Silicon Valley bets big on ‘environments’ to train AI agents
A wave of startups are creating RL environments to help AI labs train agents. It might be Silicon Valley’s next craze in the making.
Rivian breaks ground on $5B Georgia factory ahead of construction in 2026
While largely ceremonial, it’s an important step for a project that has dealt with a lot of uncertainty the last few years. Rivian R2 SUVs will roll off the line in 2028.
Andrew Yang took inspiration from Mark Cuban for his budget cell carrier Noble Mobile
“I’m as guilty of doomscrolling as the next person, but knowing that doomscrolling is actually costing me money makes me feel dumb,” Yang told TechCrunch.
Fourth Power’s sci-fi thermal batteries could be cheaper than pricey natural gas power plants
Fourth Power has raised $20 million to build a demonstration version of its thermal batteries, which ultimately could store electricity at $25 per kWh.
Figure reaches $39B valuation in latest funding round
Figure raised more than $1 billion in a Series C round led by Parkway Venture Capital in addition to numerous other investors.
Waymo approved to start testing autonomous vehicles at San Francisco International Airport
Waymo has spent years locked in back-and-forth negotiations with SFO, the biggest airport serving its home base of Silicon Valley.
OpenAI will apply new restrictions to ChatGPT users under 18
Under the new policy, ChatGPT will be trained to no longer engage in “flirtatious talk” with underage users, and additional guardrails will be placed around discussions of suicide.
Samsung patches zero-day security flaw used to hack into its customers’ phones
The Galaxy phone maker said it was notified in August that hackers are actively exploiting the security flaw to target Samsung customers.
YouTube Live gets a major update, introduces dual-format streaming, minigames, and more
YouTube announced new features for livestreaming, such as letting creators play mini-games, AI-powered highlights, and more.
YouTube announces new generative AI tools for Shorts creators
YouTube is bringing a custom version of Google’s text-to-video generative AI model, Veo 3, to Shorts, along with a new remixing tool, an ‘Edit with AI’ feature, and more.