If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas. Coast Runner, is a new entrant in the desktop CNC milling industry, promising to make the technology accessible to everyone, from professionals to hobbyists. Coast Runner is breaking down the barriers of traditional CNC milling with a focus on power, compact size and, most importantly, education.
TechCruch spoke with Tyler Hoeft, who wears multiple hats in the company, from marketing to inventory management, and believes that the lack of educational resources and community forums in the CNC space has significantly hindered potential users. To address this, Coast Runner is committed to providing comprehensive educational videos and establishing a discussion forum for users to share insights and collaborate on designs. Moreover, Coast Runner is developing a bounty board system where users can pay others to create designs or mill parts if they lack the necessary skills. I think it’s a great idea, not least because milling and turning is a bit of a different beast than 3D printing — as any old, grizzled machinist will tell you, tool paths, feeds and speeds are as much art as they are science. Aluminium Cnc Machine
The Coast Runner machine is aiming to be both affordable and powerful.
Coast Runner put one of the machines in a see-through casing for the purpose of CES, showing off its innards. The company manufactures many of the parts itself. Image Credits: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
Coast Runner put one of the machines in a see-through casing for the purpose of CES, showing off its innards. The company manufactures many of the parts itself. Image Credits: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
“We are making one of the most powerful desktop CNC machines you’ll find in the marketplace. You can cut everything up to titanium. Anything softer is possible: Plastics, brass, hard steel, aluminum, everything,” says Hoeft. “You need to change the tools manually — our main focus was to get the price point low enough that people who want to dip their toes or for people that want to manufacture and have four or five of these machines to manufacture small parts for their business.”
Despite its power, the machine is compact and lightweight, weighing only 42 pounds, and fits comfortably on a single desk, making it an interesting option for small businesses or hobbyists.
Perhaps the most exciting feature in the works is that the company is working on AI-powered modeling features. This advancement aims to make modeling a point-and-click process, significantly reducing the learning curve for new users and increasing the appeal of CNC milling to a broader audience.
Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.
“Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”
Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.
Not to minimize what Google had on display, but much like Salesforce last year<\/a> at its New York City traveling road show, the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n Google announced a slew of AI enhancements<\/a> designed to help customers take advantage of the Gemini large language model (LLM) and improve productivity across the platform. It\u2019s a worthy goal, of course, and throughout the main keynote on Day 1 and the Developer Keynote the following day, Google peppered the announcements with a healthy number of demos to illustrate the power of these solutions.<\/p>\n But many seemed a little too simplistic, even taking into account they needed to be squeezed into a keynote with a limited amount of time. They relied mostly on examples inside the Google ecosystem, when almost every company has much of their data in repositories outside of Google.<\/p>\n Some of the examples actually felt like they could have been done without AI. During an e-commerce demo, for example, the presenter called the vendor to complete an online transaction. It was designed to show off the communications capabilities of a sales bot, but in reality, the step could have been easily completed by the buyer on the website.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that generative AI doesn\u2019t have some powerful use cases, whether creating code, analyzing a corpus of content and being able to query it, or being able to ask questions of the log data to understand why a website went down. What\u2019s more, the task and role-based agents the company introduced to help individual developers, creative folks, employees and others, have the potential to take advantage of generative AI in tangible ways.<\/p>\n\n Google Cloud Next 2024: Everything announced so far<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Google announced a slew of AI enhancements<\/a> designed to help customers take advantage of the Gemini large language model (LLM) and improve productivity across the platform. It\u2019s a worthy goal, of course, and throughout the main keynote on Day 1 and the Developer Keynote the following day, Google peppered the announcements with a healthy number of demos to illustrate the power of these solutions.<\/p>\n But many seemed a little too simplistic, even taking into account they needed to be squeezed into a keynote with a limited amount of time. They relied mostly on examples inside the Google ecosystem, when almost every company has much of their data in repositories outside of Google.<\/p>\n Some of the examples actually felt like they could have been done without AI. During an e-commerce demo, for example, the presenter called the vendor to complete an online transaction. It was designed to show off the communications capabilities of a sales bot, but in reality, the step could have been easily completed by the buyer on the website.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that generative AI doesn\u2019t have some powerful use cases, whether creating code, analyzing a corpus of content and being able to query it, or being able to ask questions of the log data to understand why a website went down. What\u2019s more, the task and role-based agents the company introduced to help individual developers, creative folks, employees and others, have the potential to take advantage of generative AI in tangible ways.<\/p>\n\n Google Cloud Next 2024: Everything announced so far<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
But many seemed a little too simplistic, even taking into account they needed to be squeezed into a keynote with a limited amount of time. They relied mostly on examples inside the Google ecosystem, when almost every company has much of their data in repositories outside of Google.<\/p>\n
Some of the examples actually felt like they could have been done without AI. During an e-commerce demo, for example, the presenter called the vendor to complete an online transaction. It was designed to show off the communications capabilities of a sales bot, but in reality, the step could have been easily completed by the buyer on the website.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say that generative AI doesn\u2019t have some powerful use cases, whether creating code, analyzing a corpus of content and being able to query it, or being able to ask questions of the log data to understand why a website went down. What\u2019s more, the task and role-based agents the company introduced to help individual developers, creative folks, employees and others, have the potential to take advantage of generative AI in tangible ways.<\/p>\n\n Google Cloud Next 2024: Everything announced so far<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Google Cloud Next 2024: Everything announced so far<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/div>\n But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
But when it comes to building AI tools based on Google\u2019s models, as opposed to consuming the ones Google and other vendors are building for its customers, I couldn\u2019t help feeling that they were glossing over a lot of the obstacles that could stand in the way of a successful generative AI implementation. While they tried to make it sound easy, in reality, it’s a huge challenge to implement any advanced technology inside large organizations.<\/p>\nBig change ain\u2019t easy<\/h2>\n Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Much like other technological leaps over the last 15 years \u2014 whether mobile, cloud, containerization, marketing automation, you name it \u2014 it\u2019s been delivered with lots of promises of potential gains. Yet these advancements each introduce their own level of complexity, and large companies move more cautiously than we imagine. AI feels like a much bigger lift than Google, or frankly any of the large vendors, is letting on.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned with these previous technology shifts is that they come with a lot of hype and lead to a ton of disillusionment.<\/a> Even after a number of years, we\u2019ve seen large companies that perhaps should be taking advantage of these advanced technologies still only dabbling<\/a> or even sitting out altogether, years after they have been introduced.<\/p>\n There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
There are lots of reasons companies may fail to take advantage of technological innovation, including organizational inertia; a brittle technology stack<\/a> that makes it hard to adopt newer solutions; or a group of corporate naysayers shutting down even the most well-intentioned initiatives, whether legal, HR, IT or other groups that, for a variety of reasons, including internal politics, continue to just say no to substantive change.<\/p>\n Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Vineet Jain, CEO at Egnyte, a company that concentrates on storage, governance and security, sees two types of companies: those that have made a significant shift to the cloud already and that will have an easier time when it comes to adopting generative AI, and those that have been slow movers and will likely struggle.<\/p>\n\n AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
AWS is sick of waiting for your company to move to the cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/div>\n He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
He talks to plenty of companies that still have a majority of their tech on-prem and have a long way to go before they start thinking about how AI can help them. \u201cWe talk to many ‘late’ cloud adopters who have not started or are very early in their quest for digital transformation,\u201d Jain told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
AI could force these companies to think hard about making a run at digital transformation, but they could struggle starting from so far behind, he said. \u201cThese companies will need to solve those problems first and then consume AI once they have a mature data security and governance model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIt was always the data<\/h2>\n The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n <\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The big vendors like Google make implementing these solutions sound simple, but like all sophisticated technology, looking simple on the front end doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomplicated on the back end. As I heard often this week, when it comes to the data used to train Gemini and other large language models, it\u2019s still a case of \u201cgarbage in, garbage out,\u201d and that\u2019s even more applicable when it comes to generative AI.<\/p>\n
It starts with data. If you don\u2019t have your data house in order, it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get it into shape to train the LLMs on your use case. Kashif Rahamatullah, a Deloitte principal who is in charge of the Google Cloud practice at his firm, was mostly impressed by Google\u2019s announcements this week, but still acknowledged that some companies that lack clean data will have problems implementing generative AI solutions. \u201cThese conversations can start with an AI conversation, but that quickly turns into: \u2018I need to fix my data, and I need to get it clean, and I need to have it all in one place, or almost one place, before I start getting the true benefit out of generative AI,\u201d Rahamatullah said.<\/p>\n
From Google\u2019s perspective, the company has built generative AI tools to more easily help data engineers build data pipelines to connect to data sources inside and outside of the Google ecosystem. \u201cIt’s really meant to speed up the data engineering teams, by automating many of the very labor-intensive tasks involved in moving data and getting it ready for these models,\u201d Gerrit Kazmaier, vice president and general manager for database, data analytics and Looker at Google, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
