Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

After months of conversations with ChatGPT,  a 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur became convinced he’d discovered a cure for sleep apnea and that powerful people were coming after him, according to a new lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco County. He then allegedly used the tool to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend. Now the ex-girlfriend is suing OpenAI, alleging the company’s technology enabled the acceleration of her harassment, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. She claims OpenAI ignored three separate warnings that the user posed a threat to others, including an internal flag classifying his account activity as involving mass-casualty…

TechCrunch is partnering with SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, Asia’s largest global innovation conference, taking place April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight. And we’re not just showing up to cover it — our very own Startup Battlefield program manager, Isabelle Johannessen, will be on the ground as a judge for the SusHi Tech Challenge, the conference’s flagship global pitch competition. For the winner, the stakes couldn’t be higher: The SusHi Tech Challenge Grand Prix recipient will be automatically entered into the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield Top 200 — making them eligible to pitch on one of the most coveted stages in…

CHICAGO (AP) — A tangled political fight over whether Chicago’s public schools will hold classes on May Day is coming down to the wire, confusing tens of thousands of students and parents.The influential teachers union, an ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, wants educators to participate in protests in the nation’s third-largest city on May 1, coinciding with workers’ rights rallies worldwide. But the newly named leader of Chicago Public Schools has rejected the pitch to cancel classes.The standoff has created uncertainty for the families of more than 315,000 students.Here is what to know about Chicago’s battle over having school on…

“There’s nothing sci-fi about AI. I think that’s one of the biggest myths in our world today,” Mo Gawdat said. Loading audio narration… Gawdat spent decades working across IBM, Microsoft, and Google, and today is a prominent voice and author on AI safety.In 2020, shortly after leaving his role as Google’s chief business officer, Gawdat made several predictions about artificial intelligence based on patterns he was seeing inside the technology.In a recent video interview with Business Insider, he said that three of those predictions have come true and described how they are beginning to shape the societal disruption that may…

YouTube Premium raised its US prices on Friday, marking the latest example of “streamflation.” Loading audio narration… The massively popular Google-owned video platform increased the price of its individual Premium subscription to $15.99 a month, up $2 from $13.99. The family Premium plan rose $4 to $26.99 a month, and the student plan rose $1 to $8.99.”We’re updating the price for YouTube Premium plans in the US for the first time since 2023 to continue delivering a high-quality experience that supports creators and artists on YouTube,” a spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. “This change allows us to maintain…

This is it. The clock is running out. Tonight is your last chance to lock in savings of up to $500 for your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass. These discounts end at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register here to secure yours with the limited-time offer. What Disrupt delivers year after year This year, Disrupt takes over San Francisco’s Moscone West from October 13–15, bringing together 10,000 founders, VCs, operators, and tech leaders for a tightly curated, three-day experience focused on real outcomes. Attendees return for: High-signal access to people actively building and investing. Conversations that turn into deals, partnerships, and hires. Tactical insights you can use immediately. A front-row view into the future of tech before it…

The University of Michigan more than doubled the financial aid it awarded this year to students through its tuition-free Go Blue Guarantee — one year after the university shut down its multimillion-dollar DEI initiative, officials say.As a result, the Go Blue Guarantee awarded an estimated $55.97 million to 6,387 students on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses in 2026 to cover tuition and fees. That’s 2,601 more students – nearly 70% more – than the 3,786 students that the Go Blue Guarantee awarded $26.25 million to in 2025, according to data U-M provided to Bridge Michigan from the university’s…

AI isn’t just reshaping how corporate America works. It’s also rewriting the rules for standing out — including how companies evaluate promotion potential. Loading audio narration… Big Four firm EY, for example, is rethinking what career pathways look like in the age of AI, as the tech influences everything from recruitment to onboarding to talent development and promotion.”Undoubtedly, AI is changing how work is done,” Ginnie Carlier, EY Americas’ chief talent and culture officer, told Business Insider in an interview. “The traditional organizational pyramid is giving way to more flexible career portfolios, where impact matters more than title or tenure.””Managers’…

Tech’s hiring slowdown has come to Walmart. Loading audio narration… The retail giant submitted 312 certified H-1B visa applications in the final three months of 2025, down sharply from recent years, according to the latest data from the US Department of Labor.The period, which marks the first quarter of the federal fiscal year, offers the first indication of how changes to the work visa program that began rolling out in September are influencing corporate hiring activity.Walmart’s total is down more than half from roughly 860 in the same period a year earlier, and about 40% below its level two years…

This is exactly the spark Mark Zuckerberg was hoping for. Loading audio narration… According to Sensor Tower’s estimates, Meta AI reached an all-time high in daily web visitors in the US. Meta’s iOS AI app saw roughly 46,000 downloads, an 87% day-over-day increase in downloads on the US Apple App Store.As of Thursday evening, Meta’s AI assistant and glasses app is No. 6 among the most-downloaded free apps, a major improvement from its average rank of 65 in the previous month.The market intelligence firm said the surge went beyond the US.”The excitement surrounding Meta AI’s new AI Model, Muse Spark,…