Maxwell Zeff, Author at TechCrunch

Meta hires Salesforce’s CEO of AI, Clara Shih, to lead new business AI group

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:33:07 +0000

Meta hired Salesforce’s CEO of AI, Clara Shih, to lead a new organization building AI tools for businesses that use Meta’s apps to reach consumers, according to a LinkedIn post from Shih on Tuesday. Meta confirmed the appointment and the new Business AI group in a statement to TechCrunch. “I’m thrilled to share today that […]

Ben Affleck tells actors and writers not to worry about AI

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:43:52 +0000

Unions representing Hollywood actors and writers went on strike last year to secure protections against AI systems taking their jobs. But Ben Affleck says that actors and screenwriters shouldn’t worry about AI because it’s not capable of doing either job today, and likely won’t for a long time. “Movies will be one of the last […]

Sam Altman will co-chair San Francisco mayor-elect Daniel Lurie’s transition team

Maxwell Zeff — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

San Francisco’s mayor-elect, Daniel Lurie, has tapped OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to help run his transition team, the campaign announced on Monday, as part of the administration’s effort to embrace the tech industry. Altman, alongside nine other San Francisco leaders, will provide guidance to Lurie’s team on ways the city can innovate, and help the […]

ChatGPT can now read some of your Mac’s desktop apps

Maxwell Zeff — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 18:00:00 +0000

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is starting to work with other apps on your computer. On Thursday, the startup announced the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code in a handful of developer-focused coding apps, such as VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2. That means developers will no longer have to copy and paste their […]

Don Lemon officially leaves Elon Musk’s X

Maxwell Zeff — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 21:14:19 +0000

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said on Wednesday he is leaving Elon Musk’s X, a decision made less than a year after X announced that “The Don Lemon Show” would appear on the social media platform three times a week. That deal was canceled before it was ever signed, and Lemon sued Musk and X […]

Donald Trump announces Elon Musk will co-lead Department of Government Efficiency

Maxwell Zeff — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 01:44:12 +0000

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk will co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, the acronym of which spells out DOGE, Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and owner of X, Neuralink, and The Boring Company will lead the department alongside biotech entrepreneur and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to […]

Apple reportedly releasing a wall-mounted smart home tablet in 2025 — and yes, it does AI

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:53:38 +0000

Apple is gearing up to announce a new smart home hub, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. As early as March 2025, the iPhone maker could release a tablet that mounts to your wall, controls smart home appliances, does video calls, and of course features Apple Intelligence. The device reportedly has a 6-inch touchscreen, but it’s […]

23andMe cuts 40% of staff in restructuring

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 22:51:57 +0000

23andMe announced on Monday it would cut 40% of its workforce, representing more than 200 employees, as part of a restructuring at the company. The genetic testing company is also discontinuing its therapeutics business and winding down its clinical trials; it expects these changes to save $35 million annually. “We are taking these difficult but […]

OpenAI loses another lead safety researcher, Lilian Weng

Maxwell Zeff — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 00:42:41 +0000

Another one of OpenAI’s lead safety researchers, Lilian Weng, announced on Friday she is departing the startup. Weng served as VP of research and safety since August, and before that was the head of OpenAI’s safety systems team. In a post on X, Weng said that “after 7 years at OpenAI, I feel ready to […]

Block scales back TIDAL investment and shutters TBD in favor of Bitcoin mining

Maxwell Zeff — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 03:41:02 +0000

Jack Dorsey’s Block is scaling back its investment in TIDAL, the music streaming platform once owned by Jay-Z, according to a shareholder letter on Thursday. Block is also shutting down TBD, a Bitcoin-focused arm of the business that previously set out to build a decentralized internet, dubbed “Web5.” These cuts will free up the company […]

Crypto CEO kidnapped in Toronto, released after paying $1M ransom

Maxwell Zeff — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:44:50 +0000

The CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency firm WonderFi was kidnapped and held for ransom on Wednesday, according to CBC. Dean Skurka was reportedly shoved into a vehicle in downtown Toronto during rush hour, only to be released uninjured after electronically sending $1 million (presumably CAD) to his captors. The WonderFi CEO is the latest crypto celebrity […]

The other election night winner: Perplexity

Maxwell Zeff — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 19:54:10 +0000

On Tuesday, two AI startups tried convincing the world their AI chatbots were good enough to be an accurate, real-time source of information during a high-stakes presidential election: xAI and Perplexity. Elon Musk’s Grok failed almost instantly, offering wrong answers about races’ outcomes before the polls had even closed. On the other hand, Perplexity offered […]

X reinstates SwapYourVote’s account after suspending it as spam

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 22:09:20 +0000

In the final days leading up to the U.S. presidential election, Elon Musk’s X suspended the official account of a progressive-donor-backed ballot initiative called SwapYourVote. The volunteer-run website tries to get third-party voters in swing states to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris, matching them with Democrats in solidly blue states who agree to vote […]

Meta’s former hardware lead for Orion is joining OpenAI

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:30:47 +0000

The former head of Meta’s augmented reality glasses efforts announced on Monday she is joining OpenAI to lead robotics and consumer hardware, according to a post on LinkedIn. OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that Caitlin Kalinowski will be joining the startup. Kalinowski is a hardware executive who began leading Meta’s AR glasses team in March 2022. […]

Apple users can soon upgrade to ChatGPT Plus within the Settings app

Maxwell Zeff — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 22:18:02 +0000

Apple products are getting an integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT in December when iOS 18.2 rolls out, which should supercharge Siri and a few other features with smarter AI. On Monday, iOS 18.2 beta testers got a taste of how OpenAI could profit off of its Apple partnership. Apple is including an option to upgrade to […]

ChatGPT Search is not OpenAI’s ‘Google killer’ yet

Maxwell Zeff — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:17:58 +0000

OpenAI's search offers a glimpse of what an AI-search interface could one day look like. But it's too impractical as a daily driver right now.

500 Amazon employees reportedly ask AWS CEO to reverse return-to-office policy

Maxwell Zeff — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 22:16:36 +0000

More than 500 Amazon employees sent a letter on Wednesday to AWS CEO Matt Garman, urging the executive to reverse the company’s full return-to-office policy, Reuters reports. In September, Amazon asked employees to come back to the office five days a week starting in 2025. The AWS CEO previously told employees that nine out of […]

Narada AI’s enterprise agent will use workplace tools for you

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 18:00:58 +0000

There’s no shortage of startups trying to create enterprise AI assistants. What’s less common is an AI assistant that can actually execute tasks across several of your work apps at once. That’s the promise of Narada AI, a startup building an AI assistant based on new research out of UC Berkeley. Narada has been operating […]

Brightwave’s AI agent helps asset managers find signal, and it’s fundraising fast

Maxwell Zeff — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The finance world is constantly looking for signal: indicators of a buying or selling opportunity in the markets. Brightwave says its AI agent can help.

This veteran couldn’t share 3D scans of a burnt naval ship, so he created a startup that can

Maxwell Zeff — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 22:06:47 +0000

In the summer of 2020, a fire broke out onboard a naval ship docked in San Diego Bay. For more than four days, the USS Bonhomme Richard burned as helicopters dropped buckets of water from above, boats spewed water from below, and firefighters rushed onboard to control the blaze. Before the embers had even cooled, […]