This Week in AI: Companies are growing skeptical of AI's ROI

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. This week in AI, Gartner released a report suggesting that around a third of generative AI projects in the enterprise will be abandoned after the proof-of-concept phase by year-end 2025. The reasons are many — poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating …...Read More

Over 100 Silicon Valley VCs pledge to vote for Kamala Harris

More than 100 Silicon Valley VCs including Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla and Mark Cuban have pledged to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Mobilizing under the group VCsForKamala, the VCs are also soliciting donations for Harris’ campaign. But the organizers say the effort isn’t …...Read More

Match Group cuts 6% of staff as it shuts down livestreaming in dating apps

Match Group announced Tuesday that it has discontinued livestreaming services in its dating apps, resulting in a 6% reduction in workforce. The news was delivered during the dating app giant’s second-quarter earnings report. The move finds Match shifting its focus to other offerings, including generative AI. The decision to end …...Read More

Neura shows off humanoid robot 4NE-1

German robotics manufacturer Neura this week showcased video of humanoid robot, called 4NE-1, performing a variety of activities, like ironing and moving boxes. The promotional video arrives as Nvidia is showcasing a slew of new tools for humanoids at the Siggraph conference in Colorado. Neura is one of a baker’s …...Read More

Bending Spoons acquires file transfer service WeTransfer

Italy-based company Bending Spoons, which owns apps such as Evernote and Meetup, said Wednesday it has acquired file transfer service WeTransfer. The companies didn’t disclose the terms and valuation of the deal. WeTransfer CEO Alexandar Vassilev said that in the last decade the platform development resulted in 600,000 subscribers and …...Read More

Fintech Execs join the Fintech Stage at Disrupt 2024

The serious, long-term negative impact of the bankruptcy of banking-as-a-service (BaaS) fintech Synapse will be significant “on all of fintech, especially consumer-facing services,” one observer has said. In the wake of that company’s collapse, other startups in the space are working hard to prove that not all BaaS are created …...Read More

Tezi is building an AI agent for hiring managers

AI agents are all the rage right now, and Tezi, an early stage startup is working on one to help HR teams find the perfect candidates for a job opening. The startup claims this bot will sift through resumes to find the ones that match the hiring criteria, find time …...Read More

Sybill raises $11M for its AI assistant that helps salespeople reduce administrative burden

Sybill, a startup that has built an AI assistant specifically for sales representatives, said on Wednesday it has raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Greycroft. The market for sales AI assistants has grown quite crowded as companies have leveraged generative AI and large language models to …...Read More

Date Like Goblins, a new dating platform, allows users to virtually date and play video games

Online dating can be challenging in itself, but it’s especially difficult for gamers who are neurodivergent or introverted. Date Like Goblins — an online dating platform that takes its name from “Goblin Mode,” a term that means to unapologetically be your authentic self — aims to approach dating in a …...Read More

Leaf helps farms decipher the troves of data they generate

Farms produce a lot of data. From machines to irrigation systems, farms generate a lot of information that could be helpful to both them and the companies that serve them. Traditionally this data has been siloed across different formats making it hard to read and build off of. Leaf is …...Read More