The latest wave of AI excitement has brought us an unexpected mascot: a lobster. Clawdbot, a personal AI assistant, went viral within weeks of its launch, and will keep its crustacean theme despite having had to change its name to Moltbot after a legal challenge from Anthropic. But before you jump on the bandwagon, here’s what you’d need to know. According to its tagline, Moltbot (formerly Clawdbot) is the “AI that actually does things” — whether it’s managing your calendar, sending messages through your favorite apps, or checking you in for flights. This promise has drawn thousands of users willing…

Social network Bluesky is teasing its roadmap for the year ahead, emphasizing a focus on things like improving the app’s algorithmic Discover feed, offering its users better recommendations on who to follow, giving the app more of a real-time feel, and more. At the same time, the company admitted that it needs to work on getting the “basics” right, too. Launched to the public in early 2024 after an invite-only period, the decentralized X and Threads alternative has since scaled to over 42 million users, according to data sourced directly from the Bluesky API for developers. Though it’s differentiated from…

Palmer Luckey’s eyes light up, and he talks a mile a minute, when discussing his company’s new recruiting event: the AI Grand Prix.  This is a drone flying contest with a twist. Rather than humans operating drones, the drones must operate autonomously. The humans will be tested on their software-writing skills that cause the drones to outfly their competition.   There are prizes ranging from a $500,000 pot to be spilt amongst the highest-scoring teams, to jobs at Anduril, and a chance to bypass the company’s standard recruiting cycle.  “It was something that I decided we should do,” Anduril founder Luckey said in an interview with TechCrunch. Luckey…

Anthropic has doubled the amount of VC funding it aims to raise, the FT reports, increasing the target from $10 billion to $20 billion. The round, expected to close soon, will give the company a valuation of $350 billion, sources told the FT.   Anthropic, which makes the popular AI Claude and the equally popular Claude Code, decided to double its funding target due to booming investor interest. Backers in this round are expected to include Sequoia Capital (which also invests in its rival OpenAI), Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and investment management firm Coatue, per the FT.  Late last year, it…

TikTok settled a high-profile lawsuit on Monday evening, which alleges that social media companies intentionally make their products addictive, causing harm to users. Snap settled the case last week, but Meta and YouTube — the other defendants — are now heading to trial, where jury selection begins on Tuesday. Centering around a 19-year-old plaintiff known by the initials K.G.M., this case is the first of many similar legal challenges against social platforms. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and YouTube head Neal Mohan are expected to testify, which could set a precedent for how dozens of other lawsuits could play out. By…

On a Monday night NBC News segment, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed concern over “some of the things we’ve seen in the last few days,” referring to the violence of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Amodei focused on the importance of preserving democracy at home, both on NBC and in a post on X that specifically called out “the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota.” On NBC, he said he’s a believer in arming democracies to defend against autocratic countries, and that “we need to defend our own democratic values at home.” He added that Anthropic has no contracts with Immigration and…

Help desk automation is a billion-dollar industry, and one of the most likely to be disrupted by tech built upon AI. Major players like Zendesk, ServiceNow and Freshworks currently dominate the space, but lots of smaller startups are betting that reshuffling workflows will give them a chance to cut in. Risotto is one of those startups, and after today, it will have plenty of runway to test its theory. The company on Tuesday said it has raised a $10 million seed round led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation from 645 Ventures, Y Combinator, Ritual Capital, and Surgepoint Capital. Designed to…

Pinterest said on Tuesday that it plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce to cut back on office space and reallocate resources for its AI initiatives. In a regulatory filing, the company noted it expects to complete the layoffs by late September. The filing stated that Pinterest would be “reallocating resources to AI-focused roles and teams that drive AI adoption and execution” and “prioritizing AI‑powered products and capabilities.” The company had 4,666 full-time employees at the end of 2024, which means roughly 700 workers will be affected by cuts. The move comes as Pinterest, and every other…

Uber has more than 20 autonomous vehicle partners, and they all want one thing: data. So the company says it’s going to make that available through a new division called Uber AV Labs. Despite the name, Uber is not returning to developing its own robotaxis, which it stopped doing after one of its test vehicles killed a pedestrian in 2018. (Uber ultimately sold off the division in 2020 in a complex deal with Aurora.) But it will send its own cars out into cities adorned with sensors to collect data for partners like Waymo, Waabi, Lucid Motors, and others —…