Tech

OpenAI researcher quits over ChatGPT ads, warns of "Facebook" path

Zoë Hitzig resigned on the same day OpenAI began testing ads in its chatbot.

Is a secure AI assistant possible?

Experts have made progress in LLM security. But some doubt AI assistants are ready for prime time.

How to get into a16z's super-competitive Speedrun startup accelerator program

TechCrunch spoke to a16z partner Joshua Lu for some tips on standing out for the Speedrun program.

Cash App adds payment links so you can get paid in a DM

The new feature allows users to share payment requests in a variety of digital settings.

Amazon's new eero Signal keeps you connected to the internet when outages occur

A new device from eero will keep you online even if your ISP goes down.

2026 Joseph C. Belden Innovation Award nominations are open

Nominations for the 2026 Joseph C. Belden Innovation Award are open, inviting SMBs with groundbreaking innovation. Last day to apply is Feb 13.

Samsung's offering up to $900 of trade-in credit toward its new phones

Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Why the economics of orbital AI are so brutal

A 1 Gw orbital data center would cost roughly $42.4B—almost three times its ground-bound equivalent.

Why ‘deleted’ doesn’t mean gone: How police recovered Nancy Guthrie’s Nest Doorbell footage

Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Threads' New 'Dear Algo' AI Feature Lets You Personalize Your Feed

The platform's new feature lets users tell Threads what they temporarily want to see more or less of in their feed.

How AI changes the math for startups, according to a Microsoft VP

Amanda Silver is a corporate vice president at Microsoft’s CoreAI division, where she works on tools for deploying apps and agentic systems within enterprises.

Ex-OpenAI researcher has “deep reservations” about its approach to ads.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Zoë Hitzig, a researcher who left OpenAI this week, expresses concerns about the company’s move to put ads in ChatGPT, while posing alternatives to a setup that could potentially harm users down the line: