Google continues rolling out Gemini to different products as today the company announced that Android Studio’s bot is getting upgraded with Gemini Pro.
In May 2023, during the Google IO developer event, the company first introduced Studio Bot powered by the PaLM-2 foundation model.
The company is rolling out Gemini in Android Studio in over 180 countries for the Android Studio Jellyfish version.
Just like the Studio Bot, the new Gemini bot lives in the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and developers can ask coding-related questions.
The company said users can easily access the Gemini API starter template through Android Studio to add generative AI-powered features to their apps.
Startup studio super{set} has a fresh exit under its belt with the sale of marketing company Habu to LiveRamp for $200 million in January.
Now, super{set} is adding another $90 million to its coffers as it doubles down on its strategy of building enterprise startups.
We remain a venture studio focused on building companies rooted in data and AI.
We found, fund and build new technology startups, mostly in the enterprise space,” founding managing partner Tom Chavez told TechCrunch.
That’s one aspect in which super{set} has changed compared to 2019, Chavez said, as its method went from art to science.
Want to weave various Stability AI-generated video clips into a movie?
Morph Studio, which has its own text-to-video model, just introduced an AI filmmaking platform.
Undergirding the creation process is Morph’s partnership with Stability AI, though eventually, Morph plans to introduce an array of generative video models for users to choose from.
AI has introduced a new workflow to film production,” Morph’s co-founder Xu Huaizhe said in an interview with TechCrunch.
Meme generatingXu’s commitment to creating a community around videos was evident in Morph’s inaugural product endeavor: a place for sharing AI-generated memes.
Lightricks, the company that makes popular apps like Facetune and Videoleap, announced a new AI-powered filmmaking tool called LTX Studio today.
LTX Studio, which is currently inviting users to sign up for a waitlist, is a web-based tool.
Creators can first type an idea they have and LTX Studio will create a script and a storyboard for them along with characters through a prompt.
That thought process led the startup to make LTX Studio.
Plus, with the latest LTX studio launch, it is aiming to cater to more professionals.
Masterclass rival Studio launched today its first AI-powered online school for musicians, songwriters and producers to learn from top artists in the industry, create new songs, get feedback from like-minded peers and access Studio’s AI coach that keeps them on track with personalized schedules and deadlines.
Studio’s Music School provides thousands of exclusive lessons taught by over 110 popular artists and instructors, including Charlie Puth, Kygo, H.E.R., Idina Menzel, Pentatonix, Ryan Tedder (frontman for OneRepublic), Alexander 23, Tainy, Chelsea Cutler, Jonas Blue, Shane McAnally and Louis Bell, among others.
There are over 100 topics to choose from, such as vocal production, songwriting, music business, sound design, music theory, cover songs, and musical theater, as well as genres like alternative, classical, country, EDM, folk, hip-hop, indie pop, lo-fi, metal, R&B and more.
The online accelerator features an AI-powered coach that leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4 to deliver personalized curriculums every month based on someone’s interests, specific goals, learning style and level of experience.
It should be noted that Studio’s Music School isn’t designed for beginners looking to start a career in the music industry but for creatives who already know the basics and want to enhance their skills.
Hexa, the Paris-based startup studio that recently raised $22 million, is launching a new vertical focused on improving the healthcare system.
Julien Méraud, a senior team member of the French unicorn startup Doctolib, is joining the startup studio .
After a while, startups “graduate” from the startup studio and continue their life as independent companies — Hexa keeps a stake in its portfolio companies.
As Hexa starts to branch out to other verticals, the startup studio is also rethinking its strategy.
For the health vertical, Hexa is not only hiring Julien Méraud.
Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is poised to undergo layoffs this year, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed.
The studio stressed the layoffs are not imminent, but will take place later this year as Pixar focuses on making less content.
According to insiders, the Pixar layoffs include headcount that was hired for Disney+ — hires Disney pushed on Pixar to produce for its streaming division, which hasn’t yet turned a profit.
In Q4, Disney+ added 7 million new subscribers, bringing its total to 150.2 million, including Hotstar, beating analysts’ expectations of 148.15 million subscribers.
A Disney subsidiary, Pixar is best known for films like “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters, Inc.” “WALL-E,” the “Toy Story” franchise, and others.
One of these services is AI Studio — which was previously known as MakerSuite.
AI Studio is a web-based tool for developers that functions a bit like a gateway into the wider Gemini ecosystem, starting with Gemini Pro and then, at some point next year, also Gemini Ultra.
“We’ve designed it really to be the fastest way to build with Gemini,” Josh Woodward, Google’s VP for Google Labs, told me.
Woodward noted that the team tried to design AI Studio so even the free tier wouldn’t feel like a trial or gated product.
Jeanine Banks, the VP and GM for Google’s Developer X teams and head of developer relations, also stressed that AI Studio is a gateway into Google’s wider AI ecosystem and in particular to Vertex AI, Google’s enterprise-ready generative AI developer platform.
Just a couple of weeks after announcing $22 million in fundraising, Paris-based startup studio Hexa is expanding beyond its studio model to partner with later stage companies that have already found product-market fit.
In 2012, Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham wrote an essay called ’Startup = Growth’.
According to him, instead of growing revenue by a certain amount, startup founders should focus on a target growth rate and reach that target.
Another reason why focusing on a growth rate can be helpful is that a company grows exponentially if it can maintain the same growth rate over time.
While Hexa is better known as the startup studio that spawned some successful B2B SaaS startups like Front, Aircall and Spendesk, this isn’t the first time Hexa is looking at later stage companies.