That should be helpful in connecting and cleaning data, especially in companies that are further along the digital transformation journey. But for those companies like the ones Jain referenced \u2014 those that haven\u2019t taken meaningful steps toward digital transformation \u2014 it could present more difficulties, even with these tools Google has created.<\/p>\n
All of that doesn\u2019t even take into account that AI comes with its own set of challenges beyond pure implementation, whether it’s an app based on an existing model, or especially when trying to build a custom model, says Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research. \u201cWhile implementing either solution, companies need to think about governance, liability, security, privacy, ethical and responsible use and compliance of such implementations,\u201d Thurai said. And none of that is trivial.<\/p>\n
Executives, IT pros, developers and others who went to GCN this week might have gone looking for what\u2019s coming next from Google Cloud. But if they didn\u2019t go looking for AI, or they are simply not ready as an organization, they may have come away from Sin City a little shell-shocked by Google’s full concentration on AI. It could be a long time before organizations lacking digital sophistication can take full advantage of these technologies, beyond the more-packaged solutions being offered by Google and other vendors.<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Not to minimize what Google had on display, but the company failed to give all but a passing nod to its core business \u2014 except in the context of generative AI, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":2691178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"5f8e8cab-973b-38ab-9e19-f7d796eb3c29","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T15:00:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"926ab99c-7697-4cfa-83cd-826fbd887392","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:46:11Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Akmq5nHaXTPqDzYJvvYhzkg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,449557044],"tags":[17376654,576717904,577240761,98588081],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle goes all in on generative AI at Google Cloud Next | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Ron Miller has been writing about the enterprise at TechCrunch since 2014.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Previously, he was a long-time Contributing Editor at EContent Magazine. Past regular gigs included CITEworld, DaniWeb, TechTarget, Internet Evolution and FierceContentManagement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Disclosures:<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ron was formerly corporate blogger for Intronis where he wrote once weekly on IT issues. He has contributed to various corporate blogs in the past including Ness, Novell and the IBM Mid-market Blogger Program.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/diuuw7dfbczpdwmcpldm.png","twitter":"ron_miller"}],"author":[{"id":521068,"name":"Ron Miller","url":"","description":"Ron Miller has been covering the enterprise at TechCrunch since 2014.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/ron-miller\/","slug":"ron-miller","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b82cfe9f0e15c08c5816481c9f383d9?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b82cfe9f0e15c08c5816481c9f383d9?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b82cfe9f0e15c08c5816481c9f383d9?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nRon Miller, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ron Miller has been writing about the enterprise at TechCrunch since 2014.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Previously, he was a long-time Contributing Editor at EContent Magazine. Past regular gigs included CITEworld, DaniWeb, TechTarget, Internet Evolution and FierceContentManagement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Disclosures:<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ron was formerly corporate blogger for Intronis where he wrote once weekly on IT issues. He has contributed to various corporate blogs in the past including Ness, Novell and the IBM Mid-market Blogger Program.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/diuuw7dfbczpdwmcpldm.png","twitter":"ron_miller","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/521068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":2691178,"date":"2024-04-12T13:07:22","slug":"googlenext2024_0410_102815-1522_alivecover-max-2600x2600","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/04\/13\/google-goes-all-in-on-generative-ai-at-google-cloud-next\/googlenext2024_0410_102815-1522_alivecover-max-2600x2600\/","title":{"rendered":"GOOGLENEXT2024_0410_102815-1522_ALIVECOVER.max-2600×2600"},"author":521068,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"source_key":"other","source":"Google"},"authors":[521068],"caption":{"rendered":""},"alt_text":"Stage at Google Cloud 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coverage on artificial intelligence and machine learning tech, the companies building them, and the ethical issues AI raises today. This encompasses generative AI, including large language models, text-to-image and text-to-video models; speech recognition and generation; and predictive analytics.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/","name":"AI","slug":"artificial-intelligence","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nAI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
In the generative<\/span> AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own?<\/p>\n From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible<\/a>) AI-powered products. Shutterstock has deals<\/a> with Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple to supply millions of images for model training, while OpenAI has signed agreements<\/a> with several news organizations to train its models on news archives.<\/p>\n In many cases, the individual creators and owners of that data haven’t seen a dime of the cash changing hands. A startup called Vana<\/a> wants to change that.<\/p>\n Anna Kazlauskas and Art Abal, who met in a class at the MIT Media Lab focused on building tech for emerging markets, co-founded Vana in 2021. Prior to Vana, Kazlauskas studied computer science and economics at MIT, eventually leaving to launch a fintech automation startup, Iambiq, out of Y Combinator. Abal, a corporate lawyer by training and education, was an associate at The Cadmus Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, before heading up impact sourcing at data annotation company Appen.<\/p>\n With Vana, Kazlauskas and Abal set out to build a platform that lets users “pool” their data — including chats, speech recordings and photos — into data sets that can then be used for generative AI model training. They also want to create more personalized experiences — for instance, daily motivational voicemail based on your wellness goals, or an art-generating app that understands your style preferences\u00a0 — by fine-tuning public models on that data.<\/p>\n “Vana\u2019s infrastructure in effect creates a user-owned data treasury,” Kazlauskas told TechCrunch. “It does this by allowing users to aggregate their personal data in a non-custodial way … Vana allows users to own AI models and use their data across AI applications.”<\/p>\n Here’s how Vana pitches its platform and API to developers<\/a>:<\/p><\/div>\nThe Vana API connects a user’s cross-platform personal data … to allow you to personalize your application. Your app gains instant access to a user’s personalized AI model or underlying data, simplifying onboarding and eliminating compute cost concerns … We think users should be able to bring their personal data from walled gardens, like Instagram, Facebook and Google, to your application, so you can create amazing personalized experience from the very first time a user interacts with your consumer AI application.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Creating an account with Vana is fairly simple. After confirming your email, you can attach data to a digital avatar (like selfies, a description of yourself and voice recordings) and explore apps built using Vana’s platform and data sets. The app selection ranges from ChatGPT-style chatbots and interactive storybooks to a Hinge profile generator.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible<\/a>) AI-powered products. Shutterstock has deals<\/a> with Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple to supply millions of images for model training, while OpenAI has signed agreements<\/a> with several news organizations to train its models on news archives.<\/p>\n In many cases, the individual creators and owners of that data haven’t seen a dime of the cash changing hands. A startup called Vana<\/a> wants to change that.<\/p>\n Anna Kazlauskas and Art Abal, who met in a class at the MIT Media Lab focused on building tech for emerging markets, co-founded Vana in 2021. Prior to Vana, Kazlauskas studied computer science and economics at MIT, eventually leaving to launch a fintech automation startup, Iambiq, out of Y Combinator. Abal, a corporate lawyer by training and education, was an associate at The Cadmus Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, before heading up impact sourcing at data annotation company Appen.<\/p>\n With Vana, Kazlauskas and Abal set out to build a platform that lets users “pool” their data — including chats, speech recordings and photos — into data sets that can then be used for generative AI model training. They also want to create more personalized experiences — for instance, daily motivational voicemail based on your wellness goals, or an art-generating app that understands your style preferences\u00a0 — by fine-tuning public models on that data.<\/p>\n “Vana\u2019s infrastructure in effect creates a user-owned data treasury,” Kazlauskas told TechCrunch. “It does this by allowing users to aggregate their personal data in a non-custodial way … Vana allows users to own AI models and use their data across AI applications.”<\/p>\n Here’s how Vana pitches its platform and API to developers<\/a>:<\/p><\/div>\nThe Vana API connects a user’s cross-platform personal data … to allow you to personalize your application. Your app gains instant access to a user’s personalized AI model or underlying data, simplifying onboarding and eliminating compute cost concerns … We think users should be able to bring their personal data from walled gardens, like Instagram, Facebook and Google, to your application, so you can create amazing personalized experience from the very first time a user interacts with your consumer AI application.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Creating an account with Vana is fairly simple. After confirming your email, you can attach data to a digital avatar (like selfies, a description of yourself and voice recordings) and explore apps built using Vana’s platform and data sets. The app selection ranges from ChatGPT-style chatbots and interactive storybooks to a Hinge profile generator.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In many cases, the individual creators and owners of that data haven’t seen a dime of the cash changing hands. A startup called Vana<\/a> wants to change that.<\/p>\n Anna Kazlauskas and Art Abal, who met in a class at the MIT Media Lab focused on building tech for emerging markets, co-founded Vana in 2021. Prior to Vana, Kazlauskas studied computer science and economics at MIT, eventually leaving to launch a fintech automation startup, Iambiq, out of Y Combinator. Abal, a corporate lawyer by training and education, was an associate at The Cadmus Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, before heading up impact sourcing at data annotation company Appen.<\/p>\n With Vana, Kazlauskas and Abal set out to build a platform that lets users “pool” their data — including chats, speech recordings and photos — into data sets that can then be used for generative AI model training. They also want to create more personalized experiences — for instance, daily motivational voicemail based on your wellness goals, or an art-generating app that understands your style preferences\u00a0 — by fine-tuning public models on that data.<\/p>\n “Vana\u2019s infrastructure in effect creates a user-owned data treasury,” Kazlauskas told TechCrunch. “It does this by allowing users to aggregate their personal data in a non-custodial way … Vana allows users to own AI models and use their data across AI applications.”<\/p>\n Here’s how Vana pitches its platform and API to developers<\/a>:<\/p><\/div>\nThe Vana API connects a user’s cross-platform personal data … to allow you to personalize your application. Your app gains instant access to a user’s personalized AI model or underlying data, simplifying onboarding and eliminating compute cost concerns … We think users should be able to bring their personal data from walled gardens, like Instagram, Facebook and Google, to your application, so you can create amazing personalized experience from the very first time a user interacts with your consumer AI application.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Creating an account with Vana is fairly simple. After confirming your email, you can attach data to a digital avatar (like selfies, a description of yourself and voice recordings) and explore apps built using Vana’s platform and data sets. The app selection ranges from ChatGPT-style chatbots and interactive storybooks to a Hinge profile generator.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Anna Kazlauskas and Art Abal, who met in a class at the MIT Media Lab focused on building tech for emerging markets, co-founded Vana in 2021. Prior to Vana, Kazlauskas studied computer science and economics at MIT, eventually leaving to launch a fintech automation startup, Iambiq, out of Y Combinator. Abal, a corporate lawyer by training and education, was an associate at The Cadmus Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, before heading up impact sourcing at data annotation company Appen.<\/p>\n
With Vana, Kazlauskas and Abal set out to build a platform that lets users “pool” their data — including chats, speech recordings and photos — into data sets that can then be used for generative AI model training. They also want to create more personalized experiences — for instance, daily motivational voicemail based on your wellness goals, or an art-generating app that understands your style preferences\u00a0 — by fine-tuning public models on that data.<\/p>\n
“Vana\u2019s infrastructure in effect creates a user-owned data treasury,” Kazlauskas told TechCrunch. “It does this by allowing users to aggregate their personal data in a non-custodial way … Vana allows users to own AI models and use their data across AI applications.”<\/p>\n
Here’s how Vana pitches its platform and API to developers<\/a>:<\/p><\/div>\nThe Vana API connects a user’s cross-platform personal data … to allow you to personalize your application. Your app gains instant access to a user’s personalized AI model or underlying data, simplifying onboarding and eliminating compute cost concerns … We think users should be able to bring their personal data from walled gardens, like Instagram, Facebook and Google, to your application, so you can create amazing personalized experience from the very first time a user interacts with your consumer AI application.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Creating an account with Vana is fairly simple. After confirming your email, you can attach data to a digital avatar (like selfies, a description of yourself and voice recordings) and explore apps built using Vana’s platform and data sets. The app selection ranges from ChatGPT-style chatbots and interactive storybooks to a Hinge profile generator.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Vana API connects a user’s cross-platform personal data … to allow you to personalize your application. Your app gains instant access to a user’s personalized AI model or underlying data, simplifying onboarding and eliminating compute cost concerns … We think users should be able to bring their personal data from walled gardens, like Instagram, Facebook and Google, to your application, so you can create amazing personalized experience from the very first time a user interacts with your consumer AI application.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Creating an account with Vana is fairly simple. After confirming your email, you can attach data to a digital avatar (like selfies, a description of yourself and voice recordings) and explore apps built using Vana’s platform and data sets. The app selection ranges from ChatGPT-style chatbots and interactive storybooks to a Hinge profile generator.<\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now why, you might ask — in this age of increased data privacy awareness and ransomware attacks — would someone ever volunteer their personal info to an anonymous startup, much less a venture-backed one? (Vana has raised $20 million to date from Paradigm, Polychain Capital and other backers.) Can any profit-driven company really be trusted not to abuse or mishandle any monetizable data it gets its hands on?<\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong> Vana<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n “We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In response to that question, Kazlauskas stressed that the whole point of Vana is for users to “reclaim control over their data,” noting that Vana users have the option to self-host their data rather than store it on Vana’s servers and control how their data’s shared with apps and developers. She also argued that, because Vana makes money by charging users a monthly subscription (starting at $3.99) and levying a “data transaction” fee on devs (e.g. for transferring data sets for AI model training), the company is disincentivized to exploit users and the troves of personal data they bring with them.<\/p>\n
“We want to create models owned and governed users who all contribute their data,” Kazlauskas said, “and allow users to bring their data and models with them to any application.”<\/p>\n
Now, while Vana <\/em>isn’t selling users’ data to companies for generative AI model training (or so it claims), it wants to allow users to do this themselves if they choose — starting with their Reddit posts.<\/p>\n This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This month, Vana launched what it’s calling the Reddit Data DAO (Digital Autonomous Organization)<\/a>, a program that pools multiple users’ Reddit data (including their karma and post history) and lets them to decide together how that combined data is used. After joining with a Reddit account, submitting a request<\/a> to Reddit for their data and uploading that data to the DAO, users gain the right to vote alongside other members of the DAO on decisions like licensing the combined data to generative AI companies for a shared profit.<\/p>\n\n\n We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n — r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We have crunched the numbers and r\/datadao is now largest data DAO in history: Phase 1 welcomed 141,000 reddit users with 21,000 full data uploads.<\/p>\n
— r\/datadao (@rdatadao) April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It’s an answer of sorts to Reddit’s recent moves<\/a> to commercialize data on its platform.<\/p>\n Reddit previously didn\u2019t gate access to posts and communities for generative AI training purposes. But it reversed course late last year, ahead of its IPO. Since the policy change, Reddit has raked in over $203 million in licensing fees from companies including Google.<\/p>\n “The broad idea [with the DAO is] to free user data from the major platforms that seek to hoard and monetize it,” Kazlauskas said. “This is a first and is part of our push to help people pool their data into user-owned data sets for training AI models.”<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Reddit — which isn’t working with Vana in any official capacity — isn’t pleased about the DAO.<\/p>\n Reddit banned Vana’s subreddit<\/a> dedicated to discussion about the DAO. And a Reddit spokesperson accused Vana of “exploiting” its data export system, which is designed to comply with data privacy regulations like the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act.<\/p>\n “Our data arrangements allow us to put guardrails on such entities, even on public information,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Reddit does not share non-public, personal data with commercial enterprises, and when Redditors request an export of their data from us, they receive non-public personal data back from us in accordance with applicable laws. Direct partnerships between Reddit and vetted organizations, with clear terms and accountability, matters, and these partnerships and agreements prevent misuse and abuse of people\u2019s data.”<\/p>\n But does Reddit have any real reason to be concerned?<\/p>\n Kazlauskas envisions the DAO growing to the point where it impacts the amount Reddit can charge customers for its data. That’s a long ways off, assuming it ever happens; the DAO has just over 141,000 members, a tiny fraction of Reddit’s 73-million-strong user base. And some of those members could be bots or duplicate accounts.<\/p>\n Then there’s the matter of how to fairly distribute payments that the DAO might receive from data buyers.<\/p>\n Currently, the DAO awards “tokens” — cryptocurrency — to users corresponding to their Reddit karma<\/a>. But karma might not be the best measure of quality contributions to the data set — particularly in smaller Reddit communities with fewer opportunities to earn it.<\/p>\n Kazlauskas floats the idea that members of the DAO could choose to share their cross-platform and demographic data, making the DAO potentially more valuable and incentivizing sign-ups. But that would also require users to place even more trust in Vana to treat their sensitive data responsibly.<\/p>\n Personally, I don’t see Vana’s DAO reaching critical mass. The roadblocks standing in the way are far too many. I do think, however, that it won’t be the last grassroots attempt to assert control over the data increasingly being used to train generative AI models.<\/p>\n Startups like Spawning<\/a> are working on ways to allow creators to impose rules guiding how their data is used for training while vendors like Getty Images, Shutterstock and Adobe continue to experiment with compensation schemes<\/a>. But no one’s cracked the code yet. Can it even be<\/em> cracked? Given the cutthroat<\/a> nature<\/a> of the generative AI industry, it’s certainly a tall order. But perhaps someone will find a way — or policymakers will force one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own? From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2670696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"2d3f55a7-6733-356e-b154-a900da0adae7","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:15:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"07828f35-e391-4c0e-9adc-d4ab55a8109e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:16:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AB4KPNeORTA6a3NSrVagQng","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577055593],"tags":[14067,64575263,22379,576717904,40179],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nVana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Reddit previously didn\u2019t gate access to posts and communities for generative AI training purposes. But it reversed course late last year, ahead of its IPO. Since the policy change, Reddit has raked in over $203 million in licensing fees from companies including Google.<\/p>\n
“The broad idea [with the DAO is] to free user data from the major platforms that seek to hoard and monetize it,” Kazlauskas said. “This is a first and is part of our push to help people pool their data into user-owned data sets for training AI models.”<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Reddit — which isn’t working with Vana in any official capacity — isn’t pleased about the DAO.<\/p>\n
