OpenAI is improving its text-generating models and lowering prices as generative AI competition increases. Today, OpenAI released GPT-3.5-turbo and GPT-4, its latest text-generating AI with function calling. In a blog post, OpenAI explains that function calling lets developers describe programming functions to GPT-3.5-turbo and GPT-4 and have the models generate …
Read More »YouTube is lowering its monetization eligibility requirements
YouTube is lowering YPP requirements for creators to access monetization tools. The company is opening its shopping affiliate program to U.S. YPP creators with over 20,000 subscribers. The Google-owned company announced new partner program requirements: 500 subs; 3 public uploads in 90 days; 3,000 watch hours in the past …
Read More »London attracts a16z’s first international office with “predictable” crypto regulations
Andreessen Horowitz, a $35 billion US VC firm, will open its first international office in London, led by general partner Sriram Krishnan. The office will promote crypto, blockchain, and web3 startups. a16z invested $7.6 billion in crypto startups worldwide. “London is a major financial hub, a major tech hub, and …
Read More »Meta releases AI-powered music generator
Meta released an open-source AI-powered music generator to compete with Google. Meta’s MusicGen tool, a demo of which can be found here, can convert a text description (e.g., “An ’80s driving pop song with heavy drums and synth pads in the background”) into about 12 seconds of audio. MusicGen can …
Read More »Hyper, an iPhone-based, VTuber-friendly avatar platform, raises $3.6M from Amazon and others
The most popular VTubers, online personalities who use motion-capture-powered manga- and anime-inspired avatars to interact with the world alongside games, over YouTube, and elsewhere, have hundreds of millions of hours of viewership per month, loyal fan bases, lucrative sponsorships, and demand for more. Big tech appears to be taking notice. …
Read More »Hong Kong wants stablecoin regulation by 2024
Hong Kong is regulating stablecoins while the West debates how to regulate them. According to local media, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is seeking public feedback on stablecoins and plans to introduce a regulatory framework by 2024. After TerraUSD (UST) and FTX collapsed, the U.S. government toughened its stance …
Read More »Reddit crashed during a site-wide protest against its unpopular new API policy
The website went down as thousands of Reddit communities protested the company’s controversial new policy that will kill third-party apps. Reddit told that a planned protest against its new policy caused the outage. Reddit.com started having issues at 10:25 AM EDT, according to users. Reddit’s Status page initially showed “all …
Read More »Reddit CEO escalates Apollo developer attack in drama-filled AMA
Reddit’s controversial API pricing change that’s driving third-party apps out of business has taken a strange turn. In an AMA today, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman, aka u/spez, doubled down on accusations against the developer of the popular third-party app Apollo, which the company had previously accused of operating …
Read More »Tiki, India’s popular short-video app, to close
Tiki, a short-form video app, will shut down in India on June 27. “Tiki is closing. “Tiki functions and services will cease at 11.59 PM India time, June 27, 2023,” Tiki wrote. Tiki, which featured original and local videos, had 35 million monthly active users in India, its only market, …
Read More »Cost-management startup CloudZero raises $32M
Innovius Capital and Threshold Ventures led CloudZero’s $32 million Series B funding round. CEO Erik Peterson says the tranche will expand CloudZero’s platform and scale its go-to-market efforts, focusing on savings insights and self-service analytics. “The pandemic accelerated digital transformation for many companies, which increased software development and spend in …
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