Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have stories on the UK considering barring kids under 16 from social media, fresh millions for a hot seed-stage VC firm, and why you shouldn't give medical data to random AI chatbots. We've also got notes on OpenAI wanting teachers to use ChatGPT in classrooms, an important Mac security update, Google's culture of concealment, and more. Let's jump in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: The Good Brigade / Getty Images

1. The kids are not alright: The UK is mulling whether to follow Australia's lead and ban social media for kids under 16, as it targets online harms ranging from cyberbullying and hate speech, to intimate image abuse, scam ads and animal cruelty. Read More

2. Bling bling: Bling Capital has snagged another $270 million for its fourth fund. Half of the money is being set aside for follow-on investments into winners. And you should be paying attention to where that money goes, given the track record of the firm's founder, Ben Ling. Read More

3. PSA: X users have been uploading their medical scans to Grok to interpret their results, but TC's security editor Zack Whittaker says please don't do that. Not only is sharing medical data with chatbots not guaranteed, or even likely, to give you an accurate result, it also puts you at risk of exposing your private and sensitive information down the line. Read More

A Message from Silicon Valley Bank

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Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

🧑‍🏫 A teacher's guide to ChatGPT: OpenAI has released a free online course to help K-12 teachers learn how to bring ChatGPT into their classrooms. But some critics are wary that the use of AI bots in classrooms will normalize AI among educators who don't understand the tech's ethical or safety implications. Read More

🍎 This Apple has worms: The iPhone maker has recommended a new security update for all users after fixing a pair of bugs used in active cyberattacks targeting Mac users. It's not yet clear who the targets of the attack were, but the fact that Google's Threat Analysis Group reported it suggests a foreign government actor may be involved. Read More

🥳 Stepping up: Clara Shih, formerly Salesforce's CEO of AI, is joining Meta to head up a new organization building AI tools for businesses that want to use Meta's apps to reach customers. Get ready for AI-generated ads, y'all. Read More

🔋 Going nuclear: Small modular reactor startups have been taking advantage of the AI-fueled push for nuclear energy, but none have built a commercial-scale reactor yet due to the associated difficulty and costs. Now, with energy incumbent Enel entering the ring, startups in the space will have to contend with the giants. Read More

🪰 UAVs abound: Portuguese drone startup Tekever has raised around $74 million to expand into new markets like the U.S. The round and expansion could be a bellwether of a trend of tech startups embracing markets they typically avoided, like defense. Read More

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Around the web

👀 Data brokers need regulation: There's no federal law that regulates data brokers, but maybe this Wired article will convince lawmakers that there should be. The publication carried out an investigation that revealed that U.S. companies legally collecting digital ad data are also providing a cheap and reliable way to track American soldiers abroad. Read More

🥷 A culture of concealment: The New York Times details a 15-year campaign by Google to make deletion the default in its internal communications in an effort to avoid antitrust lawsuits. Due to the exhibits presented in three recent antitrust cases, the pieces of this picture are starting to come together. Read More

💙 Choose your own adventure: Bluesky now has more than 20 million users, and while many of them joined to get away from X, they're staying for the fine control over what they see and who they interact with. The New Scientist reckons that will be the future of social media. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Chroma

😵‍💫 A new way to experience music: AI music startup Bronze has acquired Chroma, a startup that is building a new type of audio-visual entertainment for mobile. The two companies have collaborated before on an app that offers audiovisual experience designed for exploring the music of Venezuelan artist Arca in a "meditative digital space." Read More