Comcast is warning that hackers stole the personal data of more than 230,000 customers during a ransomware attack on a third-party debt collector, according to a court filing. The bad actors targeted a Pennsylvania-based debt collection agency called Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS.)

The attack occurred back in February, but Comcast claims that FBCS initially said that the incident didn’t involve any customer data. FBCS changed its tune by July, when it notified Comcast that customer information had been compromised, according to reporting by TechCrunch.

All told, 237,703 subscribers were impacted by the breach. The attackers were thorough, scooping up names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, Comcast account numbers and ID numbers. Comcast says the stolen data belongs to customers who signed up with the company “around 2021.” It also says it has stopped using FBCS for the purposes of debt collection.

“From February 14 and February 26, 2024, an unauthorized party gained access to FBCS’s computer network and some of its computers,” the filing states. “During this time, the unauthorized party downloaded data from FBCS systems and encrypted some systems as part of a ransomware attack.”

No group has stepped forward to claim credit for the incident. FBCS has only referred to the attacker as an “unauthorized actor.” The debt collection agency was hit hard by this attack, with Comcast customers being just one group of victims. The company says more than four million people were impacted and that the cybercriminals accessed medical claims and health insurance information, in addition to standard identification data.

To that end, medical debt-purchasing company CF Medical confirmed that 600,000 of its customers were involved in the breach. Truist Bank also confirmed it was affected by the attack.

It’s notable that this incident primarily impacts debtors, opening them up to potential scams. Chris Hauk, consumer privacy advocate at Pixel Privacy, told Engadget that “the bad actors that get their paws on this information may use it to pose as debt relief agencies, which many turn to as a way out of their situation, meaning many of the involved debtors may be defrauded out of large sums of money, something they can ill-afford.”

In other words, keep an eye out for suspicious phone calls, emails and texts. This is good advice for anyone, and not just debtors who had data stored with FBCS. After all, it was revealed that hackers stole more than 2.7 billion records from American consumers earlier this year, which likely includes data on everyone who lives in the country.

A recent exchange on X (formerly Twitter) between Wharton professor Ethan Mollick and Andrej Karpathy, the former Director of AI at Tesla and co-founder of OpenAI, touches on something both fascinating and foundational: many of today’s top generative AI models — including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google— exhibit a striking similarity in tone, prompting the question: why are large language models (LLMs) converging not just in technical proficiency but also in personality?

The follow-up commentary pointed out a common feature that could be driving the trend of output convergence: Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF), a technique in which AI models are fine-tuned based on evaluations provided by human trainers. 

Building on this discussion of RLHF’s role in output similarity, Inflection AI’s recent announcements of Inflection 3.0 and a commercial API may provide a promising direction to address these challenges. It has introduced a novel approach to RLHF, aimed at making generative models not only consistent but also distinctively empathetic. 

With an entry into the enterprise space, the creators of the Pi collection of models leverage RLHF in a more nuanced way, from deliberate efforts to improve the fine-tuning models to a proprietary platform that incorporates employee feedback to tailor gen AI outputs to organizational culture. The strategy aims to make Inflection AI’s models true cultural allies rather than just generic chatbots, providing enterprises with a more human and aligned AI system that stands out from the crowd.

Inflection AI wants your work chatbots to care

Against this backdrop of convergence, Inflection AI, the creators of the Pi model, are carving out a different path. With the recent launch of Inflection for Enterprise, Inflection AI aims to make emotional intelligence — dubbed  “EQ” — a core feature for its enterprise customers. 

The company says its unique approach to RLHF sets it apart. Instead of relying on anonymous data-labeling, the company sought feedback from 26,000 school teachers and university professors to aid in the fine-tuning process through a proprietary feedback platform. Furthermore, the platform enables enterprise customers to run reinforcement learning with employee feedback. This enables subsequent tuning of the model to the unique voice and style of the customer’s company.

Inflection AI’s approach promises that companies will “own” their intelligence, meaning an on-premise model fine-tuned with proprietary data that is securely managed on their own systems. This is a notable move away from the cloud-centric AI models many enterprises are familiar with — a setup Inflection believes will enhance security and foster greater alignment between AI outputs and the ways people use it at work.

What RLHF is and isn’t

RLHF has become the centerpiece of gen AI development, largely because it allows companies to shape responses to be more helpful, coherent, and less prone to dangerous errors. OpenAI’s use of RLHF was foundational to making tools like ChatGPT engaging and generally trustworthy for users. RLHF helps align model behavior with human expectations, making it more engaging and reducing undesirable outputs.

However, RLHF is not without its drawbacks. RLHF was quickly offered as a contributing reason to a convergence of model outputs, potentially leading to a loss of unique characteristics and making models increasingly similar. Seemingly, alignment offers consistency, but it also creates a challenge for differentiation.

