AI ethicists have called for urgent safeguards against an emerging digital afterlife industry. The concerns centre on chatbotsthat mimic the appearances, speech, and personalities of dead people. Known as deadbots or griefbots, these AI clones are trained on data about the deceased. They then provide simulated interactions with virtual recreations of the departed. This postmortem presence can social and psychological harm, according to researchers from Cambridge University. Their new study highl

A propaganda network linked to Russia has sparked alarm about a new weapon of information warfare: large language models (LLMs). The operation was unearthed by Recorded Future, a threat intelligence firm founded by two Swedish computer scientists. In early March, the company spotted a network known as CopyCop using LLMs to manipulate news from mainstream media outlets. Using prompt engineering, CopyCop tailored the content to specific audiences and political biases. Delivered via inauthentic US,

Most of us are familiar with chatbots on customer service portals, government departments, and through services like Google Bard and OpenAIs ChatGPT. They are convenient, easy to use, and always available, leading to their growing use for a diverse range of applications across the web. Unfortunately, most current chatbots are limited due to their reliance on static training data. Data outputted by these systems can be obsolete, limiting our ability to gain real-time information for our queries.

No-code startup Innoloft has raised 2mn in a new funding round led by Dutch VC firm Capital Mills. This marks the firms first investment into a German company. Innolofts no-code platform enables businesses to build web applications without any programming knowledge. Founded in 2019, the startup now counts over 70,000 end-users and includes customers such as Deutsche Telekom, Aachen University, and German state governments. With the new funding, Innoloft plans to accelerate product development an

Cybercrime hunters have unmasked the alleged leader of LockBit, a hacker network dubbed the most active ransomware group ever. LockBit gained global notoriety for holding victims datato ransom and ransomware-as-a-service, whereby it licenses malware to otherhackers. According to Europol, the gang was behind the worlds most deployed ransomware in 2022 causing billions of euros worth of damage. Among the high-profile victims are US aerospace giant Boeing, Britains Royal Mailand German automotive

A team of researchers have built a vision implant with tiny electrodes the size of a neuron, seeking to help blind people see again. The development of vision implants first emerged in the 1990s.The technology targets patients suffering from damage to the eye, but whose visual cortex the brains visual centre is active and able to receive signals. But despite the solutions potential, existing methods are limited by the large size of electrodes and metal corrosion. The research team claims to hav

Terra Quantum has today revealed its TQ42 Cryptography library an open-source suite of quantum-resistant algorithms designed to help developers and businesses protect data from current and future cybersecurity threats. The new cryptography library provides developers with post-quantum algorithms and security and key management functions. They can be used across a range of applications, including mobile, web, IoT, and cloud. The library is now available through the GitHub repository. According t

Frances budding AI scene has received another boost from a big investment in the startup Holistic. Amid the celebrations, however, the sale of medtech firm Sonio has added a warning about the dangers of success. The Holistic funding was revealed by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The Paris-based firm has reportedly raised $200mn (186mn) in a round that values the companyat $370mn (344mn). Holistic has big plans for the cash. According to Bloomberg, the startup wants to build multi-agent models that will e

Reuse Brew is a classic German lager with a twist its made from recycled wastewater. The beer is the result of a tie-up between the south German city of Weissenburg, American water tech company Xylem, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Specifically, TUMs Brewery and Beverage Technology department (why didnt I study there?!). While the idea of a sewage brew might be hard to swallow, Xylem ensures us that all the bad stuff is filtered out before the malt, hops, and yeast are added. Fir

Infineon, one of the biggest chip makers in Europe, has lowered its revenue outlook for the year, citing weak demand from its major target markets. The German company is now expecting a revenue of 15.1bn, plus or minus 400mn. Thats down from the previous forecast of 16bn, plus or minus 500mn. In the second quarter of 2024, Infineon saw a 2% drop in revenue compared to the previous quarter, generating 3.36bn. The decline stands, however, at 12% year-on-year. Revenue in the first quarter of 2024 a

Wayve, a London-based startup working on AI systems for autonomous vehicles, has raised $1bn. The colossal funding round marks the largest single investment in a European AI startup. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank led the funding round alongside tech giants Nvidia and Microsoft. Wayve did not disclose its valuation following the investment. Founded in Cambridge in 2017, Wayve is developing so-called embodied AI systems for self-driving cars. Unlike pure software AI like ChatGPT, embodied AI serv

The power of generative AI has further ignited the race for advanced humanoid robots, promising more capable machines that can learn and deal with unknown environments and challenges. Amid increasing competition across the globe, Switzerland-based mimic is also throwing its hat in the ring. The startup has raised a pre-seed round of $2.5mn (2.3mn) to bring the first GenAI-poweredcollaborative robot to market. A spinoff from ETH Zurich, mimic was founded in 2024 by a team of three researchers wor

The EU has granted 3.3mn to a consortium led by Swedish startup Epishine. The groups mission is to boost the development of organic solar panels. In this case, organic refers to solar panels that are carbon-based. Instead of using silicon to conduct electricity, these solar panels utilise organic molecules. Organic solar cells are very lightweight, cheap, semi-transparent, printable, and flexible. They can also convert indoor light into electricity. That can be from sunlight streaming in through

As I write this, two contrasting regulations on the development of artificial intelligence namely generative AI are making their way through the European and British parliaments. The British approach is very simple looking to ensure AI companies fit into existing laws governing technology companies. In contrast, the EU approach, as White & Case analysis describes, is an entirely new piece of legislation, and is risk-based looking to counter the most serious risks that come with developing mo

A British startup has devised a way to speed-up enhanced rock weathering using protein powder in a potential step forward for the budding carbon capture industry. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) involves spreading silicate rock dust on fields to capture carbon. When it rains, the dust reacts with the CO2 in the droplets, permanently storing it in the rocks as carbonate (think chalk or baking soda). This relatively simple technology has taken off in recent years, attracting funding from the likes

Estonian mobility startup Bolt has secured a 220mn credit facility as it plans to go public next year. This type of financing is a more flexible loan option, which allows a business to withdraw and repay funds as needed, on an ongoing basis. Kind of like a credit card for companies. The credit facility provides Bolt with additional flexibility as we work towards being IPO-ready, CEO and founder Markus Villig said in a statement. Lenders including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMo

Flemish venture capital firm Imec.xpand has raised 300mn to invest in deeptech startups. The VC is a spinoff from Leuven-based Imec, one of the worlds largest microelectronics research institutions. The new fund targets AI, semiconductors, nanotechnology, photonics, and quantum computing. It will also invest in startups working on new ways to diagnose and treat medical conditions. To date, Imec.xpand has invested in 23 companies that have so far raised a combined 1.5bn in funding. This includes

Todays NHS faces severe time constraints, with the risk of short consultations and concerns about the risk of misdiagnosis or delayed care. These challenges are compounded by limited resources and overstretched staff that results in protracted patient wait times and generic treatment strategies. Staff can operate with a surface level view of patient data, relying on basic medical histories and recent test results. This lack of comprehensive data interferes with their ability to fully understand

When the EU approved the European Green Deal in 2020, the bloc unveiled a plan to lead the clean energy transition. Yet it has since faced growing competition from both China which has quickly and quietly buried Europes solar panel industry and is now taking aim at its EV market and the US, which under the Biden administration took an about-face on sustainability with the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. As the EU invests more into renewables, it will need to overcome hurdl

Lithuanian climate investment firm HeavyFinance has added over 700,000 football pitches-worth of farmland in Ukraine to its soil carbon credit programme. Modern agriculture has taken its toll on soils. Centuries of plowing, cutting, and overgrazing has made land less fertile. This has also released billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. HeavyFinance pays farmers to put some of this carbon back into the ground. Specifically, the company issues loans to encourage the switch to regenerative

In June, Kubernetes celebrates its tenth birthday. The system is now so widely used by hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide to scale their applications to meet demand its hard even to remember a time before it existed. But there was a time when other options were available, and I even remember using some of them. Despite this relative vintage, many large developers teams and companies are still yet to embark on a migration to Kubernetes, or are in the middle of the process. But to many d

Another Dutch tech firm has been caught in the simmering tensions between the West and China. Amid growing calls to curb Chinese access to chipmaking equipment from ASML, a Dutch minister has raised a separate alarm about the sale of Philips spinoff Anteryon. Although the digital-optics developer remains based in Eindhoven, the business was bought in 2019 by Chinas Jingfang Optotelectronics. The Suzhou-based firm reportedly spent between 40mn and 50mn on the acquisition. Following a separate buy

Utrecht-based Vitestro has raised 20mn to bring its robotic blood drawing device to market. Founded in 2017, Vitestro aims to improve the blood draw experience for patients and address personnel shortages in healthcare where the demand for skilled laboratory professionals is growing at a higher rate than any other occupation. The startups device relies on infrared to locate the vein and ultrasound to create an image of the blood vessel. Then, an AI-based robotic needle uses this information to

Blockchain is often criticised as a solution in search of a problem. But one group of people has already found immense value in the tech: money launderers. Their crimes cause painful headaches for financial institutions, crypto businesses, legitimate law enforcement agencies, and cryptocurrencyregulators. All of them need to tackle illicit activity on blockchains. Enter Elliptic, a British firm that specialises in cryptocurrency forensics. The company uses blockchain analytics to protect custome

Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In todays episode, Linnea and Andrii talk about the availability of AI compute, Getirs imminent departure from Europe, quite some cash for German game developers, and a few things in between. The guest of the show is Alexandra Balkova, general partner and head of portfolio at Startup

Vinted, the popular online marketplace for second-hand fashion, has announced its first-ever annual profit. The milestone follows a strong 2023, reaching 596.3mn in revenue a 61% increase compared to the previous year (370.2mn). With an adjusted EBITDA at 76.6mn, Vinted turned a 20.4mn net loss in 2022 into a 17.8mn net profit in 2023. The startup attributes its profitability to significant growth, starting with increased penetration in existing markets and its expansion to Romania, Denmark, an

MindAffect, a Netherlands-based healthtech startup, has raised 1.1mn to bring its hearing diagnostics technology to market. A spinout from Radboud University, MindAffect has developed a patented brain computer interface (BCI) technology, which enables diagnosis of hearing impairments using brain signals. The startup aims to provide a more equitable testing solution that specifically caters for hard-to-test patients, such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Current methods, su

Paris-based Klineo has raised 2mn for its AI platform that facilitates access to cancer clinical trials. Klineos platform connects doctors and patients directly with relevant clinical trials. It provides trial search, contact with medical centres, as well as real-time updates and notifications when a new clinical trial matches the patients criteria. The startups solution currently covers trials on skin cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma. Klineo was founded in 2021 by oncologist Dr Arnaud Bayle

The Financial Times (full disclosure the owners of The Next Web) have inked a deal with OpenAI. The American firm will use the British publishers content to train its generative AI models. The deal is the latest in a string of new partnerships between OpenAI and global news publishers like Axel Springer, Associated Press, and Le Monde. The company did not disclose the financial terms of any of the contracts. In 2023 alone, hundreds of pages of litigation and countless articles accused tech firm

Under the UKs new cybersecurity law, consumer smart devices can no longer allow the use of weak, easy-to-guess passwords, such as admin or 12345. This is part of a set of minimum-security standards the UK is requiring to protect consumers from hacking and cyberattacks. The law covers every smart device that comes with internet or network connectivity, ranging from TVs and phones to game consoles, connected fridges, and smart doorbells. Manufacturers of such products will also have to publish con

Polestar has successfully charged its upcoming EV model in just 10 minutes. The Swedish car maker achieved the feat using a silicon-dominant battery built by Israeli startup StoreDot. Polestar installed the battery in a fully drivable prototype of its Polestar 5 model, set to go on sale next year. It managed to charge the EV from 10% to 80% under the 10-minute time cap. StoreDots batteries use silicon anodes instead of graphite. Silicon anodes can store 10 times the amount of lithium ions that

Our understanding of the challenges women face in the startup ecosystem is limited. Past research has focused on overt negative sexist attitudes that question womens competence and suitability for entrepreneurship. This view overlooks the existence of more subtle, yet pervasive and socially acceptable, sexist attitudes that often go unnoticed. Given the sheer number of people interested or working in startups today, from investors to suppliers to job applicants, the effects of these subtle forms

Hallo, Netherlands!Welcome to TNWs first weekly round-up of tech news from our glorious home country. As we count down to TNW conference in Amsterdam on June 20 and 21, were ramping up our coverage of the Dutch IT sector. Wed also love to hear your thoughts on the local ecosystem. Drop us a line if you want to showcase your startup, share a digital tip, or just tell us your deepest, darkest secrets. In the meantime, lets get to the news. What were writing Chip giant ASML plans Eindhoven expansio

