Connect with us

Science & Technology

How WitnessAI raised $58M to solve enterprise AI’s biggest risk | Equity Podcast

As companies deploy AI-powered chatbots, agents, and copilots across their operations, they’re facing a new risk: how do you let employees and AI agents use powerful AI tools without accidentally leaking sensitive data, violating compliance rules, or opening the door to prompt-based injections? Witness AI just raised $58 million to find a solution, building what…

Published

on

As companies deploy AI-powered chatbots, agents, and copilots across their operations, they’re facing a new risk: how do you let employees and AI agents use powerful AI tools without accidentally leaking sensitive data, violating compliance rules, or opening the door to prompt-based injections? Witness AI just raised $58 million to find a solution, building what they call “the confidence layer for enterprise AI.”

Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan was joined by Barmak Meftah, co-founder and partner at Ballistic Ventures, and Rick Caccia, CEO of Witness AI, to discuss what enterprises are actually worried about, why AI security become an $800 billion to $1.2 trillion market by 2031, and what happens when AI agents start talking to other AI agents without human oversight.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction

01:03 – Peeling back the “onion layers” of AI security challenges

04:40 – Why Ballistic Ventures invested in Witness AI

07:12 – From fear to enablement: A new approach to cybersecurity

11:21 – $58M funding round and strategic investors

15:16 – Market opportunity and competitive landscape

18:08 – Speed-running through AI threats: What enterprises are paying for

21:21 – Security risks and protecting AI data

28:51 – Outro

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. @DarleneHegeler

    January 14, 2026 at 8:56 pm

    XAICORE could be the next Dogecoin-level rocket 🐕📈

  2. @1o1carolina53

    January 14, 2026 at 9:43 pm

    Wow

    You’re STUNNING

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Science & Technology

Google just broke SEO. Here’s what replaces it. | Equity Podcast

Google I/O made it official: AI-generated answers are now front and center in search, and most brands have almost no visibility into how AI is describing them to their customers. For anyone who has spent years building a strategy around 10 blue links, the rules just changed in a pretty significant way. On this episode…

Published

on

Google I/O made it official: AI-generated answers are now front and center in search, and most brands have almost no visibility into how AI is describing them to their customers. For anyone who has spent years building a strategy around 10 blue links, the rules just changed in a pretty significant way.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Matt Thompson, VP of partnerships at Scrunch, a startup positioning itself at the center of the AI search shift, to talk about what Google’s changes mean and marketers and founders should actually do about it.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:15 Why Google is going all-in on AI search

03:25 Meet Scrunch

09:00 Personalized agents, shopping, and Google’s advantage

12:13 What advertisers need to track now

13:48 How websites become “agent ready”

15:34 AI search vs. traditional SEO

22:33 “Scrunching” webpages down for AI agents

23:47 Google’s SEO guidance vs. Scrunch’s approach

27:17 Why unique human content still matters

28:51 Advice for startups adapting to AI search

29:52 Outro

Continue Reading

CNET

The World’s Largest Artificial Sun Gave Me Hope

Take a look inside ITER, the world’s largest fusion reactor, to see how scientists from around the world are working tirelessly to re-create the sun’s superpower on Earth and fuel a clean energy revolution. Read more about the Fusion Reactor on CNET.com Inside the World’s Biggest Bet on Fusion Energy 0:00 Welcome to ITER 1:21…

Published

on

Take a look inside ITER, the world’s largest fusion reactor, to see how scientists from around the world are working tirelessly to re-create the sun’s superpower on Earth and fuel a clean energy revolution.

Read more about the Fusion Reactor on CNET.com
Inside the World’s Biggest Bet on Fusion Energy

0:00 Welcome to ITER
1:21 Meet Plasma
1:38 ITER’s Magnets
2:28 ITER’s Goals
3:31 Hotter than the sun
3:57 Setbacks
4:46 International collaboration
5:18 ITER’s Tokamak Hall
5:38 The heart of ITER
6:08 ITER’s fuel
6:38 The walls of the tokamak
7:00 Tritium breeding
7:20 “The knowledge of the world”

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#Fusion #Energy #WTF

Continue Reading

Science & Technology

Why Humans Should Merge with AI | D. Scott Phoenix | TED

Deep tech entrepreneur D. Scott Phoenix spent years building AI — now, he believes we’re on the cusp of a profound merger between humans and machines. Reframing the AI debate through the lens of evolutionary biology, he shifts the question from whether we should fear or embrace AI to whether we understand what’s at stake…

Published

on

Deep tech entrepreneur D. Scott Phoenix spent years building AI — now, he believes we’re on the cusp of a profound merger between humans and machines. Reframing the AI debate through the lens of evolutionary biology, he shifts the question from whether we should fear or embrace AI to whether we understand what’s at stake if we get it wrong. Hear his provocative case for why we need to “eat the AI.” (Recorded at TED2026 on April 15, 2026)

Join us in person at a TED conference:
Become a TED Member to support our mission:
Subscribe to a TED newsletter:

Follow TED!
Instagram:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:
Facebook:
X:

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less) — plus originals, podcasts and exclusive content. Look for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design as well as science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit for our entire library, transcripts, translations and personalized recommendations.

Watch more:

TED videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with the TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a request at

#TED #TEDTalks #AI

Continue Reading

Trending