If TripAdvisor met Yelp, that would be Uber Local, a new product the taxi hailing company is working on.
“We use real-time data of our trips, obviously in an aggregate way, to show the hot spots to show where most Ubers are dropping people off,” Alex Otrezov, Uber’s head of search and examination, told Cheddar in a recent interview. “Whether points of interests, or restaurants, whatever it may be, we want to make sure that we share that data with our users.”
The executive unveiled the product at eTail West 2018 on Tuesday. Uber Local’s technology would allow it to predict social trends based on time and seasons and personalize the data for each user.
Otrezov said Uber is pushing its real-time technology business model further in developing this personalized operating system. He says that Uber Local aims both to make traveling easier and to enhance the local experience.
“The way we move more into personalization is kind of knowing whether there’s a specific event going on and creating auto-generating ads for that audience,” he said. “And really moving into that space where we can actually tell them, ‘Hey, are you looking to go to Coachella?... Take an Uber.’”
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Parents of teenagers who died by suicide after interacting with AI chatbots are set to testify before Congress.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
