CyberTechMag

Annie Palmer / CNBC : In a memo to staff Shopify's CEO says using AI is now a baseline expectation and that teams asking for more resources must first show why AI can't do the job   —  Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke is changing his company's approach to hiring in the age of artificial intelligence. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3i7arCn via IFTTT

Jason Del Rey / Fortune : The CEO of humanoid robot startup Figure AI, which has raised $700M+ to date, seemingly exaggerated its deployment of robots at BMW in interviews and posts   —  When Figure AI, a high-profile humanoid robot startup, announced a commercial agreement with automaker BMW early last year … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/fMES1IB via IFTTT

Ryan Browne / CNBC : Paris-based Pennylane, which makes cloud-based accounting software, raised €75M, doubling its valuation to €2B, led by Sequoia and with Alphabet among investors   —  French accounting software firm Pennylane has doubled its valuation to 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) in a new 75 million euro funding round. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/0Z6kLWv via IFTTT

Mayank Parmar / BleepingComputer : Sources: OpenAI is testing watermarks for images generated using ChatGPT's free account   —  OpenAI is reportedly testing a new “watermark” for the Image Generation model, which is a part of the ChatGPT 4o model.  —  This is an interesting move, and it's likely because more and more users … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/EYawhiT via IFTTT

Shanti Das / The Guardian : Analysis: child begging livestreams are actively promoted by TikTok's algorithm and TikTok profits from the content despite having policies against begging   —  Exploitation fears as people in extreme poverty perform stunts and beg for virtual gifts  —  Three young children huddle in front of a camera … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/AR7MGFN via IFTTT

Brendan Bordelon / Politico : Lina Khan, Steve Bannon, and others worry the FTC could abandon its Meta antitrust case after Zuckerberg's concessions to Trump; the trial is set for April 14   —  With a historic antitrust suit looming against Meta, could the company get a reprieve from its new ally in the White House? from Techmeme https://ift.tt/P39tuFK via IFTTT

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Meta updates Meta AI in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram Direct, and the Meta.AI website with Llama 4 in 40 countries; multimodal features are US-only in English   —  Meta has released a new collection of AI models, Llama 4, in its Llama family — on a Saturday, no less. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/AXPDqsk via IFTTT

Meta : Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters   —  Takeaways  — We're sharing the first models in the Llama 4 herd, which will enable people to build more personalized multimodal experiences. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/BAWhPFS via IFTTT

Joseph Bambridge / Politico : OpenAI and Google reject the UK's proposal to allow training AI on copyrighted work without permission unless rights holders opt out to “reserve their rights”   —  The U.K. government's AI copyright plans can't seem to please anyone.  —  LONDON — Leading AI companies OpenAI … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ZicwSJA via IFTTT

RT Watson / The Block : The US SEC says that “covered” US dollar stablecoins like USDT and USDC are not securities, and registration is not required for minting or redeeming them   —  - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said “covered” U.S. dollar stablecoins — basically USDT and USDC … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/FUyuvBz via IFTTT

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : GitHub announces “premium requests” for GitHub Copilot, a new system that imposes rate limits when users switch from the base GPT-4o to other AI models   —  GitHub Copilot, Microsoft-owned GitHub's AI coding assistant, could soon become costlier for some users. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/CrwzmHq via IFTTT

Ben Weiss / Fortune : Codex, which is building a blockchain for stablecoins, raised a $15.8M seed led by Dragonfly, with Coinbase, Circle, and others participating   —  Stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, are all the buzz in crypto.  After fintech giant Stripe acquired … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/BIDdqOS via IFTTT

Euractiv : France says a second EU response to Trump's tariffs will cover digital services, including those provided by Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft   —  “We won't stand idly by, should we be unable to reach a fair deal,” EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/W1c3DVa via IFTTT

Matthias Bastian / The Decoder : Google DeepMind outlines its approach to AGI safety in four key areas of risk: misuse, misalignment, mistakes, and structural risks, focusing on the first two   —  Google Deepmind has published a comprehensive strategy paper detailing its approach to developing safe artificial general intelligence (AGI). from Techmeme https://ift.tt/e3N7hXR via IFTTT

Wall Street Journal : Sources: AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it   —  Trump is expected to be briefed Wednesday on a framework to keep the video-sharing app operational  —  Mobile technology company AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/uepoYCa via IFTTT

Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk : Sources: Justin Sun bailed out Techteryx's TrueUSD after $456M in reserves, managed by First Digital, became illiquid; Techteryx says it was a victim of fraud   —  Justin Sun bailed out Techteryx's TrueUSD stablecoin after nearly half a billion dollars of its reserves were rendered illiquid … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Ik5baVl via IFTTT

Rumors of the ongoing death of software development — that it’s being slain by AI — are greatly exaggerated. In reality, software development is at a fork in the road: embracing the (currently) far-off notion of fully automated software development or acknowledging the work of a software developer is much more than just writing lines of code. The decision the industry makes could have significant long-term consequences. Increasing complacency around AI-generated code and a shift to what has been termed “ vibe coding ” — where code is generated through natural language prompts until the results seem to work — will lead to code that’s more error-strewn, more expensive to run and harder to change in the future. And, if the devaluation of software development skills continues, we may even lack a workforce with the skills and knowledge to fix things down the line.  This means software developers are going to become more important to how the world builds and maintains software. Yes,...

Rocket Drew / The Information : Source: Agility Robotics, a maker of humanoid robots led by Peggy Johnson, is raising $400M at a $1.75B pre-money valuation; ~100 of its robots are in the field   —  Agility Robotics, a humanoid robot maker led by former Microsoft executive Peggy Johnson, is raising $400 million … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/s7SL4wW via IFTTT

Financial Times : Sources: a16z is in talks to join the Oracle-led frontrunner bid for TikTok's US arm, after being approached along with Blackstone Group and others   —  Venture capital group could join last-gasp bid by allies of Donald Trump to take control of video app owned by ByteDance from Techmeme https://ift.tt/E8Z9brV via IFTTT