OpenAI, Twelve Labs, and more. It’s your moment to connect, learn, and network at high velocity. Now’s the time to move — lock in your ticket and save $300, plus score an additional 50% off for your guest. These deals vanish the moment UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall opens on June 5. Don’t wait. This is the AI event of the season. Register now before prices surge! Image Credits:TechCrunch Why you can’t miss TC Sessions:…

Volkswagen is planning to begin production of an EREV pickup truck and SUV under the Scout brand name starting in 2027.VolkswagenMajor automakers are set to resurrect a type of hybrid vehicle that seemed dead in the U.S. just a few years ago to meet a changing consumer demand landscape.Extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) are a form of plug-in hybrid that falls midway between traditional hybrids and full EVs. EREV cars and trucks rely on battery powered motors for propulsion (like an EV) but also have a relatively small gas engine to use as a generator to keep the batteries charged up…

This month, cybersecurity company Thinkst will mark its 10th anniversary since the launch of its now-flagship product, Canary. The company debuted Canary after seeing companies spend millions of dollars on cybersecurity products, yet were still taking months or longer to realize that they had been breached. Thinkst believed it could make a digital tripwire product that would catch hackers in the act, and by all accounts, it did just that. Over the past decade, the company has grown to around 40 employees, mostly developers and engineers; hasn’t taken on any outside funding; and is on track this year to make…

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk is leaving Washington after a short but turbulent stint in government and getting back to his numerous businesses, each with their own set of issues for the billionaire to address. Start with his electric car company Tesla. While how much Musk accomplished in his role as President Donald Trump’s chief cost-cutter is up for debate, it’s clear his association with right-wing politics damaged Tesla’s brand and tanked sales. Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter, needs to rebuild its advertising base; his aerospace company SpaceX appears to be financially promising but has seen some…