Tech

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Tuesday a raft of new user policies, including a pledge to significantly change how ChatGPT interacts with users under the age of 18. “We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens,” the post reads. “This is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection.” The changes for underage …

Video generation and editing platform D-ID said Tuesday that it has acquired Berlin-based B2B video creation platform Simpleshow. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms of the deal. Simpleshow’s product will operate under D-ID’s umbrella, and eventually the two platforms will merge, D-ID chief executive Gil Perry told TechCrunch. Simpleshow, founded in 2008, has raised over $20 million in funding, according …

At its Made on YouTube event on Tuesday, the company unveiled a series of new ways for creators to earn more with brand deals and the YouTube Shopping program, which lets creators earn money by featuring and tagging products in their content. Most notably, YouTube is going to allow creators to swap out brand sponsorships in long-form videos. The company …

While many robotics companies are building human-sized robots, or working to automate entire factories, MicroFactory is instead trying to think big by building small.   San Francisco-based MicroFactory built a general-purpose, tabletop manufacturing kit that’s about the size of my Siberian Husky’s dog crate. This compact factory includes two robotic arms and can be trained by human demonstration, as well as …

Y Combinator-alum Rulebase is betting that the next wave of automation in financial services won’t be about flashy AI interfaces, but the unglamorous back-office tasks like compliance. The startup, founded by Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams, two Nigerian engineers who met in London, just raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round led by Bowery Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Commerce …

Amazon is continuing its annual tradition of hosting a second Prime event of the year, called Prime Big Deals Day, in October. Following the pattern established in recent years, the company announced the event will take place on October 7-8, with sales starting at 12:01 AM PT on October 7. Amazon is betting that shoppers will embrace various AI tools …

Smartphone startup Nothing announced today that it closed its Series C round of $200 million, which was led by the investment firm Tiger Global. With this round, the consumer electronics company is now valued at $1.3 billion. Other investors in the round included existing backers such as venture outfits GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry. The company, founded …

Rodatherm Energy, a new geothermal startup, emerged from stealth Monday with $38 million in funding and a plan to build a pilot plan in Utah.  The startup differentiates itself by plumbing its boreholes with a closed loop, likely made of steel, that’s filled with a refrigerant. That contrasts with other enhanced geothermal companies, which tend to use water to transport …

Alphabet hit just over $3 trillion dollars in market cap on Monday as investors continue to reward it after a federal judge declined to break the company up.   On Sept. 2, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta outlined softer-than-feared remedies for his year-ago ruling that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in search. The DOJ had proposed stronger remedies, including that Alphabet-owned …

Amid an ongoing surge in defense tech investing, advanced manufacturing company Divergent Technologies raised $290 million to expand production of missile parts and other specialized components for the military. The round, which values the company at $2.3 billion, was first reported by Bloomberg. Divergent’s customers include major defense primes Lockheed Martin, RTX, and General Dynamics. The new capital, of which …