Voice AI engine and OpenAI partner LiveKit hits $1B valuation
The five-year-old-startup powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT voice mode and raised a $100 million round led by Index Ventures.
Inference startup Inferact lands $150M to commercialize vLLM
The seed round values the newly formed startup at $800 million.
Vimeo lays off ‘large portion’ of staff after Bending Spoons buyout
Vimeo is laying off employees around the globe just months after the Italian software company Bending Spoons acquired the platform for $1.38 billion, as reported earlier by Business Insider. Even though it’s not clear how many people were laid off, Dave Brown, Vimeo’s former brand VP, says in a post on LinkedIn that “a large […]
Epic and Google have a secret $800 million Unreal Engine and services deal
A judge is questioning whether Epic Games and Google are settling their long-running antitrust fight partly because of a previously unannounced partnership involving the Unreal Engine, Fortnite, and Android. In a hearing in San Francisco today, the court revealed that Epic and Google have struck a new deal that apparently includes “joint product development, joint […]
Are AI agents ready for the workplace? A new benchmark raises doubts.
New research looks at how leading AI models hold up doing actual white-collar work tasks, drawn from consulting, investment banking, and law. Most models failed.
Microsoft 365 hit by outage, preventing access to emails and files
An hours-long outage is preventing Microsoft’s enterprise customers from accessing their inboxes, files, and video meetings.
Sen. Markey questions OpenAI about ‘deceptive advertising’ in ChatGPT
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is pressing OpenAI about its move to bring ads to ChatGPT, and is asking several other companies whether they have similar plans. In letters to the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snap, and xAI, Markey writes that embedding ads into AI chatbots “raises significant concerns for consumer protection, privacy, […]
Tesla is finally doing unsupervised robotaxi rides
Tesla is finally doing unsupervised robotaxi trips in Austin, Texas, according to a video posted on X. Elon Musk reposted the video, congratulating Tesla’s AI team for the milestone. For months, Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco have included safety monitors with access to a kill switch in case of emergency – a fallback […]
Ring says it’s not giving ICE access to its cameras
Ring’s partnership with Flock is sparking renewed online backlash this week, with influencers calling for people to smash their Ring cameras and claiming the company is part of the surveillance state amid heightened concerns over ICE actions. Flock is an AI-powered surveillance camera company that has reportedly allowed government agencies – including ICE – to […]
Substack is launching a TV app, and not everyone is happy
Substack announced Thursday it’s launching Apple TV and Google TV apps that audiences can use for videos and livestreams – and early reactions suggest not all users are thrilled. Subscribers can watch videos and livestreams from creators they follow, but the app will also have a recommendations-based “For You” feed that mixes in other creators’ […]