In a post on X on Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that OpenAI will add support for Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) across its products, including the desktop app for ChatGPT. MCP is an open-source standard that helps AI models produce better, more relevant responses to specific queries. “People love MCP, and we are excited to add support across our products,” Altman said. ” available today in the Agents SDK, and support for ChatGPT desktop app [and] Responses API coming soon!” What is MCP? MCP enables AI models to retrieve data from sources such as business tools, software, content…
Author: Cooper
Digital banking startup Mercury has raised $300 million in primary and secondary funding at a $3.5 billion post-money valuation, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday. Sequoia led the Series C round alongside existing investors Coatue, CRV, Andreessen Horowitz, and new backers Spark Capital and Marathon. This marks the first time Sequoia has invested in Mercury since its founding in 2017. The new raise brings Mercury’s total primary and secondary funding to $500 million. While Mercury did not disclose the exact split between primary and secondary funding, CEO and co-founder Immad Akhund stated that the “majority” was primary. Mercury reported…
During a livestream on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the first major upgrade to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities in over a year. ChatGPT can now leverage the company’s GPT-4o model to natively create and modify images and photos. GPT-4o has long underpinned the AI-powered chatbot platform, but until now, the model has been able to generate and edit only text — not images. Altman said GPT-4o native image generation is live today in ChatGPT and Sora, OpenAI’s AI video-generation product, for subscribers to the company’s $200-a-month Pro plan. OpenAI says the feature is rolling out soon to Plus and free…
Emergence Capital has officially closed its seventh fund, securing $1 billion in capital, marking its first raise in nearly four years. The San Mateo, California-based venture firm, which has been a significant player in B2B enterprise technology, announced the closure on Tuesday. In its previous funding round in May 2021, Emergence raised nearly $1 billion across two funds. At the time, it closed its sixth early-stage fund with $575 million and launched its first opportunity fund, which amassed $375 million in capital commitments. Founded in 2003, Emergence Capital has traditionally focused on enterprise tech startups. Like many other venture firms,…
Last summer, mining startup KoBold made a splash when it announced the discovery of one of the world’s largest copper deposits in Zambia. Now, another startup, Earth AI, has exclusively revealed to TechCrunch its own groundbreaking discovery: promising deposits of critical minerals in Australia—regions long ignored by traditional mining outfits. While the size of these deposits remains uncertain, the breakthrough suggests that AI-driven mineral exploration will play a pivotal role in securing future supplies. AI-Driven Exploration in Overlooked Regions Earth AI’s discoveries challenge conventional mining wisdom, demonstrating that AI-powered analysis of historical geological data can outperform traditional methods. The company…
On Tuesday, Google unveiled Gemini 2.5, a new family of AI reasoning models designed to pause and “think” before answering a question. To launch this new model family, Google is introducing Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, a multimodal, reasoning AI model that the company claims is its most intelligent yet. This model is available starting today on Google AI Studio and in the Gemini app for subscribers to the company’s $20-a-month AI plan, Gemini Advanced. Moving forward, Google states that all its upcoming AI models will feature built-in reasoning capabilities. Since OpenAI launched the first AI reasoning model, o1, in September…
Last year, AI-powered sales automation startup 11x appeared to be on an explosive growth trajectory. Numerous people in the U.S. and U.K. told TechCrunch that the situation has become so tenuous that Andreessen Horowitz, 11x’s lead Series B investor, may even be considering legal action. However, a spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz emphatically denied such rumblings, stating that a16z is not suing. What is 11x? 11x offers an AI bot for outbound cold sales duties, including identifying prospects, crafting custom messages, and scheduling sales calls. It is part of the growing AI Sales Development Representative (AI SDR) market. Founded in 2022…
