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WeTransfer Says it Won’t Use Your Files to Train AI Models After Criticism

WeTransfer Says it Won’t Use Your Files to Train AI Models After Criticism

WeTransfer has issued a clarification that it will not use files uploaded by users to train artificial intelligence models, after users criticised the company’s changes to its terms of service. Earlier this month, the file transfer service updated its terms of service to state that WeTransfer could use AI to improve its content moderation and “reproduce, distribute, modify” users files that were uploaded on the platform. WeTransfer says it has made changes to its terms again, removing references to the use of machine learning.

WeTransfer Says It Does not Sell User Content to Third Parties

In a blog post on Tuesday, the platform attempted to clarify its updated terms of service that are set to come into effect on August 8. At the time, section 6.3 of the document stated that WeTransfer users granted the company a “perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license” that would be used to operate, develop, commercialise, and improve the file transfer service.

The amended version of WeTransfer’s terms of service (removals in red)

 

However, the updated terms of service also stated the license would allow the company to “reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, broadcast, communicate to the public, publicly display, and perform” original content uploaded by users to the platform. Meanwhile, the company would not be required to compensate creators for the use of the content, as described in the terms of service.

Several WeTransfer customers, including content creators and creative professionals, expressed concern about the modified terms, and some said they would stop using the service. Following user backlash, the company explained in its blog post that section 6.2 of its terms of service (Ownership of Content) states that it doesn’t claim ownership rights over user content. The service also stated that all “right, title, and interest, including all intellectual property rights” are held by the creator of the content and their licensors.

Meanwhile, the company has modified section 6.3 of its terms of service, removing mentions of commercialising content and training machine learning models. It also deleted the portion that allowed the company to modify or reuse user content without compensating creators.

WeTransfer says that handling of content remains unchanged on the platform, even after the new terms of service come into effect next month. The platform says the portion of the terms that mentioned machine learning was due to the “possibility of using AI to improve content moderation”, but added that such a feature does not exist at the moment.

While the company was forced into a climbdown due to user backlash following changes to its terms of service, the issue highlights how online platforms can quickly get access to user data by modifying their terms of service. Companies like Dropbox and Adobe had to issue clarifications in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with regard to accessing user content.



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Amazon’s rolling out a free software update for Echo Hub devices that gives the home screen a much-needed update to the interface it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version.

A small touchscreen tablet on a counter next to some flowers.

The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI’s Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events.

These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:

Organize by r …

Read the full story at The Verge.

#Amazons #Echo #Hub #customizable #Rings #featuresAmazon,Amazon Alexa,News,Smart Home,Tech">Amazon’s Echo Hub gets a customizable new look and Ring’s AI features


	
		

Amazon’s rolling out a free software update for Echo Hub devices that gives the home screen a much-needed update to the interface it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version. 

The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI’s Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events. 
These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:

Organize by r …
Read the full story at The Verge.#Amazons #Echo #Hub #customizable #Rings #featuresAmazon,Amazon Alexa,News,Smart Home,Tech

it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version.

A small touchscreen tablet on a counter next to some flowers.

The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI’s Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events.

These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:

Organize by r …

Read the full story at The Verge.

#Amazons #Echo #Hub #customizable #Rings #featuresAmazon,Amazon Alexa,News,Smart Home,Tech">Amazon’s Echo Hub gets a customizable new look and Ring’s AI features
Amazon’s Echo Hub gets a customizable new look and Ring’s AI features


	
		

Amazon’s rolling out a free software update for Echo Hub devices that gives the home screen a much-needed update to the interface it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version. 

The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI’s Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events. 
These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:

Organize by r …
Read the full story at The Verge.#Amazons #Echo #Hub #customizable #Rings #featuresAmazon,Amazon Alexa,News,Smart Home,Tech

Amazon’s rolling out a free software update for Echo Hub devices that gives the home screen a much-needed update to the interface it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version.

A small touchscreen tablet on a counter next to some flowers.

The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI’s Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events.

These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:

Organize by r …

Read the full story at The Verge.

#Amazons #Echo #Hub #customizable #Rings #featuresAmazon,Amazon Alexa,News,Smart Home,Tech

Humanoids aren’t quite ready to replace factory workers, but the industry can’t wait. Faced with labor shortages, manufacturers have shown growing interest in startups that promise faster automation without the usual tradeoffs.

That’s the bet behind Theker, an AI robotics startup that aims to go beyond robots trained for a single task. “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that,” co-founder Carla Gómez Cano told TechCrunch.

Theker is designed for that messier reality. Unlike humanoid robots designed around a fixed form — think Boston Dynamics — Theker’s machines are built to be reconfigured. Their hands, arms, and overall form can be swapped out or resized depending on the task, whether that’s sorting packages, packing clothing, or handling bottles and cans in a warehouse.

