Datadog is on an acquisition spree. Just a few weeks after snatching up Metaplane, an AI-powered observability startup, the cloud monitoring and security company has acquired Eppo, a feature flagging and experimentation platform. Eppo will continue supporting existing customers and bringing on new ones under the...
Forget Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of VR meetings; the industrial metaverse bridges digital and physical worlds in a way that’s actually useful....
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses....
Anysphere, the maker of AI-powered coding tool Cursor, has attracted $900 million in a fresh round of funding led by Thrive Capital, Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Accel are also participating in the round, which values...
Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and become an “AI-first” company — a move that journalist Brian Merchant pointed to as a sign that the AI jobs crisis “is here, now.” In fact, Merchant spoke to a former Duolingo contractor who...
While many tech companies are mandating that their employees return to their offices, and putting an emphasis on building in-person teams, they are also turning in droves to Latin America to find developer talent — especially for post-training AI models. Revelo, a full-stack platform of vetted...
Google’s most expensive AI model seems to have crossed a major milestone: Beating a 29-year-old video game. Last night, Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted triumphantly on X, “What a finish! Gemini 2.5 Pro just completed Pokémon Blue!” To be clear, the Gemini Plays Pokemon livestream...
President Donald Trump has ended the de minimis exemption, which previously allowed Temu, Shein, and other online retailers to send packages from China to the US valued under $800 duty-free....
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says AI companies are trying too hard to “juice engagement” by pestering their users with follow-up questions, instead of providing actually useful insights. Systrom said the tactics represent “a force that’s hurting us,” comparing them to those used by social media...
Next week, Google will begin allowing kids under 13 who have parent-managed Google accounts to use its Gemini chatbot, according to The New York Times. The Times reports that Gemini will be available to kids whose parents use Family Link, a Google service that enables families to...
A recently released Google AI model scores worse on certain safety tests than its predecessor, according to the company’s internal benchmarking. In a technical report published this week, Google reveals that its Gemini 2.5 Flash model is more likely to generate text that violates its...
Apple and Anthropic are teaming up to build a “vibe-coding” software platform that will use generative AI to write, edit, and test code for programmers, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The iPhone maker is planning to roll out the software internally, according to Bloomberg, but hasn’t...
World opened the doors to its new San Francisco storefront with eight brand-new orbs ready for eyeballs to scan....
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. This week was low on M&A and IPO news, but there was still some drama to follow,...
A startup founder told a Palantir alumni Slack group that AI agents could do the work of tens of thousands of government employees. He was met with emojis of clowns and a man licking a boot....
OpenAI says it’ll make changes to the way it updates the AI models that power ChatGPT, following an incident that caused the platform to become overly sycophantic for many users. Last weekend, after OpenAI rolled out a tweaked GPT-4o — the default model powering ChatGPT —...
Google’s NotebookLM Android and iOS apps are expected to launch on May 20, according to app store listings. The apps are currently available for pre-order. Since its launch in 2023, the AI-based note-taking and research assistant has only been accessible via desktop. Google is now...
What if cheating was just…the future of work? That’s the pitch behind Cluely, the viral AI startup that claims its stealthy browser overlay is “undetectable” and can help users bluff their way through everything from job interviews to exams. The company has raised $5.3 million...
A crypto company part-owned by the Trump family stands to earn millions of dollars from a business deal involving a state-backed investment fund from the UAE. The arrangement amounts to “foreign policy for sale,” critics claim....
Under its new chairman, the FCC is threatening broadcasters and pushing President Donald Trump’s agenda....
Under its new chairman, the FCC is threatening broadcasters and pushing President Donald Trump’s agenda....
Airbnb started rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot in the U.S. last month, CEO Brian Chesky said during the firm’s first-quarter conference call on Thursday. Chesky said 50% of Airbnb’s U.S. users are already using the AI bot for customer service, adding that the...
The Covid-19 pandemic showed just how vulnerable global supply chains are. Climate shocks could pose an even greater risk....
A group of activists is turning to an old playbook to influence the future of one of the world’s most powerful AI companies....
The American version of Temu abruptly began to show only “local” products days before the Trump administration was set to end a tariff loophole for small packages from China....
Amazon’s upgraded digital assistant powered by generative AI, Alexa+, has rolled out to over 100,000 users, CEO Andy Jassy said on the company’s earnings call Thursday. While that’s a far cry from the 600 million Alexa devices out there, the company is making some progress...
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says there are two kinds of people who come to the social media platform: Scrollers and seekers. Scrollers are the ones who come to Reddit’s core product, which is community conversation and engaging about topics they’re passionate about, from r/sourdough to...
Meta’s contentious AI copyright battle is heating up—and the court may be close to a ruling....
Mach Industries, the defense tech founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, is about to close a fresh $100 million in financing co-led by new investor Khosla and existing investor Bedrock Capital, a source familiar with the deal tells TechCrunch. The new round will value the company...
FutureHouse, an Eric Schmidt-backed nonprofit that aims to build an “AI scientist” within the next decade, has launched its first major product: a platform and API with AI-powered tools designed to support scientific work. Many, many startups are racing to develop AI research tools for...