Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Nvidia has struck a non-exclusive licensing agreement with AI chip competitor Groq. As part of the deal, Nvidia will hire Groq founder Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra, and other employees. CNBC reported that Nvidia is acquiring assets from Groq for $20 billion; Nvidia told TechCrunch that this is not an acquisition of the company and did not comment on the scope of the deal. But if CNBC’s numbers are accurate, this purchase is expected to be Nvidia’s largest ever, and with Groq on its side, Nvidia is poised to become even more dominant in chip manufacturing. As tech companies compete…

For the first time in more than 60 years, a dog has tested positive for rabies in Chicago.The Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control in Illinois confirmed the rare case of a rabies-positive dog on Tuesday, Dec. 23. The dog was euthanized on Dec. 19 due to a marked change in behavior and because animals cannot be tested for rabies while they’re alive. It’s the first rabies-positive dog case in Chicago since 1964 and the first in Illinois since 1994, per the department.As of Dec. 23, 13 people who were in direct contact with the dog had started…

There was a time when most Americans had little to no knowledge about their local data center. Long the invisible but critical backbone of the internet, server farms have rarely been a point of interest for folks outside of the tech industry, let alone an issue of particularly captivating political resonance. Well, as of 2025, it would appear those days are officially over. Over the past 12 months, data centers have inspired protests in dozens of states, as regional activists have sought to combat America’s ever-increasing compute buildup. Data Center Watch, an organization tracking anti-data center activism, writes that there…

A Colorado mom is sharing a warning for other parents as her 4-year-old daughter recovers in the hospital after swallowing a small button battery.“You can be the most observant, most caring parent in your household but … it can happen,” Jess Sandoval told ABC News from Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, where her daughter is currently receiving treatment. “It takes an instant minute.”Children’s Hospital Colorado – PHOTO: Elana_and_Jess.jpg Caption: Jess Sandoval is speaking out after her 4-year-old daughter Elana was rushed to the hospital after swallowing a small battery.Sandoval, a mom of five, said she and her…

The excitement for the European startup market was hard to ignore at the annual Slush conference in Helsinki last month. But the actual data on the state of the region’s venture market shows a different reality. The upshot: The European market has not recovered from the global venture capital reset that occurred in 2022 and 2023. But there is evidence it is on the cusp of a turnaround, including Klarna’s recent exit and the region’s homegrown AI startups garnering attention from local investors and beyond. Investors poured €43.7 billion ($52.3 billion) into European startups in 2025 across 7,743 deals through…

There’s plenty of hype around AI and robots in healthcare, but the problem that’s actually costing hospitals money right now is operating room coordination. Two to four hours of OR time is lost every single day, not because of the surgeries themselves, but because of everything in between from manual scheduling and coordination chaos to guesswork about room turnover.   Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, we’re bringing you a conversation that TechCrunch AI Editor Russell Brandom had with Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara, the startup that recently landed a spot on Time’s Best Inventions of 2025 and is building what’s essentially air traffic control for hospitals using thermal sensors and…

Waymo appears to be testing adding Google’s Gemini AI chatbot to its robotaxis in an effort to integrate an AI assistant that would accompany riders and answer their queries, according to findings by researcher Jane Manchun Wong. “While digging through Waymo’s mobile app code, I discovered the complete system prompt for its unreleased Gemini integration,” Wong wrote in a blog. “The document, internally titled ‘Waymo Ride Assistant Meta-Prompt,’ is a 1,200+ line specification that defines exactly how the AI assistant is expected to behave inside a Waymo vehicle.” The feature hasn’t shipped in public builds, but Wong says the system…

The US just escalated its clash with Europe over tech regulation.The State Department said it has barred five Europeans, including the EU’s former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton and four members of digital campaign groups, from entering the country over what it called “censorship” of tech platforms. The visa bans were met with backlash from European leaders on X, who accused Washington of intimidation and political overreach.The dispute centers on the EU’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which imposes obligations on major tech platforms — many of which are based in the US — to police content and…

TO RUN DEC 24, 2025As AI systems grow more capable, the bar for human training has risen sharply, and generalist data labelers are being pushed aside.That’s according to HireArt’s 2025 AI Trainer Compensation Report, which collected information from more than 150 sources, including a survey of active workers, public job postings, and internal data.The study shows that today’s AI models demand nuanced reasoning, domain expertise, and multilingual fluency, transforming “data labeling” into specialized cognitive work.Subject-matter experts in fields such as law, engineering, and medicine now command dramatically higher rates than traditional data annotators, reflecting their new strategic importance.The shift signals…

Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp’s business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) on Wednesday said it had found enough cause in its ongoing investigation into whether Meta was abusing its dominant position in the market to offer its Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp to order the suspension of the policy. “Meta’s conduct appears to constitute an abuse, since it may limit production, market access, or technical developments in the AI Chatbot services market, to the detriment of consumers,” the Authority…