What I love most about covering AI this year? You learn way more by failing.Robert A. Heinlein: "Don't ever become a pessimist a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun."Last Episode in 2024: The AI Optimist returns Ja

While the tech industry chases AI billions with promises of artificial general intelligence and superintelligent machines, a different story is unfolding in the startup layer.Entrepreneurs who focus on how people use technology are finding immediate succe

I remember it so clearly, the Exhibitors booth with the simple name Ruth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, away from the posturing about AGI and the next trillion-dollar unicorn.Megs Shah and Sandy Skelaney are doing something different and non-profit Ruth i

In the midst of the AI glory days, in a room buzzing with the impact and momentum of the industry, no one seemed to care about copyrights except the speaker on the Disrupt stage.While watching Martin Casado of A16Z deftly handle questions about AI regulat

From Art to AI: How Generative Models Are Reinventing AdvertisingThe advertising industry is about to experience its AWS moment. Just as cloud computing transformed IT from a capital-intensive hardware business into an API-driven software model, AI is pi

In a dimly lit conference room in San Francisco, tech executives are huddled around a whiteboard, sketching out complex diagrams of AI safety protocols.Across town, researchers are debugging thousands of lines of code meant to teach AI systems ethics. And

AI adoption, especially at the enterprise level, is stuck in neutral.Tons of promise, and challenges - how can we all align AI incentives with our customers, when we dont know what the next 2 years will bring.We're thinking about AI adoption all wrong, o

We're thinking about AI all wrong, and I'm going to tell you why.While Silicon Valley buzzes about billion-dollar AI valuations and enterprises rush to "AI-enable" their legacy software, they're missing something fundamental: AI isn't just another tool in

Imagine waking up one day with a complete blank slate - no memories, no sense of who you are or where you've been. That's exactly what happened to Dan Thomson, CEO of Sensay.io, when a brutal concussion robbed him of two entire days of his life.This jarri

The billionaire AI game is on, with OpenAI scoring $6 billion while burning $5 billion.faster than a Tesla on ludicrous mode.In the other corner, Fathom, a scrappy upstart that's actually, you know, making money. The kind you should listen to, based on bu