China family creates AI clone to comfort elderly mum after only son dies in car accident
After a man in China was killed in a road accident last year, his family hired an artificial intelligence (AI) technology team to create a digital version of him to comfort his elderly mother. The AI creation is able to chat with his octogenarian mother online and help her live with the reality of her only child’s death. The incident was exposed by the AI team leader Zhang Zewei, who is based in eastern Jiangsu province, according to the media outlet Litchi News. The family, who live in Shandong...
AI could be coming for your wine as experts turn to technology for industry overhaul
Scientists have created an AI-powered "grape ripeness detector" designed to make wine production more efficient — combining the use of technology with vineyard expertise in pursuit of the best wine for consumers.The new portable handheld sensor provides instant and accurate data about whether grapes are ready to harvest, scientists in the U.K. say.Given that harvesting grapes is extremely time-sensitive, researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have invented a portable optical senso...
Innovative ‘water stove’ delivers clean, efficient flame using just electricity
A groundbreaking clean-energy innovation from India is set to transform everyday cooking with the water stove — a compact, plug-and-play hydrogen cooking system that generates its own clean fuel on demand using only electricity. This advanced technology integrates a high-efficiency proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer directly into the cooking unit. With a simple turn of the knob, the system produces hydrogen gas instantly through electrolysis. The resulting flame burns cleanly, releasing...
Starbucks’ game plan to roll out AI chatbots at cafés could serve as a ‘litmus test’ for the industry, analyst says
Starbucks is betting on AI to give its baristas some extra help behind the counter. The Seattle-based coffee chain is implementing “Green Dot Assist,” an AI-powered virtual assistant intended to simplify baristas’ jobs and fulfill orders faster. First announced in June 2025, Starbucks will pilot the technology created with Microsoft Azure’s OpenAI platform at 35 locations and is being rolled out more widely this year. The AI assistant will pull recipe cards of drinks to show baristas how to ma...
Hong Kong’s listing reform 2.0: can it outshine global rivals for innovative firms?
Fang Liu, a partner at global law firm Clifford Chance, counts among his clients many technology companies that are keen to list in Hong Kong, but find the current requirements cumbersome. Clifford Chance has helped more than a dozen innovative companies raise funds under the new listing regime since 2018, when Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) introduced reforms for pre-revenue biotech firms and companies with weighted voting rights (WVR), where one class of shareholders carries more...
20 percent say AI has taken over parts of their job: Survey
More than one in four Americans who use artificial intelligence at work said it has replaced some of their daily tasks, as a new survey shows more employees are turning to the technology in everyday life. The Epoch AI/Ipsos survey released Thursday found that half of U.S. adults reported using AI tools in the past…
Android Circuit: Galaxy S27 Pro Emerges, Honor 600 Pre-Order Offers, Pixel 11 Display Leaks
This week’s Android headlines: Galaxy S27 Pro emerges, Galaxy S26 FE specs, Honor 600 pre-launch offers, Pixel 11’s new display, Moto Edge 70 Fusion power, 2026’s defining technology, and more...
Stalking victim sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT fueled her abuser’s delusions and ignored her warnings
After months of conversations with ChatGPT, a 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur became convinced he’d discovered a cure for sleep apnea and that powerful people were coming after him, according to a new lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco County. He then allegedly used the tool to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend. Now the ex-girlfriend is suing OpenAI, alleging the company’s technology enabled the acceleration of her harassment, TechCrunch has exclusively le...
TechCrunch is heading to Tokyo — and bringing the Startup Battlefield with it
SusHi Tech 2026 is zeroing in on four technology domains reshaping society: AI, Robotics, Resilience, and Entertainment. Expect live demos of humanoid robots, sessions on autonomous driving's software revolution, deep dives into cyber defense and climate tech, and candid conversations about how AI is rewriting the global music and anime industries.
China telecoms face US exit risk as FCC deepens crackdown on data centres
The latest US restrictions on Chinese telecoms operators could ultimately force them out of the American market, analysts said, marking an escalation in Washington’s multi-year crackdown on Chinese technology. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Thursday that it was considering broader measures to bar Chinese telecom carriers from operating data centres in its territory, further restricting Chinese telecoms carriers’ access to US networks and infrastructure. China Mobile,...