Previously, Karpathy himself pointed out some of the limitations inherent in RLHF. He likened it to a game of vibe checks, and stressed that it does not provide an “actual reward” akin to competitive games like AlphaGo. Instead, RLHF optimizes for an emotional resonance that’s ultimately subjective and may miss the mark for practical or complex tasks. 

From EQ to AQ

To mitigate some of these RLHF limitations, Inflection AI has embarked on a more nuanced training strategy. Not only implementing improved RLHF, but it has also taken steps towards agentic AI capabilities, which it has abbreviated as AQ (Action Quotient). As White described in a recent interview, Inflection AI’s enterprise aims involve enabling models to not only understand and empathize but also to take meaningful actions on behalf of users — ranging from sending follow-up emails to assisting in real-time problem-solving.

While Inflection AI’s approach is certainly innovative, there are potential short falls to consider. Its 8K token context window used for inference is smaller than what many high-end models employ, and the performance of their newest models has not been benchmarked. Despite ambitious plans, Inflection AI’s models may not achieve the desired level of performance in real-world applications. 

Nonetheless, the shift from EQ to AQ could mark a critical evolution in gen AI development, especially for enterprise clients looking to leverage automation for both cognitive and operational tasks. It’s not just about talking empathetically with customers or employees; Inflection AI hopes that Inflection 3.0 will also execute tasks that translate empathy into action. Inflection’s partnership with automation platforms like UiPath to provide this “agentic AI” further bolsters their strategy to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

Navigating a post-Suleyman world

Inflection AI has undergone significant internal changes over the past year. The departure of CEO Mustafa Suleyman in Microsoft’s “acqui-hire,” along with a sizable portion of the team, cast doubt on the company’s trajectory. However, the appointment of White as CEO and a refreshed management team has set a new course for the organization. 

This “re-founding” centered around the enterprise use of emotional AI, aiming to provide personalized and deeply embedded AI experiences rather than generic chatbot solutions.

Pi’s… actually pretty popular

Inflection AI’s unique approach with Pi is gaining traction beyond the enterprise space, particularly among users on platforms like Reddit. The Pi community has been vocal about their experiences, sharing positive anecdotes and discussions regarding Pi’s thoughtful and empathetic responses. 

This grassroots popularity demonstrates that Inflection AI might be on to something significant. By leaning into emotional intelligence and empathy, Inflection is not only creating AI that assists but also AI that resonates with people, whether in enterprise settings or as personal assistants. This level of user engagement suggests that their focus on EQ could be the key to distinguishing themselves in a landscape where other LLMs risk blending into one another.

What’s next for Inflection AI

Moving forward, Inflection AI’s focus on post-training features like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic workflows aims to keep their technology at the cutting edge of enterprise needs. Inflection AI says the ultimate goal is to usher in a post-GUI era, where AI isn’t just responding to commands but actively assisting with seamless integrations across various business systems.

The jury’s still out on whether Inflection AI’s novel approach will significantly enhance output similarity. However, if White and his team’s innovative ideas bear fruit, EQ could emerge as a pivotal metric for evaluating the effectiveness of your company’s generative technology.

We’re excited to announce the debut of the ScaleUp Startup Exhibitor Program at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! Join us at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30 to meet an exciting lineup of startups that are poised to make their mark in the tech world.

The ScaleUp Startup Exhibitor Program offers Series A and B startups a prime opportunity to exhibit in the bustling Expo Hall, where they can showcase their groundbreaking innovations to over 10,000 Disrupt attendees. It’s also a powerful program for startups to make valuable connections with investors and tech leaders eager to back the next big thing.

And now we’re excited to introduce our ScaleUp startups, ready to showcase in the Expo Hall across all three days. Be sure to register for your ticket here so you can explore their tables and see what’s coming next in the world of tech.

Meet the ScaleUp startups

8vdX 

Building fine-tuned AI/ML models for asset-backed securities analysis in minutes, which scales the underwriting capabilities of hedge funds by 10x.

The Agenda.

The Agenda. is a revolutionary app that transforms menstrual cycle data into actionable health insights through AI-driven technology and a dynamic e-commerce platform.

Agent2.AI 

Agent2.AI delivers instant, AI-driven product demos for SaaS companies, allowing users to explore software in real time and transition to live agents when needed.

TheAgentic

TheAgentic is the most accurate LLM for agentic workloads that involve reasoning, function calling and structured outputs. We outperform GPT4 and Claude 3.5 by 25% to 40%.

Agree.com

An all-in-one platform to securely send and sign agreements with AI-powered workflows, free e-signature, automated invoicing, and integrated payments.

AppSentinels Inc

AppSentinels is a full life-cycle API security platform that protect applications against advanced business logic API flaws.

BeyimTech LLC

Revolutionizing K-12 learning with AI-powered microlearning social network, delivering personalized education in bite-sized, engaging formats.

