Netflix co-founder and chair Reed Hastings to leave board

Netflix co-founder and chair Reed Hastings to leave board

Reed Hastings, the co-founder and chairman of Netflix, is leaving the company’s board when his term expires this summer. Hastings is stepping aside to focus on “philanthropy and other pursuits,” the company said in a letter to shareholders. The departure was revealed in the company’s first-quarter earnings report published Thursday. Hastings will officially leave the…

Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology. Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least…

Luma launches AI-powered production studio with faith-focused Wonder Project

Luma launches AI-powered production studio with faith-focused Wonder Project

AI video generation startup Luma has launched Innovative Dreams, a production company built in partnership with Wonder Project, a streaming service that produces religious films and TV on Amazon Prime.  The tie-up’s first show will be called “The Old Stories: Moses,” starring British actor Ben Kingsley and set to launch this spring on Prime Video. …

Upscale AI in talks to raise at $2B valuation, says report

Upscale AI in talks to raise at $2B valuation, says report

AI infrastructure company Upscale AI is reportedly in talks to nab its third funding round since launching just seven months ago, according to Bloomberg. This latest round — which aims to raise around $180 million to $200 million — would value the company at about $2 billion. The company announced a $200 million Series A…

From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product

From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product

For a successful deep tech startup, the laboratory breakthrough is only the first step. To spin out an innovative technology into a scalable business, a founder has to navigate a complicated legal process.  This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen speaks with Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials. Kerst was a Stanford PhD…

European police email 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacks

European police email 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacks

A coalition of global law enforcement agencies have sent emails to more than 75,000 alleged cybercriminals who paid for a service to launch cyberattacks that can knock websites offline. On Thursday, Europol announced the coordinated operation against several distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) for-hire services, which allow criminals to launch cyberattacks without needing to have any hacking…

It’s not just you — Bluesky is (sorta) down

It’s not just you — Bluesky is (sorta) down

Bluesky’s website and app are still struggling on Thursday after experiencing service interruptions that COO Rose Wang attributed to a denial-of-service attack. According to the social network’s status page, the issues began around 2:42 a.m. ET time on Thursday and have continued since. ScreenshotImage Credits:screenshot of Bluesky Currently, the Bluesky site and app will load…

Google is now targeting bad ads over bad actors

Google is now targeting bad ads over bad actors

Google said Thursday it blocked a record 8.3 billion ads globally in 2025 — up from 5.1 billion the year before. But the company suspended far fewer advertiser accounts than that surge might suggest, raising questions about how it polices its platform. The search giant attributed the disparity to its growing use of AI, particularly…

Runway CEO says AI could help Hollywood make 50 films instead of one $100M blockbuster

Runway CEO says AI could help Hollywood make 50 films instead of one $100M blockbuster

Cristóbal Valenzuela, the co-founder and CEO of AI video-generation startup Runway, now valued at north of $5 billion, may not be winning over more hearts and minds in the anti-AI, creative crowd with his recent comments about AI’s potential in Hollywood. At Semafor’s World Economy Summit this week, the AI executive suggested that studios should take…

Canva’s AI assistant can now call various tools to make designs for you

Canva’s AI assistant can now call various tools to make designs for you

The core promise of new AI platforms is that you can describe your task to the AI assistant, let it plan the task and use the relevant tools for you, and keep your preferences in mind for future tasks. This is especially important for design professionals, as they want to have a predictable, automated workflow…