France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech
France is trying to move on from Microsoft Windows. The country said it plans to move some of its government computers currently running Windows to the open source operating system Linux to further reduce its reliance on U.S. technology. Linux is an open source operating system that is free to download and use, with various customized distributions that are tailored and designed for specific use cases or operations.
Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M
Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines. The technology may be challenging to master and expensive to build today, but fusion promises to harness the nuclear reaction that powers the sun to generate nearly limitless energy here on Earth. If startups are able to complete commercially viable fusion power plants, then they have the potential t...
xAI sues Colorado over new AI law
Billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is suing Colorado over a new state law that seeks to regulate the rapidly evolving technology. The company, xAI, filed a lawsuit against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) on Thursday, seeking to block enforcement of a 2024 law that requires developers of “high-risk” systems to protect consumers against…
GITEX Africa Morocco 2026: Morocco Retains Presidency of CAITA
Casablanca – Morocco has retained presidency of the African Council of Information Technology Agencies, known as CAITA, during its fourth meeting held on Wednesday in Marrakech on the sidelines of GITEX Africa Morocco 2026. TheDigital Development Agency (ADD) organized the meeting as part of GITEX Africa’s edition. The event, taking place in Marrakech from April 7-9, has increasingly positioned itself as a strategic platform for strengthening integrated and action-oriented digital cooperation a...
BCP Signs UIR Student Financing, Huawei Digital Transformation Deals at GITEX Africa
Casablanca – At GITEX Africa Morocco in Marrakech on Tuesday, the BCP Group signed two cooperation agreements focused on education access for African students and the modernization of its banking technology infrastructure. The first deal brings together the International University of Rabat (UIR) and Banque Centrale Populaire International, with the aim of making higher education in Morocco more accessible to students from across Africa. Signed on the sidelines of the event’s fourth edition, th...
24% of Hong Kong firms to widely adopt AI, with smaller headcounts expected: KPMG
Nearly a quarter of Hong Kong companies are expected to widely adopt AI this year, a threefold increase from a year ago, while a growing number of business leaders believe the technology will result in smaller headcounts, a survey has revealed. Professional services firm KPMG released the Hong Kong Employment Outlook 2026 on Wednesday, with the poll showing that 24 per cent of organisations were set to widely adopt artificial intelligence (AI), up from just 8 per cent in the previous...
Hong Kong to set up company this year to fast-track San Tin tech hub as firms eye move
Hong Kong authorities will set up a company this year to accelerate the development of an innovation hub near the border, with firms already expressing interest in moving into the San Tin Technopole, a senior tech official has said. Permanent Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Kevin Choi Kit-ming also told the South China Morning Post that some companies might soon be able to transfer data and biological samples across the border once tailor-made measures were introduced later...
Anthropic touts AI cybersecurity project with Big Tech partners
Anthropic on Tuesday announced an initiative with major technology companies, including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Apple, that lets partners preview an advanced cybersecurity model developed by the AI startup. Under its “Project Glasswing”, select organizations will be allowed to use the startup’s unreleased and general-purpose AI model, “Claude Mythos Preview”, for defensive cybersecurity work, Anthropic said. Other partners include CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Network...
Jamie Dimon warns of growing crypto competition in annual letter: ‘We need to roll out our own blockchain technology’
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has long been among the crypto sector’s most notable skeptics. Dimon vowed in 2017 to fire any JPMorgan trader who traded bitcoin and has called the oldest cryptocurrency a “fraud” and a “pet rock.” More recently, though, Dimon has become more open to the technology and, this week, he acknowledged that blockchain-based companies are now among his bank’s competitors. In his annual shareholder letter published on Monday, Dimon said “a whole new set of competitor...
ICE acknowledges it is using powerful spyware
Technology ICE acknowledges it is using powerful spyware April 7, 20265:01 PM ET By Jude Joffe-Block A man holds his phone up next to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agent during an immigration raid in Chicago on Oct. 4, 2025. The top official of CBP's sister agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed last week that the agency is using powerful spyware that can hack into phones. Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Octavio Jone...