Mirelo raises $41M from Index and a16z to solve AI video’s silent problem
Mirelo, a German startup that is building AI to add synced sound effects to videos, has raised a $41 million seed round led by Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
AI
Kindle app now answers questions about the book you’re reading
Amazon has launched a new AI feature in the Kindle app that gives spoiler-free answers to questions about the book you’re reading and confirmed that authors can’t opt out from the feature. The company calls Ask this Book an “expert reading assistant” in its announcement, and says that it’s capable of answering questions about “plot […]
Feeding the machine
When he was 19 years old, Brendan Foody started Mercor with two of his high school friends as a way for his other friends, who also had startups, to hire software engineers overseas. It launched in 2023 as essentially a staffing agency, albeit a highly automated one. Language models reviewed resumes and did the interviewing. […]
Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting
Grok’s track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbot has repeatedly misidentified 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who heroically disarmed one of the shooters, and claimed the […]
The end of OpenAI, and other 2026 predictions
Here’s a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to that people actually start falling in love with their iPhones. We may not be prepared for what happens next. On this episode […]
AI, Column, Gadgets, Phones, Tech, Tech News, The Stepback
AI image generators are getting better by getting worse
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and digital imagery – real or otherwise – follow Allison Johnson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Remember the early days of […]
AI data center boom could be bad news for other infrastructure projects
Improvements to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure could take a hit as data center construction accelerates.
Parents call for New York governor to sign landmark AI safety bill
A group of more than 150 parents sent a letter on Friday to New York governor Kathy Hochul, urging her to sign the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, a buzzy bill that would require developers of large AI models – like Meta, OpenAI, Deepseek, and Google – to create safety plans and follow […]
OK, what’s going on with LinkedIn’s algo?
Women ran an experiment to see if LinkedIn’s new algo was being sexist and thought they proved it. But there’s more complexity involved, experts say.