Roblox is primarily known as a platform for games, but they're taking a crack at "being the world's best platform for communication," company chief technology officer Dan Sturman tells Axios.
Why it matters: Roblox may never be able to displace Zoom or texting, but its new ambitions involving in-app calls indicate just how high a company with 65 million daily active users is aiming.
In 2019, former Facebook engineers Xiaoyin Qu and Xuan Jiang launched an event management software startup called Run The World, which would go on to raise more than $15 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz.
Why it matters: Now the company is cooked, and all three parties are embroiled in an ugly legal fight that includes allegations of fraud and discrimination.
Google's philanthropic arm is investing $20 million in a new Digital Futures Project and an accompanying fund designed to help ensure AI reaches its promise and avoids potential pitfalls.
Why it matters: Google says it wants broad participation to help answer societal questions such as how AI impacts global security, how it will affect the labor market and how governments can use AI to boost productivity and economic growth.
The biggest changes to the iPhone 15 lineup are likely to come at the edges when Apple announces new products Tuesday.
What's happening: Apple's flagship phone is expected to add better cameras, a titanium casing and swap the proprietary Lightning port for a more standard USB-C connector.
Half of Americans expect misinformation spread by AI to impact who wins the 2024 election — and one-third say they'll be less trusting of the results because of artificial intelligence, according to a new Axios-Morning Consult AI Poll.
Why it matters: Such sentiments may fuel more doubt and anger around the first presidential race since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Ice — in exotically shaped cubes, boozy popsicles or suffusing your coffee — is having its moment in the zeitgeist.
Why it matters: During a record hot summer when icebound places are melting rapidly, it makes sense that ice — a commodity we take for granted until it grows scarce — has turned chic.
One startup that stood out during Y Combinator's recent Demo Day presentations was Infobot, an "AI generated news network."
Why it matters: Much ink has been spilled (including by this publication!) about the impact of artificial intelligence on the production of news content.
Or put another way: which jobs in the news business AI will eventually take.
This week's historic start of Google's trial on federal antitrust charges will test the tech giant's two-decade-long dominance of the internet search field as never before.
Why it matters: Google's standing as the online world's most-used answer oracle is being challenged in court at the exact moment that the company also faces a technological earthquake in the form of ChatGPT and generative AI.