Reddit banned Vana’s subreddit<\/a> dedicated to discussion about the DAO. And a Reddit spokesperson accused Vana of “exploiting” its data export system, which is designed to comply with data privacy regulations like the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act.<\/p>\n “Our data arrangements allow us to put guardrails on such entities, even on public information,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Reddit does not share non-public, personal data with commercial enterprises, and when Redditors request an export of their data from us, they receive non-public personal data back from us in accordance with applicable laws. Direct partnerships between Reddit and vetted organizations, with clear terms and accountability, matters, and these partnerships and agreements prevent misuse and abuse of people\u2019s data.”<\/p>\n But does Reddit have any real reason to be concerned?<\/p>\n Kazlauskas envisions the DAO growing to the point where it impacts the amount Reddit can charge customers for its data. That’s a long ways off, assuming it ever happens; the DAO has just over 141,000 members, a tiny fraction of Reddit’s 73-million-strong user base. And some of those members could be bots or duplicate accounts.<\/p>\n Then there’s the matter of how to fairly distribute payments that the DAO might receive from data buyers.<\/p>\n Currently, the DAO awards “tokens” — cryptocurrency — to users corresponding to their Reddit karma<\/a>. But karma might not be the best measure of quality contributions to the data set — particularly in smaller Reddit communities with fewer opportunities to earn it.<\/p>\n Kazlauskas floats the idea that members of the DAO could choose to share their cross-platform and demographic data, making the DAO potentially more valuable and incentivizing sign-ups. But that would also require users to place even more trust in Vana to treat their sensitive data responsibly.<\/p>\n Personally, I don’t see Vana’s DAO reaching critical mass. The roadblocks standing in the way are far too many. I do think, however, that it won’t be the last grassroots attempt to assert control over the data increasingly being used to train generative AI models.<\/p>\n Startups like Spawning<\/a> are working on ways to allow creators to impose rules guiding how their data is used for training while vendors like Getty Images, Shutterstock and Adobe continue to experiment with compensation schemes<\/a>. But no one’s cracked the code yet. Can it even be<\/em> cracked? Given the cutthroat<\/a> nature<\/a> of the generative AI industry, it’s certainly a tall order. But perhaps someone will find a way — or policymakers will force one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own? From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2670696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"2d3f55a7-6733-356e-b154-a900da0adae7","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:15:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"07828f35-e391-4c0e-9adc-d4ab55a8109e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:16:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AB4KPNeORTA6a3NSrVagQng","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577055593],"tags":[14067,64575263,22379,576717904,40179],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nVana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“Our data arrangements allow us to put guardrails on such entities, even on public information,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Reddit does not share non-public, personal data with commercial enterprises, and when Redditors request an export of their data from us, they receive non-public personal data back from us in accordance with applicable laws. Direct partnerships between Reddit and vetted organizations, with clear terms and accountability, matters, and these partnerships and agreements prevent misuse and abuse of people\u2019s data.”<\/p>\n
But does Reddit have any real reason to be concerned?<\/p>\n
Kazlauskas envisions the DAO growing to the point where it impacts the amount Reddit can charge customers for its data. That’s a long ways off, assuming it ever happens; the DAO has just over 141,000 members, a tiny fraction of Reddit’s 73-million-strong user base. And some of those members could be bots or duplicate accounts.<\/p>\n
Then there’s the matter of how to fairly distribute payments that the DAO might receive from data buyers.<\/p>\n
Currently, the DAO awards “tokens” — cryptocurrency — to users corresponding to their Reddit karma<\/a>. But karma might not be the best measure of quality contributions to the data set — particularly in smaller Reddit communities with fewer opportunities to earn it.<\/p>\n Kazlauskas floats the idea that members of the DAO could choose to share their cross-platform and demographic data, making the DAO potentially more valuable and incentivizing sign-ups. But that would also require users to place even more trust in Vana to treat their sensitive data responsibly.<\/p>\n Personally, I don’t see Vana’s DAO reaching critical mass. The roadblocks standing in the way are far too many. I do think, however, that it won’t be the last grassroots attempt to assert control over the data increasingly being used to train generative AI models.<\/p>\n Startups like Spawning<\/a> are working on ways to allow creators to impose rules guiding how their data is used for training while vendors like Getty Images, Shutterstock and Adobe continue to experiment with compensation schemes<\/a>. But no one’s cracked the code yet. Can it even be<\/em> cracked? Given the cutthroat<\/a> nature<\/a> of the generative AI industry, it’s certainly a tall order. But perhaps someone will find a way — or policymakers will force one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own? From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2670696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"2d3f55a7-6733-356e-b154-a900da0adae7","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:15:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"07828f35-e391-4c0e-9adc-d4ab55a8109e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:16:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AB4KPNeORTA6a3NSrVagQng","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577055593],"tags":[14067,64575263,22379,576717904,40179],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nVana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Kazlauskas floats the idea that members of the DAO could choose to share their cross-platform and demographic data, making the DAO potentially more valuable and incentivizing sign-ups. But that would also require users to place even more trust in Vana to treat their sensitive data responsibly.<\/p>\n
Personally, I don’t see Vana’s DAO reaching critical mass. The roadblocks standing in the way are far too many. I do think, however, that it won’t be the last grassroots attempt to assert control over the data increasingly being used to train generative AI models.<\/p>\n
Startups like Spawning<\/a> are working on ways to allow creators to impose rules guiding how their data is used for training while vendors like Getty Images, Shutterstock and Adobe continue to experiment with compensation schemes<\/a>. But no one’s cracked the code yet. Can it even be<\/em> cracked? Given the cutthroat<\/a> nature<\/a> of the generative AI industry, it’s certainly a tall order. But perhaps someone will find a way — or policymakers will force one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own? From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2670696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"2d3f55a7-6733-356e-b154-a900da0adae7","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:15:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"07828f35-e391-4c0e-9adc-d4ab55a8109e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:16:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AB4KPNeORTA6a3NSrVagQng","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577055593],"tags":[14067,64575263,22379,576717904,40179],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nVana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. So why shouldn’t you be able to sell your own? From big tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574536,"featured_media":2670696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"2d3f55a7-6733-356e-b154-a900da0adae7","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:15:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"07828f35-e391-4c0e-9adc-d4ab55a8109e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:16:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AB4KPNeORTA6a3NSrVagQng","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577047203,577055593],"tags":[14067,64575263,22379,576717904,40179],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nVana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Kyle-Wiggers.jpg","twitter":"kyle_l_wiggers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"author":[{"id":133574536,"name":"Kyle Wiggers","url":"","description":"Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself. occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/kyle-wiggers\/","slug":"kyle-wiggers","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c444ee74e16b994683cd9c6497173dda?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nKyle Wiggers, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself occasionally -- if mostly unsuccessfully.<\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Kyle-Wiggers.jpg","twitter":"kyle_l_wiggers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":2670696,"date":"2024-02-26T14:32:27","slug":"reddit-ipo-v2","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/03\/15\/pornhub-says-bad-texas-no-smut-for-you\/reddit-ipo-v2\/","title":{"rendered":"reddit-ipo-v2"},"author":24893112,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"source_key":"other","source":"TechCrunch"},"authors":[24893112],"caption":{"rendered":""},"alt_text":"Reddit logo on a pattern of logo silhouettes","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":1920,"height":1080,"file":"2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg","filesize":331249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=150,84","width":150,"height":84,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=300,169","width":300,"height":169,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=768,432","width":768,"height":432,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=680,383","width":680,"height":383,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=1536,864","width":1536,"height":864,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=1536"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=1200,675","width":1200,"height":675,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?resize=50,28","width":50,"height":28,"filesize":331249,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"reddit-ipo-v2.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/reddit-ipo-v2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2670696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670696"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/24893112"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":577047203,"description":"News coverage on artificial intelligence and machine learning tech, the companies building them, and the ethical issues AI raises today. This encompasses generative AI, including large language models, text-to-image and text-to-video models; speech recognition and generation; and predictive analytics.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/","name":"AI","slug":"artificial-intelligence","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nAI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
Ad blockers might seem like an unlikely defense in the fight against spyware, but new reporting casts fresh light on how spyware makers are weaponizing online ads to allow governments to conduct surveillance.<\/p>\n
Spyware makers are reportedly capable of locating and stealthily infecting specific targets with spyware using banner ads.<\/p>\n
One of the startups that worked on an ad-based spyware infection system is Intellexa, a European company that develops the Predator spyware. Predator is able to access the full contents of a target’s phone in real time.<\/p>\n
According to documents seen by Israeli news outlet Haaretz<\/a>, Intellexa presented a proof-of-concept system in 2022 called Aladdin that enabled the planting of phone spyware through online ads. The documents included a demo of the Aladdin system with technical explanations on how the spyware infects its targets and examples of malicious ads: by “seemingly targeting graphic designers and activists with job offers, through which the spyware will be introduced to their device,” Haaretz reported.<\/p>\n It’s unclear if Aladdin was fully developed or was sold to government customers.<\/p>\n Another private Israeli company called Insanet succeeded in developing an ad-based infection system<\/a> capable of locating an individual within an advertising network, Haaretz revealed last year.<\/p>\n Online ads help website owners, including this one, generate revenue. But online ad exchanges can be abused to push malicious code to a target’s device.<\/p>\n Delivering malware through malicious ads, often referred to as malvertising, works by injecting malicious code into the ads displayed on websites on computer and phone browsers. Much of these attacks rely on some interaction with the victim, such as tapping a link or opening a malicious file.<\/p>\n But the global ubiquity of online advertising vastly increases the reach that government customers have to target individuals \u2014 including their critics \u2014 with stealthy spyware.<\/p>\n While no phone or computer can ever be completely unhackable, ad blockers can be effective in stopping malvertising and ad-based malware before it ever hits the browser.<\/p>\n Ad blockers \u2014 as the name suggests \u2014 prevent ads from displaying in web browsers. Ad blockers don’t just hide the ads, but rather block the underlying website from loading the ads to begin with. That’s also good for privacy, since it means ad exchanges cannot use tracking code to see which sites users visit as they browse the web. Ad-blocking software is available for phones, as well.<\/p>\n Security experts have long advised using an ad blocker to prevent malvertising attacks. In 2022, the FBI said in a public service announcement<\/a> to use an ad blocker as an online safety precaution.<\/p>\n “Everyone should block ads,” tweeted<\/a> John Scott-Railton, a Citizen Lab senior researcher who has investigated government spyware, in response to the Haaretz report. “It’s a matter of safety.”<\/p>\n\n How to browse the web privately and securely<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
