Research Grid, an AI-driven company dedicated to automating clinical trial administration, has raised $6.5 million in seed funding to streamline trial workflows and reduce costly delays. The funding round, led by Fuel Ventures and including backers like Ada Ventures, Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, and Arāya Ventures, will help Research Grid expand its engineering, R&D, and marketing efforts, with a focus on US and Asian markets. This investment supports Research Grid’s mission to cut down on the labor-intensive administrative tasks that can hinder the speed and success of medical research.
TECNO, a leader in smartphone technology, has launched the #ToneProud campaign to combat skin tone bias in AI-driven imaging systems. This initiative aims to promote inclusivity in imaging technology by ensuring accurate representation of diverse skin tones, especially in emerging markets often overlooked by larger tech players. 268 Skin Tones Database: A Technological Milestone for Inclusive Imaging The foundation of TECNO’s #ToneProud campaign is its new 268 skin tone database, a collection developed to improve how AI-driven imaging systems capture various skin tones. By assigning specific color codes to skin
Google has added 15 African languages to its Voice Search, Gboard’s talk-to-type, and Translate dictation, bringing online access to around 300 million more Africans. The newly supported languages include Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Nigerian Pidgin, Chichewa, Kikuyu, Oromo, Rundi, Shona, Somali, Tigrinya, and Twi, allowing more people to interact with Google services in their native languages. More Languages on Voice and Gboard With this update, Google Voice Search and Gboard talk-to-type now support 12 more African languages, raising the total to 25. Google Translate has also added voice input for 13
A deepfake video portraying Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. endorsing former president Donald Trump has drawn widespread criticism, particularly from King’s daughter, Bernice King. Posted on Sunday night by the pro-Trump X account “MAGA Resource,” the AI-generated video falsely shows King urging Black Americans to support Trump, claiming he did “more for the Black community than any other president.” By late Monday, the controversial clip had gained over 10 million views, sparking outrage. Bernice King Denounces Deepfake as “Vile” Bernice King took to X on Monday, condemning the video as
AI-driven hiring tools overwhelmingly prefer resumes with names associated with white men, a new University of Washington (UW) study has found. Resumes with white male names were selected 85% of the time, while those with female-associated names were chosen only 11% of the time. By contrast, resumes with names associated with Black men fared the worst, with models passing them over in favor of other groups in nearly 100% of cases. Biases in AI Resume Screening AI-powered tools are becoming staples in the hiring process. For example, large language model
Fashion tech startup Aesthetic has unveiled its AI platform, Alma, which promises to transform social media shopping by enabling users to identify and purchase clothing directly from social media posts. Often described as a “Shazam for clothes,” Alma uses proprietary AI to analyze visuals and offer direct shopping links, allowing users to easily browse and buy items featured on Instagram and, soon, TikTok. Aesthetic’s New Social Commerce Tool Gains Early Momentum Aesthetic’s launch follows a beta phase, during which Alma drew over 80,000 users to its waitlist. The AI concierge,
AI-enhanced search engines from Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity have been surfacing debunked and racist research claiming genetic superiority of white people over other racial groups, according to Wired. This trend, revealed through investigative work by Hope Not Hate, a UK-based anti-racism organization, has added to concerns about racial bias and radicalization in AI-powered search. AI Search Results Show Discredited Research Patrik Hermansson, a researcher with anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, was investigating the resurgence of scientific racism when he found that AI-driven search engines often promote discredited “race science.” When
This week on Techish, Michael and TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori dive into how new technologies are affecting privacy, Apple’s take on AI limits, and new media’s role in politics with elections around the corner. They also chat about how consumer habits are shaking up companies like Starbucks and wrap up with a look at the reparations debate. Doxing Strangers With Meta’s Smart Glasses (00:00) Apple Dunks on Large Language Models (06:50) The Podcast Election: How New Media Is Shaping the Trump-Harris Election (11:05) Starbucks is struggling (23:35) UK Prime Minister Says No
Megan Garcia has filed a lawsuit against Character.AI following the death of her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III. Sewell, an Orlando, Florida, teen, reportedly grew attached to a chatbot he named “Dany,” modeled after Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. Garcia alleges that her son’s obsessive use of the chatbot, coupled with the app’s addictive design, contributed to his mental health struggles, ultimately leading to his suicide. AI Chatbot “Daenerys” Became Son’s Closest Confidant Character.AI, an interactive chatbot platform, lets users design or select lifelike personas with which to communicate.
Thousands of creatives, including figures like author Malorie Blackman, a British author who is famous for her award winning Noughts & Crosses series, actresses Rosario Dawson and Liza Colón-Zayas and Suits actor, Wendell Pierce have united to oppose the use of their artistic works for training AI systems without permission. The statement, signed by over 11,500 artists, musicians, authors, and actors, calls for stronger protections against the unauthorized use of copyrighted content by AI developers. Signatories also include major record labels—Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group—along
