The new funding will be used to further Replit’s global expansion in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as for future product development and infrastructure capacity.

Replit, a ‘vibe-coding’ start-up, has announced a funding milestone after raising $400m in a Series D round to stand at a $9bn valuation. The investment was led by Georgian, with participation from Prysm Capital, 1789 Capital, YC, Coatue, a16z, Craft Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority.

The round also included strategic investments from Accenture Ventures, Databricks Ventures, Okta Ventures and Tether, as well as some well-known public figures such as former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and actor and musician Jared Leto.

Established in 2016 by Amjad Masad and headquartered in California, Replit is a platform that enables the user to create an app without the need for coding skills.

The funds raised will be put towards Replit’s plans for global expansion in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as towards future product development and improving infrastructure capacity.

Commenting on the announcement, Masad, who is also the organisation’s CEO, said in a blogpost on the company’s website: “Fundamentally, we believe the future of technology is deeply human. As software adapts to people, billions will be able to turn their ideas into reality without needing to understand or be restricted by the machinery underneath. 

“AI will unlock human creativity, kicking open a world where far more people can build, experiment and create than ever before. This vision is fast becoming reality – and we are about to accelerate faster than ever. Replit has raised $400m, valuing the company at $9bn, a three-times increase in just six months, reflecting the strength of our business and growth still to come.”

The post also announced the launch of Agent 4, described as the platform’s “most powerful agent yet, designed to put human creativity back at the centre of the building process”. It will supposedly enable users to design freely, ship anything, build together and move faster. 

Masad said: “With the new funding and the launch of Agent 4, I’ve never been more energised about the momentum and rate of change happening at Replit. 

“Humans and agents working together will create a future where anyone anywhere can turn an idea into something real – when you expand who gets to build, you expand what gets built. We’re still early in this new human-AI era with so much further to go.”

In October of last year, SiliconRepublic.com spoke with Sara Fikrat, the CPO of health-tech company Semble, about how vibe-coding can be an innovative tool in a range of sectors, with the potential to be a democratising force for industry professionals.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

from the the-first-amendment-still-matters dept

Laws prohibiting minors from accessing AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT would violate the First Amendment. But that’s not stopping lawmakers from trying.

Senator Josh Hawley has introduced the Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2025 (GUARD Act), which would require AI companies to “prohibit” minors under “18 years of age” from “accessing or using” AI chatbots that “produce[] new expressive content” in response to “open-ended natural-language or multimodal user input.” Earlier this year, Virginia and Oklahoma introduced similar bills, as did California last September. The crux is the same: to prohibit minors from accessing chatbots capable of producing human-like speech.

If passed, these bills will get struck down in court for violating the First Amendment, which prohibits laws “abridging the freedom of speech.” Specifically, minors have a First Amendment right to receive information. The Supreme Court has explained, “minors are entitled to a significant measure of First Amendment protection, and only in relatively narrow and well-defined circumstances may government bar public dissemination of protected materials to them.” This right applies to the Internet with full force.

When analyzing these laws under the First Amendment, a court would start by asking whether the government is regulating speech. Speech is a broad concept, including written and spoken words, photos, music, and other forms of expression like computer code and video games. Chatbot outputs are speech; they comprise all these forms of expression. Laws prohibiting minors from accessing chatbots regulate speech by cutting off young users from the ideas and information communicated in outputs.

Next, a court would assess whether minor chatbot bans regulate protected or unprotected speech. The vast majority of outputs are protected speech: Teens use chatbots to search for information, get help with schoolwork, for fun or entertainment, and to get news. Here, the only relevant category of unprotected speech is content that is obscene to minors. The GUARD Act, for example, states that “chatbots can generate and disseminate harmful or sexually explicit content to children,” and the Virginia bill would block chatbots “capable of … [e]ngaging in erotic or sexually explicit interactions with the minor user.” Sexually explicit outputs to minors are likely unprotected speech, but the bills go much further by blocking all youth access to chatbots.

Because these bills regulate a mix of protected and unprotected speech, the court would then assess whether the prohibition on teen usage is content-based or content-neutral. Content-based restrictions target speech based on its viewpoint, subject matter, topic, or substantive message. On the other hand, content-neutral laws regulate nonsubstantive aspects of speech, like its time, place, or manner.