It’s unclear if Aladdin was fully developed or was sold to government customers.<\/p>\n
Another private Israeli company called Insanet succeeded in developing an ad-based infection system<\/a> capable of locating an individual within an advertising network, Haaretz revealed last year.<\/p>\n Online ads help website owners, including this one, generate revenue. But online ad exchanges can be abused to push malicious code to a target’s device.<\/p>\n Delivering malware through malicious ads, often referred to as malvertising, works by injecting malicious code into the ads displayed on websites on computer and phone browsers. Much of these attacks rely on some interaction with the victim, such as tapping a link or opening a malicious file.<\/p>\n But the global ubiquity of online advertising vastly increases the reach that government customers have to target individuals \u2014 including their critics \u2014 with stealthy spyware.<\/p>\n While no phone or computer can ever be completely unhackable, ad blockers can be effective in stopping malvertising and ad-based malware before it ever hits the browser.<\/p>\n Ad blockers \u2014 as the name suggests \u2014 prevent ads from displaying in web browsers. Ad blockers don’t just hide the ads, but rather block the underlying website from loading the ads to begin with. That’s also good for privacy, since it means ad exchanges cannot use tracking code to see which sites users visit as they browse the web. Ad-blocking software is available for phones, as well.<\/p>\n Security experts have long advised using an ad blocker to prevent malvertising attacks. In 2022, the FBI said in a public service announcement<\/a> to use an ad blocker as an online safety precaution.<\/p>\n “Everyone should block ads,” tweeted<\/a> John Scott-Railton, a Citizen Lab senior researcher who has investigated government spyware, in response to the Haaretz report. “It’s a matter of safety.”<\/p>\n\n How to browse the web privately and securely<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Online ads help website owners, including this one, generate revenue. But online ad exchanges can be abused to push malicious code to a target’s device.<\/p>\n
Delivering malware through malicious ads, often referred to as malvertising, works by injecting malicious code into the ads displayed on websites on computer and phone browsers. Much of these attacks rely on some interaction with the victim, such as tapping a link or opening a malicious file.<\/p>\n
But the global ubiquity of online advertising vastly increases the reach that government customers have to target individuals \u2014 including their critics \u2014 with stealthy spyware.<\/p>\n
While no phone or computer can ever be completely unhackable, ad blockers can be effective in stopping malvertising and ad-based malware before it ever hits the browser.<\/p>\n
Ad blockers \u2014 as the name suggests \u2014 prevent ads from displaying in web browsers. Ad blockers don’t just hide the ads, but rather block the underlying website from loading the ads to begin with. That’s also good for privacy, since it means ad exchanges cannot use tracking code to see which sites users visit as they browse the web. Ad-blocking software is available for phones, as well.<\/p>\n
Security experts have long advised using an ad blocker to prevent malvertising attacks. In 2022, the FBI said in a public service announcement<\/a> to use an ad blocker as an online safety precaution.<\/p>\n “Everyone should block ads,” tweeted<\/a> John Scott-Railton, a Citizen Lab senior researcher who has investigated government spyware, in response to the Haaretz report. “It’s a matter of safety.”<\/p>\n\n How to browse the web privately and securely<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“Everyone should block ads,” tweeted<\/a> John Scott-Railton, a Citizen Lab senior researcher who has investigated government spyware, in response to the Haaretz report. “It’s a matter of safety.”<\/p>\n\n How to browse the web privately and securely<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
How to browse the web privately and securely<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
<\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Spyware makers are reportedly working on targeting individuals with stealthy data-stealing malware using online banner ads. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":1956880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"4ad58d46-a520-32fa-a4ce-b3a7792df267","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"3e44880f-4167-4a45-846e-68ead8d3edba","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T13:05:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/APkSID0FnSkWEbmjq2NPtug","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499,21587494],"tags":[2979410,1624938,965824,576931637],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Zack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch. You can send tips securely via Signal and WhatsApp to +1 646-755-8849. He can also be reached by e-mail at zack.whittaker@techcrunch.com.<\/p> <\/a>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/zw-profile.jpg","twitter":"zackwhittaker","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"author":[{"id":133574210,"name":"Zack Whittaker","url":"","description":"Zack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch. You can send tips securely via Signal and WhatsApp to +1 646-755-8849. He can also be reached by email at zack.whittaker@techcrunch.com.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/zack-whittaker\/","slug":"zack-whittaker","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c6f2f007a1fadfcf4f9da867130c493?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c6f2f007a1fadfcf4f9da867130c493?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c6f2f007a1fadfcf4f9da867130c493?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nZack Whittaker, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Zack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch. You can send tips securely via Signal and WhatsApp to +1 646-755-8849. He can also be reached by e-mail at zack.whittaker@techcrunch.com.<\/p> <\/a>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/zw-profile.jpg","twitter":"zackwhittaker","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users"}]}}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":1956880,"date":"2020-03-10T10:04:23","slug":"data-flowing-through-phone","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/03\/10\/your-vpn-or-ad-blocker-app-could-be-collecting-your-data\/data-flowing-through-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"data-flowing-through-phone"},"author":2414667,"featured_media":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"license":{"source_key":"other","source":"TechCrunch","person":"Bryce Durbin"},"authors":[2414667],"caption":{"rendered":""},"alt_text":"an illustration of a green and blue stream of data flowing through a cell phone","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":3200,"height":1700,"file":"2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=150,80","width":150,"height":80,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=300,159","width":300,"height":159,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=768,408","width":768,"height":408,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=680,361","width":680,"height":361,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=1536,816","width":1536,"height":816,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=1536"},"2048x2048":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=2048,1088","width":2048,"height":1088,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=2048"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=1200,638","width":1200,"height":638,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?resize=50,27","width":50,"height":27,"filesize":1015747,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"data-flowing-through-phone.jpg","width":1024,"height":544,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]},"filesize":1015747},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/data-flowing-through-phone.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1956880"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/2414667"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":426637499,"description":"Stay up to date on privacy news coverage, from data protection, policy and emerging tech, and how startups are trying to solve some of the biggest data privacy problems for the future.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/privacy\/","name":"Privacy","slug":"privacy","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nPrivacy News | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
When Josh Silverman<\/span> started shopping around the idea for his methane-eating microbe startup, Windfall Bio, eight years ago, the market just wasn’t ready. Nobody cared about methane, he said. Companies were instead focused on lowering their carbon emissions. But a few years later, the market is starting to come around.<\/p>\n Menlo Park\u2013based Windfall Bio raised a $28 million Series A round to expand its commercialization efforts. The round was led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Incite Ventures and Positive Ventures, among others, as well as existing investors, including Mayfield.<\/p>\n Windfall works with industries that produce large levels of methane, such as agriculture, oil and gas, and landfills. The startup supplies methane-eating microbes that absorb methane emissions, turning them into fertilizer. Companies can either utilize the fertilizer themselves, if they are in the agriculture sector, or they can sell it as a revenue stream.<\/p>\n “We think there is a big opportunity to leverage this natural ecosystem that gives us a low-cost solution without needing massive investments in capital like we are seeing for these other carbon capture technologies,” Silverman said.<\/p>\n While it took a couple of years to really get investors and companies on board, Silverman said that since the Windfall raised its seed round last year and emerged from stealth in March 2023, demand has been high.<\/p>\n “We have had a massive influx from all continents and all verticals; huge amounts of excitement,” Silverman said. “It’s profitable for everybody regardless of the industry. Everyone wants to reduce their carbon footprint, and they want to do it in a way where they make money and there aren’t many solutions.”<\/p>\n Silverman says that carbon capture was the only focus for so long because once carbon is in the atmosphere, it lasts forever, compared to methane’s 10- to 12-year lifespan. A few decades ago, when people thought about climate change, they were looking for more long-term solutions. But now that the impacts of climate change are both more clear and worsening, people are waking up to the need for both short-term and long-term solutions.<\/p><\/div>\n “We have literally missed every single climate target we have put in place,” Silverman said. Not a single G20 country has the policies needed in place for it to reach the Paris Agreement’s emission-reduction targets<\/a>, for example. “If all you are doing is looking out in the future and not doing the day to day, you miss those targets and miss what is right in front of you. We need to manage the short-term climate factors, or we won’t be around to deal with the long-term.”<\/p>\n The lack of attention to methane is also surprising because methane actually can create a better ROI for companies than their carbon-reduction efforts.<\/p>\n Carbon is waste, which means that when companies capture it, they do so largely just to get rid of it, as opposed to turning it into something else. In comparison, methane is energy, which means it can be captured and repurposed much easier than carbon. Essentially, companies can reduce carbon for potential cost savings down the road, or a super legit carbon credit, while focusing on methane can actually make them money if they work with a company like Windfall.<\/p>\n This deal also stood out to me because Windfall lies within a growing category of startups focused on mitigating the climate issues of today and not just the ones down the road. While it is good for companies to be focused on mitigating the long-term impacts of climate change or trying to prevent future climate-induced events, we need solutions now.<\/p>\n It reminded me of Convective Capital<\/a>, a venture fund I’ve written about before that’s dedicated to wildfire tech. It’s not dedicated to the tech that helps prevent them but rather tech that helps society adapt to the impact of increased wildfires now. Firm founder Bill Clerico told TechCrunch in 2022 that while it’s great to build long-term solutions, those mean nothing if your home is in danger from wildfires this summer.<\/p>\n Silverman said the market is still in the early innings of coming around to the potential benefits of investing in methane-reduction technology. But progress is good, and though he might be biased, Silverman is happy to see funding heading to a climate company that isn’t another carbon credit startup. I agree with him there.<\/p>\n “It was a long road getting here, lots of years of zero traction,” Silverman said. “Now that the traction is there and there aren’t very many people working in this area, there aren’t that many competitors. We are the best of the very few options. As I’ve said, ‘in my land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Windfall Bio sells methane-eating microbes to companies to help them reduce their carbon footprint in the short-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574554,"featured_media":2691080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"ed3d663a-bd69-3181-94fa-eeebe1556dbf","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"4be712aa-4746-40c5-9b3c-758e016d3f5a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AS-cSqkdGQMWbPHWOAW0_Wg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576957003,20429,577030455],"tags":[6108,577156874,20334,449557042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037509],"yoast_head":"\nWindfall Bio is seeing strong demand for its methane-eating microbe startup | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Menlo Park\u2013based Windfall Bio raised a $28 million Series A round to expand its commercialization efforts. The round was led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Incite Ventures and Positive Ventures, among others, as well as existing investors, including Mayfield.<\/p>\n
Windfall works with industries that produce large levels of methane, such as agriculture, oil and gas, and landfills. The startup supplies methane-eating microbes that absorb methane emissions, turning them into fertilizer. Companies can either utilize the fertilizer themselves, if they are in the agriculture sector, or they can sell it as a revenue stream.<\/p>\n
“We think there is a big opportunity to leverage this natural ecosystem that gives us a low-cost solution without needing massive investments in capital like we are seeing for these other carbon capture technologies,” Silverman said.<\/p>\n
While it took a couple of years to really get investors and companies on board, Silverman said that since the Windfall raised its seed round last year and emerged from stealth in March 2023, demand has been high.<\/p>\n
“We have had a massive influx from all continents and all verticals; huge amounts of excitement,” Silverman said. “It’s profitable for everybody regardless of the industry. Everyone wants to reduce their carbon footprint, and they want to do it in a way where they make money and there aren’t many solutions.”<\/p>\n
Silverman says that carbon capture was the only focus for so long because once carbon is in the atmosphere, it lasts forever, compared to methane’s 10- to 12-year lifespan. A few decades ago, when people thought about climate change, they were looking for more long-term solutions. But now that the impacts of climate change are both more clear and worsening, people are waking up to the need for both short-term and long-term solutions.<\/p><\/div>\n “We have literally missed every single climate target we have put in place,” Silverman said. Not a single G20 country has the policies needed in place for it to reach the Paris Agreement’s emission-reduction targets<\/a>, for example. “If all you are doing is looking out in the future and not doing the day to day, you miss those targets and miss what is right in front of you. We need to manage the short-term climate factors, or we won’t be around to deal with the long-term.”<\/p>\n The lack of attention to methane is also surprising because methane actually can create a better ROI for companies than their carbon-reduction efforts.<\/p>\n Carbon is waste, which means that when companies capture it, they do so largely just to get rid of it, as opposed to turning it into something else. In comparison, methane is energy, which means it can be captured and repurposed much easier than carbon. Essentially, companies can reduce carbon for potential cost savings down the road, or a super legit carbon credit, while focusing on methane can actually make them money if they work with a company like Windfall.<\/p>\n This deal also stood out to me because Windfall lies within a growing category of startups focused on mitigating the climate issues of today and not just the ones down the road. While it is good for companies to be focused on mitigating the long-term impacts of climate change or trying to prevent future climate-induced events, we need solutions now.<\/p>\n It reminded me of Convective Capital<\/a>, a venture fund I’ve written about before that’s dedicated to wildfire tech. It’s not dedicated to the tech that helps prevent them but rather tech that helps society adapt to the impact of increased wildfires now. Firm founder Bill Clerico told TechCrunch in 2022 that while it’s great to build long-term solutions, those mean nothing if your home is in danger from wildfires this summer.<\/p>\n Silverman said the market is still in the early innings of coming around to the potential benefits of investing in methane-reduction technology. But progress is good, and though he might be biased, Silverman is happy to see funding heading to a climate company that isn’t another carbon credit startup. I agree with him there.<\/p>\n “It was a long road getting here, lots of years of zero traction,” Silverman said. “Now that the traction is there and there aren’t very many people working in this area, there aren’t that many competitors. We are the best of the very few options. As I’ve said, ‘in my land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Windfall Bio sells methane-eating microbes to companies to help them reduce their carbon footprint in the short-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574554,"featured_media":2691080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"ed3d663a-bd69-3181-94fa-eeebe1556dbf","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"4be712aa-4746-40c5-9b3c-758e016d3f5a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AS-cSqkdGQMWbPHWOAW0_Wg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576957003,20429,577030455],"tags":[6108,577156874,20334,449557042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037509],"yoast_head":"\nWindfall Bio is seeing strong demand for its methane-eating microbe startup | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“We have literally missed every single climate target we have put in place,” Silverman said. Not a single G20 country has the policies needed in place for it to reach the Paris Agreement’s emission-reduction targets<\/a>, for example. “If all you are doing is looking out in the future and not doing the day to day, you miss those targets and miss what is right in front of you. We need to manage the short-term climate factors, or we won’t be around to deal with the long-term.”<\/p>\n The lack of attention to methane is also surprising because methane actually can create a better ROI for companies than their carbon-reduction efforts.<\/p>\n Carbon is waste, which means that when companies capture it, they do so largely just to get rid of it, as opposed to turning it into something else. In comparison, methane is energy, which means it can be captured and repurposed much easier than carbon. Essentially, companies can reduce carbon for potential cost savings down the road, or a super legit carbon credit, while focusing on methane can actually make them money if they work with a company like Windfall.<\/p>\n This deal also stood out to me because Windfall lies within a growing category of startups focused on mitigating the climate issues of today and not just the ones down the road. While it is good for companies to be focused on mitigating the long-term impacts of climate change or trying to prevent future climate-induced events, we need solutions now.<\/p>\n It reminded me of Convective Capital<\/a>, a venture fund I’ve written about before that’s dedicated to wildfire tech. It’s not dedicated to the tech that helps prevent them but rather tech that helps society adapt to the impact of increased wildfires now. Firm founder Bill Clerico told TechCrunch in 2022 that while it’s great to build long-term solutions, those mean nothing if your home is in danger from wildfires this summer.<\/p>\n Silverman said the market is still in the early innings of coming around to the potential benefits of investing in methane-reduction technology. But progress is good, and though he might be biased, Silverman is happy to see funding heading to a climate company that isn’t another carbon credit startup. I agree with him there.<\/p>\n “It was a long road getting here, lots of years of zero traction,” Silverman said. “Now that the traction is there and there aren’t very many people working in this area, there aren’t that many competitors. We are the best of the very few options. As I’ve said, ‘in my land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Windfall Bio sells methane-eating microbes to companies to help them reduce their carbon footprint in the short-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574554,"featured_media":2691080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"ed3d663a-bd69-3181-94fa-eeebe1556dbf","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"4be712aa-4746-40c5-9b3c-758e016d3f5a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AS-cSqkdGQMWbPHWOAW0_Wg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576957003,20429,577030455],"tags":[6108,577156874,20334,449557042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037509],"yoast_head":"\nWindfall Bio is seeing strong demand for its methane-eating microbe startup | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
The lack of attention to methane is also surprising because methane actually can create a better ROI for companies than their carbon-reduction efforts.<\/p>\n
Carbon is waste, which means that when companies capture it, they do so largely just to get rid of it, as opposed to turning it into something else. In comparison, methane is energy, which means it can be captured and repurposed much easier than carbon. Essentially, companies can reduce carbon for potential cost savings down the road, or a super legit carbon credit, while focusing on methane can actually make them money if they work with a company like Windfall.<\/p>\n
This deal also stood out to me because Windfall lies within a growing category of startups focused on mitigating the climate issues of today and not just the ones down the road. While it is good for companies to be focused on mitigating the long-term impacts of climate change or trying to prevent future climate-induced events, we need solutions now.<\/p>\n
It reminded me of Convective Capital<\/a>, a venture fund I’ve written about before that’s dedicated to wildfire tech. It’s not dedicated to the tech that helps prevent them but rather tech that helps society adapt to the impact of increased wildfires now. Firm founder Bill Clerico told TechCrunch in 2022 that while it’s great to build long-term solutions, those mean nothing if your home is in danger from wildfires this summer.<\/p>\n Silverman said the market is still in the early innings of coming around to the potential benefits of investing in methane-reduction technology. But progress is good, and though he might be biased, Silverman is happy to see funding heading to a climate company that isn’t another carbon credit startup. I agree with him there.<\/p>\n “It was a long road getting here, lots of years of zero traction,” Silverman said. “Now that the traction is there and there aren’t very many people working in this area, there aren’t that many competitors. We are the best of the very few options. As I’ve said, ‘in my land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Windfall Bio sells methane-eating microbes to companies to help them reduce their carbon footprint in the short-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574554,"featured_media":2691080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"ed3d663a-bd69-3181-94fa-eeebe1556dbf","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"4be712aa-4746-40c5-9b3c-758e016d3f5a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AS-cSqkdGQMWbPHWOAW0_Wg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576957003,20429,577030455],"tags":[6108,577156874,20334,449557042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037509],"yoast_head":"\nWindfall Bio is seeing strong demand for its methane-eating microbe startup | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Silverman said the market is still in the early innings of coming around to the potential benefits of investing in methane-reduction technology. But progress is good, and though he might be biased, Silverman is happy to see funding heading to a climate company that isn’t another carbon credit startup. I agree with him there.<\/p>\n
“It was a long road getting here, lots of years of zero traction,” Silverman said. “Now that the traction is there and there aren’t very many people working in this area, there aren’t that many competitors. We are the best of the very few options. As I’ve said, ‘in my land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Windfall Bio sells methane-eating microbes to companies to help them reduce their carbon footprint in the short-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574554,"featured_media":2691080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"ed3d663a-bd69-3181-94fa-eeebe1556dbf","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"4be712aa-4746-40c5-9b3c-758e016d3f5a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-13T16:00:55Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AS-cSqkdGQMWbPHWOAW0_Wg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576957003,20429,577030455],"tags":[6108,577156874,20334,449557042],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[577037509],"yoast_head":"\nWindfall Bio is seeing strong demand for its methane-eating microbe startup | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Windfall Bio’s methane-eating microbes are helping companies reduce carbon emissions. <\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"Windfall Bio, methane, startups, venture capital","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":2121,"height":1414,"file":"2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg","filesize":2801622,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=150,100","width":150,"height":100,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=300,200","width":300,"height":200,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=768,512","width":768,"height":512,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=680,453","width":680,"height":453,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=680"},"1536x1536":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=1536,1024","width":1536,"height":1024,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=1536"},"2048x2048":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=2048,1365","width":2048,"height":1365,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=2048"},"tc-social-image":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=1200,800","width":1200,"height":800,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=1200"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg?resize=50,33","width":50,"height":33,"filesize":2801622,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"GettyImages-503231076.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"Oscar W.","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Organic cows","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-503231076.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2691080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2691080"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574554"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":576957003,"description":"Our climate news coverage consists of the latest startups and investments in solar energy, greentech, renewables, food tech, alternative proteins, as well as circular economy and carbon capture efforts. We also cover research into climate change and how technology can be used to track and mitigate severe weather and climate-related disasters.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/climate\/","name":"Climate","slug":"climate","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nClimate News | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
Tesla has slashed the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software subscription to $99 per month, down from $199 per month, as the electric vehicle maker aims to boost adoption of its advanced driver assistance system ahead of first-quarter earnings.<\/p>\n
The price cut comes a couple of weeks after Tesla launched a free one-month trial of FSD<\/a> for every customer in the U.S. with a compatible Tesla. That trial is still ongoing. Formerly known as FSD Beta, Tesla is now referring to the software as “Supervised FSD” to make it clear that the software doesn’t turn Teslas into autonomous vehicles, and human drivers still need to supervise the not-so-self-driving software.<\/p>\n\n\n Supervised full self-driving now $99\/month https:\/\/t.co\/UoZ0MvirxW<\/a><\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Supervised full self-driving now $99\/month https:\/\/t.co\/UoZ0MvirxW<\/a><\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
FSD can handle certain advanced driving tasks like making lane changes, navigating around vehicles and objects, following a driver’s navigation route and more.<\/p>\n
The FSD price cut comes the same week that Tesla released more tweaks to its latest V12 version of the software to certain users. Tesla says the latest software upgrades FSD’s city-streets driving capability to run entirely on neural networks.<\/p>\n
More drivers with FSD doesn’t only mean more money for Tesla. It also means more video data, which the EV maker can use to train its neural nets and improve the product. Tesla might also be angling to use that data so it can meet CEO Elon Musk\u2019s recent promise to unveil a Tesla robotaxi in August<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Musk has urged drivers<\/a> to increase the value of their own cars by purchasing the software, and said in 2022 that Tesla is “basically worth zero<\/a>” if it can’t develop self-driving technology. Indeed, Tesla’s stock<\/a> may be valued like a big tech company, but its margins continue to remind us<\/a> that Tesla is still just an automaker.<\/p>\n However, greater FSD accessibility might increase the likelihood<\/a> of drivers signing up who aren’t doing their part to supervise the software and may find themselves unable to take over if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n Tesla doesn’t appear to have changed the cost of a one-time purchase of FSD, which is still $12,000 in the U.S. But that price has fluctuated in recent years, as well. In 2022, Tesla increased the cost of FSD to $15,000<\/a> in North America, before dropping it back down<\/a> to its current price a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is a stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full self-driving capability, the higher its value will increase<\/a>. Musk said at the time the software could even rise to “probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”<\/p>\n\n\n The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Musk has urged drivers<\/a> to increase the value of their own cars by purchasing the software, and said in 2022 that Tesla is “basically worth zero<\/a>” if it can’t develop self-driving technology. Indeed, Tesla’s stock<\/a> may be valued like a big tech company, but its margins continue to remind us<\/a> that Tesla is still just an automaker.<\/p>\n However, greater FSD accessibility might increase the likelihood<\/a> of drivers signing up who aren’t doing their part to supervise the software and may find themselves unable to take over if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n Tesla doesn’t appear to have changed the cost of a one-time purchase of FSD, which is still $12,000 in the U.S. But that price has fluctuated in recent years, as well. In 2022, Tesla increased the cost of FSD to $15,000<\/a> in North America, before dropping it back down<\/a> to its current price a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is a stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full self-driving capability, the higher its value will increase<\/a>. Musk said at the time the software could even rise to “probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”<\/p>\n\n\n The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
However, greater FSD accessibility might increase the likelihood<\/a> of drivers signing up who aren’t doing their part to supervise the software and may find themselves unable to take over if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n Tesla doesn’t appear to have changed the cost of a one-time purchase of FSD, which is still $12,000 in the U.S. But that price has fluctuated in recent years, as well. In 2022, Tesla increased the cost of FSD to $15,000<\/a> in North America, before dropping it back down<\/a> to its current price a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is a stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full self-driving capability, the higher its value will increase<\/a>. Musk said at the time the software could even rise to “probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”<\/p>\n\n\n The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Tesla doesn’t appear to have changed the cost of a one-time purchase of FSD, which is still $12,000 in the U.S. But that price has fluctuated in recent years, as well. In 2022, Tesla increased the cost of FSD to $15,000<\/a> in North America, before dropping it back down<\/a> to its current price a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is a stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full self-driving capability, the higher its value will increase<\/a>. Musk said at the time the software could even rise to “probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”<\/p>\n\n\n The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is a stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full self-driving capability, the higher its value will increase<\/a>. Musk said at the time the software could even rise to “probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”<\/p>\n\n\n The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.<\/p>\n
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The price cut comes a couple of weeks after Tesla launched a free one-month trial of FSD for every customer in the U.S. with a compatible Tesla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574434,"featured_media":2644341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"baffba57-a8f5-3c29-b831-f0e1fe8dd802","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-04-12T20:54:12Z","apple_news_api_id":"8f88bd05-1d1c-454c-96f4-a927a7bbe16b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-04-12T21:30:47Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Aj4i9BR0cRUyW9Kknp7vhaw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2401],"tags":[429989,576922115],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nTesla drops FSD price to $99 per month in US | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
