Tech

Elon Musk’s AI company has restricted Grok’s controversial AI image-generation feature to only paying subscribers on X, after the tool invited heavy criticism from across the world for letting users generate sexualized and nude images of women and children. In replies to users on Friday, Grok said only paying subscribers …

NSO Group, one of the most well-known and controversial makers of government spyware, released a new transparency report on Wednesday, as the company enters what it described as “a new phase of accountability.” But the report, unlike NSO’s previous annual disclosures, lacks details about how many customers the company rejected, …

AI research lab Anthropic continues to land sizable enterprise deals. Its latest entails bringing its large language models to a legacy German insurance giant. Anthropic on Friday announced a deal with Munich, Germany-based global insurance conglomerate Allianz to bring “responsible AI” to the insurance industry. The parties declined to share …

For the past two weeks, X has been flooded with AI-manipulated nude images, created by the Grok AI chatbot. An alarming range of women have been affected by the non-consensual nudes, including prominent models and actresses, as well as news figures, crime victims, and even world leaders.  A December 31 …

Data security startup Cyera continues on a growth tear. On Thursday, it announced a $400 million Series F funding round at a $9 billion valuation. The New York-based outfit has now raised over $1.7 billion. This funding comes just six months after the previous $540 million round at a $6 …

CES 2026 is in full swing in Las Vegas, with the show floor open to the public after a packed couple of days occupied by press conferences from the likes of Nvidia, Sony, and AMD and previews from Sunday’s Unveiled event.  As has been the case for the past two years at CES, AI …

Building software products has never been easier, so why are so many well-funded startups failing to take off no matter how good their product is? In this season finale episode of Build Mode, our guest has an answer: Startups have focused too much on product development and not enough on distribution excellence. …

Internet connectivity collapsed across Iran on Thursday amid nationwide protests, according to web monitoring firms.  “I think we’re at a near-total disconnection from the outside world now,” Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher who works for the nonprofit Miaan Group, told TechCrunch.  Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at …

Investment in consumer tech startups has been in a downturn since 2022, as a turbulent macroeconomic climate and rising inflation have made VCs skittish about consumer spending power. For the past couple of years, most AI investment has focused on winning over enterprise customers, who provide fat checks, multi-year contracts, …

After leading General Catalyst’s seed strategy for years, Niko Bonatsos has departed the firm. Known for backing an IPO-hopeful Discord and the $10 billion startup Mercor, Bonatsos told TechCrunch he intends to launch a new early-stage VC firm alongside “friends.” Bonatsos is the latest investor to leave General Catalyst, a …