Tech

In what may mark the tech industry’s first significant legal settlement over AI-related harm, Google and the startup Character.AI are negotiating terms with families whose teenagers died by suicide or harmed themselves after interacting with Character.AI’s chatbot companions. The parties have agreed in principle to settle; now comes the harder …

Apple announced Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase is the new issuer of the Apple Card, replacing Goldman Sachs. Apple said that the transition will likely take up to 24 months. While Apple is changing its banking partner, the Apple Card will continue to use the Mastercard network for payments. For consumers, …

Waymo has spent the past three years refining and testing a minivan-like vehicle made by Chinese automaker Zeekr. And now, before this robotaxi joins Waymo’s official commercial fleet, it’s getting a new name, the company told TechCrunch. The Zeekr RT robotaxi will now be named Ojai (pronounced “oh-hi”) — after …

Ford is developing an AI assistant that will debut in the company’s smartphone app, before expanding to its vehicles in 2027, the company announced Wednesday at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. The company also teased a next-generation of its BlueCruise advanced driver assistance system that is both cheaper to make …

At CES 2026, Anthony Wood, Roku’s founder, chairman, and CEO, offered a hint about the future of the company’s newest streaming channel, Howdy, and its ambition to become a broader competitor in the market. Launched last August, the $2.99 per month streaming service offers ad-free access to library content, at …

Anthropic is gearing up to raise a fresh $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal.  The Claude-maker last raised a $13 billion Series F round at a $183 billion valuation three months ago, so this raise nearly doubles the AI firm’s value. In March, …

WhatsApp on Wednesday said it’s rolling out new features to group chats, including member tags, text stickers, and event reminders. With member tags, you can choose a name that gives others in the group chat more context about who you are and what your role is. For example, you could …

Articul8, an enterprise AI company spun out of Intel in early 2024, has secured more than half of a planned $70 million funding round at a $500 million pre-money valuation, according to its CEO, as it looks to capitalize on growing demand for AI systems in regulated industries. The Series …

This week in Las Vegas, tech companies at CES 2026 are unveiling the latest wearable health devices — glucose monitors, blood pressure trackers, fitness trackers. Probably not mentioned at the show is that these gadgets might be creating a massive environmental problem. It isn’t something that tends to get much …

Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of AI assistant platform Manus is unsurprisingly caught in a regulatory tug-of-war — but not because of U.S. regulators. They appear assured that the deal is legitimate despite earlier misgivings about Benchmark’s investment in Manus. China’s regulators, however, are reportedly not quite as sanguine, according to …