Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com

[ad_1] Autonomous vehicles have long been touted as “just around the corner,” but the reality of bringing self-driving cars to the streets is far from simple. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 — October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco — Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana joins the Disrupt Stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the true state of AVs and where the industry goes from here. Inside the self-driving reality check While headlines often highlight crashes, controversies, or overblown promises, Mawakana has spent years navigating the real-world path to autonomous mobility. At Disrupt, she’ll dig into what it actually takes to…

[ad_1] Gold should be a winner if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates tomorrow as the market expects, according to Bank of America. The Fed is poised to lower the cost of money even though inflation stayed stubbornly high at an annual rate of 2.9% in August. In the past quarter century, gold has never declined in price when the central bank eases monetary policy at the same time as inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target, according to Bank of America’s commodity analysts. “In fact, even if we disregard the Global Financial Crisis , gold has returned around…

[ad_1] America’s largest group of homebuilders is feeling good about where the housing market is headed.That’s because everyone seems confident that the Fed is poised to cut interest rates for the first time in 2025 this week, the National Association of Homebuilders wrote in a note Tuesday.That’s expected to lower borrowing costs for buyers—a much-needed catalyst for the US housing market to reopen after years of higher mortgage rates that have sidelined buyers and sellers.The Fed looks poised to trim its target rate by 25 basis points this week, according to the CME FedWatch tool.Long-term rates like the 10-year Treasury…

[ad_1] OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Tuesday a raft of new user policies, including a pledge to significantly change how ChatGPT interacts with users under the age of 18. “We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens,” the post reads. “This is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection.” The changes for underage users deal specifically with conversations involving sexual topics or self-harm. Under the new policy, ChatGPT will be trained to no longer engage in “flirtatious talk” with underage users, and additional guardrails will be placed around discussions of suicide. If…

[ad_1] Student debt is hitting Gen Z especially hard.A new FICO analysis found that the average American’s credit score decreased two points to 715 since 2024, down for the second year in a row as Americans grappled with inflation, high interest rates, and changes to student-loan repayment.The analysis showed that younger consumers, in particular, saw increased financial strains. Gen Zers had an average credit score decrease of three points, marking the largest year-over-year decline of any group since 2020. More broadly, 14.1% of Gen Zers had a 50-point credit score decrease in the last year. FICO defined Gen Z as…

[ad_1] As fall approaches, a chill sharp enough to ruin your PSL is sweeping through the labor market.In 2023 and 2024, boosts in fall hiring gave job seekers more options going into the final stretch of the year. Yet in 2025, if you’re awaiting a bumper crop of jobs, you might be disappointed.”Traditionally, there is more hiring in the fall, but that’s not always true,” Ruth Sternberg, a career coach in Rochester, New York, told Business Insider. After summer vacations and with room left in the budget before the end of the year, some companies step up hiring in the…

[ad_1] OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says minors “need significant protection” when using AI, which is why the company is building an age-detection system.”We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens; this is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection,” Altman said in a statement accompanying the announcement, adding that the company is “building an age-prediction system to estimate age based on how people use ChatGPT.”OpenAI said that when ChatGPT detects a user is under 18, it will automatically direct them to a version of the chatbot with “age-appropriate policies, including blocking graphic sexual…

[ad_1] Tesla’s Model Y is known for its swooshing handles that sit flush with its doors. Now, US auto-safety regulators are investigating whether some of those handles are putting children at risk of getting trapped inside the vehicles.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation on Monday into potential issues with the door handles of an estimated 174,290 Tesla Model Y vehicles from 2021. The investigation listed nine reported incidents, none of which resulted in injuries or fatalities.In a document published Tuesday from the NHTSA’s Office of Defects and Investigations, the safety regulator said in the “problem description” field…

[ad_1] New product initiatives from Arista Networks could put the company on a clear path to rival artificial intelligence darling Nvidia and others, according to Needham. Analyst Ryan Koontz, who has a buy rating on the network equipment name, increased his price target on Tuesday to $160 from $155. That reflects around 10% upside from Monday’s close. “At its Analyst Day Arista management laid out … a compelling vision for the continued transformation of the company, outlining new Cloud/AI capabilities” that target Nvidia, the analyst wrote. “We also gained strong appreciation for key new senior management hires whom we see…

[ad_1] Video generation and editing platform D-ID said Tuesday that it has acquired Berlin-based B2B video creation platform Simpleshow. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms of the deal. Simpleshow’s product will operate under D-ID’s umbrella, and eventually the two platforms will merge, D-ID chief executive Gil Perry told TechCrunch. Simpleshow, founded in 2008, has raised over $20 million in funding, according to Crunchbase data. The startup has offices in Berlin, Luxembourg, London, Miami, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. As part of the merger, the company will have consolidated offices in Berlin, Tel Aviv, and the United States. D-ID didn’t mention…