BoardroomIQ

A groundbreaking AI-generated boardroom simulator, the first of its kind to equip entrepreneurs with the strategic prowess of Fortune 500 companies.

BYO Inc

BYO is the first workshop-to-market platform that provides users with personalized trainable AI experts, enabling them to augment their intellectual and research capabilities.

CLIKA

We make AI efficient, tiny, and fast on any device through automated model compression and format compilation.

Cloudgov Inc.

Save 30% on your monthly cloud bill — AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, MongoDB, and more. Try 14 days for free before you make data-driven informed decisions on your own projected savings.

Common Computer Inc.

Common Computer revolutionizes back-end infrastructure, leveraging a web3 AI marketplace to solve large language model computation challenges.

Cosmonic

Powered by CNCF wasmCloud, the Wasm-native orchestrator, Cosmonic allows the seamless reuse of code, as components, written in any language and deployed anywhere.

Coxwave

GDPR and SOC-II compliant, Align AI power analytics for enterprises building LLM-powered conversational products — think Google Analytics for ChatGPT.

CreateMe

CreateMe enables digital apparel manufacturing with automation, robotics, and adhesives. No sewing, no manual labor. We’re reinventing a 200-year industry.

Da1ilmverse

Transforming education with immersive VR, AI-driven personalized learning, and virtual campuses for a dynamic and engaging educational experience

En Garde

A mobile app where users can make money playing video games by competing in hourly and daily leaderboard challenges powered by AI validation.

FairShare

FairShare revolutionizes data sharing by empowering users with control and fair compensation, while businesses access compliant, transparent data through blockchain technology.

Fondo

Fondo is the all-in-one accounting platform for high-growth startups. Trusted by over 1,000+ founders, we deliver peace of mind and the financials critical for every startup.

FriendliAI Corp.

Achieve your generative AI potential with FriendliAI. Deploy custom LLMs or AI agents at blazing speed and scale while slashing GPU costs.

Gem Mint Club

The Gem Mint Club is an exclusive, universal rewards club (app) for sports and trading card collectors and enthusiasts. Members get rewarded every single time they purchase cards. Anywhere.

Guard Owl

Uber for security. All-in-one tech-first security service platform designed to bring guards and clients together to handle all security needs at the click of a button.

HuLoop Automation

HuLoop Automation streamlines work with AI-driven tools, optimizing tasks, enhancing efficiency, and integrating seamlessly with existing systems.

Immersivision

We bring hotel spaces to life through advanced immersive VR technology, allowing users to fully immerse themselves in a realistic environment.

Infinity

Firms use less than 3% of their data: Current tools are too complex for the business user and cannot mine unstructured data. Infinity is the AI-first BI platform that solves both these problems.

Invo Station Inc

Invo Station is an autonomous, silent flying EV that utilizes an electromagnetic motor instead of propellers and rotors.

IRBI

IRBI restarts e-commerce with AI-powered transparency, connecting buyers, sellers, and advertisers in a trust-driven place for smarter shopping.

ISRA

ISRA is a mobile app that allows hairstylists and barbers to deliver in-home services. Join us to disrupt a $70 billion industry before it’s too late.

Landbase

Landbase combines leading agentic AI with human expertise to intelligently automate your go-to-market.

Loan Factory

Loan Factory is the fastest-growing mortgage broker in the U.S. Because we have closed so many loans, we can negotiate and obtain ridiculously low rates from lenders.

Logically

Logically builds AI to give to government, enterprise, and trust and safety missions worldwide the information advantage in combating threats online.

Matic Robots

Matic is pioneering the next generation of fully autonomous, helpful, and elegant home robots using AI and computer vision. Level-5 autonomy in your home.

Meticuly

The leading innovator of AI-powered, 3D-printed patient-specific titanium bone implants in Southeast Asia, with 1,800+ cases, has now expanded into the U.S.

MM Lawyers Marketing

We are a marketing company based in the Bay Area with thousands of clients from Latin America. We focus on connecting our Latino clients with the best law firms specializing in workers’ compensation and personal injury cases.

Omi

Open source AI wearables.

Panam in Space

PANAM in SPACE is a company looking to develop large-scale 3D printing with laser and electron beam systems to aid in the next generation of space exploration.

Pitch Avatar

Pitch Avatar by ROI4Presenter is an AI-based platform for making your slides interactive and delivering them in the most effective way to grow the number of leads, demo calls, and user’s engagement with your sales, marketing, onboarding, training, and other content.

PLAUD Inc

PLAUD.AI is a hardware and software company at the cutting edge of AI native productivity tools. Our products are game changers in how individuals and businesses interact with real-life data.

PocketPiano

“The first professional portable modular grand piano that fits into a backpack.” PocketPiano is a real-size modular professional piano — with 87 keys and 1 pedal. Once folded, it fits into a backpack.

Popmarq

Popmarq is a live commerce fintech that transforms the buying and selling experience. The Pop experience integrates payment, audience, and financial solutions to unify the consumer journey and help people achieve their dreams.

Puzzle

Puzzle is a modern general ledger for tech startups to take on QuickBooks. Founders now have automated, scalable accounting software that can grow and scale with their startup from incorporation to IPO.

Quanergy Solutions, Inc.

Quanergy Q-Track provides precise, continuous 3D tracking of people and vehicles, overcoming the limitations of traditional physical security and crowd management technologies.

Readyset

Readyset is a modern database scaling platform and SQL query caching system for MySQL/PostgreSQL. Boost performance and optimize infrastructure costs with zero code changes.

Renormalize

Renormalize boosts engineering teams’ productivity by up to 30% through improved team efficiency and motivation for software developers.

Retail Robotics Solutions

Zap the wait, boost your plate! Our AI checkout vanishes lines, speeds up service 5x, and hikes revenue by 40% — all with a dash of tech magic and fun.

Reteta

At Reteta, we use AI to streamline healthcare documentation and coding. Our platform accurately transcribes patient-physician interactions and automates medical coding.

RISE Robotics

RISE Robotics, a deep tech MIT affiliate, has invented a new $60 billion category of fast, efficient, regen actuators to electrify industrial machinery.

Robbox Inc.

Robbox has developed the first digital AI-ready platform to integrate automation in power tools and devices and help professionals around the world increase efficiency, reduce human error, increase safety, and reduce storage space.

SAASTEPS, LLC

SAASTEPS offers a pre-packaged revenue life cycle management solution that automates workflows and fosters inclusivity, 100% native to Salesforce.

Sensori Robotics

We are building the de facto standard outdoor mobile robotics platform starting with AI-based robots sold directly to landscapers, saving labor and costs.

SoCreate

SoCreate empowers writers to create, AI-produce, and stream their stories globally without the need for publishers, studios, or expensive equipment.

SonicEdge

Sonic Edge’s second-gen MEMS Modulated Ultrasound Speakers will fuel the third great revolution in audio reproduction history, the first major breakthrough in the way we experience sound in 75 years.

Surefront

Surefront provides PLM + PIM + wholesale CRM tools to streamline merchandising, product development, and sales management between retailers and suppliers.

SynPhNe Pte Ltd

SynPhNe is the world’s first wearable tech that restores brain and muscle function — digitally. We help stroke and brain injury patients get back to life.

TensorOpera, Inc

FEDML is your generative AI platform at scale to enable developers and enterprises to build and scale their GenAI applications easily and economically.

Tensor Tech CO., Ltd.

Tensor Tech invents the world’s first commercial spherical motor. Such one spherical motor can do the job of multiple traditional motors.

THDR Group

THDR Group is focused on scaling made-to-measure fashion: developing technology to build brands that shift how consumers engage with fashion.

Transitional Forms

Transitional Forms is revolutionizing entertainment with a generative AI platform that empowers creators and audiences to create and interact with real-time, culturally relevant content.

Truck It In Pte. Ltd.

Truck It In is the only digital freight player in the MENAP region providing integrated services on a LaaS model (logistics as a service) to large enterprises and SMEs, combining CloudTrucks and UberFreight offerings — a bidding marketplace, ledger, and closed-loop wallet.

tweety.ai

Tweety.ai reinvents customer interactions with an AI-powered personalized voice agent that all of us wish we had, yet we could not find until now.

Ubilite

Wi-Fi connectivity with size, cost, and power consumption less than Bluetooth, both enabling data-rich IoT connectivity and a path to ambient, battery-free IoT saving 100 million single-use batteries per day in 2030.

Uniqus Consultech

Founded in 2022, Uniqus delivers transformative solutions in accounting, ESG, and tech consulting, serving 200+ global clients with a 400+ expert team.

Valier Technologies

MAWI automates logistics documentation entry and classification, boosting accuracy and efficiency while saving time and cutting operational costs.

VividQ

VividQ are the pioneers of computational displays; the light architects who hold 50 patents in this field and are light-years ahead of competitors even in Big Tech companies.

Voovio Technologies

Our tech-driven SaaS harnesses collective workforce expertise, enhancing productivity and decision-making in the process industries.

Yazaki Innovation Inc.

Yazaki Innovations, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yazaki, created to grow innovation and emerging automotive.

Zepp Aura

AURA_TAL is your smart health companion that empowers you to take control of your health with precision nutrition tracking, utilizing advanced smart food recognition technology to log your meals and provide personalized insights automatically.

Zulip

Zulip is an open source team chat application designed for seamless remote and hybrid work. It’s ideal for both live and asynchronous communication.