Financial services platform Stripe is introducing a digital wallet specifically built for the AI era, where autonomous agents can perform tasks that include shopping, paying for reservations, buying tickets, and more. At its annual conference this week, the company introduced Link, a wallet that allows you to connect various payment methods, track your spending, and…
TikTok is launching a new “Campus Hub,” the company told TechCrunch in an email on Thursday. The new hub features dedicated college group chats and personalized feeds designed to help students stay connected with their campus communities, even while they’re away for the summer. The new hub builds on the app’s campus verification feature, which…
Google announced on Thursday that it will begin rolling out Gemini to cars with Google built-in, marking a significant upgrade from the current Google Assistant. The move signals Google’s push to bring more advanced, conversational AI into the driving experience. The announcement follows closely behind news from General Motors, which revealed yesterday that Gemini is…
OpenAI and Anthropic have been on the warpath lately against third-party efforts to train new AI models by prompting their publicly accessible chatbots and APIs, a process known as “distillation.” That conversation has focused on Chinese firms using distillation to create open-weight models that are nearly as capable as U.S. offerings, but available at a…
OpenAI is getting serious about account security. The company on Thursday launched Advanced Account Security (AAS), a set of opt-in protections for ChatGPT users designed for high-value individuals — but available to anyone who wants them. As part of that new program, digital security provider Yubico announced it has partnered with OpenAI to link two…
After Sam Altman trash-talked Anthropic for gatekeeping its cybersecurity tool Mythos by only releasing it to select users, he confirmed that OpenAI would be doing the same with its competing tool, Cyber. Altman said in a post on X on Thursday that OpenAI will begin rolling out GPT-5.5 Cyber “to critical cyber defenders” in the…
Rivian has reworked its loan deal with the Department of Energy and now expects to borrow $4.5 billion to build its new factory in Georgia, down from the original amount of $6.6 billion allocated under the Biden administration. The company also announced Thursday that it will draw on the loan sooner than planned, in early…
Anthropic is asking investors to submit allocations for the AI company’s latest fundraise within the next 48 hours, according to sources familiar with the matter. The round, which TechCrunch reported is expected to be roughly $50 billion, is estimated to close within two weeks, the sources said. As we previously reported, Anthropic is targeting a…
India has emerged as the largest user base for ChatGPT Images 2.0 since its launch last week, OpenAI said on Thursday. However, third-party data reviewed by TechCrunch points to a more measured global response, with limited overall growth alongside sharp spikes in select emerging markets. ChatGPT Images 2.0, OpenAI’s latest image-generation upgrade, is designed to…
Skio, a 2020 Y Combinator alum that was founded by self-described college dropout Kennan Frost, has been acquired by competitor Recharge, the companies announced on Thursday. Both Skio and Recharge make products that handle subscription payments for brands. While the official press release did not disclose the terms of the deal, Frost (who had previously…