That Inditex, Zara’s parent company, signed on as an early backer is a signal of where Theker’s ambitions start, not where they end. The company’s broader goal is to move beyond retail into heavier industrial settings like manufacturing, where the complexity and scale of manual tasks is even greater.

This generalist ambition has helped cement Theker’s status as one of Europe’s hot startups to watch — and raise capital accordingly. The Barcelona-based startup has just raised $85 million in what it’s calling “Europe’s largest ever robotics Series A.” (We haven’t found a larger one in our records, either.)

Less than a year after a record seed round, this Series A was led by American VC firm CRV and backed by a mix of traditional and strategic investors, including Samsung and Aglaé Ventures, the investment vehicle tied to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.

Gómez Cano said Samsung is not a client yet but that the two are in advanced discussions. Theker would welcome having the Korean company as a customer, supplier, and investor simultaneously — a trifecta that would give the startup both revenue and credibility in manufacturing at scale.

She also noted that she and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu “didn’t build Theker to run pilots,” so the team skips innovation departments entirely and goes straight to logistics or operations, where deals are real and timelines are shorter.

To demonstrate that the company can actually deliver on that, Theker has a showroom in central Barcelona, and plans to open others as it expands across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It will also grow its headcount across tech, deployment, and sales.  

“We already received 15,000 job applications and have to filter like crazy,” Gómez Cano said. She estimated that the team could grow from dozens to up to 120 people by the end of the year, then caught herself: “I am saying that, but I also said that we’d raise $30 or $40 million!” 

That Theker managed to raise twice its target also reinforces the startup’s conviction in keeping its HQ in Barcelona, a growing robotics hub, and in Europe’s tech ecosystem more broadly. “It has never been a barrier to acceleration for us, so we are making the most of it,” Gómez Cano said.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Theker #raised #85M #build #factory #robot #doesnt #specialize #TechCrunchAutomation,theker">Theker just raised M to build the factory robot that doesn’t specialize in anything | TechCrunch
Humanoids aren’t quite ready to replace factory workers, but the industry can’t wait. Faced with labor shortages, manufacturers have shown growing interest in startups that promise faster automation without the usual tradeoffs.

That’s the bet behind Theker, an AI robotics startup that aims to go beyond robots trained for a single task. “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that,” co-founder Carla Gómez Cano told TechCrunch.







Theker is designed for that messier reality. Unlike humanoid robots designed around a fixed form — think Boston Dynamics — Theker’s machines are built to be reconfigured. Their hands, arms, and overall form can be swapped out or resized depending on the task, whether that’s sorting packages, packing clothing, or handling bottles and cans in a warehouse.



That Inditex, Zara’s parent company, signed on as an early backer is a signal of where Theker’s ambitions start, not where they end. The company’s broader goal is to move beyond retail into heavier industrial settings like manufacturing, where the complexity and scale of manual tasks is even greater.

This generalist ambition has helped cement Theker’s status as one of Europe’s hot startups to watch — and raise capital accordingly. The Barcelona-based startup has just raised  million in what it’s calling “Europe’s largest ever robotics Series A.” (We haven’t found a larger one in our records, either.)

Less than a year after a record seed round, this Series A was led by American VC firm CRV and backed by a mix of traditional and strategic investors, including Samsung and Aglaé Ventures, the investment vehicle tied to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.

Gómez Cano said Samsung is not a client yet but that the two are in advanced discussions. Theker would welcome having the Korean company as a customer, supplier, and investor simultaneously — a trifecta that would give the startup both revenue and credibility in manufacturing at scale. 


She also noted that she and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu “didn’t build Theker to run pilots,” so the team skips innovation departments entirely and goes straight to logistics or operations, where deals are real and timelines are shorter.

To demonstrate that the company can actually deliver on that, Theker has a showroom in central Barcelona, and plans to open others as it expands across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It will also grow its headcount across tech, deployment, and sales.  

“We already received 15,000 job applications and have to filter like crazy,” Gómez Cano said. She estimated that the team could grow from dozens to up to 120 people by the end of the year, then caught herself: “I am saying that, but I also said that we’d raise  or  million!” 







That Theker managed to raise twice its target also reinforces the startup’s conviction in keeping its HQ in Barcelona, a growing robotics hub, and in Europe’s tech ecosystem more broadly. “It has never been a barrier to acceleration for us, so we are making the most of it,” Gómez Cano said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Theker #raised #85M #build #factory #robot #doesnt #specialize #TechCrunchAutomation,theker

Theker, an AI robotics startup that aims to go beyond robots trained for a single task. “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that,” co-founder Carla Gómez Cano told TechCrunch.

