Uber, Volkswagen pair up to launch robotaxi service in US with self-driving, electric microbuses
Volkswagen of America and Uber on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service — using autonomous electric VW ID. BUZZ vehicles — in multiple U.S. cities over the next decade.
The companies expect to launch a commercial service in Los Angeles, the first city on t
British startup Isembard lands $9M to reshore manufacturing for critical industries
Geopolitical pressures are accelerating a demand in many countries and regions to reshore — that is, to redevelop critical industry infrastructure, and to bring back businesses, which had moved or outsourced some or all of their industrial operations to cheaper countries farther away.
But th
Adobe releases new Firefly image generation models and a redesigned Firefly web app
Adobe on Thursday launched the latest iteration of its Firefly family of image generation AI models, a model for generating vectors, and a redesigned web app that houses all its AI models, plus some from its competitors. There’s also a mobile app for Firefly in the works.
The new Firefly Ima
Adobe wants to create a robots.txt-styled indicator for images used in AI training
For years, websites included information about what kind of crawlers were not allowed on their site with a robots.txt file. Adobe, which wants to create a similar standard for images, has added a tool to content credentials with an intention to give them a bit more control over what is used to trai
IBM affected by DOGE cuts, downplays impact during Q1 earnings call
Tech and consulting giant IBM was not immune to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts.
IBM had 15 of its federal contracts canceled due to DOGE-related cuts during the first quarter of 2025, according to reporting from Reuters and Bloomberg. These cuts amount to $100 million
Windsurf slashes prices as competition with Cursor heats up
AI coding assistant startup Windsurf cut its prices “across the board” it announced on Monday, touting “massive savings” for its users as competition with its rival Cursor intensifies.
Windsurf said it's getting rid of its complex system of “flow action credits,” which charged deve
Tesla begins ‘FSD Supervised’ ride-hail tests with employees in Austin, Bay Area
Tesla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with employees in Austin and the Bay Area ahead of the company’s planned robotaxi launch this summer.
“FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area,” the
Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps … yet
Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there’s currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured.Earlier this month, Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the request of Turkish governmental authorities, according to a recent report
OpenAI seeks to make its upcoming ‘open’ AI model best-in-class
Toward the end of March, OpenAI said it intended to release its first “open” language model since GPT?2 sometime this year. Now, details about that model are beginning to trickle out from the company’s sessions with the AI developer community.
Aidan Clark, OpenAI’s VP of
Here are the 19 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2025
Last year was monumental for the AI industry in the U.S. and beyond.
There were 49 startups that raised funding rounds worth $100 million or more in 2024, per our count at technewss; three companies raised more than one “megaround,” and seven companies raised rounds $1 billion in size
19 US fintech startups have raised over $50M in 2025 so far
After a sluggish couple of years, fintech appears to be making a comeback.
In the first quarter of 2025, fintech startups globally raised a combined $10.3 billion — marking the highest level of funding since the first quarter of 2023, according to CB Insights research. The average deal size
Discord appoints former Activision Blizzard exec Humam Sakhnini as CEO
Amid rumors that the company is eyeing an IPO, Discord appointed former Activision Blizzard Vice Chairman Humam Sakhnini as CEO. Discord co-founder Jason Citron will leave his CEO role after 13 years at the company.
Discord straddles the gaming and social media spaces — despite its initial e
OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 may be less aligned than the company’s previous AI models
In mid-April, OpenAI launched a powerful new AI model, GPT-4.1, which it claimed “excelled” at following instructions. But the results of several independent tests suggest the model is less aligned — that is to say, less reliable — than previous OpenAI releases.
When OpenAI launche
Anti-Musk protests are now an official risk to Tesla’s business
Protests against Elon Musk and Tesla have been spreading around the world thanks to the CEO’s involvement in the Trump administration. Now those protests are listed as an official “risk factor” in paperwork Tesla is required to file with federal regulators.
The new language, file