Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Sometimes an apparently good idea, a big raise from a big-name VC, and a sea of well-connected angel investors is not enough. Less than a year after launching, Yupp is closing its business, co-founders Pankaj Gupta and Gilad Mishne announced on Tuesday. Yupp offered a crowdsourced AI model-picking service. It allowed consumers to test and compare results from a supply of 800 AI models for free, including the state-of-the-art ones from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Yupp would return multiple replies from the prompt request, including information or images, and users would offer feedback on which models worked best for them…

Sam Altman and OpenAI are getting serious. Loading audio narration… They’re dropping sidequests like Sora, and trying to catch up to rival Anthropic, which has a booming business selling tools to coders.But OpenAI still wants to make money from people who will never give it a dime. It wants to do that by showing them ads.And this chart from analysts at MoffettNathanson explains why: ChatGPT has lots of users, but only a sliver of them are paying for the service. The rest could see ads.  MoffettNathanson It’s a simple argument, but I’ll spell it out here: As of January, OpenAI’s…

Amazon’s latest upgrade to Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant, allows you to order food from popular delivery services Uber Eats and Grubhub in a conversational manner, just as if you were chatting with a waiter at a restaurant or placing an order at a drive-thru, according to Amazon. The aim of this new Alexa+ feature is to create a more natural and interactive ordering experience. Starting today, users can begin requesting a cuisine, explore menu options, ask questions, and customize their meal all within a single conversation. If users change their mind halfway through, want to add a dessert, or…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the University of Pennsylvania to hand over records about Jewish employees on campus to a federal agency as part of an investigation into antisemitic discrimination but said it did not have to reveal any employee’s affiliation with a specific group.U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert said employees can refuse to take part in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation but the agency “needs the opportunity to talk to them directly to learn if they have evidence of discrimination.”He mostly upheld an administrative subpoena but said Penn does not have to…

OpenAI was Figure’s partner. Then, they became competitors. Loading audio narration… OpenAI co-led the humanoid robotics company’s Series B in 2024, and the two companies entered into a collaboration agreement to “develop next-generation AI models” for the robots. Less than a year later, Figure CEO Brett Adcock said he decided to leave the agreement and build AI in-house.Adcock shared new details about the separation on “The Shawn Ryan Show” this week. He said that OpenAI’s team provided “very little” value aside from its brand.While he praised OpenAI leadership for their skill at developing chatbots, Adcock said that AI for robotics…

I test TVs from every major brand, and year after year, the best Sony TVs stand out for their excellent picture quality. They’re not cheap, but in return you get some of the most polished, accurate images you can buy. If you care about how movies and shows are supposed to look, Sony’s high-end sets are worth the extra spend.Right now, my top pick is the Bravia 8 II OLED. It’s the best Sony TV for people who want the most refined, high-end picture possible, and it goes toe-to-toe with top OLEDs from LG and Samsung. In some areas —…

BULVERDE, Texas (AP) — A 15-year-old student who shot and injured a teacher at a Texas high school and then fatally shot himself appeared to have been struggling academically before coming to the campus armed with a gun he brought from home, authorities said Tuesday.The shooting Monday at Hill Country College Preparatory High School in Bulverde is still being investigated, the Comal County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Detectives seized several electronic devices from the student’s home, and they are being examined to learn more about the student’s actions and a possible motive, the sheriff’s office said.No other injuries…

To build the autonomous machines of the future, sometimes your model needs a model.  Companies developing self-driving cars, robots manipulating the physical environment, or autonomous construction equipment collect thousands, if not millions, of hours of video data for evaluation and training.  Organizing and cataloging that video is now a job for humans, who have to watch all of it. Even fast-forwarding, that doesn’t scale. NomadicML, a startup founded by CEO Mustafa Bal and CTO Varun Krishnan, wants to solve problems for customers who have 95% of their fleet data sitting in archives. The challenge becomes harder when looking for edge…

Runway is moving beyond building AI video models and into shaping what gets built on top of them.  The AI video generation startup has launched a $10 million venture fund to invest in early-stage companies building across AI, media, and world simulation, the company’s founders told TechCrunch. It’s also rolling out a Builders program offering seed to series C startups free API credits, a move that suggests Runway wants to create an ecosystem around what it calls “video intelligence.” Runway has become one of the leading players in AI video generation, with its tools used across film, advertising, and marketing.…

Oracle started laying off staff on Tuesday as the company seeks to cut costs.Employees started receiving notifications early Tuesday. The cuts appear to have affected employees globally, but the full extent of the layoffs could not be immediately learned.”After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change,” copies of the notification email viewed by Business Insider stated. “As a result, today is your last working day.”An Oracle spokesperson declined to comment on the layoffs.The cuts are the latest example of Big Tech companies reducing head…