In 2022, over 20,000 Lithuanians returned to their country of birth from abroad. A high quality of life coupled with a booming entrepreneurial ecosystem and a collaborative mentality has contributed to what investors are calling a reverse brain drain. Many of their minds reemerge in the countrys startup scene. It was on a visit to Lisbon that I first heard someone refer to Lithuania as a hidden gem of Europes startup ecosystem. A recent trip to Vilnius convinced me they were right. To further dr

DeepL, which has been rivalling machine translation giants such as Google Translate and Microsoft Translator, has launched an AI writing assistant tailored for businesses. Dubbed DeepL Write Pro, the product acts as a creative assistant for use during the drafting process. It provides suggestions on word choice, phrasing, style, and tone, aiming to improve the text, while preserving the writers own voice. Currently available in English and German, the tool comes with customisation options for bo

British cybersecurity flag bearer Darktrace is set to leave Londons stock market after agreeing a 4.3bn sale to US private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Shareholders will have to approve the takeover before its rubber-stamped. The chair of Darktrace, Gordon Hurst, said the deal represents an attractive premium and an opportunity for shareholders. The proposed acquisition will provide Darktrace access to a strong financial partner in Thoma Bravo, with deep software sector expertise, who can enhance th

Time and again, leading scientists, technologists, and philosophers have made spectacularly terrible guesses about the direction of innovation. Even Einstein was not immune, claiming, There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable, just ten years before Enrico Fermi completed construction of the first fission reactor in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, the consensus switched to fears of an imminent nuclear holocaust. Similarly, todays experts warn that an artificia

Cyber attackers battered Poland after the countrys change of government late last year. DDoS attacks at the end of 2023 were nearly quadruple the countrys average, according to cybersecurity firm NetScouts observations. The surge began when the Law and Justice party (PiS) lost its majority in last years Polish general election. PiS had ruled the country since 2015. It was replaced by a coalition government,which reaffirmed support for Ukraines defence against Russias invasion. NetScout described

Demand for industrial robots is rising in Europe, especially driven by the benefits of automation. However, there are ongoing challenges in ensuring seamless collaboration with humans while maintaining safety. To address this issue, a consortium of European universities, technology accelerators, and private research labs is launching the RoboSAPIENs project. The aim is to build the necessary safety mechanisms with a particular focus on adaptive industrial robots a category of autonomous robots

A British startup today unveiled new AI humans that blur the line between the virtual and the real. Synthesia calls the digital beings Expressive Avatars. They promise the most realistic emotional expressions on the market. Generated by an AI model thats trained on footage of real actors, the avatars are built for video creation. Users simply enter a text prompt and the synthetic humans read them out on a screen. The photorealistic renders are certainly impressive. But what makes them unique is

Dutch car-sharing platform SnappCar, which claims to be the largest of its kind in the Netherlands, has been fully acquired by AutoBinck Group a shareholder in the scaleup since its founding in 2011. The ownership change also sees the return of SnappCars founder, Victor van Tol, in the role of the CEO. Van Told told local newspaper mt/sprout that the acquisition will enable faster decisions and eliminate the need for external investments. AutoBinck, which specialises in mobility and energy solu

A startup promising universal AI compute has joined Frances thriving artificial intelligence sector. Paris-based FlexAI emerged from stealth today with a 28.5mn war chest and an ambitious plan to unlock the future of machine intelligence. To pick that lock, FlexAI is rearchitecting compute infrastructure. The plans centrepiece is an on-demand cloud service. Set to launch later this year, the product will enable developers to build and train AI applications with heterogeneous compute architecture

Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In todays episode, Ioanna and Andrii talk about the potentially good news about ASMLs future in the Netherlands, the latest developments at Stability AI, carbon capture solutions, and much more. The guest of the show is Sebastian Aristotelis, whose title is co-founder and Lead Archite

Its safe to say that the age of generative AI is well and truly upon us, rapidly changing the world of work as we know it. According to the World Economic Forums 2023 Future of Jobs Report, more than 75% of companies are looking to adopt technologies like AI in the next five years, so its no surprise that career opportunities in the space are exploding, especially for developers. But which programming language is leading the way? Python is without a doubt the most buzzed-about language for AI de