Biden warns nation about the rise of American tech oligarchs
Some big concerns for Biden to raise in his final days in office. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images, Nathan Howard President Biden used his final public address from the Oval Office to warn the nation about the dangers presented by the spread of misinformation
Read moreMistral signs deal with AFP to offer up-to-date answers in Le Chat
Just a day after Google inked a deal with The Associated Press, Mistral is also announcing a content deal with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) to improve the accuracy of answers in Le Chat, Mistral’s chatbot product. This is the first deal of this kind for the Paris-based artificial intelligence company.
Read morePrepaid payments platform Recharge raises €45M to go on M&A spree
With inflation still stubbornly high in comparison to previous years, and the siren voices of subscription services like Netflix and Spotify continuing to lure, consumers have understandably turned to alternative forms of payment to manage their household bills. As a result, online prepaid payment platforms have benefited. That’s the bet
Read moreMastercard Unveils Expansion in West Africa
Mastercard has opened its first office in Accra, Ghana, expanding its operations in West Africa. This strategic milestone demonstrates Mastercard’s commitment to helping the country’s burgeoning digital economy by offering market-specific banking products and services. As Ghana’s economy continues to grow, Mastercard’s new headquarters in Accra is positioned to play
Read moreGoogle strikes world’s largest biochar carbon removal deal with Indian startup Varaha
Google has agreed to purchase 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from Indian startup Varaha. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreHyperline secures $10 million for its automated billing platform
French startup Hyperline wants to build the next-generation Chargebee. Over the past two years, the startup has built a new billing platform that can be used for recurring subscriptions, one-off purchases, usage-based billing and more. Hyperline raised an initial €4 million funding round from Index Ventures back in 2023 ($4.1
Read moreDigital Retail Africa 2025 Welcomes Circana as Bronze Sponsor
Circana, a prominent consumer behavior analytics advisor, will be highlighted at Digital Retail Africa 2025 as a Bronze Sponsor. The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) will host this premier event, hosted by IT News Africa. Circana is well-known for its in-depth understanding of consumer behavior, which it achieves using
Read moreAmazon to acquire Indian fintech Axio in credit push
Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian buy now pay later startup Axio, deepening its push into financial services in one of its fastest-growing markets. The US technology group, which has held an equity stake in Axio for six years, signed the acquisition agreement in December after completing due diligence, the
Read moreIn AI copyright case, Zuckerberg turns to YouTube for his defense
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to have used YouTube’s battle to remove pirated content to defend his own company’s use of a data set containing copyrighted e-books, reveals newly released snippets of a deposition he gave late last year. The deposition, which was part of a complaint submitted to the
Read moreChinese AI company MiniMax releases new models it claims are competitive with the industry’s best
Chinese firms continue to release AI models that rival the capabilities of systems developed by OpenAI and other U.S.-based AI companies. This week, MiniMax, an Alibaba- and Tencent-backed startup that has raised around $850 million in venture capital and is valued at more than $2.5 billion, debuted three new models:
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