X now lets you query Grok by mentioning it in replies

X is actively working to expand the reach of xAI’s Grok model to more users on the platform. Multiple users noted today that people can now mention Grok in replies and ask a question to get an explanation about a post. Users of the Elon Musk-owned social media platform could already access

SpaceX Starship spirals out of control in second straight test flight failure

SpaceX’s Starship spiraled out of control while in space during a test flight Thursday, marking the second launch in a row that the vehicle has run into a fatal problem on its way to orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly halted flights into major Florida airports and

Scale AI is being investigated by the US Department of Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is investigating the data-labeling startup Scale AI for compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, technewss has learned. That’s a federal law that regulates unpaid wages, misclassification of employees as contractors, and illegal retaliation against wo

ChatGPT doubled its weekly active users in under 6 months, thanks to new releases

OpenAI’s flagship AI chatbot, ChatGPT, returned to solid growth in the latter half of 2024, according to a new report published on Thursday by VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). While it took ChatGPT nine months to grow from 100 million weekly active users in November 2023 to 200 million in

Hacked health firm HCRG demanded journalist ‘take down’ data breach reporting, citing UK court order

A U.S.-based independent cybersecurity journalist has declined to comply with a U.K. court-ordered injunction that was sought following their reporting on a recent cyberattack at U.K. private healthcare giant HCRG. Law firm Pinsent Masons, which served the February 28 court order on behalf of HCRG

Hugging Face’s chief science officer worries AI is becoming ‘yes-men on servers’

AI company founders have a reputation for making bold claims about the technology’s potential to reshape fields, particularly the sciences. But Thomas Wolf, Hugging Face’s co-founder and chief science officer, has a more measured take. In an essay published to X on Thursday, Wolf said

Russian crypto exchange Garantex seized by law enforcement operation

The U.S. Secret Service, working with a coalition of international law enforcement agencies, has taken down and seized the website of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange accused of being associated with darknet markets and ransomware hackers.  On Thursday, the official Garantex websit

ChatGPT on macOS can now directly edit code

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, can now directly edit code — if you’re on macOS, that is. The newest version of the ChatGPT app for macOS can take action to edit code in supported developer tools, including Xcode, VS Code, and JetBrains. Users can optionally turn on an

Spotify says it’s fixing the bug that caused Premium users to hear ads

Spotify has acknowledged an issue that’s causing some of its paid Premium subscribers to encounter ads when trying to play music. In an X post published on Thursday by Spotify’s customer service account, the company said it’s looking into the problem and linked to its Community we

VW's cheapest EV will have Rivian DNA and who is bidding for Canoo's assets

Welcome back to technewss Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click technewss Mobility! technewss's transportation team — well at least myself and senior reporter Rebecca Bellan — are hittin' the road. D

Founder of battery startup Our Next Energy returns as CEO following new funding

Just over a year after being replaced as CEO of the battery startup Our Next Energy (ONE), Mujeeb Ijaz is back at the helm. Alongside this news, the company announced the close of a new funding round led by Crescent Ventures and Trousdale Ventures. ONE did not release any details about the round&#

OpenAI’s ex-policy lead criticizes the company for ‘rewriting’ its AI safety history

A high-profile ex-OpenAI policy researcher, Miles Brundage, took to social media on Wednesday to criticize OpenAI for “rewriting the history” of its deployment approach to potentially risky AI systems. Earlier this week, OpenAI published a document outlining its current philosophy on A

Mistral adds a new API that turns any PDF document into an AI-ready Markdown file

On Thursday French large language model (LLM) developer Mistral launched a new API for developers who handle complex PDF documents. Mistral OCR is an optical character recognition (OCR) API that can turn any PDF into a text file to make it easier for AI models to ingest. LLMs, which underpin popul

Intangible, a no-code 3D creation tool for filmmakers and game designers, raises $4M 

Intangible, now backed by $4 million in seed funding, offers an AI-powered creative tool that allows users to create 3D world concepts with text prompts to aid creative professionals across a variety of industries. The company’s mission is to make the creative process accessible to everyone,