Author: GT

Microsoft is forming a new team to research superintelligence and other advanced forms of artificial intelligence.Mustafa Suleyman, who leads Microsoft’s AI division overseeing Bing and Copilot, announced the creation of the MAI Superintelligence Team in a blog post. He said he will head the group and that Microsoft plans to put “a lot of money” behind the effort.“We are doing this to solve real, concrete problems and do it in such a way that it remains grounded and controllable,” Suleyman wrote. “We are not building an ill-defined and ethereal superintelligence; we are building a practical technology explicitly designed only to…

HONG KONG (AP) — Vaishnavi Srinivasagopalan, a skilled Indian IT professional who has worked in both India and the U.S., has been looking for work in China. Beijing’s new K-visa program targeting science and technology workers could turn that dream into a reality. The K-visa rolled out by Beijing last month is part of China’s widening effort to catch up with the U.S. in the race for global talent and cutting edge technology. It coincides with uncertainties over the U.S.’s H-1B program under tightened immigrations policies implemented by President Donald Trump.“(The) K-visa for China (is) an equivalent to the H-1B…

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin scrubbed the second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket planned for Sunday afternoon due to concerns with weather, a few minor problems with launch pad equipment, and at least one cruise ship that strayed too close to the flight path. The company said late Sunday that it will take another go at launching New Glenn’s second mission on Wednesday, November 12. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced restrictions on space launches late last week due to the government shutdown, and Blue Origin said in a post on X Sunday that it worked with the…

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin scrubbed the second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket planned for Sunday afternoon due to concerns with weather, a few minor problems with launch pad equipment, and at least one cruise ship that strayed too close to the flight path. The company said late Sunday that it will take another go at launching New Glenn’s second mission on Wednesday, November 12. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced restrictions on space launches late last week due to the government shutdown, and Blue Origin said in a post on X Sunday that it worked with the…

Slow Ventures hosted a three-hour “Etiquette Finishing School” this week, covering topics like the perfect handshake, public speaking, and office decorum. There was even a fashion show with models showing off different looks for different occasions, and then a closing lesson about caviar and wine. The San Francisco Standard reports that a few hundred founders applied for the free program, held at the Four Seasons in SF’s financial district, with 50 founders accepted. Most of the attendees were male. Apparently the idea started as a joke, with Slow Ventures sussing out interest at Y Combinator’s Demo Day. And while YC…

After Tesla shareholders approved a new compensation package that could be worth $1 trillion, CEO Elon Musk appears to be celebrating with a normal weekend on his social media platform X. In an early Saturday morning post with the surely coincidental timestamp of 4:20am EST, Musk posted a video generated by Grok Imagine, the new photo and video tool from his company xAI.  As Musk described it, the video was generated by his prompt, “She smiles and says, ‘I will always love you.’” And the video does, in fact, show an animated woman on a rainy street, saying those words…

While Apple’s iPhone already supports texting, calling emergency services, and contacting roadside assistance via satellite connectivity, the company has many more satellite-powered features in the works, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In-development features reportedly include an API allowing app makers to support satellite connections in their own apps, a version of Apple Maps that allows users to navigate without a cell or WiFi connection, adding photos to messaging, and increased support for “natural usage,” allowing users to connect to a satellite even if their phone isn’t pointed directly at the sky. All of these features would potentially increase the usability…

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Did you hear? Elon Musk got his $1 trillion pay package. Of course you did, because coverage of that highly anticipated vote is everywhere, including here at TechCrunch. But what does this actually mean?  Yes, this is about money, but it’s more about power and control. You might recall that Musk repeatedly talked about the need to control Tesla and offered up a variety of scenarios, including one involving a robot army,…

Castor containers for high-level radioactive waste.Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty ImagesNuclear power is back, largely due to the skyrocketing demand for electricity, including big tech’s hundreds of artificial intelligence data centers across the country and the reshoring of manufacturing. But it returns with an old and still-unsolved problem: storing all of the radioactive waste created as a byproduct of nuclear power generation.In May, President Trump issued executive orders aimed at quadrupling the current nuclear output over the next 25 years by accelerating construction of both large conventional reactors and next-gen small modular reactors. Last week, the U.S. signed a…

If you watched all the way to the end of the new Apple TV show “Pluribus,” you may have noticed an unusual disclaimer in the credits: “This show was made by humans.” That terse message —  placed right below a note that “animal wranglers were on set to ensure animal safety” — could potentially provide a model for other filmmakers seeking to highlight that their work was made without the use of generative AI. And just in case the disclaimer wasn’t clear enough, creator Vince Gilligan (best known for “Breaking Bad”) was even more emphatic in a Variety feature story…