Techi

If you logged into Instagram recently, then you may have noticed that your feed was populated with explicit and violent material. Some of the content included graphic injuries, depictions of dismemberment, and even violent acts such as shootings and assaults. This was particularly concerning as a lot of users have their “Sensitive Content Control” enabled at its highest setting, which is designed to filter out such content. Now, Meta has addressed and resolved the issue. A Meta spokesperson spoke about the problem (which led to disturbing content being recommended to users despite content moderation settings), revealing, “We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended. We apologize for the mistake.” The reasons behind the error were not revealed. For its part, the social media giant has long maintained policies that prohibit content depicting extreme violence, gore, and other disturbing imagery. Accord...

Google has reportedly laid off some employees in its cloud division, but the exact number isn’t publicly known. According to a report by Bloomberg , the company describes it as an ‘adjustment’ to align with customer needs and future opportunities, which suggests they might be restructuring or shifting priorities rather than conducting a large-scale layoff. Google Cloud could be streamlining certain teams to focus on more profitable or high-growth areas. Notably, Google Cloud competes with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. And Google is cutting jobs because its cloud business isn’t growing as fast as expected, and it’s spending heavily on artificial intelligence. The search giant might be adjusting its workforce to stay competitive. The Mountain View-headquartered company has been gradually downsizing, unit by unit, since 2024. In December 2024, the company  laid off 10% of its managerial staff , including managers, directors and vice presidents. Meanwhile, the late...

Amazon’s Alexa is finally going AI. Amazon has unveiled ‘Alexa+,’ an enhanced version of its voice assistant powered by generative artificial intelligence. This upgrade aims to transform Alexa from a basic voice assistant into a more conversational and intuitive AI companion. Alexa+ can engage in more natural dialogues, understanding user tone and context to provide more accurate and context-aware responses. Interestingly, beyond basic tasks, Alexa+ can handle complex activities such as booking reservations, sending messages, managing smart home devices, and orchestrating events, all through voice commands. The assistant learns from user interactions, remembering preferences, routines, and even dietary restrictions, to offer tailored recommendations and proactive assistance. Deeper integration with Amazon Music, Fire TV, and Ring devices, allowing users to control playback and get AI-generated video summaries. These new features work best if you’re using Fire TV, Ring cameras, and o...

Optifye.ai, a AI startup backed by Y Combinator, has recently faced significant backlash due to a controversial video demo. The startup, co-founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Vivaan Baid and Kushal Mohta, developed an AI-powered system that uses computer vision to monitor factory workers’ efficiency in real-time. In the demo, the founders role-played as factory supervisors, identifying underperforming workers – referred to by numbers rather than names – and blaming them for not meeting productivity targets. Meanwhile, Y Combinator also posted this Optifye demo video on X and LinkedIn on Monday, which was seen and shared (with screenshots ) by several users on the internet. They tried to delete it but this anon saved it… pic.twitter.com/mGiHFbEInF — Based Baron (@BasedBaronT) February 25, 2025 However many people found the concept dehumanizing and exploitative, leading to heavy backlash online. And due to the widespread criticism, Y Combinator removed the video from its socia...

Google has launched a free version of its AI-powered coding tool called ‘Gemini Code Assist’ for Individuals. This tool is designed to help individual developers – such as students, freelancers, hobbyists, and startups – by providing features like code completion, code generation, and debugging assistance across various programming languages. Speaking of detail, the AI coding assistance – launched in October 2024 – is powered by Gemini 2.0, a model fine-tuned specifically for programming. It supports all public-domain programming languages and provides high-quality code recommendations based on real-world coding scenarios. The tool integrates with popular development environments like Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs, allowing developers to receive real-time coding support without switching between different resources. Compared to other free coding assistants, which often impose restrictive usage limits (like 2,000 code completions per month), Gemini Code Assist is much more ...

