The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis have been spotted illegally passing stopped school buses numerous times in at least two states. The NTSB is specifically focusing on the more-than-20 incidences that have occurred in Austin, Texas, it said in a post on X on Friday. “Investigators will travel to Austin to gather information on a series of incidents in which the automated vehicles failed to stop for loading or unloading students,” the NTSB said in a statement to TechCrunch. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days, and the safety board will…

​If you thought 2025 couldn’t get any crazier, the streaming world had one more surprise up its sleeve before the year ended.  Netflix, already the largest streaming platform with over 325 million subscribers, took a bold step by acquiring Warner Bros.’ film and television studios, as well as HBO, HBO Max, and other assets. The deal, announced in early December, will bring together some of the most legendary franchises, such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC Comics properties, among others, all under one roof. ​The scale of this megadeal has stunned industry observers. It’s not only historic in…

Meta today said that it is pausing teens’ access to its AI characters globally across all its apps. The company mentioned that it is not abandoning its efforts but wants to develop an updated version of AI characters for teens, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The move comes days before a case against Meta is set to go to trial in New Mexico, in which the company is accused of not making an effort to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its apps. Wired reported Thursday that Meta has sought to limit discovery related to social media’s impact on teen…

Google Photos will now let you make memes with your own images. On Thursday, Google introduced a new generative AI-powered feature called “Me Meme,” which will allow you to combine a photo template and an image of yourself to generate an image of the meme. The new addition, which will be first available to U.S.-based users, was originally spotted in development last October by the blog Android Authority. It was formally announced by Google via its Photos Community site on Thursday. According to Google, the feature is experimental, so generated images “may not perfectly match the original photo.” It suggests…

Microsoft provided the FBI with the recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptops as part of a federal investigation, Forbes reported on Friday. Many modern Windows computers rely on full-disk encryption, called BitLocker, which is enabled by default. This type of technology should prevent anyone except the device owner from accessing the data if the computer is locked and powered off.  But, by default, BitLocker recovery keys are uploaded to Microsoft’s cloud, allowing the tech giant — and by extension law enforcement — to access them and use them to decrypt drives encrypted with…

Meta is about to go on trial in New Mexico, accused of not doing enough to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its platforms. As the court date gets closer, Meta’s lawyers are working hard to limit what can be used against the company in court.  According to public records reviewed by Wired, the company wants to block research about social media’s impact on youth mental health, stories about teen suicides linked to social media, any mention of Meta’s finances, the company’s past privacy violations, and even things about CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s college years. These efforts are part of a…

Tesla has discontinued Autopilot, its basic driver-assistance system, as the company tries to boost adoption of a more advanced version of the technology that it calls Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The decision comes as the company faces a 30-day suspension of its manufacturing and dealer licenses in its largest U.S. market, California. A judge ruled in December that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of Autopilot and FSD for years. The California DMV, which originally brought the case and has a say over the licenses, stayed the ruling for 60 days to allow Tesla to comply by dropping…

Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat. CEO Elon Musk on Thursday posted on X, his social media platform: “Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the Tesla AI team!”  He then made a recruitment pitch for engineers interested in “solving real-world AI,” which he says will “likely lead to AGI” to join the Tesla AI team.  The automaker launched its robotaxis in the Texas city last June in a limited deployment with a safety operator in the front passenger seat.…

Substack, a platform known primarily for newsletters, is launching a TV app for Apple TV and Google TV. The company announced on Thursday that the beta app will allow subscribers to watch video posts and livestreams on TV created by authors on its platform. The TV app features a TikTok-like “For You” row that will highlight videos from these creators, along with recommended videos. Free and paid subscribers can now start using the TV app, with access based on their subscription tier. Substack plans to add paid content previews for free subscribers in the future. The platform also plans to…

AI chatbots are getting better at answering questions, summarizing documents, and solving mathematical equations, but they still largely behave like helpful assistants for one user at a time. They’re not designed to manage the messier work of real collaboration: coordinating people with competing priorities, tracking long-running decisions, and keeping teams aligned over time.  Humans&, a new startup founded by alumni of Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Google DeepMind, thinks closing that gap is the next major frontier for foundation models. The company this week raised a $480 million seed round to build a “central nervous system” for the human-plus-AI economy.…