Devin Coldewey, Author at TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuit over hate-adjacent ads on X… actually confirms them

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 02:04:40 +0000

Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, has filed a lawsuit alleging defamation by a news organization over claims that major companies had ads appear next to antisemitic content. But the suit appears to confirm the very thing it claims is defamatory. Media Matters last Thursday published an article with screenshots showing ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle […]

WTF is going on at OpenAI? We have theories

Devin Coldewey — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:09:53 +0000

In perhaps the most unexpected tech news of the year, billionaire and AI evangelist Sam Altman has been ejected from his CEO role at OpenAI by the company’s board after an apparent vote of no confidence. Its exact wording in a release issued this afternoon: Altman’s “departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, […]

Blackshark.ai’s Orca Huntr lets you build orbital intelligence models with a scribble

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 17:07:53 +0000

Blackshark.ai has already made a digital twin of the Earth, and its next play further democratizes the hitherto lofty (if you will) world of geospatial intelligence. Continuing the nautical theme, its Orca Huntr tool is an AI-powered tool for finding and tracking anything from orbit — and it’s so simple that a child, or even […]

Candela’s electric hydrofoiling ferry takes flight

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 13:01:18 +0000

The future is going to be electric, but in the air and on the water that transition is proving more difficult than on land. Candela has taken a big step toward electrifying traditionally gas-powered institutions like ferries with its P-12, a hydrofoiling craft now in production that could make passenger vessels cleaner and quieter. The […]

With Muse, Unity aims to give developers generative AI that’s useful and ethical

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:01:37 +0000

Unity is joining the rest of the gang in providing generative AI tools for its users, but has been careful (unlike some) to ensure those tools are built on a solidly non-theft-based foundation. Muse, the new suite of AI-powered tools, will start with texture and sprite generation, and graduate to animation and coding as it […]

Courtesy of AI: Weather forecasts for the hour, the week and the century

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 15:01:45 +0000

Machine learning models are taking over in the field of weather forecasting, from a quick “how long will this rain last” to a 10-day outlook, all the way out to century-level predictions. The technology is increasingly important to climate scientists as well as apps and local news stations — and yet it doesn’t “understand” the […]

This week in AI: OpenAI plays for keeps with GPTs

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 18:19:10 +0000

Keeping up with an industry as fast-moving as AI is a tall order. So until an AI can do it for you, here’s a handy roundup of recent stories in the world of machine learning, along with notable research and experiments we didn’t cover on their own. This week in AI, OpenAI held the first of what […]

This spinal implant tech could restore mobility to Parkinson’s patients

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 19:13:44 +0000

People with Parkinson’s disease are being diagnosed earlier and living with the condition for longer periods as treatments evolve, but one stubborn late-arriving symptom is trouble walking. A promising new spinal implant from Swiss researchers offers some hope that this too can be treated effectively. The multi-institutional team is led by Onward, a spinout company […]

App Store for AI: OpenAI’s GPT Store lets you build (and monetize) your own GPT

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:20:06 +0000

OpenAI took the leash (and the “Chat”) off ChatGPT today with the announcement of GPTs, a way for anyone to build their own version of the popular conversational AI system. Not only can you make your own GPT for fun or productivity, but you’ll soon be able to publish it on a marketplace they call […]

Boox’s latest e-readers combine quiet, compact styles with big customization

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 19:19:14 +0000

Boox has a confusingly wide array of devices to choose from, but the latest make a good case for themselves as powerful, compact alternatives to Kindle and Kobo. The delightfully small Poke 5, even smaller Palma, mid-range Page and larger, color Tab Mini C are all worth your consideration if you’re looking to upgrade. Boox, […]

Don’t be afraid of the ‘AI-assisted’ Beatles song, ‘Now And Then’

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:36:46 +0000

There’s been a bit of FUD around the decision to use a form of AI to resurrect John Lennon’s voice in what Paul McCartney called “the last Beatles record.” What they’ve done is far from the sketchy AI imitations of artists we see cluttering Soundcloud today, and has much more in common with a more […]

Unredacted FTC suit shows ‘Project Nessie’ price-raising algorithm made Amazon $1.4B

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 17:46:22 +0000

The mysterious “Project Nessie,” hinted at in what little was not redacted in the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon, is indeed an algorithmic pricing scheme that raised prices where it could do so safely, generating some $1.4 billion for the company during its years of operation. No wonder Amazon wanted to keep it under wraps! The […]

When generative AI cyberthreats arrive, Wraithwatch will be ready and waiting

Devin Coldewey — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 13:01:28 +0000

Generative AI is pervading just about every industry already, whether we like it or not, and cybersecurity is no exception. The possibility of AI-accelerated malware development and autonomous attacks should alarm any sysadmin even at this early stage. Wraithwatch is a new security outfit that aims to fight fire with fire, deploying good AI to […]

Biden’s AI EO hailed as broad, but not deep without legislation to match

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:02:26 +0000

The Biden administration announced the details of a long-awaited executive order on AI today, ahead of an international summit on AI safety being held in the U.K. But as with all such orders, what the president can dictate without legislative support is limited, as numerous experts and stakeholders emphasized in response. The order comes as […]

Cambrium aims to one-up nature with designer proteins that scale sustainably

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 11:01:40 +0000

Nature has done a hell of a job over the last few billion years, but there’s always room for improvement. The proteins in our bodies are great but not always the easiest to produce or package — so Cambrium is looking to design improved molecules that work in similar ways, but can be made at […]

AI’s proxy war heats up as Google reportedly backs Anthropic with $2B

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 20:55:22 +0000

With a massive $2 billion reported investment from Google, Anthropic joins OpenAI in reaping the benefits of leadership in the artificial intelligence space, receiving immense sums from the tech giants that couldn’t move fast enough themselves. A byword for the age: Those who can, build; those who can’t, invest. The funding deal, according to sources […]

Viso eyes no-code for the future of computer vision and scores funding to scale

Devin Coldewey — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:01:06 +0000

Computer vision has become commonplace across innumerable industries, but the methods of creating and controlling these visual AI models aren’t so easy. Viso is building a low/no-code end-to-end platform that lets companies roll their own computer vision stack, and they just pulled in $9.2M to scale up. There are tons of computer vision models and […]

FCC aims to investigate the risk of AI-enhanced robocalls

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:40:23 +0000

As if robocalling wasn’t already enough of a problem, the advent of easily accessible, realistic AI-powered writing and synthetic voice could supercharge the practice. The FCC aims to preempt this by looking into how generated robocalls might fit under existing consumer protections. A Notice of Inquiry has been proposed by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to be […]

This week in AI: Can we trust DeepMind to be ethical?

Devin Coldewey — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 15:01:45 +0000

Microsoft would like to remind you that they are all-in on AI

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 18:12:41 +0000

In case you weren’t sure how Microsoft felt about AI, CEO Satya Nadella is here to tell you: they like it. They like it a lot. In the company’s annual report, he pens a letter to shareholders bigging up AI in every way. And it’s not hard to see why: He clearly believes this is […]