Privacy-focused consumer tech company DuckDuckGo launched a subscription plan last year that bundled a VPN service, personal information removal, and identity theft restoration. The company said Thursday that the subscription now gives users access to the latest AI models through Duck.ai without paying extra. The Duck.ai chatbot is free to …
Read More »Madrid’s Orbital Paradigm aims to prove a cheaper path to orbital reentry
Francesco Cacciatore is a self-proclaimed skeptic. Yet after spending two decades in the European aerospace industry and hitting, as he put it, a “crisis,” he made an undeniably optimistic bet: he started a space company. “You ask yourself, ‘What am I doing?’” he said in a recent interview. “I got …
Read More »Instagram is finally launching an iPad app
After years of people constantly nudging Instagram about releasing an iPad app, the social network is finally launching one today. This means users will no longer need to use the iPhone app, which is not optimized for larger screens, or Instagram for web on the iPad. The new app defaults …
Read More »Why the US government is taking a stake in Intel
The Trump administration wants the United States to be the dominant force when it comes to artificial intelligence, and one way the administration hopes to achieve primacy is by bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. To help with that transition, President Donald Trump has introduced potential chip tariffs and …
Read More »Google’s NotebookLM now lets you customize the tone of its AI podcasts
Google’s AI note-taking and research assistant NotebookLM now lets users customize the tone of their Audio Overviews, which are podcasts with AI virtual hosts that summarize and discuss documents shared with NotebookLM, such as course readings or legal briefs. When generating an Audio Overview, users can now choose whether they …
Read More »FirstClub bucks India’s speed obsession, quickly triples valuation to $120M with premium approach
While quick commerce in India has become synonymous with 10-minute deliveries — and the hottest play for startups and investors — FirstClub is taking a slower, more curated route. Yet just three months after launching its app, the 8-month-old startup has tripled its valuation. At a post-money valuation of $120 …
Read More »xAI’s CFO is the latest executive to leave Elon Musk’s AI firm
Mike Liberatore, xAI’s chief financial officer, has left the company, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. This marks the latest in a string of high-profile executive departures. The former Airbnb executive joined the company in April and left around the end of July, per the WSJ. While at …
Read More »Apple’s Siri upgrade could reportedly be powered by Google Gemini
Apple’s Siri overhaul may include an AI-powered web search tool with technology powered by Google’s Gemini, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The iPhone maker, which has been criticized for falling behind in the AI race, delayed its long-awaited Siri update until 2026. In the meantime, the …
Read More »Mistral, the French AI giant, is reportedly on the cusp of securing a $14B valuation
French AI startup Mistral AI is finalizing a €2 billion investment at a post-money valuation of $14 billion, reports Bloomberg, positioning the company as one of Europe’s most valuable tech startups. The two-year-old OpenAI rival, founded by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, develops open source language models and Le Chat, …
Read More »Scale AI is suing a former employee and rival Mercor, alleging they tried to steal its biggest customers
Scale AI, which helps tech companies prepare data to train their AI models, filed a lawsuit against one of its former sales employees and its rival Mercor on Wednesday. The suit claims the employee, who was hired by Mercor, “stole more than 100 confidential documents concerning Scale’s customer strategies and …
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