Author: GT

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership with Apple for its generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, the release of GPT-4o with voice capabilities, and the highly-anticipated launch of its text-to-video model Sora. OpenAI also faced its share of internal drama, including the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief…

The new Netflix movie “The Electric State” depicts a world full of robots — but not robots as we know them. Directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (who previously helmed two Avengers blockbusters, “Infinity War” and “Endgame”) for a reported budget of $320 million, “The Electric State” takes place in an alternate version of the 1990s, one where sentient robots have existed for decades. That’s long enough for them to have rebelled against their human masters, lost the war, and found themselves exiled to an area of the Southwest — an area that the film’s heroes (played by Millie…

For roboticists, one challenge towers above all others: generalization — the ability to create machines that can adapt to any environment or condition. Since the 1970s, the field has evolved from writing sophisticated programs to using deep learning, teaching robots to learn directly from human behavior. But a critical bottleneck remains: data quality. To improve, robots need to encounter scenarios that push the boundaries of their capabilities, operating at the edge of their mastery. This process traditionally requires human oversight, with operators carefully challenging robots to expand their abilities. As robots become more sophisticated, this hands-on approach hits a scaling…

Donald Trump’s ties to the crypto world might get even deeper if reported talks with Binance somehow lead to a working relationship with the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The talks — as described this past week in separate stories from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg — would have the potential to bring closer together one of the biggest players in the world of digital assets and a US president who has pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet.” Trump has already signed executive orders that benefit the industry and has pledged to help push through legislation…

We’ve all experienced that moment of frustration when the GPS glitches and you miss an exit on the highway. The team at Tern AI, which is building a low-cost GPS alternative, says that’s because the current technology is limited by its reliance on satellite positioning.  Tern AI says it has figured out how to locate the position of a vehicle using only map information and a vehicle’s existing sensor data. The company’s pitch: It’s a cheap system that doesn’t require any additional expensive sensors.  At SXSW, the Austin-based startup demonstrated exclusively for TechCrunch that it could “derive a position from…

The factors impacting successful patient care are many and varied. Early diagnosis, proper adherence to prescription medication schedules, and effective monitoring and management of chronic disease, for example, all contribute to better outcomes. However, each of these factors can be hindered by outside influences — medication doesn’t work as well if it isn’t taken as prescribed, and disease can be missed or misdiagnosed in early stages if symptoms are mild or not present.Giovanni Traverso, the Karl Van Tassel Career Development Professor, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, and a gastroenterologist in the Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH),…

Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician turned whistleblower who exposed mass surveillance by the U.S. government, has died at age 79. Klein went public in 2006 with documents revealing that the NSA was using a secret room in an AT&T hub in San Francisco to tap into the backbone of the internet. Behind the door of the now-infamous Room 641A, optical splitting wiretaps were creating an identical copy of raw internet traffic and funneling it back to the NSA.  Klein’s disclosure was confirmation that the U.S. government was accessing the internet data on millions of Americans using powers granted by…

Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was recently named a co-recipient of the 2024 John Scott Award by the board of directors of City Trusts. This prestigious honor, steeped in historical significance, celebrates scientific innovation at the very location where American independence was signed in Philadelphia, a testament to the enduring connection between scientific progress and human potential.The Scott Award, the first science award in America established to honor Benjamin Franklin’s scientific legacy, recognized Rus alongside professors Takeo Kanade from Carnegie Mellon University and Vijay Kumar…

Cathie Wood is one of the most vocal bulls on Wall Street when it comes to the potential of the technology sector. She founded ARK Investment Management, which operates several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on investing exclusively in innovative technologies like cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and more. In fact, ARK was one of the first firms to win approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ETF last year. Wood and her team are extremely bullish on the world’s largest cryptocurrency, predicting it could soar 1,660% to $1.48 million per coin by the year…

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! For regular readers of TechCrunch Mobility, you may be wondering, “Why did this newsletter land in my inbox on Friday?” Folks, we’re moving days in an effort to bring you a more complete rundown of the news of the week.  I spent the last week at SXSW, the annual tech, film, comedy, and music festival in Austin. I recommend scrolling through our live blog to catch up on all the transportation, AI,…