Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
Sam Altman’s goal for ChatGPT to remember ‘your whole life’ is both exciting and disturbing
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman laid out a big vision for the future of ChatGPT at an AI event hosted by VC firm Sequoia earlier this month. When asked by one attendee about how ChatGPT can become more personalized, Altman replied that he eventually wants the model to document and remember everything in a person’s life.…
xAI blames Grok’s obsession with white genocide on an ‘unauthorized modification’
xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for a bug in its AI-powered Grok chatbot that caused Grok to repeatedly refer to “white genocide in South Africa” when invoked in certain contexts on X. On Wednesday, Grok began replying to dozens of posts on X with information about white genocide in South Africa, even in response to…
Redpoint raises $650M 3 years after its last big early-stage fund
Redpoint Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm that is about a quarter of a century old, has raised a $650 million tenth early-stage, according to a regulatory filing. Redpoint’s new fund matches the size of its prior fund, which was raised just under three years ago. In a market where many venture firms are decreasing their…
Startups Weekly: A brighter outlook, but don’t get carried away
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. Startup news this week was fairly routine — in a good way: Aside from a minor kerfuffle between Y Combinator and Google, there was no headline-grabbing drama.…
Harvey reportedly in discussions to raise $250M at $5B valuation
Legal tech startup Harvey is in discussions to raise more than $250 million in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue that would value it at $5 billion, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources. Sequoia Capital, which led the startup’s $300 million Series D just three months ago, is also expected to invest in…
Billionaire founder of Luminar replaced as CEO following ethics inquiry
Austin Russell, who became a billionaire after his lidar startup Luminar went public, appears to be out as CEO, according to the company’s board. Luminar’s board announced Wednesday — the same day of its first-quarter earnings report — it had replaced Russell and appointed Paul Ricci to the role. Ricci is the former chairman and…
Netflix adds more live TV to its lineup
Netflix is adding more live streaming content, the company announced at its Upfront presentation on Wednesday. The service, which now reaches over 94 million global monthly active users, has been steadily introducing live TV to its audience with sports content from WWE wrestling, comedy, and awards shows, and other special events (some of which definitely…
White House scraps plan to block data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive data
A senior Trump administration official has scrapped a plan that would have blocked data brokers from selling Americans’ personal and financial information, including Social Security numbers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in December 2024 it planned to close a loophole under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the federal law that protects Americans’ personal…
Google tests replacing ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ with ‘AI Mode’
Google is testing a redesign of its Search homepage in which “AI Mode,” the experimental AI-powered search feature the company rolled out earlier in May, replaces its longstanding “I’m Feeling Lucky” button under the Search bar. A company spokesperson confirmed to The Verge, which was the first to report the change, that the feature began…
Attend TechCrunch Sessions: AI with this new, limited-time discount
We’re excited to announce a big surprise for the AI community — TechCrunch Sessions: AI is getting a limited-time discount to broaden the number of people who can attend and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry. For just $292, you can get a general admission ticket — plus a 50% discount…
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