Tech

Italian company Bending Spoons flew largely under the radar — until last month. In a span of 48 hours, the company announced the acquisition of AOL and a massive $270 million raise, quadrupling its valuation to $11 billion, up from $2.55 billion set in early 2024. Bending Spoons has grown …

Character.AI announced on Tuesday that it’s launching “Stories,” a new format that allows users to create interactive fiction that features their favorite characters. The feature comes as an alternative to the company’s chatbots, which are no longer accessible to users under 18 as of this week. The change follows growing …

Microsoft’s AI chatbot Copilot will no longer be available on WhatsApp after January 15, the company has shared. After that date, users on WhatsApp won’t be able to chat with the AI unless they switch to Microsoft’s own Copilot mobile apps or use the chatbot via the web. The company …

Spotify is planning to raise subscription prices in the U.S. in the first quarter of next year, according to a new report from the Financial Times. The move will mark the streaming service’s first price rise in the US since July 2024. The company recently raised prices in several other …

Tesla may have celebrated a regulatory win in Europe a bit too soon. Tesla claimed in a weekend social media post that Dutch regulator RDW was set to approve the use of its driver assistance system, known as Full Self-Driving, or FSD, in February 2026. The organization handles the licensing …

OpenAI’s social app Sora launched with a controversial feature called Cameo, allowing users to deepfake themselves or others (with permission). The feature had a tenuous rollout — Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate had to get involved, to give you an idea of what went on — but now it faces …

India has granted legal status to millions of gig and platform workers under its newly implemented labor laws, marking a milestone for the country’s delivery, ride-hailing and e-commerce workforce — yet with benefits still unclear and platforms beginning to assess their obligations, access to social security remains out of reach. …

Google has partnered with Accel to find and fund India’s earliest-stage AI startups in a first-of-its-kind collaboration for the Google AI Futures Fund, launched earlier this year. On Tuesday, Accel and Google announced a partnership to jointly invest up to $2 million in each startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with …

“When people see it, they say, ‘that’s it?… It’s so simple.” That’s how OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes how he thinks people will respond to seeing the company’s forthcoming AI hardware device for the first time. The device is the result of the collaboration between OpenAI and Apple’s former chief …

The batteries that power Rad Power Bikes’ e-bikes “pose a risk of serious injury and death” and owners should stop using them, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The warning, issued Monday by the CSPC, is due to a risk that the batteries can ignite or explode. The …