\nWhen AI bots pose as humans<\/br>
\n2023-06-23 21:38:03<\/br><\/p>\n
Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> to get it in your inbox every Friday afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n This week, I\u2019ve been doing a lot of thinking about the implications of artificial intelligence. One of the most fragile parts of the puzzle is the training data. We already know that you can see if your images were used to train the datasets<\/a> and that a lot of the training datasets out there are . . . spurious at best. Some startups are trying to build datasets trained exclusively on licensed data<\/a>, and human artists are pretty grumpy when big-name studios use AI to generate art<\/a>.<\/p>\n An interesting curveball is realizing that even evaluating training data may be challenging, as researchers discover that Mechanical Turk workers \u2014 who are, in theory, human workers doing tasks that machines can\u2019t do \u2014 are reportedly using AI tools themselves. That\u2019s fine for some tasks, but not great if the text they are generating is meant to be used as the rubric that AI-generating text tools are measured against. The old computing adage of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out\u201d still stands. If you can\u2019t trust the training data, you can\u2019t trust the output<\/a> (TC+).<\/p>\n Seen through the lens of startups, AI is continuing to go gangbusters \u2014 and Amazon\u2019s AWS is throwing its not inconsiderable weight behind the burgeoning trend, with a $100 million program <\/a>to fund generative AI initiatives.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Bryce Durbin \/ TechCrunch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a bad week when a submersible goes missing, followed by a series of reports showing that perhaps the company didn\u2019t have the most solid safety track record. The sub imploded under the ocean\u2019s crushing pressure, killing its five passengers and raising new questions about the role of whistleblowers in startup land. The OceanGate underwater vessel used a carbon fiber hull that \u201cwasn\u2019t rated for Titanic depths<\/a>,\u201d claimed the operations-director-turned-whistleblower. It goes to show that, while startups famously \u201cmove fast and break stuff,\u201d perhaps that tenet doesn\u2019t quite extend to life-or-death critical equipment.<\/p>\n A highlight for transportation this week is a breakthrough in battery manufacturing. It turns out that up to half the energy required to make a lithium-ion cell is used in the process of drying certain components of the battery cell. Volkswagen just came up with a new process<\/a> (TC+) that does away with that requirement, drastically reducing the cost and time it takes to create the batteries that power our electric vehicles.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Bryce Durbin \/ TechCrunch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Both in startup land and beyond, we are seeing a tremendous amount of movement in security news over the past couple of weeks. We\u2019ve had a ton of coverage of Reddit slowly imploding <\/a>over the new API charges the social media giant introduced a little while back. But one story I particularly wanted to highlight is that hackers are threatening to release<\/a> confidential data stolen from Reddit unless the company pays a ransom demand \u2014 and reverses its controversial API price hikes. It seems pretty curious for hackers to demand both policy changes and cash. If they were given one or the other, I wonder which they would choose \u2014 and what that says about the power of hack-tivism.<\/p>\n Malicious hacking has long been in the news, but I find it particularly interesting that we are seeing more and more startups trying to help tackle the problem, whether that\u2019s hardening API security<\/a>, data security at source<\/a> or Internet of Things devices<\/a>. As hackers get more sophisticated, and as computer security exploit exploration becomes more prevalent (just last week, a ransomware gang listed its first victims of MOVEit mass-hacks<\/a>, which included U.S. banks and universities), opportunities for startups also increase. And yet, as Alex explored recently, it seems like a miss that VCs aren\u2019t queuing around the block<\/a> (TC+) to fund the current generation of cybersecurity companies.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Getty Images\/Svetlana Borovkova<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Fintech, what are we going to do with you? Even in an industry that\u2019s all about money, the vertical just continues exploding with investment. Paro raised $25 million to match independent financial experts with firms<\/a>, open banking fintech company Volt just raised a huge round<\/a> at a valuation north of $350 million, and Majority, a digital bank for U.S. migrants, closed almost $10 million<\/a> as it expands operations in Texas.<\/p>\n Sexy it ain\u2019t, but investors know that fintech \u2014 once the company gets a soup\u00e7on of traction and a fistful of customers \u2014 is interesting for two reasons: Money never goes out of fashion, and there are M&A-hungry multinational giants who are standing by to snap up a company that\u2019s on the upswing. At startup scale, the most recent example was that Robinhood just acquired credit card startup X1 for $95 million<\/a>. At a very different scale indeed, Nasdaq announced it is planning to acquire financial services software company Adenza for $10.5 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s money in them money trees, it appears.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Joseph Giacomin (opens in a new window)<\/span><\/a> \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you\u2019re struggling to raise money, there\u2019s probably one of three reasons why investors keep giving you the cold shoulder: The market might be too small, the team isn\u2019t good enough, or your plans simply don\u2019t make sense. In my latest on TechCrunch+, I break down how VCs evaluate those things<\/a>, and how you can push back.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t beat \u2019em with a tablet\u2026<\/strong>: You can think outside the box. Brian reviews the new Google Pixel Tablet and concludes that it\u2019s all about the dock<\/a>. It\u2019s going to have its work cut out against Apple\u2019s iPad Pro-looking, entry-level iPads<\/a>.<\/p>\n Welcome to Streamberry<\/strong>: The Netflix doppelg\u00e4nger is customized to your worst nightmares. Lauren reports that Netflix launches a website<\/a> based on the fictional streaming service from \u201cBlack Mirror.\u201d On that note, don\u2019t miss the piece I wrote about how technology unlocked Netflix\u2019s business model<\/a> (TC+).<\/p>\n Leaping into the quantum realm<\/strong>: Frederic reports that Microsoft expects to build a quantum supercomputer<\/a> within 10 years. Maybe that\u2019s why they need that fusion reactor<\/a>?<\/p>\n Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there\u2019s something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code STARTUPS. Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\nThe highest highs and deepest lows of transportation<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nHackers gonna hack<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nYou\u2019re so money and you don\u2019t even know it<\/h2>\n
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Top reads on TechCrunch this week<\/h2>\n
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