These bills are content-based because they prohibit access based on the subject matter of chatbot outputs. The GUARD Act would prohibit minors from accessing chatbots capable of “interpersonal or emotional interaction, friendship, companionship, or therapeutic communication.” The Oklahoma bill would block chatbots that “express[] or invit[e] emotional attachment” or “form ongoing social or emotional bonds with users, whether or not such systems also provide information.” Similarly, the Virginia bill would ban minors from accessing chatbots “capable of … offering mental health therapy.” Regardless of the pros and cons of minors accessing such information, the prohibitions are based on the content of the outputs — not on merely nonsubstantive aspects of the speech.

Because these bills are content-based, the court would apply strict scrutiny. The government would have to prove the bills are narrowly tailored to advance a compelling governmental interest and that they are the least restrictive means of serving that interest. Banning minors from accessing chatbots arguably advances “a compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors” by “shielding minors from the influence of” obscene outputs.

Strict scrutiny, however, requires lawmakers to use a less restrictive means than bans to protect minors. Lawmakers could, for example, require AI companies to provide parental controls or strict safeguards preventing their models from engaging in sexually explicit conversations with young users. In fact, AI companies already have policies and features to protect minor users. Because these bills aren’t narrowly tailored, a court would strike them down for violating the First Amendment.

Banning minors from using chatbots is also bad policy. Last October, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the state’s proposed ban, stating, “AI is already shaping the world, and it is imperative that adolescents learn how to safely interact with AI systems … We cannot prepare our youth for a future where AI is ubiquitous by preventing their use of these tools altogether.”

Most U.S. teens use AI chatbots. These young users have a First Amendment right to receive the information the AIs output, which is generally protected speech. Prohibiting access to chatbots would violate minors’ constitutional rights and deprive them of the vast benefits of AI.

Andy Jung is associate counsel at TechFreedom, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on technology law and policy.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, ai, chatbots, josh hawley, kids, strict scrutiny

Drone pilots looking to capture every aspect of a dynamic flight will have a lot more options according to DJI’s latest release. After months of speculation and rumors, the Avata 360 has finally been shown. What’s truly fascinating is that this new model can effortlessly integrate immersive recording into a traditional FPV experience.

The image quality produced by these huge sensors is rather impressive. Two 1/1.1-inch units work together to produce stunning 8K resolution spherical footage with HDR capability. Pilots can now capture the entire scene in high detail before returning later to edit and selecting the optimal viewing angle to utilize. The camera system is highly adaptable, capable of mechanically tilting across a sixty-degree range in either direction to give you the freedom to capture the shot you need, or you may switch to a dedicated forward FPV mode when you want to keep things simple. Complementing it is a two-hundred-degree field of view, allowing you to capture a wide photo without gaps.

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DJI has also done an excellent job of shielding the blades on all sides, allowing you to go up close for some intimate footage without issue. Plus, additional sensors are present to help monitor the environment and make flight safer by recognizing impediments. Finally, even when pushing the drone to its maximum across extended distances, the transmission remains rock solid.

The standard units have a battery life of about 23 minutes, but if you upgrade to larger batteries, you’ll have even more endurance for longer sessions. Plus, lens kits make it simple to replace the lenses if you get a scrape. Overall, it’s a great confidence booster while you’re flying in a variety of conditions.

The basic drone starts at roughly $500, which is affordable given the specifications. The bundle, which include goggles, backup batteries, charging hubs, new propellers, and a travel case, make it easier for serious users to participate.

One thing that’s particularly nice is that it integrates seamlessly with your existing goggles and motion controls; simply plug it in and go. The stabilisation systems also do their job, keeping the footage steady even when you’re moving the drone about. Anyone who has watched some of the preview videos will understand what I mean: the results are very amazing, highlighting even more the possibilities for truly innovative undertakings.

Keep a watch out for the official launch on March 26 for all the details and demos; from what we know so far, this drone appears to be a really flexible tool for anyone who enjoys both the thrill of flying and getting the most out of their video clips.
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Second is advertiser tools. If you’re a small business, you’re not thinking about all the queries people are going to type in. AI is great at figuring out which keywords to use, what’s the optimal creative, and generating all of that.

The third piece is the most nascent: ads in new experiences. The general philosophy we have is to build a great consumer product, then figure out monetization. Because the business is so strong and healthy, that’s a luxury we have.

What have you learned from experiments around ads in AI Mode?

Ads are always separate from organic results and clearly labeled. If we don’t think any ad is relevant, we don’t show any ads. Probably the biggest principle of all is that ads should be useful.

What [ads in AI Mode] have shown is mostly intuitive things. If it’s relevant, a user will click on it. If not, they won’t.

At Davos, Demis Hassabis said that Google has no plans to bring ads to Gemini. How are you thinking about it now?

The reason we focused on ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews is because we see them as extensions of the Search experience. It’s the most natural place for us to do initial experiments.

I would expect that the learnings that we get from ads in AI Mode would likely carry over to what we might want to do in the Gemini app down the road. We’re able to get all those learnings within a context and a construct that users are already aware of ads. It’s an odd thing to say, but our research shows that users actually like ads within the context of Search. Over time, we’ll figure out what makes sense in the Gemini app.

So you guys aren’t ruling out ads in Gemini completely?

No, we’re not ruling them out. It’s just not where we’ve been focusing.

Gemini is a massive product now—it’s grown quite fast. OpenAI is already trying out ads in ChatGPT. What makes you think Gemini isn’t ready for ads?

We’re super happy with how well it’s growing. I would say it’s more of a prioritization question—what’s the right area to focus right now?

Do you think OpenAI introduced ads too early?

It’s hard for me to say. I think it will really depend on how they do it. What we’ve seen is when we do ads right, it’s accretive to the product experience. But the really critical thing is to do it right, and that means relevance, quality, and not putting ads where users don’t want to see ads.

That’s hard to do. We have over 20 years of experience learning how to do that. It’s less a question of timing and more a question of doing it right, and in a way that’s respectful of users.

Google recently launched Personal Intelligence in Gemini and AI Mode. I imagine advertisers would love to get their hands on that data. How are you thinking about that?

Personal Intelligence is incredibly useful. For example, I was skiing and couldn’t see well through my goggles—it was cloudy out. I asked AI Mode a fairly vague question about what lens I needed for the conditions. From my email, it was able to say which resort I was staying at, which mountain I’d be skiing, and what the weather would be. It also pulled in a receipt my wife had forwarded me for my goggles—turns out she’d bought me an extra lens. It’s like subtle magic.

Caller identity platform Truecaller recently launched a new feature that lets one person become an admin of a family group, get alerts about fraud calls received by other members, and even end a call on their behalf if they suspect a family member might get scammed.

The company, which has over 450 million users, first launched the feature in December in a handful of countries like Sweden, Chile, Malaysia, and Kenya. Truecaller said that after seeing promising results, it decided to roll it out worldwide, including in India, the company’s biggest market. The feature is free, and users can create groups even if they are not on a paid Truecaller plan.

With this feature, the tech-savvy member of a family or friends group can become the admin of an up to five-member group. Once the other members join the group, the admin can get alerts about potentially fraudulent calls those members receive. If the admin believes that the call could harm the member, they can remotely end the call as well. While the admin can get alerts for fraud calls when a member is using iOS or Android, they can only end calls for members on Android.

On Android, members can also grant permission to the admin to detect real-time activity such as walking or driving, battery level, and phone sound settings (to check if the phone is in silent mode). Truecaller said this is helpful for admins to keep tabs on elderly members and to only call them when they are not walking or driving.

The admin can also block certain numbers and international calling codes, and share a blocklist with group members.

Truecaller noted that the admin can’t see the non-spam call history or SMS history of group members.

“I think, unfortunately, all of us know somebody or another in our families or friends who have been impacted by fraud,” Kunal Dua, Chief Product Officer, at Truecaller, told TechCrunch over a call. “In that sense, it’s a fundamental shift for Truecaller in terms of what we’ve been focusing on as a problem,” he added.

Last year, Truecaller introduced a voicemail feature for Indian users featuring an AI assistant that listens for calls when a user is unavailable and provides a summary of the transcript. The company is exploring a similar AI approach for family protection to potentially alert the admin about what kind of fraud call a group member is receiving.

The company is also exploring using AI to screen calls and automatically disconnect them when certain words associated with scams are detected, such as “digital arrest” — a tactic in which perpetrators impersonate law enforcement officers to extract information or money from call recipients.

In India, scam calls have risen over time and caused financial losses across the country. Truecaller said that it identified over 7.7 billion fraud calls last year. Indian authorities have launched multiple initiatives, including a controversial policy called SIM binding that could hamper the working of apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.

Truecaller is facing headwinds. Its stock has dwindled by over 80% in the last 12 months. During its Q4 2025 report, the company said that its EBDITA– a measure of operating profitability — dipped 49% year-on-year, with ad revenue declining 31%. The company is also facing challenges from India’s Caller Name Presentation (CNAP) system, which displays the name of the caller as registered with their phone carrier. Truecaller has maintained that just displaying a caller’s name won’t reduce spam calls, arguing that its platform goes further by offering community-based reports.

