Category: info1
California Governor Newsom signs landmark AI safety bill SB 53
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed SB 53, a first-in-the-nation bill that sets new transparency requirements on large AI companies. SB 53, which passed the state legislature two weeks ago, requires large AI labs — including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google DeepMind — to be transparent about safety protocols. It also ensures whistleblower protections for employees at those companies. In addition, SB 53 creates a mechanism…
Notion Capital raises $130M growth fund to tackle Europe’s follow-on gap
The lack of growth capital in Europe is such a persisting issue that some early-stage firms have taken the matter into their own hands. London-headquartered firm Notion Capital is one of them. In 2017, Notion Capital was one of the first in Europe to close an opportunities fund to provide its portfolio companies with follow-on…
Vibe coding Anything nabs a $100M valuation, after hitting $2M ARR in its first two weeks
It’s no secret that vibe coding — using AI-powered coding tools to build apps and websites via natural language prompts — is exploding in popularity. In July, Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) just eight months after launch, plans to close the year at $250 million ARR and…
Brave updates its AI-powered search with a detailed answers feature
Browser maker and Google Search alternative Brave announced on Monday that it’s adding a new feature to its AI-powered search suite, Ask Brave, to provide detailed answers on a topic based on the query. The search company said that this new feature will co-exist next to its AI Answers feature, which was introduced last year…
The AI services transformation may be harder than VCs think
Venture capitalists have convinced themselves they’ve found the next big investing edge: using AI to wring software-like margins out of traditionally labor-intensive services businesses. The strategy involves acquiring mature professional services firms, implementing AI to automate tasks, then using the improved cash flow to roll up more companies. Leading the charge is General Catalyst (GC),…
Paid, the AI agent ‘results-based billing’ startup from Manny Medina, raises huge $21M seed
Manny Medina, previously best-known as the founder of sales automation startup Outreach ($4.4 billion valuation), has wowed investors with his young startup, Paid. Paid just closed an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed round led by Lightspeed. With the €10 million pre-seed round it raised in March, London-based Paid has already raised $33.3 million and hasn’t even…
The billion-dollar infrastructure deals powering the AI boom
It takes a lot of computing power to run an AI product — and as the tech industry races to tap the power of AI models, there’s a parallel race underway to build the infrastructure that will power them. On a recent earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang estimated that between $3 trillion and $4…
TechCrunch Mobility: Self-driving trucks startup Kodiak goes public and a shake-up at Hyundai’s Supernal
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! The autonomous vehicle industry is years — maybe decades — from maturing. And so there’s still a Wild West quality to…
How South Korea plans to best OpenAI, Google, others with homegrown AI
From tech giants to startups, South Korean players are developing large language models tailored to their own language and culture, ready to compete with global heavyweights like OpenAI and Google. Last month, the nation launched its most ambitious sovereign AI initiative to date, pledging ₩530 billion, (about $390 million), to five local companies building large-scale…
Beware coworkers who produce AI-generated ‘workslop’
Researchers at consulting firm BetterUp Labs, in collaboration with Stanford Social Media Lab, have coined a new term to describe low-quality, AI-generated work: “workslop.” As defined in an article published this week in the Harvard Business Review, workslop is “AI generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance…