AI agents are hitting a new hurdle: websites blocking them
Amazon recently began blocking Meta's Muse AI agent from its retail site, part of a broader pattern of websites blocking AI agents from completing tasks.
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1155 storiesHark releases an AI personal assistant with a focus on privacy
Hark, founded less than a year ago by Brett Adcock, released Hark Pro, a free AI personal assistant pitched as safer than Meta or OpenAI on privacy.
JioHotstar expands into MENA through a partnership with Starzplay
JioHotstar, the Reliance-backed streaming platform with more than 500 million monthly users, is expanding into the Middle East and North Africa through a partnership with Starzplay.
Anthropic gives startups a free year of Claude Team, $1,000 in credits
Anthropic is offering eligible startups a free year of Claude Team, $1,000 in API credits, and access to its Claude Marketplace and Applied AI team.
LibreOffice says 'no AI' is now a software feature
The Document Foundation says LibreOffice "will not add" AI for the foreseeable future, framing the absence of generative AI as a deliberate design choice rather than a rejection of the technology.
Vinod Khosla bets on Wajo's AI agent, betting on trust over scale
Investor Vinod Khosla is backing former DeepMind engineer Shivani Poddar's AI agent startup Wajo over rivals like Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dot, citing trust as Wajo's key differentiator.
Bluesky applies for its own ".bsky" domain suffix
Bluesky has applied to ICANN to make ".bsky" a new internet domain suffix, which would let users turn their long social handles into shorter custom domains — though approval could take 18 to 24 months.
Pinterest's new AI feature turns beauty Pins into salon-ready plans
Pinterest unveiled "Beauty Guides," an AI feature that turns saved hair and nail Pins into actionable plans, including stylist terminology, time estimates and price ranges, that users can bring to a salon.
Facebook tests sending some users straight into Reels in India
Meta has started testing a Facebook version in India that opens directly into full-screen Reels instead of the classic feed.
Instinct expands its AI agent into group chats with friends
Instinct, the AI agent now valued at $10 billion, is expanding into group chats that work even when a user's friends haven't joined the app.
TikTok launches an AI shopping assistant and one-click checkout
TikTok is rolling out a conversational AI shopping assistant and a one-click, in-app checkout that lets users buy directly from brands in its For You feed.
Hot Girl Hotline built an AI hotline for dating advice
Sisters Baila and Sumi Mudgil launched Hot Girl Hotline, an AI chatbot that gives young women relationship advice with safety guardrails and plans to charge a $9.99 monthly subscription.
HackerRank launches Chakra, an AI interviewer for job candidates
HackerRank is making Chakra, an AI agent that conducts and scores job interviews, generally available after conducting more than 500,000 test interviews in beta.
OpenAI brings visual ads to ChatGPT's image results
OpenAI will begin showing visual display ads alongside ChatGPT's image-generation results in the U.S. later this month, part of a broader push into advertising.
Bitchat, Dorsey's offline chat app, vanishes from India's stores
Bitchat, Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth-based offline messaging app, has disappeared from Apple's and Google's app stores in India after a government order citing Section 69A of the IT Act.
Meta lets developers build their own hardware for Muse
Meta launched Muse Gadgets, an open-source project that lets developers build their own hardware to connect to its Muse AI agent.
Apple tightens macOS 'Full Disk Access' controls over AI risks
Apple says it's adding stricter controls to macOS's Full Disk Access setting after reports that AI agents like Meta's Muse and OpenAI's ChatGPT raised new privacy risks.
Laytr's new app saves anything online, not just articles
Laytr, a new save-for-later app from indie developer Mostafa Talaat, lets users save articles, recipes, screenshots, videos, PDFs, bookmarks, and tabs for later, with everything stored privately on-device.
Epic pauses product work to fix MyChart security flaws
Epic, the maker of the widely used MyChart medical-records software, has paused most product development for a likely six weeks after a cybersecurity review uncovered flaws that could let outsiders access patient data.
ChatGPT adds a virtual try-on feature for shopping
OpenAI launched a global ChatGPT feature that lets users virtually try on clothes and accessories from a photo, plus a new way to save favorite products.