“In India, there has been much talk about the imminent rollout of CNAP,” Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said during the Q4 2025 earnings call. “CNAP is partially rolled out, and so far, the impact on our user growth is limited. As we have said in the past, we expect that CNAP might have some impact on user growth, but that remains to be seen as CNAP reaches a full rollout.”

Continued Jhunjhunwala, “Our focus continues to be on delivering a superior product, and as you are aware, the consumer can choose to have CNAP and Truecaller in parallel, where we provide a lot more information and a lot more context and various other solutions, for the consumer.”

The newly verified X account for Iran’s supreme leader could be putting the company on the wrong side of US sanctions, according to a watchdog group. The Tech Transparency Project, which last month published a report on X granting premium perks to sanctioned officials in Iran, now says that the verified account for the country’s new leader raises fresh questions about the issue.

The TTP notes that the X account for Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, appears to be paying for an X premium subscription despite being on the US government’s list of sanctioned individuals since 2019. As the group points out, the Iran-based account was created this month and currently bears a blue checkmark, which typically indicates the account holder is paying for a subscription.

The account belonging to Mojtaba Khamenei has been boosted by other state-linked accounts in Iran, including the one that previously belonged to Khamenei’s father. That account has had a gray checkmark, which indicates it belongs to a verified government official. Verified accounts on X are rewarded with extra visibility on the platform, along with other perks. The younger Khamenei’s verified account has already gained more than 20,000 new followers in the hours since TTP first posted about it.

“The new Supreme Leader’s account is just the latest account for a sanctioned entity apparently paying X for premium services,” TTP director Katie Paul said in a statement to Engadget. “TTP has identified dozens of accounts, many linked to designated terrorists, that subscribed to X premium over the past three years. What’s more concerning than the blatant disregard for U.S. sanctions law is the fact that Musk’s companies have a contract with the Pentagon while X is actively profiting from U.S. adversaries.”

As Paul notes, this isn’t the first time TTP has raised questions about whether X is running afoul of US sanctions via its premium service. In 2024, the group published a report noting that X was accepting paid verification from more than two dozen sanctioned individuals and groups. The company said at the time that it had a “a robust and secure approach in place for our monetization features.”

X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company removed blue checks from a handful of Iran-based accounts flagged by TTP last month following reporting from Wired.

Google Maps just released the most significant navigation update in over a decade, and Gemini is at the center of it all. Two new features take center stage: a conversational tool called Ask Maps and a revised driving mode dubbed Immersive Navigation, which finally incorporates super-realistic 3D views with turn-by-turn directions.

Ask Maps replaces the old search bar with something far more powerful. Users hit this icon near the top of the app to begin asking actual inquiries in clear language. Gemini handles the rest, gathering data from all of the locations, ratings, and user tips contained in Maps. So, if you live in San Francisco and want to travel to Muir Woods for breakfast along the way, simply ask the question, and the system will be developed. It will provide you with a detailed route with stop-by-stop directions, as well as suggestions based on previous searches or remembered preferences… such as vegetarian options. Just ask follow-up questions, and the plan will be updated on the fly. If you want, recommendations will take you directly to directions or allow you to save places to lists without having to navigate. Ask Maps is available today in the United States and India for Android and iOS users, with desktop support coming soon.

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Immersive Navigation completely overhauls the way you actually follow directions. You can now see the road you’re traveling in 3D, rather than just lines and icons. Buildings, overpasses, and road landscape seem with realistic depth because Gemini models evaluate Street View images and aerial shots to determine what’s crucial to show. See-through structures protect things from becoming congested, and when it comes down to it, lane markers, crosswalks, traffic signals, stop signs, and other elements are always visible when needed. The map scales up and down to provide a clear glimpse of what’s coming up, avoiding last-minute panics.

Voice instructions keep up with the upgrade and sound much more natural today. So, on the highway, it might instruct you to pass the next exit and then take the following one instead than simply counting down the distance. Alternate routes put out the advantages and cons for you, so you get a longer travel with less traffic or no tolls, and you can decide whether it’s worth the trade-off. As you get closer to your location, Street View shows you entrances and parking areas to help you arrive stress-free.

Google claims that this is the biggest shift in driving direction since the app’s inception, and early feedback suggests that it significantly reduces confusion in congested cities or unfamiliar areas. Both updates, for Immersive Navigation (which will be available on additional devices in the coming months, including CarPlay, Android Auto, and built-in auto systems) and Ask Maps, will be available in the United States and India. Android and iOS phones receive the initial peek, however full coverage will take some time.