The Arc Prize Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by prominent AI researcher François Chollet, announced on Monday that it has developed a new, challenging test to measure the general intelligence of AI models. The test, called ARC-AGI-2, has so far stumped most models. AI models known for their reasoning capabilities, such as OpenAI’s o1-pro and DeepSeek’s R1, have scored between 1% and 1.3% on ARC-AGI-2, according to the Meanwhile, powerful non-reasoning models like GPT-4.5, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and Gemini 2.0 Flash scored around 1%. How ARC-AGI-2 Works The ARC-AGI tests are designed as visual puzzles, requiring AI models to identify patterns…
DNA and genetic testing firm 23andMe is in turmoil following a 2023 data breach and its ongoing financial decline. The once-pioneering giant now faces an uncertain future, with bankruptcy looming over the company, intensifying concerns about what might happen to the genetic data of 23andMe’s 15 million customers. Best known for its saliva-based DNA test kits, 23andMe has seen its valuation plummet by over 99% from its $6 billion peak since going public in early 2021. The company has struggled to turn a profit, and waning consumer interest in its use-once DNA kits has contributed to its decline. Additionally, a…
Apple announced on Monday that it’s bringing lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio to AirPods Max headphones when using the included USB-C cable. With this upcoming update, AirPods Max will unlock 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio, preserving the quality of original recordings. Lossless audio also extends to Personalized Spatial Audio, which aims to deliver a more sonically accurate, uncompressed, and immersive experience, Apple says . Users will be able to listen to over 100 million songs in lossless audio with Apple Music. Ultra-Low Latency for Music Production & Gaming As for the ultra-low latency audio, Apple says AirPods Max will…
Arcade, a generative AI marketplace for designing jewelry, is expanding its offerings to include home goods, starting with rugs. The company also introduced a new feature called “Match My Room,” which allows users to upload a photo of their room so their design complements the existing colors and style. Alongside this expansion, Arcade announced its $25 million Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to $42 million AI-Powered Rug Design Similar to Arcade’s jewelry design generator, the rug creation tool leverages Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to generate AI-designed rugs. Users can select the rug material and enter a…
South Korean chipmaker FuriosaAI has reportedly declined an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta, choosing instead to continue developing and producing its AI chips, according to a local media report. The negotiations between the two companies reportedly fell apart due to disagreements over post-acquisition business strategy and organizational structure, rather than pricing concerns. Meta, like other major tech companies working on large language models (LLMs) for AI applications, has been seeking to reduce its reliance on Nvidia for specialized AI chips. The tech giant has been developing its own custom AI chips and, in January, announced plans to invest up…
The Bot Company, a robotics startup founded by former Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt, has raised $150 million in a new funding round led by Greenoaks, according to a report by Reuters. Vogt co-founded the startup with Paril Jain, who previously led Tesla’s AI tech team, and Luke Holoubek, a former software engineer at Cruise. Vogt has not responded to requests for comment. A Fast-Growing Robotics Venture The new funding comes less than a year after The Bot Company was launched in May 2024. The company is developing a robot focused on household chores and initially secured $150 million…
Charlie Javice’s high-profile fraud trial has turned into a showcase of missteps on both sides, revealing how JPMorgan Chase was allegedly deceived into acquiring her startup, Frank, for $175 million—despite it having just 300,000 customers instead of the four million claimed. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, a pivotal moment in the trial came when former Frank engineer Patrick Vovor testified that he refused Javice’s request to create fake user data just a week before the sale. Vovor recalled Javice telling him, “Don’t worry. I don’t want to end up in an orange jumpsuit.” After he declined,…
Factories are becoming a major trend in defense technology. Earlier this year, Anduril announced a billion-dollar “megafactory” in Ohio, while last month, Saronic revealed plans for its own facility to mass-produce autonomous warships.“If we get enough orders, absolutely we are planning to open a facility in the UK,” Rich Drake, Anduril’s general manager for the UK and Europe, told Bloomberg. Now, Anduril is considering expanding its manufacturing footprint to the UK as it broadens its focus beyond U.S. defense contracts. A Strategic Expansion The proposed UK factory would be dedicated to drone production and research and development. According to a…