Adobe has introduced a new Photoshop app for iPhones, with plans to release an Android version later this year. This app is distinct from the existing Photoshop Express, as it offers a more comprehensive set of features akin to the desktop version, including advanced design, editing, and generative AI tools. Notably, Photoshop Express has been available since 2010 and is more like other mobile editing apps, offering basic tools like resizing, masking, and blemish removal. However, this new app supports cross-device project work through integration with Photoshop on the web, allowing users to seamlessly continue their work across different platforms. While the free version provides access to essential tools like the Spot Healing Brush, Tap Select, layers, selections, and masks, a premium subscription unlocks advanced features such as Object Select, Magic Wand, and Content-Aware Fill. This move aims to attract creative professionals and compete with other mobile editing apps like Canv...

Microsoft is reportedly working on a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office for Windows, similar to how they already offer free web-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Instead of needing a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, users could get a basic version of Office apps (like Word, Excel, and more) for free on their PC. To make it free, Microsoft could display ads inside the apps, similar to how some free mobile or web-based software works. Currently, free Office apps are only available on the web or in limited mobile versions. In the meantime, this free Windows version would expand accessibility gradually. Talking about details, the free version may lack premium features, require an internet connection for some functions, or have other restrictions. For now, Microsoft is testing this ad-supported version of Office for Windows in India. As free Office access comes at the cost of ads and cloud-only storage, dependence on OneDrive could be frustrating for users who p...

Google is shifting away from using SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) codes for Gmail and replacing them with QR codes. According to a report by Forbes, this move is aimed at improving security by reducing vulnerabilities associated with SMS authentication, such as SIM swapping attacks, phishing, and SMS interception by hackers. The Mountain View-headquartered company will reportedly implement this change over the next few months, so users should expect a shift in how they verify logins. Notably, this move aligns with Google’s push towards passwordless authentication, encouraging users to use Google Authenticator, security keys, or passkeys instead of SMS codes. The tech titan believes that SMS-based authentication is vulnerable to attacks like SIM hijacking, where cybercriminals take control of a user’s phone number. And QR codes comparatively provide a more secure way to verify identity. Going forward, instead of receiving a six-digit code via SMS, users will scan a QR ...

After Elon Musk’s recent meeting with Prime Minister Modi during latter’s recent US visit, Tesla is now finally entering the Indian market. The EV giant plans to begin importing its vehicles to a port near Mumbai in the coming months, according to a Bloomberg report . Additionally, the company has made several new roles live on its careers page, for India related sales, retail and technology teams. The Musk-owned EV maker aims to start selling cars in key Indian cities, such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, by the third quarter of 2025. Tesla’s initial offering in India will be the Model Y, an SUV-style electric vehicle known for its advanced features, enhanced towing capacity, and spacious design. This decision deviates from earlier speculation that Tesla might introduce the more affordable Model 3 as its first product in the Indian market. Instead, the company appears to target the premium segment with the Model Y, which will be imported from its Gigafactory in Berlin. The Berlin...

Joining a long suit of tech companies announcing massive infrastructure investments in the US post Trump assuming office, Apple has now unveiled plans to invest over $500 billion in the US over the next four years. This investment is set to include the creation of 20,000 jobs, construction of a new server manufacturing facility in Texas, and increased funding for domestic manufacturing initiatives. “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Tim Cook, Apple CEO, commented on the development. “From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.” This investment comes on the wake of the iPhone-maker facing ...

After China held a long series of discussions with its tech behemoths, including the largely disappeared Jack Ma of Alibaba among others, it was expected that Chinese firms would come out with major AI announcements to counter the ongoing slew of similar US announcements from Donald Trump. And the first to come up with massive investment plans, is Alibaba. The Chinese e-commerce major has announced plans to invest more than 380 billion yuan ($52.4 billion) in AI and cloud infrastructure over the next three years. This investment comes even as Alibaba has been facing regulatory challenges in China since 2020. Following years of government scrutiny, the company is now refocusing on AI, e-commerce, and cloud computing. During its latest earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming described AI as an “once-in-a-generation” opportunity.” “If AGI is achieved, the AI-relevant industry will very likely become the world’s largest industry,” he stated. “Alibaba Group announced plans to invest...

Apple is removing its strongest data security feature, Advanced Data Protection (ADP) for UK users because the government wants ‘backdoor’ access to user data. Advanced Data Protection (ADP) is a well-known security mechanism, that enables end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for iCloud backups, photos, notes, messages, and more. With end-to-end encryption or ‘E2EE’, only the user can decrypt their data. In fact, Apple itself cannot access or recover it, even if compelled by authorities. However, by removing this feature, Apple is allowing UK authorities more access to user data stored on iCloud. Apple’s decision to remove its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature in the UK is a significant shift with major implications for user privacy, cybersecurity, and government surveillance. This move is likely a response to legal and regulatory pressures, particularly from the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016 (aka the Snoopers’ Charter), which the UK government has been pushing to amend. The pro...

OpenAI has expanded access to its AI agent Operator , beyond the US, making it available in multiple countries. Launched in January 2025, this tool is different from regular ChatGPT. It can autonomously browse the internet and perform tasks online, making it more of a digital assistant than just a chatbot. Under the latest move, this AI agent is now available to ChatGPT Pro users in select countries, including India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, Singapore and others. However, it’s not yet in the EU or some European regions – like Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland – due to GDPR and other regulatory concerns. Operator is now rolling out to Pro users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and most places ChatGPT is available. Still working on making Operator available in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein & Iceland—we’ll keep you updated! — OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 21, 2025 OpenAI is gra...

Google has officially removed its AI assistant, Gemini, from the main Google app on iOS devices. Now, users on iPhones and iPads are being directed to download the standalone Gemini app from the Apple App Store. Prior to this development, Gemini could be accessed within the Google app through a toggle that allowed users to switch between Google Search and the AI assistant. However, this toggle was removed in early February, leaving only the “More” tab as a means to access Gemini. As of the latest update (version 356.0), attempting to use Gemini within the app now displays a message redirecting users to download the standalone Gemini app. The removal of Gemini from the Google app was communicated through an email sent to iOS users on February 18. In the message, Google stated, ““We’re making some changes to create an even better Gemini experience on iOS,” the email read. “Gemini is now available as its own app, and that’s now the best place to use Gemini. To continue using Gemini, dow...

Apple has officially launched its first product of the year, introducing the iPhone 16e as the latest addition to its smartphone lineup. This release comes alongside the discontinuation of three existing models—the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus. For several years, Apple’s lower-cost iPhone option has been the iPhone SE, which retained a design reminiscent of older iPhone models while coming with newer processors. Many industry analysts and consumers expected Apple to continue the SE branding for its next affordable device (namely, the iPhone SE 4). However, from the looks of it, Apple has now officially moved forward with the “iPhone 16e” name instead of introducing a fourth-generation iPhone SE. By launching the iPhone 16e, Apple is effectively replacing the iPhone SE as well as the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, which were previously available as lower-cost alternatives to the latest flagship models. The iPhone SE was, prior to this development, Apple’s most pocket-frien...

Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI , has launched a new AI startup named Thinking Machines Lab. This newly formed company aims to make AI systems more understandable, customizable, and generally capable. To promote transparency, it plans to regularly publish technical research and code. Murati will join in the likes of other OpenAI senior execs such co-founder   Ilya Sutskever , who have gone on to found their own AI companies. Murati’s new startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has assembled a powerhouse team of AI experts, signaling serious competition in the AI space. While Mira Murati will head the company as CEO, the team includes notable researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Mistral AI, such as John Schulman, a key figure behind ChatGPT. Their mission centers on creating AI models that enhance human-AI collaboration, leveraging cost-efficient advancements. “We are scientists, engineers, and builders who’ve created some of the most widely used AI products, ...

xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, has now officially launched Grok 3, the latest version of its AI model. The model is being positioned as a direct competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini, two of the most popular AI models currently available. Grok 3 is being made available through Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), where the AI has already been integrated into the service. Grok-3 comes with vastly more advanced computational power and was developed using xAI’s supercomputer, Colossus, an AI training cluster that is housed in Memphis, Tennessee. This facility boasts an estimated 200,000 GPUs, making it one of the most powerful AI training clusters in the world. According to Musk, the computational resources allocated to Grok 3 are ten times greater than those used for its predecessor, Grok 2. This increase in processing power has allowed xAI to develop a model with enhanced reasoning abilities, improved contextual understanding, and greater accuracy in handling c...

Micro-blogging platform X is blocking links to Signal.me, the URL shortener used by the Signal messaging app to facilitate direct contact between users. Currently, attempts to share these links on X result in error messages indicating the content is identified as spam, harmful, or malicious. Notably, this development was first spotted by the blog ,   Disruptionist. Interestingly, this restriction applies solely to Signal.me links, meanwhile other domains like Signal.org and similar services such as Telegram remain unaffected. Launched in 2014, Signal is widely utilized for secure, end-to-end encrypted communications (especially for confidential reporting and whistleblowing activities). While the development is still not officially confirmed by X, it has impacted already posted links as well. According to the report, when users try to post any Signal.me link, they receive a failure prompt stating, “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our p...

A new WSJ report is now suggesting, that Broadcom Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are now exploring deals that could result in Intel Corp. being divided into separate entities. Broadcom has held informal discussions with its advisors about making a bid for Intel’s chip-design and marketing business, though no formal offer has been made. Meanwhile, TSMC is reportedly in early talks about acquiring a controlling stake in Intel’s semiconductor fabrication plants as well. Broadcom has been a major player in the semiconductor and networking industries for years, and reports state that it has an eye on Intel’s chip-design and marketing business. If the deal moves forward, it would mark a shift for Broadcom, which has historically focused on communications and networking semiconductors, rather than x86 chip architecture. The catch is that unlike AMD (which designs but does not manufacture its chips). Intel has long been both a designer and fabricator of its semicond...

As the United States, under the new Trump administration intensifies its trade tariffs globally, specially on China, the country is now looking to bring back its out-in-cold tech leaders back to the global arena. This includes the almost-disappeared Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the AI wonderkid DeepSeek’s founder among others. Much of this is to show that a more lenient business environment is back, with China focusing on building indigenous tech in emerging areas such as Artificial Intelligence. According to a report by Bloomberg, China has invited top leaders from the private sector across various countries to discuss challenges and outline a future roadmap to maintain its position as a prominent leader in the international tech sector. China’s invitation to prominent entrepreneurs, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, to meet with top leaders signifies a strategic shift in the government’s approach to the private sector. Notably, major Chinese fi...

JioHotstar – the newly consolidated streaming service formed from the merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar – has officially been launched. The platform brings together content libraries and premium sports broadcasting rights, and follows the merger of Viacom18 and Star India in late 2024, which had led to the creation of JioStar, a media entity backed by Reliance and The Walt Disney Company. With an estimated 500 million users at launch, JioHotstar seems to be on the path to becoming India’s largest OTT platform, offering a mix of Bollywood and Hollywood films, regional programming, live sports, original web series, and international content. The new service also incorporates features such as multi-angle sports streaming, AI-driven content recommendations, and support for multiple languages. “At the core of JioHotstar is a powerful vision—to make premium entertainment truly accessible to all Indians. Our promise of Infinite Possibilities ensures that entertainment is no longer a p...

OpenAI has officially scrapped its plans to release o3 as a standalone AI model, opting instead to integrate its capabilities into GPT-5, the company’s next major AI system. The decision was announced by CEO Sam Altman in a series of posts on X . The company had originally scheduled o3 for an early 2024 release, with reports as recent as January suggesting a February-March launch window. However, OpenAI has now chosen to incorporate o3’s reasoning capabilities directly into GPT-5, which is expected to launch within the next few months. Alongside this shift, OpenAI is also preparing to release GPT-4.5, a model internally codenamed Orion, in the coming weeks. “We want to do a better job of sharing our intended roadmap, and a much better job simplifying our product offerings. We want AI to “just work” for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten. We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence. We will next ...

As the race to offer AI tools continues to intensify, software giant Adobe has introduced its latest artificial intelligence tool for creating AI-generated video clips. The San Jose, California-headquartered company has launched its text-to-video and image-to-video AI generator, called ‘Generate Video’ (Firefly Video Model), for public testing. Notably, the tool is part of the Firefly web app, which has been re-designed to also include other AI-powered features like image generation and translation. Previously, it was available only to a limited group, but now anyone can try the tool online as it is in public beta. By using this new Generate Video tool, users can easily generate footage using a text description. There is also an option to upload a reference image along with the text prompt to provide a starting point for the video. The tool offers several styles for video output, including simulated styles, camera angles, motion, and shooting distances. Speaking of details, Adobe’s...