Technology
An administrative law judge has ruled that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing that gave customers a false impression of the capabilities of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver assistance software, a pivotal development in a years-long case initiated by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The judge agreed with the state DMV’s request to suspend Tesla…
Slate Auto, the electric truck startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has now collected more than 150,000 refundable reservations for its low-cost EV due out at the end of 2026. The company shared the figure in a new Q&A video with CEO Chris Barman, where she answers questions from those reservation holders about the company’s plans…
Digantara, an Indian space surveillance startup, has raised $50 million in a new funding round as it moves beyond space situational awareness into missile tracking, citing growing demand from governments for space-based defence capabilities. The all-equity Series B round included new investors such as 360 ONE Asset and SBI Investments of Japan, as well as…
Chai Discovery, a biotech startup with backing from OpenAI, announced a $130 million Series B round at a $1.3 billion valuation on Monday. The round was led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, the company said. Other participants include Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite venture fund, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, and new…
Even three years after the generative AI boom started, most AI startups are still making money by selling to businesses, not individual consumers. Although consumers quickly adopted general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, most specialized consumer GenAI applications have yet to resonate. “A lot of early AI applications around video, audio, and photo were super cool,” said…
Disney’s three-year licensing partnership with OpenAI includes just one of exclusivity, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC. The company signed the partnership with OpenAI last week that will bring its iconic characters to the AI firm’s Sora video generator. Once that exclusive year is up, Disney is free to sign similar deals with other AI…
Zoom released its AI assistant to the web today as part of its AI Companion 3.0 release. The company is also allowing free users to access the assistant’s features, such as summarizing the meetings, listing action items, or getting insights from meetings with limits. The company said that basic plan users get to use the…
WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging app that millions of Indians rely on daily, is facing a critical moment in India as recent government directions threaten to disrupt how the platform works for everyday users and businesses. Issued late last month and made public earlier this month, the directions ask certain app-based communication services to keep accounts continuously…
There’s something painfully American about the arc of iRobot, the company that taught your vacuum to navigate around the furniture. Founded in 1990 in Bedford, Massachusetts by MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks and his former students Colin Angle and Helen Greiner, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, punctuating a 35-year run that took…
Grok, the chatbot built by Elon Musk’s xAI and popularized on his social media platform X, appears to have repeatedly spread misinformation about today’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia. Gizmodo pointed to a number of posts where Grok misidentified the bystander — 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed — who disarmed one of the gunmen,…