Theker is designed for that messier reality. Unlike humanoid robots designed around a fixed form — think Boston Dynamics — Theker’s machines are built to be reconfigured. Their hands, arms, and overall form can be swapped out or resized depending on the task, whether that’s sorting packages, packing clothing, or handling bottles and cans in a warehouse.

That Inditex, Zara’s parent company, signed on as an early backer is a signal of where Theker’s ambitions start, not where they end. The company’s broader goal is to move beyond retail into heavier industrial settings like manufacturing, where the complexity and scale of manual tasks is even greater.

This generalist ambition has helped cement Theker’s status as one of Europe’s hot startups to watch — and raise capital accordingly. The Barcelona-based startup has just raised $85 million in what it’s calling “Europe’s largest ever robotics Series A.” (We haven’t found a larger one in our records, either.)

Less than a year after a record seed round, this Series A was led by American VC firm CRV and backed by a mix of traditional and strategic investors, including Samsung and Aglaé Ventures, the investment vehicle tied to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.

Gómez Cano said Samsung is not a client yet but that the two are in advanced discussions. Theker would welcome having the Korean company as a customer, supplier, and investor simultaneously — a trifecta that would give the startup both revenue and credibility in manufacturing at scale.

She also noted that she and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu “didn’t build Theker to run pilots,” so the team skips innovation departments entirely and goes straight to logistics or operations, where deals are real and timelines are shorter.

To demonstrate that the company can actually deliver on that, Theker has a showroom in central Barcelona, and plans to open others as it expands across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It will also grow its headcount across tech, deployment, and sales.  

“We already received 15,000 job applications and have to filter like crazy,” Gómez Cano said. She estimated that the team could grow from dozens to up to 120 people by the end of the year, then caught herself: “I am saying that, but I also said that we’d raise $30 or $40 million!” 

That Theker managed to raise twice its target also reinforces the startup’s conviction in keeping its HQ in Barcelona, a growing robotics hub, and in Europe’s tech ecosystem more broadly. “It has never been a barrier to acceleration for us, so we are making the most of it,” Gómez Cano said.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Theker #raised #85M #build #factory #robot #doesnt #specialize #TechCrunchAutomation,theker">Theker just raised $85M to build the factory robot that doesn’t specialize in anything | TechCrunch

Humanoids aren’t quite ready to replace factory workers, but the industry can’t wait. Faced with labor shortages, manufacturers have shown growing interest in startups that promise faster automation without the usual tradeoffs.

That’s the bet behind Theker, an AI robotics startup that aims to go beyond robots trained for a single task. “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that,” co-founder Carla Gómez Cano told TechCrunch.

Theker is designed for that messier reality. Unlike humanoid robots designed around a fixed form — think Boston Dynamics — Theker’s machines are built to be reconfigured. Their hands, arms, and overall form can be swapped out or resized depending on the task, whether that’s sorting packages, packing clothing, or handling bottles and cans in a warehouse.

That Inditex, Zara’s parent company, signed on as an early backer is a signal of where Theker’s ambitions start, not where they end. The company’s broader goal is to move beyond retail into heavier industrial settings like manufacturing, where the complexity and scale of manual tasks is even greater.

This generalist ambition has helped cement Theker’s status as one of Europe’s hot startups to watch — and raise capital accordingly. The Barcelona-based startup has just raised $85 million in what it’s calling “Europe’s largest ever robotics Series A.” (We haven’t found a larger one in our records, either.)

Less than a year after a record seed round, this Series A was led by American VC firm CRV and backed by a mix of traditional and strategic investors, including Samsung and Aglaé Ventures, the investment vehicle tied to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.

Gómez Cano said Samsung is not a client yet but that the two are in advanced discussions. Theker would welcome having the Korean company as a customer, supplier, and investor simultaneously — a trifecta that would give the startup both revenue and credibility in manufacturing at scale.

She also noted that she and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu “didn’t build Theker to run pilots,” so the team skips innovation departments entirely and goes straight to logistics or operations, where deals are real and timelines are shorter.

To demonstrate that the company can actually deliver on that, Theker has a showroom in central Barcelona, and plans to open others as it expands across Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It will also grow its headcount across tech, deployment, and sales.  

“We already received 15,000 job applications and have to filter like crazy,” Gómez Cano said. She estimated that the team could grow from dozens to up to 120 people by the end of the year, then caught herself: “I am saying that, but I also said that we’d raise $30 or $40 million!” 

That Theker managed to raise twice its target also reinforces the startup’s conviction in keeping its HQ in Barcelona, a growing robotics hub, and in Europe’s tech ecosystem more broadly. “It has never been a barrier to acceleration for us, so we are making the most of it,” Gómez Cano said.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Theker #raised #85M #build #factory #robot #doesnt #specialize #TechCrunchAutomation,theker

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