BAARN, NETHERLANDS – AUGUST 25: Tesla Model 3 compact full electric car interior with a large touch screen on the dahsboard on display at the 2019 Concours d’Elegance at palace Soestdijk on August 25, 2019 in Baarn, Netherlands. This is the first time the Concours d’Elegance will be held at Soestdijk Palace and the 2019 edition was held on 24-25 August. (Photo by Sjoerd van der Wal\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"interior of Tesla EV showing steering wheel and center console","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","media_details":{"width":1024,"height":683,"file":"2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg","filesize":105253,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=150,100","width":150,"height":100,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=150"},"medium":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=300,200","width":300,"height":200,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=300"},"medium_large":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=768,512","width":768,"height":512,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=1024"},"large":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=680,454","width":680,"height":454,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=680"},"guest-author-32":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=32,32","width":32,"height":32,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=32&h=32&crop=1"},"guest-author-50":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=50,50","width":50,"height":50,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=50&h=50&crop=1"},"guest-author-64":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=64,64","width":64,"height":64,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=64&h=64&crop=1"},"guest-author-96":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=96,96","width":96,"height":96,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=96&h=96&crop=1"},"guest-author-128":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=128,128","width":128,"height":128,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=128&h=128&crop=1"},"concierge-thumb":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?resize=50,33","width":50,"height":33,"filesize":105253,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg?w=50"},"full":{"file":"GettyImages-1173328373.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"NIKON D850","caption":"BAARN, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 25: Tesla Model 3 compact full electric car interior with a large touch screen on the dahsboard on display at the 2019 Concours d'Elegance at palace Soestdijk on August 25, 2019 in Baarn, Netherlands. This is the first time the Concours d'Elegance will be held at Soestdijk Palace and the 2019 edition was held on 24-25 August. (Photo by Sjoerd van der Wal\/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1566735805","copyright":"2019 Sjoerd van der Wal","focal_length":"46","iso":"200","shutter_speed":"0.025","title":"Concours d'Elegance Paleis Soestdijk 2019","orientation":"0","keywords":["model 3","display","soestdijk","autopilot"]}},"source_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1173328373.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2644341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2644341"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-json\/tc\/v1\/users\/133574447"}]}}],"wp:term":[[{"id":2401,"description":"Transportation news includes all the present and future ways people and packages get from Point A to Point B. Coverage includes scooters and e-bikes to autonomous vehicles, EVs, transit, and evTOLs. We cover auto tech players big and small, from Tesla, GM, Uber, and Lyft, to small startups entering the automotive tech space.","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/category\/transportation\/","name":"Transportation","slug":"transportation","taxonomy":"category","parent":0,"yoast_head":"\nTransportation & Auto News | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n
If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd<\/a>, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas<\/a>.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant in the desktop CNC milling industry, promising to make the technology accessible to everyone, from professionals to hobbyists. Coast Runner<\/a> is breaking down the barriers of traditional CNC milling with a focus on power, compact size and, most importantly, education.<\/p>\n TechCruch spoke with Tyler Hoeft, who wears multiple hats in the company, from marketing to inventory management, and believes that the lack of educational resources and community forums in the CNC space has significantly hindered potential users. To address this, Coast Runner is committed to providing comprehensive educational videos and establishing a discussion forum for users to share insights and collaborate on designs. Moreover, Coast Runner is developing a bounty board system where users can pay others to create designs or mill parts if they lack the necessary skills. I think it’s a great idea, not least because milling and turning is a bit of a different beast than 3D printing — as any old, grizzled machinist will tell you, tool paths, feeds and speeds are as much art as they are science.<\/p>\n The Coast Runner machine is aiming to be both affordable and powerful.<\/p>\n Coast Runner put one of the machines in a see-through casing for the purpose of CES, showing off its innards. The company manufactures many of the parts itself. Image Credits:<\/strong>\u00a0TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n “We are making one of the most powerful desktop CNC machines you’ll find in the marketplace. You can cut everything up to titanium. Anything softer is possible: Plastics, brass, hard steel, aluminum, everything,” says Hoeft. “You need to change the tools manually — our main focus was to get the price point low enough that people who want to dip their toes or for people that want to manufacture and have four or five of these machines to manufacture small parts for their business.”<\/p>\n Despite its power, the machine is compact and lightweight, weighing only 42 pounds, and fits comfortably on a single desk, making it an interesting option for small businesses or hobbyists.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most exciting feature in the works is that the company is working on AI-powered modeling features. This advancement aims to make modeling a point-and-click process, significantly reducing the learning curve for new users and increasing the appeal of CNC milling to a broader audience.<\/p><\/div>\n Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
TechCruch spoke with Tyler Hoeft, who wears multiple hats in the company, from marketing to inventory management, and believes that the lack of educational resources and community forums in the CNC space has significantly hindered potential users. To address this, Coast Runner is committed to providing comprehensive educational videos and establishing a discussion forum for users to share insights and collaborate on designs. Moreover, Coast Runner is developing a bounty board system where users can pay others to create designs or mill parts if they lack the necessary skills. I think it’s a great idea, not least because milling and turning is a bit of a different beast than 3D printing — as any old, grizzled machinist will tell you, tool paths, feeds and speeds are as much art as they are science.<\/p>\n
The Coast Runner machine is aiming to be both affordable and powerful.<\/p>\n
Coast Runner put one of the machines in a see-through casing for the purpose of CES, showing off its innards. The company manufactures many of the parts itself. Image Credits:<\/strong>\u00a0TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n “We are making one of the most powerful desktop CNC machines you’ll find in the marketplace. You can cut everything up to titanium. Anything softer is possible: Plastics, brass, hard steel, aluminum, everything,” says Hoeft. “You need to change the tools manually — our main focus was to get the price point low enough that people who want to dip their toes or for people that want to manufacture and have four or five of these machines to manufacture small parts for their business.”<\/p>\n Despite its power, the machine is compact and lightweight, weighing only 42 pounds, and fits comfortably on a single desk, making it an interesting option for small businesses or hobbyists.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most exciting feature in the works is that the company is working on AI-powered modeling features. This advancement aims to make modeling a point-and-click process, significantly reducing the learning curve for new users and increasing the appeal of CNC milling to a broader audience.<\/p><\/div>\n Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Coast Runner put one of the machines in a see-through casing for the purpose of CES, showing off its innards. The company manufactures many of the parts itself. Image Credits:<\/strong>\u00a0TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n “We are making one of the most powerful desktop CNC machines you’ll find in the marketplace. You can cut everything up to titanium. Anything softer is possible: Plastics, brass, hard steel, aluminum, everything,” says Hoeft. “You need to change the tools manually — our main focus was to get the price point low enough that people who want to dip their toes or for people that want to manufacture and have four or five of these machines to manufacture small parts for their business.”<\/p>\n Despite its power, the machine is compact and lightweight, weighing only 42 pounds, and fits comfortably on a single desk, making it an interesting option for small businesses or hobbyists.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most exciting feature in the works is that the company is working on AI-powered modeling features. This advancement aims to make modeling a point-and-click process, significantly reducing the learning curve for new users and increasing the appeal of CNC milling to a broader audience.<\/p><\/div>\n Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“We are making one of the most powerful desktop CNC machines you’ll find in the marketplace. You can cut everything up to titanium. Anything softer is possible: Plastics, brass, hard steel, aluminum, everything,” says Hoeft. “You need to change the tools manually — our main focus was to get the price point low enough that people who want to dip their toes or for people that want to manufacture and have four or five of these machines to manufacture small parts for their business.”<\/p>\n
Despite its power, the machine is compact and lightweight, weighing only 42 pounds, and fits comfortably on a single desk, making it an interesting option for small businesses or hobbyists.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most exciting feature in the works is that the company is working on AI-powered modeling features. This advancement aims to make modeling a point-and-click process, significantly reducing the learning curve for new users and increasing the appeal of CNC milling to a broader audience.<\/p><\/div>\n Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
Personally, I love the retro takeaway-cup-inspired 1990s design. Don’t let the retro design fool you, though — there’s a lot of 2024 tech in there. Image Credits:<\/strong> TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
In an industry dominated by several big players (Makera’s $6,000 Carvera<\/a> and Bantam Tools’ $7,000 machine<\/a> are probably its closest competitors), Coast Runner’s relentless focus on customer education and powerful, compact CNC machines makes it an interesting new entrant into the market.<\/p>\n “Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
“Most companies in this space are content to sell their machines and wish their customers good luck,” Hoeft shrugs. “We are committed to guiding its users from the initial idea to the final product.”<\/p>\n
Coast Runner is a name to watch, as it launches its Kickstarter campaign with a $2,400 price tag next month. The final retail price will likely be around $3,000, the team tells me.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
If CES is anything to go by, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for makers and hobbyists. I loved taking a closer look at Rownd, but it was not even close to the only light-manufacturing company showing off cool stuff at the trade show in Las Vegas.\u00a0Coast Runner, is a new entrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170861,"featured_media":2651622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"carmot_uuid":"bb8d9e3a-7ed3-3158-8412-2aad55d112f6","apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-01-12T18:10:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff5f534a-cd13-4f58-a757-da9f14a3ffe4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-01-12T18:40:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_19TSs0TT1inV9qfFKP_5A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577052803,449223024,20429],"tags":[449557037,577214924],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_ec_category":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_regions_tax":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoast Runner launching a $2,400 CNC mill soon | TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n
At TechCrunch, Haje (He\/Him) covers general tech news and focuses mostly on hardware. He has founded several companies to varying degrees of success, spent a while in the VC world, and has been a journalist and TV producer since the dawn of his career. He is more-than-averagely interested in photography and can often be found with a camera slung over his shoulder. He wrote a book about pitching startups to investors, and you can find him on @Haje on Twitter (yes, really), or at Haje.me for everything else. Disclosures.<\/a> <\/p>","cbAvatar":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Haje-black-and-red-HQ-sq.jpg","twitter":"Haje"}],"author":[{"id":170861,"name":"Haje Jan Kamps","url":"","description":"","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/author\/haje-jan-kamps\/","slug":"haje-jan-kamps","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6ffdc4504715913427057be65524d44?s=24&d=identicon&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6ffdc4504715913427057be65524d44?s=48&d=identicon&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6ffdc4504715913427057be65524d44?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"},"yoast_head":"\nHaje Jan Kamps, Author at TechCrunch<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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